Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Congratulations on your NYT debut, Benjamin. I wasn't familiar with all of the books, and for some reason, haven't read any of them. That's something I need to fix. Even so, the crosses were very kind, so no trouble filling the grid. For those unhappy about the theme due to unfamiliarity with the books, I'll quote Hakeem Jeffries quoting Notorious B.I.G. "If you don't know, now you know." My own advice is, don't panic when you see things you don't know. Give it time and work the crosses. Use your intuition, and you'll be surprised how well it works.

To tell you how old I am without telling you how old I am, my answer for far too long to "that 'burning' feeling" was reflux. Get off my lawn ! Thanks for the salute to Toni Morrison, Mx. Panico ! I have read all of these selections except for JAZZ, so you have prompted me to make it my next book to read.

All ready hear yo get on my high horse about specialist clueing; but as I had the thought I assumed that setters and editors know their stuff and it’s a Tuesday not a Thursday and the crosses must provide sufficient letters to work it out. And that’s how it was. Vaguely aware of the author. Never read a book of theirs and not a name in the UK but came together. I imagine their will be a lot of folk who will stop at the first hurdle of “never read ‘em” and start sharpening their not for me quills. Equally for the more literary there will be a lot of self-back-patting and record times as they breeze through this with many a comment of “all on my bookshelf” or “in my cannon of academic achievements”. And some will come away and think…maybe I should read one of these as someone clearly thinks the author is more than worthy of celebration in a NYT crossword. One vote from me for this.

What might welcome you home? A CAT! 😻 CAT is the clear answer here and I came here to say that. - Childless cat lady 😸

Wonderful. I’m sad to see that some are unfamiliar with Morrison and I hope this puzzle inspires people to read some of her work. Her books are literary classics, but the prose manages to be beautiful and accessible at once.

If you're not from the US, i guess you get a pass on not knowing Toni Morrison, but she's a frequent clue in the NYT crossword. But anyone complaining about a puzzle this easy as an American, I just literally don't understand. The Bluest Eye and Beloved are taught regularly in schools. Song of Solomon was a clue so easy you didn't need to know anything about the author. The NE corner with maybe the least known book had also the most obvious word and another easy clue without any book knowledge (1920s Harlem!). Sula was entirely done by crosses for me such that I never even read the clue, so i can't speak to that one, but again the crosses were so straightforward that it doesn't even matter. This was way too easy to be a Thursday puzzle (as some have suggested) and belongs where it was slotted. I still finished it 20% below usual Tuesday time. Ppl really will complain about anything. I think the only forced oddity in there was OY. I personally really appreciated the theme -- not gimmicky or tricky, just a nod to one of the best known and celebrated American authors, and kudos for getting all the book titles in there.

Loved it. A fitting tribute to a wonderful writer.

Very enjoyable puzzle and one that seems quite appropriate at this moment in time. I've read most of them and still have some of them in storage somewhere, but still needed some crosses for some of the titles to dawn on me. That's just my memory. I guess it's understandable, but still kind of sad to see that so many commenters were unfamiliar with the author and her work. Answer history search was inspired by TARBABY. Wondered about - UNCLEREMUS. Yep - it's been an answer in 10 puzzles. I'm done. ..

A terrific Tuesday, Mx. Panico, and a very impressive debut! I haven't read any of Toni Morrison's books, but her name and some of her titles are in my wheelhouse. Still, I believe that honoring a renowned and BELOVED author, Nobel laureate or not, and whether or not in my wheelhouse, is a sublime idea for a NYT puzzle, making the heart of any cruciverbalist beat a little faster. That the constructor was able to make the crosses Tuesday-gentle-enough, hence with a revealer and themers that were easily accessible, is a testament to their talent. My sincere thank you to Mx. Panico. And a loving shout-out to Sam Ezersky and his Spelling Bee for making EBON and LANAI roll off the tip of my stylus! I always knew the SB would serve me well some day. :-)

As another person who hasn't read the books in the crossword, I really enjoyed it! It was my best time in a tuesday puzzle so far, and I didn't have to look anything up. As a non native speaker, I'm always happy with a puzzle that is accessible for people outside the US and doesn't use extremely obscure words. Fun puzzle, Mx. Panico!

Late to the party, but I fell asleep at 8:00 last night, so 🤷🏻‍♀️ Just wanted to say how much I loved this puzzle. I feel so lucky to have gone to schools where we were required to read five of the six books featured in the puzzle (Jazz was published shortly after I graduated). It scares and angers me that we live in a country where those beautiful novels will never see the light of day in many schools and libraries. My whole outlook on race and humanity was changed as a young person who absorbed those stories and learned so much during classroom discussions. I, my child, and my grandchild, are better people because of it. Thank you, Ms. Morrison…and Mx. Panico!

Some are calling this theme “just a list” and I suppose it is. But since I thought it was a terrific Tuesday, I guess that works for me. I found it refreshing to have a puzzle based on books as opposed to a collection of pop culture trivia or slang I’ve never heard of. So thanks, Benjamin and congratulations on a a lovely debut.

I love Toni Morrison’s novels, so this crossword was a pleasure—and a nice tribute to a great writer.

Great debut, Benjamin! Thank you for honoring one of my favorite authors and for introducing her to new readers. Love seeing comments from people not familiar with her work being open to checking it out. Learning new things is the best part of crossword solving!

What a lovely theme! No book has affected me like THE BLUEST EYE did. It utterly destroyed me. I was not okay for weeks afterward. And yet I remember the novel fondly. It's mysterious how art that makes us miserable can also make us happy.

If you like audiobooks, you may want to know that Toni Morrison reads her own novels. She reads as well as she writes.

Interesting that the author's name and the titles of her first six novels accommodate the symmetry required in the grid. JAZZ pairs with SULA, THEBLUESTEYE pairs with TONIMORRISON, TARBABY pairs with BELOVED, and SONGOFSOLOMON has thirteen letters, allowing it to "pair with itself" as a central thematic entry. Given the constraints imposed by the thematic entries, the remaining fill is a bit bland, though LANAI, MARTYR and MISHAP are interesting words. Congrats on the debut!

Heaven help those of you who aren't familiar with TONI MORRISON. But this was a breeze for me-- even though the clues were a bit harder than the usual Tuesday. The theme answers are unusually dense: Seven (7!!!) of them, although two of the titles are only 4-letters each. The smoothness of the puzzle is enhanced by the fact that there's no crosswordese and NO OTHER NAMES in the grid (at least I don't think there are) other than the theme titles and the author. That's always a cardinal rule for me: If your theme is built around proper names of one kind or another, leave them the bleep out of the rest of the grid. Tribute puzzles can be boring -- but this one is kept pretty lively because of the fact that Toni's titles have a certain je ne sais quoi. I quite liked this.

As not previously familiar with the author or her works, I was able to get almost to the end with the kind crossings, so I enjoyed it very much. The only exception was the 26D crossing where I expected OWS…

Since our book group, in existence since 1975, rotates book selection, I am always interested if Nobel Prize season coincides with my turn. I don't always choose something by the new literature honoree but I at least see if there is an appropriate choice. I suspect the Nobel is what let many readers, myself included, to such authors as Olga Tokarczuk, Orhan Pamuk, Naguib Mahfouz, and Jose Saramago. If Toni Morrison's Nobel or today's puzzle have the same effect among our fellow solvers, so much the better. Thank you!

Congratulations on your debut Benjamin! Lovely puzzle and tribute to the great Toni Morrison!

What a joy. One of my favourite authors so naturally the clues fell very easily for me. I’ve read and RETURNED to her novels so many times. Her writing is so intelligent, beautifully descriptive and gets to the heart of the human condition. There is something new to discover with every reading. If you haven’t come across her work, do try it, though I warn you she doesn’t shy away from the difficulties (and some are distressingly extreme) that her characters must endure. I think my favourite is BELOVED. While arguably one of the most difficult subjects (I’m not sure the emus will pass my post if I list them), it is also the most uplifting. The rest of the puzzle filled quickly for me. TIL what a LANAI actually is; it comes up frequently in Spelling Bee, but I’ve never bothered checking what it is. Like some of you I wanted dog for MAT. Though he doesn’t so much greet, as demand payment for the unmitigated gall of having left him behind.

I am pretty surprised--but mostly saddened--that so many puzzlers are unfamiliar with Toni Morrison, one of the most brilliant authors of her generation. Morrison's books are not light and easy reading, but they are rich and layered and gorgeous to read, hard work in the absolute best sense, and so important as well. Maybe, as a result of this puzzle, a few folks will consider picking up one of these books? I sure do hope so! Thanks, Benjamin Panico, for making me smile today. And as the queer mom of a trans teen, I especially welcome your presence as a constructor. Representation matters!

Having been on the planet for a while, I know of Toni Morrison and am familiar with the titles, although I have not read one of her books. Oprah Winfrey was a champion of hers, and brought the book Beloved to the screen. So for me, just being around in the age of Oprah, this puzzle was easy for me, and it was a pure delight to see how well it was constructed along this theme.

Like others here so far, I haven’t read many of Ms Morrison’s books and needed almost all the crossings to solve this, which made this feel significantly harder than a typical Tuesday. I nearly got to the end without any assists, but the crossing of EBON (really?!) and OYS (OwS or even OhS seemed equally likely to me) made it impossible for me to infer the last 2 letters of TAR BA__, which in the end I gave up trying to guess and had to look up to finish the puzzle. Still a good learning experience overall, but I think some of the cluing and crosses could have been tuned just a tad more for an early week puzzle.

I haven't read any Toni Morrison, but now I will, so thanks for that. I've already borrowed or put on hold a few books in Libby. I found completing the puzzle fairly straightforward, because all the titles, except SULA (which thankfully had no tricky crosses), were easily guessable words or phrases for me. Once I filled in TONIMORRISON from a few crosses, I able to get BELOVED, the only book title I know of hers. Also, SONGOFSOLOMON was a gimme for me, as I was force-fed a lot of bible when I was a kid, and I knew it as a book title, although was not aware it was Morrison's. Thanks to the constructor for this puzzle. I took a literature class in college that focused on US Nobel Prize winners, but it was too many years ago to include Morrison, so I'm happy to add her to my reading list. And that reminds me that I should do some research about other recent US literary Nobelists, because now my knowledge gap is gonna bug me.

2:00 am Eastern time, the link is still broken I am familiar with Ms Morrison's works and life, so didn't have a problem solving the puzzle, though I'm sure when commenters are able to post, there will be thoughts. For those interested in reading more about her works and life, here is an unlocked link to the Times's obituary. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/06/books/toni-morrison-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ck4.kFxb.LN9FMbrvwaqv&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/06/books/toni-morrison-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ck4.kFxb.LN9FMbrvwaqv&smid=url-share</a>

For somebody like me, who only vaguely recalls the name of the author and knows none of her works, this was not Tuesday difficulty. I am a man of simple literary tastes - which I am not ashamed of - and I rarely read books by Nobel laureates, with some exceptions for Polish authors, whose language and themes I can truly appreciate. With some crosses I figured out the Solomon thing, but I needed lookups for several of the other titles.

Thanks for this great tribute to Toni Morrison. Once I figured out The Bluest Eye the rest of the book title clues were easy. It was wonderful reflecting on Morrison’s books.

Kudos to Benjamin Panico for creating a crossword of Toni Morrison books! Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

I really enjoyed this puzzle, especially the reminder of Toni Morrison's wonderful body of work. As a relatively new solver of the NYT crossword I appreciate the chance to successfully solve a puzzle in under 30 minutes without looking at the Gameplay article for any clues and today's puzzle was a great boost! Thanks again for a nicely designed tribute puzzle.

A debut and a fine and well executed tribute puzzle. A lot to like here. Not as well read as I should be but managed to remember the titles soon enough. For some reason LANAI came hard as I only know them as the screened structures folks in Florida put over their pools so they an actually use them. The rest area on the Garden State Parkway near us was earmarked to be named after the BELOVED author, a New Jersey Hall of Famer, but apparently the details could not be worked out with her estate. The honor went instead to Bruce Willis.

I was sooooooo excited to comment on this last night right after I finished it (in sooooooo close to a new personal best) but alas it was not to be because of the missing column link. So I know I'm a bit late to the party now, but my words of tribute would likely not quite do justice anyhow, so maybe it was good to have some reflection. In any case, I thought this puzzle was a perfectly lovely tribute to such a beautiful and important voice! Well done in every aspect. Thank you, Mx. Panico! A couple of quotes from the marvelous 55A herself: “Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.” (“Beloved,” 1987) “Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names. Language alone is meditation.” (Toni Morrison’s Nobel lecture, 1993)

Very good Tuesday puzzle. It's nice to see a literary theme.

Who has EVER said “Ouch, im hurt, OYYY” ??

All hail TONI MORRISON!!!

A really fun puzzle. I enjoyed learning more about Toni Morrison. Thanks, too, for the heads up about David Kwong’s YouTube video. You’re inspiring me to give construction a try!

Bit of a miss. Never heard of these books (winning a Nobel isn't why I choose a book). The clues should have been word play so you don't need to know the books. Certainly not Tues

Not enjoyable. I know of the author (who is a very, very, very frequent clue or response here). I do not know all her works. The “theme” was not fun for me. Seemed pretentious.

After BELOVED I practically had PTSD (no forewarning for some reason) but I should probably read some of the subsequent works. There is no doubt in my mind that TONI MORRISON can put a read right into the story she is weaving... For some reason 45D did not automatically come to me....well, it *has* been 23 years since we lived in the Snow Belt east of Cleveland. (Some friends there are still waiting to get power back for areas hit by Debby.) There was one door to the back yard that we couldn't use until Spring; the DRIFTS were blown to that spot by the 'prevailing Westerlies.'

I loved it. The only one I didn't known was THE BLUEST EYE and I'm surprised to see here it's pretty well known. I was thinking maybe it was THE BLUE STatE, which seemed unlikely and relied on the icky LAtEx for LAYER and the even worse aVA for EVA. I'll quote Nancy J. quoting Hakeem Jeffries quoting Notorious B.I.G. "If you don't know, now you know." Nothing in the world is better than returning home to the hugs and kisses of your loyal mat. (We call ours Matt, lol)

Had to rely fully on the crosses to get the book titles but got there eventually. I see all these have been published as Finnish translations so probably should have known better.

I read the clue for 47 across, and, looking at Kato sitting in my lap, began to enter cAT, before bursting into laughter and correcting myself. Kato, as usual, was unamused. Thanks to the constructor for providing us with a reminder of Toni Morrison’s brilliance. It is much appreciated.

It seems inevitable that a puzzle built around the works of a single author will be trivial for fans of that author and difficult for others. I wouldn’t call it unfair, but it doesn’t seem like good practice.

Eh, didn't really do it for me. I'm right on the cusp of millenial/Gen-Z and never had to read any Morrison in school so I only got the "theme" from the crossings which were easy but not particularly exciting or interesting.

Toni Morrison's prose has always been my idea of poetry. Great debut, Benjamin Panico. Keep 'em coming. Cheers!

I loved this one! Very easy for me as a retired public librarian.

The simple joy of this puzzle was how neatly symmetric Toni Morrison's book titles are! As someone only starting on their journey of aspiring crossword constructor, it's always a "wow" moment to see how neatly other constructors are able to pack their themes. Well done, and a worthy shout-out to a fantastic author from someone who is actually reading 65A right now!

I think having to know all the Toni Morrison novels is a bit much for Tuesday. The crossings helped me get all of them without having to look anything up though. I would say this puzzle is Wednesdayish in terms of difficulty.

I hadn't heard of any of the books, but that's fine. My only gripe was "OYS" for "pained cries". "OWS" would be a much more obvious answer, and my searching even seems to indicate that OY is a variant of OI, which isn't a pained cry at all. Perhaps it is intended as a variant of "oy vey"? Seems like a stretch but happy to be corrected.