Timely entry for CARLOS Alcaraz with him now the odds on favorite to win Roland-Garros. Not sure I've seen his name in a puzzle before. NAAN-violence might be an early contender for clue of the week
@Steven M. Picture a restaurant that serves both Indian food and Southern barbecue. If you want Indian food, they seat you in one section, if you want barbecue, they seat you in a different section. When you come in, they ask you, SMOKING OR NAAN? (Ba-da-bum!)
I was delighted by the inclusion of RUBBER in the theme set! I’ll take smiles anywhere I can find them, and that definitely made me smile. Thanks so much, David Rockow :)
For 40A, “Org. that specifically prohibits bowling pins and pool cues,” I originally had MMA (which of course is the sport, not its governing body). I think I like my answer better. I’ve seen a lot of clues for SSN in the last few years, but this one might be my favorite. When we bought our house back in 1995, I refused to sign the paperwork until they removed our social security numbers from documents that were going to be filed in the public records.
@Eric Hougland OMG, me too with MMA!
@Eric Hougland Really, you did that? emu food more emu food
Big “Hah!” on the rubber duck, both for its surprise and vibe. What is it about those little yellow bath toys that just makes everyone feel good? And much more to like: • Lovely answers CHAFF, DEIGNS, ARMOIRES, PUFFIN, and ALLURE. • Learning about WESSEX, including that the Danes were its persistent enemy, bringing another “Hah!”, with DEIGNS in the grid. • The zing that the main theme answers (those with the most circles) brought to the box, as none of them have appeared in the NYT puzzle more than five times, not to mention that the gorgeous revealer DUCKS IN A ROW is a NYT answer debut. • That backward ROKS crossing MOON. • A good number of entertaining clues, such as [Collection of fine threads] for SPIDER WEB, and the zany [___ violence (really tearing into an Indian appetizer?] for NAAN. • A third “Hah!” when SMALL ARMS elicited the image of a T-rex. Plus, a bit of suspense, as this is David’s third NYT puzzle, with his first two being a Tuesday and Monday. He's on track to hit the cycle (a puzzle for every day of the week) in his first seven puzzles, a feat accomplished by only one constructor, Andrew Reis. Go for it, David! And thank you for a puzzle whose never-done-before theme wowed me and whose fill-in was highly entertaining. Bravo, sir!
@Lewis If you haven't seen The Last Kingdom (Netflix) I highly recommend it. WESSEX was the last Anglo-Saxon kingdom to hold out against the Danes, under the leadership of King Alfred the Great, who would go on to unify England.
If there's a bustle in your HEDGEROW don't be alarmed now. It just might be a RUBBER DUCKY. (Put it down.) <a href="https://youtu.be/acBixR_JRuM" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/acBixR_JRuM</a> Had such a good time solving this. There was plenty of think-beyond-the-obvious cluing, so kudos to David and the editors. It even overcame my circled answers fatigue.
@Vaer enjoyed the puzzle, loved that link! thanks.
Today, the day before the 80th anniversary of D-Day, is an apt time to have HEDGEROW in the puzzle. A fair amount of the territory inland of the Normandy landings was agricultural, including dairy country where the fields were separated by hedgerows. German soldiers used them as camouflage, hiding in them to snipe at the advancing Allied forces. The cows who lived in those fields, however, were not accustomed to having men in their hedgerows, and were quite curious about them. They tended to gather at the spots where the snipers were hidden, investigating. This was a great help to the Allied soldiers, as it tipped off both the presence and the location of the Germans. And that’s how the cows of Normandy supported the Allied cause in the Second World War.
@Jannicut I hadn’t heard that story, but I so hope it was true. Our village will be lighting the beacon at our highest spot tomorrow evening at 21:15 GMT, along with every other beacon in the UK, to mark D Day and to remember all those who fell, both in the war in general and those terrible few days on the beaches of Normandy in particular. Always a very moving moment.
@Helen Wright I learned it from a class taught by historian of France Mary Louise Roberts, author of (among other things) *D-Day Through French Eyes: Normandy 1944* (University of Chicago Press, 2014). The cost of the battles to the Normande cows themselves was very high: certainly many tens of thousands, perhaps as many as 100,000, were killed. Some of the Allies had another reason to be grateful for the white cows. Advancing with few supplies, there were sometimes opportunities for the soldier with the right skill set and his companions to fill their bellies with milk that was as fresh as it could be. (The cows, accustomed to regular milking and therefore made quite uncomfortable by the disruption to their routines, are said to have appreciated the interaction too!)
@Jannicut D-Day was the first thing I thought of when I filled in HEDGEROW, as well. I'd never heard the cow story, though. Interesting. Several years ago, I spotted an elderly gentleman at church, who was wearing a miniature Ranger scroll on his lapel. After the service, I went up and shook his hand, and said, "Airborne," expecting the response, "All the way." That's when he said, "Actually, it was more like seaborne." That's when I realized that he was one of the Army Rangers who scaled the 100-foot cliffs at Pointe du Hoc, with Germans shooting and lobbing grenades at them the whole way. By the time they gained the heights, they had suffered 70 percent casualties, and soon discovered that the guns they were supposed to capture had been removed and replaced with painted telephone poles. Ooh-rah, indeed.
I was always surprised that Dairyman wasn't as popular as Spiderman or Superman. I guess there weren't enough lactose intolerant supervillains for him to foil. Od d
@ad absurdum I always thought he was the cream of the crop.
@ad absurdum He wasn't as exciting as the other heroes, always preoccupied by something, moping around, looking udderly ateat. ... ... Who posts short posts?
Some eggcelent puns in both the comments and the column so far, since we're talking birds and dairy. I'm havin' a pinion about this… and I'm trying to get by as cheep-ly as I can without creating too much of a squawk. Oh, I'm supposed to say something about the puzzle? A good Wednesday exercise, a bit of a crunch, and I liked the theme and twist; and that RUBBER appeared as a SPECIES of duck. Some not-too-common entries and good cluing made this a fun one. Thanks, David.
This is so fun! Duck themed and I was able to finish without look up. Been crossing since February and starting to get the hang of it. Really happy with todays puzzle :)
The RUBBER duckies put a great big smile on my face. What's also putting a smile on my face is that D*avid R*ock*OW constructed a puzzle about D*ucks in a ROW. A crunchy and clever puzzle with many a misdirect. What's not to love? And TIL what a LANDLUBBER is. That would be me! The only time I've been on a sailboat, I almost went overboard as I sat, chit-chatting, while the sail came at me. The wind must have been carrying voices in the opposite direction, away from me, when they yelled DUCK!
Nicely put together. HEDGEROW and GRANDMA were my last to finish off, because I'd put ALT for HGT. Otherwise a very smooth solve.
@Liz B I had the exact same trouble
@Liz B I also had ALT for HGT, eventually it became clear the answer had to be an alternative way of referring to 'elev'. I enjoyed this puzzle quite a bit! It now just dawned on me, as I'd thought earlier, "I've never heard of the 'rubber' breed," it is the TOY duck!
If you throw your plate in the duck pond, it might get a quack in it. (I'll send you the bill.)
What a Quacker of a puzzle! It was absolutely ducky and quacked me up!
PUFFINS and EMUS in addition to a quartet of ducks made this puzzle fun for this birder. And the twist of the fourth duck being a RUBBER duck made me smile. I’ve yet to see a PUFFIN, but I did see lots of EIDERs on my Memorial Day weekend visit to Maine
@Marshall Walthew And don't forget the the lovely IBIS, too!
@Marshall Walthew We saw puffins on a trip to Scotland. They are even cuter when you call them by their Scottish name: "wee tammie norries"
Clued with so much verve, wit, imagination and freshness, this puzzle was an absolute joy to solve. Get busy, Lewis-- there's an awful lot here to choose from. Where to begin with the smile-inducing clues? DATE, NAUSEA, NAAN, FLAT EARTHER, FUNERALS, ULNA, TSA. Even SSN is a hoot. And the theme is playful and adorable too. I picked it up at MALLARD with its wayward "D". What an interesting and unusual idea for a theme! Who thinks of such a thing? I bet you'd be fun to have lunch with, David. Funny and unpredictable. I absolutely LOVED this puzzle!
@Nancy That’s the best clue I have seen for SSN in quite a while.
@Nancy Off Topic Do you play Wordle? Monday's word was custom made for you. (In case you don't, it started with an S and ended in a K.)
Enjoyed the cluing and answers, and the rubber ducky. Fun, fast, and easy. Thanks! Anybody remember the old "CM ducks? MR not ducks!" story? For some reason it tickled my 94 year old mom and she knew it annoyed me, so I heard it out of the blue at the weirdest times. Her version of "rickrolling'. She'd be 100 this year. May she rest in peace.
@TMD ABCD goldfish? LMNO goldfish! SMR goldfish! DLDR! That was one of my mother's. I think they were hard up for laughs during her growing-up years (b 1921, so The Great Depression, etc.)...
@TMD I have a coffee mug souvenir from a trip to Maryland’s Eastern Shore with a whole comedy routine: MRDucks MRNotDucks OSAR…CMWangs? MRDucks!
I’m going to pull a Rich-in-Atlanta here, bringing attention to a most lovely puzzle from the past that relates to today’s puzzle. This was an 8/7/21 grid in the Wall Street Journal, 21x21, by Ross Trudeau and Enrique Henestroza Anguiano, with the following theme answers: DUCKS IN A ROW CATS IN THE CRADLE PIGS IN A BLANKET GORILLAS IN THE MIST ANTS IN THE PANTS BATS IN THE BELFRY The revealer was SERVICE PETS, answer number 115A, and each theme answer was given a clue that gave utility to the animals in question. For instance, DUCKS IN A ROW was clued [115-Across that help you find your concert seat?]. Fabulous theme, IMO!
Loved this. I thought I was looking for colours when I got teal in the circles. All soon became clear with mallards. Having a rubber ducky in there was the icing on the cake. WESSEX: while the clue is technically correct in naming it an ancient region and you won’t find it marked on any modern maps, it is still alive and kicking. It’s comprised of the counties of Somerset and Avon (where I live) and Dorset. The Somerset Levels, of which the magical area of Glastonbury is the chief town, is the once marshland where Alfred hid from the Danes. It’s reclaimed land now but still floods during wet weather. The name Somerset derives from the old English ‘summer’s people’, so named because they needed to move community and animals to higher ground in winter to avoid the floods. The current King’s youngest brother, Edward, is the current Duke of Wessex.
@Helen Wright Live and learn (about so much)! Thanks for the info about Somerset!
This was a fun puzzle. Having said that, I would like to thank all you punny scribes for the smiles, the groans, the witticisms and creative spirits that you share and post each day. For me, it's like a version of "Calgon take me away," where I am able to escape from politics and news. Thank you.
TEAL, MALLARD, EIDER...RUBBER???? As they always sang on Sesame Street, One of these things is not like the other One of these things just doesn't belong. RUBBER? I'm not down with that. (Ducks and runs.)
@Steve L They also sang: Rubber Duckie, joy of joys When I squeeze you, you make noise Rubber Duckie, you're my very best friend it's true
@Steve L Count me as awfully fond of RUBBER duckies, (because they belong in the bath it still qualifies as a squeaky clean theme set)! (Otherwise, I think it might have been rather dry…)
Cute puzzle - don't remember another theme quite like this one. Pretty smooth solve, but ended up with one wrong square and took me a long time to find it. I spent a while reviewing the theme answers, but turned it was just a typo on a simple cross. I'm done. ..
The image of people in a TSA line carrying pool cues and bowling balls is really funny. Would love to hear their explanations. This puzzle will stay in my head all day.
@Once a Marine I found this funny as well and was compelled to verify it at <a href="https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/all-list" target="_blank">https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/all-list</a> Apparently a bowling pin is considered so club-like as to be a weapon!
I actually asked DHubby if he'd ever heard of a SPECIES of DUCK called RUBBERs. (He said, "No," not looking up from his laptop computer. So that makes two of us.) Not enough sleep? And Yes, this CCRC where we are living has a "memory care" unit. "There once was a PUFFIN..." One of the great ones.... (See? *that* I can remember....) Is NAAN really an appetizer? I think of it more as an accompaniment to a meal. Nice puzzle with interesting entries!
@Mean Old Lady I wish I would have caught onto the pun sooner, because I love it, but I love Indian food so much that suddenly visions of vegetable samosas, cheese or chili pakora, and aloo tikki started dancing in my head... Some of my favorite appetizers! Of course I love naan but, like you, I don't think of it as an appetizer. Though I imagine some do! In any case, it was one of my favorites in this puzzle! 😊
I loved this! Thank you. It felt fresh and fun. Really enjoyed the word play of 14A, 16A, 44A, 59A, 11D, and 14D. Not to mention the grab bag of fun facts. And the theme was clever, and masterfully constructed.
Just ducky! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) The only thing that slowed me down was confidently writing in SUSSEX and then realizing that that couldn't work. WESSEX was an easy guess. This was such a clever theme, but RUBBER put it over the top!
This was my first Wednesday puzzle that I solved without looking anything up or using auto check. I love how crosswording (at least NYT crosswording) is a skill that can be built!
@Healz Congratulations! Yes, you can definitely develop your crossword solving skills. You might find yourself improving quicker than you expected. Good luck and have fun!
@Healz Kudos! Yes, it is indeed something which one gets better at with time.
Everyone's talking about how they like the inclusion of RUBBER, but can we get some applause for ARMOIRE too? Haven't seen it in a while but I love that word, makes me feel sippin wine in morning dress suit
@Tristan My first and favorite hotel room in Paris was six flights up, right under the roof, sink in the room, shower down the hall. Most of the furniture was simple, plain, utilitarian, but in my room there was a magnificent antique armoire. I stayed in that room every time if it was available (my main competitor was a professor from McGill University who had stayed in it while he worked on a Ph.D. at the Sorbonne and had a sentimental attachment to it). It was perfect, quiet, private, and with a bouquet of flowers on the shelf over the bed, quite lovely. Once when I had a different room I asked about the top floor armoire. "Oh," Madame Keniger said, "It's still there because when we remodeled the hotel we could never manage to get it down the stairs." I like to imagine that it's still there, but it's been ten years since I was in Paris and it's very likely gone.
This is, by far, my favorite Wednesday puzzle of the year. I solved it without any help! And it’s so cute with all the 🦆 🦆 🦆! (Or rather not in a row!) What a clever theme! And I am definitely using 14D the next time I go to an Indian restaurant! Also, now that I understand what emus are in crossword puzzles, I love seeing them pop up in one. Do emus and ducks get along?
This was my 6th Wednesday in a row, which is a new personal record, at least on paper (as it were). But, I had to take a peek at the answer key. I typically stumble (pretty badly) on celebrities' and athletes' names; I wish I didn't; I wish I had more time to keep up with entertainment. I bet you wish I would use one more semicolon. Despite my having to cheat a bit, I actually felt like today's puzzle was easier than yesterday's. Plus, I learned a lot about mallards and their kin, of which I am ducking ignorant. I'll show myself out.
@Alan Parker It's not cheating. Remember that the constructors have every possible internet resource at their fingertips. I guess they "cheat" too when they construct a puzzle using those resources.
You gotta put down the duckie Put down the duckie Put down the duckie if you want to play the saxophone <a href="https://youtu.be/acBixR_JRuM" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/acBixR_JRuM</a>
I'm not calling fowl or anything, but I might have preferred SMALL ARMS to be clued as a feature of T-rex and kangaroos. I realize that's only my personal aversion to weapons that I find crops up in odd places, like here. But, apparently, my personal aversions and various words/phrases I don't know yet are not listed as forbidden within the NYT crossword construction guidelines... How odd! 😉 (Odd duck?) Back to SMALL ARMS, funnily enough, it was placed perfectly near to NAAN-violence, which, once I got, I quacked up about. I'm quite taken with Peshwari NAAN, but NAAN-violence might just be my new favorite! I should have gotten that one sooner but, like MOL said earlier, I don't think of it as an app and so I got distracted thinking about what I do acknowledge as Indian apps. Mm! It was worth the wait! Loads of fun in this one! Favorites include: ARMOIRES for drawers with drawers, DUCKS IN A ROW, SPIDER WEB, FLAT EARTHER, SSN (who'da thunk SSN would ever be a favorite!?), and NAUSEA. Also the inclusion of RUBBER ducks as a species. I actually have a rubber ducky. He came from a work trip to the Peabody Hotel in Memphis—where their ducks put on quite the parade! If I recall correctly, they started in a row but once arriving at the big fountain, it was not so much the case. 🦆 🦆 🦆 🦆
@HeathieJ I prepared some dough to use in my Indian bread, it was a naan starter 😝
@HeathieJ My husband and I have a rubber ducky mounted on the torpedo buoy we use for open water swims. We named her Brenda and think of her as our mascot. Her bright yellow color on top of the orange buoy makes us a little more visible.
I have been playing Wingspan which has widened (though not deepened!) my exposure to birds. So I loved the theme, and CHAFF, and PUFFIN. I didn’t understand RUBBER until the revealer, however! Haha.
Sitting back and waiting to see what the group does with 53D.
@Francis I didn't even notice the EMUS until I was done. They hide nicely within the crossings. I don't know about you, but my ARMOIRE is chock-full of EMUS!
Slower than my average by a minute or two, which isn't common for a midweek puzzle. The top half came easily (unfortunately including alt.), the bottom half, less so. Today's theme reminded me of the phone number that a discount brokerage used to have. In amongst the other automated attendant options, one of them was "To hear a duck quack, press 7". Sure enough, it worked. Apparently it generated a lot of calls, although I have no idea how many wound up as customers.
I suppose by now that every possible duck pun has been made, so I'll just say thanks for the good, fun puzzle, David. And for keeping me grounded with the FLATEARTHERs and LANDLUBBERS. It was EMUSing.
I like the EMUS making an appearance in this puzzle!
DUCKing in quickly to offer my compliments for this sweet puzzle! No time to read all the preceding comments, but I’m assuming there’s at least one “bustle in your HEDGEROW.” Today is the beginning of my next trip around the sun (or is that tomorrow???). In any case, it was a good start in which family answered my request for some muscle help in the garden. Got much accomplished!!! 🌸 Cheers, all!
@Kate Happy birthday! I hope all your wishes for the next year come true.
@Kate Happy Birthday, and may there be many more.
I actually used the theme to get the E and I if EIDER, contributing to a super swift solve. We just had a SUBstitute teacher, so I was trying for something more than zero. I enjoy romping through these early week puzzles, even as I wonder what the next days will bring.
@Jennifer Me too! I was stuck on that corner of the puzzle until I got the E for eider. That part was a hard nut to quack :)
Land ho! "Polly want a quacker!" Agree with the cute puzzle comments. Little rubber ducks are common "throw" during parade season in NOLA. We have more than our fair share. Thank you David
This puzzle went in smooth as a duckbill hairstyle. (Okay, I may be stretching the analogy a little too far!) I don't look at my stats any more, but it may have been a PB; nary a pause nor a ponder from beginning to end. Only the clue at 14D made me hesitate a nanosecond: Is he really going there with that pun?? Why yes, yes he is! So punny in a grid without that vibe anywhere else. I do like the responses it has engendered in the comments. :) That SPIDER WEB clue is a gem! I also loved FLAT-EARTHER and LANDLUBBERS together in a grid. With apologies to any solvers of the latter persuasion: In my (coastal) world, these two types somehow resonate on the same *wavelength*. ;) I almost didn't bother to parse the circled letters after my solve, but I'm so glad I did. (@Vaer said it very well in an earlier post: "It even overcame my circled answers fatigue.") That RUBBER ducky stole the show! Just the right wink to complete the puzzle. Thanks David!!
So funny: Loading additional replies in the comments is failing today, and when I look at the browser's javascript console to debug this problem you see (along with the error messages) a javascript comment with an ASCII image of the NYT logo and a message that says: NYTimes.com: All the code that's fit to window.print() We're hiring: <a href="https://boards.greenhouse.io/thenewyorktimes" target="_blank">https://boards.greenhouse.io/thenewyorktimes</a>
@EGW that’s clever! But perhaps, it should not be too surprising coming from the crossword gang at the NYT
@EGW It's really fun to pull up the html, and read what the developers may not realize they're exposing. On the other hand, most know by this point. One site (can't remember which) has a bunch of letters stacked together which spell, "Like code, huh?"
Nice cluing, and the smile inducing RUBBER duck made for a fun solve. Thanks, David. Your love of the natural world comes through with the theme as well as PUFFIN, SPIDER WEB, MOON and, yes, even EMUS.
Sam surely knows that "like" is a preposition and "as" is a conjunction. Hence, the often goofed-up phrase "like I said" should be "as I said." Why, you may well ask? So that the GRE, GMAT, LSAT, and even the ACT/SAT tests can ding you for an easily-overlooked syntactical error. Here's a simple tell tale: if there's a verb to the right of the conjunction, "as" is called for. All seniors take note.
Crossword themes sometimes break crossword rules, and good writing sometimes breaks usage rules. I enjoyed Sam's "incorrect" use of "like" here: 62A. “Unlikely sailors” are known as LANDLUBBERS. It’s like I always say: Land is for lubbers. And from an earlier time, who could forget: Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.
@Foster As I'm sure you realize, language changes, and Barry's example of the Winston ad was fifty years ago! Even then, "like" was commonly substituted for "as" in casual conversation, and in the subsequent half-century, the distinction has been totally lost. "Like" has an entry as a conjunction (entry 7) is considered the same as "as"(def. 2), with a Keats citation, no less. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/like" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/like</a> Your English teacher was probably spouting already obsolete rules he or she learned in school; no English teacher is wasting time on this one anymore. Like I said, "like" is a fine conjunction. (In case you're one of those M-W deniers: <a href="https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/like_5" target="_blank">https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/like_5</a> <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/like" target="_blank">https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/like</a> ) (Collins also includes it but mentions that some people consider it incorrect. They must know you...)
No bowling pins or pool cues, but light sabers are okay! <a href="https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/light-saber" target="_blank">https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/light-saber</a> It's always refreshing to see humor from a government agency! As they say, "May the force be with you"!
Likely, the best way to fix this is just to post the question: Anyone else not able to see below any of the folds? “View all replies” just keeps not loading. 2:03 pm ADT, Wed 5 Jun 2024 (been happening about an hour)
@JohnWM That’s happening to me, too. And it’s happened to me on other days.
JohnWM, Same here. Also here. And, for good measure, also here.
I have camped on Isle Royale and it is so beautiful. One of my best memories is walking through a huge field of wildflowers, and how sweet it smelled. It was a fun puzzle too, and I love that clue every time.
I was so confident that 8D was REEL that I tried to bend the entire NE corner around it. I have a lucky flush of mallards that lives just outside my front window (and sometimes on my roof), so I took the problem to them and they helped me figure it out.
Great theme! TY, David Rockow! Especially loved the Constructor Notes. See you again, hopefully!