Stop trying to make ORANG a thing, it makes no sense, just stop.
@T Maybe (and only maybe), this shortening of "orangutan" has not made it into Singaporean English, but it's accepted in all American and British dictionaries: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/orang" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/orang</a> <a href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/orang" target="_blank">https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/orang</a> <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/orangutan?q=orang" target="_blank">https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/orangutan?q=orang</a> <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/orang" target="_blank">https://www.dictionary.com/browse/orang</a> <a href="https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/orang" target="_blank">https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/orang</a> So I'm pretty sure it's a thing.
Delightful. Classical & Mediterranean echoes top to bottom, including ECHO (in Greek mythology she was a mountain nymph cursed never to be able to speak on her own, only to repeat the last words spoken to her), the Latin ATRIA, TERRA & ANNUM, the Greek OMEGA (with ties to the Greek God Chronos), Ionia and Capri, DIANA the hunter goddess who shot many an ARROW, CROCUS a male companion of the god Hermes who was accidentally killed by Hermes with a discus; Hermes in his grief turned his dead friend into a riverside flower, LACUNA which means "pool" in Latin and also echoes Laocoon, an ancient Roman statue; ARIEL, who figures in both Christian and Jewish mythology as a fairy of the air, XENA, a made up figure but based on Greek mythology; her parents, Orestes and Cyrene, are actual Greek mythological personae, although saying something is both actual and mythological is a little awkward. But this is truly a SCHOLARS' puzzle. There's more to say about this fine puzzle, the duality of RUMPS and ASSET, the little echo of Spanish in ESPN, the Judeo-Christian paring of HOME ALONE & SEDER, and bringing us all back home with donuts and a pit master, two of America's greatest contributions to world civilization, and one should EXTOL them as our greatest asset. Our collective rumps prove it!
@john ezra Nice work. Classics forever. I hope that Sam L. sees it.
@john ezra Wonderful post. TIL about CROCUS. Although I knew about the gift of saffron, I had no idea about Hermes. A humble flower, the beloved of a god. Who is also a god of eloquence, I see (Encycl. Brittanica). Which is definitely one of your gifts, John.
@john ezra Barbara Kingsolver's "The Lacuna" is also memorable in this context.
This puzzle was so beautifully put together. To wit: • That sash of circles plus the two theme spanners greatly restrict the answers that can go into the grid. Yet there are minimal junky answers, and even lovely ones – LACUNA, SWATCH, EXTOL, IGNOBLE, PITMASTER. • I’m guessing many did not know the name of the church that spans row three, (certainly not me!), yet it was gettable due to artful cluing of its crosses, that is, making them easy enough to get while maintaining Wednesday resistance. Bravo constructors and editors on that! LACUNA reminded me of Barbara Kingsolver’s novel “The Lacuna”, which I adore and highly recommend. Normally, tribute puzzles just give facts/features of what or who is being honored. But today we also have a graphic representation (the steps) that includes wordplay (having Spanish going down the steps). That’s a sweet spin on tribute puzzles, and this was, for me, a splendid outing. Congratulations on your NYT debut, Casey, and high respect, Will, for your expertise and for your kindness in mentoring a new constructor. Thank you both!
@Lewis I noticed a really low number of 3-word answers too, which is super impressive construction for such a constrained grid!
@Lewis Thank you so, so much for your kind words about my debut NYT puzzle. I made the, shall we say, *daring* choice to wade through a few comments sections regarding the puzzle and while the criticisms folks have are more than fair they were getting painful to read… and then I read your comment and it nearly made my eyes brim with joyful tears. I’m thrilled you enjoyed the puzzle, and thank you again for your kindness. May it be revisited upon you a hundredfold!
LACUNA crossing ENIAC felt like a Friday or Saturday to me, but maybe that's just me and my lack of familiarity with these words. I ended up looking up the [Pioneering 1940s computer] since I didn't feel like running through the alphabet on this one.
@Gregg I feel the same, especially since the only familiar relative of that 22A for me is “laguna”. Ran through all vowels on “[aEiou]NIAg” before eventually deciding to broaden my search and hitting ENIAC.
@Gregg That's interesting. I don't really remember when I learned about ENIAC, but it must have been at (Polish) school - perhaps we were taught about it in 20th century history? I imagined that as one of the American inventions that helped to revolutionize the world, it would be a gimme for Americans.
@Gregg I totally get your point and I’m glad you posted, as I suspect many today had a similar experience. My own experience was quite different, however. ENIAC was a complete gimme, not because I have any special knowledge of the history of computing, but because it has appeared over 60 times (useful vowels). My background in medicine made LACUNA a gimme as well (as in lacunar infarcts in the brain). Everybody has a different experience with each puzzle and I’m glad we have this forum to share these.
Any puzzle that mentions Beethoven's Third is okay by me. And then three princesses, XENA, ARIEL and DIANA. This puzzle is chock full of interesting clues and fill. There really does seem to be something for everyone.
I appreciate the effort and was pleasantly surprised to see DISTROS but the clue isn't quite accurate. "Distros" refer to "distributions," or, the specific implementation of the Linux OS. For instance, Arch Linux, Debian, Red Hat, Linux Mint, Ubuntu, etc. Those Linux OS "flavors" comprise many packages core to their operation, managed by package managers like apt, yum, pacman, etc. Packages are also non-essential software components -- things installable and versioned. But the DISTROS are, let's say, a level above the packages and, specifically, the Linux OSes, themselves.
@Steven Yup. Insofar as the OS is itself software one could make an argument that the clue was valid, but one would still be wrong. :) ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (I do this instead of emuing)
@Steven I know nothing about Linux, other than a distribution is a thing there. When I got a few crosses, DISTROS became obvious. Perhaps the clue was not accurate, but it worked for an ignoramus like me. I don't really understand your explanation, btw - what is an implementation of Linux? I've seen the words Debian and Ubuntu over the years, but I never knew what they refered to, exactly. Can it even be simply explained to a person like me - a lawyer and gamer who can put together his own PC, but knows almost nothing about the inner workings of software, and pretty much nothing about Linux?
Crossing ENIAC with LACUNA and CROCUS with DISTROS seems quite cruel for a Wednesday
A heads-up to let you know that tomorrow (Thursday), Will Nediger and I will have two different puzzles in two different publications that are not the NYT. One is in the WSJ and one is in the LAT. Both are accessible online to anyone and I hope you will want to do them. I'm pleased with both and recommend them. Today Will did something quite different with a different collaborator. Tiny little circles do not a "Nancy puzzle" make. I can promise you that neither of our puzzles tomorrow will have tiny little circles. Will knows of my complete lack of interest in how tiny little circles can be manipulated within a grid by constructors -- and he is always kind enough to humor me when we collaborate. Of course Will can construct ANY type of puzzle with any type of collaborator. He's a true Renaissance constructor.
@Nancy Delighted to learn that WSJ crossword is accessible without a subscription. Looking forward to solving your puzzles!
@Nancy For whatever it's worth, I definitely thought of you when I saw the circles today! :-) Normally, I'm fine with circles but I had a hard time with them today. I should have waited to solve on my computer. When do the WSJ and LAT puzzles come out? Is it night before, like NYT?
Though I solved slightly faster than my average time, I thought this puzzle had a touch more bite than a typical Wednesday.
Geeze. Absolutely wicked Naticks (for me) on this one. In a single quadrant (on a Wednesday?!) we’re criss crossing: ETE ENIAC LACUNA IGNOBLE and TRINITAD DEI MONTI Thats just mean, man! And I love it. Needed a little help from Wordplay. First time that’s happened on a Wednesday in over a year, I reckon. Love it. Bring it. Thanks for the great puzzle, Casey Callaghan and Will Nediger!
I enjoyed this puzzle. As a history buff and food lover I just can't get enough of Rome - it was nice to be reminded of it and reminisce about my times there, even if I have never really undersood what is so special about the Spanish steps. (Tips: for a walk into the past, stroll along Via Appia Antica. Me and my wife walked 20 kilometers there among ancient tombs and villas - it was incredible. Also, the ancient port at Ostia is strangely little known, but a day spent there with an audio guide was one of our most interesting in Italy). That being said... The crossing of AT_ and _ORTS got me. I have never heard of ATf, and pORTS seemed to make sense - river ports, maybe? When I did not get my gold star though this was the first crossing I looked into and identified the problem. Also, I realized I knew the word LACUNA - from the name of the Italian rock group Lacuna Coil, of all places - but I had no idea what it meant. I recognized it from the crosses and learned its meaning. Cool.
@Andrzej Yes, Ostia Antica is incredible. And it’s only about a 40 min train ride from Rome. I’d like see Pompeii some day but OA felt like a great alternative.
@Andrzej Robert Graves' books (I, Claudius and Claudius the God) give one a thorough acquaintance with places such as the harbor at Ostia. Such wonderful reads. (There were TV 'Masterpiece Theater' versions, but needless to say, much less detailed.)
My undoing was the crossing of ATF and DISTROS, with an empty square where the T should be, and not keen on running the alphabet. It must have been Karma – up until then I had breezed through this puzzle, completely on the constructors' wavelength, feeling like I'd hit the jackpot, and a little smug, especially because my first pass had given me few toeholds until it all broke open. Still it was a wondrous solve, never mind the falling flat on my rump at the end of it. Bravo, gents, for a fabulous puzzle, and congrats to Mr. Callaghan on getting published in the NYT! Many thanks!
sotto voce, That “T” and its neighbouring “F” were my last letters to go in. I was thinking pORTS might be in coastal Oregon, until I recalled the trail was (maybe?) a more inland route. Then, nothing but past crosswords whispered to me “Alcohol, ___, Firearms” and what goes better with those two than Tobacco? So, I reasoned, not trusting that reasoning alone, DISTROS must be short for distributions, and not ‘distrust your feelings, Luke’. Voila! Fingers crossed… phew.
TRADESIES! That’s just a fun word, right there. Almost plopped it in immediately, but it seemed like a CC-ism, which I’m known for… which are just words made up… by me. But it wasn’t! It was real. Loved it. Reminds me of a dinner table chat when the kids we’re tweens. I said the pasta was yummilicious. My eldest said, “Yeah, you use that word a ton. Could you like, never use it again? Like, ever?” I showed restraint. But about ten years later I asked and he said “Please do not take anything I said in 7th grade seriously. Say whatever weird words you want!” I went begonkers and just gab-a-labbed my way through life. Chillaxin with my cheeky word-issues. Which are (obviously) word-shoes.
@CCNY Just keep in mind that there are no trade-backsies.
DISTROS /EROICA was a difficult crossing because I don't know nothing about birthing no software packages. Otherwise, I liked the puzzle.
@Joe For a long time I thought DISTROS was wrong. I finally reconciled it with the idea that it was short for "distributions", or packages of software. Anything having to do with Linux is going to be weird.
Hard puzzle but I almost had it. Lost at, of all things, ADDON for the correct ADDIN and POTMASTER for the correct PITMASTER. Should have had it but was distracted by all the other things I didn't know.
@Bob That's *exactly* how I ended it. Took forever, even though I had no idea what a PoTMASTER could be. Maybe hovering over a boiling pot, like Macbeth's witches?
This one was great. My personal favourite was "Lawless Princess" All those hours spent watching 90s daytime TV while sick from school paid off!
Haven’t read all the comments, but I was comforted to see that others, including Sam, found it more challenging than the usual Wednesday. It certainly was a challenge but also fun and enlightening when I finally got there. I’m old, so I’ve watched the old (and delightful) film, “Desk Set” (starring the great duo Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy) many times. The other big star of that film is a very large early computer which they called EMERAC, (or “Emmy”). When I saw the clue, I thought of Emmy right away, but I also knew the name ENIAC from something—maybe another film?—and that was what I put in that space. I had a lot more luck with the bottom half of the puzzle than I did with the top. As Sam points out, the crossing fill was crucial for this one. I never would have gotten the church without crosses. Congrats on a terrific debut, Casey. And also thank you Will, for helping make this challenging and entertaining puzzle happen.
Thoroughly enjoyed this delightful Wednesday puzzle. Great debut for Mr. Callaghan and Mr. Nediger. They work well together. I especially liked the numbered "steps". The clues were clever and consistent with the puzzles theme for the most part. Nicely done. Thank you NYT crossword team. Cheers from Texas under a hot sun and brighter than normal moon. G'night y'all!
Not an easy Wednesday, in my opinion. Quite a few tight corners and a handful of languages made this puzzle a little alienating at times. EXULT before EXTOL, which led to LLAMA before ORANG, and DISTROS?! what the heck is that? Anyway clever, good and yep you counted up to four going down the middle of the puzzle, neat. TRADESIES … lol
@Michael Have you ever seen a llama in a tree? That would be a sight to see! 😄 .............................................
Typical long workout for me but just an extremely enjoyable puzzle. Just a couple of terrific 'aha' moments - first, catching on to the string of numbers, and then having enough crosses for the reveal to dawn on me. Was actually there some years ago. Fond memories of that trip. Two thumbs way way up for this one. And.. stumbled across a quite remarkable puzzle with a somewhat related theme. Three 15 letter answers, all with the same clue: - Rome "Must". Those answers: PIAZZASANPIETRO THESPANISHSTEPS FOUNTAINOFTREVI Was surprised to see that THESPANISHSTEPS was the only to ever appear in another puzzle (today, of course). I'm done. ..
Ole. I found this one straightforward, except that DISTROS was unfamiliar to me. I didn’t catch on to the significance of the circles until the puzzle was complete - a clever feat of construction. The puzzle conjured up my various trips to Rome, and memories of eating gelato while sitting on THESPANISHSTEPS. A very nice way to end the day.
@Marshall Walthew No fair! Mrs. C-64 and I tried having a picnic lunch on the steps and were told by a policeman, in English, "NO EATING."
Super nice puzzle. Would have liked the Spanish numbers to be the number of steps but it didn’t fit. In terms of difficulty the puzzles this week seem to be set for half way between each day. Too easy for tomorrow, a bit too hard for today. Maybe I should start solving them at the end of the day rather than first thing in the morning 😃 (in my time zone they land at 5am on the day)
@Ιασων I love the idea that the puzzles might get progressively harder by the hour, not the day. If you do try an end-of-day solving strategy, please report back!
You found the LACUNA of my knowledge. Learned a lot today. Too much for a Tuesday. Was not expecting BOSOMS, even though I actually was expecting BOSOMS… And the double plays of posteriors and rears got a good double take. Men, with your puzzle you proved yourselves to be truly gentlemen and scholars.
What a fun Wednesday puzzle! I thought of THE SPANISH STEP straight away, but the Spanish numbers took a little longer and one the best AHA moments of all. I’ll definitely be looking forward to more from Casey and Will.
I, for one, welcome our new crunchier-puzzles-every-day overlords. And their leader, Kotb Hoda. (Or is it Honda Kotb? Auto-correct wants to know. Repeatedly.)
@JohnWM Hoda Kotb. Sometimes it pays to list to auto-correct!
There are worse ways to start the day than to be reminded of Gregory Peck and dewy Audrey Hepburn in "Roman Holiday"... Even if we find that Will Nediger is an accessory after the fact (or was that before AND after?) TIL "TRINITA DEI MONTE"...I've never been to Rome, but I spent unforgettable time in Florence and Venice...(was able to see some wonderful things before vandals or floods wreaked damage to some of the treasures.) Nice touch to include CAPRI pants. TRADSIES, eh? Isn't that cute..... On my walk this morning, I was treated to a landscape fillled with hundreds of spider webs bejeweled by fog....
@Mean Old Lady - I never did a morning walk in the woods without my trusty spider stick, specially chosen as strong, light, and long, swung up and down in front of me to take down spider and web together before potentially inhaling both. When I went out after dark in the autumn piedmont woods, the extremely loud scritching and scratching of millions of spiders was always bone-shivering, once I learned what the sound was. And my housemate taught me the art of “spider sniffing”: place a flashlight directly on the bridge of your nose, shining out in the dark, indoors or out. All the sparkling jewels you see, in every color of the rainbow, reveal spiders, whose eyes are reflecting that light to you. Not for the faint of heart, especially in attic, barn, garage, or bedroom.
UNO, DOS, one two TRES CUATRO! Yes, I will have "Wooly Bully" running through my head for a while. At least it's not "Hey Mickey!" My sister had that on a 45 - no memory of what was on the B side, but TONI Basil was a gimme for me.
@Grant B-side is Ain't Gonna Move, playing it just now brought be back to my neighborhood in Oakland in 1965... I think I heard that song before I ever heard the Rolling Stones, who I thought were copying Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs when I first heard the Stones. Lil' Red Riding Hood too... Domingo Samudio sings like a better Mick Jagger... Jagger's Americanisms always feel a bit too distorted for me. And that led me down today's rabbit hole to listening to Rufus Thomas, "Walking the Dog" and getting all nostalgic about my old neighborhood in Oakland. Loading Zone, Country Joe, ahhh.... Thanks!
I got quite a chuckle from the hint "Money maker" being adjacent to "Posteriors."
@Dave Remember that Super Bowl commercial, a hospital and a guy laying on a gurney, face down, covered but there's a whole lot of money sitting around? A nurse asks a doctor if the patient has insurance. The doctor says "Who cares? He's got money coming out the wazoo."
“Linux software packages” had me thinking more along the lines of .deb, RPM, but those didn’t fit… but “tarball” did! Alas, it was “distros” instead, which is not what I expected given the clue. Surely I’m not the only geek here thrown for a loop by that!
@C.A. Indeed, I didn't think of an OS distro as a "software package" at all. That usually means applications. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (I do this instead of emuing)
@C.A. But the clue was in the plural, so it couldn’t have been “tarball,” either, and “tarballs” wouldn’t have fit. (And neither would have worked with the “informally” part of the clue.) I think DISTROS works fine: A Linux distribution, which one generally downloads packaged into an ISO file, consists of pre-configured versions of the Linux kernel; a bootloader; the GNU implementation of the standard POSIX core utilities; and a default selection of various other applications, servers, window managers, desktop environments, utilities, and libraries—all of which are software.
No clue on distros, had to fill in with crosses. Thanks to New York Author Diane Duane (Young Wizards) I knew the term lacuna. Thanks to Tamora Pierce (Circle of Magic) I knew that saffron comes from crocuses.
I completed the puzzle before I understood what was happening with the circled letters. Ok, it's like a staircase... you can do that anywhere in the puzzle by circling letters.... oh wait, it's numbered steps in Spanish, lol! I enjoyed that reveal, despite the number of unknowns I encountered in the puzzle. TRINITA DEI MONTI, LACUNA, DISTROS.... I had no clue. Luckily the crosses filled in those answers for me.
Tripped up at first because wrote 18D as IGNOBEL as in the recently awarded prizes
@Joseph If I ever feel that the prize has been awarded to the wrong person, I will use this word.
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Casey. 17A looked like a letter salad, but the crosses took care of that nicely. Good Wednesday puzzle. I can see where the theme could have helped with the fill if needed, so that's an added bonus.
Tough one, I was undone by addon leading to potmaster but an enjoyable puzzle nonetheless
@James I had addin and pitmaster. (Barbecue pit)
@James me too. I was never a “pot master” even in college. It always bested me.
Smooth as satin and just right for a Wednesday. Extremely enjoyable solve. I must say I'm enjoying the caliber of puzzles these days....NYT is always top drawer, but this is an especially nice run of late.
Lara, Not the first time, but not frequent. Seventh time in a clue, and four times as an answer, most recently for both in 2019! ####
When I finished the delightful if tough puzzle (for a Wednesday), I looked back over the steps. Wait, the numbers are in Spanish for a site in Italy! Oh right, of course, that’s because they are the SPANISH steps. I got a good chuckle out of that. Very clever and fun. Congrats for the great debut, Casey!
Thanks Casey & Will, that was fun. Being Canadian, I don't speak Spanish, but as Sam said it was solvable through the crosses. Sam be sure to get to P.E.I and get a lobster roll from Original Richard's. You'll never be the same.
Fun puzzle. I originally thought this would be some kind of rebus because I was certain the answer would be GRILLMASTER. Wasted a bit of time on that. Ended up about average time for a Weds puzzle. Having visited Rome about 2 years ago, THESPANISHSTEPS came pretty quickly. Enjoyed an incredible sunset at the top on my last night there sipping a bottle of Aperol Spritz. Can’t wait to return. Of course I forgot the name of the Church.
A 27 minute solve- it has been a while since I have seen anything about the Spanish Steps. I wouldn’t have known the name of the place at the top of the steps but fortunately I was able to solve the down clues. Overall, a good Wednesday puzzle!
The LACUNA - great book by Barbara Kingsolver. Definitely known to me.
VACUUM before LACUNA but otherwise a smooth and enjoyable solve. The Spanish Steps built into the puzzle were a great reward. I didn't know the name of the church at the top. Google tells me there are 900 churches in Rome, so I didn't feel too bad. Thanks, Google!
Nice puzzle with good vocabulary + knowledge requirements for a Wednesday. Bonus - pausing to remember my trip to Rome 5 years ago. What I wouldn't give to be standing in a bar having a caffe doppio!
Technically the clue for DISTROS is correct, but its colloquial usage typically just refers to different flavours of operating system, which threw me off a little. But I suppose I should just be happy that Linux still merits a mention at all! Anyway, apart from the eternal frustration of ORANG, I really loved this puzzle. Clever theme, nice graphical component, and hits just right for a Wednesday!
@IL Certainly technically correct in that an Operating Sysytem (OS) is technically software. But I'd argue the usage of the wording "software package" has this clue leaning towards incorrect. Colloquially, a software package is something installed *within* the OS, and a DISTRO is a particular variant of the OS itself. No one refers to DISTROS as "software packages". When I first read the clue I thought we were going full Linux and I penciled in TARBALL, but alas DISTROS threw me for longer than I'd care to admit.
This was a difficult solve for me, but enjoyable. Have to admit looking some answers up. But it was fun. Kudos.
Didn't finish and loved it! My downfall was not questioning REARS instead of RUMPS and not knowing what "toroidal" (more like a Saturday word, let's face it) meant, which made for an impossible cross with a TV personality I've never heard of. Once I looked up "toroidal" it all made sense. Intelligent cluing, interesting words, fun theme, a really nice challenge!
@Teresa TORI / TORUS clued with doughnut/donut is a frequent event. It seldom gets to the tortured level that we have today, but keep it in mind. There is also TORII (for an Asian twist)
I’m curious to know how many different clues have been used in the NYT crossword puzzle for the same cookie. And as if it has not intruded in my world in enough ways already, I read in today’s “news” that all long-suffering Toronto Maple Leaf hockey fans will have to stare at this cookie whenever they can bring themselves to watch the team play, as it has adopted this cookie brand as the sponsor on the team’s helmets this year. Evidently, the Canadian Press considered it necessary to explain to the public that the cookie “consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white ice filling and is often dipped in milk.”
Strudel Dad, Are the pucks at Leafs home games going to have a white stripe in the middle now? Can the hockey there stand to be even more crumby than it has been? 😉
@JohnWM Touché! (But they can’t take the ‘60s away from me.)
TRADESIES popped into my head right away, but I said, "Nah, couldn't be." But it was. DISTROS? Got it from the crosses, but don't think it should have been in a Wednesday puzzle. I do believe it's too obscure for most solvers. I've been to the Spanish Steps twice, first as a young single with Europe on $5 a day clutched in my hands, as the young Italian men did what all the guidebooks said they'd do. Use your imagination. I used to be fluent in Italian, so I always think of the Italian expression that describes it. Second visit decades later, this time with a guide who foiled a pickpocket attempt. Never did make it up to the top, so I was glad that the crosses gave me the name of the church!
I only solved the Eniac Lacuna cross because I tried hard. Tough Wednesday !