I can see it now...a blockbuster movie that combines "Wuthering Heights" with "Keeping Up With The Kardashians." The plot line of the novel will have to be adjusted to fit the SoCal location and particular family dynamics, but there's enough overlap that the toggling should be easy...Kim Kardashian is Katherine (name changed slightly because of the Kardashians' obsession with the letter "K" --- their memoir is likely to be called "Crying in K-Mart"), Edgar Linton is played by Kanye West, Nelly is Khloe, but who will play Heathcliff, that's the real puzzle! Maybe Michael Cera? Luckily, Jill Singer is also a filmmaker (see her excellent constructor's notes) so I'm sure she's already been working on this: you can tell from this puzzle she's a belle esprit. Soon to be on Netflix. I'm in!
Lighthearted fun, much needed today. For a good laugh scroll down to JLin's thread from last night including this from NancyJ: "A priest, a pastor, and a rabbit walked into a clinic to donate blood. The nurse says to the rabbit: "What's your blood type?" The rabbit replied with great sadness, "I'm probably a type O". "
@John Carson I read it and giggled and then started scrolling and then my brain caught up to rabbi/t and I cracked up lol!
@John Carson hahah that took me too long to get! I suppose I was stuck in crossword mode (Hint to anyone else that's struggling, read it aloud)
I was embarrassed to even begin to know how to spell the K sisters but to my credit I got some letters wrong.
@Lpr Can you imagine how it felt when I spelled them all correctly? I haven't been that disgusted with myself in a long time.
@Andrzej Lol! I love how you said that you have studiously tried to avoid learning anything about them and tried to forget whatever you learned. Sums up my thoughts exactly.
@Lpr - I had an idea, once I had a few crosses, how to spell them. At least I knew their names all start with K! Well, I think they do. Is that not correct? Some pedant will, no doubt, chime in to correct me if I am wrong. I'm pretty OK with not knowing for sure.
This puzzle went from the sublime (the Brontës) to the ridiculous (the Kardashians). Cute theme nonetheless. I liked little buggy for ANT. I was happy to see Anthony DOERR in the middle of the puzzle. His novels, All The Light We Cannot See and Cloud Cuckoo Land are delightful reads.
@Marshall Walthew Agreed. All The Light We Cannot See is a beautyof a book. Netflix adapted it for the screen in a captivating way, albeit somewhat modified. They went so far as to cast a legally blind first-time actor to play the role of Marie-Laure, lending it much authenticity. I highly recommend both book and series.
@Marshall Walthew My favorite of his is About Grace, which seldom gets attention. If you haven't read it, give it a try.
The side trips made this solve especially rich: • COHEN – Hearing him sing in my head, that rich, heart-moving voice of his. • Learning HAKA, especially viewing this one-minute video linked by Rex’s sub today: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N__OF41CqoY" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N__OF41CqoY</a> . Powerful. • Thinking that ICU must have been clued with the “sentence” angle many times before in all the crossword venues, then finding out that no it hasn’t, not even once. In fact, after seeing how dull all the ICU clues have been, giving CLAPS for originality and spark. • GATEAU got me thinking about its lovely rhymes (CHATEAU, PLATEAU, BATEAU), which to me thinking about EAU-ending words I love: nouveau, bureau, chapeau, Juneau, portmanteau, trousseau, flambeau … and the images of Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau. Other likes include the lovely word ERSATZ, the schwa-de-vivre of eight answers ending in that sound, the cutest-ever clue for ANT – [A little buggy?] – and learning BEL ESPRIT. Yes, a rich and very pleasing start to the day. Thank you so much for this, Jill!
@Lewis Extra points for schwa-de-vivre, Lewis! I hope you and the rest of Asheville have a good Thanksgiving and lots of running water.
@Lewis HAKA was a gimme for me, because the Polynesian football players for BYU (A group of HUGE men!) taught the whole team to do a HAKA before each game as a way to 'scare' the opposition team. I think it was delcared not PC and they had to stop. Too Bad....
I had a grand time solving this puzzle. The fill was rich and appetizing, and I was very much on the wavelength (even when singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to get to the last words.) Thank you to the constructor! I even found it interesting, in a peculiar kind of way, to have two very different trios of sisters in the same puzzle. We go from classical literature and writing talent to straight-up T.V. and a a reality show. And with the marketing chops of Kris Kardashian, the mommager, the family has truly milked T.V. for what it's worth. I've never watched the show, nor do I watch E NEWS, but there's no escaping knowing their names, and that's all due to her work. Whereas some might balk at having both trios side by side due to the disparate nature of their claim to fame, I found it quite interesting precisely because of the contrast and the cheeky way it illustrates the changes brought about by technology. A less philosophical and simpler kind of pleasure came from the inclusion of Leonard COHEN, and I leave you here with him and "Dance Me to The End of Time," hopefully inspiring everyone to dance a little and, on this Thanksgiving week and always, be grateful for those we love and get to dance with through life, even if metaphorically. <a href="https://youtu.be/NGorjBVag0I?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/NGorjBVag0I?feature=shared</a>
@sotto voce I like to think that the Kardashian mother has every bit of the guile of a Victorian mother of four daughters trying to secure their futures. What’s sad is that she thinks that their futures still need to be secured through such superficial means.
@sotto voce Given your moniker, I am surprised at your mistake. The song title is “Over The Rainbow” 😊😊 Mark, enjoying Hong Kong again Hmm, seems I need a few more words to enable the Submit button
@sotto voce I agree, this was a lovely Wednesday puzzle! Thanks for the Cohen link, wonderful music. I might have a another listen.
@sotto voce Ahh, Leonard! He’s that rare bird whose song lyrics work as poetry apart from the music. His songs tell emotionally charged stories and inspire deep thought and self reflective contemplation. He stands high in the pantheon of lyricists. Hallelujah, in its myriad forms is one of the world’s most often covered songs, and he has written so many others just as good.
I guess I have to admire the audacious concept of teaming one sublimely talented trio with a ridiculously overexposed troika of triviality. Ah well, parts of this puzzle were pretty good.
@Ed I quoted Obi Wan Kenobi's opinion on Mos Eisley in a reply to your comment but the emu objected to it 🤣. The bottom half of the puzzle was somewhat like a hive of this and that, wasn't it?
@Ed Wow! Not a fan of the Brontë sisters, clearly. I know Wuthering Heights can be a bit melodramatic, but overexposed troika of triviality feels a bit harsh. ;) (though it’s an absolutely delicious turn of phrase)
I did not enjoy the puzzle, not really, because I struggled with it, and not in a fun way. It wasn't wordplay that defeated me, or wit, but simply names and words I did not know. Today's experience was also hard for me emotionally, as it always hurts to realize I know the names of at least some of the K family, despite my best efforts to learn nothing about them, and to forget what I have unwittingly learned. There was so much trivia I had to look up! All those proper names crossing with the Chinese symbol were my personal natick today. I also had no idea what that Flyer thing was, I have not heard of BEL ESPRIT, and there were some names around there that were either unknown to me or just forgotten. Also, HMART... I suppose it's some store? Looks like random letters if you don't know it, which I don't, duh. Basically, the puzzle made me realize I know the Ks better than some other stuff... Ouch. I still don't get how Party pooper solves to PILL. Could somebody please explain?
@Andrzej A pill in medicinal form is an unpleasant thing to swallow, as a pill in person form is an unpleasant presence to endure. At least I am guessing that’s where it comes from. More importantly, did you get your winter tires yet?
@Andrzej I didn’t know H Mart either. It is, from Wikipedia, the largest chain of Asian supermarkets in the USA, but not in my home region of Southern California, where a chain called 99 Ranch is more common. One of the attractions of some 99 Ranch stores is live fish in tanks, which one can buy and they cook for you right there. The book referred to in the clue looks interesting.
@Andrzej I’m pretty sure a pill is US slang for when someone’s just being a pain. In fact looking it up it’s very much that but especially if they’re a pain because they’re behaving in a boring way.
@Andrzej My mother would often call me a pill, and she didn't do it endearingly. Did wonders for my self-esteem. Not!
@Andrzej I'm so surprised no one has mentioned the most modern take on the phrase, from the classic (and mostly terrible, if still charming) Tom Hanks / Meg Ryan romcom You've Got Mail. <a href="https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/62c2913a-225b-4b4b-a4be-d5f391f6e71a" target="_blank">https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/62c2913a-225b-4b4b-a4be-d5f391f6e71a</a> ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@Justin When I was a child, my parents used to call me a “pill.” So even at a young age, I knew exactly what that word meant! I prefer to use ”feisty” — a far better description for a precocious child who’s constantly questioning and being sassy. But then I remember that I also whined. And that is definitely a “pill.”
@Andrzej The tab in my brain says that a pill is someone who’s behavior or presence is hard to swallow(tolerate) You dear solver, are no pill.
Interesting puzzle. Although I would have preferred the trio of Faith, Hope and Charity, as opposed to Plague, Pestilence and Disease. Seen here with Kapital K’s.
@Rusty Wheelhouse Amazing burn, respect 🫡
@Andrzej Thanks! How did you know?
Emily Brontë took literature to new "Heights." (And her pen name rings a Bell.)
@Mike You're just trying to currer favor with the solvers! You ought not acton your lowest impulses.
I expect to see complaints about the Kardashians invading the NYT crossword like so many horned vipers, but pop culture does have its place here. Smart of the constructor to include some 19h century pop culture to balance it. I was also impressed by the placement of some reading-related clues at the top of the grid, contrasting with entries like ENEWS, IMING and EGO at the bottom. Both sets of sisters were right at home!
@Heidi Didn't you mean to say, infecting the NYT crossword? Asking for a friend.
How ironic to have the Brontë sisters sharing a theme with the Kardashians. I can't think of two families who have less in common. Seemingly appropriate symmetry of BELESPRIT and COMIC BOOK. An amusing puzzle. Thanks, Jill.
Bronte sisters= Literati Kardashians= Litterati.
People frequently grouse about odd or uncommon words and names in these puzzles. And sometimes they can seem pretty contrived. But I've tried (and failed) to put together even a simple crossword puzzle, and there are times when, instead of blowing up a whole section of it, you're stuck with some klutzy fill. Try it sometime and you'll appreciate what a constructor goes through.
@Ken Funny how Will never had a problem with that. Just lack of imagination.
@Ken Nicely said. Crossword construction software makes it relatively easy to fill a grid. Filling it well is a much bigger challenge. For anyone interested in trying their hand at this, there are some free web-based construction tools available. I’ve used Crosserville some and it’s pretty good.
I knew there'd be some karping here about the K-sisters, but K'mon; I know I wasn't the only obsessive stan of "Reading up with the Brontes", waiting breathlessly for each new daguerreotype to drop. "OH HI!!!!! ... Oh my, you're not who I thought you were."
Type O is not a universal donor. Only O negative is. Saying “type O” is the universal donor is factually incorrect, O positive cannot be given to all blood types.
@JLin I agree. I'm curious about how the puzzle apologists will find a way to make this legitimate crosswordese.
@JLin All universal donors are Type O. But not all Type Os are universal donors.
@JLin True! O- can give to anyone but can only receive O- (I feel like it would be easy to attribute some sort of moral superiority there if one were into anthropomorphizing blood types...), and O+ can only give to other Rh+ types. (Type AB+ is the universal recipient!)
@JLin And it could have easily been clued differently, e.g., "Mosty common blood type in US"
@JLin - There are dozens of different antigens one can use to type blood and, therefore, dozens of blood groups beyond the Rh factors and the major ABO blood groups. Do you really think the constructors, editors, and 95%+ of the solvers here don't already know that? You see, this is a crossword puzzle, not a treatise on hematology. Why limit your gripe to only two of the criteria by which blood can be typed? I think your gripe is incomplete, and wrong, if you don't include the Lutheran and Duffy blood groups. How dare you! ;^) And there are dozens more you could include, if you want to be as pedantic as you can be about it. Frankly, I am surprised you didn't try to strut your superiority by complaining that the only *true* universal donors are those with the Rh-NULL phenotype. Who also happened to be Type O.
@JLin Seems close enough for crossword purposes.
I was having such a lovely time with the puzzle until I got KIM on the crosses as the first of the modern sisters and the lovely feeling went away. But any puzzle with Leonard Cohen can't be all bad. <a href="https://youtu.be/EImVucJO7Ok?si=hg_8He7X8Z1QoSxh" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/EImVucJO7Ok?si=hg_8He7X8Z1QoSxh</a>
@Vaer I posted before reading the comments and just saw that, out of all his songs, we both picked the same one! ;-)
I don’t know why the use of two answers with ‘the’ and two with ‘oh’ irks me. It shouldn’t. It really doesn’t matter. Or does it? I can never tell. It probably says more about me than anything else. I think I’ll have a lie down. As you were.
Fresh and fun. BEL ESPRIT is new to me. Love learning new phrases!
All this time wasted on reading Chekhov when I should’ve just been keeping up with the Kardashians. Where has everything gone? Where is it all? Oh my God, my God! I've forgotten everything.
@Justin What is the Italian word for "window" or "ceiling"? Are they spelled with a "K"? Or am I just thinking of the Countess of Bray?
BTW, some nifty grid building here, slotting in theme names with 3-, 4-, 5-, 5-, 8- and 9-letter counts, plus a spanning revealer, and not only having the box filled cleanly but with variety and interest in the non-theme answers as well. Brava, Jill!
Everyone eager to emphasise their superiority by bemoaning Kardashian references, come meet Everyone Else. Aren't you all so special!
@Riri Oh the shame of breaking open the southwest because I remembered the name of a Khardashian sister (mostly because of the spelling)
I certainly knew THETHREESISTERS - so delicious! - but got tripped up by not realizing that the lower three sisters’ names all began with a K rather than a C which, I’m sure, shows how nerdily out of step I am with popular culture. I just asked my husband if he could name three Kardashian sisters and he floated “Kim?” I replied, “Good! And… ?”. He said, “Bethany?”. Ha ha! I said, “They all start with a K.” and he replied “Karen?” So at least I’m not absolutely the most out of date person on the planet!
@Cindy I think Bethany was the name of one of the Real Housewives of New York, so your husband was in the ballpark.
Love that Crying in HMart made an appearance. What a wonderful book, highly recommend for a good cry and to help find meaning in losing someone close to you from cancer.
Mon Dieu! It was fun to have a lot of French cooked into this delicious gateau, but the K sisters teamed with the B sisters was tough to swallow. I was through the puzzle until I came upon KIM and had passed right by the others. I had POU____Y and thought, could that be the POURTNOY family? Wrong on two counts. It wasn't Portnoy, but I have no complaints, because I had a good laugh about it. I enjoyed this one so much. Thank you, Jill Singer, you gave us a lovely Wednesday puzzle, and on top of it I learned how to spell the K sisters' names, a skill I HOPE never to need. Note to Sam: Olga, Irina and Masha, those Chekhov sisters, seemed listless and bored, but there was a lot more than ennui happening in that play.
A bit too much trivia today for my liking.
@Andy That’s an interesting comment. Maybe that’s why I did so well today - ? I’m honestly not great at trivia — but maybe among this group of brilliant solvers, I’m quite good!!
I am trying to get better at seeing the good in all things. Today, for example, I found myself grateful that so much entertainment-based trivia was packed into one puzzle, which hopefully will prevent said trivia from polluting many other puzzles (by the law of the conservation of uselessness--whiich I suspect does not, but I hope for humanity's sake does, exist.) blah blah emus
Brady, 😂 (so every time I post here, a bel esprit gets their wings in some other online forum.)
Fun fact: neither root words nor their stems are actually covered in Botany 101. (Re-reads and leaves.)
Did I love this puzzle because so much of it was in my wheelhouse? I'm proud to know the literary trio, despite never having finished any of their novels; embarrassed to know the television trio, and how to spell their names; and was familiar with the agricultural trio. Although "Meso-American" in the clue seemed a bit limiting, as the Three Sisters were cultivated by the (North American) Eastern Woodland nations--as far north as Michigan and Ontario; and Ms. Singer describes seeing their use in Peru. For anyone who may wish to know more, may I recommend Charles Mann's excellent cultural history *1491*. Also nice to see [Schumann] clued to CLARA, and COHEN clued as a poet: I remember having a volume of Cohen's poetry (not intended as song lyrics), and I had a high school English teacher who assigned us Cohen lyrics to analyze as poetry. He had a (post-graduation) affair with one of his students. (The teacher, not Cohen.) And, of course, those of you who know my (pop-) musical tastes will_expect_me to post a clip of_MY_favorite sister act: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxCs25Cnhwg" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxCs25Cnhwg</a> (Curiously, like the Brontës, they have a brother who never became quite as well known.)
@Bill I'm surprised no one has yet commented on the timing of this puzzle, the day before (American) Thanksgiving, considering the role First Nation persons played in the mytho-history of The First Thanksgiving. Charles Mann has some interesting observations on Tisquantum--aka Squanto--whose name he interprets to mean "Wrath of God." *1491* discusses all of the Americas. I read it while still living in Ohio, and thought, "Well, I'm not getting to the Yucatan or Peru anytime soon, but we have some fun stuff pretty close to home," and set out on a day-long whirlwind around the state, visiting some six or seven Adena and Hopewell cultural sites (and a stop at the Longenberger Basket Co. headquarters building) in a mere seventeen hours!
Couldn’t have been a better time to debut Haka, a few weeks after a Haka spurred thousands to protest in NZ. If you haven’t seen that incredible Haka on the floor of the NZ parliament, it’s very worth a google.
Any puzzle that gives a shoutout to SELENA is good in my book!
The K sisters were famously preceded by the Hungarian Gabor sisters, Eva, Zsa Zsa, and Magda, three dazzlingly beautiful, talented women who arrived in the U.S. with their mother, Jolie, at the end of WWII. They were trained singers and dancers, charming, elegant and best of all, truly witty. Eva Gabor had a role in "Gigi" and Zsa Zsa starred in the John Huston version of "Moulin Rouge." Jolie, their mother, had been a prominent jeweler in Hungary. She opened a shop in Palm Springs, where, in 1953, she introduced ornamental metal fingernails studded with rhinestones. (Yes, way back then.) From Wikipedia: In his autobiography, television host Merv Griffin, who was known to spend time with Eva socially, wrote of the Gabor sisters' initial presence in New York and Los Angeles: All these years later, it's hard to describe the phenomenon of the three glamorous Gabor girls and their ubiquitous mother. They burst onto the society pages and into the gossip columns so suddenly, and with such force, it was as if they'd been dropped out of the sky. Unlike the K sisters, the Gabor sisters were the real thing,
@dutchiris I’m surprised that you didn’t mention Eva Gabor’s role on the popular sitcom “Green Acres,” which ran from 1965–1971.
Here I live THE THREE SISTERS are a . geological formation, and major tourist attraction, just west of Sydney. They are part of our Blue Mountains, not to be confused with the Jamaican ones. Well worth the visit.
@Patrick J. There are also a group of volcanic peaks by the same name in the Cascades of Oregon.
There may be a Three Sisters in the Grand Tetons. Six peaks.
Loved this puzzle! As they said of Clara Bow — it really HAS IT. A little something for everyone, plus some nice controversial entries for those who need to squabble a little or complain about something every time. I, however, HOPE to remain as ZEN as a sleepy TORTOISE— why oh why CAN’T I??
TIL the term BEL ESPRIT (and thanks Sam for parsing it!) A nice find and a cute puzzle!
So much respect for stacking THE on top of THE and making it work with perfectly respectable fill either side! Cute little detail in a fun puzzle.
@IL I totally missed that! Thanks for pointing out that great detail.
Great Wednesday puzzle, and as the youngest of three sisters, the theme was a home run for me. Shout out to the inclusion of the excellent Crying in H Mart, the 2021 memoir by Michelle Zauner. A heartbreaker of a book and a window into the collective trauma of first generation Korean Americans. Zauner is also the founder and lead singer of Japanese Breakfast, an indie pop band formed in 2013. And if you think they are too obscure, they were nominated for two Grammys and were the musical guest on the SNL finale in 2022. See <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/japanese-breakfast-snl-performance-video-1235074090" target="_blank">https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/japanese-breakfast-snl-performance-video-1235074090</a>/
@Chungclan I loved reading Crying in H Mart, and then following Michelle Zauner on social media so I can keep up her and her band’s achievements.
Challenging Wednesday, upped my average time a bit, gold star, nice surprise!
Fun solve — only a little mortified that the Kardashians made it into a CW theme together w the Brontes but well here we are.
After reading through the comments, I feel safe in saying that BEL ESPRIT was new to everybody who didn't take high school French. "Bon vivant" might raise a few eyebrows at the corner bar, but maybe not at a fancy cocktail party. Would not have made it past my blue pencil. Which one of the Kardashians was KERRY?
Emily Bronte. Kourtney Kardashian. Together again.
10/10. Theme was not too easy to give everything away, but also not too hard to be of no use. Used it to help with the kardashians, but not the brontes. Just right for a Wednesday
When I got the 1st of the top three, I immediately got the other two. When I got the 1st of the bottom three, I needed crosses to help out with the others. I have hope that I'm successfully avoiding a bit of the worst of pop culture.
Every school child in New York State should know the three sisters, crucial in Haudenosonee farming. But bel esprit was a new one for me.
@chris Three sisters taste good together, but they are grown together for farming reasons: the corn serves as a growing pole for the climbers, the beans fix nitrogen for the hungry corn, the squash mulches the other plants roots. In places with little water or gardens with less space, corn is often switched out (with annual or perennial sunflowers, for example).
Loved this puzzle but a little unsettled by the pairing of the Brontes with the Kardashians... Also enjoyed the rabbit joke quoted a few comments below!
Tough one for me, and had to look up some things but managed to get through it. Thought it was a quite clever theme when I finally caught on. Rather amazing puzzle find today. A Thursday from April 3, 2014 by David Benkof and Jeff Chen. Theme answers in that one: CHANUKAHMENORAH CHAOSTHEORY CHARLOTTEBRONTE CHAINSMOKED And then the 'reveal': CHCHCHCHCHANGES Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=4/3/2014&g=36&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=4/3/2014&g=36&d=A</a> I'm done. ..
It was a fun theme. Right level difficulty for a Wed. I don't know the Kardashians but I know their names start with Ks, so I was able to figure it out.
You know, there are THREE SISTERS in _King Lear_ that would fit Just Fine ...instead of the set of K-people who (in my opinion) add nothing to our cultural milieu... Did the Editors of hte NYT Crossword Puzzle Kingdom mistakenly believe that we wanted to learn French? Is this the new wrinkle in PuzzleLand?--vocabulary words and phrases for all! We can have our GATEAU and eat it, too? FWIW, I had a really hard time leaving ACHE/HMART in the puzzle. BTW, I'm not willing to turn my nose up at K-MART; during the several years when PhysicsDaughter was on a particularly expensive drug (available as a generic in Canada, but not in the US) K-MART charged only $499 per month--signifcantly less than Walgreen's, CVS, and Rite-Aid. This was actually a fine puzzle; it's not Jill's fault that she churns up memories... No doubt she is a BEL ESPRIT... (and I find the assigned meaning of "clever person" to be quite a stretch. "Lovely spirit" should be compliment enough.)
@Mean Old Lady — The Kardashians…they’re everywhere!
@Mean Old Lady My neighborhood acquired an H Mart a few years ago, just up the street from the former K Mart. If you ever happen to be in a place that has one, I recommend stopping in to marvel at its wonders. It's pretty amazing.
Although I don’t rate this puzzle as one of my favorite Wednesday entries, I don’t see why there is any controversy regarding the inclusion of the Kardashian sisters’ names. I think the juxtaposition of the Brontes from classical literature and the sisters K from pop culture was effective.
ITSY instead of ITtY Took me a while to catch that mistake. I was not happy when tEAR solved for [Scorch] but after I placed it I didn’t notice it again. Stupid mistake. Fun puzzle. Thanks, Jill Singer!