Saturday, June 15, 2024

Finished, glancing over the clues and answers. That’s when I wondered: how come no ice cream truck uses Dies Irae for a jingle? Day of wrath, day of doom, Ice cream truck! Out we zoom! How much can we all consume? Eat too much: be my guest! Grant us all eternal rest.

Random thoughts: • One of the great pleasures of solving is suddenly seeing a longer answer when you place in its first or second cross. That happened again and again today, producing a surfeit of pleasure. • Lovely cross of two possible names AL FREDO and DON VITO. • Those nine black squares in the middle, moving diagonally SE to NW, reminded me of one of my favorite grid art creations of fish swimming upstream -- <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/8/2014" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/8/2014</a> -- by Bruce Haight. Worth a peek! • I like how NAMEDROPPED goes downward. • I also like the sing-song trio of ROMA / VERA / FAVA. Try saying that five times fast. • ONE has appeared in crosswords well more than a thousand times, but never clued anything like the marvelous misdirecting [Small cube]. One of Ryan’s areas of study (at Carnegie Mellon) is math, so the clue doesn’t surprise me. Ryan, your puzzle took me all over the place in a very enjoyable way, on top of a sweet uncovering of the squares. A most entertaining outing toda -- thank you so much for making this!

In our neighborhood, the Pavlovian effect of the ice cream truck music never fails to bring out a salivation army of customers. Et tu, emu.

My electricians came over on short notice. (Wire they so good?)

What a pleasure it was to solve this puzzle. TILs aplenty ("Rivers and Mountains Embroidered on Silk"; subject of King Gayanendra"), all solidly unmasked by some tiptop crosses—simple fills cleverly clued. A very satisfying game to play. Congratulations, Ryan Judge, and a big SMOOCH to show I CARE.

Nice twist on A.M.A. My age is showing. But I act immature…so I got that going for me.

Way too much trivia for me, far from my wheelhouse. Had to consult the column and comments

Well that was tough. 32 minutes of grinding. I was a particular fan of the Oppenheimer clue. Ironic that my last two letters to fall were both Ds and required some guessing, as I'd never heard of either DIESIRAE or Rafael DEVERS. Hadn't heard of Anita ODAY, either, and ONADARE was quite the reach. My streak continues, though, and I'm once more a day away from my first ever full week streak

Now that was a challenging Friday puzzle. Are really tough Saturdays only a CHILDHOOD MEMORY? Or only on SNL? Believe me, I CARE. PESTOS and ALFREDO? Neither DON VITO nor I are a SIN EATER. SATAN SEXTED a BAE? PAH? I will not REUP. Thank you, Ryan.

Liked this puzzle a lot. Even more so because I just hit two years on my streak (counting the leap day)! Resisting the urge to trumpet 53A but it's hard. :)

I enjoyed this one, which I completed much faster than I thought I would when I started it. Luckily, although there were many unfamiliar specific knowledge clues, there were also a number of clues on topics in my wheelhouse. For the foodie in me there were some saucy clues (PESTOS and ALFREDO), as well as FAVA and DOSAS (delicious with a spicy mango chutney). For the music lover in me STYNE, ODAY, DIESIRAE and AMEN were gimmes, and got me going. The grid was quite interesting too. It seemed a little off kilter with the grid spanners not being symmetrical

Phoebe Bridgers is smashing! An American treasure!

Challenge aplenty for me and I ended up feeling smart in solving with no cheats -- though I was sorely tempted on DEVERS, VERA and DON who? Several long answers produced "Eureka!"s in me when they came in because they meant I was going to solve the puzzle. They were also my favorite answers: NAME DROPPED and CHILDHOOD MEMORY.* I knew that the answer to "bigger than a peck" would be some sort of KISS, but KISS didn't fit and neither did SMack. I was thrilled when SMOOCH came in. I would have had the NW done much more quickly if I hadn't had fEed instead of SEAT at 20A for "do a host's job." Memo to host: Please, please FEED me and I'll find my own SEAT. Thanks so much. *I don't have a CHILDHOOD MEMORY of learning to ride a bike. I have two indelible CHILDHOOD MEMORies of NOT learning to ride a bike. One is with my (five years younger) brother and one is with a teenage boyfriend of the moment. I behaved the same way in both instances, climbing on the ridiculously wobbly contraption and then screaming "DON'T LET GO! DON'T LET GO!! DON'T LET GO!!!" Both brother and erstwhile boyfriend had the same reaction. "Just get off, Nancy. I really can't deal with this." Riding on wobbly things, skating on slippery things, climbing on high, steep, precarious things -- these have never been among my predilections or talents. Terra firma -- that's the place for me!!! I loved this puzzle. I thought it was a perfect Saturday: challenging, colorful and engrossing.

Some years ago in my neighborhood, there was an ice cream truck that drove around each summer playing a loop of calliope music from Mozart's Requiem. Macabre as that was, he still sold lots of ice cream. Fun puzzle, though. :)

It's interesting how random events can lead to an easy answer. Calvin and Hobbes comics have been popping in my social media feed a lot...probably because I read them! A very recent one had Calvin struggling with a math problem, so he asks Hobbes what a "peck" is. Hobbes's answer: "a smooch", with his happy goofy grin. Calvin then looks back at the problem and mutters something about not understanding math at all! So PECK:SMOOCH was a gimme today!

Even though I have a Samsung Galaxy tablet, it took reading the Wordplay column to get why ANDROIDS made sense. ACH! This was an enjoyable puzzle that scratched my Friday itch. I had diE instead of ONE at 8D and had to think about why ONE made sense. With __XES in place at 36D, I inexplicably put in voXES wondering why the answer was in Latin and thinking, "Oh boy, the complaints are going to fly" before I got SAXES. I had AM I MAKING THis UP?, but Jezebel and SATAN put me on the correct path, which probably doesn't happen often. Nice puzzle, Ryan. Have a great birthday!

Well, I got totally stumped with the clue 13 down — answer “shiest.” Unfortunately I know a sweet young lady named “Aymee.” — Great puzzle. (I’m probably the shyest person to ever comment!)

Solved about half the puzzle last night before I got stalled and fell asleep for about four hours. When I woke up I was able to finish without too much agony. A good reminder that taking a break really does work. (Though sometimes hard to do.) Like so many others, missed the Galaxies/ANDROIDS connection. And of course that is my phone. Had to wait out the Apse/NAVE kealoa and had Bushel before SMOOCH. Loved the VERA clue. All in all quite fun.

Even as I type this on an android the correct answer is obviously OLDFORDS. <a href="https://news.classicindustries.com/inspired-by-the-space-race-the-ford-galaxie-1959-1974" target="_blank">https://news.classicindustries.com/inspired-by-the-space-race-the-ford-galaxie-1959-1974</a> SMH.

Another tough one for me, and I had to cheat a bit in some places, but managed to work it out. One clue history search today was for FAVA. As I half-expected it's twice been clued with a reference to 'Silence of the Lambs.' Somebody will that get. Interesting puzzle find today that I'll put in a reply. ..

A very nice Saturday puzzle -- not impossible, but not too easy. The "galaxies", "small cube", and "tenor... " clues all led me in the wrong direction. I suspected "bigger than a peck" would be SMOOCH. And "church section" is always either apse or NAVE. You just have to wait it out. Very glad to see a Beatles song reference (which could have been VERA or Dave). There were a few lookups (life's too short to agonize over categories one does not know). The misdirections were clever and fun. Bravo to the constructor!

Am I the only one who thought of TURKEY IN THE STRAW as the iconic ice cream truck jingle?

Great line from "Everyone Loves Raymond" in which we learn that when Ray & Robert were children Marie told them that the ice cream truck music meant "no ice cream left!" By the way, I have not gotten smarter so why do I keep thinking Saturdays have gotten easier?

The Godfather fan in me just loved that (AL)FREDO intersected with DON VITO!

Fell smack-dab into a BUSHEL trap, and it was a big one because I refused to try to climb out until the end. When the NW was pretty much blank except for my BUSHEL. Deleted it, and the answers fell like autumn leaves. If leaves fell into little boxes. I’m a fantastic metaphoricist. This one was tough for me. I liked it. And am reminded how much I know nothing about. Crosses for the win! Guessing I’m about to be further humbled by PB! PR! Felt like a Wednesday! To all of you whose experience was such, you simply know more stuff than I do. Way more. I applaud your stuff-awareness. Truly. It’s Saturday! Enjoy your day, all!!

Well y'all may have found this an easy Saturday, but I sure didn't! I had to look up 5 or 6 things (people) which I'm working hard to stop doing. I did enjoy a few things though, there was a lot of interesting fill and some really clever clues. "Got one's phone dirty" for SEXTED was a favorite.

Enjoyed this one very much- a bit crunchy in the Northwest, and a few wrong initial write-ins, but managed to parse it all out eventually.

Great puzzle with juicy entries. But maybe my favorite part is that, if you turn it 45 degrees clockwise, you look into the face of a very worried poodle. Maybe her BAE slipped off his DOG LEASH and is in danger of getting a SNAKE BITE.

A very nice start to the weekend! Kudos to the setter. Original and entertaining, no duds!

Happy 15A of my father trying to help me learn to ride a bike. We had a heavy old one-speed "boys" bike that was probably too big for 7-year-old me and we tried it with him jogging along steadying it from behind. Didn't go well.He finally got me a lighter 3-speed and left me to try on my own. After a few scraped knees I did get the hang of it. Many happy years including several in Chicago with no car when I cycled even through snow. I haven't tried for a couple of years now. Wonder if it's true that you never forget.

In my old neighborhood, there was an ice cream truck that played the ENTERTAINER sometimes. Most of the time, inexplicably, it played Christmas carols. If you're ever in the North End of St. Paul in July, and you hear Jingle Bells, the ice cream man cometh.

I have a test tomorrow on spacecrafts. I hope I rocket! (It's right after my launch period.)

I flew through the top half and then hit a wall. I had to change some of my answers, and then change them back because they were right to start with. A challenge, but still pretty quick.

For 44A, I wanted to answer “SMOL bean”, but that didn't seem likely.

The ice cream truck song I grew up hearing (and heard as recently as last week) was Red Wing, which of course didn't fit the grid, but Red Wing was based on The HAPPYFARMER, so with ---------ER already entered, I confidently and incorrectly filled that in. I guess Colorado and New York sing along to different tunes Still managed nine minutes under average for this delightful Saturday romp.

Seemed to be a lot of trivia that made it quite daunting on first pass. But having said that the crosses kept filling and it became more feasible. Did not enjoy doing it but enjoyed finishing it. Think that’s probably the point so working my way round to a thumbs up in a desultory way.

I could do without the snake picture.

There are still ice-cream trucks out there? What's a PAH without its OOM? "A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck" --ring a bell for anyone? "Pie Jesu" I know from Faure's Requiem. Is 'hymn' the right word for that piece? SIN EATER came up in an O'Brien sea novel, but wow, pretty obscure. Some CHILDHOOD MEMORIES about learning to ride a bike are not all that jolly. My first bike was my only bike--the twin of my sister's (who was 4 years older and tall for her age). It was far too big and heavy for me. I didn't learn to ride until the folks bought our younger brother a bike (of appropriate size)--which I borrowed and learned on. The big bike fit me when I was fully grown.

Man, this was a great puzzle. Nice work, Ryan.

Many people have already noted the crossing of DON VITO and (AL)FREDO. I was thinking that this was a missed cluing opportunity, until I did the research and learned that Fredo Corleone's full name was not Alfredo, but Frederico. And, along with many, I learned today about the odd tradition of the SIN-EATER. Did anyone else think that this sounded a bit too Harry-Potter-ish? Perhaps this is where J.K. Rowling got the idea of the Death Eaters?

I thought the answer to Galaxies was “old Fords”. My defense is I’ve always had iPhones!

As soon as I got my head out of the stars, I got galaxies. One of my last entries. I had place held with "astroids" in case it was a rebus initially, and it worked for some of the cross entries. When I came back to it I was able to rethink the whole galaxy idea. I loved smooch! I had bushel initially. Another nice misdirection. the clues were clever and so much fun to solve. I really enjoyed this Saturday puzzle.

I always thought the lyric was “HERE ARE Chuck and Dave.” Learned something new today.

Please can someone explain ASK is an answer for A.M.A. member? Thank you!

Oday was the answer to a clue in a puzzle I solved yesterday ("She performed with Kenton") but I can't recall if it was yesterday's or one from the archive. I'm so strapped for ways to amuse myself in my dotage that I'm redoing puzzles I solved 40 years ago in the hardcopy Times with a pencil!!

Great puzzle, though I had to flyspeck SHyEST and AyMEE. Given the randomness of name orthography, my preferred spelling of SHIEST seemed perfectly natural. (With the "I", it looks to me as if it should be pronounced as one syllable.) Had to consult Google to clear that up.

I had a bit of trouble understanding how Galaxies can be Androids, when I had just been holding one in my hand. DOH!

Very unpromising at first with very few gimmes. (ATLAS and ENTERTAINER were two.) But in the end it succumbed far more quickly than yesterday's puzzle.

Ice cream trucks in my neighborhood play "Do Your Ears Hang Low" - how I wish it was "The Entertainer"

I believe I have never heard an ice cream truck play The ENTERTAINER before. In movies (and in my own limited experience) it seems to me it’s always ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ though perhaps I’m imagining that. Certainly, the clue is not wrong! I’m just thinking of my experience. Lovely puzzle. I thoroughly enjoyed the solve even hunting down my error of sCARE for 56A. ACH!