Curious that neither the column nor the constructor notes indicate what an NBA quadruple double *actually* is. A quadruple-double is recorded when a player finishes with 10 or more in four of the five major statistical categories — points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.
@Richard I also had to look up why it’s called a quadruple double—it’s because they have double digits in four of the five major categories
@Richard I had to look it up. I was familiar with the concept of a triple double, but mistakenly thought it was limited to points, rebounds and assists.
@Richard Thank you - I came to the comments knowing that someone would have answered this.
Well what a coincidence! 2 months ago, I submitted a crossword to the NYT with theme answers BOOKKEEPERS, MISSISSIPPI, COMMITTEE, and ADDRESSEE with the revealer TRIPLEDOUBLE! It was rejected a couple days ago (because I’m not very good yet :) ), but I was so happy to see this theme get put to good use! Thank you, Dana, for this puzzle, and I will be taking this as a win! Bee well Bee kind Bee happy
@EAV I must compliment you for being so gracious. That is such a beautiful quality and we certainly could use more of that nowadays. I hope to see one of your puzzles here one day. Have a great puzzle-solving week to all.
@EAV Definitely a win.
“Elks” is not the plural of elk. It’s just elk. An elk. Many elk. A deer. Many deer. A sheep. Many sheep.
@Krista Technically quite true. An unforced error. This, though, in an age when truth is entirely up for grabs, I think "elks" has the essence of "wordiness", an easily reached stretch of the language and its ambiguities beyond the normal boundaries. As for the puzzle, nothing's perfect.
@Krista Agreed. Felt very clunky, but the rest of the grid is so smooth I’ll let it lie.
@Krista Both M-W and OED list "elks" as an acceptable plural. And the benevolent, fraternal, orderly ones are always "Elks." But those seldom graze, save at cocktail receptions. Emus International.
Five years ago my son was in a really bad bicycle accident -thankfully he recovered and is a practicing PT :) I also started a puzzle streak at his bedside and today marks puzzle 1825 completed correctly ! My own rare feat .
@Cathy Parrish, Congratulations! That is a remarkable streak! I hope your son continues to do well. How fortunate he is to have your support.
This is about the column, no the puzzle itself. The theme is not that there are four entries with double letters. In fact, there are only three. The revealer doesn’t contain any double letters. It’s that the three theme answers have four pairs of double letters.
@Steve L Correct. But I would reword it slightly: This puzzle has three theme entries, each with four double letters. "Pairs" is redundant - or maybe I'm seeing double.
@Steve L THANK YOU! This was driving me crazy: first that the column credited him with another Quaduple Double for having four entries with double letters; plus in his comments he says he searched and found the four best ones that had 15 letters each. But there are only 3 such entries! I thought I was losing my mind.
Moreover, this grid also contains a quintuple-double of "oo," a sextuple occurrence of "ea" and "as," a triple-double of aaa + aa, and two two-pair: antis/yeas, Cain/Abel. But who's counting? I once bought a macaw from Petco who'd only eat peaches and pesto. He mistakenly gorged on wasabi and flew out the sushi bar lobby and is now happy in Oz next to Toto. *** At his hearing he should've been DQ'ed. And his responses to questions were rude: "I like beer." "Well, whoop de doo, what toga party? what crew?" Then sent Roe vs Wade down the tube.
@john ezra Both were great. The second was great and disturbingly true.
Congratulations on a smart and lovely debut, Mr. Edwards! Not having to know anything about basketball (which I don't) made it easy to catch on to the revealer, which was a plus. But now I just can't shake off the idea of walking into Starbucks and, just for fun, asking for a QUADRUPLE DOUBLE espresso and documenting the reaction I get. Of course, the joke could be on me when I find out it's in their secret menu. "One QUADRUPLE DOUBLE coming right up!" Good luck with your studies, Mr. Edwards, and thank you for a PEACHy puzzle!
@sotto voce I assure you they would make you a quadruple double with hardly a second thought. When I was a barista, I had someone order a 20-shot espresso in the drive thru. I kind of laughed and then the shift supervisor told me the guy was a regular and was being very serious.
@sotto voce I used to drink four Starbucks ventis a day (made them at home with their beans). I was a true caffeine junkie. So at a cafe in Italy, it was tough to have to order a tiny cup of espresso, which, by the way, has less caffeine than a normal cup of brewed, filtered coffee. I asked for a "doppio." Then again, and again. By the fifth doppio (double), the woman was exasperated with me, and exclaimed "Signora, tu sei pazza." I hardly felt the caffeine. The bill stung a lot worse, though.
@sotto voce They would throw a basketball at you. 🏀😵
I love Mondays like this. Lots of people see Mondays as constricted because they have to be easy, so the themes are less fun. I completely disagree. Crosswords like this one disprove that marginally. Amazing grid. Excellent work!
Congratulations on your debut, Dana. It's your first step in the septet of puzzles (MTWTFSS). Keep up the good work, even if the only construction time you have is in your dreams. (Be sure to write them down in the morning.)
I thoroughly enjoyed Dana's debut puzzle, and I am very glad that he didn't HALFASS it.
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Mr. Edwards! Nicely done! Good luck with your journalism studies!
“Rocky Mountain grazers” - If I ever referred to a herd of elk as ELKS I’d be laughed out of the state and probably disowned by my family. I have seen this in the NYT crossword before and, while it’s an accepted but rare usage, it just sounds wrong.
@Jeanne E Agreed. I worked on an elk farm for years and now in wildlife biology, and I've never heard a single person use 'elks'
@Jeanne E Yup. It's definitely a "constructor convenience" entry. But it has made its way into the dictionary so it's fair game. Game? Get it? 😆
Absolutely loved this - stellar theme & stellar fill. When I first started constructing I similarly had the idea to make a puzzle around “triple-doubles”. I found some cool words/phrases that featured three sets of double letters, but nothing too interesting; I eventually scrapped the idea. Not only did you let this theme shine, and not only did you take it even further with QUADRUPLE-doubles, and not only were each of them fifteen-ers, but they were also all fantastic entries on their own. Bravo on a great debut, Dana. Hope to see more from you soon.
Did you choose, or was it too much booze, that accorded you access to this catcafe? You gasp in distress at this feline excess - you'll choke down your food under utter duress. Oh the fluff in your food, the fuzz on the floor - It'll take a supreme effort not to bolt out the door. "Ahem," you attempt to attract the attention of some out of work actor - seems the allure of sweet purring gets staff running much faster. So you sit taller, then summon with swagger. All you get is a sneer and cool looks that throw daggers. The crew mollycoddle and soothe, gossip and schmooze. If you'd strolled in with a kitten, you'd not be refused - a two-legged caddy with a regal papoose. These four-legged mammals enjoy eels and mousse, mullet and goose. You'd be glad of a beer, oreos,*shoots and roots. The crew seeto awl their furry needs - you watch meekly aghast. Their efforts to address you are poor and half xxx! Well so be it, now you feel a bit sullen. Yes indeed, you've been dissed at this felis lucullan. Ha! So much for grimalkin bliss - this room is a mess, more miss than a hit - in fact, it offends - it's a feral abyss. That tabby looks a bit shabby with a taffeta boot frill that's terribly saggy. Miss Kitty owns this cheap saloon. Her tom, Matt Dillon is riffraff, just her hired goon. Oh wait - he coordinates posses, too. You call for your bill, a gruff voice swearsin your ear, "You auto leave now, not a minute too soon - You silly fool - the only baboon in the room!
I have an issue with "elks" as mountain grazers. Elks describes the members of the lodge.
I can't think of ACCESS HOLLYWOOD without the infamous tape. CAT CAFE in the same puzzle is probably just a coincidence, but I'd like to think it's an Easter egg.
@Sam Where the childless cat ladies sip their coffee.
Aw. Too bad DQ'd isn't Dairy Queened. I'd totally be up for that!
This must have been very hard to construct, and yet it solved like a proper Monday - very smoothly. Nice. I completed the puzzle in typical Monday time despite not knowing any of the themed entries - they were easy to figure out with crosses though. I know nothing about basketball so I googled QUADRUPLE DOUBLE to try and understand what just emerged from the grid. Well, OK, now I know what it means (sort of), but not being familiar with the sport I can't really appreciate the quadruple double's rarity. Apparently the feat has been achieved twice in Poland so far, by Mariusz Konopatzki in 2017 and by Tomasz Nowakowski in 2022. Konopatzki is uncommon spelling BTW: the standard Polish way to write down that name would be Konopacki.
@Andrzej To have one player in a game manage to chart double figures in all those categories means that they managed to excel at basically all positions instead of playing their "role". I believe all those who have done it are "big men", meaning centers that get their blocks and rebounds but also come out to steal the ball and make good passes for assists, which is a facet of the game that big men don't tend to excel in, just as guards are unlikely to get a lot of blocks and rebounds due to the size differential of the different positions.
Well that was a cute way to meet you, Mr. Edwards! Good job! The theme inspired me to read more about basketball than I ever have before. TIL that Wilt Chamberlain achieved the only quintuple double in NBA history, unofficially. Unofficially because steals and blocks were not recorded as stats at the time. Interestingly, no elks have ever recorded so much as a double double. Well hoop-de-doo.
Steve and Richard have addressed the column; this is about the puzzle. I know it is legitimate even if Martin isn't here to defend it, but could we please clue ELKS as the fraternal order, or at least acknowledge the plural of convenience for the animal with a clue of [Rocky Mountains grazers]? That's on the editors. Nice puzzle, Dana. Pro tip: you have more free time now in J school than you will after you graduate (unless, of course, you're doing a PhD in Communications, in which case you will likely have more free time later ).
@Barry Ancona It's been clued as the animal 14 times* in the Shortz/Fagliano Era. Should that change just because someone in the peanut gallery doesn't like it? *Plus or minus
My Spanish half calmly typed in CUADROUPLE and I didn't know the word DQED. So that took a little while... But hey, DQed is now in my life.
Elks? Plural of the grazers is still just elk.
@Clare Either way is acceptable, although elk is more common. It’s like fish and fishes and unlike moose and deer which are only correct in the plural the same as the singular.
@Clare, Yup. Totally agree. That’s what I came here to say. A herd of ELK. A herd of deer, a school of fish … Better clued as [Members of a Benevolent Protective Order].
@Clare I suggest this clue: Tule and Roosevelt Which are elk subspecies. It would be Friday-ish though. Its similar to "tuna/tunas". "Tunas" has been clued "bluefin and albacore" etc several times. BTW the BPOE came up with "elks". I blame them. 😄
What a delightful grid. So smooth but still so enjoyable. I know less than nothing about basketball, so just enjoyed the linguistic mash up. CAT CAFE ugh. A particular nemesis of mine as just the mention of the furry felines brings me out in a rash, I am so allergic in a not funny at all call an ambulance way. *shudder*.
@Helen Wright I have different severe allergies (the buzz of an insect can make me duck and run instantly)...but even so I can admire bees (and reminisce about my beekeeping apprenticeship with my grand-dad)... So I am sorry you don't see the beauty and charm of cats and kittens. Charlotte the Kitty joins me in shaking our heads sadly at this thought.
Maybe I don’t watch enough (any) rom coms but what on earth is “meet cute”???
Sarah, It is exactly what the clue says: [Charming first encounter in a rom-com]. EOM
@Sarah I think I originally learned that term from Roger Ebert, who used it in his movie reviews. It can be a noun ("it was a meet-cute"), as clued in this puzzle, or a verb ("they met-cute"). Coincidentally, one of Merriam-Webster's examples for the verb is a 2021 Wordplay column by Deb Amlen. In the puzzle she was writing about, [When clocks 'spring forward' for daylight saving time] was the clue for 2 AM. This occasioned Deb's reference to an ad for the alarm-clock brand Clocky that showed the product "leading two people on a chase through the streets of Paris until they meet-cute in front of the Eiffel Tower."
Flew through the puzzle, but had a hiccup at 10A [Summer specification at Starbucks]. Took me a few seconds to come up with ICED, as iced coffee is a year-round drink here in Boston. More specifically, it's a way of life for some - a double-cupped Dunkin iced is as much an accessory as a handbag.
Congrats on your debut, Dana! Quite fun for a basketball fan like me. And enjoyed reading about the double ways ‘quadruple doubles’ were employed in this puzzle!
Very nice debut, Dana. I just grabbed it by the CAT CAFE and got it done.
The things one learns: in the year I turned 70 I learned for the first time that the American term for the sport of rowing is CREW – it wasn't a topic of conversation among the people I met while over there, any more than college basketball was. Today is the third or fourth time in the year I've encountered it. I'm wondering: does "crew" still apply to the single sculls?
Delightful puzzle, and a terrific debut. Congrats and thanks, Mr. Edwards. Hope we will be seeing more of your work. TIL a new sports term, DQED. Got it from the crosses, not from my very limited sports knowledge.
Great debut Dana Edwards. Loved your puzzle. Whoopdeedoo! 24A was so much fun to fill-in. And, of course it took me a few to get that 58A clue. However I had a stack of them with my little portable record player. A necessity for a 50's girl. Nice memory. Our version of an iPod. Of course you had to plug it in. I did have a plastic radio with D batteries to lug around, but it was that little record player in the vinyl covered lid that clamped shut and had a plastic handle that I loved. Cheers from Texas y'all. Lovely start to the week. We are promised a cold front, so will keep you posted. That gulf just has to cool off soon. These 100 degree days aren't helping limit the development of more fierce hurricanes. And I am DONE with summer. Stay safe.
The twisting of this good phrase deserves some thought and correction. By setting expectations for others we as set them for ourselves. Following through, we Walk the Talk - we do what we say and expect of others. Walk the Walk is just that - a stroll down the path with our headphones tuned to Aerosmith.
@'Walk the Talk' or it's just a stroll. Thanks for that clarification! My first guess for 60A was DUCK, as in "if it walks like a duck ........".
'Walk the Talk' or it's just a stroll. (Can I call you Walk the?) Made me think: Walk the talk, or you’re just a troll.
Except ""Walk the walk" is the original positive idiom. "Talk the talk" is also positive. And they both predate headphones. But "walk the talk" may be needed now. <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/walk-the-walk" target="_blank">https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/walk-the-walk</a>
A quadruple double? LSUE. My husband made that up, LSUE. It's a corollary or subset of TIL. I asked him what a quadruple double was, so he googled it, informed me, and said, [one can] Learn Something Useless Everyday. So, yeah, sports statistics are pretty useless to me. But I can appreciate that this statistic does acknowledge athletes who are all-round players, not single-skill specialists. Although the four guys who've hit the quadruple double were all over 6 foot 11, so maybe this statistic just says Size Matters. This was a good, zippy puzzle for a Monday, Dana, thanks. And I am glad that 58A , Back half of a 45, was not a political reference.
@Linda Jo So....once again we Georgia gals are on the same wavelength. LSUE is a wonderful, helpful--even essential--addition to the Commentariat. FWIW, I say, "Big WHOOP" instead of the longer response, which I spell differently in any case. Surprise! 9D. Hmm It's clued as a verb, which is not a usage I would expect....or employ. The adjectival form, however, is all too often very apt. There is not much more to say about a Monday puzzle, except that AIR POP is just one more example of unfortunate efforts (in the name of Health) to take the joy out of living. We use a pot with a crank; add the peanut oil and popcorn kernels and proceed. The salt adheres to the popcorn properly, and all is right with the world for a while. Simple pleasures.
@Linda Jo FWIW, see my earlier comment about Alvin Robertson, the 6’3” guard who is one of the four who accomplished it. He is the only one of the four guys that had steals be one of his doubles. If Victor Wembanyama pulls this off , he will be in line with your theory that size matters. — — — — — — — —
This was the most difficult Monday puzzle I can remember, kept hoping others would feel the same way.
@suejean It did strike me as rather US-centric as I solved, so I am not surprised you found it difficult. But at least it included your London subway. See ya tomorrow!
@suejean Not super difficult, but there was a lot blank space after my first pass so I can see how it could easily be a bigger struggle than your typical Monday.
Well - got my Xword Info access renewed (thanks - Nancy J.) and so here's my puzzle find today. I'm pretty sure I had done this one but had completely forgotten it. Anyway - a Monday from January 23, 2017 by Bruce Haight. The 'reveal' in that one - clue and answer: "What the starts of 17-, 26-, 35- and 50-Across are :" FAIRYTALE And then those four theme answers: RUMPROAST ELDORADO STILTWALKER SKINGAME Pretty clever - think about it. ..
@Rich in Atlanta I must have plucked this one out of the archive somehow because it's the only one I did that month/year. I loved the theme, but thought the revealer should have been written in the singular since there was only one title of one Fairytale.
I truly enjoyed this puzzle, especially the theme clues, but 62-Across is wrong: the plural of “elk” is “elk”.
@Emmett Well, both elk and elks are the plural of elk. Just Google "plural of elk" You get: elk /ˈɛlk/ noun. plural elk or elks. emu food
Fun Monday puzzle. A bit on the slow side for me, but that just added to the enjoyment. And the reveal was the last entry I worked out so that just made for a really nice 'aha' moment when I finally got it. Looking forward to more from Mr. Edwards. And... I seem to have lost my access to Xword Info and can't figure out how to renew my account, so I guess I won't be doing any more answer history searches. Oh well - I don't think we're in Kansas any more. ..
@Rich in Atlanta Hopefully you will get to your account again.
@Rich in Atlanta That has happened to me before. I just email <a href="mailto:NYTGames@nytimes.com">NYTGames@nytimes.com</a> and they help me get my stuff straightened out. Unfortunately, I have had to do this more than once. But, once done, it's back to normal.
@Rich in Atlanta Maybe your membership expired. Try this link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Pay" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Pay</a> Your fans (me included) would miss your posts.
@Rich in Atlanta Thanks for the reminder that I needed to renew. When I accessed the page the renewal link was right at the top. Hope you get it resolved.
@Rich in Atlanta Try emailing Jim Horne directly. <a href="mailto:jim@xwordinfo.com">jim@xwordinfo.com</a> He’s always responded quickly to me when I have suggested something like an explanation of a tricky theme in a puzzle published before Wordplay started. Good luck!
I was taken by Dana’s title “compulsive spoonerizer” and thought it would be fun to compose an ezraesque extravaganza of ‘em. But we are off to maddening.capacity.comical just now, so I’ll have to hope other folks have the maddening comical capacity to come up with some good ones.
Fun debut! Lovely, fun and breezy! Brava! … …
This was a lovely puzzle. I’ve always loved words with lots of double letters. Bookkeeper is a favorite. I’m currently teaching my four year old the “oo” sound. Great debut, hope for more!
Had a typo I had to track down or I would have finished in under 2:00!
If you have free time today after whizzing through this one, try today's crossword, by Natan Last, in "The New Yorker." ###
@Barry Ancona *shiver* A New Yorker Monday by Natan Last is always a workout. I would go so far as to say that in general, a Monday New Yorker puzzle is harder than a Saturday NYT. I realize that may be seen as heresy by some.
@Barry Ancona I zipped through most of Natan Last’s grid, but I am stuck in the NW. A runner I’ve never heard of next to a character from a show I’ve never seen, crossing a comedian whose name I have yet to recognize . . . . It’s a lot to try and figure out from letter patterns. I agree that, ever since the New Yorker went from five full-sized puzzles a week to three, the overall trend has been that they are easier than they were.
@Barry Ancona For better or worse, I saw a spoiler on another blog that got me the runner’s name (which, now that I have the whole thing, falls into the “I think I’ve heard of this person” category).
The last quadruple double in the NBA was posted by Spurs center David Robinson (“the Admiral,” he went to the Naval Academy) in 1994. His game stats included double figures in points, rebounds, shot blocks and assists.
Quadruple, double, no toil or trouble. (Weird, eh?)
Congratulations Sam on your achievement. Isn't it true that there's no such thing as a, " quadruple double", in hockey, Eh? ( Asking for a friend).
This was the fastest I've ever completed a puzzle (under 4 minutes)! I started doing puzzles from the bottom up, so I had all the crosses already filled and didn't need to reach into the deep abscesses of my brain for basketball terminology. Very breezy and enjoyable!
Strands #225 “Get out of here!” 🔵🔵🟡🔵 🔵🔵🔵🔵 🔵 Alternate title: “How I Spent My Summer”
@Eric Hougland Ha! Mine looks just like yours today… Strands #225 “Get out of here!” 🔵🔵🟡🔵 🔵🔵🔵🔵 🔵 — — — — — — — —
@Eric Hougland Strands #225 “Get out of here!” 🟡🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵🔵🔵 🔵 Three possibilities for the word in the bottom right and, of course, I had to try all 3.
@Eric Hougland Strands #225 “Get out of here!” 🟡🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵🔵🔵 🔵 I am far too familiar with this process.
@Eric Hougland Strands #225 “Get out of here!” 🔵🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵🔵🔵 🟡 I think this one was a sign for me. A good one.
@Eric Hougland Strands #225 “Get out of here!” 🔵🟡🔵🔵 🔵🔵🔵🔵 🔵 Are we now sharing our Strands results here? emu food
Featured in today’s puzzle: the always-tricky quadruped double. (not to be confused with the bipedal service group, I’ve herd)
What a fun way to start the week! I loved this debut puzzle and look forward to seeing more entries from Dana Edwards. I thoroughly enjoyed your witty clues, especially after I slog through the weekend puzzles. Thanks for a great kick off to the week.