Hello! Just poking my head in to let everyone know that today is Wordplay’s 16th birthday! In celebration, we will be surly, mortified by our acne and telling our parents how embarrassing they are.
@Deb Amlen And don’t forget to toss your hair while screeching ‘it’s not fair’, before flouncing out of the room. Or was that just me? A very happy birthday Wordplay. You look RAVISHING in print.
@Deb Amlen Congratulations, Deb and other Wordplay authors. The puzzle this very day was acned whilst telling its parents "don't wait up for us".... ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (I do this instead of emuing)
@Deb Amlen Congratulations to you and the other Wordplay columnists! I’m sure I’m not the only one who spends much more time reading the column and the comments than I do solving the puzzle.
@Deb Amlen -- Congratulations to you and the rest of the terrific staff, three distinct voices, all can't miss. And home of a commentariat far more civil than cacophonous. WordPlay is always inviting to dive into, and to make that happen requires rare skill. You've been such an excellent overseer -- standing O mixed with gushes of gratitude!
@Deb Amlen You express yourself with authority, sometimes intimidating others without ever intending to do so! Your mind is sharp and incisive, and your wit is on the ball. You have the benefit of both analytical skills and perceptive understanding of others. It is hard to put anything past you! Thank you for the column (and thank you cafeastrology.com for the horoscope)!
Deb, Are you going to take Wordplay on college visits, or will you leave that to your colleagues?
@Deb Amlen Happy sweet 16!! I appreciate all that you do and provide to this community!! Good luck on your SATs!! 🥳❤️🥳
@Deb Amlen Does turning 16 and being filled with raging hormones explain why the puzzles have been so, ah, ribald of late?
@Deb Amlen Happy Birthday Wordplay! Happy birthday, happy birthday, baby Oh, I love you so Sixteen candles make a lovely light But not as bright as your eyes tonight (as your eyes tonight) (Oh) Blow out the candles, make your wish come true For I'll be wishing that you love me, too (that you love me, too) You're only sixteen (sixteen) But you're my teenage queen (you're my queen) You're the prettiest, loveliest girl I've ever seen (I've ever seen) (OH!) Sixteen candles in my heart will glow For ever and ever for I love you so (for I love you so) You're only sixteen (sixteen) But you're my teenage queen (you're my queen) Oh, you're the prettiest, loveliest girl I've ever seen (I've ever seen) (OH!) Sixteen candles in my heart will glow For ever and ever for I love you so (for I love you so) For I love you so!
@Deb Amlen Congratulations on 16 years of Wordplay, Deb! I really appreciate your columns. Without it I think I’d be bothered not knowing certain words or what the theme meant and it’s a lot faster than calling up the NYT for one answer, way back when! I didn’t mind that but Wordplay and its commenters are fun and funny to say nothing of the word mavens who construct the fine puzzles! I like how, in the first paragraphs after a hard one, you often urge us to keep trying to figure out the theme on our own.
I think the best I can say about this puzzle is that it wasn't my cup of tea. ⁎Nine⁎ names from the entertainment business is about six too many in my opinion. Plus a spade is a LAWN TOOL in the same way an axe is an orchard tool. There is very little good you can do to a lawn with a spade.
@Adina I get that LAWNTOOL may not be the perfect answer for the clue, but it is completely in the fairway for a Saturday puzzle.
@Adina I feel like if you don't know MERYL Streep you have only yourself to blame.
@Adina Sometimes lawn care involves removing lawn from where you don't want it, and a spade is a good tool for that job.
@Adina My thoughts exactly, MERYL was the only one I managed. Can't win 'em all! Best I can do is remember for next time.
You might know him from songs like, MAMA Tried Or his pleas for fans to become organ donors, after his own ORGAN TRANSPLANT Or that he couldn't sing for years, due to VOCAL CORD injury. Rest in peace, Phil Lesh
Lesh's NYT obituary: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/25/arts/music/phil-lesh-dead.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/25/arts/music/phil-lesh-dead.html</a> On his support of organ donation: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/25/arts/music/phil-lesh-liver-transplant.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/25/arts/music/phil-lesh-liver-transplant.html</a> His life in pictures: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/25/arts/music/phil-lesh-photos.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/25/arts/music/phil-lesh-photos.html</a>
@Bill in Yokohama ....coauthor and singer of my favorite Dead song <a href="https://youtu.be/9r8aycpHmY0?si=BzNRD5vG8kC-5TGr" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/9r8aycpHmY0?si=BzNRD5vG8kC-5TGr</a> Just a box of rain, wind and water Believe it if you need it If you don't, just pass it on Sun and shower, wind and rain In and out the window Like a moth before a flame
@Nancy J. Great song! Music by Phil Lesh Lyrics by Robert Hunter
@Bill in Yokohama The most recent NYT crossword in which Phil appeared. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/daily/2017/08/26" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/daily/2017/08/26</a> RIP Phil
Peter Collins has an active brain, having published more than 10 puzzles a year, over 19 years, in the major venues, including 120 in the Times. After scanning his Times puzzles on Xword Info, it looks to me like this puzzle contains his first triple grid-spanning stack, so he continues to push his envelope as well. That triple stack shimmers with freshness, with two answers – DON’T WAIT UP FOR US and IDENTITY THIEVES – that have never appeared in any of the major venues, while ORGAN TRANSPLANT has appeared in them only three times. And, by the way, that triple stack is crossed by twelve – twelve! – long answers (eight letters or more). Wow! I was absolutely misdirected by [One of a singing duo], searching for a CAPTAIN or TENNILLE type answer. I love being absolutely misdirected. I liked seeing TREED and DON’T WAIT UP FOR US among the answers, as it reminded me of a neighbor’s cat who often gets stuck high up in trees, which freaked these neighbors out until they finally learned that it eventually finds its way down. Peter, you gave me enough pushback to satisfy my brains workout ethic while providing enough yield to temper frustration. A most lovely solving experience, for which I’m most grateful. Thank you!
@Lewis If a cat is not coming down, and you live in Durham, Orange, or Alamance counties North Carolina you can call Patrick Brandt: <a href="http://www.rescuemycat.org" target="_blank">http://www.rescuemycat.org</a>/ Outside of those areas: <a href="https://catinatreerescue.com/directory" target="_blank">https://catinatreerescue.com/directory</a>/ Patrick was the subject of a documentary that was part of the NY Cat Film Festival a couple of years ago.
@Lewis, I was ready to go with SONNYBONO for [One of a singing duo], but the “?” stopped me. It’s great to see you here again, Lewis. I hope you’re getting by okay. I know that potable water will be a problem for a while, but I’m glad that power has been restored. You were sorely missed in these parts.
One person’s “mostly accessible” trivia is another’s impossibly obscure trivia. 15 minutes in and I only have a small handful of answers filled in and it feels like the trivia is coming from an alternate reality. I don’t think I’ve been this stymied by a puzzle since I started doing them regularly. I came to Wordplay to check to see if there was a hidden theme I just wasn’t picking up on, but nope. Just another tough Saturday to lose my streak on.
@Lauchlin you’re not alone. My first pass in both directions yielded a very sad number of responses. Just wasn’t my day.
Good Saturday workout. Not all that easy for me, of course, and I had to look up some things, but managed to get through it. Back on a one day streak. And... that center triple stack is really impressive. Seems like it's been a while since I've seen one of those. I had actually noticed recently that it seemed like there were fewer grid-spanning entries in a lot of the puzzles. Anyway... just can't help but wonder how much of a workout it must be to come up with three 15 letter stacked entries and place them so that they're all workable with the down crosses. And in this puzzle that stack is crossed with a number of 9 and 10 letter entries. That's pretty amazing. I'll shut up now. Nice puzzle. ..
@Rich in Atlanta Couldn't agree more . Couldn't see it at first and had to erase a couple of long guesses but it was the center coming together , that's where it blew open .
I enjoyed this puzzle even though. as a lifelong Canadian sports fan, 27D and 45D were painful to answer.
@Ed I really miss the Montreal Expos. I don't know why. I never watched them. I've never been to Montreal. I don't even really watch baseball that much. But somehow I loved that there was a MLB team in both Montreal and Toronto.
@Ed And as a Sabres fan who still thinks Brett Hull's skate was in the crease and that goal should have been disallowed in 1999, any mention of the Cup still hurts.
@Andrew Your SELFPITY is understandable. NHL said the crease was UNENTERED, but the call was just plain wrong. It was a dumb rule to begin with and Sabres paid the price.
@Ed A petty part of me lashed out at 27D, as the Stanley Cup has indeed crossed the Canadian border many times since 1993. It lives in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto throughout the year, and players (including many Canadians) get their “day with the Cup” where they bring it to their home town for a day during the summer. That argument (and this comment) were made through the long suffering tears of a fan of a Canadian team (though thankfully not as long suffering as a Leafs fan)
Finally, I didn't overthink it and just let it flow. Nice crossword—very quick for a Saturday. No blow-back about the MINKSTOLE please. (No animals were harmed in the making of this puzzle). A polished construction, Peter Collins. Thank you,and with all those creds, we'll no doubt see you again before too long.
@dutchiris Too late. I whined about the fur before I saw your plea. ;) /emu cape ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (I do this instead of emuing)
A tad too much trivia for this member of the overseas contingent. Especially the crossed ones INNES, LASSO UMASS, MERYL, GRETA CUSACK, IVEY, MAMA were getable from the crosses. RAPSHEET came out in the wash and was a 🙄 moment 😃 What’s the EXPO national link?
@Ιασων The Montreal Expos relocated to Washington in 2004 and were renamed the Nationals.
@Ιασων The Montreal Expos were a MLB team that moved to Washington, D.C., and became the Nationals after the 2004 season.
@Ιασων Gotta agree with you about the trivia even though I live in the US. Regarding EXPO: it relates to North American baseball - the Montreal Expos was relocated to Washington DC and renamed the Nationals.
@Ιασων Since nobody else has answered your question yet: the Montreal Expos were an MLB franchise that relocated to Washington DC back in the early 2000s and changed their name to the Washington Nationals
@Ιασων Do none of those actors or performers / titles have a presence in your area? I thought we in the US exported most/all of our media culture.... I can see Greta being questionable as a talking head person. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (I do this instead of emuing)
Oh man, Woodstock was a demure garden party compared to the 1936 Salzburg Festival. I was there with my friend Jimi Hendrix. He said that seeing Georg "Axman" Trapp shred during "Edelweiss" is what inspired him to write "The Star-Spangled Banner". Good times. Or guten times as the Australians there say.
@von absurdum Please don't drink and drive..... (Come back often!!!)
@von absurdum Brilliant amount of adsurdities in such a short post. Especially loved how the "Australians" at the Salzburg Festival talked.
My favorite ORGAN TRANSPLANT clue, from a 2003 Los Angeles Times puzzle, by Harvey Estes: [Change of heart, say?]. Et tu, emu.
“Unentered” felt like an interesting play on “uninterred.”
I was a little worried looking at the empty grid, with the triple stack of grid spanners, but I ended up finishing in less than half of my Saturday average. I absolutely love the occasional super easy Saturday. It makes me feel myself so smart! 🤓
It didn't fill in easily, but in the end it went rather quickly. Nice construction.
Made my first attempt after this dropped last night and got absolutely nowhere. Tried again this morning and (mostly) steamed through although the NW almost TRAPPed me. Does doing these puzzles make you smarter? Perhaps, but for me they are the indicators of brain fitness. Very well done and thanks to everyone involved, including fellow commenters. RIP Phil.
As a Canadian, I feel trolled by this puzzle. Salt in the wound with the STANLEY CUP, making me feel sad for losing the EXPOs, and the answer to the “spin out on the ice?” clue was not “curl”. What gives?!
@Michele G I can relate. Each year late October is a painful reminder that the Expos are no longer with us. It was a gimme, but a sad one at that.
Pretty easy -- in fact, much easier than yesterday's -- but with some gorgeous clues. I thought that VOCAL CORD, RAPSHEET, STANLEY CUP and IDENTITY THIEVES were quite wonderful. The very simple TV SET baffled me for a while, as I saw ???ET and wondered if a bidET was a "hotel staple"? Only in Europe, I told myself. duvET? Such a simple answer hiding in plain sight. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I learned that the very great "Dr. J" had played for UMASS? Is UMASS a great basketball powerhouse? I guess it MUST have been when Dr. J was there. You also could have knocked me over with a feather with that completely unknown-to-me MUST/wine clue. No suffering today, but a lively and interesting solve nonetheless.
@Nancy I wouldn't say this puzzle was "easy", but it need require two less cheats than Friday's did (fourteen, compared to sixteen). I do agree that it was lively and interesting, though.
@Nancy Yeah, I was sure Dr. J must have played a UMiSS.
@Nancy it’s funny. I was the complete opposite. I breezed through yesterday’s puzzle in almost record time, while today was much tougher for me - way above average with a few lookups at the end.
@Nancy Fortunately, DHubby was a winemaker for a number of years......
I get where the puzzle is going with the STANLEY CUP clue, but... it's factually wrong. The Cup crosses the border regularly, it just hasn't been awarded to a Canadian team since 1993.
@Lawrence Yes - it lives full time in Toronto and is on loan to the winning team who can do with it what they like - and frequently do - for a week or two after they win it. And then it goes back in its cubby until next year. Every now and then the Stanley Cup goes on tour to shopping malls and the like - I've seen it a couple of times - but that is a dummy and not the real thing.
@lawrence You are correct, sir! The Stanley Cup is always in the building for a potential series-ending game. Apart from checking in on the Boston Bruins (aka "The Spoked B's") when they're in the playoff, I'm not much of a hockey fan. But I know for sure that they hoisted the cup on the ice in Vancouver BC when they won it in 2011.
@lawrence It was near me just a couple months ago. <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/carter-verhaeghe-stanley-cup-1.7294676" target="_blank">https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/carter-verhaeghe-stanley-cup-1.7294676</a>
@lawrence It is only factually wrong if one chooses the context that makes it so. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Stanley Cup can refer to the physical cup or to the award.
@lawrence I thought it was clear they meant metaphorically, as in when it was last won by Canada. And I know less than nothing about the sport and could not have told you any of that. (And of course they were feinting about a "vessel" - train or the like - which I thought cute and effective.) ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (I do this instead of emuing)
Our constructor offers: "... just a solid Saturday for the masses, I hope." To me, this was a solid Friday. The triple stack was elegant but too easy to grasp, and the grid gave me to many areas with short but not sweet answers. I did like the cup clue, but again got it right away. No SELFPITY but no real challenge. More of a SNAP.
@Barry Ancona Agreed. When I'm taking almost 5 minutes off my average, it's a little too easy. Lovely puzzle, mind, but not Saturday stuff.
@Barry Ancona I'd agree this was on the easy side for Saturday. My time was well under my Saturday average for the past few months.
@Barry Ancona Not for me. Wound up taking a DNF. Got hung up in the NW when I fixated on forcing either TRumP or kRuPP into Salzburg in 1936 and wasting time on the other sense of spotted. Ashamed to say that TRAPP never occurred to me even with the hint of Austria before the Anschluss. I suppose that I could call "bogus" since the name is von Trapp, but I know better.
@Barry Ancona Well over my average and fwiw xwstats rates it hard. I don't follow sports or much popular culture so there were a lot of total unknowns that may have been gimmes to many. That said, I got there eventually.
Holy moly. Ditched every usual tactic and just wandered around the grid… CUSACK …there’s one… …GRETA! (Thank heavens for the propers!) more wandering… Eventually I tossed in every wild guess I had. Nada, not NONE. stop, not HALT But enough of my guesses were right, so I started clearing out the messy spots (NE, I’m lookin at you). Loved that triple stack! Reeeeeally wanted to break my no-look-up streak. Didn’t, but peppered hubby with about 15 questions ( 14 more than our “agreed upon” limit ). (He was quite helpful, the jerk.) But this was not morning of cruciVIBE-ing. Thank you, Mr. Collins for bringing my solving ego down 4 solid notches, and for giving hubby something to gloat about. All. Weekend. Long. Solid Saturday.
“Identity thieves” crossing “Stanley Cup”.* Ouch. I ripped off Peter A. Collin’s puzzle like a band-aid, so the pain was very brief. *I’m a polite Canadian, so will not mention “bad impersonations” reminded me of Americans playing hockey. I joke.
…and that misspelling of the constructor’s last name was UNENTERED by me, just unseen after the *third* time the LAWNTOOL that masquerades as a spellchecker corrected my apostrophe.
Absolutely adored today’s puzzle though it was hard to stomach as a diehard Montreal sports fan, between that “nasty” Stanley Cup clue and the reference to our beloved but long departed Expos.
@Derek Yeah, that was just mean! The column photo of the soon-to-be-disappointed Oilers fans was like another twist of the knife. All my friends from Upstate NY were Expos fans, just to spite the NYCers. Have some poutine, you'll feel better.
As a native Montrealer, I had the double whammy of STANLEYCUP and EXPO. I can handle the hockey jab, but the reminder of that day 20 years ago when Les Expos de Montréal became the Washington Nationals was almost too much for my heart to bear! Honestly though, great seeing my all-time favourite sports team mentioned in the puzzle. Other than a bit of a Naticky Rhea / Rani I really loved this one!
@Murman Ooooooooh that's what that was a reference too. I thought it was some new slang for expat?
After the emus failed to publish two posts last night (perhaps because I referred to the answer to the act of congress clue?), I’ll hope today’s offering makes the cut. This, for me was very similar to yesterday’s puzzle — started tough but came together quickly once I started on the downs. Lots of fun clues and answers, although ACNED seemed a bit hackneyed. Lots of general knowledge that I didn’t know, but TED LASSO and Big MAMA Thornton gave me enough purchase to get started.
@Marshall Walthew I agree on ACNED. As far as the emus, it seems the constuctors can say things IN the puzzles that we can't say ABOUT the puzzles.
We liked it and got the gold for a .... drum roll.... 2 day streak. Thank you Peter
@dk Yeah, but the two days are Friday and Saturday. That's not nothing.
There I was, a little disappointed that this puzzle was so easy*... until I came to a screeching halt in the SE. That small area took me 90% again as long as the entire rest of the grid! And yes, easy. I see from other comments that there was perhaps more wordplay than I perceived. For me, it all felt remarkably straightforward, starting right at the start with 1D: such a memorable scene in "The Sound of Music"! Big MAMA Thornton. Mermaids' purses. DON'T WAIT UP FOR US. [Fail to tail.] "Julie & Julia"... Grateful the CUSACK clue was for the very underrated Joan. John is great, too, but so much more well known! Hmm. Perhaps a better way to view this solve is that it's right in my Gen-X entertainment wheelhouse! From "The Sound of Music" on the TV SET every year in my youth (and "acting" in it at summer camp, yikes) through all the 80's films starring the CUSACKS, right up to the present day and TED LASSO! Happy Saturday, everyone!
@G Also, given the conversation around ORGAN TRANSPLANT, I have to add I had a sneaking suspicion about that one -- both the answer and its history. I knew it wasn't the polio vaccine, especially once I had a few crosses. And Caitlin's link proved my recollection correct about where this feat took place! As a cardiology fellow at the Peter Brent Brigham in the early 70's, my father assisted in some of the first cardiac catheterizations. Even as a young kid, I was fascinated by his stories of the medical feats performed at that hospital, including those organ transplants about 20 years before his time. Considering I'm heading up to "the Brigham" this weekend for an event honoring my dad, I cherish this particular entry for the memories it has evoked! 🫀💕
@G The instant I saw “Joan,” Joan Allen popped into my head and her image stayed there until I had a couple of crosses. She was so memorable in “Nixon” and “Pleasantville.”
Love the NYT crossword. I have noticed a troubling tend towards trivia as a crossword clue. I don't know who played so-and-so in some particular movie it TV show. I have no chance of working it out from cross-clue letters, leaving me to look it up or get stuck. Hasn't always been that way.
@Alex C It hasn't always been that way. It's been worse. I'm working through the 90s in the archives and the amount of trivia is sometimes stunning. Double crossings of actors names and sports stuff, and the like. I think Will realized this was not fun for some people and reduced and spread the trivia out in later years - a trend continued by Joel. I didn't know a lot of the trivia in this puzzle, but got it all on the crossings with some educated guessing.
@Alex C Try solving the very first New York Times crossword from World War Ii, a gigantic puzzle that took up an entire page and forever skewed my average time. If you're up on your one-eyed generals and 1940s trivia you'll do fine.
My thanks to Wikipedia and Google Translate for this solve.
OK, this one was weird. I stared at it for 90 minutes and only managed to fill out five or six clues. After that, I filled everything out within 20 minutes . I didn't even get the usual "Grr! So close!" response. Exponential growth, I guess.
I only completed the puzzle after looking up most of the trivia - there was quite a lot of it, and none of it was Andrzej-friendly, especially in the SW quarter. Once I got that out if the way though the puzzle became an enjoyable workout.
@Andrzej A lot of it wasn't MOL-friendly, either! I did not like ACNED (said nobody, ever) and really had to work for much of the puzzle (NE and SW were easier for me.) Ended up googling the "Hound dog" person because I only ever heard Elvis's performance (on radio) and had never heard of M...Milt? Marv? Mark? ...
Finished in a snappy 15:37. Very happy to see ORGAN TRANSPLANT cross with STANLEY CUP because those two answers have a lot of meaning for me. Not only am I a huge hockey fan (I’ve touched the cherished chalice several times!) … but as someone with a rare, incurable hereditary kidney disease, I was fortunate to have received a transplanted kidney this past February. (As a side-note public service announcement: Be an organ donor! www.organdonor.gov )
For me, this was just about right, with pieces falling just so satisfyingly into place. The NE and SE corners did get naticky for me with SANTE/MUST/SKATE and RANI/INNES/BIGDO. The NE seemed unnecessarily trivia laden when there are less obscure (but perhaps more clever) clues, and I’m not sure if I like making puzzle more fiddly for the sake of it. I found this one quite enjoyable but with a few more naticks, I could see this tipping over the edge towards frustration.
Even I found this a bit easier than most Saturdays, so expected a chorus of “far too easy “ I was chuffed when I got the spanner 29A with no crosses.
@suejean 29A with no crosses! Chuffed you should be.
Tough enough for me, but still doable and fun! I was sure that the 1954 Nobel clue was about the polio vaccine, so that was quite intriguing. Nice job, Mr. Collins!
@S Godwin I was down that rabbit hole until I thought, "No, wait. We got the shots in school, and it was 3rd grade, so it had to be 55/56!" Needless to say, I did not read about the ORGAN TRANSPLANT in 2nd grade (where I was bored to death.)
As per usual, Friday and Saturday give me some anxiety about 30 minutes in, which only a few squares filled in and even fewer squares that I was dead certain about. Thank goodness my kids drug me through Ted Lasso. Not only did I end up enjoying it (it maybe even changed my life a little), but it came in quite handy to have those 8 squares dead certain.
@Francis “Ted Lasso” is one of the best shows I’ve seen in years.
If the thought of "body part trafficking" doesn't creep you out too much, you might enjoy the movie "Dirty Pretty Things." It's about 20 years old and has nice performances from Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tautou and Sergi Lopéz, among others.
@Eric Hougland Also, “Coma” (novel by Robin Cook, screenplay by Michael Crichton).
I'm surprised some found this easy. I had only a few gimmes (STANLEYCUP, MERYL, UBOAT and SHARK) and, as we all know by now, SHARK was wrong. Some sharks do in fact have 'mermaid's purse' eggs but closely associated SKATEs (like sharks, they are not teleosts or bony fish) do too. Shark and skate share that letter 'a' with the crossing U-Boat; and it was only when I remembered that (as a one-time sort-of marine biologist it should have come to me sooner) that the NE corner unlocked and so much else came tumbling into place. I was certain that the 1954 medical breakthrough had to be polio vaccine but Salk's announcement was 1955; and as more and more crosses made it less and less likely I had to abandon that idea.
Thursday turns out to be the toughie this week, but doesn't take away from this fun grid. How fun? Hey, that MAMA looks RAVISHING in her MINKSTOLES and MINISKIRTS.
I enjoyed solving this puzzle, though I did think it was on the easier side of Saturday, for me at any rate, which I judge by the fact that I could actually complete it with no help. Mermaids'purses reminded me of my childhood, when my grandparents would take us kids on afterdinner walks on the beach. And any mention of Joan CUSACK is okay by me. Her two noms were for Working Girl and In and Out. Another of her memorable performances was as the principal of the private school where Jack Black substitute teaches in School of Rock.
@Vaer And how could I have forgotten her memorable scene in Broadcast News? (In two parts) <a href="https://youtu.be/1q-C64c8cZk?si=8m1W-getGV7HPD0d" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/1q-C64c8cZk?si=8m1W-getGV7HPD0d</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/h8zmxVEdas0?si=FeGGyCNzq9wUgG4z" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/h8zmxVEdas0?si=FeGGyCNzq9wUgG4z</a>
I’d rather guess than Google. Guessing feels fair. Lookups count as a loss in my rule book. Yours? Had to guess 3 letters in 5 entries today. I was pleasantly surprised when the music played. That’s the feeling I play for.
@Agent86 My rule is “do I think I should reasonably already know this?” If the answer is no, I Google without guilt.
@Agent86 Confirmation lookups are ok in my book. I can feel I am on shaky moral ground when my guess is wrong and my confirmation lookup accidentally reveals the correct answer. But I can live with that.
@Agent86 My rule is "try hard, but do whatever it takes."
@Agent86 Yes. Guesses are just fine, in part since 73% of the time they're really intuition / logic / deep brain pulls of dimly stored trivia. I've never looked anything up (until after solving, in order to learn more). Any external factor (lookups, conferring, help modes, TV or reading coincidences) would be cheating to me - just for me; everyone has their own personal relationship with the puzzle gods. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (I do this instead of emuing)
@Agent86 When I was able to fill or mostly fill the grid on a regular basis, I left lookups behind. I pretty much can fill ever puzzle now, but sometimes I can't find my error, and I give up. Hence my solve rate is less than 100%, at 97.2%. I never take a gold star on a puzzle I did not solve on my own. A streak achieved with lookups I would consider a hollow victory for me. Lookups are fine up to a point, but after some point -- perhaps taking years to get there -- maybe you will endeavor to solve without lookups. If that goal is unobtainable, and lookups help one enjoy the puzzle more, I can appreciate that path as well.
Thoroughly enjoyed this; chewy but doable, my favourite kind. Love that the other language was French today rather than the usual Spanish. Je parle francais une peu. Better than I can write it anyway. Haven’t seen TED LASSO, there being quite enough actual football in this house thank you, but it’s mentioned so often in the media that it felt like a gimme. Taps before LOOS. Nice gotcha. Thanks Mr Collins (I’m afraid I always think of the Pride and Prejudice character when I hear the name. I’m sure you are a delight, unlike your namesake).
@Helen Wright I am indeed a delight, Helen. Thanks. _ PAC
@Helen Wright You might give Ted Lasso a look. It's a whole new take on sports entertainment. Lasso is a very, very different kind of coach.
@Helen Wright TED LASSO is so much more than just "football," so give it a whirl. Excellent drama with human themes!
Judging from the comments below, this puzzle really ought to have come with a trigger warning for Canadians.
@Esmerelda Hey, you don't have the election coming up that we have. We need a little extra TLC.
I was sure the vessel in question for 27D had to do with people going over Niagara Falls in a barrel...
Completed in 10% less time than my Thursday average. Would have been faster, but I walked away from the puzzle a couple of times and forgot to pause the timer. I think this is "a solid Saturday for the masses" just as the constructor had hoped.
Excellent puzzle - most enjoyable solve in a while . No gimmicks , clever cluing . Especially loved the vessel that hasn’t been in Canada in a while :) More like this please Mr. Collins !
Add me to the list of fans who loved this puzzle! Didn’t even realize there were so many proper names (which usually irks me) because of all the delicious crossings. And… the absolute BEST clue I think I’ve ever seen (and solved) was 27-D’s “vessel”! Being hockey fan, this was such sweet shade. lol
The clue about the Stanley Cup was, in a word, wrong. The Cup crosses the Canadian border every time a Canadian team is in the final, when someone has three wins and is en route to a title. For example, the Calgary Flames led the 2004 Cup Finals, 3 games to 2, with Game 6 set for Calgary - you know, in Canada. As is tradition when someone can win the Cup, it traveled to the site of the game. In Canada. It happened again the next year, 2005. And again in 2011. And again in 2021. And again last year, just a few months ago, when the Florida Panthers took a 3-0 lead in games against Edmonton before the fourth game, in Edmonton. Look it up.
@Desert Dweller Sigh. It was used metaphorically to indicate the last time it had been won by Canada. Any thought of physical moving was simply a feint / misdirection. I thought that was very obvious and I know zero about sports..... ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (I do this instead of emuing)
@Desert Dweller in addition, the cup resides at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and members of the winning team each get a day with the cup and every Canadian player brings it to their home town
For me, a classic of the “walk away and come back later” variety. First time through, very few gimmes and a lot of white space. A toehold in the middle stack but I really wanted the medical answer to refer to a vaccine or DNA somehow, and that kept me stuck. Round 2, my unconscious mind had done its work and the puzzle clues suddenly made perfect sense. Zip zip, done. Highly recommend this strategy for getting unstuck. Very enjoyable puzzle with a lot of humor in the cluing.