CLUE: Group of puzzle solvers who frequently graze the Wordplay column. CROSSWORD NERD HERD
SUS is sketchy but SKETCHY is not sus, IMHO. Is sus a thing? I tried to suss it out but I sus it's not a thing; I also sus that I'm using it wrongly. Ok, enough of that. On to "Unlikely thing off of which to buy haute couture" -- rather cockeyed phrasing, but it jimmied open a memory I had suppressed in embarrassment: when I was in my twenties, I went to Paris and had a grand time, including a kiss or two (exactly how French were those kisses I can't recall), but one morning I went to the cafe and wanted a coffee to go, not usually offered by this cafe. "Un cafe americano, pret a porter," I said to the barista, thinking the phrase meant ready to go (it means "off the rack" which is what popped this back into my brain). "You want to WEAR your coffee, m'sieur" said the man mockingly. He made a little show of it, balancing a cup of coffee on his shoulder and doing a small jig. He then, to the laughter of some patrons, poured the cup of coffee into a paper cup and handed it to me with a flourish. "Here you go, ready to wear!" And every time I slunk by the window, he'd still see me and call out, "Pret a porter, m'sieur!" Which, now that I'm turning it over in my mind, strikes me as not so terrible a thing, almost charming, and not at all sus. Any-hoo, I'm giving this puzzle five rama lama ding dongs. Also liked seeing the neat set of tennis players representing the old generation and the new: NOVAK Djokovic and Holger RUNE. Nice touch, right before the US Open!
@john ezra Reminds me of the time I tried to order a beer in a cafe and was presented with a postage stamp. Of course, I thanked, paid and left. I've found everywhere else in France lovely and forgiving when I've butchered their language but not Paris.
@john Ezra!!! OMG lol. That memory is going to pop into my head now and then, both while getting coffee and while shopping. Thank you for sharing that lol! (Also, sus is for sure a thing LOL!)
@john ezra Your humorous story about being misunderstood in a French cafe brought back a memory of a family trip to Geneva with Sam a few years ago. At her urging, we went to a popular bakery in the neighbourhood near our hotel. I saw a plate of latkes behind the glass and asked the server for a latke. She seemed puzzled for a moment and then turned to the coffee machine behind her to prepare a Café Crème.
I was totally charmed by this theme. Wordplay comes in different flavors. Sometimes it comes from playing with meanings. And sometimes, like today, it comes from the unalloyed joy of playing with sounds, specifically rhyming sounds. To riff off an old lyric -- Rappers do it, kids do it, even people making grids do it. My sister and I used to make up words that sounded silly, and give them wacky meanings. We did it all the time. It was fun. It cracked us up. We still do it. It knocks us out of our serious adulthood selves. So how could I not be charmed by RUBADUB, DINGALING and friends? And guessing the rhyming word that followed each of the phrases in the grid? The kid inside me also loved learning about the game "The Floor Is Lava", which I had never heard of, but what fun! It also loved the schwa A-train of AROMA / ALMA / LAVA / SAGA / SARA / URSA / UMA / PUMA / OTRA, plus RUBA, DINGA, CHOCKA, and CHUGA. What a day brightener! Congratulations on your debut, Stacey. Thank you for a hoot of a solve, and please, play on!
When I dropped my new bell, it got a ding in it. (It lost its a-peal.)
@Mike Punsters are barred from receiving the Newbell Prize... for a reason! If you can think of a valid reason for awarding said prize to a punster, chime right in.
@Mike Somehow, this just doesn't ring true... Emus are tone-deaf, anyway.
This theme really did nothing for me. Nothing inherently wrong with it I suppose, and it wasn't hard by any means, I just found it all a little obnoxious. No accounting for taste!
@Shrike "obnoxious" - extremely unpleasant - seems a little strong A bit silly, maybe, bit I enjoyed it.
@Steve You forgot an important word in my comment, which was "little." "A little obnoxious" as in "a little unpleasant" if you must be pedantic about it.
Sadly, they no longer make the Nabisco chocolate wafers used for icebox cake. It’s a sign of the end of civilization. Just two ingredients: Nabisco chocolate wafers and whipped cream. Layer the wafers with whipped cream and cover the whole log with whipped cream. Put in the fridge and the whipped cream softens the wafers and they become like cake. We used to love this. It was probably invented (different wafers maybe) during icebox days but lived well into refrigerator days.
@Ann My MIL used to make a version of this every holiday, except it was more like a log than a cake. I could not believe it when I heard the wafers were discontinued! And my MIL was devastated. You’re absolutely right — a sign of the end of civilization!
@Ann You could try chocolate graham crackers, which are probably thicker, so you'd have to add more whipped cream. But what's wrong with that? Even better for NYT crossword fans: Our old friend OREO can be found as a large round cookie (without the filling). Its suggested use is to make ice cream sandwiches, but crossword puzzlers are inventive enough to give a new recipe a try.
@Ann That sounds similar to a dessert my mother made, with chocolate wafers layered with whipped cream in coupes with green bowls and clear stems. I don’t remember her using those coupes for anything else.
I’ll have to disagree with Guinness on the mammal with the most names. It’s clearly humans.
@N.E. Body Well, you're obviously right. I can sometimes imagine my dog thinking "How come this monkey responds to Daniel and that monkey responds to Kyle"?
What a terrific debut! CHOCK A BLOCK with clever clues, no DING-A-LING BLING (not an Oreo to be found), and I feel really STOKED (well, part of that could be listening to Michelle Obama's speech, followed by Barack's). It was fun, and that's what I do puzzles for, the fun of it. Learning new slang and arcane facts, stretching my brain, looking for a theme or no theme for help when I'm stuck, those are the icing on the cake. Thank you, Stacey Yaruss McCullough, we depend on new puzzle makers like you to keep the stable full of imagination and innovation. Welcome to the fold.
@dutchiris I was woken at 04:00 this morning by the light of the super moon. I watched the last few minutes of President Obama’s speech; what an orator that man is.
Great fun. The long rhyming answers made me chuckle. Wonderful first NYT puzzle, Ms. McCullough. Looking forward to more.
What a great way to playagreydayaway! Wowza! Truly new clue debut! Thank you Stacy!
Quick scan of the comments makes me think I'm in a small minority who found the puzzle wanting. Silliness is great but a NYT puzzle theme should have a little cleverness. This one did not. (As far as I and the Wordplay columnist can tell.) Just rhyme plus random word. I do this all the time while humming around annoying my family - but I would never write it down and pass it off as a crossword. All my own opinion of course. But I feel the puzzle should be better than this. (Unless of course I'm missing something of note in the construction.) /emus kinda jealous of the gnus showing up
@B It's not just rhyme and random word - it's rhyme-a-rhyme rhyme, and it makes sense to its rhyming clue. I thought it was nice.
@B Maybe some of your better jingles you could at least sing into your smartphone recorder? Maybe some of your stuff you could save!
What do you call place in New York to store booze? (A knickerbocker liquor locker.)
@guy Reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon showing an elderly, wizened man pushing a furry camel-like creature on a cart. The caption was "The Dalai Lama Llama Dolly".
The rhymes were fun and the trivia was interesting (NOVAK, for instance), which made for an enjoyable solve.
SO fun. Loved GIVES IT A GO, liked all the theme answers. Really a perfect Wednesday, tricky but fair. Thank you!!
Quite an amazing debut - very clever puzzle. I just got stuck in a couple of places and couldn't quite work it all out. That's all on me. One kind of interesting answer history search result today - I've run into stuff like this before. Anyway... ONEG. That's been an answer in 55 Shortz era puzzles and... once in a pre-Shortz puzzle. Did a couple of additional checks - ANEG? Five times in the Shortz era, never in a pre-Shortz puzzle. BNEG - 5 time in Shortz puzzles - never in a pre-Shortz puzzle. Has to have been some kind of change in standards there somewhere. I might start trying to find some possible related finds later on and see what I can come up with. Oh, and of course a puzzle find today. I'll put that in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Thursday from November 22, 2012 by... Joel Fagliano! Anyway - this one was all in the clues. Some examples: "Cackling cry from a mad scientist before unleashing havoc on southern California? :" LADIESFIRST "Proud academic achievement of football star Esiason? :" BABYBOOMER And, if you didn't get that, the implied answers were: LA DIES FIRST BA BY BOOMER A couple of other theme answers (as implied): BO ON DOCKS PR IS ON BREAK Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/22/2012&g=3&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/22/2012&g=3&d=D</a> ..
@Rich in Atlanta LOL, I thought the answer was parsed as ONE G, and the US use a different naming convention for blood types! What a BritNitWit...
@Rich in Atlanta DHubs is ABneg.. Let's see that one in a puzzle! (Very unlikely.) I am B positive... BPOS is also not xword-friendly. Oh well!
Have never heard CHOCKABLOCK, though RUBADUB, DINGALING. and CHUGALUG are familiar enough. Solved this one unaided, but took about 20 minutes. Some interesting vertical entries in this grid: ICEBOXCAKE, BADSIGN, SKETCHY, FABLABS, SKISUIT, GIVESITAGO. Some lovely U-creatures too: EMU, GNU, URSA, PUMA, UMA. Okay, some more lovely than others. A nice Wednesday debut!
Before I figured out what was going on with the themers, with the clue for 42 Across starting off with Fryer and then having CH_CK in the puzzle, I thought we might be doing something with CHiCKens. Fortunately, I knew what an ICEBOX CAKE was. Very nice debut puzzle.
Had a mild, not wild, fine though-not-prime time with the rhymes. Not stellar like Uri Geller but it was a coup for a new debut, little glue, woohoo. And one of the few recent puzzles that didn't have ROO. Not heaven, but I give it a seven. A good smart start taking part in the crossword arts.
Wow, faster than Monday OR Tuesday this week—I guess because so few proper nouns? And I did know Xmen, though Halle Berry is an X woman, as are others. It is because of older children that I know this, and because of a grandchild that I filled in “lava” right away—I have spent some considerable time arranging towels on the floor to provide safe passage across the livingroom.
@Crevecoeur I saw the 38A clue and it was one of my gimmes because of my son. I read it to him as I was saying goodnight and I barely got through the word “is” when he called out excitedly, “LAVA!” Unfortunately our space is a little limited for a game like that, so he does not get to actually play it as much as he’d like. Glad to hear you are able to give that experience to your grandchild!
Excellent puzzle. Fine use of the usual suspect clues, done in a unique way to scratch my brain. It allowed for logical thinking and problem solving to make one’s way through the entire grid, even when not all trivia is known. Perfect for a Wednesday and amazing debut. Look forward to more excellent wordplay from Stacey Yaruss McCullough. Congrats!
This was definitely easier for me than the previous offerings (one of the weekend ones and Tuesday!) I question the 40D clue: Sus. What? SUSS (a verb, meaning to winkle out or divine, as "suss out the motive") but I've never heard even that used as an adjective. The whole thing is Sus, IMHO. I misread the clue # at 22A and tried to stuff Puerto RICAN into that slot, which was a big mess. I really need to go get these glasses adjusted (or replaced) Had CORE before CRUX, HERE before HOME...but worst of all, I wanted something like BANGLES to start the 26A entry. TSK. And for FAVE and MOST EVOCATIVE ENTRY: PUMA! I can't see one or see or hear the word without having Tommy Smothers immediately come to mind... (Coincidentally, my sockies say PUMA on them...so I start most days with a chuckle, which isn't a bad way to go. I'd like to thank UMA Thurman and DINAH Shore for their assistance with the puzzle.
@Mean Old Lady Think sus(picious) - I've seen this word used in the past few years in memes and internet shorthand. Sus moderator tax.
@Mean Old Lady “The whole thing is Sus, IMHO.” That’s a pro-level use of sus lol. My niece would co-sign that.
@Mean Old Lady I did think that was one of the hardest to decipher - it might be generational as my teens definitely use "Sus" short for suspicious in everyday parlance.
This was a tough one for me, but so fun! Really enjoyed it
Rarely do I laugh out loud while solving a puzzle - great rhymes ! Thanks for a fun solve- hope you create more :))
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Ms McCullough! Nicely
This was so fun! Thank you Stacey for a lighthearted yet still chewy and satisfying romp. Now, if we only had the chocolate wafers, we could all go for some ice box cake!
@Brenda I agree! Now that the "Famous" ones are no longer on the market, good substitutions are hard to find. I'm not sure I'm ready to go DIY yet... (Doesn't that defeat the purpose of an easy, no-bake dessert??) But if and when I do, Melissa Clark's recently published recipe might do the trick! (gift link) <a href="https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025837-chocolate-wafer-cookies?unlocked_article_code=1.Ek4.OIWS.RNMagact5xBr&smid=share-url" target="_blank">https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025837-chocolate-wafer-cookies?unlocked_article_code=1.Ek4.OIWS.RNMagact5xBr&smid=share-url</a>
FABLABS is a new one for me, I'd always heard of them (familiarly) as "Maker Spaces" but it's definitely a new addition to my own vocabulary going forward.
@Greg Ditto -- though when I was in grad school, we had (still have) a Maker *Lab*. So it wasn't a leap with the F already in place for me to get to FAB LAB... I think it's kinda fab as a name -- very catchy!
Fun is the word that best describes today’s puzzle. I must admit it took me a while to make sense of the theme entries because they were “NONsense” but a lot of fun. I also enjoyed reading Stacey’s notes and look forward to more puzzles from her.m
Ever since the column mentioned IS PEPSI OKAY? was initially rejected due to concerns about it being “in the language” I’ve laughed a bit about every term I’ve never heard before (or after) a crossword. Adding CHOCKABLOCK to that list today.
@Joseph C It's a very common phrase in Australia, and in true Aussie fashion, it has been shortened to 'chockers'. e.g. "I tried doing my Christmas shopping, but the place was chockers"
@Paul does “piled higher” feel like a natural clue for it? It felt a little clunky based on the dictionary definition.
Thanks Stacey Yaruss McCollough for witty Wednesday. I’m anticipating your next appearance in the NYT crossword arena.
I don’t think I’ve ever “moaned” after eating a decadent dessert.
@David Me neither, but I did "moan" after I figured out that part of the puzzle. CMA, XMEN, MOAN, I couldn't figure it out. I thought Wolverine was some sort of off road vehicle that began with X. The country music awards, the awards organization, whatever always trips people up. And MOAN. All I could think of was MWAH like blowing a kiss in homage to the dessert.
@David me neither, but i've gone "mmm" which could be loosely interpreted as a moan, i suppose
@David How about risotto? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjzmuhb4kDA" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjzmuhb4kDA</a>
Today's puzzle was very silly, and I mean that in a good way. The Swifties are going to have to help me out with 55A. Has her career been long enough to be divided into distinct stylistic ERAs, or is it about changes to the onstage persona, like David Bowie or Madonna? I'm vaguely aware that she started out in country music.
@Grant I'm not a Swiftie but yes they would say that it is varied enough. Also her current tour is called the "Eras Tour" and fans will dress up in outfits that match different albums and their themes.
@Grant Taylor’s first hit came out in 2016, when she was 16 She’s 34 at present. The original Swifties are now going to her concerts with their daughters, who are second generation Swifties.
what is going on with this week's puzzles lol
Very hard theme words, the only rhyme I had heard was rub a dub, so I played around with stock a flock, block a stock etc... Icebox cake was also new to me but kind of made sense. Fortunately there were more international ways in, such as FABLABS, SOBA, OTRA and NOVAK.
A really clever friendly witty debut: FUNPUNRUNHON
Delightful puzzle. So much fun once I caught on to the pattern! I love it when one “trick” helps me solve the other ones. And this is a debut?!?! Wow, congrats Stacey! Favorite answer: Give it a go. More please!
Apropos 1d: I refuse to acknowledge any incarnation of Fleetwood Mac after the Blessed Peter Green left! [plays Man of the World again]
@Rosalind Mitchell Yes!!!! He was the heart and soul of the group. Hey emus, do you like Fleetwood Mac? Well, that depends.
@Rosalind Mitchell All FMac ERAS are great, even the Bob Welch years.
That was a lot of fun! I do think of ICEBOX pies as being more of a thing than ICEBOX CAKEs--I've made several fruity and cheesecake-type pies over the years that were no-bake, but set in the refrigerator. Regardless, the rhyming clues and answers were delightful.
@Liz B I feel like I haven’t thought about an icebox cake since I was a kid leafing through my grandmother’s cookbooks, but considering I love dunking cookies until they’re soggy I’m surprised I’ve never made a cake that pretty much relies on that concept.
@Liz B I was getting ready to point you in the direction of the perfect 'classic' icebox cake when I discovered that the main ingredient (Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers) has been discontinued. So really, as any true icebox cake devotee will tell you...why bother?
@Liz B Even if the 1930’s , 4 ingredient ice box cake Pezhead is referring to may be hard to make without those particular chocolate wafers, there are a bunch of other options. To my mind, some of these look pretty good. There is mango-almond, rhubarb, grasshopper, pina colada, and crème de menthe. Here are more than 30 possibilities: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/4hw55hfw" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/4hw55hfw</a> — — — —
This was one of my fastest Wednesdays. Nice puzzle. New one on me about the kids’ make believe game, The Floor Is ____.
I had no idea that NOVAK was even a Czech name, let alone a common one. Good thing the crosses held up, or I would have never gotten that one.
@Francis Novak is a variant of the popular Slavic name that means Newman. In Polish it's spelled Nowak ("nowy/nowa/nowe" means new, and -ak was a suffix historically used in surname creation. When surnames were becoming a thing centuries ago, a lot of those -ak names arose, e.g. the son of Paul - Paweł - would be called Pawlak). I had no idea it was as common in Czechia as it is in Poland - I needed a few crosses to figure it out. Also, yesterday you asked for some Polish oldish movie recommendations. I have a soft spot for "Faraon" (The Pharaoh), a 1966 film based on a classic novel by Bolesław Prus, one of our greatest writers. It is a drama about politics, the struggle between secularity and religion, intrigue and love, set in ancient Egypt and actually filmed in Egyptian ruins (which works as the story is set in ca. 1000 BCE, a period of great decline in Egypt after the crisis of 1177 BCE). This movie is probably pretty accessible to non-Polish viewers because of its universal themes. Other older Polish films have very Polish themes which a foreign viewer may miss entirely. That being said, "Seksmisja", a 1980s satire on communism and dictatorship in general, is my favorite movie of all time. It is so incredibly poignant - but I don't know if an American would appreciate it. Even my very Polish sister-in-law, an inteligent person born in 1990, so after the fall of communism, doesn't really get it. Perhaps it's a "you had to be there" kind of thing.
@Francis @ Andrezj The only “Novak” I know of is Djokovic. I had no idea that translated as “Newman”. But now all I can picture is Rafael Nadal entering the court and sneering “Hello, Novak” a la Jerry Seinfeld.
Had to run through 24 letters of the alphabet to get the X in ICEBOXCAKE, because I don’t know much about cakes and was insistent that a wolverine had to be an OMEN.
With so many Rockers and Rappers in the puzzle these days it was a treat to see good old DINAH Shore in the grid. Enjoyed the wordplay once I got the hang of it. SUS was a new one for me even after i filled it in from the crossings? Can I get a little background here?
@Jim in Forest Hills, it refers to suspicious.
@Jim in Forest Hills It's a shortening of suspect (as well as suspicious).
@Jim in Forest Hills , My exact thought as I filled in DINAH at 26D.
Cute and fun puzzle!
What have you done? I have Chuck Berry and Roger Miller competing for song space in my head. Thanks for the smiles, the memories and including Dinah Shore. Those were the days, my friend.
Sweet puzzle, over too soon. Slightly surprised to see LEERY in a NYT puzzle, but I expect it’s another cultural tic. I always thought of it as a Cockney term for a dodgy geezer. TIL. Again.
@Helen Wright Although I’ve seen a whole lot of Britishisms in my time, I’ve never encountered LEERY as a geezer. It certainly doesn’t have that meaning in the US. Here, it means wary, untrusting, as in “I’m LEERY of his motives.”
Cute theme! Great debut, Stacey. I loved your scavenger hunt story.
Lots of fun. Loved the misdirect on 46A...was looking for an animal for a looooong time. (As I have posted before, my mother was one of those anti-comics parents of the 50's so those clues are always trouble. Still the answer was in my head somehow.) And I had 22A with EA instead of EE for a while.