Oodles of poodles Are fun to conceive of No matter the reason or rhyme. But when cute fuzzy muzzles Come into my puzzles I must say it’s truly sublime. Even those who hate dogs Won’t find it a slog Or feel that they’ve wasted their time. They’ll just say “Thank Jebus, It wasn’t a rebus” And savor the victory chime.
@Heidi So very smooth! Love what you've done here! .
@Heidi It truly is mighty of rhyme-wielding Heidi to give us this gift of a post. All supple and glide-y and waggish. Alrighty! Let's vote hers "the post with the most"! #SororityOfSonority
If I was wondering lost in the desert and had run out of water hours ago, you know what I'd be fantasizing about? Mountains of fountains...and, you know what people sometimes call streams of lava? Fountains of mountains. Anyway, I've got a boatload of candy, because in a couple days we're going to be visited by hosts of ghosts. I also heard that in a few weeks the US Naval Academy will be staging their annual vaudeville revue. There's gonna be tractor-trailers of actor-sailors for that event! Funny, when I was in Cooperstown this summer with my boys, it was no surprise to see scads of dads, but I was delighted to also see masses of lasses. I know this is largely a Yankees crowd, it being the Times and all, but seeing future Hall of Famer Ohtani get injured the other night right when he's in the World Series was a real shame: he's worth every nickel of the bins of yens they pay him. This puzzle gave me piles of smiles!
@john ezra I mean wandering. Guess that ol' lizard brain of mine is not the best speller. My kingdom for an edit button! Slews of emus...
"Your baker gave you some free donuts?" "He must have been dozen off." ("I bet his eyes were glazed over.")
@Mike Did someone say DOUGHNUTS? It must be fall!
@Mike I think he made it perfectl eclair he wanted you to have a hole lot. He doesn't make much on donuts; if he wants to make a profit, a roll is best. Have some cream puffs, emus.
@Mike There are just SO many kinds of doughnuts, that it's hard to choose! We'll need a decider.
A ton of fun! And quickly done! Brava, Kathy Lowden. for your clever endeavor. *****
After filling in DOZENS OF COUSINS, I broke into a smile. One of my happy buttons is wordplay based on how the words sound. That smile remained throughout the solve, and there was serious fun in trying to guess the remaining theme answers with as few crosses as possible. And after solving, alternate answers popped into my head – FLOODS OF DUDS, MASSES OF GLASSES. Even opposite-type answers for a companion puzzle – FAMINE OF SALMON, LACK OF PLAQUE, SPARSITY OF VARSITY. This puzzle reminded me of the classic wordplay moment from the movie “The Court Jester” (1955): “The pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle. The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.” So, no dearth of mirth today – smiles all around – and that’s a gift. Thank you for this, Kathy!
@Lewis , Thanks for the reminder of my favorite movie sequence of all time.
Wow, when those DOZENS OF COUSINS get together it must be an ocean of commotion. Imagine all the preparation.. scores of chores! And when it’s time to bid farewell, well…..oodles of toodles. But no doubt a ton of fun, like this puzzle.
I loved the theme answers! Such fun. But I am agog at the thought of having four dozen [first] cousins.
@Liz B The large family club is not for the faint of heart or meek in voice.
Liz B, My father's six older siblings had a total of 25 children, many of whom were married before I was born. Lots of first cousins. His father was one of ten. Lots of second cousins.
@Liz B My late mother had 5 dz ( 1) first cousins! 46 from her mom’s side and 15 from her dad’s. I remember some pretty big family reunions when I was a kid😀
@Barry Ancona My husband's mother was one of 9 and his mother one of 7. He has 55 first cousins -- defintely dozens!
A new best of 4:10 today! I've been gaining on my best for a while and this is the day I finally break through! I love rhyming crosswords like these when they're really clever, and crosswords with lots of spanning entries usually are a recipe for a fun time. Excellent grid and great work!
I hate to quibble, but the full marching band performs at homecoming games. The PEP BAND is an ad hoc group that travels with the team to away games. I enjoyed doing that, because I got to play drums...and we rode on the bus with the cheerleaders.
@Grant - Pep band also includes the ad hoc groups that play for hockey, basketball, etc. where there isn’t a halftime show dedicated to band. Very often a completely different roster from the formal bands. You know you are a real bandie when you play marching band, concert band, pit band, pep band, jazz band, dance band…and an über bandie if you play different instruments in each. (I marched piccolo, played flute in concert, 2nd reed in pit, tenor sax in pep, bass clarinet in jazz, and accordion in dance band. Band nerd.)
@Grant my school wasn’t cool enough to have a marching band, but I was part of the PEPBAND that played at home games. Our team had to do without at away games… possibly explains why they were so bad?
@Grant - Baskin the day, when I played trombone in my HS marching band, there was only one band -- and it was called both the marching band and the PEP BAND. The names seemed interchangeable. It wasn't a large band, so maybe that is why we didn't split off into a smaller "PEP BAND." I suppose larger schools might have had enough members to create a subset and, therefore, need to have two different names.
@David Connell If you were un all those bands, you must have been stretched thin...like a rubber band man.
Who else thought of Basil Fawlty when they got to 36A? There's also a nod to one of Polly's memorable lines at 6D. Fun reminders of some great entertainment!
@Alpha Yes indeed. I've never encountered the dish in real life, FT is my only reference for it.
@Alpha Bravo I had "No, no, no, it's celery, apples, walnuts, grapes." / "In a mayonnaise sauce" in my head as I answered that question. I knew my love of Fawlty Towers would come in handy at some stage!
@Alpha Bravo Yep. First thought that went through my head. At the time neither I nor any of my friends knew a WALDORF salad from a hole in the wall, so Basil’s bewilderment echoed our own.
@Alpha Bravo Curb Your Enthusiasm had a plot point where a character claimed to have invented the Waldorf Salad.
@Alpha Bravo I never gave it a thought because I lack the British humor gene. Never found Monty Python funny, and never even sampled Fawlty Towers, but I did look at a clip of the Waldorf salad sketch as research just now. Let's just say the coffee I was drinking at the time never came back up through my nasal passage...
@Alpha Bravo Ha! I didn't even consciously acknowledge the fact that I thought of that sketch as I typed in the answer, since I picture it any time I see "waldorf salad", but, yes, I definitely thought of it.
@Alpha Bravo Despite having watched all of “Fawlty Towers” at least twice, I don’t remember a Waldorf salad scene. But it’s been a while since I have seen it, and there were a lot of similar scenes based on things Basil was unfamiliar with or confused by.
Really loved this one and what a terrific piece of construction. Four 15 letter theme answers - every one of them a debut, and... thought it was quite amazing that three of the rhyming pairs had different spellings for the rhyming section (dozens/cousins - scores/drawers, etc.). Nice start to my day - looking forward to more from Ms. Lowden. ..
Sam’s names of a few assortments of animals were fun to learn about. It prompted me to do a little research on the web to uncover these: Murder of crows Parliament of owls Bale of turtles Crash of rhinos Gaggle of geese Business of ferrets Exaltation of larks Dazzle of zebras Convocation of eagles Ambush of tigers Skulk of foxes Skein of geese (in flight) Cackle of hyenas Pandemonium of parrots Knot of toads
@Strudel Dad James Lipton has a delightful book of them (An Exaltation of Larks) though I’m not sure it includes Crackle of Cockatoos. I just have one and it feels like a crackle.
@Strudel Dad and my personal favorite, a shush of librarians.
So much fun to trail off on this theme. Our local regatta last weekend brought slews of crews to our village! Facebook is off-limits for me for the next few weeks because I can’t tolerate the scores of bores that need to chime in and goad loads of toads to toss gobs of lobs at each other. I’d rather eat Oodles of Noodles and watch scads of bad movies. Thank you Kathy!
Whaddya know: a New York Times of rhymes. (a heard of words?)
Fast and fun! Rhyming crossers? I’m very here for this. Some delightful phrases in this puzzle that are not only evocative, but also very fun to say.
@Dave I've never heard of bzzt. I has bzzz first.
@Dave Well, the puzzle people must think it’s a real thing, because it’s appeared four times, starting in 2017. That being said, I had “bzzz” at first, but “enzrust” wasn’t a thing.
@Dave I had to leave the last letter blank and wait for the cross to determine if it should be Z or T. “Bzzz” is the common pronunciation, but I think I’ve seen BZZT more often in print. Unless, of course, I was reading about bees.
@Dave I originally went with BZZz, but when I said BZZT out loud it sounded right. BZZT has a finality to it that BZZz just doesn't have. Emus, need I say more?
Very fun game. I think having taken so many years of French (4th grade through college) has given me enough of a background in the Romance languages to get me through the Spanish and Italian numeros. I once was able to help a young friend with her Italian homework due to my knowledge of French. Have I ever used the French? Well yes, actually... sort of... In Quebec, in the pouring rain, I was able to ask where the metro was. I was answered in English, but I asked the friendly woman to please turn so my friends wouldn't know she was speaking in English; she laughed and went along with it. Okay, I have used it more than that, TBH, but that was the most fun one.
The HEIGHTOFDELIGHT. Nicely done.
Good timing. At my high school 60th reunion dinner Saturday night the salad was a WALDORF.
@Barry Ancona When I see Waldorf salad I think of Fawlty Towers episode where the American guest is told, "We are all out of waldorfs." I am smiling - hope you are as well.
Off topic Teri GARR, who died today, was an answer 47 times in the Shortz era. Here's an unlocked link to her Times obit. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/29/arts/teri-garr-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.V04.xAGQ.OMJej7s2FlV9&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/29/arts/teri-garr-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.V04.xAGQ.OMJej7s2FlV9&smid=url-share</a>
Vaer, I am a news avoider, so just learning this now from your post (then saw Justin’s post directly below). I watched Close Encounters on Sunday - hadn’t seen her in quite a long while - not her most iconic role, but we were commenting on how she brings sparkle to any show. A lot of memories…
@Vaer What a wonderful creator of memorable characters. "Roll, roll, roll in the hay." R.I.P. and thank you.
@Vaer That makes me sad. We enjoyed her in so many movies.
loved the rhymes! funny to have two days in a row with "STP" as an answer, i didn't get it either time, not a big car girl. thank goodness for crosses!
First noodles then doodles then we read the clue. Reading and spelling are key to successful solving: Just sayin. The picture of the copy machine triggered a fear response as it took 3 trips to Office Depot to get tax documents printed Thank you Kathy
@dk Ain't you a little late with them tax returns? I know the heat slows things down 'round here, but gee...
@dk and MOL I was thinking of Jane Fonda in 9 to 5, and her constant battle with the copier. In the end credits, she marries the copier repairman.
That was really fun, and I didn't have to look up US-specific trivia because of the crosses, which doesn't happen that often. Really satisfying and a new PB, 7:12!
What a charming puzzle to get a Tuesday PB on at 8:44. Didn't have to look anything up and the fill flowed so smoothly. Loved it!
RIP to a frequently-clued Teri. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/29/arts/teri-garr-dead.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/29/arts/teri-garr-dead.html</a>
Love seeing 4 spanners on a Tuesday! I need to switch my Duolingo from helping me improve my Spanish to helping me learn the basics of French. Embarrassed to say I don’t even know French numbers, which makes me feel like even more of an ARSE considering how similar they are to their Spanish counterparts. Great puzzle - Thanks, Kathy Lowden!
@Striker Worse yet, that wasn't French at 42A and 18D--only the one at 4A.
Once I had DOZENS OF COUSINS, I tried to make this interesting for myself by guessing the other theme answers with few, or better yet, no crosses. Here are my results: SCORES OF DRAWERS off just the SC. OCEANS OF POTIONS off just the first O and the P. OODLES OF POODLES with no crosses at all. Impressed? I thought not. But I did make this puzzle a bit more diverting for myself, so there's that. BZZT????
@Nancy I predicted/hoped for OODLES OF POODLES before even getting to the clue. I'm not sure why - it may have been a children's book.
Apart from going with dOODLES instead of POODLES this was a fun, smooth solve. Although from a small family myself, my DH has 5 brothers so our kids do indeed have DOZENS OF COUSINS. We all get together once or twice a year. It’s pandemonium, especially as the 2nd cousins are all small, but great fun.
SANTIAGO IS DEAD BECAUSE OF CODE RED? I tried to pluralize it but it doesn’t sound right. I’d try to workshop it a bit more but you can’t handle the truth. Sincerely Yours, Nathan R Jessup
Having had a chaotic last couple of weeks, I had lost track of what day it was. I was quite pleased with my Monday time, then I realized it was a Tuesday puzzle.
Fun puzzle! After the second themer, I tried to guess the rest without looking at the crosses. I got the third, but needed a few crosses for the fourth. Is the NYT reminding me it's time to get an oil change. (Although I usually opt for Penzzoil.) Slews of emus.
Are they supposed to rhyme? The words in 25 across don't rhyme.
@Dave Dunno about Florida dialect, but here in the "Inland North" they rhyme perfectly.
@Dave "Drawers" with one syllable, like desk drawers or cabinet drawers. Not two, like illustrators or pencil artists.
@Dave could be a dialect thing. They rhyme in my neck of the woods..
@Dave Agreed! I grew up in the Northeast, but I say "drawers" with an aw sound, not an o sound.
@Dave It’s very much a matter of your regional dialect! I grew up in St. Louis and they don’t rhyme for me, but I live in Wisconsin now, and most people here would make them rhyme. It’s similar to how the vowel sound in my name is pronounced differently depending on where a person is from!
@Dave It must be regional, because I grew up (in the Northeast) saying “drores “ and still do. I clean the drawers if I’m doing some chores, and when I’m done, I just might have some s’mores! It all rhymes perfectly to me.
Two days in a row easy peasy. I'm feeling smarter than when you make them harder.
Interesting to learn how several of you have so many cousins. My family is relatively small.
@Strudel Dad Most children born in China (especially in the cities) do not have cousins as their parents were born when the one child policy was fairly strictly enforced.
@Strudel Dad My parents are both from families of 12 and many of my Dad’s siblings had 6 or more kids so I definitely have DOZENSOFCOUSINS. Sadly, I hardly know any of them because most of them ostracized us when I was little. My Dad was not Catholic and did not marry a Catholic - they didn’t even speak to them for two years! It seems that eventually it got swept under the rug without apology, though not without emotional damage to many.
I was cruising along great and thought I might be close to my record time but … no music! Alas, it was the crossing of 14A and 3D. I don’t speak French and the apparently [Wrong answer!] seems an arbitrary spelling to me. Oh well! I generally loved the theme, but DOZENS OF COUSINS (17A) is not a particularly happy memory. See my reply to Strudel Dad below.
@Cherry Nah. It was always BZZT! I can't figure out what else you might have put in there! But you got it, so who cares about the timer? This Georgia gal doesn't!
I guzzled this puzzle and never was muzzled and Sam our pet doodle would have canoodled the poodle. Need to find another hobby!
@Once a Marine I had doodle before POODLE. Much prefer a doodle of any stripe; I was mauled by a POODLE as a kid. Never trusted them since.
My only gripe is the true Natick of a foreign language crossing at 26D and proper name at 33A, especially because I had StORES OF DRAWERS. I would have set a new PB if I didn't spend half my time sorting that out. Otherwise, very cute theme answers.
@DocP Well I don't know about "true Natick" as I think, regardless of what some people will claim, it is a subjective term because one simply cannot establish the facts needed to denote something is a "true Natick". But to me, to say something is a natick for you is a fact. That said, I would guess, though, that ALGER was a gimme for many, but perhaps it is a generational thing. Horatio Alger was pretty common knowledge when I was growing up. Am I remembering correctly that there was a reference to Alger in "Catcher in the Rye"?
@DocP There's never a Natick Police officer when you need them. 🚨
ZEST before ZEAL. And Zip Zip, it was over. Wee little Nit: SCORES does not rhyme with DRAWERS unless you have some godawful accent where there aren't two syllables in the latter ... Bigger Nit: It's early in the week; if you are going to indulge in a foreign language (as with 42A and 18D), maybe (as with 14A) indicate the language with a wee hint. I ran through Spanish (Toledo) , French (Aix), Portuguese (Lisbon), and finally got to "Firenze".... Alchemists, I thought, were more concerned with changing other substances into gold; witches and apothecaries were given to mixing POTIONS.
@Mean Old Lady -- It's your resident poet and lyricist chiming in on the DRAWERS/SCORES rhyme. So is it egregiously wrong? I'd say no. At least not in NYC. DRAWERS -- at least when it's the things that get pulled out of bureaus -- is pronounced in 1-syllable: DRAWRS. When it refers to the people sketching things, it's pronounced in two syllables: DRAW-ers. I wouldn't hesitate to unblushingly use this rhyme when presenting at the BMI Musical Theater Workshop, a place where your knuckles would get rapped if you dared to use an imperfect rhyme. I never did because I had cut my teeth on the lyricists of the American Songbook: Larry Hart, Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Alan Jay Lerner, Ira Gershwin, and Sondheim. But the very young Workshop members who had cut their teeth on sloppily written pop music lyrics, would often make that mistake in early presentations. They were unlikely to make it more than once or twice.
@Mean Old Lady Say hello to my god awful Northern British accent: it’s draws and scaws baby.
@Mean Old Lady Hands up if you have a godawful accent! Me! I do, I do!! It's okay, worse could be said of me! ;-)
@Mean Old Lady Tommy from This Old House might say SCAHS OF DRAHS. I'll wait for Captain Quahog to confirm.
@Mean Old Lady My brother in PA pronounces “drawers” as “draws”.
@Mean Old Lady Ha ha, I'm pretty sure you're joking. In the King's English, it is most definitely one syllable.
@Nancy Sorry, I'm a born-and-raised Californian and to me SCORES and DRAWERS are a pretty good rhyme. Go Dodgers!! May the best EMU win.
Took me forever to figure out that I picked the wrong pooch
Lively and fun for a Tuesday, loved the cluing!
Smooth & very enjoyable, thanks. Got me my record time for a Tuesday, and a refreshing lack of silly clues. I had OODLES from crossing clues, so with the dog reference I had to put in OF POODLES, and then the others fell into place. Fun little theme!
PSST...BZZT...Not "on time", but PROMPT. Still a Tuesday PB for me. Have a great day! (Might get BLOTTO if the Dodgers win tonight.)
@Amy, also a PB for me today! I thoroughly enjoyed this whimsical outing!
Thank you, Kathy Lowden! This was a lot of fun, and I (re)learned a lesson about the value of reading carefully. When I didn't hear the music after finishing, I spent a while reviewing everything I had entered, only to discover that I had rushed through and typed OODLES OF NOODLES without reading the clue. Doh!
Feeling lonely. I have only one cousin. I barely knew her. Not much help from Strands. Strands #240 “You and me” 🔵🔵🔵🟡 🔵🔵 Beau coups of emus.
@Linda Jo Strands #240 “You and me” 🟡🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵 Well, you've got this crew. My father had a split with his only other sibling (brother) and that whole side of the family are strangers. Probably should be more aggressive at reaching out.
@Linda Jo Twenty two here, so just short of dozens until you start adding the ordinals and removeds. Strands #240 “You and me” 🔵🔵🔵🔵 🔵🟡 We didn't always rate the puzzle, but I'm grateful for having and knowing them.