Naticked with EVIE/VIEIERA plus the crosses ASA/ETA and RODAN(?!)/NAIAD made this one a bunch of stabbing in random letters until the music finally played. Not fun.
This was pretty good. Except for the crossing of names EVIE and VIEIRA (always a no-no for me), I found this to be a nice, breezy puzzle.
@Archie If I were in charge, I'd have an absolute ban on crossing two proper nouns/adjectives, the only exceptions US States, US Presidents, and Countries
@Archie I had no clue about EVIE. I knew VIEIRA, so that cross wasn't a problem for me. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to spell it correctly, so another one could have been. As that cross was clearly CAUTION, it was quickly rectified.
@Steven M. I think that’s a little bit over the top— but I did have to go through the alphabet myself.
If you're not keeping your lawn quenched, water you dewing? (I beg your garden.)
@Mike Wadi you think I'm doing? This sprinkled have given us more rain, which would have made it easier. April showers bring wet emus.
Well WADI ya know, others had trouble with this puzzle too, but I promised myself I wouldn't get SOAR about it. I know it might be ASSIGN of a tough week ahead, and we may be OTTERly vEXed before the week is OVA, but WATER we here for if not for a challenge? Thanks, Chris Leatherberry. ADAIR you to TEE up another. It's the KETO a life in the Times.
dutchiris, Wow. CANNIBALieve all those puns in a single comment?! Barely. Don’t mind giving you a hand at all. 👏
@dutchiris 🙌 🙌 🙌 So well done, sir! Very smooth! My brain doesn't even bend that way! But it does match songs to phrases with almost alarming frequency. Today it's is this 80's earworm I always misremember as being Bananarama... Sadly, the lyrics are not half as upbeat as your request to the constructor -- but the tune is! The Belle Stars "Sign of the Times" <a href="https://youtu.be/lyV-GWhvZoY?si=L4EeT0SW5dJwpUMJ" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/lyV-GWhvZoY?si=L4EeT0SW5dJwpUMJ</a>
Personally, I don't share the frustration about proper names as clues. Crosswords are one of the places where my predeliction for trivia has value.
Impressive that the constructor stared this at just 14, and then returned to it 8 years later! Some of it was hard for me but congrats on your accomplishment! I enjoyed the play on water signs and adding the Naiad in there.
Four spanners on a Tuesday – that’s a treat! All of the spanners were NYT answer debuts as well, which brought spark to the answer set. My brain loves trying to crack riddles, and that’s what I turned this theme into. The graphics let me know where the revealer was, so I filled in everything except that. I even figured the second word of the revealer was SIGNS. So, all I had to do was unravel the first. But my brain was stuck in the wrong direction, convinced that the signs had to do with avoiding things. I was so stuck on that, so convinced I was right, that I never saw the water connection. ACH! Well, it was a good workout -- the grind was grand! -- and a good lesson about hubris. Next time, crosswords! Wait and see! Small steps. Oh, I loved the cleverness of the theme. I loved the three-vowel-in-a-row answers (VIEIRA, NAIAD), the abutting anagrams ACH and CHA, and the abutting palindromes ASA and TNT. Chris, even though you waited eight years to turn this theme into a puzzle, the fact that you dreamed it up at age 14 shows great potential, whets my appetite for more from you. Congratulations on your debut, and thank you for a terrific outing!
Congratulations on your long-delayed NYT debut, Mr. Leatherberry! I’ve submitted a few puzzles to the NYT without any success, so it’s hard for me to imagine getting a request to rework a puzzle and forgetting about it. But then, I’m well past my 14th birthday. Hope we’ll see you back here before another eight years go by.
I'm no expert in the astrology of the zodiac, but here's what I know about the water signs. The three water signs represent a "trigon," a trinity of signs; there are four such trigons in the zodiac -- earth, air, fire and water. Water consists of Cancer (or crab), Pisces, and Scorpio. Everdeen mentions that those born under the water signs tend to be emotional (us Scorpios, for example, tend to be intuitive and instinctive, and act from an emotional base rather than through logic; we tend to lose control occasionally). Although I don't really believe in astrology as a predictive practice or providing guidance in life issues, personal experience has uncannily demonstrated some merit in thinking that the sign one is born under affects one's personality type. But that's because I'm a Scorpio and that's the way we think. I do like the H20-adjacent presence of WADI, SEWER, EGGNOG, NAIAD, CAPE, OTTER and especially Red Adair, who used a lot of water indeed in putting out all those fires. I suppose, though, if you looked carefully enough, you'd find words in the grid for the other trigons (air, for example, is represented by SOARS, ORATE -- a lot of hot air! -- NENA with her luftballoons full of air -- and maybe one or two others...). Fun puzzle, a little hiccupy, especially the evil Natick of EVIE and VIEIRA, but that should quiet the anti-Fagliano crowd. Maybe it's a sign that we're in for a tougher week. That's how a Scorpio would reason, anyway.
@john ezra For the kind of fires Red Adair worked on, water was not useful. He put them out with explosives.
Tough for a Tuesday, at least for me. My personal Natick was EVIE Sands and Meredith VIEIRA, neither of whom I'd heard of. Seems like they should both be familiar but I missed them both. I remember dinner table conversation about Leopold and LOEB when I was a kid. It made an impression on me and I've never forgotten it. I didn't know ACCRA and tried to cram Mothra into the RODAN spot for a while, but I got there eventually.
Four squares in the lower left mixed me up. ARENA football crossed with WICCA and ADAIRA feels way too hard for a Tuesday
Nice NYT debut, Chris. Also nice to hear about continuing the quest after such a long time when other activities took priority. EVIE Sands was not on the playlists I listened to back in the 60s. The version of "Angel of the Morning" I remember was by Juice Newton, which got a lot of airplay in the 80s. Crosses got me most of the way through that section, because I knew VIEIRA, but not how to spell it. Liked that the WATER SIGNS were not the zodiac ones. A fun puzzle, thanks, Chris.
@JayTee I only knew of the Juice Newton version!
@JayTee Evie Sands was too obscure. But all puzzles have flaws and, for the most part, this was a better-than-average Tuesday.
Clearly I watch too much TV, because I had HANNIBAL instead of CANNIBAL for the longest time, and it was only the fact that ACHRA was not an African capital that finally clued me in. Also, good to see WADI on here! I usually struggle with the US-centric geographical trivia, but this was a nice bit closer to home :)
An early week puzzle with attitude - I like it! Definitely on the slow side for me for a Tuesday. I initially put in EDIE, but luckily, dIEIRA didn't look right, so VIEIRA went in with crossed fingers. I would love to see what the puzzle looked like when 14 year old Chris put it aside. Very impressive to be constructing at that age.
Why do people overuse the great XW word Natick, when they just didn’t know the answers
@Norman Simple. Doing so shifts the blame to the puzzle. Based on the original definition Rex Parker created (which was different from the one on his site now), if no more than a certain percentage (I think it was 25%) could reasonably come up with the missing letter, it was a Natick. Now the NYT has all manner of statistics on its digital solvers' experiences, and could probably determine where the biggest traps were, but Rex Parker doesn't. Which is most likely why he changed the definition. But the word was never supposed to mean "answers that I didn't know and therefore no one else could have", even though it did mean that from the start.
Until we have the data to determine "when two crossing answers are so obscure that only a miniscule percentage of solvers could reasonably be expected to know both of them", it is fine to use the term "natick" subjectively rather than objectively. When one uses the term "gimme", we presume that they a referring to their own experience. Likewise with natick.
Really fun! But what about this classic: WELCOME TO OUR OOL NOTICE THERE IS NO P IN IT LETS KEEP IT THAT WAY I guess the 15-20-17 letter count isn't exactly grid-friendly. That holds water.
@ad absurdum When I was a kid, a neighbor had a sign that read: I don't swim in your toilet so please don't pee in my pool.
@ad absurdum Is there actually a chemical they put in swimming pools that turns the water red when you P in it? That's what we were told as kids.
Great debut, Chris! Fun and clever. Looking forward to more from you.
Impressive spanners which I always enjoy having a go at and today was no exception, and lovely notes from Chris. Looking forward to more.
There was a small handful of items I didn't know straight away but I thought all were pretty accessible through the crosses. I'm surprised to see all the natick comments but I guess it's all varying mileage and whatnot. I am a bit sick and crabby but I enjoyed it! If I weren't sick and crabby, I might make a comment about the puzzle and theme being OTTERly delightful but I'm just too darn sick and crabby! 😉 My favorite was the clue for CANNIBAL! Reminded me of one of my favorite archive puzzles. It's from Sunday, February 5, 2023—Hollywood Remakes. I don't want to spoil the puzzle for anyone who might be working through 2023, but the whole puzzle was amazing, I thought, and 95A absolutely kills me in a good and not edible way! I love it so much! Anyhow, thanks for a nice puzzle debut! I'M OUT!
I have to object to the Natick EVIE/VEIERA for a Tuesday puzzle: 1) Both are names, 2) unusual spelling of the latter, a TV personality. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Enjoyable puzzle and glad to see another new constructor. Bit of a workout for me and had to google a couple of things, but was nice to finally tumble to the theme when I was almost done. Four 15 letter debut answers and all of them seem reasonably familiar phrases. That's... unusual. Answer history search today was (for no apparent reason) inspired by wondering about repeated letters. That led to to a couple of interesting puzzles. I'll put those in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As promised: One puzzle was a Thursday from May 24, 2007 by Patrick Merrell. Three 15 letter theme answers in that one - took me a moment to figure out what was going on. Those answers: DDDMONSTERMOVIE HHHHCLUBMEETING KKKKKKKKKKRACES And then... a Thursday from November 12, 2020 by Kristian House. Theme answers in that one: AASKYLARK TALKUULATER FLOATSOUTCC BBORNOTBB Thought that was quite clever. I'm done. ..
Interesting theme. Liked the long crosses and fortunately was able to guess them correctly. HEW TO is an expression that is new to me, but considering crosses, there was no other choice. Thanks to Mr. Leatherberry for a fun start to Tuesday.
@Robert Kern HEW TO would be called 'archaic' by some... It was nice to see it after some days of slang and shortened terms...
I'm not a fan of the crossing of EVIE and VIEIRA, two unusual (and unknown to me) names with a rather uncommon common letter. I don't like having to look something up on a Tuesday! However, I really enjoyed the theme... it wasn't blatantly obvious at first, and I thought it was pretty clever. I needed the crosses to get the exact wording ("slippery when wet" and "please wash hands" also fit) which added to the challenge. Great debut, and I look forward to seeing more from this constructor.
@Janine I thought that there was no one in the US who hadn't watched "Millionaire". The spelling is the killer.
One name clue can often be solved by the crossing clues, but when two names cross (EVIE/VIEIRA), either you know it or you need help from Ms. Google. My wife is better on names from popular culture. I’m happier with fewer names, and I really don’t like it when two names cross.
Congrats on a terrific debut, Chris. The theme was fun, the crosses were kind. I was surprised I didn’t remember EVIE Sands, as I was definitely around in the 60s, but I got enough from crosses to see VIEIRA, which at least rang a bell. The long phrases were lots of fun. Hope you can ignore any complaints, and I know we will be seeing more puzzles from you.
Until we have the data to determine "when two crossing answers are so obscure that only a miniscule percentage of solvers could reasonably be expected to know both of them", it is fine to use the term "natick" subjectively rather than objectively. When one uses the term "gimme", we presume that they a referring to their own experience. Likewise with natick. And to address Steve L's point about shifting blame from the solver to the puzzle, that does not necessarily have to be the implication when saying that a particular crossing was a natick, if the assumption is the person is saying that a crossing was a natick for them, not everyone.
@Jim I imagine there’s a sizeable overlap between “crossword enthusiast” and “persnickety pedant,” so it’s not surprising we get a lot of “Well, ackchyually” responses. I agree with your overall point that Naticks and gimmes should always be assumed to be subjective even if it’s not overtly stated. It’s not an infrequent occurence that I read the Wordplay column and find out that a word I struggled with was a gimme for the author, while an entry that easy for me makes it into the Tricky Clues. (For example, I got both Rodan and Loeb without hesitation, but I always struggle when a specific actor or TV station is clued.)
For the high tide conundrum: Having lived in a small drinking community with a big fishing problem, which had a popular beach connected to an offshore island by a tombolo (great crossword entry -- if you don't know it google it) that was submerged at HIGH TIDE, and where people would routinely become stranded if they didn't pay attention, I can assure you that a WARNING: HIGH TIDE sign is a thing. See also Bar Island at Bar Harbor, just to my south. Same thing: leave it before the tide comes in... there are many others.
CaptainQuahog, Heh heh. I could read that opening clause of your main paragraph all day, and not stop smiling once. (heh heh…)
@CaptainQuahog Thanks for “tombolo.” I’ve seen them before but hadn’t known that name.
@CaptainQuahog Are you by any chance talking about Deer Isle and its Barred Isle walk?
In response to Chris L from Wordplay: I didn't find your puzzle Mundane. I didn't even find it Tuesdane. It was enjoyable, clever, & with a fun theme. For 7D I first thought mOthra, which was too big to fit (well duh… Mothra's pretty DAM* big), then got RODAN. I mean, I watch Svengoolie. However I started spelling it like the sculptor at 1st… I don't think that flying monster is French… * Kaiju movie "Destroy All Monsters" was on Svengoolie Sat night, caught a bit of it. Destroy All Monsters— often shortened in press as DAM— were a local-ish punk-/art-/noise-rock band in Ann Arbor when I lived there, Ron Ashton & the Miller twins & singer Niagara & lots of good hard music. I got WADI from crosses. ☡StarTrekNerdZone☡ A ridiculously obscure clue that woulda rightly aroused a chorus of "OBSCURE!" would be: 26D: Alien race in reviled ep of otherwise excellent series StarTrek:DS9, "Move Along Home". (Probly only 2nd in unpopularity to "Quark Dresses in Drag" ep, def NO Tootsie/ Some Like It Hot). I didn't know how to spell Meredith's surname but not too hard w/crosses. With NENA/WADI, it did help that I recalled NENA's name & spelling. And Chris, as for what you called a "lack of flashy feel", I dunno that that's the case, but even if it were so (& I think it ain't, what w/the cool, refreshing theme, smattering of puns & some dark snark [6D], tasty latkes & even a monster!), how could you expect any fire & flash amidst all that water? Anyway, good job, and yes we want more.
I did the top half in about 4 minutes and I so I thought to myself, "Self, I'll set a new personal record." Then the bottom half took an additional 17 minutes. The one I feel silliest about, though, is that I couldn't figure out WARNING HIGH TIDE. You would think, being in Alabama, that that would've come naturally. Or maybe the fact that I couldn't think of it is an omen now that Nick Saban has retired. So it goes. The upside is that I now have 50 Mondays in a row! Peace
This was a little more prickly than I was ready for. Just edged my average time but it felt tougher than that. Nice debut!
Fun puzzle! Leopold and Loeb were pretty infamous, I’m surprised the columnist never heard of them.
@Bonnie Until this weekend, I had never heard of them either. I only knew the answer tonight because they came up in another Tuesday puzzle from the archives that I was doing.
Died with the triple Natick in the North ACC_A O D N_IDAD N
@Tim Carey So you had ACC_A and couldn't come up with a capital? I don't know, I feel like world capitals are at least finite in number, so they are less objectionable than, say, a singer from decades ago.
Tim, Those are not Naticks, and even if they were, there would be only two. (A Natick occurs when you cannot be expected to determine a crossing letter.)
I had heard of Evie Sands, but the version I grew up with was Merilee Rush. I don't know if Olivia Newton-John covered it, but the 1981 version by Juice Newton is probably the one most people know these days. Per Wikipedia: "The highest-charting and best-selling version in the United States was recorded and released in 1981 by country-rock singer Juice Newton..."
@JCJ I had never heard of Evie Sands, which is a bit unnerving as I am a music fanatic and grew up in the Sixties with the radio always on. I gave her version a listen (I wonder if that one will be trending on streaming services today) and still prefer Merilee Rush’s version.
A fine debut. Well done. I work on the barrier islands and checking the predictive tide charts is a daily routine. Not a flooding risk but of keen interest of mariners . . . . . . LOWWATERWARNING.
When you're guessing at a Natick letter, my feeling is that you might have made a different guess if you'd guessed at 9:21 instead of at 9:36. It's always so arbitrary. My guess was WODI/NINO. But it might have been WADI/NINA too -- and I'm just going to tell myself that it was. I have no idea what a dry streambed is. The crosses helped me finally figure out the odd way Meredith spells her last name. I had VIERRA at first, but CAUTION straightened me out. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln? Actually, I loved this puzzle. Repurposing WATER SIGNS like that is a wonderful and imaginative play on words. And they're all signs we've seen many, many times. The puzzle was a lot of fun and a top-tier Tuesday.
A tougher than average Tuesday for me; so many names I’m not familiar with, no clue re Godzilla etc. But, my Shiba is a champion 9Downer and I eat 51A so that helped. I’m always in awe of the constructor’s skill, but when they’re starting them while still in High school I’m blown away.
@Everdeen The clue about lending your hand to a CANNIBAL didn't "stump" you for long? I see what you did there...
It's annoying that WASH and WADI are both dry streambeds and start with the same two letters, especially if solving from the top down.
Naticks galore today. Yet Leopold and Loeb didn't roll right off your tongue?
Congrats Chris on your NYT crossword debut! I enjoyed the spanning entries and overall solve. Looking forward to more from you.
This new editor is making the puzzles too easy. AMIRITE? (I join the chorus happy that Chris persisted.) Ditch the emus, rehire the copy editors.
@Barry Ancona Maybe, maybe not, it's still a small sample size to pass judgment on. I thought this was better than a lot of the Tuesdays Shortz edited.
Very enjoyable puzzle. Finished with no peeking. I’m still smiling.
The accra - rodan - naiad - bate - nena section of crossings was brutal for a Tuesday. I can sing the song in German but the singers name will never stick for me. Not sure why there is debate on the Natick of Evie / Vieira - you either know them or you don't. Not good design imo but for some I'm sure both are gimmies. Great theme though! Really enjoyed that part. This one crossed my proper noun threshold but glad others enjoyed. I would try to iron out some of the proper nouns in the future. Hope to see the author again.
Jon, You can say "you either know them or you don't" about any two answers that cross. To be a Natick, *neither* answer should be expected to be known or be able to be inferred by most solvers (so the other cannot be filled from the cross). 47A/48D is not a Natick.
Oof. Didn't really enjoy this one. The theme was cute but the puzzle was too densely populated with random trivia that I couldn't appreciate it. In general, I am annoyed by trivia/ names crossing each other but this puzzle was unhinged- who approved the southwest quadrant?? I found myself unsatisfied with the solve even after I got my gold star. The meager attempts at clever clues (cannibals, I'm looking at you) fell quite short in my opinion.
Difficult for a Tuesday, I thought. I needed to do several lookups to complete.
With apologies - a late puzzle find, completely unrelated to today's puzzle. I came across this one after thinking about the odd non-rhyming of words like 'daughter' and 'laughter.' Anyway - A Sunday from December 9, 2001 by Cathy Millhauser with the title: "In-Flight Movies." All of the theme answers had 'in-flight movie' as part of the clue. Some of the answers: MEETTHEPARROTS HERONBROCKOVICH PHEASANTVILLE GEORGYGULL GOODWILLBUNTING WRENHARRYMETSALLY COALMYNASDAUGHTER Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=12/9/2001&g=33&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=12/9/2001&g=33&d=D</a> ..
What do you get when you cross two mythical creatures with an African capital? And a '60s singer with a former TV host? You get a super Naticky Tuesday!
A geography correction for today's Wordplay author: while there is a city of Cape May on Cape May, NJ, there is no city called Cape Ann on Cape Ann, MA. Cape Ann's city is Gloucester.
Further geography correction for the column (the puzzle clue is fine): WADI (in Arabic and Hebrew) is a *normally dry* river bed, not a river valley. It is what we in "English" call an arroyo (Spanish) or a [dry] wash. See also gully washer. <a href="https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/fluvial-landforms-what-is-wadi.html" target="_blank">https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/fluvial-landforms-what-is-wadi.html</a> MENA
Later in the day yesterday, @Hardrock posted a link with Steve Poltz discussing how he met John Prine. We just had a chance to watch it, and it was one of the funniest stories I've heard in a long time. Even before he got to the John Prine part, we were cracking up. If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend it. <a href="https://tinyurl.com/3euupsph" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/3euupsph</a>
@Nancy J. - That was hilarious! Thanks for the tip.
@Nancy J. Ha! Thanks for reposting. To be completely honest, I had never heard of this fellow until I ran across that yesterday. He seems like a really crazy dude but he is obviously extremely intelligent and sure can tell a story. I think I watched the whole thing(and it’s not short) about three times. He has a lot of musical talent as well. Here he is with Jewel with whom he co-wrote “You were meant for me.” <a href="https://tinyurl.com/2afc4jz5" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/2afc4jz5</a>