The Dog Days get their name from the constellation Canis Major, not the star Sirius, which is not a constellation but part of Canis Major.
@Fact Boy The Old Farmers’ Almanac would beg to disagree, but what do I know compared to our FB. “The phrase ‘Dog Days’ conjures up the hottest, most sultry days of summer. The Old Farmer’s Almanac lists the traditional timing of the Dog Days: the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11, coinciding with the heliacal (at sunrise) rising of the Dog Star, Sirius. The rising of Sirius does not actually affect the weather (some of our hottest and most humid days occur after August 11), but for the ancient Egyptians, Sirius appeared just before the season of the Nile’s flooding, so they used the star as a “watchdog” for that event.” The wiki entry seems to agree: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/5fhp4twe" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/5fhp4twe</a>
@Fact Boy - Yet again, you have your facts wrong. The origin is most certainly from Sirius. It is a translation from the Latin term caniculares dies, which translates as "days of the dog star."
As an Australian who doesn't know a single thing about American history, or American media, this was a toughie!
@Matt Yep- a lot of very USA specific clues today! In good news, I know slightly more about the USA than before I started the puzzle.
@Matt Agree! I got that they are playing on newspapers, but getting the theme answers themselves relied on a LOT of crossings!
A clever theme quickly done. A pleasure of a Tuesday puzzle.
From starting-to-construct-crosswords to published-Times-puzzle in less than two years – impressive. Also impressive – this theme, never done before, creative and playful. Born out of true constructor thinking, with Kevin looking at the terrific [Washington post?] for VALLEY FORGE, an answer in one of his rejected puzzles, and thinking, “What else can I do with this?” A wordplay theme buttressed by non-theme wordplay clues/answers: [Like a drive through the woods?] for ERRANT. [Not my typo] for SIC, and the terrific [Personnel in vestments] for CLERGY. There are puns that make my eyes roll, and puns that make me go “Hah!” and dwell for a moment in appreciation. These three are in the latter camp, and between them, the theme, and the interesting factoids Kevin threw in, I loved this puzzle! Some lovely words sprinkled about as well – ERRANT, LATENT, VACATE – and I liked seeing ANT cross a backward ANTE. Congratulations on your NYT debut, Kevin. I hope to see more from you – please? This one made me feel good all over – thank you!
Well, it looks like the EMUs don't like the oh so clever way I expressed myself in a previous post. So I'll simply say that the clue for 9D, technically, is incorrect. Sirius is not a constellation. It is a star in the constellation Canis Major, or "Big Dog". *That's* why those are called the dog days. I'm pretty sure everyone here knew that. But I just have to point that out, as a amateur astronomer for the past 65 years.
@Francis It is rare when someone points out an error in the crossword that is an actual error, and not just an alternate spelling or definition. :) It shouldn't be hard to change the clue, I think.
Interesting thing about Kansas City: KC's major pro sports teams, including Mr. KELCE's, are named after monarchs of a sort. The baseball team is the Royals, the football teams the Chiefs, and the basketball team, since departed to Sacramento, was the Kings. The Kansas City Monarchs were a longtime member of baseball's Negro Leagues.
@Steve L The only Kansas City sports team I know is Sporting Kansas City, the soccer club. I remember it because to us across the pond it is really funny how American soccer teams ape the names of European greats: in this case, Sporting Lisboa. A puzzle recently reminded me about Inter Miami (not quite Inter Milano). To follow the theme you write of, Real KC would be more fitting. Alas, apparently it was not to be.
@Andrzej North American soccer teams do imitate the names of teams across the pond, and in some cases it makes sense and in others it doesn't. Inter Miami makes sense as there is a sizable Spanish-speaking population in Miami. On the other hand, Atletico Ottawa seems very odd on the surface, until you learn that the team was founded by Atletico Madrid.
I needed five lookups and when that did not get me a gold start, I was too annoyed to look for errors and resorted to autocheck. This grid was extremely hard for a foreigner, or me at least, especially on a Tuesday. I can't remember when I last needed this much help on this day of the week - it's been many months, if not a year. I actually got the themed entries - not because I understood the clues but because with enough crosses the answers were obvious. However that was little help in this very (and justifiably, as this is the NYT crossword) American puzzle. This time not only the trivia got me - (for an example of my troubles, how about this: not knowing Euphoria and having _UE made me go for sUE - I thought BsAT was some exam for nannies 🤣. RUE... Really...). I also did not know some terms, like beltway for DC (yeah, I googled that). It sounded sport-related. Well, it was not. Personally I sadly found this puzzle unenjoyable: failing early in the week feels rotten (also, I did the puzzle having inexplicably woken up at 4:30 AM, so SLEEP ticked me off 🤣).
@Andrzej "I thought BsAT was some exam for nannies." 😂
@Andrzej I thought of you while I was completing this one. Does Oktoberfest spill over into Poland? Or is any day good for beer and another kind of BRAT? (Is brat uniquely American shorthand for bratwurst?)
Hours after me my wife woke up. I told her about my troubles with today's puzzle. Apparently, to her "beltway" is a gimme, and she answered POL instantly when I read the clue to her. How can she bear living with a man so inferior to her in so many ways I will never truly understand. However, I am much more of a Swiftie than her - she has never heard of TRAVIS KELCE.
@Andrzej To be fair, NYT crossword compilers do have an unhealthy obsession with exam names...
@Andrzej oh please let your revenge be to submit a puzzle with Polish history answers and let the rest of us broaden our knowledge!
Late addendum. Thought of an old joke, inspired by 51d. Maybe could be a crossword clue/answer sometime. Anyway... "Father from Indiana?" HOOSIERDADDY I'll shut up now. ...
@Rich in Atlanta Love it! I chuckled out loud at that one! Never shut up! ☺️
@Rich in Atlanta That's My Brother!! Take that, emus!
@Rich in Atlanta And it was on this day that daddy was forever destined to follow Hoosier in my brain, as it has been amused enough to never want let go of this association.
Congratulations on your debut, Mr. Shellito. How very creative, having themed clues instead of answers. It made for a puzzle that was a joy to solve. Thank you much!
Crossing three sports answers in the SE is a Natick for me. (But I'm sure Barry will tell me why I'm wrong.)
@Bill in Yokohama We will anxiously await!
@Bill in Yokohama That's a fair complaint, even though there's a case to be made that Kelce's fame -- by association -- has transcended anything he's done in the NFL and entered the mainstream.
@Bill in Yokohama He might cut you some slacl on Kelce/NCAA but he will insist you could guess Pacers.
@Bill in Yokohama Nah. You said “…for me.”
Bill, If it was a Natick for you, it was a Natick for you. Sorry to disappoint you.
“So you make these puzzles … who solves them?” Thousands do today, congrats Kevin!
Reading the constructor’s note on his creative process gave me pause to think. Tearing at breakneck speed to solve these delicate webs of language is certainly a lot of fun. But it could also be seen as akin to chugalugging a bottle of very fine wine. Some things are meant to be savored. You’ve changed my perspective today, Mr. Shellito. Take time out to smell the roses. Don’t let the emu’s bite.
@Rusty Wheelhouse I am a savorer and am actually annoyed when I solve a puzzle unusually quickly. I am astounded that so many people go for fast times. A matter of taste, I suppose.
@MExpat Those are my thoughts, too. Like reading a book too fast. Maybe we can add Slow Crossword to other pleasures, like Slow Cooking?
Fun puzzle. Glad to see a new constructor. Was appropriately puzzled early on, but finally caught on to the trick. Just had to work the crosses for each of the theme answers to finally dawn on me but that just made for a an enjoyable workout. Looking forward to more from Mr. Shellito. ..
Back in the frontier days of the NYT, I submitted an ad for what was, at the time, a novel leg strap, coated with an antivenom, I manufactured for the all-too-common snake bite of the prairies. It never ran. The rejection telegram from the editor said: “As a policy, we don’t mention things that could cut our circulation. Stop.” (I’ll show myself out.)
Awesome debut, and the themers are very good indeed, there are probably only a few other newspapers that lend themselves to this theme. I thought of: [USA today?] FIFTY STATES [Paris match?] THE FRENCH OPEN [Philadelphia inquirer?] BEN FRANKLIN [Wall Street journal?] THE BIG SHORT [New York post?] ERIC ADAMS* [Jewish chronicle?] THE OLD TESTAMENT [Chicago Tribune?] BARAK OBAMA But I can think of multiple arguments against the inclusion of any of the above. My only slight unease is that the Boston Herald is relatively unknown compared to the Globe, but who can think of anything that can be clued [Boston globe?]? Also, learning how many darn ants there are, I'm like whoa that's where we need to sign up voters, promise them ant-farm subsidies, multiple NACHO chip spills and ice cream cone drops, and a relaxation of child labor laws. And we don't discriminate between black ants, carpenter ants, red ants, even yellow crazy ants. But termites, you can stay home. Eels swimming backwards, next you'll tell me they can hit the ball like Shohei Ohtani. I'll believe anything. Sprockets saying "Ants ants ants!": <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2bLcilzeqc" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2bLcilzeqc</a>
@john ezra * Re Eric Adams, he might not hold his New York post for very long, that's what some people are saying. Too political for you, emus? We shall see...
@john ezra - There is a very large globe in Boston! The Mapparium at the Christian Science Center is something to see. <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapparium" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapparium</a>
A quick search for Sirius tells me I'm the first and I get to be everything we've all been wanting to be: PEDANTIC!!! !!! The clue for 9D "9D [Hot summer period named for the constellation Sirius] is wrong! Sirius is a star, not a constellation. The constellation it's in is *runs and checks Google real quick just to avoid appearing to be a total jerk* Canis Major. That's why they're the Dog Days--because of the constellation Big Dog. It totally ruined my solve. Couldn't get past that and just was barely able to read another clue, or even begin to come up with an answer if I did. In fact, now I've given up all hope for a better tomorrow /s.
@Francis I am not alone then! Had the same thoughts.
@Francis Yes, also why does 65A have a question mark? The answer is pretty literal. And SLEETS comes down as a wintry mix? Anything wrong with that? I had SLURRY and then FLURRY but SLEETS? really?
@Francis You’re 100% correct. Sadly, the editors do not care about mere accuracy. Sometimes, you have to answer as though you are similarly ill-informed.
@Francis - Your pseudo-rant would be more fun if it were actually correct. See my reply to your and Fact Boy's comments from last night. Dog Days are named after the star, not the constellation. Of course, it's all a bit circular, since the star is named after the constellation. It's a bit like the dog star chasing its tail. I suppose. But the clue is, indeed, wrong, since Sirius is a star, not a constellation.
I’ll echo other non US solvers; that was tough for us foreign types. I completed without understanding any of the theme clues before reading Wordplay, which does take away a level of enjoyment. My one tiny nit; a London lad would not be called a CHAP, though I understand the logic behind the clue. Bloke would be a better fit, or geezer perhaps. Don’t mind me grumbling, just trying to salvage my tattered wits after a brutal Tuesday solve. Good grid.
This puzzle has made me feel very nostalgiac for print newspapers. The NYT stopped delivering to my area a few years ago, and I miss it terribly. Besides having to print my puzzle every day, the reading experience is not the same. As someone who has trouble concentrating on one thing at a time, the distraction of seeing so many interesting things to read can be overwhelming. In the paper, I knew if I skipped ahead to read something, I could always come back to the page I was on and it would still be in the same place and I didn't have to worry about missing anything. It made for a more relaxing and complete reading experience. The only upside is that I no longer have to clean black smudge marks from every surface, but that was a small price to pay.
@Nancy J. I share your nostalgic feelings regarding the print versions of newspapers (and, for that matter, magazines that are no longer in print). I guess our brains are wired differently than some because I totally miss leafing through the paper (yes actually made of paper!) instead of searching through the online edition. I do love having access to past archived puzzles and seemingly unlimited recipes. I do, however, wax nostalgic when I come across a dog-eared, stained, and yellowed recipe cut out of the paper when I once had the NYT delivered daily while living in NYC. Oh yes, the puzzle. A nice job of fitting the newspaper names to the theme fill. It was a fun exercise and an appropriate level of difficulty for an early week puzzle. Keep them coming Kevin.
@Nancy J. Another downside is missing the games page in the magazine, which I love . Yes, I know I could still get it from xword info, but just another thing to monitor and subscription to pay. I still get Sunday delivery, but every week I wonder if that will stop soon. I can't imaging that Las Vegas is a hotbed for NYT home delivery, given the low percentage of college grads, the transient nature of the population, and the high percentage of Republicans here.
I really enjoyed this. Love the clever and interesting theme -- and I also applaud Kevin's cluing choices. So much thought was put into finding something a little different and fairly unknown about ordinary things. The number of ANTs, ye gods! That science fair experiment -- perhaps "classic" to you, but not to me. The chip named for its inventor (!) A new clue for EEL after all this time, and an interesting one. These clues do not fall off trees into a constructor's lap -- they have to be searched for in an effort to please and amuse us, the solvers. To be able to enjoy this kind of cluing on a Tuesday is a very nice surprise. An imaginative, fun theme too. I sort of think that the FORTY NINERs did more panning and digging than they did examining -- but I could be wrong. Anyway, I wish that all Tuesdays could be like this.
@Nancy I guess you didn't watch The Brady Bunch as a kid. There's an episode where Peter builds a volcano for the science fair, and it explodes all over Marcia and her snooty friends. Classic indeed!
Congratulations on a fine NYT debut, Mr. Shellito! Your theme was amusing, though I can’t help but wonder what you could do with, say, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. I hope we’ll see you back here soon.
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Kevin. There exists in NH a newspaper called the Union Leader. I can't say I recommend it, but: Union leader? has so many options. George Meade Mother Jones Eugene Debs César Chávez
@Nancy J. -- My hometown paper, the Asheville Citizen-Times, and "citizen times" immediately triggered ELECTION DAYS, which immediately triggered in me the hope that nobody sits home November 5.
@Nancy J. How about Free Press: CONSTITUTIONALGUARANTEE. (For now at least)
Nice! And TIL where nacho came from.
This is my 4th NYT crossword, participating from London. Yes, there are some clues I just can’t get, ever, especially anything to do with baseball, US football etc and some TV programmes, but it’s all good fun, and I accept that I will have to reveal some clues. And the spelling …… I also didn’t realise there might be a theme. Will keep trying.
@Jane Wheelaghan If you are new to NYT crossword I recommend two articles: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/how-to-solve-a-crossword-puzzle.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/article/how-to-solve-a-crossword-puzzle.html</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/crosswords/mini-to-maestro-part-1.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/19/crosswords/mini-to-maestro-part-1.html</a> I started at the beginning of the year with my new year's resolution to learn how to do crosswords! These articles have been extremely helpful to me. It's so much fun!
@Jane Wheelaghan Welcome. I’ve been doing the crossword here for about 5 years now and yes, I still get caught out with the differences in spelling! Like you I knew very little about US sports, but I’ve picked up such a lot. Ditto Spanish; there are a LOT of Spanish references/spelling etc. All the commenters here are really lovely and helpful. If you need an explanation of a clue/answer there’s always someone kind enough to help out. Enjoy.
@Jane Wheelaghan You'll get the hang of it after a while, and as Helen pointed out people are always happy to help in the comments. For what it's worth, I've been solving US-style crosswords for many years and when I went to London recently I found myself unable to complete any UK-style crosswords in the paper. It's a different style but definitely rewarding and fun!
Congrats on your debut, Kevin! A fun and clever puzzle. Loved the newspaper theme.
[San Francisco examiner], as it relates to FORTY NINER, might actually be a reference to the team’s medical examiner, if you’ve had a look at the football roster’s injury report as of this evening 😬 No matter. Bring on PAUL REVERE’s Patriots! (And we will see Mr. KELCE on October 20th.) Fun puzzle! Kevin L. Shellito
@Striker Should be the Santa Clara Forty-Niners, along with: Landover Commanders Arlington Cowboys East Rutherford Giants Inglewood Rams Orchard Park Bills East Rutherford Jets Miami Gardens Dolphins Paradise Raiders
The clue for 9-Down is erroneous: "Hot summer period named for the constellation Sirius." Sirius is a star, not a constellation.
@RM Alpha canis majoris, or Sirius, is often referred to as the "Dog star." Alpha dromaii
Challenging but fun Tuesday puzzle, and I enjoyed it more than yesterday’s. I especially liked reading the constructor’s comments and am really looking forward to more from Kevin.
I got ANT without any crossings because I know that, based on estimates and rounding and such, the combined biomass of ants and humans is roughly the same. (I researched this when writing a lesson on scientific notation.) <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29281253" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29281253</a>
Although I'm not really familiar with US newspapers, it didn't take me long to grasp the theme. The answers to the clues were also familiar enough to a Canadian that I didn't struggle at all. Except for TRAVIS KELCE.... I would have no idea at all who that was if it weren't for Taylor Swift. A very clever theme, and one that I enjoyed solving!
[EST and EDT] [Having forty-two days left until the general election] NY TIMES USA TODAY (Register; and VOTE!)
@Bill I am currently on a driving vacation up the west coast of Michigan, so a very regional one, clued where I spent the night: [The boy with his finger in a dike] HOLLAND SENTINEL (I realize these are working exactly the reverse of the one in the puzzle.)
As a non-American, I was pleased to be able to work out 17, 31 and 49 across without cheating. I did have to cheat for 65 across though.
@Margaret I got 65 across entirely through the crosses. I did not recognize the name once I had it filled in.
The (California/ San Francisco) forty-niners examined …. ore to find gold? Do not really get this clue/ answer. Even though wrote in “forty niners” without hesitation due to CA + crosses.
@Laura "Forty-niner" was a term for people who migrated to California, either temporarily or permanently, as a part of the gold rush (most of whom did so in 1849, hence the term.) As gold prospectors, yes, that's about what they did.
@Laura "Forty-niner" was a term for people who migrated to California, either temporarily or permanently, as a part of the gold rush (most of whom did so in 1849, hence the term.) As gold prospectors, yes, that's about what they did. (Edited to add that I think I misread the ellipses in your comment and now realize that you understood the term already, but thought "examiner" itself was a bit of a stretch. Which, yeah, this one needed help from crosses for me as well.)
@Laura I pictured them examining the slurry ofvwater and sand in the bottom of their pans as they panned for gold.
@Laura I too thought this clue was a bit more of a stretch than the other ones and kept looking for more—maybe a football connection, since TRAVIS KELCE. But no, I guess that’s all there was to it.
Re Caitlin’s reference to “ink-stained wretch”, I was fascinated to explore all of the supposed originators of the term from various centuries, including the 18th (Samuel Johnson), 19th (Charles Dickens) and 20th (Trent Frayne, a long-time sports writer for the Globe & Mail). Just goes to show you how dangerous it can be to rely on the internet for research. (And there will no doubt come a time when the word “ink” will itself be a term that no-one understands and has to resort to the internet — or, more likely, some new-fangled technology that makes the internet seem to the world as quaint as what the quill and pen seems to be to us today — to understand.)
A jaunty, fun Tuesday! Everything that Caitlin described, and a nice easy segue into the more forbidding days to come! S’more please!
Very enjoyable puzzle that showed a lot of TLC all around but this one took the cake for me... Or at least the communion wafer: 72A - Personnel in vestments for CLERGY! Insert PADding here!
@HeathieJ I didn't even realise the second "n" in the clue until reading your comment just now. It suddenly makes a lot more sense
Terrific debut puzzle, and I’m looking forward to your next one, Mr. Shellito. It was fun and fresh, and I really enjoyed the clever theme.
What debate? It's pronounced puhKAHN 😊
@Mark Merriam-Webster and I disagree: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pecan" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pecan</a> I can't even say for sure which one I use most often, but I think that it may vary, whether I'm talking about the pie variety or just the nut by itself. The derivation, most directly from "American French", would support your contention, but honestly, none of the three pronunciations given to me sounds best or sounds worst.
@Steve L As we say, there's right and then there's RIGHT. 🙂
@Mark Hand up for puh-KAHN. Picked it up when I lived in Austin and it stuck.
ROGERMILLER also fit perfectly in 65A
@Shellz Wow, you're dating yourself! (For those who don't follow:) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBeXnzjvMrk" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBeXnzjvMrk</a> !!!
@Shellz I was born in the 80s, and had ROGERMILLER for 65A, thanks to my father's records. Was very disappointed to realise what the actual answer was...
Sixty-five across? Swift choice, and there were lots of them in the puzzle, but no less fun that it was quickly done. Many "now what??" clues that needed crosses for the fills and they always brought a smile. Very nice debut Kevin L. Shellito. More please.
Super USeteric but solvable in well below average time. Somehow more pleasing that way … Thanks.
@Ιασων Chapeau bas! I'm really impressed and even inspired for the future, as another foreign solver. This puzzle defeated me, only the second Tuesday to do so, IIRC. I completed it in Wednesday time, and only thanks to lookups and autocheck.
Really neat puzzle filled with entertaining clues. Personnel investments and sampled a beet were especially nice.
I've got no problem with the US-centricism of the theme - I think these clues were fun even if I didn't know them all and needed the crossings to help. And it is an American crossword after all. But the crossing of Beltway Bigwigs and Hoosier Hoopers is quite cruel. For those not familiar with slang terms for different regions, this is already tough. To add insult to injury, some of us just do not know our sports, and also nobody actually says POLS, do they? I have certainly never heard or read it in the wild.
@IL POLS is maybe a bit dated, but it's often used as "local color" ....say, in a movie with a crusty old newspaper editor... Or an emu
@IL Pols is actually a pretty common term for politicians.
(Not my typo) was a great clue! I laughed as I typed it in. The best definition of [sic] ever! Bravo. Sports is not in my wheelhouse, so it took me a little longer to finish, but I was able to fill in enough on cross to get the right answers. Nice Tuesday puzzle. Time for me to go "sample a beet, say". Cheers!
I found this a very fun and clever puzzle. Even though there were sports questions, I managed to solve it without cheats. I hope to see more puzzles by Shellito!
Delightful theme, Kevin—thanks for a lovely start to the day!
I really liked this one! And yes, it was nostalgic…this Gen Xer misses the days of paging through the newspaper and picking up copies of other cities’ papers when traveling. I used to collect them…not so easy anymore.