I need to watch that new Apple movie with Anya Taylor-Joy. I have been generally unable to comment on anything recently because I’m just shutting down. To begin to comment is to scream until I’m empty.
@Justin Boy, do I know exactly what you mean. I can barely suppress my fury. We are now a part of the reconstituted Soviet Union.
@Francis Today was the announcement that the US has officially lost the Cold War.
@Justin et al More than 4 k comments, mostly consistent with the “I am so ashamed” view, on the top NYT front page article last night/this a.m. It was a setup.
@Justin It's getting harder and harder to find a hole deep enough to keep my head in. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
As an English professor who has taught “Beowulf” many, many times, I can assure you that 43D is incorrect. “The supernatural descendant of Cain” is Grendel not Orc!!
@Claudia Champagne Would that be Mufasa Grendel?
@Claudia Champagne Cain is the ancestor of a tribe of monsters which includes Grendel and his mother.
@Claudia Champagne Yes, there are no Orcs (or orcs) in Beowulf. There is only a single mention of orcneas or demons in lines 111-114: “þanon untydras ealle onwocon, eotenas ond ylfe ond orcneas, swylce gigantas, þa wið gode wunnon lange þrage;” From him [Cain] all evil progeny arose: giants [eotenas, think Jotunn abd company from the Eddas] and elves and orcneas, likewise giants [gigantas], who fought against God for a long time. ‘Orc’ (lowercase ‘o’), on the other hand, only dates back to ca. 17th c., and the OED credits Italian ‘orco’ or man-eating giant with its etymology, which is readily attested by its Middle English potpourri of spelling ranging from orque to orke, but not orc. And then we have Tolkien’s 20th c. Orc, of course. A brief look-see online tells me that he once referenced orcneas as a partial inspiration for his Orcs, but I didn’t look that hard and I’m not a scholar of Tolkien’s fiction, so I could be wrong on this point. Plus, that’s neither here nor there either with respect to the clue. Mufasa Grendel indeed, @Andrzej.
@Claudia Champagne I puzzled over that one, delved into the 'net, while the high school version I learned was droning in my head ("To Hrothgar was given such glory in battle, such fame he won . . . " "The demon grim was Grendel called . . ." ), and when ORC didn't show up in the cast list in Wikipedia, finally gave in. Okay, ORC. Maybe a nickname or an interloper, or maybe just wrong.
Crossword RULE OF THUMB: when the bound-to-be-right ACL TEAR starts to seem not right … it isn’t right.
@Cat Lady Margaret I had the same thought in reverse…TORNACL
Book about pickles: "The Salt in Our Jars" (The author has an MBA: Master of Brine Arts.)
@Mike The Fault in Our Stars has been in the little free library of the law school where I work for months. I enjoy watching what our LSAT takers have left and/or not taken.
@Mike Stories like that are a barrel of fun. I relish them. I often pick le cornichon to wear in my lapel.
@Mike That author sounds like a pretty big dill.
Mike, Usually, your sweet pun’s sour pleasure. But today’s? That’s a dill breaker.
Oh, please give me things in the grid I don’t know, because I hunger for obstacles to overcome. If crossed fairly – and in the Times puzzle, they usually are – these obstacles become riddles to figure out, manna for my brain. Thus, I loved this puzzle with its passel of no-knows for me, bringing those “didn’t-know-it-yet-somehow-I-got-it” moments that even after all my years of crosswording, still amaze me. The outing was enhanced by words I adore: HURTLE, RULE OF THUMB, FOB, GALOSHES, SASHAY, PUNCHY, BANSHEE, and SO TRUE. The latter is exactly what I thought about the clue for LOL: [Text that’s usually not literally true]. I not only thought SO TRUE, but I not-literally punched the air with my fist to emphasize it! And a shout-out bow-down to [Circles on the ice] for PUCKS, a clue that misdirected me seemingly forever, as I rooted my brain for figure skating terms. Thus, a STREET FAIR for my brain, a delectable tour de box. Thank you so much for coming up with this, Ryan!
@Lewis Yes. I didn’t know LARRYS, but it had to be a first name. I didn’t know SASHAY, but that does sound like a drag catchphrase. The fun is in the figuring out. Especially on Saturday.
@Lewis I actually was a little bugged by the PUCKS clue, as I think of circles as two-dimensional, unless someone has verbed the word.
My two meta moments – Entering TYPE IN, and silently laughing out loud at [Text that’s usually not literally true]. Et tu, emu.
Adding my vote to the nastiness that was the NW corner. Sussed it out through
@Steven M. Same here. 13A was especially ferocious--100% from crosses. The only name that seemed even remotely possible was Montezuma. And with post-game googling I see he was Aztec, not Incan.
@Steven M. Agree. Nw corner was rough. Usually you know when you're good to go on a Saturday puzzle, but tonight I was just praying for no whammies when filling in that last square.
@Steven M. ATAHUALPA was one of the very few of my gimmes in this puzzle 🤣
@Andrzej Mine, too. I knew the name from E.F. Benson’s “Secret Lives.”
@Steven M. Ditto. Knew Grendel was a descendant of Cain, but didn’t remember elves, or if I ever even knew that. Didn’t know the cookies or how to spell the emperor. Had Anna before I remembered ANYA. Was too locked in on in-tents dining being a camping or Ren fair thing. Not my finest effort.
As a RULE OF THUMB I am wary of Saturday puzzles. After some BACON STRIPS for breakfast I SET out for the solve. But I soon realized I may as well of had POT BROWNIES because my brain felt LIMP. After a while of trial and error I put on my PARKA and GALOSHES, grabbed my car key FOB and drove down to the STREET FAIR where my chief AIM was to relax and get some brain FUEL. Solving can be tough as a SOLO ACT but I persevered. There was certainly some PUNCHY cluing and I continued to TYPE IN my answers on my IOS device. Finally after much struggle (and research) I solved it. YES! I feel like a BADASS.
Anyone else getting a little tired of cast members from the film Parasite as clues? It’s time to move on, folks.
@Ernest It did win best picture, and those names offer useful new glue. I don't think they're going away anytime soon. And on a Saturday I'll take CHOI over OREO. ;)
@Ernest I agree (and rec'ed your post). But in this instance, the constructor in his notes said the puzzle was from 2023, so the references of late may be just a coincidence vis à vis this one... There are plenty of ways to clue CHOI. Hopefully the next time it's in a grid, we'll get something fresh!
As usual, I was pretty sure I'd met my Waterloo. At 45 minutes I had barely a few answers and none that I was really confident about. It's always surprising, but bit by bit it finally unveiled itself. Like others, 26D seemed to me that it had to be "acltear" or "ToRnacl". Finally seeing TURFTOE really unblocked a lot of stuff.
UNESCO, NSC, EPA, IRS? Where's my chainsaw? Ryan Judge has been sent an email to report to the re-education camp.
Steve often says that solving the puzzle for him is not a matter of if, but when. I'd like to get to that point. I'd like to be more confident and optimistic. Then again, maybe things really are every bit as bad as they seem.
my river made the NYT Xword!
@slightlycrazy I have many memories of camping and hiking in Humboldt Redwoods State Park with my dear husband. This is a beautiful region with a lovely river.
A nicely balanced puzzle with a tough grid. It took me awhile to work out the NW corner. I was also slowed a bit in the middle by trying torn acl before stumbling on TURFTOE. As a baseball fan I was helped by the appearance of the remarkable Shohei Ohtani. Not since Babe Ruth has there been a player so gifted at both hitting and pitching.
@Marshall Walthew NW was my last quadrant also, and it felt pretty good when I finally figured it out.
@Marshall Walthew I had acl tear, then torn acl, and finally worked out TURFTOE from the crosses.
California cookies crossed with Incan royalty … maybe I shouldn’t try to solve at 4 am.
@Jennifer, I love seeing your posts here again!
Car makes, video games, snack brands, film actors, TV personalities, TV catchphrases, sport figures, text messages, fashion brands, fast food, and the obligatory drug reference. And we wonder where American education has gone. Even Beowulf couldn't save the day.
@Teresa Also, applying the Bechdel-Wallace test: two beautiful actresses and a screaming female = FAIL
Salute to my 5th grade Social Studies teacher for ATAHUALPA. I'm in my 40s and I still remember that!
@Joe I have to give all credit to Josh Gates of "Expedition Unknown," on the Discovery Channel, I had forgotten that ATAHUALPA only reigned for one year.
Holy cow. This was fairly brutal, given the number of "Unknowns to MOL"--which should be a Olympic category or something. I am amazed and proud I solved it. Whew! I put in, then took out, various guesses that turned out to be correct or nearly so: ATTUNE, SOURS, WHIRLsomething like WIND? Despite having lived nearly 5 years in NoCal, did not know the cookies or the river. UNESCO lists World Heritage sites, but World Peace? After yesterday? Our acquaintance with Big Rivers (the Ohio, the Arkansas, the Mississippi) educated us in re WHIRLPOOLs. We learned that the eddies that exist near banks of these rivers can allow even a large riverboat or barge to remain in place without anchoring, and they are referred to as SUCKS. (Hence "Toadsuck" near Conway, where we lived for 18 years. Other, more colorful explanations for the name, are in error.)
Lord but that was a brilliantly chewy offering. Well over my average time but worth it. I mean, Beowulf and Arachne, plus impossible to spell/pronounce Incan ruler, mixed in with POT BROWNIES and BACON STRIPS? Fabulous. I won’t nit pick the ORC as it’s been done so much better than I could further down. Ditto UNESCO as a peace keeping org. I tell you, them Druids at Stonehenge are a fighty lot, especially at summer Solstice. 1A threw me. As a carnivore I add salt to everything, including my coffee, to keep my potassium and magnesium levels up. My Doctor was horrified, until he saw that my blood pressure levels were lower than they’ve been for years. I’ll forgive the unknown cookie brand, sports name and gaming character as the rest was a brain teasing joy. Off to poo pick my Alpaca field now, my lovely girls arrived Thursday. Man do they produce.
@Helen Wright no need to pick nits about UNESCO. The clue did not say “peace keeping org.” it said “world peace grp.” One of UNESCO’s primary goals is to promote world peace. From article I, section 1. of the UNESCO constitution (<a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/constitution" target="_blank">https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/constitution</a>): “Article I - Purposes and functions 1. The purpose of the Organization is to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration… From Wikipedia: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture.
@Helen Wright Are your alpacas all dams? If you had a buck, you could name him Atahualpa. Otherwise, Cuxirimay and Coya Asarpay are lovely, feminine names.
@Helen Wright So glad to hear they've arrived! (She said after picking up after a greyhound on the first day I knew they'd be frozen solid.)
PARKA seems a bit generic to be clued as "hunter's garb." You might as well answer BOOTS. Not really quibbling, just wanted an excuse to say "muk luks." And now I have. Anyway, the word comes from Nenets (Siberian) and means "skin coat." The one I had as a kid was nylon, and was orange inside, for when I was stranded in the frozen wilderness of Massachusetts. Sealskin would have been better for waiting at the bus stop.
@Grant Everything I know about hunting in frozen white wastelands I learned from Frank Zappa's Apostrophe.
@Grant I think we maybe had the same coat--olive/orange, with faux fur on the hood? But I quibble with your nit. It looks like you did research similar to mine, and it does come from Siberia/Inuit origins. Now go pull your mukluks out of the cellophane before they scorch.
Got through it somehow. I agree about ORC though it’s been a long time since Beowulf. I’m always put off by anything having to do with descendants of Cain since that has been used as the faux rationale for the enslavement of my ancestors but I digress. Even though I don’t partake, I wish I had some POTBROWNIES to deal with the current madness. Carnival 💃🏾 is helping, though. TTFN ✌🏾
You know a puzzle is hard when you start wishing you’d read Beowulf. There was so much I didn’t know. TURF TOE, heh. Does it sprout (artificial) grass? Most of the names, and even a few things I was sure I had right. (Like “net” for “court division”.) I have never heard PAR used as a verb, much less a past-tense one, so that threw me. I wish the Latte Larry’s clue had remained, because I would have gotten that one! (The cookies were no help.) And no fair teasing me with the thought of POT BROWNIES, which I do not have but sound really good right now.
@Heidi I do like a struggle, but this one was like being locked in a trunk with a wolverine. I really felt stretched on a lot of these, and I don't know how many times I almost completely erased and area and started over, then doing that again. POTBROWNIES Aaahhh, reminds me of my youth.
@Heidi “I PARRED that hole” is very commonly used in golf, assuming you’re good enough to actually PAR a hole. For future crossword reference the same is true for bogied, birdied and eagled, although the frequency of those is proportional to one’s handicap.
Tough puzzle! Things were going fairly well until the NW did me in. My hat goes off to those who knew ATAHUALPA. (I was trying to make Montezuma work, even though I know he's Aztec, not Inca). Lenny & LARRY'S is no doubt a regional brand, but not my region. And I need to spend more time with RuPaul, apparently. Had "gives" A TEN, rather than RATES; and was confused by the questionable ELF. Trying to make progress in that corner with only ANYA and THETA as certain. Oof!
7 down and 43 down confused me. I suppose you could infer that a monstrous being in “Beowulf” could be an elf or an orc, but as far as I know there are no elves or orcs explicitly mentioned “in Beowulf”. Grendel is a “monster” and the other supernatural being is a dragon. Can anyone clear this up?
@Syd According to the sages of Wikidom, here's the (tenuous) connection: "The names of races, including ents, orcs, and elves, and place names such as Orthanc and Meduseld, derive from Beowulf." <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf_and_Middle-earth" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf_and_Middle-earth</a>
There was an extensive discussion of ORC here earlier. Definitely worth a read. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/45moa1?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/45moa1?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a>
@Syd yeah I'm so mad at those I quit the crossword. I don't have a streak anyway but gosh, that is inaccurate. Spoilers: Tolkien's *word* for Orc comes from the word in the Beowulf poem, and if you read his Beowulf lecture notes you can see that's where he gets it, but it and Elf are nowhere in the actual poem which I just took a class on this year.
@Syd @Erin @Captain K If interested in more, please see Claudia Champagne‘s post, and Sam Lyon’s reply, below. They know what they’re talking about.
Tough puzzle. For a while my one and only entry was POT BROWNIES. When BACON STRIPS and STREET FAIR dropped in I realized that I was hungry. Watched another episode of "Smiley's People" tonight, which we do from time to time when we need some trusted escape. Now I'm tired and and will indulge in my favorite bedtime snack, plain Green Mountain Greek Yogurt with a drizzle of maple syrup, then off to dreamland. Skipping the news. I don't want to risk disturbing the neighbors with any excessively loud reactions. (Anyway, I've had enough for one day.) Thank you for the puzzle, Ryan. It was a welcome distraction. The high point was somehow remembering Atahualpa and even how to spell his name.
@dutchiris BACON STRIPS. My husband says that the hamburgers I grill are the best in the world — and then orders a hamburger, usually with bacon, at almost every restaurant that makes a decent burger.
@dutchiris Your first entry was one of my early gimmes, but then I got stuck with an empty NW corner. Took a 50mg edible, went to see a movie, came home and the NW corner fell. But it was unyielding and very difficult.
@Bill in Yokohama If I took a 50mg gummy I wouldn’t be able finish a mini!
As y'all know, the puzzle will often suggest pieces of music to me: here's two pieces for piano, unexpectedly similar, and which might not be to everyone's tastes, I admit: "The BANSHEE," from 1925, by Henry Cowell, in a rather elegantly videoed performance by Mirela Zhulali: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxjWep-JHYY" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxjWep-JHYY</a> And "Minerva's Web" by Stephen Scott and the Colorado-based BPE: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxjWep-JHYY" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxjWep-JHYY</a> (I admit, the video is 26 minutes long, with only the album cover for visuals, but I'm very, very fond of the piece. I had the pleasure of hearing the BPE and interviewing Mr. Scott when they performed at the Cleveland Museum of Art, many years ago--here's a 20 sec. clip which shows what's going on: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxjWep-JHYY" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxjWep-JHYY</a>) (Minerva was Arachne's competitor in the Great Greek Weave-Off.) Nice to see ELFs and ORCs not clued to Tolkien, even if not technically accurate; and even if Sam Lyons beat me to the Old English cut-7-paste. I often do it aloud--even if a muffled snortle--but seldom roll on the floor.
@Bill Oh really? I went for Siouxsie and the BANSHEEs instead. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gJx23P3w0c" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gJx23P3w0c</a>
@Bill FYI I think all three links are the same, to Banshee.
@Bill Minerva's Web. Eerie. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_CMGaqwiHs" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_CMGaqwiHs</a>
I'm a little surprised I was able to finish this. I knew almost nothing in it! Sports are a black hole, I don't know Incan emperors or California cookies, and I didn't know the video game character either. Very tough for me and every part of the grid presented difficult cluing. In the end I think I enjoyed it. :) My kingdom for a theme. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
"My kingdom for a theme." B, "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day..."
Man was breezing through this then got cooked by NW
Overall decent for Saturday, but too many obscure or niche entries.
I had ENPLEINAIR crossed by DELTA, and had a really rough time sussing out the NW. Good puzzle Mr. Judge.
I was awful at mythology and not really into the classics, so this puzzle was a slog. Doesn’t make it bad, it just makes me kind of lowbrow.
@Jamie Have no fear. If you read the comments with any regularity you’ll soon see that high and lowbrows are welcome here. (You might also see that many of us go both ways. So to speak.)
My first thoughts at 1 A was, "Is turmericy a word?, then "Rats, it doesn't fit anyway. " This wasn't particularly difficult, but my lack of knowledge of some of the names kept it from being a romp. Still not a Saturday level for me, but it offered some resistance. I especially liked the clues for SIMON SAYS and RARE COIN.
@Nancy J. Can we please have an edit button?
If you beat Metroid 5 times on the original NES, Samus Aran would remove their helmet revealing she is a woman, which blew the minds of many gamers at the time. She preceded almost every other videogame heroine ever created. And in 1986!
@MFSTEVE Yeah, I've never played Metroid but I'm well aware of her for that reason.
One of those puzzles where I was just in sync with the constructor. Record time for a Saturday, by a lot. I thought I might be hindered by some of the trivia, but everything came together with crosses. What a well made puzzle!
I wouldn’t say unesco is a ‘peace’ organisation. Their focus is culture. None of the UK unesco sites are known for needing peace keepers, except maybe on a Friday or Saturday night…
@Jonathan Baldwin It’s the druids that always kick off!
@Jonathan Baldwin From their mission statement: "UNESCO’s mission is to contribute to the building of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication and information.” So there. (Crosses arms, arches one eyebrow)
Needed lots of help for this one, but don’t mind on a Saturday . In-tents dining experience brought memories of how we had to eat if it started to rain while we were camping.
Hi suejean, My first thought wasn't about a STREET FAIR either, and at the ones I've attended, food may be purchased under a tent but dining does not take place there. But it is a crossword and there was a "?".
Good heavens. Talk about specialized information. What, you couldn't find a spot for "VP of Enid Rotary Removed after Bakery Incident"? :)
Lots of puzzles created by men feature lots of sports clues - MVPs, coaches, and such - and video game clues - I get tired of areas of pop culture where I don't stand a chance - sigh - need more women to write puzzles!
@Vernon if you’re not aware of feminist icon Samus Aran, thats on you
@Vernon Some irony here you may appreciate. If you complete SAMUS's first game quickly enough, you find out that this seemingly robotic/cyborg main character with all of this firepower is, in fact, a woman. One of early gaming's best reveals!
@Vernon Well, FWIW, there are plenty of clues that are beyond me (a guy), such as authors, directors, singers, operas, classical music, and romcoms. I play video games but know next to nothing about pro sports other than what I pick up by osmosis. I would say that overall the puzzles don't favor any one of us, even though I too sometimes feel left out and uncared for.
@Gooffking Your concept of a “feminist icon” is not exactly what women of my generation, who had to fight for equal pay and equal status during their 1970s, -80s, -90s careers, would think of, as a matter of fact.
I don't know how a bunch of random intersecting proper nouns translates to being a challenge. NW was barely approachable. I had to run the alphabet on a box to clear this. P.S. Bacon strips are not high in calories. Pork bacon is certainly high in fat, but your average strip has 30-35 calories.
@Michael I think "high end" referred to the quality of the topping. I never make one fo myself without chin-baya bread and a topping of bacon and cheddar!
@Michael That should "chibata" bread!
Michael, Not sure I follow your first paragraph. Sounds like it *was* quite a challenge for you.
I thought it was the crosser of ATAHUALPA and 3D that did me in, but it was HUSTLE instead of HURTLE. HUSTLE didn’t seem right as it didn’t fit “uncontrollably”, but I couldn’t see the LARRYS in LARSYS. I thought the NW overall was a bit obscure even for a Saturday but I’ll just take the L and move on.
@GRS I had a very similar situation. I went from bUsTLE to HUsTLE and eventually to HURTLE - when L_RSYS didn’t seem to have a reasonable completion. I had exactly the same thought process about HuSTLE not seeming to work with “uncontrollably”. In hindsight, HURTLE should have been more obvious, but that’s not always how it goes in the moment 🤓
Note to self: Learn to keep the Incas, Aztecs, and Mayas straight. Yes, Montezuma and ATAHUALPA have the same number of letters. So do LARRY'S and Benny's and Omega and THETA. Also, I pronounce LSAT L-S-A-T. Ever since I took it in 1975 or so.
@Jack McCullough I've heard both L Sat and L S A T. I think L Sat was becoming more common when I took it in the 90s. Maybe a reflection of M Cat?
Everything went fast except for that NW corner that had me dead in the water. It is fun to go through the clues in order with a growing sense of despair only to find a toe hold somewhere from which to build out. And indeed that is how it went, with the SE being the first completed section for me, but after filling in everything but the NW I was still stymied by 13A, 1D, and 3D. Rough corner!
Finished within seconds of my Saturday average - which is a lot slower than recent Saturdays. There seemed to be a lot of specialized knowledge required (more than seemed appropriate), but at least the crosses (while I wouldn’t say “forgiving”) were mostly reasonable. I needed literally every cross for 13a, and the NW was made particularly difficult for me by some incorrect initial guesses in that region (givESATEN, and HUsTLE, and seeing the AY at the end of 1d and knowing about RuPaul but not ever having seen Drag Race, my first thought was that it might end in SLAY). At least for a man of my age, FARRAH Fawcett was a gimme 🤓
This one wasn’t an enjoyable solve for me. The only fact answer I knew was The Queen’s Gambit star, and a number of the clues were just off. Kia cancelled the Rio a couple years ago, so the clue should have reflected that. And maybe because I’m from the west coast but street fairs have in tent cooking, not dining. You get your food and eat it while enjoying warm sunny days.
@Wayne C The clue for RIO is fine--there are plenty still on the road. And it's Saturday.
@Wayne C I agree, I found the cluing really clunky today. It’s serviceable but maybe could have used another editorial pass.
I thought this was a fun puzzle, balanced with just enough challenge. I definitely had to suss out TURFTOE, ATAHUALPA and LARRYS, and i like the non-LOTR hint for ORC. Well done.
This one came in at less than half my Saturday average, and was a fair bit quicker than yesterday’s puzzle— which I also finished in less than average time— so I think the decision to change this from a Friday was perhaps mistaken. But YMMV! Funnily enough, it seemed intimidating at first, though, and I even wondered if I would be able to finish. The NW was definitely the hardest for me; the entirely unknown Lenny & LARRY’S was my last fill-in. Guess they’re not gonna be replacing our favorite Oreos anytime soon! I did love SASHAY, though, and was rather proud that it came immediately to mind even though I’ve never watched Ru Paul’s Drag Race!
I loved some of the mind-stretching clues like [Means of children's instruction] and some of punny ones [Not from Scotland]. (Finally! A clue for NAE that (I hope) won’t raise the hackles of Scots solvers.) But I made the mistake of starting this after dinner on a night following a full day of skiing in Utah. I got halfway through the grid before getting too drowsy to finish, so I set down my iPad and went to sleep. For some reason, when I go on a ski trip, I’m so exhausted that I’m asleep by 8 or 9, but I wake up anytime between 11:30 and 2 and can’t get back to sleep. When I woke before midnight and realized that I wasn’t getting back to sleep soon, I decided to finish the puzzle. The first thing I noticed was that for 34D [Big sucker], I had APHID POOL. I see how my sleepy brain came up with APHID (which, incidentally, I had misspelled), but what did that have to do with POOL? And yes, aphids suck (in more ways than one), but they are hardly “big.” I finished the puzzle, in part thanks to gimmes I’d earlier missed like ANYA Taylor-Joy. (“The Queen’s Gambit” is worth watching, even if, like me, you don’t have any real interest in chess.) And then I got the “horsefeathers” message. I looked through the grid and couldn’t see what was wrong. (In hindsight, my mistake must’ve been 24A [Court division] nET — a perfectly cromulent answer but for the obviously typo it left in 6D [Deems perfect, perhaps] RATEn A TEN.) [to be continued]
@Eric Hougland So I retyped every letter. Still “horsefeathers.” I deleted every letter — square by square because using “Clear puzzle” in the past has messed up my streak. (I care more than I should about my streak. After finally managing to sustain it over a year, I lost it when the NYT Tech Guild went on strike.) (Also, with my husband, I play the “Get the Picture” quiz on the American Film Institute’s website. It’s rare that I get a streak much longer than a week because they throw in something I haven’t seen. It’s a multiple choice quiz and the well-chosen wrong answers are often very tempting. But just a few days ago, the picture was what I knew to be Christopher Lloyd in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” My husband looked and said “piece of cake.” I joked that it was one of the other choices, “Taxi Driver.” And then I pressed“Taxi Driver” and we lost a 22 day streak.) [to be further continued]
@Eric Hougland I love your posts, envy your successful return to skiing, and also enjoyed watching “The Queen’s Gambit” I highly recommend you read the book. I read it first, and was astonished that, somehow, I felt glimpses of understanding of chess matches and strategies! ANYA Taylor is wonderful, but I missed the homely protagonist of the novel, and all the razzle dazzle floating lights were much less intriguing than the descriptions of matches in the book. Improbable, but in my case, true.
@Jennifer My friends suggested Lessons In Chemistry for a girls' trip read knowing that they were making a show. My sister asked what I was reading when I laughed out loud and cried in a span of 90 seconds. I finally watched the series last week and was reminded of why I don't watch adaptations of books I've read.
Not knowing the emperor or the cookie brand, and having FIRE and then FEED and finally FUEL for "Provide power to" made the NW quite difficult. A bit too much "trivia" in this one for my taste, but it must have been fair since I knew very little of it and still solved the puzzle unaided in about thirty minutes. BANSHEE and WHIRLPOOL were nice verticals. Not so much for RARECOIN or SPINAWEB. The NET/SET choice for "Court division" seems to catch me making the wrong choice first every time. Solid Saturday.