A forgiving puzzle, with some names that didn't immediately jump into my mind mitigated by some words that did. A splendid debut, Julia Hoepner. Thank you, and welcome to that essential cadre of puzzle constructors. We depend on you, so give us more. Tomorrow will mark 773 of my current streak, and also my 90th birthday. Pretty weird (to borrow a newly political word).
@dutchiris Congratulations on your streak (you are way ahead of me) and happy birthday!
@dutchiris Happy birthday Dutch! 90 is a more impressive streak than 773 and may your streak -- both of them -- get way longer (as long as you're enjoying yourself).
@dutchiris Happy birthday! I can imagine it feels weird, as I am 'only' 65 and already am quite amazed by how fast time goes.aa I agree, a great debut. I'm glad Hoepner assured us she had no personal 'badbreakup' in mind!
What a rotten, icky, nasty, hated, malignant, no good very bad excellent breakup puzzle! Lots of scenarios in this puzzle that can lead to a bad breakup: * You and your partner decide to check out the local escape room. Your partner gets out but leaves you inside. You take an uber home. * At a bar frequented by people in the military, you persist in asking the bartender, "What draftees do you have on tap?" * Even though your partner is a vegetarian, at the restaurant you insist on ordering the mahi mahi for two. "It's good for your acne and your gut flora!" you say loudly. * At the concert by Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, you first try to get all the people in your row to form a conga line, and when that fails, you suddenly stand up and chime in with their most solemn duet. * On his wedding night, the groom murmured "Arya," then later, "Edna," and finally -- and most curiously -- "Thisbe" -- none of which was the name of the bride. * Also on his wedding night, the groom asked, "Is there a style guide or a manual for this kind of thing? Wait, I'll look it up on wiki." * Also on his wedding night, the groom launched into a passionate discussion of Mandelbrot's discovery of fractals, and how later mathematicians also demonstrated the existence of anti-fractals, putting his hands in a tent-like shape to show how fractals exceed their topological dimensions. * At the karaoke bar, you chose to sing My Sharona by The Knack, but changed the lyrics to My Corona...
@john ezra I laughed so hard at this, as I was wiping away tears I accidently stabbed my nose with my fingernail and now I have a wad of TP stuffed up there to stop the bleeding. Thanks! I'm breaking up with you.
@john ezra -- [Standing O!] Et tu, emu. (This was a second try.)
The pastry chefs had a bad bake-up. (Now they'll dough their separate ways.)
@Mike Let me be perfectly eclair. Donut think for one minute you can keep getting away with this. I could say some cruller things, but the emus would probably object.
This seemed like a puzzle by a more seasoned constructor, so it was a surprise to see that it was a debut. Excellent job, Julia. I'm sure you'll be back.
Terrific theme, one that invited me right from the start to try to guess the revealer before uncovering it. And oh, I came close. After filling in three of the gray words, I looked, I saw, and I thought I conquered when my brain proffered, “BREAKING BAD!” (Hi, @Steven from Salt Lake City!). Alas, a letter too long, but soooooooo close. I liked the sprinkling of answers I didn’t know – MANDELBROT (as clued), EDNA MODE, and THISBE – not only for the TIL, but also for keeping my brain engaged. Regarding MANDELBROT, I hadn’t heard of the mathematician, but I knew the word from childhood, where my grandma made mandelbrot cookies, crispy almond-flavored delicacies. EDNA MODE is what I shot into after filling in that answer, with my brain calling out Ferber!, St. Vincent Millay!, not to mention Krabappel! of "The Simpsons", and Turnblad! of "Hairspray". Some sweet serendipities: Names not clued as names (EARL, RONA, and ARTE), and reversal echoes (ACNE echoed by a backward INCA, and RONA echoed by a backward ANWAR). Also, the two middle B initials for GOODE and MANDELBROT. Thus, a splendid outing for me, a high-quality puzzle which makes this debut so promising. Congratulations, Julia, and thank you so much!
@Lewis - Edna Mode is voiced by the creator of The Incredibles, Brad Bird - and is why I will watch that movie any chance I get. Edna is the bomb. “No capes!”
I got to know Professor Mandelbrot in the 1990s, when he was a wonderful presence on campus and was working a kind of late-life magic that brought together mathematicians, computer people, artists, musicians. He was quite something. Sam cites crits in relation to art schools, and, yes, crits can be devastating and unnerving for art students. But in architecture school - soul-crushing is the primary descriptor for a crit. But then there’s Edna Mode to brighten everyone’s day, darling!
C'mon! You don't have to have a BAD BREAKUP! There must be 50 (non-ICKY) ways to leave your lover... You just slip out the back, Jack Make a new plan, Stan You don't need to be coy, Roy Just get yourself free Hop on the bus, Gus You don't need to discuss much Just drop off the key, Lee And get yourself free......... Wait, those are all men doing the ghosting. Let's at least make it more equal with this sequel. Just slip into the alley, Sally Make a plan B, Sharee It's not a big thing, Ing Just get yourself free Jump on the train, Jane You don't need to discuss much Block 'em on your phone, Joan And get yourself free.... I never said I had great talent but that was a fun little exercise, even if ghosting isn't very nice. Anyhow, enjoyed the puzzle a lot! Didn't find it at all MALIGNANT! Loved the GLAM and GEMS crossing! But the CEL and MANDELBROT crossing was tough for me. I definitely don't know the mathematician but CEL should have come more quickly even though I know very little of the animation world, so that's all on me. The other answers I didn't immediately know came in smoothly enough on the crosses, like ADUE and HOTH. My only issue was not about the puzzle itself. I find myself struggling with shaded squares. I know some people hate the circles but they're visible to me even when I'm in them, unlike the shades. Is there a reason constructors/editors choose one over the other? Anyhow, if I were wearing a HAT, I'd tip it to this impressive debut!
@HeathieJ Had that song in my head this morning, too. Some of my all time favorite lyrics. Glad you posted that. ..
Curious as to whether emus mate for life, I did some very shoddy research and found that yes, emus are monogamous, but only for the duration of each sbreeding season. Breeding season will bring emus together (after a prolonged mating ritual) and pairs will stay together until the male begins to incubate the eggs. At that point the female typically departs to mate with other males and lay additional eggs in another male’s nest. Male emus will incubate 5- 15 avocado-colored eggs for approximately 48-56 days. During incubation theses fathers never leave the nest and therefore may lose up to a third of their body weight (they can't eat, drink or relieve themselves). After the eggs hatch, the males are the primary caregivers, spending anywhere from 5 to 15 months raising the young. I'm never going to complain about my life again!
No problems with this Tuesday puzzle. I noticed the gray squares, but solved it as a themeless until I got to the revealer, then took a look back and appreciated how the theme was put together, or rather torn apart. Very nice debut, Julia, and thanks! I think I'm dating myself with this one: For EGBDF I prefer the Moody Blues version: "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour", and here's a single from that album that's now over 50 years old: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se9U6xG_fEM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se9U6xG_fEM</a>
@JayTee I learned Every Good Boy Does Fine
What a ROTTEN, ICKY, NASTY theme! (Just kidding of course.) Fun to see MANDELBROT, but also THISBE. That name immediately conjures all the funny productions of Midsummer Night’s Dream and what they do with the scene where Bottom and the mechanicals put on their play. I’ve never not laughed my head off.
@Cat Lady Margaret Second that! our daughter did an Odyssey of the Mind competition that involved a mini-play, and her team created a backdrop from 2 poles and a sheet. Imagine our family fun a year or so later when the U of Maryland theater troupe ( we had season tickets) had the Midsummer's Night scene done with an identical prop.
Congrats on your debut, Ms. Hoepner, and thank you for this, erm, devastating (-ly good) puzzle! I loved the sneaked-in GEMS of DUET and A DUE. I suppose the twosome did well for a while and they were even GAGA for each other at some point. On the other hand, maybe it was always just a Bad Romance from the start. As the solve progressed, I became so overtaken by the venom everywhere that, at that point, for all I knew, [Fifty minutes past the hour] was some kind of expression for TENse (as in: the break-up was so bad, she was fifty minutes past the hour when he finally gathered his stuff and left.) Now I'm wondering if all this happened because Johnny just couldn't be GOODE, or if it was just because he wasn't ready to be a GROOM. Okay, so I think I'm getting a little carried away with all the drama. Best I go chill in an EPSOM salt bath (and avoid Elvis and his Heartbreak Hotel <a href="https://youtu.be/ugTe-th7w9I?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/ugTe-th7w9I?feature=shared</a>)
@sotto voce I'm looking forward to seeing "Fifty minutes past the hour" as a clue for irate. I may even start using it with the husband. But when I'm that mad, it's usually because it's literally fifty minutes past the hour I had planned to leave the house.
I like a puzzle full of interesting theme entries, and this was certainly that. Just right for a Tuesday as well. Definitely looking forward to more from Julia.
A noobie here, celebrating day 17 of my streak! Or "streak", today is the first time I finished without having any other aid than the column and your comments here. I must admit feeling a bit nervous not knowing whether THIS BE considered a CRIME or not... Am I still cheating, are we TEN TO a BAD BREAKUP? Do you want me to UBER myself to HOTH? AR'YA all A DUE saying there's too much DAMAGE done to our DUET or can I go GAGA, wear all my GEMS (ERM.. I have none) and put my GLAM on? Hope I won't have to eat MY HAT saying I trust we can stay on GOODE terms and continue to CONGA together even when we are only ORBs. P.S. I have an ITCH that I'm not the only one who, after reading the clue for 47A, heard TED narrating this whole puzzle in their head.
@Kaisa tervetuloa Kaisa! Torilla tavataan Hope you have a great time here
@Kaisa I’ve been here for about 4 years now and do exactly the same as you. I think Deb Amlen once wrote a column about cheat/no cheat. The upshot is; this crossword is yours to do with as you will. There is no cheating other than what you personally decide counts as a ‘cheat’. My personal approach counts getting help from Wordplay and the comments as acceptable, especially for us who aren’t American. How else could we get the US specific companies, names, products etc. I draw the line at auto check, or peeking at the solution. YMMV. Welcome to the community. Have fun, (whisper it) it’s only a game.
35D: My high school choir teacher came up with “Empty Garbage Before Dad Flips.” Much more relatable, if you ask me.
Enjoyable puzzle. Typical slow start for me, but catching on to the trick was a big help. Slower than an average Tuesday but a nice workout. Glad to see our new constructor and looking forward to more. And of course I had a puzzle find today. A cute one - a Wednesday from January 30, 2013 by Will Nediger. A couple of clue/answer examples: "Coming on to a patient, perhaps? :" DOCTORNONO "Dictator's directive at a dance club? :" LETMYPEOPLEGOGO And the other theme answers: BANJOJO DISCOCO MAKEITSOSO Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/30/2013&g=36&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/30/2013&g=36&d=A</a> I'll shut up now. ..
Saying "ten to" dates you to those of us who learned to "tell time"' i.e., read a watch or clock before digital time became ubiquitous. We learned a quarter after, half past, a quarter to, etc. Many youngsters today don't understand that.
@Robert Danley it’s how you state the time in Spanish as well. Anything after the 30 minute mark is “to” the hour.
@Robert Danley I still see plenty of analog clocks in all types of locations-including schools. I’m pretty sure kids are still being taught how to tell time.
@Robert Danley I had TENof at first. Not sure how old that makes me...
Cold-hearted ORB that rules the night Removes the colors from our sight Red is grey and yellow-white But we decide which is right And which is an illusion ...because JayTee mentioned the Moody Blues earlier. I tip MY HAT.
@Grant A friend gave me the album for my 16th birthday. I added it to my turntable “going to sleep” stack at the top, blissfully unaware of what was to come. Needless to say I was TERRIFIED hearing that voice! Now I love it.
TEN TO, ten of…most youngins these days just say :50. They get their time from their phones first, and then maybe their parents’ microwaves, regular ovens, car displays, and possibly laptop computers. In fact, most school age kids these days can’t even read an analog clock anymore. A quarter after, half past, is counterintuitive to them because they don’t visualize the pie slice that viewing an analog clock gives them. On another note, pun very much intended, I hope the commentariat remembers from last week what a staff is (and what a scale is). I learned it as “Every good boy does fine,” but those are the notes represented on the treble staff.
@Steve L It's even wacker in Dutch. 10:30 is "half eleven"; 10:20 is "ten before half eleven" and 10:40 is "ten over half eleven".
@Steve L Danish starts the wackiness earlier, where 50 is essentially "half three", meaning halfway from two score to three score, 60 is essentially "three", 70 is "half four", 80 is "four", 90 is "half five, and then of course 100 is "hundred".
The crossing of the very enigmatic EGBD_ and _EMA was nasty. I dredged my mind for hints and finally came up with an F but I did not enjoy the exercise. I know EGBDF recently featured in a puzzle, but when you have not had an American musical education, that is just a random set of letters, nigh impossible to remember (yeah, there is the line Every good boy does fine, deserves fudge or whatever, but that is just more random stuff to remember - especially when you neither know nor care what those letter are for in music, anyway). I am glad to have remembered NENE nad MAHIMAHI from previous puzzles. Other than that I personally found it to be an enjoyable puzzle.
@Andrzej I find it easier to remember it as just being every second letter of the alphabet (musical notes go up to G before looping again)
@Andrzej As an American who had music classes all through grade school + private lessons for a musical instrument for seven years of middle and high school... I probably should be embarrassed by not knowing [Musical staff letters]. But instead I was just annoyed! (As an American, I did know FEMA, and thus the F. But while I enjoyed "The Incredibles" when the first movie came out, that was a loooong time ago to recall that character! So the D was a mystery, and my last fill today.) FWIW, FEMA is our Federal Emergency Management Agency, and thus an acronym we see regularly after *major* storms and other natural disasters...
Well, somebody got out of bed on the wrong side this morning! All those negative words took me a little while to parse, but what fun once I did. A good Tuesday offering. Well done Ms Hoepner. Though you sound far too energetic for my liking. Hiking in a desert? Yikes. Give me the cool, flat and usually rainy Somerset Levels any day. ;)
Just returned from solving my first London Times cryptic in 4h19, to a nice familiar 8 minute NYT Tuesday (personal best). Loved Mandelbrot and the reveal. Julia Hoepner, I'm now a fan.
@J also loved clues for escape room, and tent!!
@Julia Hoepner if you read this, you mentioned you are a writer - is there anything of yours we could read? Also you and your family just sound generally cool. Got any brothers?
A fantastic fractious themed debut. Nicely done and thanks. Check out Jim Horne's Nixy Mandelbrot Explorer here: <a href="https://nixy.net" target="_blank">https://nixy.net</a>/
The huge difference between Tuesday and Friday/Saturday is I know most of the culture clues :) Pyramus and Thisbe were the OG Romeo and Juliet.
Really nice puzzle to ring in day 300 of my streak (#humblebrag)! Hoping that nothing icky or malignant happens between now and day 365.
Dunno why but, while solving this one, I felt like I was doing something illegal… like cooking pharm-grade meth. cc: emu handler
There is a problem with the 27 down answer to "bachelor party VIP". "Stripper" doesn't fit.
@Steve Daniel we should invite you to our crossword text chain. You share our humor.
What a lovely debut. I was laughing when I saw EDNA MODE in the puzzle. We took our kids on an Alaska cruise this summer. This time it was a Princess Cruise line and when we arrived in our stateroom, we had a letter from the director of the kids area signed EDNA MODE. I thought it was very clever and tied in to the second Incredibles movie somehow until we took the kids down and found out that was her ACTUAL NAME!? She was older than the movie, so she wasn’t named after the character. We weren’t the first family to think so 🤣
@Jacqui J That's somehow astonishing. It seemed as if that name were created precisely because it was so unlikely. (And yes of course I know about Edith Head.) /a stray emu checked Wikipedia for me and found the anticlimactic origin story that "Edna was named after EMode, a software Pixar used at the time the film was made."
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Ms. Hoepner! Nicely done! I never studied fractals and had never heard of Benoit MANDELBROT. I misread the clue for 4D as present tense and consequently spent a long time after filling in the grid before I found my MANkELBROT/MAkE DO error. But maybe it’s just not my day. I made three mistakes in Connections, which is unusual for me.
@Eric Hougland I made no mistakes in Connections but I hit Hint by accident in Strands! I was mortified, tried to turn it off, and shaded my view the entire time while I completed the parts of the puzzle not highlighted. (Was a pretty good theme for a change too.) I had never heard of the card game "Set" though. Speaking of which, I knew ole Benoit right away because of the common phrase "Mandelbrot set". /emus within emus; it's emus all the way down
Sigh, my personal policy has been to avoid the comments until at least Wednesday or Thursday when things get interesting. But this week has had good Monday/Tuesday entries, and I've been sucked in early. :( At least I got to wish Will Shortz a happy birthday, so time well spent. :) /emus post early, and reportedly are great fathers (thanks @john ezra )
Sort of an odd solving experience for me today. As I finished I was thinking, in good part because of the proper names I did not know, "that was sort of challenging for a Tuesday" -- and I did finish by guessing the final letter at the ARYA/AREPA crossing since I had never, to my memory, heard of that particular cake and watched only the first couple of episodes of The Game of Thrones since I found it quite violent. But when I looked at my time, I discovered it was only a half a minute above my personal best for Tuesday, which surprised me. I really came here to comment on 14A, "Social activity that one tries to get out of." I got the solution, ESCAPE ROOM, fairly quickly, but honestly the phrase that came immediately to mind was "all of them."
I flew through the upper two thirds and slowed down quite a bit for the bottom section. Definitely got a little help from the theme on this one - specifically with the “R” in ROT // TEN. Tuesdays have been meatier lately. (Which I love!) Good times. Thanks, Julia Hoepner!
I was brought up with “Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit.” I had an Italian teacher of the violin who was hired by my Italian family. All that fruit however never made me a Paganini.
Nice theme. Especially liked the double break of MALIGNANT in the center. Suppose that represents a *very* BADBREAKUP. For me MANDELBROT was a gimme, but I'm a mathematician. On the other hand, EDNAMODE, HOTH, THISBE and LBO were unfamiliar to me. On the whole, the long fill was very interesting. Congrats on the debut!
I so wanted to tip MY HAT. But it had to be MY CAP because of the "P" from pHoeBE. I had all those important letters filled in and evidently I don't know one mythic "beloved" from another. But then there were the demands of MAHIMAHI which were fairly screaming for MY HAT. But MAHIMAHI wasn't possible because of the "N" from opInE oN (instead of CHIME IN) for "Give one's two cents". And -- can you even believe it? -- OPINE ON went perfectly with PHOEBE! Life can be so confusing. But I soldiered on, corrected everything, and was rewarded with THISBE finally coming in -- along with the themers HATED and NASTY finally revealing themselves. Oh -- the one thing I did right today was knowing that the revealer would be BAD BREAKUP before even reading the clue. Absolutely loved the theme. Struggled with much of the PPP as always, though I don't include MANDELBROT in that category, tough as it was. MANDELBROT sounds like one of those names that an educated person should know -- even though I didn't.
@Nancy I love the Phoebe (the bird.) We don't have them where I live, but we do have them where I vacation, with their plaintive cry of, "FEEbee." "...evidently I don't know one mythic "beloved" from another." Hmm, we just had Orpheus and Eurydice. Okay, it was ORFEO in the grid, clued to the opera. Who else? Troilus and Cressida (clue for CASSANDRA) Tristan and Isolde (or was it YSEULT?} Jason and Medea (sorry about the breakup, Ariadne) Lancelot and Elaine Am I missing anyone?
@Nancy - I knew him, and I have a strong feeling you two would have hit it off instantly. He was all about what didn’t work and why. A creative mind, a big heart. Bright colors, and dark blacks. You two could have shared some blintzes.
the theme is great but there are far too many proper nouns [again]. the theme made it possible to solve for a handful of the bad crossings, but we really need to chill out on shoving proper nouns all over the place when creating puzzles. EDNAMODE/MANDELBROT/ANWAR/THISBE is a bit ridiculous for a tuesday.
@Charles I agree that THISBE on a Tuesday is a bit overboard. I didn't know EDNAMODE, but MANDELBROT was a gimme. And I am quite sure that most people remember ANWAR SADAT. Of course, a lot of the crossings were easy, so even the tough clues could be decoded. Nice puzzle.
@Charles Maybe? But the crossings were all pretty straightforward, so even as someone who frequently struggles with proper nouns, I found today's puzzle to be pretty casual - typical Tuesday fare.
Late answer history search: Wondered about the string of letters... WALZ Nope, never been a part of any answer. Can only hope that that will change in the not too distant future. I'm done. ..
@Rich in Atlanta What a fun history search idea!! I hope that name will appear in the not too distant future, as well! He's also well known as Coach, how many times does that show up? :-)
Loved MANDELBROT but had SuperUSER for a long time until ABET jumped out… I just thought ASET was another peculiar crossword word. EDLAMODE made more sense to me than EDNAMODE since I have no idea what The Incredibles is. But NENE finally burbled up out of the depths. Loved all the broken bad words. Thanks!
@sonnel I had Super-USER too. It's the hyphen. What is the purpose of the hyphen?
@sonnel I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend The Incredibles. IMHO it works on many levels (not just the superficial Pixar-superhero-animated-superhero-feature level, but it excels at that, too) and is definitely worth watching. EDNA MODE is a wonderful character hilariously voiced by director Brad Bird.
This is related to Saturday's puzzle; I suppose the comments get turned off at some point. There were several comments about how the Saturday puzzles are so much easier nowadays. One commenter suggested the puzzle from 4/12/97 as an example of one so much harder than current Saturdays. Challenge accepted! I completed that one (no lookups), and my time was only 8 minutes longer than my average of Saturdays over the last 3.5 years. (No brag, just fact.) Perception vs. reality.
@Puzzled Try April, '94. I'm going through it very slowly, finding it incredibly difficult, no matter the day of week. (Recently spent 30+ on a Tuesday.)
@Bill in Yokohama Just managed to summon 48D. Still, definitely a few grades higher. It might as well be a completely different newspaper.
How about a Conga Line from the Pink Panther? <a href="https://shorturl.at/hHidU" target="_blank">https://shorturl.at/hHidU</a>
@Sam Corbin Thank you for this: I tip MY HAT (48A) to any artist who emerges from one psychologically unscathed. For better or worse, 55D was a gimme for me -- with a shudder! When I later read your column, I felt very seen! That said, I have always understood CRIT to be short for critique (not criticism, as you wrote). // Some of my instructors were downright NASTY in their commentary, and I had a BAD BREAKUP with drawing at a young age as a result. Fortunately the creative spirit is difficult to suppress, and I eventually found my niche! Goes back to shivering in the corner from the flashbacks... 😬
Yes, as a former art student, in my experience CRIT has always been short for CRITIQUE.
I agree needlessly heavy on proper nouns with not great crosses. I think some of those should of been and could of been worked out and certain sections dragged this puzzle down a grade. For those who will scoff, take a look at Anwar / Adue - crossing a proper noun with a lesser known term I think is poor early week design. There's a multiple examples of this Nene / Edna, Mandel / Cel. Great theme, great master clue, and still enjoyed. Critique is important. Making crosswords is not easy but let's not brigade those who are just giving their two cents just because it's not completely positive. Looking forward to more.
@Jon - Anwar Sadat is a historic name worth knowing. Nene is the state bird of Hawai’i. A cel is a hand-drawn frame of animation and a collectible of the first order (i.e., not a whatever-that-modern-thing is called, but a real, actual, hold-in-your-hand thing). Mandelbrot gave us a new way of thinking and seeing. His name will be remembered. And Edna Mode! Edna Mode is the only reason to watch The Incredibles! Please, dahling!
Quite fun! A couple of entries I’d never heard of, but crosses and getting the theme fixed those. That’s how a Tues should be - not totally doable on auto, but not a struggle. Congratulations, well done.
Maybe “gossip columnist Barrett” rather than the coronavirus clue? Seems obscure.
@Michael Trust me, RONA Barrett will be as obscure for a certain slice of the audience as the Covid nickname is to you. And vice versa. Using RONA as a shortening for what was at first called “the novel coronavirus “ was quite common for a hot minute. Unlike the many Karens whose name was hijacked as a pejorative for a bossy middle-aged white woman, ladies named Rona didn’t have to sweat for long that their name was being held hostage in service of a nickname for a deadly virus.
@Michael Let’s try it again. (Second attempt.) Trust me, RONA Barrett will be as obscure for a certain slice of the audience as the Covid nickname is to you. And vice versa. Using RONA as a shortening for what was at first called “the novel coronavirus “ was quite common for a hot minute. Unlike the many Karens whose name was hijacked as a pejorative for a bossy middle-aged white woman, ladies named Rona didn’t have to sweat for long that their name was being held hostage in service of a nickname for a deadly virus.
@Michael I actually liked that clue instead of the often cited Ms Barrett, which seems like a clue from the 20th century. . . Keeping in mind that I was born in the middle of that century.
Quick, easy, and delightfully themed. Very nice Tuesday puzzle.
OK, a nit. Several times in recent memory, we've had the clue [Together, in music], or the like, and I have, ah, duetifully filled in ADUE; and I suppose "a due" does mean together, when, say two flute players are sharing the same (printed) part on the same stand (as they often do), and the instruction means that both players play the same line of notes. In scores, it's usually written "a 2", and one has to be careful about that, because "2." (or perhaps "2do" or "2ème") means something completely different--that the second player plays the line, while the first player checks her social media or steps out to use the washroom or something. And one only uses "a 2" when there's only one line of notes, not two lines sharing the same staff (which is also often the case). Real "together" in music is "tutti," which doesn't mean "together" either, really, but "everyone". But at least you can use it when more than two people are playing. DC will probably wonder why I'm wasting my breath.
@Bill Thanks. This is interesting because I know next to nothing about music scores etc. I hope I remember TUTTI for the next time it appears. BTW it has been clued as a musical term nine times since 1994. I'm sure the "Together, in music" clue for ADUE won't go away since it's ok for crossword purposes.
Bill, DC posted about ADUE a few hours ago. Here's a link: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/41ejvn?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/41ejvn?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a> emus are wasting their breath
@Bill - the distinction applies when you think in 19th-century symphonic terms. Throughout the century-and-a-half from late Haydn through Turangalîla, there were regularly multiple winds on a part: there were regularly six flute players on the three flute parts, each doubling on the part. So the meanings of indications like “solo”/“tutti”, 1o, 2o, à2, à3 etc. shift when you have a 19th-c. orchestra in mind. I remember learning about how the world mutated when the first world war was followed immediately by the great influenza epidemic: how we went from the symphonies of a thousand to Pierrot Lunaire and l’Histoire du Soldat…and I remember being skeptical that such a drastic shift could happen just based on social factors like war and plague. And then I experienced it personally in the last five years…. Anyway, tutti doesn’t mean “together”, it means “all”, “everybody”; à2 means “please allow us to save the effort and ink of writing up- and down-stems on every note of this passage”, aka, “you (in the part)/they (in the score) play together.”
Everyone here complaining about the proper nouns when I can't get over what the heck a SUPER-UBER is supposed to be. Feels like that could have been clued a little better. SUPER-USER is a computer science term and what I had there.
M, The [Super-] clue is to be answered with an equivalent prefix (i.e., UBER). A fill-in-the-blank clue would be [Super _____] or [Super- _____]. #####
@M There's an explanation of uber and super used as prefixes if you scroll to previous posts.
OK, NENE is now a gimme, but now I've got to learn Hawaiian fish names?? I couldn't even remember the scale mnemonic from the other day! Are all Americans (or I suppose New Yorkers) experts on all aspects of Hawaiian culture or have you just picked it up from crosswords?
@Steve I learned mahi-mahi from a Pauly Shore movie.
@Steve Surfing references, ukelele, luau, and poi are fairly common knowledge here as are the names of Oahu and Maui islands. Don Ho was a legendary singer. Pearl Harbor has its own associations. Mahi mahi can be found on many seafood menus.
I prefer "Elephants go bowling down freeways" myself.