"I just bought a magnetic bulletin board!" "That sounds like tacks evasion." ("But this magnetic one was so attractive!")
@Mike Still, there's thumbthing that sticks with you about the old fashioned kind. (They're holier than thou.) Do emus push puns 👍
@Mike If we took a pole, I'm sure your comment would pull in the most votes for steely punniness. And irony. Your posts always have a lot of mettle
@Mike I won't try to compete with you today since you've played your trump card. Emus are busting out all over...
My five favorite original clues from last week (In order of appearance): 1. Odd duck, maybe? (5) 2. Dessert that rarely lives up to its name (4) 3. Ones dealing with joint inflammation? (7) 4. Like many opera lovers (9) 5. Takes off (9) DECOY TART STONERS SERENADED SUBTRACTS
Since Monday puzzles go by so quickly, it’s fun to be challenged in finding the commonality of the entries. I didn’t pick up on today’s theme until getting the revealer. I love Strands, and particularly enjoyed the one with CHARCUTERIE as the spangram. Such a fun word to say. A flea and a fly in a flue Were imprisoned, so what could they do? Said the fly, "let us flee!" "Let us fly!" said the flea. So they flew through a flaw in the flue. Congratulations, Alana, on your NYT crossword debut and also on Strands. I have not been board.
@Anita My dad taught me that one when I was young. I had no idea until today that it was Ogden Nash!
Oh, marvelous Monday! Often, for me, an experienced solver, Mondays fill in on auto, one reason being that I’ve seen practically all the words in puzzles before, and many of them are clued as they’ve been clued before. But today, there are ten NYT answer debuts (Hi, @Rich!) – Ten! – each by definition carrying never-before-used clues. Those debuts are in every corner as well as the middle, transforming the grid into a sea of spark. Lovely debut answers too, like BIG TIP, CHARCUTERIE, DUCK IN, and WOOD GRAIN Those debut answers plus a few I didn’t know kept me fully engaged throughout. Adding more engagement was trying to figure out the theme before uncovering the reveal, something I’m weak at and working on. I did figure out that what connected the theme answers was BOARD (woo hoo!). No, I didn’t get the ON THE, and I feel like I should have, but hey, small steps. Bonus in this grid: Three appearances of the unusual letter string UTER, in UTERUS, CUTER, and CHARCUTERIE, not to mention CUTER crossing itself, beautifully at the T! In sum, this puzzle, with its terrific theme and its AURA of wit and skill, kept me involved and delighted. Congratulations on your NYT debut, and brava Alana – I am so hoping for more from you!
With apologies to The Drifters. Oh, when the sun beats down on the foremen and you up on the roof, you wish you could just jump down the flue. Sit on the board of GOOFF (hawks "magic" geodes to losers) on a blanket with my baby is where I'll be Out of the sun Sittin' on the board, with Messi and Samira Sittin' on the board, up in arms 'bout North Korea Sittin' on the board, down by the old bay Sittin' on the board, yeah, the board... From Epcot park you hear the sound of happy orcas Car-ride Romeo in your Rav reciting Garcia Lorca Sittin' on the board of Walmart, every worker is a chess piece On a blanket with my baby is where I'll be Out of the sun Sittin' on the board, I'll be Messi around Sittin' on the board, acting holier than thou Sittin' on the board, with my double kanga-uterus Sittin' on the board, 37 mil ain't that numerous Sittin' on the board, yeah, the board... Yeah, sittin' on the board, down by the old bay On a blanket with my baby that's where I'll be Out of the sun Sittin' on the board, sippin' cold brew Sittin' on the board, gets me a table for two Sittin' on the board, it's TAMALE in the U.S. of A. Sittin' on the board, don't get so anal, it's only Monday On a blanket with my baby that's where I'll be
Tamale, and tamale, and tamale Creeps in this pedantic place from day to day, Past the last syllable of “tamal”; And all our quesadillas have enticed diners The way to salsa breath. Out, out brief condiment! A tamale is but a steaming shadow, a poor imitation That struts and frets its hour upon the plate And then is tasted no more. It is a dish Backformed by boorish Yanquis, full of pork and corn meal Signifying nothing.
@Nat Brilliant! I would pay money to enjoy a performance of Macbeth where the plot is reconstructed around tamales!
Tamale when Mexico elects a female President is a happy coincidence! Thanks!
Has anyone acknowledged the "Foremen" wordplay in the photo of the hot press BBQ? Nice, unclued, and surely not coincidental.
I was very surprised to see the 1 Across clue in a Monday puzzle. I thought I was one of only a handful of people who still had a radio that had any knobs. Wanted to DropIN at 1 Down too, but I'm not up INARMS about it.
@Barry Ancona "Don't touch that DIAL" is a cliche that lives on.
@Barry Ancona Actually, my 2023 automobile has A knob, One. So far the only uses I've found for it so far have been volume adjustment when you turn it, audio off/on when pushed and released, and reset when you push it and hold it in.
Nice to have a Monday puzzle with a little bit of a bite.
It's tamal. It just is. I'll let it slide this time, but next time... I'll also let it slide. Sigh.
@Danny Yup, 💯, and there were a few real contortions to make clues fit.
@Danny Um, Danny, have you checked a dictionary? Or even the earlier comments? It's a TAMALE. Since 1845. That's the James Knox Polk administration. The Mexican War years. We Yanquis will call it what we decide to call it. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tamale" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tamale</a> Or any other dictionary.
Terrific first NYT puzzle, Alana. I'm sure it won't be your last. It's packed with debut entries and very fresh fill for a Monday, making it a pleasure to solve.
Well, she was kinda looking dumb with her finger and her thumb in the shape of an L on her forehead. Well, now I’m up INARMS, because that song is stuck in my heard. Author is here is all-star. RIP Steve Harrell. Cc: emu handler
My last entry was GOOFF and I thought it was new slang and wondered how it was pronounced, and why it meant rant and rave. It took a few minutes for me to see GO OFF 😆 Congrats on the debut!
@Ann That was my last entry too! I guess it's not that weird since it was in the bottom left but still, I wonder how common it was.
@Ann thanks for explaining! I also saw GOOFF and thought i must have something wrong!
Congratulations on a fantastic NYT debut, Ms. Platt! The fill felt particularly fresh. I especially liked seeing SAMIRA Wiley in your grid; her character Poussey Washington was one of my favorites on “Orange Is the New Black.” Hope we’ll see you back here soon!
This was a fresh and delightful puzzle! Wee bit crunchy for a Monday, just how I like em. Loved the Odgen Nash clue. Thank you Alana!
Chile today and hot TAMALE. Nice puzzle and a cute theme - a bit of a workout for a Monday for me with a number of things not dawning on me from the clues, but everything worked out from the crosses (and a couple of googles). Back on a one day streak. Was really surprised to see that there were 10 debut answers - most of them pretty familiar terms or phrases, e.g. CHESSPIECE, BIGTIP, TRIPOUT, ONTHEBOARD, WOODGRAIN, COLDBREW. Furrowed brow. Oh well. Looking forward to more from Ms. Platt. One answer history search today was inspired by 38d: PODBAYDOORS Nope - never been a part of any answer but it is in the Xword Info word list. Quite remarkable (and fun) puzzle find today. I'll put that in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Sunday from January 19, 1997 by Bob Klahn with the title: "Presidential punditry." One clue/answer example: "Presidential biography by Noel Coward?" BLYTHESPIRIT Some other theme answers: DISSEDHILLARY ALGORERHYTHMS THEBIGTIPPER CHELSEAGRAMMAR DIRECTLYTOYALE Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/19/1997&g=103&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/19/1997&g=103&d=A</a> ..
If I can't be pedantic here, then where else? It bothers me to see TAMALE presented as an actual word, when the proper singular spelling is TAMAL. Maybe a good addition to the clue would have been "... to a gringo".
Matt, You have fallen into The Tamale Trap (a term coined by our own Steve L.). The word in Spanish is of course tamal. The Spanish and English plural is tamales. Anglos in El Norte backformed the English word TAMALE. Unless advised otherwise with a signal in the clue, answers are to be in English. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tamale" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tamale</a>
@Matt Heffernan Into the TAMALE TRAP Matt goes. This is such a contested issue (and wrongly so) that we have even given it an actual name. The "proper" Spanish word is "tamal". But the "proper" English word is TAMALE. Since 1845. That's 1845 with an 8. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tamale" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tamale</a> cf. "I'll have a PANINI".
@Steve L My only gripe with your explanation is that M-W is the source. They add "newly coined" words/variants the instant someone incorrectly utters them!
Just a shout out to Sam’s Wegman’s. This chain may not be familiar to many of you. Some of you may remember Steve L’s recent trip to Aldi’s, where the quarter deposit for the grocery carts sent him off to that other store. I spent several years in graduate school in Rochester, NY where I was introduced to Wegmans. It remains my favorite grocery store ever. When I drive up 95 N to New England from my new home in SC, I always break up the trip with a stop at a motel near the Wegman’s in Fredericksburg. VA. Great premade meals at a good price. Just sayin’…
@Hardroch My mom swears by Wegman’s. Not only do they have good quality food at good prices, but in her years of shopping there the customer service has always been excellent.
@Hardroch Yep, happily in the cult of Wegmans, though for us it's still a trek, which only maintains the mystique I suppose. It's a supermarket if supermarkets were pleasant and enriching places to go.
@Hardroch When I lived in NJ, Wegman's was a shlep in multiple directions, but always worth the trip. Just fabulous. How I wish I could go there just one more time. Vegas is not only the desert, it's also a grocery desert, produce desert, and bagel desert, to name just a few areas that are lacking. For a few years, not enough, we had a fabulous supermarket, Glazier's, opened by transplanted New Yorkers to bring all the things we miss from back East. Alas, they decided to retire and closed the store. Aldi's is finally going to open two stores here, but if they pull that quarter deposit garbage I won't be shopping there, either.
The BATEMAN/RAV crossing stymied me for a minute, but in the midst of mentally articulating a post to express my peeve, I realized a typo had caused my confusion and my own clumsy thumbs (👎🏼) were to blame. This puzzle, however, gets a big 👍🏼. The debuts added a lovely challenge. Mondays too often fly by too fast for me to appreciate, but this one lasted long enough to properly enjoy. Thanks, Alana Pratt & eds.!
Felt tough for a Monday, but came at a touch over 6 minutes, no mistakes. Typically I'm a touch under 6 minutes. Some particularly tough crossings today, especially by Monday standards. SAMIRA/ITE, thought it might have been SAMaRA/aTE. UTERUS/FLUE, wasn't sure for the form they were going for (UTERoS and UTERiS could have potential formed FLoE or FLiE)
@Steven M. it's funny how mileage varies. Saffie, just above, gets a PR. You struggled a little bit. My Monday average, going back 4 years, is 4:47. I just kept hitting walls on this one and finished at 7:24. Felt like a Wednesday to me.
@Steven M. I take the opposite route! Monday and Tuesday, I close my eyes, wiggle my finger and then tap blindly on my iPad. That’s the square I have to fill, never moving the cursor. It slows me down, so I get a few more minutes to enjoy my puzzling. Wednesday on, the goal is always top left corner, going across, not moving the cursor and ending on bottom right square. I might need another hobby…
Two surprising new words added to my vocabularies today. English: charcuterie! Spanish (after reading all the way through the Comments): tamal!
@kilaueabart Tamal? The word for "Mexican dish wrapped in a cornhusk" is TAMALE. emu food more emu food
We do not say tamal because no one can ever be satisfied with only one. You would not order a frijol nor a grano de arroz. People are really saying, I'll have.... uh......tamales! (Granted, a stretch, but when I was a ten-year-old in Texas and all my friends were Mexican kids, I don't remember anyone ever saying tamal.)
@dutchiris In my part of South Texas, adults took pride in teaching their children proper Spanish. We would have been quickly corrected if we said “tamale.” Or maybe even accused of being a gringo!
There is no such word as “tamale.” Two or more are tamales; one is a tamal. Common mistake but I’m surprised the NYT didn’t know this!
@RDB came here to say exactly this. Gracias!
@RDB Ok, to save Steve L from having once again to explain the Tamale Trap, let me try a different approach. The name for this “dish” does not come from a Spanish term. “ The tamale, for those who don't know, is a dish of steamed corn dough, which has been popular in the Americas for thousands of years (and still is today). In Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs) it is called tamalli, pronounced almost exactly the same as in English. (tamalli means "something wrapped", as the dish is usually steamed wrapped in a corn husk or banana leaves, depending on the region). The Spanish borrowed it into their own language slightly mutated as tamal, which by normal Spanish pluralization rules is tamales. It is still known by this name by Spanish-speakers today. English-speakers used their own pluralization rules, different from those of Spanish, to assume that since the plural is tamales, the singular must be tamale, mutating the word again. By doing so, they recovered the original pronunciation, purely by accident.” There, tamale is closer to the original Aztec term than that in modern Spanish. See: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/kupx4tbf" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/kupx4tbf</a>
Excellent. Not only couldn't I guess the theme, the unusual theme answer placement made it a tad difficult for me to remember which ones were themers. Hmm. Hungry now. Sure could go for a tac or a burrit.
@ad absurdum O....sorry. Not today....maybe tamale. With a topping of blue emu
I wouldn't know SAMIRA if I fell over her, but all the famous minerals I know are "ITE"s. So no problem there. A COLD BREW certainly sounds like a lot more fun than an iced coffee. Alternatives? Really? I couldn't guess the revealer from the themers, but once I had the "B" from REVERB, I immediately knew, without looking at the clue, that ON THE BOARD would be the revealer. More resistance than usual from a Monday puzzle, I thought, and I quite liked it.
Congratulations, Alana, for scoring high with this puzzle. You're now ON THE BOARD with a NYTXW delightful debut. Well done!
Didn't seem much like a Monday puzzle. This difficulty level usually comes much further in the week. Ah well, don't look a gift emu in the mouth.
Thank you Alana for a just tough enough Monday test. I will look forward to more of your imagination and smarts in the NYT.
OLDBAY! My favorite! Cute theme, great puzzle. I like the nod to Nash and the laundry loss clue for 8d. Thanks for the puzzle!
When we are in Honduras, we eat a lot of freshly made nacatamales, which are more robust than tamales and I like them more. I wasn't sure if you spell them with a c or a k so I Googled it, which leads me to share that today I learned accidentally that one can purchase tamales in a can. Canned tamales exist. 🤯 I don't know what I'm going to do with this information so I think I might just take a nap. I enjoyed the puzzle! A little slower for me than Mondays are these days, though still below my average. Today I also learned that Messi has a first name! I sort of thought he was just Messi! What a day! Did someone mention a nap!? Oh yeah, that was me.. 😴
I beat my Monday record on this one! Previously 3:07, now 2:44
In explaining 1D, Sam cites the difference that "as to a show" makes. That may or may not be true, but the clue that I printed out from the NYT site says "as to a shop."
Juanita, I hit the wrong key once in a while too. How about you? Wed Mar 2, 2022 35A Display one's humanity, in a way Dylan Schiff
@Juanita You’re right. It’s a typo in the article that the (possibly nonexistent) copy editor missed.
Excellent tougher than normal Monday! I loved it. I didn't love that it took me a full 3 minutes to find my one mistake - SAMaRA and aTE instead of SAMIRA and ITE. Ah well, so much for a record today.
TRIP OUT? That does not easily trip off my tongue. I thought the phrase was to "trip on LSD" or to "drop out". Far out. Anyway, nice puzzle, Alana, I was not board. Two for thee, and thee for two. I wouldn't want to be a kangaroo. Cap'n Quahog may wince at OLD BAY.
@Linda Jo TRIP OUT is a thing, I’ve heard. I’ve heard, from people (who are obviously not me) that it at least was common parlance among Deadheads in the 80’s and 90’s. My source can’t speak to the current rhetoric, but definitely a thing at, hypothetically, uh, Bennington College in the late 80’s. Or so I hear.
@Linda Jo - I have mixed feeling about OLD BAY. Since it is most properly used on those nasty predators of my people, the crabs, I salute that use. Of course, there are people who don't understand how to make chowder, who consider it a proper chowder ingredient. Up here in Maine, we know better, so I don't associate OLD BAY with any predation upon my clan, at least not up here. (You have no idea how it pained me to write about chowder just now...)
If you've never tried putting OLD BAY on popcorn before, I highly recommend it! Nice Monday puzzle, congrats on your debut Ms. Platt!!
@Matt I put a dash of OLD BAY in my Bloody Mary yesterday morning...and some Tabasco sauce. It's like magic dust.
I definitely do NOT get the "Skater Tony" who is 56A. Whaaaa? Alana, you left out an essential for quilters... GOOFF... I don't think I've heard this expression for "rant and rave;' there are certainly more colorful and descriptive words and phrases. Blow a gasket. Lose it. Throw a fit. Go ballistic. Iced coffee...UGH...My folks would add that fake 'creamer' to a glass of their (weak) coffee along with a spoonful of sugar. Gag. Anyone else a bit let down by 31A? I always buckle up, but it's seldom an occasion for an exclamation point. Off to the grocers! Whee--a haircut! Wowie-Zowie, the dentist awaits!! Meh.
@Mean Old Lady Tony HAWK was a pro skateboarder. Now he does commercials for joint health supplements.
@Mean Old Lady GO OFF fits, I think. Maybe a new set of wheels would restore the missing exclamation point to your car rides?
OLD BAY! Folks should do themselves a favor and seek out the limited edition Old Bay Goldfish crackers.
Nice debut! Maybe a little crunch, but was a nice, fun solve. Thanks, Alana.
Thanks Alana. Delightful! Love a theme that is down as well as across.
Fun puzzle. A bit of workout for a Monday for me. I would say that “echo” and REVERB are slightly different in terms of electronic sound effects.
I don't think reverb is inherently electronic: analog spring and plate reverbs—not their electronic approximations—have been around in things like Wurlitzer organs since the 1930s. That, along with another commenter correctly pointing out how Echo/Reverb are distinct effects, makes 36 Down's clue in general a bit vague/misleading. A good crossword to start the working week regardless!
@Jimmy I thought of the old spring REVERB too, because I play the guitar, but an analog device can still be considered electronic, just like digital effects. And no, it's not the same as an echo, or even a delay, but close enough for a Monday puzzle.
Nice zippy crunchy Monday puzzle! Congrats on your debut!
Nice Monday! The TONY Hawk double clue was clever!
A very good Monday puzzle! I came within seconds of my PB time and I wasn't even trying to be fast. I didn't see the theme until everything was filled in, but I thought it was clever. The Tony HAWK clue was a nice touch.
@Janine I agree it was nice to see Tony Hawk in the puzzle today. HAWK has been an entry 60 times, but today was the first time it was clued to him. TONYHAWK also appeared once on 5/10/2016., “Big name in skateboarding” by David Kwong. I find it interesting that this constructor, in his 23 published NYT puzzles, has debuted 104 answers (4.5 per puzzle). An impressive 91 of these remain unused again, including TONYHAWK. But as impressive as this sounds you have to look at it in relation to the overall debuts leader, Patrick Berry, with 1842 debuts in 227 puzzles (8.1 per puzzle). Joe DiPietro comes in at 1236/138 about 9.0 per puzzle, Randolph Ross 1050/115 about 9.1 per puzzle, Frank Longoria 686/69 about 9.9 per puzzle, Sam Ezersky 446/44 about 10.1 per puzzle, Charles Deber at 252/20 about 12.6 per puzzle, Byron Walden 1281/101 about 12.7 per puzzle, and Jeremy Newton 369/27 about 13.7 per puzzle. A probably missed somebody but that’s the general idea. I guess it’s obvious that as time goes on the list of possible debut words gets shorter. But Jeremy Newton has been able to keep up his average debuts/puzzle right up to last month 5/13/2024, the famous Monday MINIGOLF puzzle.
If you’re looking for a nice Saturday challenge, October 7, 2006 by David Quarfoot was a lot of fun — especially once I figured out the linked answers, 17A and 3D. It has a few pop culture answers (at least one of which was dated even in 2006), but don’t let that put you off.
@Eric Hougland -- Took you up on it. Wow! I loved the cluing -- tricky, clever, and playful. Made me work, and very satisfying. Thank you for the recommendation! Et tu, emu.
@Eric Hougland I've started it, but I am not very confident of my abilities with this one! We shall see! Thanks for the recommendation, in any case!!
Enjoyed! Fun! Easy! 'Flue' is crazy though. Tough crossing.
Well done, Alana. Enjoyable puzzle. But the editor who placed this puzzle on a Monday must've been "high on acid" No way at all this was a Monday puzzle. Tuesday or Wednesday for sure