Saturday, July 13, 2024

A bit appalled by some commenters' dismissiveness towards Mahershala Ali - put some respect on that name! An incredibly talented and well-regarded actor, whose name is actually quite easy to spell and pronounce once you give it the courtesy of a moment's consideration. White-centric bias really showing.

A little bit hard. Not a lot of fun. I'm very much not fond of oaten or "dele" and Nolita seems like a ridiculous anachronism, no? In sum, only okay. I'll shut up now.

Sing it, Barry! His name is Henry, he is a princeling with reddish tinge to his hair, his father says he's not an heir. He drove to L.A. in his Impala, Meghan hung out with Mahershala and while she tried to be a star, get a Tony nod from afar, across the crowded alley they got a seven-ten split, they were young and had each other, who would ask if they'd ever quit? They went on Oprah, in Oprah's cabana, the hottest interview from there to Havana, and then Oprah, in Oprah's cabana where music and passion are always in fashion asked how they fell in love. Oprah, Oprah's cabana... His name was Morgan, a TV Brit-twit, he was escorted from the bar after seeing Meghan from afar and asking her to dance at his private barre, Morgan went a bit too far and Henry stood up and dropped his cigar, And then the punches flew and chairs were smashed in two There was blood and a single gun shot But just who shot who? They went on Oprah, in Oprah's cabana, the hottest interview from Louisiana to Montana, there on TV she icily hurled right there on Oprah, in Oprah's cabana where gossip and dishin' is Oprah's main mission, on Oprah, in her cabana... Her name is Meghan, she was an actor, but that was long ago, years before "omnia vincit amor" and now her career's down the drain every picnic calls for rain. At the Queen's funeral her black tulle veil the press declared a fashion fail: Piers Morgan said her repute is ill because she said to him "Like hell I will" on Oprah, at her cabana...

Definitely an autocheck puzzle for me around the halfway point. Not really bad in any way, but filled with terms and places/people I had no hope of guessing. I’m not a fan of some of the clues: I doubt I ever would have gotten the northwest and southwest corners without autocheck (the frustrating Go Fish players clue was especially bad, and I had just never heard that Latin phrase, so it could have been anything), and trying to guess the random name of a Muslim actor you’ve never heard of is incredibly difficult if you barely have any headway in the middle. There was also a French word I had seen but had no idea what it meant, so that clue was very useless to me, and there were an annoying number of, “What inane phrase is clued by this other inane phrase?” All in all, I don’t think it was a bad puzzle, but it’s definitely the first Saturday in a while where I felt like I had no hope of getting it on my own. Just too many random bits of trivia I would have had to look up to have any shot.

I love LIKE H3LL I WILL crossing I’LL SHUT UP, the latter maybe timidly coming after blasting out the former. Both answers are NYT answer debuts, by the way, as are two other colloquial answers IT’S A SETUP and TASTE THIS. There are eight answer debuts overall, giving this puzzle serious pop, especially that scintillating center stack, with the top two being debuts, and the third having appeared but once in the Times puzzle. I love that stack. I also love: • HAIR METAL, which triggers in me the electric feel of the teen-and-just-beyond years – remember that feel? • ILL REPUTE, which, despite being old fashioned, doesn’t feel musty to me. I don’t hear it often, but when I do, it just sounds perfect; admirably does its job. • The crossing wannabe names: TONY NOD and NORA IN. • Being stuck in an area of the puzzle, leaving it, then later returning and in a whoosh filling that sucker in. That happened several times today. So, much to love on top of completing a satisfying Saturday. Two puzzles into the NYT, Eli, your name has become one I hope to see much more of. Thank you for a splendid outing today!

"Do you bowl?" "If the mood strikes." ("Yeah, you have to be in right frame of mind.")

Anyone else have Tony nom at first? Steam looked reasonably fine until I actually read the 13D clue... 😜 🤣 😄 😆 😉

I’m surprised no one complained about the NOLITA clue, as that name originated in the 1990s, and the clue refers to something from 1909. Sure, you can make an argument that it’s technically correct, but it would have been so easy to clue the entry without that mismatch.

Just stopping by before a weekend in New England... Yeah sure, it's Eli His second crossword With gasstationsushi in the air His first grid had anheirandaspare! He now is allin with sophmore e-clat And while we try to earn gold stars Eli, he raised the bar A picnic with norain, nitrates or antz to blame Clues like spanx, saxes and impala Who could asp for more? At Eli's copa - no lemonlaws! Can't smile without emu 😉

With all the discussion around MAHERSHALA ALI (in spelling or relative obscurity), I'm surprised no one's yet mentioned Sebastian COE crossing TWIN CAM engines - neither of which I knew without running the alphabet + googling. Maybe COE seems more obscure to me due to my age...? whereas M.A. has won two Oscars less than a decade ago. He also happens to be from Oakland just like me - if anyone's interested, he produced an amazing, Emmy-winning documentary about the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest that's worth watching.

I was not familiar with DELE. In copy editing we always used a squiggle. I am familiar with its friend STET. I guess DELE is the official word for the squiggle? I got briefly stuck on the Z but otherwise a fun and smooth solve with just enough struggle.

Alas, one of my least favorite Saturdays in a long time.

Any puzzle featuring the lyrics of Copacabana *and* Sam NEILL is more than okay by me. Toss in MAHERSHAHALA ALI and WPA MURAL and I'm a happy solver. Her name was Lola. She was a show girl..... Let's here it for the late 1970s. <a href="https://youtu.be/A7XdfYeI0Fw?si=hzzk0kgGAE0-8YWFd" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/A7XdfYeI0Fw?si=hzzk0kgGAE0-8YWFd</a>

Hard but really fun. This is the type of puzzle that makes me think “maybe I’m good at this”

Well... nice to be mentioned in a puzzle (hi Steve and suejean). Just couldn't quite work this one out completely. No big deal. Couldn't help but notice a sort of... mini-theme with SARGE. REVEILLES and HALT. For no explainable reason I went and did an answer history search for... TENHUT It's been an answer in ten puzzles. Just a bit surprised by that. And... while I'm on that track - FALLOUT - 9 times. ATEASE - 197 times. Wow! You're dismissed. ..

PSA, all. It’s upside-down day. Just letting you know. I somehow knew (though never having seen any of his movies) MAHERSHALAALI. And my brain has been keeping the correct spelling locked away in a spot that, I dunno, *could* have held on to like, ANTZ The Peabody Museum COE OMNIA… And I dug my heels in a REVElriES, and required, rather than OPTIONAL. But, remembering ALI’s first name and the odd spelling of Sam NEILL, I made it. So, maybe not upside-down day. Just “Please read more, CC day.” For me, a crunchy challenge. My favorite Saturday breakfast. ILLSHUTUP now. (LIKE HELL I WILL…) (guessing that’s been used a dozen times already, but it’s just too good…) 👍 👍

Will I break down and Google the 13-letter Muslim actor, rather than get it from the crosses? LIKE HELL I WILL!

Eh, no thanks. What a shame that such a BRILLIANT Friday puzzle was backed up by this sorry mess. Truly horrible clueing. Super forced and trying WAY too hard to be clever.

Uh oh, movie and sports clue crossing each other. I feel myself getting weak. Okay, let's think this through. It was either MAHERSHALA or MAHaRSHALA (only the a and E looked right there), and sEKE, ZEKE, saKE, or ZaKE. Just pick the one that makes you feel good inside and be done with it. This method almost never lets me down, and it didn't today. Nice puzzle with especially good clues for SEVEN TEN SPLIT [Alley oops?] and USAF [Jet pack, for short?]. [Take-out order?] made me think of a gangster hit, so DELE was much gentler.

I always think the mark of a good puzzle is when, even if you struggle to get a clue, once you have it the answer seems obvious. I don’t think this puzzle achieves that. But then there is always an element of trickiness when trying to solve from across the pond, so perhaps it is just that.

Deli inSTEAD of DELE added 25 minutes to this solve. Not the first time I was the problem, haha. TILs aplenty. Was tempted to look them up, then thought, LIKE HELL I WILL.

After 30 years of solving the NYTX on a daily basis, I still cannot explain why some puzzles strike me boring. The comments here show that many of us enjoyed this puzzle. But I found it about as interesting as watching grass grow. Instead of a Saturday challenge, all I got was boredom. As the Romans used to say, "De gustibus non disputandum est." On to next week!

Ugh. Not fun. At least I got Wordle in 3. 🤣🤦‍♂️

Fun puzzle, crisp crosses, no look-ups. Can we have another Saturday? I wasn't ready for this one to be done. 💃 Hey, Emu, I feel like dancin'! 🪇🪇🪇🪇

Did anybody else notice the amount of double L's in this puzzle? I counted seven instances of them, and it made me keep wondering if I was getting things right. The SE had me pulling my, erm, HAIR because all I could think of was heavy METAL. I'd completely forgotten about the sub-genre. It also didn't help to have NsA for those who work to get tips. That left me struggling with sA_RE for the dance studio clue, while also shaming me that, as a former ballet student, BARRE didn't occur to me straight away. This puzzle was a mixture of joy and strife, which I suppose translates to challenging fun. I feel like I wrestled a beast, tamed it, and won. Thank you for that, Mr. Cotham!

That was a fairly smooth solve--looked daunting at first, but then it solved smoothly. Lots of fun stuff in there, and the things I didn't know (Tame IMPALA?) were crossed with things that I did know.

I’ve enjoyed MAHERSHALA ALI’s performances in “Moonlight” and “House of Cards,” so that answer was a gimme. Too bad I mistyped it and made the Tibetan ethnic group the HHERPA (which sounds like an unfortunate medical condition). I made several semi-educated guesses with COPA and ANTZ, then lost a bit of time to Yeah SURE. The NX of SPANX looked wrong, and I misunderstood the “Bra-llelujah” clue, thinking it had something to do with brahs. Fun puzzle that I found easier than yesterday’s.

This was an ideal puzzle for me. It felt challenging, with lots of misdirections, especially alley oops for SEVENTENSPLIT (got hung up trying to find a basketball answer), but was over surprisingly quickly. Knowing TAMEIMPALA, HAIRMETAL, and Dua LIPA helped immeasurably. Also, I don’t usually get long acrosses without at least a couple of crosses, but this time I guessed WPAMURALS and MAHERSHALAALI right off the bat. I I liked the clue for NBA.

Greetings from Portugal! Did this one while waiting to get to the terminal from the plane in a bus they sent onto the tarmac! At least 2/3 of it, anyway; did the rest online for passports. Seemed quite easy to me for a Saturday. Anyone else note the shout-out to Rich in Atlanta at 32D? (First time in a long time I waited till morning to do a puzzle, but only because the WiFi on the plane never materialized. It was only about 3:30 am in NY anyway, and I really didn’t get any sleep in the plane, so it was just like solving after a long car ride.)

A good crunchy Saturday that made me work at it. The first A line went well ‘this is going to be a fast fill’ I foolishly thought. Got held up right below with —-MURALS, not being familiar with US 30s agencies. I knew the wonderful Mr ALI’s name but struggled to spell it properly. I knew SHALA, confirmed by gimmes like the mountain experts and the young prince, but foiled by having stops before HALTS and cars before ANTZ plus being clueless as usual to the sports name and what the heck 35A was, which threw that whole area out. The rest fell slowly, as its wont to do. I impressed myself by knowing both 47A and 51A, though from what dusty recess of my brain I’ll never know. Messrs COE and MILNE were of course (rare) gimmes. All in all a very satisfying grid.

A bit of a struggle here and there, but Eli’s exceLLent puzzle was reaLLy great fun. I found myself giggling as many of the answers emerged. And I don’t giggle.

Very difficult, with persistence, doable a perfect puzzle!

Unfortunately, TURBINE fit perfectly at 1D to get me off to a bad start...(erase, erase) ...so I went down to the SE to lick my wounds. Based on the -ea- 48A had to be DEAL ME IN, right? (erase, erase) ALAS, no. [partial erasure] But I went on to correctly fill in the corner. I'LL SHUT UP (ha ha, not likely) but it did give me the actor at 27A. I served hiim a BANANAratsSPLIT [partly erase] And so forth... Fly into Cincinnati's airport (in Northern Kentucky) and admire the wonderful mosaic murals salvaged from Union Station! Worth a trip, honest! Flying in is OPTIONAL. Army kids know 28D instantly. Thanks, Eli! Come back soon, please!

I’m just here to object strenuously to “WPA MURALS” being clued sans acronym/abbreviation, as is customary. These conventions exist for a reason, and when applied inconsistently, cause ambiguity of the least fun variety. Emu food

I do the puzzle and finish it every day. I often smirk to myself when the clever clues come into light for me. Aha- that was a good one- you got me NYT! Not this puzzle though. Did not enjoy it at all. Was irritated and felt like a chore. Nothing smirk worthy. Onto the next.

Good puzzle. Hard at first then came together smoothly. Then...took me five minutes to find that friggin' Z.

ANTZ crossing ZEKE at the "Z" right next to MAHERSHALAALI crossing ZEKE at the "E" could easily trip someone up. All three of the answers are of the "you know it or you don't" category, and if you don't know two out of the three, I'm not sure how you would ever figure this section out without resorting to guessing random letters.

I probably typed and DELEted the W in TWINCAM a dozen times, continually reminding myself that there are no words that start with WP. Having now finished and looked up what WPAMURALS are, I think I’ve asked this before, but shouldn’t the clue have an abbreviation of some sort? Anyway, strong, challenging puzzle other than that bit of frustration.

I have to look up proper spelling. I knew maharasha ali immediately but couldn't spell it. Same with reveille and a few other words. Spelling was one of my superpowers as a kid, but I have lost it.

A toughie for me, with a few lookups.... but I managed to finish. Loved the tricky clues that had me entering, deleting, and then re-entering answers until it made sense. Hated the obscure sports names that almost always send me running to Google in desperation. But hey, at least I knew MAHERSHALA ALI (I first watched him in "Crossing Jordan")

Wow, my head is throbbing! What a great Saturday workout! Congrats on a great Saturday debut, Eli! My head hurts because I kept smacking it, of course. And I confess to a "few" lookups. But I am not one to eschew lookups on a puzzle, especially a Saturday. I am now smarter than I was when I started. At least, if I can retain what I learned, I am. I first learned about WPA programs about 30 years ago (where did the time go? Feels like yesterday!) when I was the editor of a community newspaper, and I did a story on a WPA artist in our area. A few years later, I did a cover story on another WPA artist who lived across the street from him. Both are well known, but the second one is much more famous...you've see his sculptures at the FDR memorial in DC... in fact, the first artist was his model for the first person in line at the Breadline. George Segal was such a charming man, and he gave me a tour through his chicken coops, which were turned into his art studio (yes, both artists had this in common, too); probably one of the three best interviews of my career.

This was a great difficult Saturday! The northeast corner gave me a lot of grief—I was so confident in all my acrosses, including TONY NOm, and wondering how in the world STEAm could be the answer to [Place]. I did figure it out after thinking about how the shortening didn't match to the clue (and staring hard at that corner for a few minutes). WPA MURALS threw me for a loop too, another one where I felt great about every single cross but just wasn't confident in that answer. Besides that, I really enjoyed the colloquialisms and was familiar with more cultural references than usual. One I'm still not sure on—what's a DELE? Is that a shortening of "delete" in some profession I don't know about?

Got 1A and 5A lickety-split. Off to a rollicking start! Only to come to a screeching halt at 9A. A games-crazy friend did make us all play Go Fish just a few years ago, but the only thing that came to mind was "lots of cards in my hand". Which was pretty much every round, haha. Also soooo not into bowling: was tempted to ask my partner, who played a lot as a kid. Instead, I allowed my mind to wander from SEVEN______IT to "alley" and the dog days of summer we're in... picturing Marilyn Monroe in Seven Year Itch in the up-draft over what very well could have been an *alley* sidewalk vent. Hahaha! At least I had zero hesitation with any of the wide range of music references! From the 70's Copacabana to 80's Dee Snider, the morning trumpet at summer camp during that same era echoed by some more grown-up jazz brass, to the fascinating British-Kosovan Dua Lipa and my pandemic-era playlist with lots of Tame Impala. Made up for some struggles (39s) and eyerolls (20A) elsewhere. Loved going from "I don't know this random given name" to those double A's popping out of the clue at me and happily plunking in beloved MILNE. Thanks for the memories!

Wow, I've been on a solving tear lately (and feeling a little smug about it tbh 😂😂), so this one really humbled me! I struggled with enough answers that I finally resorted to looking up a few. I can usually eventually solve puzzles after putting them down and coming back, and I am stubborn about solving on my own, but I'm pretty confident that would not have happened today! Had DEEP and DUALCAM for 1a and d respectively for far too long, and I'm not sure i could have worked my way out of that hole on my own, even with endless time. Super smart and great puzzle!!

alternate clue for 27A: "guess the random letters I'm thinking of"

Could the Word Play contributors please answer clues that can’t be googled? Still have no clue as to [serving dishes], or [frustrating players in GO FISH?] It makes me think you didn’t actually solve the puzzle and and just provided answers you googled so you could feign knowledge.

Lots of fun fill, and a Saturday personal record for me!

Whew, hardest puzzle for me since those first few Saturdays when Fagliano took over as editor. NW was the roughest and SW took me a bit too. I wasted a lot of time not entering GOSSIPY because REVEIL___ looked to me like it just couldn’t possibly be correct

I have been awakened by REVEILLES more times than I care to remember, but somehow have never had to spell it. I knew there were Es and Is floating around in there, but it's a French word, so "I before E, except after C..." does not apply. Fortunately, the crosses were kind.

Found this one a bit easier than yesterday's puzzle, but I might be alone in that regard. Our constructor seems very fond of the letter L; there are 20 of them in today's grid.