Sunday, May 12, 2024

The Van Halen rider thing is true - they did request ridiculous things like “absolutely no brown M+Ms” - but it wasn’t entirely about being entitled rock star divas. They would haul a vast amount of production to each show. Trucks and trucks full of elaborate staging, lighting and sound equipment. It all weighed a huge amount, and on one notable occasion sank through the newly-installed floor of an auditorium causing thousands of dollars’ worth of damage. It turned out that the promoter for that show had not read the detailed technical specifications in the contract. On subsequent tours they would include ridiculous rider demands somewhere else in the contract. They didn’t really care about M+Ms but the idea was to test if the promoter had read the document properly. If they arrived and there were brown M+Ms in the dressing room, it was a litmus test that someone hadn’t read the contract closely so they’d better check and re-check that the venue understood the technical specs before loading in and rigging up. Conversely, if they got a phone call in advance asking if they REALLY needed a football helmet full of cream cheese, or whatever other stupid stuff they’d stipulated, it showed that the promoter was paying attention, then they could have an informed conversation about how many amps of electricity the PA would need, and so on. Dave Lee Roth, a born raconteur, has of course told this story a thousand times. It’s in his autobiography and doubtless on YouTube.

I imagine that Pixar fans will love this one. I am not a Pixar fan, and I didn’t love it. YMMV. For me it was like a random minefield of rebuses — when it seemed the natural answer wouldn’t fit, I had to take a stab at guessing what might be a plausible title for an animated film. Is LUCA a Pixar film? I didn’t know but I guess it is. Could SCAR be one — oh, whoops, CARS? If the themers had been clever on their own, then perhaps it would have been fine. But instead they felt like simple. vehicles for the Pixar films. HULU CATALOG? OSCAR STATUE? Meh. I’m sure this would be an all-time great crossword for, say, a Pixar retrospective. But for the NYXT it felt very … niche. Having said all that, I thought the cluing was lots of fun. Looking forward to the next one by Avery — perhaps with a more universally appealing theme.

The months of effort that Avery put into this puzzle – 19 iterations before settling on the best! – shows, IMO. This is a smooth answer set overall, with polished clues. This is finely honed. And capital-P Puzzle this is, as well. Hidden rebuses, all different, in unpredictable locations, and of unpredictable lengths. (Finding them had a WHERE’S WALDO feel.) Obscure answers. Vague clues. Two corners, the NE and SW, that are like mini-puzzles. In my scheme of things, cracking a puzzle comes first, and the rest – theme, answer set, clues – follow; they are gravy. Today’s puzzle not only gave me a satisfying nut to crack, it gave me the rest as well. It smartly did its job, gave me a terrific experience. Thank you, Avery, for all you put into this, for your high standards, for this high-quality grid. Congratulations on your debut!

Omg people, just because you found a puzzle difficult doesn't mean there is something wrong with it and the constructor is terrible, etc. I don't know if it's great to have proper nouns as the key to rebuses, but at the same time these movies should be familiar to people who are from the United States and do not live under a rock, even if you have never seen them.

Never seen one of these movies, and too many obscure trivial clues/answers to break through easily today. Impressive construction, but not much fun to solve.

Congratulations on your NYT debut, Avery! Clever, fun and appropriately challenging for a Sunday puzzle.

Fun, and a good example of using the crosses to get things you don’t know (I have only seen two of these). Poor little WALL-E, stuck inside a CRYPTO WALLET. Is that telling us something about how the earth will come to be populated just by trash?

You can have any DVD from Rick Astley's Pixar collection, except one. Because he's never gonna give you UP. I really enjoyed this puzzle, and managed to solve it without looking anything up. Put me in the PRO rebus column.

It was a good thing for me -- and, I trust, for others who do not follow Pixar releases in detail -- that the crosses for the theme rebuses were gentle, and the letters could be sussed out even if they didn't result in a movie title I recognized, much less a movie I had seen. This was a very pleasant stroll through unfamiliar territory ... and a delightful debut by Avery Gee Katz.

Never having seen a Pixar movie I got nervous when I saw the puzzle title. As It turns out, I know more than I thought, as each movie title was familiar to me. Osmosis, I guess. But that made it even more satisfying and fun when each title popped into my head. CABO SAN (LUCA)S alerted me that a rebus was at play. I especially like CRYPTO(WALLE)T/STONE(WALLE)D and D(UP)LEX/E(UP)HORIA. So clever. Nicely done, Avery! Congratulations on your NYT debut.

I was very afraid when I came here today that the haters would be out in force and was pleasantly surprised, so far at least. For the record, I liked it, I thought it was well constructed and a fun challenge. But here’s a recipe for disaster: 1) rebuses (divisive on their own) 2) needing specialized knowledge and reading the title which not everyone does 3) no clue where the rebuses would be and not symmetric (not that it would be possible for this complexity) 4) overall higher level of difficult clueing for a Sunday (and if you think no one is going to complain about having to know the name of an obscure discus champion guess again). Just fair warning they will come, and this is certainly a harder than average Sunday for most. But again I really enjoyed it, thanks for stretching me.

I have not seen a single one of these movies. Yet I am familiar enough with the names of them to have figured out all the rebuses today. I guess I just absorb enough pop culture through osmosis? I am over 50, but I see and notice the names of popular movies everywhere online and when I’m scrolling through streaming services looking for something that appeals to my demographic. I’m a little surprised that so many here in the comments think that it’s only possible to be familiar with names of Pixar movies if you’ve actually watched them and/or have young kids.

When an animated movie is shown in two parts, it's cel division. (But that draws it out.)

Didn't care much for this one. I know the NYT says Sunday puzzles are supposed to be Wednesday-hard, but this one was harder than the preceding Friday and Saturday, with so many obscurities that I felt like I had no chance. Too much reliance on cultural references that mean nothing to anyone born in the 20th Century. At least I knew Al Oerter.

Is it too much to ask that such a puzzle also contain Monsters Inc, Ratatouille, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life, and The Incredibles? Cmon! Good to see some moms mentioned on this hallowed day: Marie Curie and Mary Lincoln. Jen from the White House might also be a mother, Greta Gerwig has two young kids with Noah Baumbach. Dr. Ruth has two children, both academics in the field of education. Ayn Rand never had children but apparently was kind to children. She once said in an interview that she felt her books were kind of like having children. "The ideas just want to come out." Gertrude Stein had no children but liked writing stories for children, including "The World Is Round." Jennifer Egan has two sons who are being raised Jewish even though she's agnostic. It is unclear if Ella Baker had any children but her activism was spurred in large part by listening to her grandmother's stories of slavery and the mistreatment of women. Mary Todd Lincoln had four boys; the best known is Tad, his father's favorite. Of the four, only Robert the oldest survived his parents; all the others died young. Tad and William were "hellions" as youngsters in Abe's law offices: "The boys were absolutely unrestrained in their amusement. If they pulled down all the books from the shelves, bent the points of all the pens, overturned inkstands, scattered law papers over the floor or threw the pencils into the spittoon, it never disturbed the serenity of their father's good nature." - Herndon

Love me a rebus puzzle! Make it Sunday-sized, and the result is practically EUPHORIA. It started as frustration, and progressed into elation. The icing on the cake, as it always is with the mega grid, was not having to flyspeck. Thank you, Avery, and congratulations on a stellar debut! It was absolutely well executed. A workout for sure, but also delightful. And to all the MUMMIES (British English, of course) in this forum, may you be wrapped in nothing less than love and gratitude, as well as maybe a blanket while you get served breakfast in bed. Happy Mother's Day!

I really dislike rebuses.

I don't like rebuses and I don't watch movies so I faced a double whammy. After a slow slog. I finally finished. Not one of my favorite puzzles.

I have to confess that a lot of the trivia I learn doing crosswords tends to go in one ear and out the other; I don't mind this, because it affords the opportunity to "discover" the same fact multiple times, which I usually find more amusing than frustrating. One item from today, however, which I do not imagine I will forget: FERRULE is a much broader term than I had previously understood it to be. And now I know what to call that nebulous bit of the pencil that's always covered in teeth marks (surely they must sell them that way - certainly no one in this household would admit to such a habit.)

Apologies if someone has already mentioned this, but those riders in people’s contracts (no brown M&Ms) are to make sure other people have actually read the contract. Labels, studios, etc. may not read the contracts they give stars, so those people put in weird riders in them. If there are no brown M&Ms, it means that the other party actually took the time to read the contract they offered.

I am filled with admiration for the elegance of this puzzle and the creativity required to make reasonable and sensible answers both directions. The one with LUCA that solves to Hulu Catalog and Cabo San Lucas was . Also loved that it had a few obscure words like Ferrule (a new one for me) and Oread, which didn’t feel gratuitous or unfair. Just so, so well done. A real pleasure to solve.

I'm sure there will be a fund of grumpers and yawners and grousers, but even if I'm all alone in saying it, I thought this was a terrific puzzle and great fun to work. Every time I got MIRED down, I prayed for another rebus (never thought I'd ever say that) because it seemed like the only way to move the puzzle, but only one look-up—Al Oerter.(OERTER???—how could I not know a gimee like that?) My mistake, and congratulations to Mr. Oerter, he's in the Hall of Fame! The movies were not in my wheelhouse— I had not seen any of them, which added another layer of difficulty, but even so, I'm sorry the game is over. Thank you Avery Gee Katz, it was worth all that work for both of us.

Obscure kiddie movie references? Hardly! Every one of the Pixar films in the rebus answers was nominated for an OSCARSSTATUE for best animated feature and quite a few of them won that category. Some took home the best original song too. This puzzle was a really enjoyable solve for me: no look ups, and it clicked for me when I had entered CARS and when I entered UP, I knew the task at hand. Before UP, I thought maybe it was music groups. (I didn’t check the title of the puzzle before hand, and I’m so glad I didn’t!)

Movies are my kryptonite. I finally looked at the title when I was having difficulty and realized that it would not help me in the least. I've heard of SOUL and CARS, but that was about it. It came down to one box (doesn't it always?). Like Caitlin, I thought CABO SANDS was just fine until I was left with HUdTALOG and realized that did not look right at all. I was tempted to call it a day and assume that HUdTALOG was just one more thing I didn't know about streaming, but gosh darn it, I have a streak riding on this! "Okay, it *must* be CATALOG" I thought, so I tossed the D, and wrote in the CA. "Wait a minute, even I've heard of HULU!", I almost shouted. Whew! Done. Enough about my problems. Congratualtions to Avery on a terrific debut. And thank you for the rebus. We don't get nearly enough of those.

Wow, surprised by all the negativity on this one. Fun Sunday challenge. Dare I say, UPlifting? Then again, I’m a rebus fan. Be BRAVE, solvers! The effort is good for the SOUL!

Harder than usual, and AURAE was a big snag, but the rebus execution was very well done! Love it when clues force you into the rebus.

Fun! The first rebus I got was LUCA from the crosses. I'd never heard of it, so I figured it must connect to the S that follows and have something to do with George LUCAS. That tripped me up for a while until I found SOUL and UP, which I knew. So...all in all, very clever, and congrats to you, Avery Gee Katz!

This was one of the most enjoyable puzzles in a while, although eventually I had to give up and autocheck for my error (AURAs/FERRULs). I always check the info button first thing on a Sunday puzzle - there’s always a theme, and in the iPad app you have to click for it. It took me a while to realize, though, that I hadn’t come across anything Pixar related - the penny dropped on EUPHORIA/DUPLEX. Excellent Sunday.

This is a little known, but important, circumstance of *how* a big part of Greek mythology was formed. As they were deciding who would rule over what, the brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, could not agree on sky or sea. Eventually, Poseidon conceded the sky to Zeus, but not without several provisos: no raining on Saturdays (this was Poseidon’s spa day, when he would transform into a giant squid and soak above a kraken vent), fair winds during any trireme tribute races, no thunder and lightning during siren concerts (as those tickets were expensive!), etc. After several days, many iterations, and not a few lawyers on both sides, Zeus gave in and signed the contract. This long part of it, a whole subsection, itself, was entitled: “RIDERs on the Storm” (I’ll show myself out.)

I would recommend not only watching many of the Pixar movies such as Wall-E, Up, Coco, The Incredibles, etc., but would also recommend watching the Pixar Short Films, of which there are three volumes. Volume One includes some of the earliest examples of their animation, and includes shorts that accompanied their movie releases. Grab a copy from your library or stream them and enjoy!

I was pretty horrified when I saw the puzzle’s theme, not being someone who pays attention to Pixar movies. And then realized it was not only that but a rebus. But apparently I have enough rudimentary Pixar knowledge that those fills were very much accessible, and it was pretty fun. OERTER/RESET/THROE, on the other hand: ouch, it took me a long time to get that.

Well, that was a fun challenge. Any puzzle with Jennifer EGAN, GRETA Gerwig and a TIARA in it is okay by me. I was jumping around alot and first realized that rebuses were needed when I got to the clue about the phrase from The Tempest, which had to be BRAVE NEW WORLD* and also I knew the TRL guy had to be CARSON DALY. I wouldn't have called myself an expert on Pixar movies, but apparently I knew them well enough to get through the puzzle. Congrats and well done to constructor and editors. *By coincidence, there was a Jeopardy question/answer about this not that long ago.

I disliked this puzzle intensely. It just seems like someone had to try so hard to come up with yet another cutesy gimmick. Also, a little research might have helped.

TIL that the metal ring around a pencil has a name. Adding it to the list of extremely specific words for item parts (looking at you, aglet!).

Without a doubt the hardest Sunday of my long life. I guess I need to catch up on Pixar movies.

97D played like a kea-loa for me although it was my fault for just skimming over the clue. I read "discus thrower" and immediately thought Alekna. Changed it to Dacres. Then Powell. Then Gansky. Then Kanter. Schult followed. Next was Allman. Finally got Oerter. It seems like all the discus(6 letters) throwers that come readily to mind have 6-letter last names! Discuss!

I HATE rebuses, but recognize they're a standard part of the NYT playbook. However, when the rebuses aren't clued (except via the title), are unmarked (so you don't know where they are), or consistent (they are seemingly unrelated words of different lengths), I'd appreciate a heads up, so that I know what I'm getting into. Can you blow a horn or something, NYT?

I’d have been really impressed if he’d worked “Toy Story” into it.

Please stop putting the theme clues only in the title, or fix the app so it shows the titles.

My most-dreaded crossword word: REBUS. My second most-dreaded crossword word: PIXAR. And now I’m the type of puzzle-fanatic who comments on the NYT Crossword “solving tips” article. What have I become?!

I’m a little surprised I haven’t seen more discussion of 57A DSHARP. When I see these musical note entries they usually are clued in the form of “Note equivalent to E flat” or “The key of Haydn’s Symphony No. 46”. Even a non musician would recognize that with six spaces, unless some symbol or multi letter rebus is involved, it has to be __SHARP. The beauty of this clue is that the key of B major has 5 sharps to choose from. (To be honest, I didn’t know this off the top of my head like many of our readers I’m sure do. But I took piano lessons and I know how to play that scale, so I just did it in my head.) The options are F C G D A (remember Fast Cars Go Dangerously Around Every Bend). For this same answer the constructor could have made it easier by cluing E Major(4 sharps) or harder (F# with 6 or C# with 7). FWIW, DSHARP has only been clued to a major key twice before, both times in 2017, once to the key of B Major and once to E Major. For completeness, when B Major has appeared in the clue ( like today) , twice the answer was DSHARP and 4 times ASHARP. Very nice clue!

When common sense fails, remember you’re doing a NYT puzzle.

I was stumped on “one buying a stuffed mouse, perhaps” when I looked up and saw kitty cleaning himself.

I solved it. Good fun. Caught on to the rebus near the bottom with BRAVE after a halting descent down the grid. I filled it in from there working my way back to the beginning. Unfortunately I had entered AURAS first and subsequently ended up with FERRULES so it took a lot of fly specking to catch the erroneous plural there. I have no problems with the theme or the rebi. Not a complaint, but I did find some of the clues a bit trickier than usual for a Sunday.

Aside from the worst rebuses I've yet encountered, one does not "own" a cat.

I love rebuses. Hard but so satisfying.

Really not great. It doesn't seem right that both "soul" and "brave" remained standalone words in their place in the answers. The movie titles that formed parts of other words are far more interesting. This was a promising enough theme idea, but the execution seems lacking. Emus would be a great name for an animated feature.

A nice evening's distraction. Al OERTER was a gimme for this Kansas graduate, even though I attended later than he did. I knew of all of the Pixar (and Disney) films, but figuring out which ones would fit was a little tricky at times. It was a nice mix of older and newer features, which I appreciated. Thanks, Avery, and a very nice NYT debut!

Cute puzzle. Took a little longer than usual.. age of kids wrong for some of the more recent offerings from Pixar, US spelling of words like odour and catalogue always gets me, and the geography of Montana not being in my high school syllabus. But nice. Pleasing to complete. Thanks Rheas still rule over emus.

As a former concert photog at the "Fillmores" etc. I can tell you lots about various riders. Roz is my favorite character from Pixar. Those of you who had trouble with this puzzle were clearly using the wrong form. Nice one Avery