A very fresh Friday with lots of nice long answers that were not PREDICTABLE, like the ending of a rom-com, but which were reasonably easy to get. I liked the little college theme going on in the SE with DEANS, BURSAR, SRS and TENURE. I was helped immensely by knowing TEXASTEA, which I learned AEONS ago when I first heard it the Beverly Hillbillies theme song: “black gold, TEXASTEA”
@Marshall Walthew I went to enter "black gold" and realized it was too long.
When crustaceans invest, they go see a prawn broker. (This pun is shrimply the best.)
@Mike You’re the punniest person on here!
@Mike You do lob sterling puns! You absolutely krill me!
Crosswords are like peanut butter; some are crunchy and some are soft and smooth. This was definitely the latter. I love all peanut butter.
@Dave S And they are also delicious with jelly!
@Dave S Agreed, I felt like I was gliding through this one, like there was a really pleasant flow of switching between across and down and having those little aha moments thanks to a letter or two. It was a crunchy week for me so this was a welcome change.
TENURE, DEANS, BURSAR, oh my. Got me thinking about work even before my first cup of coffee. All I need now is a CHANCEllor ENCOUNTER today. Happy Friday, fellow Wordplayers.
A solve delayer… [Material that goes on a foundation] misdirected me for AEONS. Long ago, I worked summers for a builder and witnessed many foundations poured. I kept thinking, after seeing this clue, “What was the next step? What went over the foundation?” Of course, there was no next step, but that didn’t stop me from trying to remember one. I love getting got good like that! A solve quickener... The thrill of throwing in the correct answer at C _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ER (14A), after seeing its clue. Gorgeous solve answers… ON A REGULAR BASIS, FREEHAND, FORMULAIC, TEXAS TEA, and yes, CHANCE ENCOUNTER. Something I loved but can’t figure out why … Those three-black-square photo-album corners in the grid design. Maybe because it made me feel like I was filling in a work of art. Something I loved and do know why … Difficult areas I had to chip away at, balanced by swaths of divine splat fill. That balance brought pleasure to my Libra sensibilities. I was fully involved in and enamored by your puzzle, Kelly. Thank you so much for making this!
Well, gee. Despite the intiimidating grid, this puzzle unraveled like an old sweater. I barely paused, getting the long entries like I was taking dictation. Slight pauses (SGT Friday?) gave way to AHA moments and the crossings were the tickets to the next answer. Best moment: 4D "Does, perhaps" BRER Fox and BRER Rabbit, along with BRER Bear entertained us kids ON A REGULAR BASIS... Government by FIAT, SRSly..... Judging by the redacted Comments yesterday, the NYT is worried about TENURE. I wish it were an occasion for LEVITY, but instead I feel bound to note that running scared seldom PROTECTs anyone. Don't be a PRAWN in the Game of Life!
My wife and I just this morning were reminiscing about CHANCE ENCOUNTERs we have had over the years. A couple in our Colorado hiking group moved back to their native Canada. 5 years later, they ended up on the same ferry trip from Picton, New Zealand to Wellington. Our neighbor from Des Moines before we moved to Colorado drove into the same gas station in Kearney, NE while we were filling up. We were headed to Iowa and they were going to Colorado. On a Canadian bike trip from Banff to Jasper, we stopped for lunch at a hotel restaurant. A man I had worked with for 10 years was seated at the table next to us. On a flight from Denver to Florida, we had a connection in Dallas. Making a connection to the same flight were friends from Cedar Rapids who we had not seen in years. We ended up staying in their condo for a couple of days. And probably more unusual than any of the above, yesterday I received a text from my sister-in-law that said "Art Pxxx says hi. I met him on the ferry to the Galapagos Island". Art is someone i worked with 25 years ago. It will be interesting to hear what conversation could possibly have taken place to discover they both know me.
@coloradoz On our Australian vacation in 2009 my wife ran into a colleague from work at a random shop in Sydney, almost 16000 km from home and her office.
@coloradoz. A travelling companion ran into his next door neighbour in Istanbul bazaar.
@coloradoz Family lived across the street in NJ, moved to Guam due to a work assignment. A couple years later, we're on vacation at the amusement park in Hershey, PA and who do we meet as they're moving back?
@coloradoz - a few - Sitting on a bus in Poland next to my assigned liaison to our sister chorus, saying I was disappointed that my host person from a decade before had not been at the concert. I said, “Here’s a photo I brought from our time together ten years ago, can you get it to her?” and my liaison pointed and said “Jestem ja! Jestem ja!” (That’s me!). She was a little girl in the background of the photo. On tour in Arles with our group, the wind kicks up in that terribly dusty place and my assistant and I decide to escape into a corner boulangerie. As we are going in, her high school French teacher from North Carolina a decade earlier is leaving the shop. My colleague is travelling west from Connecticut to Ohio, and the bus stops at a rest stop in Pennsylvania. A bus travelling from West Virginia to the Adirondacks stops there at the same time. His sister is on that bus.
@coloradoz walking into a huge banquet hall full of lazy susan lunchers on the outskirts of beijing, i spot a former work colleague sitting with another group of american tourists.
@coloradoz My husband and I were in Chile about 5 years ago. We were asked to sign in before beginning a hike to a volcano. The person signed in ahead of us was a member of my college commune in the '70's, whom I hadn't seen since graduation.
@coloradoz We had good friends in our town for many years, then they moved away to Southern California. About 10 years later we ran into them INSIDE the great pyramid at Giza!! Had no idea they were visiting that part of the world!
@coloradoz Good for you for biking from Banff to Jasper. It's a gorgeous highway, but not an easy trek.
Definition of irony: when the fill that stumps you and ends up being the very last answer you get is “AHA moment.”
I love a puzzle like this. You go through it the first time and think “there is no way”… but you chip away and chip away and everything just falls into place. Beautiful!
Thanks, Kelly, for a smooth-solving sophomore effort. I had a little trouble getting started, but once I had a toehold, it was like opening the floodgates, and answers flowed quickly thereafter. Ended up finishing in ⅔ my Friday average. It surprises me when I can pull up words that I haven't used or thought of in over five decades, and how with just a few letters an eight- or more-letter word or phrase gets entered and is correct. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it's almost magical.
Kelly mentioned the funny sentence composed of the last three rows. The first three rows do it too! “Predictable crime novelist chance encounter”: It’s when the amateur detective notices a familiar face at the laundromat and it turns out to be the twin brother of the longshot suspect, and dispositive DNA is obtained from the bag of laundry, and the amateur is lauded for solving the case.
I thought Kelly’s puzzle was going to do me in! On the first three passes, my entries were as shaky as cryptocurrency. But then, out of the BLUE, some crosses took hold and I grinned my way to a fast finish. Seeing 10D LIN reappear so soon helped me get going. Fun! I did get flashbacks from BURSAR. As an impoverished scholarship student at a very expensive northeastern university, I was frequently camped out in the BURSAR’s office. I had to make sure the scholarship hit and wait for my Pell Grant refund to pay for my room and board. I am so grateful that my own kids never experienced such financial anxiety while attending college. The backstory of the sea urchin turning up on EBAY is pretty cool. <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelopleurus_exquisitus" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelopleurus_exquisitus</a> Here’s hoping you have a healthy dose of LEVITY today 🥂
Fast time for me too, although the clues were fun. DINNERTHEATER was worth the price of admission. Missed opportunity to use the same clue for PREDICTABLE and FORMULAIC?
I started this one angry and frustrated, not being able to get into it at all and not liking all the 4-letter plurals and identical college clues ... grrr ... But after a while things started falling into place, got some long answers and had some epiphanies ... ahhh ... Ended up loving it! Thanks!
I checked out the previous puzzle by Ms. Morenus, and she has a real knack for finding fresh and pleasing entries on a regular basis. Looking forward to the next one. "Pretty Woman" famously had an unpredictable, not-soo-happily-ever-after ending in its original script. The whole script was apparently much darker and grittier. I remember thinking years ago that I'd love to have seen the darker version. But nowadays I really need happy endings.
An easier Friday than usual for me, although I did have to work around my incorrect answer to 36D for quite a while. Spoiler: it isn't coNdom.
Nothing quite matches the expository theme songs of 1960s American sitcoms. Jerry Scoggins backed by bluegrass legends Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, sang 'The Ballad of Jed Clampett' and gave viewers all the background they needed to understand the origins of The Beverly Hillbillies. As a kid I learned about Texas Tea and the joys of banjo picking. Scruggs later played on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's 1972 album, 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken'. One of the finest collections of bluegrass music and musicians ever assembled.
@Elsie Borden - my best friend in those days (the 70s) was the younger sister of the Nitty Gritty’s keyboard player. I never think of them without recalling Bush the Elder… <a href="https://politico.com/story/2018/12/01/george-hw-bush-death-presidency-life-legacy-1037038" target="_blank">https://politico.com/story/2018/12/01/george-hw-bush-death-presidency-life-legacy-1037038</a> And, yes, I had occasions to perform for and meet him; inept, of a befuddled and misguided political mindset, yet - a real human being. Nearly a mensch. The apples really can fall far from the tree, especially with the help of carrion fowl.
Easy mode Friday? Or was it just so for me? Will: Please liberate Wednesday.
@Barry Ancona it wasn’t just you :0-)
A delightful and perfectly challenging Friday puzzle.
I don't often love a Friday puzzle, but this one was an exception. I couldn't make much headway, walked away for just a few moments, and then bingo! the top half fell into place. Long grid-spanning entries always start out seeming intimidating, but invariable are the easiest to solve with only a few letters showing. CHANCE ENCOUNTER, ON A REGULAR BASIS, AND DINNER THEATER leapt out with almost nothing filled in. Even my near-Natick encounter, EMMA and CENA, which would have been my first in decades, filled themselves in from the crosses, It's refreshing for me, the resident grump here, to have actually been smiling as I whizzed through the rest of the puzzle. Easy enough to finish, tough enough to be entertaining and worthy of a Friday. Thanks, Kelly, from one former Spanish teacher to another.
Really cool about the sea urchin. Fun treasures of doing crosswords are little stories like that.
I treasure this site and I'm thankful that we have the NY Times to give us this forum to come together. Let us pray that free speech won't be the next think on the block. We are already losing so much.
Thanks for pointing out the sentence made from the bottom three lines. Very funny and most of us would probably have missed it. Good luck - unless you have tenure (or even if you do) - teaching social studies in Spanish in the unfolding future.
“Does, maybe” (distinct from DOGE, for sure) is a keeper. So clever. But what cost me a lot of time was my refusal to consider that “revs (up)” might not be the right answer for “amps (up).” To use yesterday’s clue, I was so cocksure. I’m a relative newbie.* This is (only) my fourth or fifth Friday solve. I tend to find Fridays (not the tv cops but the puzzle days) more challenging than Saturdays. *how to tell an old newbie from an old oldie? In my case, when the concern is one of completion, not timing. A metaphor for other things as well, I suppose.
@RNR "*how to tell an old newbie from an old oldie? In my case, when the concern is one of completion, not timing." Everyone solves in their own fashion, but I--who consider myself, if not an oldie, a middle-agie--I still like to take time, linger, and savor, especially on late week puzzles. And even on Mon. and Tues., I'm often too groggy for effective speed solving.
@RNR I thought that was pretty tricky of the constructor and the crew--but I already had the _EPS in place, and I definitely thought to myself, "A lot of folks will fall into that trap!" You made their day! P.S. I never keep time; I'm retired! The only TIME I observe is when to take what pillls/eye drops/application of topical medication. That's plenty enough without putting a burden on the fun parts of my day!
A good example of how useful it can be to put the puzzle down and come back to it later. I struggled mightily last night and was on the verge of giving up and using Wordplay and Google to get me through it. Instead I left it for the night and this morning it seemed so much easier. Instead the end my time was just over my average with no outside help.
I will join the chorus, great puzzle that seemed impossible at first but then just melted away sweetly. Dinner theater was my entry point.
I loved this one. It was a great challenge for me. Nothing too obtuse OR straight forward. I just chugged my through doing and undoing until it was done. None of the longer answers were gimmies so I had a lot of great moments where the crosses helped me see the forest through the trees. I’m definitely looking forward to more from Kelly Mornus!
“You punched the BURSAR?” The same way a constructor often builds an entire puzzle around one or two long starter entries, I’ve long suspected that Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the entire song “Aaron Burr, Sir” around that one line. In any event, BURSAR is not a word I’ve come across many times, outside of Hamilton, but, we pick things up where we find ‘em, I suppose. Fun puzzle! Thanks, Kelly Morenus.
@Striker I had many encounters with the Bursar in my college days... I had to collect the proceeds of my student loans and settle my bill every quarter in their office!
@Striker I came here to post those lyrics; they're below if anyone's interested. Now I'm-a go listen. 1776 New York City Pardon me. Are you Aaron Burr, sir? That depends. Who's asking? Oh, well, sure, sir I'm Alexander Hamilton, I'm at your service, sir I have been looking for you I'm getting nervous Sir... I heard your name at Princeton. I was seeking an accelerated course of study When I got sort of out of sorts with a buddy of yours. I may have punched him. It's a blur, sir. He handles the financials? You punched the bursar Yes!
Two excellent clues this week for the standard crossword fill DEER--[A buck or two?] last Sat. or Fri. (?), and [Does, perhaps] today. Like many, many here, I connected TEXAS TEA with "the Ballad of Jed Clampett," the theme song to The Beverly Hillbillies. But only TIL that it was performed by the Bluegrass legends Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs (meanwhile, Elsie Borden pointed this out a couple of comments below). Interesting fact--some of the earlier seasons of The Beverly Hillbillies have entered into public domain, but not the theme song, so they have to be shown without it. Well, Bluegrass legends are all well and good, but here's a few more modern takes on TBoJC: 1) Béla Anton Leoš Fleck, feat. Divinity Roxx (reference at 0:30): <a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=tyukb-LZ9ts" target="_blank">https://youtube.com/watch?v=tyukb-LZ9ts</a> 2) Alfred Matthew Yankovic, feat. Dire Straits (reference at 3:07): <a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=0WPzFnZkZmI" target="_blank">https://youtube.com/watch?v=0WPzFnZkZmI</a> Heresy? Perhaps, but anything goes when you're living in the Wild, Wild WEST: <a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=5Kwi5zvgU4Q" target="_blank">https://youtube.com/watch?v=5Kwi5zvgU4Q</a>
@Bill Elsie Borden?? LOL I never viewed the Beverly Hillbillies (Hillbillys?) but I remember when TEXAS TEA stumped me, way back when.
@Bill I highly recommend the album "Flatt and Scruggs at Carnegie Hall!" - 32 tracks with many great songs including Jed Clampett - it will make you smile!
@Bill These are great, thanks for posting. Some of our younger or overseas readers may not be so familiar with the Flatt and Scruggs version Cathy refers to, recorded 12/8/1962 at the first bluegrass performance at that venue. Here’s from C. Hall in NYC: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/bdt8u9hd" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/bdt8u9hd</a>
@Bill and @ Hardroch Much better links than the Goog gave me. I'm about to give up on the Google search engine, it's really gone downhill in the past six months or so. Too many ads and very little real information or news. Are any of the other search engines really any better?
@Bill I'm partial to Neal McCoy's Hillbilly Rap, a combination of Day-O and the Ballad of Jed Clampett with audience participation. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_H36jcMs20" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_H36jcMs20</a>
Stumbled across two late puzzle finds. Sundays with similar but exactly opposite tricks. One a Sunday from August 17, 2008 by Caleb Madison with the title: "Fade-outs." In that one the 'trick' was to come up with a clue that resulted in an answer that was missing one letter from a film title. A couple of examples: "Movie about a "Sopranos"-like actress from the Mediterranean?" THEMALTESEFALCO "Movie about a time-share?" THREEDAYSOFTHECONDO "Movie about one of Dumbo's parents?" THEELEPHANTMA And there were more. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/17/2008&g=102&d=A" target="_blank">https://xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/17/2008&g=102&d=A</a> And... the other puzzle ADDED one letter to a movie title. That was a Sunday from June 26, 2022 by Matthew Stock and Finn Vigeland with the title "Bonus features." Some examples: "What you'll hear after-hours at a sports car sales lot?" THESILENCEOFTHELAMBOS "Rodeo Drive uprising?" BEVERLYHILLSCOUP "Twisted jeans legs?" PANTSLABYRINTH "Winter wear for a stegosaurus?" JURASSICPARKA And there were more. Here's the link for that one: <a href="https://xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=6/26/2022&g=28&d=A" target="_blank">https://xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=6/26/2022&g=28&d=A</a> I'm done. ....
I thought it was eminently fair. It wasn't easy, but I didn't have to look up anything.
Jed Clampett's "Texas Tea" finally got me going after a very slow start. Then Sena with an S became Cena with a C and BINGO! And let's hear it for all those Long Island teachers who dragged me across the high school finish line!
The Broadway musical War Paint is based in part on a 2004 book of the same title, and tells the story of the rivalry between 20th-century female cosmetics entrepreneurs Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein. It's a great title for the subject, but the show also draws from and fully credits a 2007 documentary, and I wish they could have included it as a subtitle. The full title should have been War Paint: The POWDER and the Glory Fun Friday solve. Filled just the way I like, each new pass giving me a few more crosses leading to a few more AHAs. One of these days I'll learn how to spell BURSAR without requiring a gentle cross.
@Bob T. Today I Learned that BURSAR and the anatomical term bursa both come from the Latin for “purse.” Maybe that will help? (I’m assuming you’re never sure if the second vowel is an A or an E.) I fell once and broke open a bursa in my elbow. It didn’t really hurt, but it was months before the swelling went away.
Challenging but not punishing. Enjoyed the almost-QUAD of campus entries.
Is DINNER THEATER a thing? I know I could just Google it, but I'd like a living person to explain this to me. The name conjures up no recollections or mental images, at all. That very rarely happens. As for the puzzle, I enjoyed it, but only after looking up some names and trivia. The grid looked intimidating and I had very little on my first down pass and virtually nothing on the across one. Without those additional Googled crosses it would probably would have been impossible for me to complete the puzzle. Also, TEXAS TEA... I like tea (from Sri Lanka) so TEXAS TEA for oil sounds slightly disgusting. Wouldn't TEXAS cola be more appropriate? 🤣
@Andrzej the reference for many (older) Americans is the theme song from the TV show "The Beverly Hillbillies" Come and listen to my story 'Bout a man named Jed A poor mountaineer, Barely kept his family fed. And then one day He was shootin' at some food, And up through the ground came a-bubblin' crude. Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea. Well the first thing you know Ol' Jed's a millionaire, Kinfolk said "Jed move away from there". Said "California's the place you outta be". So they loaded up the truck And they moved to Beverly. Hills that is, Swimming pools, movie stars.
@Gary. I have to agree. As a Boomer, that is the only time I have heard the phrase.
@Andrzej I've seen a DINNER THEATRE in a US TV series (the excellent Hacks), so it must be a real thing! It's a theatre that looks like a jazz club, where patrons get to watch a play whilst being served dinner at their table. I can't quite imagine whether that would be a pleasant experience or not - maybe it depends on the play...
@Andrzej Oh, dinner theater is most definitely a thing. Though sadly less seen than it once was. The ones that are the most fun feature actors who are also waiters at the same time. You might get Evita come up to your table at intermission and bring your dessert order, for instance. Others don’t have that particular quirk often have a buffet-style dinner before the show with (non-actor) waiters bringing drinks and dessert to the tables.
@Andrzej dinner theater is (or perhaps was) absolutely a thing in the u.s. take it from one who, in his salad days, once doubled as an actor/waiter…or perhaps it was the other way around…memory conveniently fails at this hour and this age. the nearest version close to you might be the 9 pm show at www.chaton.com. but i don’t actually see anything quite as comparable in warsaw.
@Andrzej Dinner Theater was definitely a thing in Chicago and in the Midwest in general. I have fond memories of seeing Stiller and Meara in a show years ago. Dinner was served before the show, some of the theaters were in the round. Most of the theaters have closed or changed to regular theaters. One variation that still exists is the Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament which is located outside of Chicago but we also visited one in Garda, Italy. Good fun!
@Andrzej As others have confirmed, dinner theater is indeed a thing, although it seems harder to find in modern times. It can be quite fun if it’s done well. An example from real life: Several years ago my partner and I were on vacation savoring a pair of perfect margaritas at a bar/restaurant. Suddenly the bartender shocked us by loudly bursting into song with a gorgeous rendition of Bali Ha’i. Unbeknownst to us, it was a casual theater bar that also served food. We stayed for dinner at the bar while the staff went on to offer up the entire score from South Pacific. (It was a vintage musical even then, but the actors/servers were really good, the crowd loved it, and it was a delightful surprise for two unsuspecting margarita drinkers.)
@Andrzej There's a sub-set of Dinner Theater: The "interactive" experience, in which the audience/diners are in the "roles" of guests at an Italian-American reception, say ("Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding"), or witness a "murder" in the restaurant, and then the drama is enacted around them (often with a lot of improvisation.) Very weird.
@Andrzej <a href="https://youtu.be/NwzaxUF0k18?si=0iIyW51iU2MRKwoi" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/NwzaxUF0k18?si=0iIyW51iU2MRKwoi</a>
@Andrzej Last year I experienced a dinner drag show, which was pretty fun.
Loved this. The acres of white space was daunting to start with, not much on my first pass, but slowly it started to come into focus. CHANCE ENCOUNTER was the first long span to fall, which reminds me of when we first moved to our current village; chatting in the pub with strangers, DH found common ground with a chap. Both had worked for British Airways though at different times. The guy mentioned a mentor he held in high regard who turned out to be DH’s brother. We had to video call said brother before our new friend would believe us. They’ve now reconnected and get together when my B-I-L visits (we’re over 100 miles apart). Another tale raised by today’s grid; 34A is the name of a friend. He’s self employed and has a drawing of said transport on his card. 46D a gimme as I read the books as a kid without having any clue as to what BRER stood for. The innocence of a British childhood. MANU. Hmm. I held off filling this til I spoke to DH and visiting BIL, both footie fanatics. They’re of the opinion that no one calls them that here. It’s Manchester or United. Mind you, they’re Exeter City fans, a lowly League one side, that lost to Manchester many years ago in the League Cup, so they might just be bitter.
@Helen Wright So if I try to come off as a clued-in Anglophile who knows what the real "football" is by tossing around MANU, I will just sound like an idiot? SOB!
@Helen Wright You can't spell manure without MAN U.
@Helen Wright This post was such a pleasure to read. I love the way you write. The CHANCE ENCOUNTER story is one of those incredible ones. Thank you for sharing it!
It can be daunting to see a puzzle grid that has what looks like a lot of long entries because I sometimes feel if I am not on the constructor's wavelength I am going to hit some roadblocks. But this one was pretty kind -- I finished it in 23% less time than average. The answer to 1A was anything but. Alternate clue for 14A: Meetup on a Monopoly board? Can't wait to read about how EBAY fits the clue for 21A. That was Neet how BURS_R yielded NAIR. Does TENURE only last a decade? I had to read the column to realize I did not understand how POWDER fit the clue at 16A. Thanks, Kelly. A fun Friday after all.
@Jim The eBay thing is just what you'd expect---a sea urchin shell for sale on eBay which turned out to be an unknown species. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelopleurus_exquisitus" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coelopleurus_exquisitus</a> That was a gimme for me, since I remembered the story.
Well, looks to me like @Puzzlemaker's beautiful and very relevant quoting of the Emma Lazarus' Statue of Liberty poem has been trash canned. Thank God the NYT is protecting us from dangerous rhetoric like is found on the base of the Statue of Liberty, that most "awaken" of all US symbols.
@Francis It would seem so. I didn't contribute, but I read through it and didn't see anything that seemed likely to be deleted.
@Francis It would seem so. I didn't contribute, but I read through it and didn't see anything that seemed likely to be deleted. I don't know how the moderation works but I thought if it made it through the initial screening, it would only get deleted if other commenters flagged it. Strange.
@Francis Perhaps because neither Emma Lazurus nor her poem were in today's puzzle. This isn't the place for unrelated social commentary.
WOW! That was fun!! I was baffled until I hit a couple of words I was pretty sure of in the center and then just spiraled my way out from there. Nicely done!!
My only issue was forgetting that theatre is spelt differently (just as spelt is not generally an accepted alternative for spelled) across the pond and not checking the crosses when I put that in
@E I usually stop before entering the last 2 letters until I get a confirming crossing .... and I quite often point out words that are SPELT incorrectly. In the US it's considered 'archaic' or outdated, but it's a perfectly good past tense, and it saves a typing strike, so I like it!
@E actually theatre is used pretty frequently in some circles here to distinguish live/stage from cinema. One would not write of a movie theatre, but you would ask a visitor if they plan to see any theatre while they're in town.
I really enjoyed this puzzle. Long answers were beautifully constructed and clues were clever and entertaining. Thank you!
Really enjoyable puzzle. I must say BURSAR crossing BRER, ERATO, NAIR, and SRS was a bit cruel, especially to anyone under 40. Kids these days don’t know who wears short shorts!
Mark, I'm well over 40, but my undergraduate school still has a "Director of Student Accounts and Bursar." I'm sure the SRS have met her, and I trust many of the SRS have met ERATO in class. BRER is another story. NAIR is Neet, or is that Veet?
@Mark I'm 20 and I can assure you that corner took some deal of thinking. Who is Uncle Remus??? Got it eventually with most the acrosses filled in and a vague memory of someone called Brer Rabbit.
@Mark - Weird. Uncle Remus was writing almost 100 years before I was born, yet somehow I managed to hear of him. Ditto for some of the others. I guess the constructors, editors, and I are just special that way! We actually know stuff the didn't happen during our lifetimes!
@Mark I'm way over 40 but I mostly know BURSAR from the Hamilton lyric (you punched the bursar?); that's probably on younger solvers' wavelength too. BRER and NAIR though ... do they still sell NAIR? And Uncle Remus is probably way less well known than when I was a kid.
After refusing to doom scroll any longer, this was pert near a personal best today. 'Twould have been a personal best if I hadn't carelessly entered Tis (not a conjunction) instead of THO, which slowed me down a tad on 47A. Fast but fun one! And good thing it was on the fast side for me because all those clues about campuses made me have some feelings about needing to get my DEERierre to work. I don't go to the actual campus on Fridays but my home office, just a couple handfuls of footfalls away from my puzzle completing comfort spot of choice, is campus for me today. My favorites were the clues for CRIMENOVELIST and DINNERTHEATER. Very cute! My least favorite was TEXASTEA but only - only - because I'm genuinely afraid the theme song from Beverly Hillbillies will become my latest ear worm—and that I cannot abide! Cheers to the weekend!!
@HeathieJ I had to go through the Beverly Hillbillies song in by head too, Black Gold didn't fit so it must be TEXASTEA!
@HeathieJ try the Weird Al version! <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0WPzFnZkZmI&pp=ygUGI2Fsc2hl" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0WPzFnZkZmI&pp=ygUGI2Fsc2hl</a>
This was a very smooth solve for me today, like a drive down a newly-paved road. Even MANU came to me almost immediately, and everything I know about English football I learned from Ted Lasso - which is to say, not much. I love these puzzles with the stacked long answers, and today's felt especially fresh, with very little crosswordese. Thanks for the fun!
@Peter C. - Oh, and this... I had no problem figuring out today's puzzle, but the photo in the Wordplay column has me completely stumped. What are we looking at there?
@Peter C. Ted Lasso for the win!!
@Peter C. I took it very simply as tuition is a financial figure you have to pay to attend college. I could be underthinking it though. :-)
Enjoyed this puzzle. The challenge level hit a sweet spot for me where it wasn't about know-it-or-you-don't clues and there were a number of points of access for these answers
The “topic for collective bargaining” clue hit a little close to home as I just returned from a rally at the Utah capital because they unfortunately passed a bill that bans collective bargaining rights for teachers.
It wasn't PREDICTABLE, and I can't FORESEE doing it on a REGULAR BASIS, but it was NAIRly done before YEW could POWDER your nose. Some very nice clues—"step on a shampoo bottle" is a favorite and CAUSES A RIOT (it isn't RINDS) and "a poetic conjunction" is NAIR unwelcome. Thank you Kelly Morenus, for an enjoyable Friday puzzle. I'm looking forward to your third and more!
@dutchiris — Of course, that's an alias, but you probably knew it all along.
I actually strongly disagree with what seems to be the consensus here; I thought this was almost too hard for a Friday. Maybe I'm just showing my (lack of) age, but I had never heard of BRER, only a handful of times at most heard TEXASTEA, and needed lookups for LICE, EMMA, ERATO, and TVCOPS (I assumed it was TVCatS based on the names). The spanners make it hard to know sometimes if you've messed up a small crossing or just aren't thinking of the right phrase. Gave me a chance to learn that TEAK is from South Asia, which is neat. Not a bad puzzle but I definitely found it difficult.
@Jackson glad you learned some things. stick with it!
@Jackson Yeah, I think you got a real point here. I would say the average age of the solvers who read and comment here probably skew older. I say this because 40 years ago, when all systems were nominal, I could find *much* more interesting things to do than a crossword and then *talking* about it for the next day. All in all, it's probably good you've never heard of BRER. Or the Beverly Hillbillies theme song. But those stung you in this puzzle. I get it, because I think you'll see the too hard/too easy split go in the other direction when there are a lot of answer that are rappers and Korean boy bands.
@Jackson You’re not alone — I’m surprised so many are calling this one easy. I thought there was lots of tricky clues and very few gimmes. I felt stumped from start to finish, but was able to make steady enough progress, getting lucky with some early leaps of faith, and came in a smidge under my average. I consider this to be the quality of a perfect Friday puzzle
@Jackson I think it did slant very old in a few places. Texas Tea would be known to Boomers from the theme show lyrics of a 1960s TV program. Br'er Rabbit would also be known to some Boomers. The NYT has used TV Mom in the past and Kojak and Friday were both from very old Cop shows, Kojak the '70s, briefly revived 20 years ago, Joe Friday from the '50s show Dragnet, revived for a few years in 1967. So TV Cop. Tomorrow may well slant very young with lots of pop culture.
@Jackson Makes sense! As a boomer, TEXASTEA and BRER (Rabbit) were almost gimmies… and my only problem with TVCOPS was that I had LACOPS for a while. Hang in there!
@Gina D I'm an elder millennial and got some of these because of 90s versions of the answers. I've never seen Beverly Hillbillies but learned the words to the song from Weird Al's UHF which I watched about a bazillion times growing up. He sang the song to Dire Straits' "I want my MTV." That was actually my first introduction to that song as well! And I've never seen Dragnet but there's a Monday on Square One's Mathnet which I also watched religiously.
That was fun. Thank you. Looking forward to your next puzzle.