Possible nits to pick today: Celebrities: BEYONCE-I don't pay attention to music after 1980/1990/2000... MELANIE-I don't pay attention to music before 2000/1990/1980... SUSANNA-I'm supposed to know a song from the 40s? The 1840s? OHIO-I'm supposed to know where random people were born? MODEL-I'm supposed to pay attention to supermodels now? Literature: CHOLERA-Too foreign. Foreign words: PROST-Wasn't he that French writer? SALATA-Now I'm supposed to speak Italian? NOEL-Now I'm supposed to speak French? DER-Now I'm supposed to speak German? Miscellany: ITS A TIE--Ugh, sportsball. NBA JAM--Ugh, sportsball and video games. BBC-Random niche cable TV network. LA LAW-Some random TV show that was cancelled 30 years ago. APSE-How am I supposed to know about someone else's religion? ARTEMIS-Ugh, who cares about dead religions? ITALY-Who knows trivia like that? ELPHABA-Did you know CYNTHIA has the same number of letters? THREE-What's that, some kind of leftist agenda? Finally... SNARK-Is that even a real word? Have a good Wednesday, all.
@Steve L While I was writing this, and waiting for it to show up, it is clear that there were quite a few that I overlooked. Thanks to those who provided the additional nits.
@Steve L If I didn’t know your posts well enough I’d almost take this seriously. Brilliant post!!
@Steve L Loved your NIT post. Indeed some days it seems as if the nits won’t quit. Please consider compiling a humorous long list daily to follow Lewis’s ode to the constructor. (I’m only had joking.) Thanks for a very fun addition to the puzzle experience today.
@Steve L @Steve L This keeps getting better and better every day! Please don't stop. And, if I may... SOTTO - how am I supposed to know 1.musical notation? 2.Italian? 3.every handle for every commenter in this forum?
@Steve L You may think this is funny but you are making fun of people who post here.
@Steve L I love this list. And I loved the one you created yesterday, which magically disappeared. Hope this one gets to stay, because it’s equally hilarious.
@Ronnie Is making fun of people entirely off the table? It wasn't particularly mean spirited or pointed at anyone in particular. Just broadly panning folks. Good humor in my book.
@Steve L Honestly, I don't think cholera is real. I have never heard of any science that backs up the concept of cholera. Or for that matter, love Smoking mirrors, baby! This is all too woke for me. I'm out!
@Steve L LOL! Yes, yes, yes, etcetera. X-worder solver's lament.
@Steve L Wonderful post. But you don't expect us to stop using these comments to air our nits, do you? What else would we talk about??? How wonderful the puzzle was? How clever the creator is? How easy we found today's puzzle compared to how easy everyone else found today's puzzle and compared to our average times for this day's puzzle over the past 7 years? How often the word SMEW has appeared in the puzzle over the last 32 years? Please, give us our nits!!!
@Steve L ... I would like to point out that you could just ignore the nitpickers. Instead of trying to mock them out of existence.
@Heidi yesterday's disappeared? Srsly!?
@Steve L Is that even a real word? LOL! And thank you for today's dose of snark.
Let's not lose sight of the incredible construction job here. What a bunch of challenges they set for themselves and they succeeded beautifully. I also looked askance at the terms for women at first, thinking how the comment-o-sphere would set up a howl. And ta-da!! The constructors are both women! Young ones too, by the looks of things. I could whine that the puzzle is skewed decades too young for the likes of me, but this aging dame loved it. Great fun!
@Teresa the constructors are women, and young, but Will Shortz isn’t, and he should have sent an offensive term like “Babe” back to the 1950s where it belongs.
@NotMyRealName ...but they chopped it up. Two women constructors took these terms of varying levels of not-greatness and literally cut them up. Isn't that kind of fabulous?
When I got my kitten to stop knocking things off of the table, I pulled a habit out of a cat. (That's an okay pun. You might not be im-presto.)
@Mike And I'll bet that cat wan nun the wiser. ? / /
@Mike If you really could pull any habit out of a cat, you could make lots of money! 🐾
@Mike just don't try that trick with a nun. :)
@Cherry Seriously! My cat understands, I bet - she just chooses not to listen!
@Mike Your pun is very apropos to yesterday’s Strands puzzle.
Are we all so thin-skinned now that we find words like MISSUS, DAME and BABE to be insulting and evidence of some kind of dreadful misogyny? Did you find these songs to be slurs on women? "And here's to you, MISSUS Robinson" 🎶 "There is nuthin' like a DAME" 🎶 "I got you BABE" 🎶 A lot of the language in current pop and rap songs that people find catchy and cute and fun are really misogynistic obscenities and everybody is just fine with them.
I was a US Army personnel specialist, and it was my experience that nobody hunts AWOL soldiers, almost all of whom return to duty on their own. Those with serious behavioral problems usually run afoul of civilian police, who arrest them and turn them over to the Army. And the usual practice in the case of a soldier determined to stay gone is to wait 30 days, then drop him from the rolls as a deserter. In any case, AWOL is a duty status accorded someone whose whereabouts are unknown and who could be anywhere in North America. Where would you go to look for him?
@Fact Boy Thank you for this. I found that clue and answer combination slightly weird, but I could not put my finger on why that was, exactly.
@Fact Boy I agree. I went AWOL a couple of times - once because of an incident back home and once just to take a little break before I arrived in the war zone, figuring it might be my last chance at that. I turned myself back in both times and I think that's fairly typical. ....
@Fact Boy Good point. Interesting background to the real meaning of being AWOL. Thanks
Hmmmm. Surprised to see people complaining about misogyny here. I thought the opposite - that the creators totally got the inherent misogyny of traditional magician acts with the silent, sexy, “lovely assistant” who gets sawn in two. To me, the belittling (or at least limiting) “synonyms” for women fit right in to that theme. I suppose I could committing some sort of intentional fallacy.
@Thanksalot Not everybody reads the column and constructor notes before they comment. The constructors' notes did help me feel better about the tone and theme, after my initial reaction to the puzzle.
@Thanksalot I appreciate your read, and I agree with it. That said, I’m not at all surprised by this reaction, and I appreciate that those reactions gave us an opportunity to have this discussion. The puzzle is a little provocative, and it would be disappointing if it provoked no response.
The idea of this puzzle being misogynistic would never have entered my brain before reading the comments. And as quickly as the idea entered, it left. How could a puzzle that is by women, about women, and features woman-centric clues (even the colleges selected for 41D are women’s colleges!), be anything but a celebration of women? I think any offense found in certain words is there only if you want it to be. Random thoughts: -My interpretation of the revealer was more in line with something someone might think after completing the puzzle: “I saw a woman (’s name) in half” rather than someone actually being bisected. -Did anyone else put in TLC for 45A’s “crazy, sexy or cool” clue? Just me? OK. -I enjoyed the nostalgic callback to Melanie’s Brand New Key, a fun and cheerful little ditty that is definitely not about roller skating! -@ Katie, I was thinking about your word pairs list from yesterday when trying to decide between Sierra Madre or Leone. -I was very disappointed when “arsonist” didn’t fit for 39A… but very pleased on the second pass when PYRO did! I really enjoyed this puzzle. Thank you, ladies. (Or dames, or babes, or missus… whatever you’d like me to call you!)
@Heidi re: Melanie's brand new key. Wow does that memory hit. I was *just* at the age of maximum confusion when that song came out, and I simply could not NOT think about it. It seemed so innocent and made me feel so downright *strange* at the same time. So I was a bbbiiiggg Melanie fan.
@Heidi I have a routine of walking in the mornings. When someone asks me how long it takes me to complete my walk, I respond with "I don't go too fast, but i go pretty far". I'm always disappointed when they don't get the reference.
After reading the rest of the comments, I'd like to add, as a woman, I think anyone complaining about misogyny in this puzzle is truly unhinged. It was a fun theme, that's it.
The magic trick of sawing a woman in half always gave me the heebie jeebies, and this puzzle captured that discomfort perfectly, including through its use of traditionally sexist terms for women. As @Leapfinger once memorably wrote on here, “it’s a crossword puzzle, not a dissertation.”* That said, I think this puzzle could serve as the starting point of an interesting dissertation about reclaiming sexist tropes and using them in the service of an entertaining and, I think, ultimately feminist Xword puzzle. From some of the earlier comments, I understand that might not be everyone’s view of the puzzle. Speaking of iconic one-named women . . .
@Puzzlemucker I too miss Leapfinger’s comments. For a while, she was commenting late in the day, but I think it’s been months since she did that.
Hmmm, if the idea hit me to make a crossword out of sawing a woman in half, I’d probably dismiss it and move on, as taking a woman’s name and “sawing” it with a black square would seem too simplistic. So, I greatly appreciate what Chandi and Kate did here, basically asking, “How can we keep this theme but make it worthy?” Maybe motivated by the fact that SAW A WOMAN IN HALF is 15 letters long, and has never appeared in any crossword in any of the major outlets. Here, they didn’t just saw MISSUS, BABE, and DAME in half, but these women were drawn from other women. In three instances, not only did they saw a woman in half, but at the same time, they also sawed a pair of women in half. Wow! Double brava, Kate and Chandi, for making that leap, and creating such a well-crafted result. I liked the serendipitous theme echo, starting with the IN of NOT IN, where INA was sawed. I also liked seeing the rare-in-crosswords five-letter semordnilap SPOOL. In addition, I enjoyed seeing a puzzle based on the magician’s art – basically creating riddles – which is just what crosswords do. Thank you, Chandi and Kate, for conjuring a splendid outing!
Is it too bold to think the constructors nodded to our very own dutchiris and sotto voce? 👀
@jagwild I don't think there's any doubting the homage. Hearty congratulations!
I really didn't enjoy solving this puzzle as it became clear that all of the terms for woman were outdated and/or things I wouldn't want shouted at me in the street. Would have loved to see tighter editorial control of this one.
@EastCoaster I think the extra step of putting the terms inside female names really hurt their ability to theme. (And also it led to a pretty bad natick with ELPHABA/PROST.)
@EastCoaster What would you have recommended instead? (Curiosity, not snark.) I wouldn't want these shouted at me either, but I didn't have a problem with them in context. Of course it helps that I've been reading noir detective books lately, so "dame" seemed perfectly normal ;)
@EastCoaster Certainly, if you were of a mind to take offense at these words, which I agree I wouldn't want my wife or daughter to have shouted at them on the street, you quite well might wind up with the opinion you have, but take into account: The puzzle was created by two women, who obviously felt that the words used were perfectly fine. MISSUS is just (oddly enough) the written-out spelling of "Mrs." BABE is a nickname used endearingly toward both women and men by both women and men. As for DAME, I'm sure Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Julie Andrews and a bunch of others might disagree with you. Note that the puzzle doesn't condone shouting things at random women on the street. Just some things to consider.
@EastCoaster I agree, and it’s doubly surprising because it was created by a couple of skirts. I mean chicks. I mean broads. I mean … 😀 (In all seriousness, I don’t know what anyone was thinking when this passed the editorial process. Most men I know would be spending quality time in the doghouse/couch if they threw around any of these words - including mine above - unironically. Unless we’ve been transported to a Philip Marlowe novel.)
@EastCoaster Sorry, folks, but you should lighten up. No one is shouting these words at women on the street. It’s a puzzle, not an etiquette quiz.
@EastCoaster Nobody wants to get shouted at from across the street, I don't get your point here. However, I'm willing to bet that you're perfectly fine with people calling you my "Missus (insert last name)" at your workplace, your partner/girlfriends calling you "babe", and anyone calling you "Dame" if you ever get the chance to earn that title; of course, in an appropriate conversation with no shouting involved. This was such a nit you went out of your way to pick.
@EastCoaster You captured my first thoughts. It took me a long time to finally admit that I had to end 32A with BA to complete BABE. But given the give and take so far, it's obvious that it all comes down to the hearer's understanding of the context of the usage. Obviously the wonderful Judi Dench would not mind being introduced with the "Dame", but I think she'd have a different opinion were she to overhear someone ask "who's the dame that won all those acting awards?"
@EastCoaster A guy could call his girl "babe". And there's Dame Judi Dench.
I'm one of those glad it was women who constructed this. Otherwise I would have felt slightly uncomfortable once the theme and it's vocabulary emerged. My heart sank when I saw the 'Wicked' clue 🤣. Musical theater is one of the things I would be tormented with in hell 🤪. I know next to nothing about it (other than how much nicer figure skating would be if people always performed to actual music, not songs from musicals, all too often...) So yeah, I looked up ELPHABA. It's like somebody who cooked with aquafaba named a character 🤣 I had one or two more lookups, and with those I solved the puzzle without much problems. As a person with an interest in art and art history, I was ashamed I did not instantly know whether the famous mosaic is in Hagia Sofia's dome or apse 😢 Btw, if you want to see 1500 year old Byzantine mosaics, go to Ravenna in Italy. Many churches, baptisteries and tombs have been preserved there, offering an incredible look into the world of people from 1,5 millenium ago. I found it one of the most interesting places in Europe.
@Andrzej I share your aversion to musical theater. I can tolerate it if someone I know is in it, but generally avoid it if I can. Same with opera and ballet. My mind knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am witnessing absolute majesty of audio and muscular control, something I couldn't achieve in a thousand lifetime. And yet I'm multiplying number together in my head.
@Andrzej Elphaba is a 'gimme' apparently according to the column. New one on me
@Andrzej Elphaba is a play on the initials of the creator of Oz, L. Frank Baum. LFB
@Andrzej I mentioned it earlier, but Wicked the musical started out as a book by Gregory Maguire: "Wicked—The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West", published in 1995. And there are three more books in the series.
For awhile had TEMPuRA, but then thought batter of it. Prost!
@Jim There is tempura paint. In Japan....there is the art of making model food for restaurants to display outside...its called shokuhin sanpuru. So certainly there are people who are experts in painting fried shrimp and vegetables.
New article on Will Shortz's recovery. It makes mention of the cranky comments section. :) He's going on a belated honeymoon. (this should be paywall free) <a href="https://archive.ph/20250312123951/https://www.vulture.com/article/nytimes-crossword-will-shortz-puzzle-editor-interview.html" target="_blank">https://archive.ph/20250312123951/https://www.vulture.com/article/nytimes-crossword-will-shortz-puzzle-editor-interview.html</a>
@B According to the story, he will be honeymooning in Grenzau, Germany at some point. PROST, Mr. Shortz.
@B Glad to see him recover. Am a big admirer - it's not just crosswords, the man is a creative genius in thinking up all manner of games, such as in the annual Puzzle mania issue (Joel Fagliano did a great job this past tear).
@B Judging by the clue and answer from "Thursday's puzzle", “Separation in some relationships?” (AGEGAP), this article was from late January or early February. (That clue and entry appeared 1/30.) Relatively new, but not new new.
@B Thank you for this. I remember Maleska. I used to do the paper puzzles. I started as kid in the 60s. I had a big gap over the past ten years and last fall started online here. Quite a change from paper puzzles. Love Will's zest for life!
Elphaba got the name from the name of the author of the Wizard of Oz books, L. Frank Baum. Nice pub quiz trivia.
I never dreamed it would be a Wednesday puzzle that would put an end to my 2070 puzzle streak. (Well, I found a way to keep the "streak" going, but it doesn't feel honest or right anymore...). Then on reading Wordplay, I was informed that ELPHABA, one of the impossible entries that prevented me from finishing was actually a Gimme!!! I guess I must live in a cave. The real culprit for me was only considering ABC or NBC for 28D. That prevented me from getting the very gettable ORBS, although even with TEMPE__ I didn't know the egg yolk based paint. (That must be getting to be a very costly paint these days BTW.) I have no idea what ADJ means in the context and even Google doesn't seem to help me there. That's SALATA problems in the centre of the grid! Oh well, onward and upward!
@Andrew ADJ is an abbreviation of Adjective (this was the last clue I got and only understood it afterwards!)
@Andrew You may be familiar with ricotta SALATA, or salted ricotta.
@Andrew The Last Supper was painted in TEMPERA, which is not exactly a durable medium. It has been restored so many times that hardly any of Da Vinci's original work remains. We used it in grade school art classes because it's non-toxic.
@Andrew, “I guess I must live in a cave.” Or under a rock. (See K.H. above) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/45vuv7?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/45vuv7?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a>
Good news, bad news: I'm equally attractive to men and women! I'm a zero.
This was fun and light and I really enjoyed it - and then the constructors' commentary made me love it. I hadn't caught that all the theme boxes were contained in women's names, or that no men were mentioned. As another commenter pointed out, even the schools named in one of the clues are women's colleges. And for anyone still upset about the theme words: these two women constructors literally cut those old-school terms in half! Is that not pretty fabulous?!
I love the Wednesday puzzle and this one was really fun. Shout out to so many great women and Simon Biles being one of them. Regarding the wicked clue, I read the clue to my wife and she instantly said ELPHABA. She paused a minute and couldn’t resist saying “you’re the only person in America who doesn’t know that”. Chances are good I will need to ask again the next time ELPHABA is clued and that’s ok.
@_chs_ You can tell her for a fact, there's a second person who doesn't know Elphaba...
For any who care— Today is apparently the 5000th Spelling Bee. And for some reason, they decided that one of the letters in play would finally be S! And the world didn’t end.
@Steve L Oops, sorry, it’s only the 2500th Spelling Bee. My bad. But the S is still there!
@Steve L An S! Wow. And who knew Spelling Bee had been going on so long. Close to seven years! I won't skip this one, there will be a lot of words given the S.
@Steve L Queen Bee! That was a fun one. I think the S was there to give us a, shall we say, marvelous panagram.
@Steve L Understandable error…the last couple of months have felt like half a decade or so…
@Steve L I wondered who would mention The Bee! I put a screen shot on FBook of my stats-- I've done 591 Bee puzzles, with 578 scoring at Genius Plus. There are plenty of gaps thanks to Life's ups and downs. Frankly, I do think the S exclusion makes sense...and I'd like to see the end of ED and ING, but that's very, very unlikely. Still, wasn't it big of the NYT to hand us this SOP (which word, actually, would not be allowed.)
This was the most I have ever enjoyed doing a Wednesday puzzle. POY nominee for me! As a woman, I was slightly irked by the terms for women, but then took note that the constructors are women and they were sawing these terms in half! I love it!
Loved the clever theme. My only problem was not knowing SALATA, and not catching on to the misdirection of “Crazy, sexy or cool: Abbr”. It somehow went over my head. That crossing was the only thing keeping me from a win, so I read some comments and finally found one that referenced that same spot. Thanks for that assist, fellow solver! And thanks to Chandi and Kate, for a very enjoyable distraction to all the insanity going on in the world. Don’t know what I would do without my daily puzzles.
@Shari Coatsi I just commented above that I was convinced Crazy Sexy Cool was a reference to TLC!
Shout out to sotto voce and dutch iris! This was perhaps a bit too easy for me, because I spotted the revealer 58A on my first scan of the puzzle and noticed the grid. I did try person before WOMAN, but the "classic" magic trick was always a woman. The only other short hang-up was NO way before NO HOW.
@Linda Jo I noticed the grid before getting to the revealer and figured out the theme from that. Knowing the theme helped me figure out the revealer. Except I didn't realize that the people were all female, so I first put SPLITAMANINHALF and then had to redo it.
What a charming puzzle! For me, it conveyed a high-spirited, tongue-in-cheek sassiness. Very clever and fun!
I had to dive fairly deep into the comments to find someone who also found this puzzle to be a Wednesday and a half. Hey, I'm just talking about me here... I got BBC America because I had some dim memory of it and it made more sense than NBC America, but the wicked witch of the west was almost my undoing, which I suppose is appropriate. Crossing the witch with the paint I last used in second grade and a foreign word for "drink up" made for a very tough ending. I had to run the alphabet to get the "P." Nothing else seemed to be the problem, but I couldn't tell where my error(s) was/were and was contemplating my next step if the alphabet run didn't yield the gold star. But the funny thing here is, as usual, one person's blind spot is another person's gimme.
@Renegator I like your even-minded approach to explaining what gave you difficulty. I wish more people would comment in that manner.
@Renegator I've been there many times myself. I come to the comments section expecting to find a bit of comfort from others who struggled, just to find a majority of comments saying how easy it was. Other days I breeze through it and come here to find tons of comments on how hard it was. It really can be if the composer chose the bits of trivia you know or if you just get their wordplay. Also, I have a wife who's been a kindergarten teacher for years, so TEMPERA Paint was a gimme.
@Renegator. I was stymied by the gimme toon
WOO hoo Cha ndi and Ka te! It’s so EASY to love all ASPECTS of this puzzle (including much ADO in the comments)! It’s CLEAR you two SOAR at puzzle making, a MODEL team RIPE for creating more juicy puzzles. I CALL on you to LET us have a REFILL with another brilliant collab soon!
Well, at first I thought I set my clock back 6 decades instead of ahead by one hour. BABE, MISSUS, DAME? I was expecting dollface and broad next. I comforted myself with the idea that the women were sawing those terms in half and taking what they wanted.
@Nancy J. DOLLFACE would be a good split, but BROAD has five letters, so .... no.
@Nancy J. I wasn't annoyed by the theme for precisely the reason you mention. The grid is full of women sawing those terms in half!
@Nancy J. Just an update, your crossed fingers yesterday helped... we won in a landslide!! :-) A sigh of relief for this fine state. (And our AG is pretty awesome!)
Loved this. Almost every clue was right up my alley. After viewing the comments below, I should perhaps own up to being female and of the everyone-lighten-up persuasion.
Felt misogynistic to me.
@Nancy Niemczyk Yet it was created by two women. I didn't feel it was misogynistic.
Whatever one can say about Stephen Foster, O Susanna has to be one of the prettiest and oddest of his songs, the singer completely smitten with Susanna and yet somehow already speaking as if beyond the grave, and OK with that. It's a bit bonkers: I come from Alabama With my banjo on my knee I'm going to Louisiana My true love for to see It rained all night the day I left The weather it was dry The sun so hot I froze to death Susanna don't you cry Oh! Susanna, Don't you cry for me. I come from clabama With my banjo on my knee. I had a dream the other night When everything was still, I thought I saw Susanna Coming down the hill A buck wheat cake was in her mouth a tear was in her eye, I said I’m coming from the south, Susanna don’t you cry. I soon will be in New Orleans and then I’ll look around And when I find my Susanna, I’ll fall upon the ground But if I do not find her, this man will surely die And when I’m dead and buried, Susanna don’t you cry. *** Gets me every time. These latest puzzles have been really stepping it up. On behalf of all guys named John Ezra, we accept the lack of males in this puzzle and agree to your terms of engagement! Off to a bad start with I'M BORED vs IT'S A TIE. I mean, who really exclaims that?! I'd be like: duh! I know it's a tie, daddio. Having Elphaba AND Matilda, opposing witchitudes, was lovely. I'd say purging males means you'd have to nix NOEL, LEONE (masc. Italian name), DER (masc. nouns), and maybe male-written CHOLERA?
@john ezra I got a nice chuckle from "I know it's a tie, daddio.". It's not like tie comes sneaking up on us. The possibility was there for a long time right up to the end of the game.
@john ezra I first entered "lilbaby" thinking of this one with Joan Baez. <a href="https://tinyurl.com/2j53jes3" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/2j53jes3</a> The one that always gets me is Streets of Laredo with the famous stanza: "Oh, beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly Play the dead march as you carry me along Take me to the green valley, there lay the sod o'er me For I'm a young cowboy and I know I've done wrong
@john ezra *Werner Herzog voice* DER indicates a feminine noun in the dative and genitive cases.
@john ezra I would NOT suggest looking up the original lyrics. I has the potential to ruin that song for you.
So many lovely women, and the first to land was Sotto Voce! Then a veritable plethora of ladies, *seen* in halves cuz they were *saw*ed in halves… Eh..? Eh..? Thank you Chandi and Kate. Fun from top to bottom!
@CCNY Oi! And I missed (Dutch)Iris! Maybe…one day… the universe will be all kinds of wonky, and CC will be an answer! I gotta get back to constructing. Gotta squeeze in an MOL, too…
@CCNY You are, yourself, a lovely woman! Thank you for the kind shout-out, made more special coming from you. I'm flattered and blushing.😊
For those who don't find ELPHABA to be a gimme: I learned to memorize her name when I realized that it was derived from the original creator of the world of Oz: L. Frank Baum. You're welcome. Now to find a mnemonic for remembering Cynthia Erivo.
I'm not a fan of musicals, in general, and I saw, but didn't particularly enjoy, this musical, in particular, but I did grow up watching "The Wizard of Oz" at least once a year.
When I, a middle-aged WASP from the west have complained in the past about ethnic terms common in NY, but not common in my experience, I was told to get over it. So now it’s my turn. The only people who don’t see ELPHABA as a gimme have been living under a rock. A very popular book series turned into a smash Broadway musical, followed by a movie that won multiple Academy Awards (TM). Oy vey!
@K. H. For me it's easy - I passionately hate musicals and have zero interest in them. I also had no idea there was a novel. I read it one of books, and I'm very happy with my selection under my rock. We don't all mindlessly consume content only because it's popular.
@K. H. Under a rock? I resent that. Growing up in the New York area as the child of immigrant parents, I grew to love opera and ballet. I dislike (putting it mildly) amplified music. That’s what radios are for, ELPHABA is new to me, and I’m proud of it.
@K. H. ELPHABA is a gimme, but I'm sure NBAJAM is too obscure, right?
@K. H. "The only people who don’t see ELPHABA as a gimme have been living under a rock." or Have been exposed to it, but the name did not have enough importance to them to hold on to it. I saw the musical "Wicked" live a 1-2 years ago, but had no idea about ELPHABA.
@Jim Or saw the movie and all the awards shows but tried spelling it Ephalba.
So many complaints, and yet no one has spelled out for me what is crazy, sexy or cool about an adjutant. Or adjoint. Or a DJ? Maybe I need to adjust my vocabulary. Adjourning for today.
And as soon as I post this it occurs to me- these are all ADJectives. More time reading the dictionary is in order after all. Fun puzzle, despite some clues being *gasp* puzzling.
@tommesmanchego Adjutant?? I assumed you were making a joke until I read your reply. Hee hee hee. Thanks for the chuckle, admittedly at your expense.
@tommesmanchego My friend and I had trouble with this too! We were googling cool and adj to find out what adj meant!
Pretty quick solve despite puzzling over ADJ for a bit and trying cutawomanintwo before SAWAWOMANINTWO. Lots of stuff in my wheelhouse, esp. MELANIE, BEYONCÉ and OHSUSANNA. I was happy to see IRIS, getting me excited for the upcoming spring and the emergence of my Siberian Irises. In fact, having performed a substantial garden spring clean up before leaving for a week in Saint Augustine, I’m looking forward to seeing how the garden looks upon my return tomorrow.
@Marshall Walthew Even after I had ADJ, I didn’t know what the answer meant. I assumed there was some slang term meaning “crazy, sexy or cool,” though I couldn’t figure out what. Adjacent? Adjunct? I finally figured it out.
Thanks, Chandi and Kate! I loved this puzzle despite a personal issue with anything related to magicians. For a very brief moment in my misspent youth I worked in a rather terrible magic show (don’t ask) which included the act featured in today’s puzzle. I began to sweat the minute I figured out the theme!
@M. Biggen I know you said "don't ask".... Something tells me you have quite a story, one that could very well rack up a record number of recommendations... Just sayin.....
@M. Biggen Oh give us a break and tell it already! Agreed about Grand Marais, though. Beautiful place!
Today I saw a man not get the puzzle done without a lookup. Here’s to learning I should know about “Wicked” by now… and drink more. A fun, tricksy puzzle.
What a perfect Wednesday puzzle! So satisfying when I caught on to the theme. I also enjoyed the constructor notes. All in all a nice start to my day.
I found it amusing that Sam said ELPHABA was a gimme when that part of the puzzle stumped me the most. The SALATA, PROST, and NOHOW crossings were not in my repertoire either. Still a good puzzle and I liked the theme.
@Brian me toooo!!!! I saw the movie and worked next to the musical for years and years and that name was not a gimmie for me. Nor was the spelling.
I really enjoyed this puzzle! Here is a link to stats on women constructors <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Women" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Women</a>
I liked today's, I always enjoy when there's a theme to an early-in-the-week puzzle. To me, BABE is gender neutral, but all of these words for women seemed a little dated (26 and don't hear them very often in modern parlance), so okay. I learned something new from 71A--I spin yarn, and have always called that tool a bobbin in reference to spinning because that's what the maker of my wheel sells them as, not a SPOOL, but it seems they are used pretty interchangeably. Fun puzzle! Overall, I liked it.
ELPHABA sent me down an odd rabbit hole today. The Wicked Witch of the West didn't have green skin in the original book; that was added for the movie to make full use of the new Technicolor process. Oh, and the silver slippers were changed to ruby ones for the same reason. Anyway, the green makeup had a copper extract in it, making it quite unhealthy for Margaret Hamilton to wear it. She was actually burned when she "vanished" from Munchkinland in that dramatic fiery cloud, and some of that copper was permanently embedded in her skin. Similarly, Buddy Epsen was originally supposed to play the Tin Man, but he had a violent reaction to the silver makeup, and they had to re-cast the role. Long story short, I never want to hear modern actors complain about how hard they have it.
Interesting. The Wicked book by McGuire explains the origin of the green skin (hint: it is hereditary) that Elphaba has. But it is much newer than the Frank Baum books and the movie.
First, I stipulate that no one who confidently put LATEX in for 33D has any right whatsoever to so much as whisper a word of criticism. Especially given that as a former chemist I should have at tiny bit of insight into synthetics. But... for the nth day in a row I was certain I was stymied. I had a block of about 10-15 white squares, and I cycled through the remaining clues over and over and nothing was clicking. I got rid of my less confident answers, and I eventually got rid of Latex with LYCRA. Another brush with the dread Streak Breaker.
Well.. that was different. Pretty long workout for me and but a nice 'aha' moment when I finally tumbled to the trick. And... that is a quite a feat of construction to come up with those six 7-letter names that could be divided into some term for women. Just... amazing. And always glad to see another Katie Hawkins day. One puzzle find today was inspired by 52a. Dawned on me that WALTZINGMATILDA is 15 letters. And... it was the 'reveal' in a Thursday puzzle from March 18, 1999 by Rand H. Burns. Other theme answers in that one: SWAGMAN JUMBUCK TUCKERBAG BILLABONG Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/18/1999&g=37&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/18/1999&g=37&d=A</a> Might put another puzzle find in a reply. ....
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Sunday from February 5, 1995 by Frank A. Longo with the title "Peruse the clues." Don't recall seeing another one quite like this. Some clue/answer examples: "CHALTUPID :" STOPINTHENAMEOFLOVE "VISSADAGE :" BLUEINTHEFACE "JASOWB :" PIGINAPOKE "SNILTIR :" MUCHADOABOUTNOTHING "BEDORISING :" ADAYINTHELIFE Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/5/1995&g=64&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/5/1995&g=64&d=A</a> ....
For anyone curious about the sexy DAME leading story time: (Am I allowed to use that kind of language if it imitates the language of the puzzle?) It's Parker Posey, the Queen of the Indies. from 2008. And for the very, very curious: the book she is reading is "Bad Dog, Marley!" by John Grogan. (It's amazing what you can find in just a few minutes on the inter-webs.)
@The X-Phile Thanks. I posted a link to those photos earlier but I could not make out the book. Poor Marley. Hopefully he had a ghost of a chance at being good.
@The X-Phile I was wondering who that was - the lady looked vaguely familiar but I couldn't quite recognize her. Thank you for satisfying my curiosity.
@The X-Phile so the pun is that she's spinning a yarn? and the specific actress or book has nothing to do with it? nothing magical? I guess I was trying to read too much into it.
@The X-Phile I was sure that was Elizabeth Banks.
Fantastic theme; great execution. I salute you both!
Note to Constructors, Editors, Etc.: NOT everybody has seen/wants to see/will someday see the play/musical/movie "Wicked." (Ali Baba would be an alternative entry, in case I have ELPHABA right.) 45A took me way to long to comprehend ADJutant? ADJustment? How A DJ wants to be described? I need that hour that went missing early on Sunday.
@Mean Old Lady If you read the constructors' note to us, you'll see that, unless Ali Baba was not who we thought he was, he wouldn't fit the theme. I didn't know it either, haven't seen Wicked, and don't remember celebrity names very well, but got it fine - and thought it was a nice puzzle.
@Mean Old Lady I feel ya on the Wicked subject. I read the book when it was generating so much buzz back in the late 90s. Totally did it out of FOMO. When I got to the end, I was like, “This is some Dutch Tulip Bulb Craze stuff here.” Terrible. And now we’re on to the Emperor’s New Clothes phase with the play and movie. Kind of makes sense with the mass delusion that’s going on in the political sphere in this country. Maybe chem-trails ARE a thing, after all. 😱😱😱
@Gig I like the musical a lot more than I like the book. I haven’t seen the movie, but there are a lot of really fun songs for folks who like musicals. Also, the focus of the musical feels significantly different than the book, which always felt… blundering.
@Matthew I like both the show and the book quite a bit. I saw the show first and read the book after. I think it's a stretch to say that the show is really based on the book, even though it technically is. Other than it's Elphaba and Galinda and it's about their back stories, it's so dramatically different. You couldn't really turn the book into a musical that anyone would want to watch, though.
I loved today’s theme!! I’m surprised there’s discourse about it - I thought it was clever and very funny; misogyny was the last thing would have crossed my mind had I not read these comments. I’ve never been catcalled as a ‘dame’ - that feels far more respectful than vulgarities I’ve received in the past…! As a muso, I particularly appreciated all the musical clues: SLUR was a pleasant surprise, alongside TONES and SOTTO voce, which is one of my favourite performance directions. A very fun Wednesday. Thank you!
@RJ I’ve filled in Slur by default but I am so confused by why it is right? Can you explain at all please?