Nice and smooth-- and several entries were ones I guessed immediately but didn't enter because obviously that wasn't the right answer... except it was. RIGAMAROLE is one, and FELLAS. And several gimmes for me (SPAWNPOINT is one I'm super familiar with, and I know enough British slang to get SNOG.) Had hIres/z before HIDEF, oboes before REEDS, and wanted COhost for COLEAD but didn't fill that in. In other, more personal news I'm grieving my first dog today-- he was over 15, which is a good run for a lab, but I'm a bit sad. Please hug your dogs for me, y'all, because I can't. (Hugging cats or other critters is also acceptable.)
@Isabeau I'm so sorry about your dog. Our beloved Oliver died in March aged about 14, too soon. I miss him every day.
@Isabeau I'm sorry! Losing pets is so hard and also inevitable if life works out as expected. In my experience, it never gets easier. I will hug my cat for you. 😢
@Isabeau I've grieved many dear pets, so I understand. I send you lots of warm thoughts. I never had a pet emu (thank goodness).
@Isabeau Such a sad day for you. I’m sorry.
@Isabeau First, or latest in a series, it never gets easier. I'm sure that it was a life filled with comfort and joy. Be prepared for memories springing up at any time. Best wishes.
@Isabeau Oh dear. No matter that you have to know you'll lose them when they're old (and 15 is a good long life for a lab!), it's hard to say goodbye. Time to think about the good times, the fun, the rapport you had with your dog that's different from anything have with another human. The experiences you shared will always be with you—take comfort from remembering them. Everyone here is sending you sympathy and condolences.
@Isabeau I’m so sad for you. After our last beloved Lab Retriever Dougal died aged just ten, I swore I would never have another dog, the grief is too painful. Two years later the family talked me into getting another one. Kobe, a Shiba, is as different from Dougal as night and day, both in breed and characteristics. Nothing will replace our wonderful Lab, but Kobe brings his own world of love and companionship.
@Isabeau we lost our beloved dog last Saturday, so I grieve with you. I would try hugging one of my cats, but I'm not sure how well that would go!
@Isabeau I'm so sorry. 15 is amazing, and all too short.
@Isabeau I'm so sorry about your dog 😢. I'll hug my 13,5 year Jorge the Lab for you.
@Isabeau So sorry, my heart aches for you.
Xi’s language… I was looking in east Asia, not eastern Europe . What a great misdirect!
@Mike R Me too. But Mandarin wouldn't fit. And when the answer finally filled from crosses, I still didn't get it right away and thought, "President Xi speaks Greek?"
@Mike R I’m Greek and it took me a while!
@Mike R My Polish mind froze for a moment there. *Eastern* Europe? The thing is, even though geographically Greece most definitely is in the East of the continent, I have never heard it referred to as actually Eastern European. That term seems to be reserved for us Slavs and our states. Spain, Italy, Greece are usually spoken of as the European South. Also, for us who were born behind the Iron Curtain, Greece was actually, in a way, part of the "West," politically and economically.
"Look! I brought you a colorful bird!" "Oh, what a pheasant surprise." (You might grouse about this one.)
@Mike Oh, pop-peacock, toucan play at that game. Quail your impulse for flights of fancy and I will ear-nestly try to forget that you just gave me the bird.
@Mike What a cuckoo gift idea. I'd return it, but that would be flipping you the bird.
@Mike Three pun posts and not a flightless fowl to be found. The crossword gods are not emused.
@Mike Macaw the fun you want, I tawt it was tweet.
@Mike I was going to steal one from you, but robin is a cardinal sin.
@Mike I was going to steal this from you, but robin is a cardinal sin.
I wish I was there when Gene realized that CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM and PLEASANT SURPRISE had an equal number of letters. Jaw-drop moment, I’m guessing, and likely the SPAWN POINT of this puzzle. In any case, he still had to build a puzzle around it. And this one had fine bones: • Range. An answer set that included biology, religion, geography, history, law, science fiction, the arts, and lovely colloquial phrases. • Design. A grid never before used in the Times, one that enabled not only the two 16s, but ten 10s! • Spark. Nine NYT answer debuts, including I NEVER WILL and YOU WOULDN’T, in addition to the two spanners. Plus hardly-used-before ENTRY LEVEL, ILL ADVISED, and STILL I RISE. • Lack o’ junk. A sweetly scrubbed box. I had no-knows and misdirects to overcome, satisfying my brain’s workout ethic, plus moments of splash-fill, adding thrill, all in this high-quality setting. In other words, a most splendid outing. This was a gift, Gene, and thank you so much for making it!
@Deb Amlen your "morose verse" of the triplet 54A, 30D, 31D is more heartening in the order 31D ILL ADVISED, 30D STILL I RISE, 54A PLEASANT SURPRISE
It's not quite accurate to say "sines produce waves". While sine waves are a fundamental type of wave, energy is what actually creates waves. Sines, more precisely, are a mathematical representation of the shape of a wave, and can be used to describe many different types of waves. (from Google) I prefer RAZZMATAZZ over RIGAMAROLE anyday.
@replay I had the same thought about SINES. I put it in, then thought "no," so I took it out until I got some crosses. Emus don't surf on sine waves.
@replay. Actually, see short discussion below about RIGAMAROLE vs RIGMAROLE, I have always used RAZZAMATAZ. Interesting, I’ve just seen that autograph prefers the a-free version
@replay Yeah that sine wording really bothered me too. Was kind of hoping not to have to enter it. I liked rigamarole though. :) ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@Jam There was so much purpose-built misdirection that by the time I got down to SINES, fully expected trickery. CAUTION light was flashing. @Patrick J. @B I like RAZZMATAZZ because it triggers Lewis with the double set of double letters. ;)
@replay @replay re: Lewis Sigh, he can be such a bookkeeper... ;) ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@replay I see razzmatazz as a different activity, and maybe that's what you meant. RIGAMAROLE = red tape, tiresome and irritating—same old song and dance. Razzmatazz = flashy fun!
@replay Thinking more abstractly, perhaps one could say that the sine function "produces a wave" when plotted. A bit of stretch, I know...
@Dutchiris Yes & yes. I love the verbalization of Razzmatazz. Just like baba ghanoush. Akin to minimalist poetry. So euphonic. Ras el hanout —another. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3OSVZhsp8" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3OSVZhsp8</a>
@replay The sine function produces waves on a graph. Had no issue with it.
@replay Agree about sines. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever seen sines used in the plural. The word usually modifies something, so since waves, or sine functions, etc make sense.
Was that an ENTRYLEVEL Saturday puzzle, or did I just solve a difficult puzzle very quickly?
@Barry Ancona If I had solved the two minutes earlier, I would have made the same joke, but you beat me to it
@Barry Ancona I flew through it too. Not exactly entry-level, but definitely Wednesday-level. I was surprised at how straightforward the clues were, especially for the long answers, which I was able to guess with no or very few crosses.
@Barry Ancona Not just you. I banged it out in 8:49, which is a little more than half of my usual Saturday completion time.
My first gold star on a Saturday. Perhaps the SPAWNPOINT of a long streak?
A perfect example of how to densely fill a grid with satisfying long entries without resorting to a dozen obscure names and acronyms. I can tell a lot of care went into this puzzle and it was a joy to solve!
Swung for the fences on this one and was richly rewarded. A fun solve. Many thanks. I've been away from the puzzles since Thursday, son-in-law's graduation from Temple Law, so I need to catch up on Friday's later today. We had a long thread last week about the View All Replies bug and I wonder if there has been any response from NYT. Testing my theory I've clicked on the Recommend button on every post so far today and revealed more than a dozen instances of hidden replies. So that's become my current workaround. Plus I get to like everyone! (H/T to Sally Fields's Oscar speech).
"We had a long thread last week about the View All Replies bug and I wonder if there has been any response from NYT." John, Not that has been noted in the Comments. I sent a link to that long Wednesday thread to Deb (who was OOO) and then to the head of Games (no response).
A postscript to my workaround comment. Each time scrolling through the comments, one has to click the "recco" button every time to reveal hidden replies. So I'll "un-reccco" then click it again to refresh the thread.
@John Carson I'm confused. You say hitting the recco button reveals all the hidden posts for you? It doesn't do anything for me (Android Games app user). I have to hit the time stamp as I think most others also do to reveal hidden posts.
@John Carson I use Chrome on an Android phone, abx your trick works for me.
Oy. What a RIGAMAROLE. Thanks for chiming in everyone.
One of the few times I’ve solved a Saturday puzzle without any clues. It was a fun one.
@JP I assume you mean *external* clues. Otherwise I would be extremely impressed. 😊
@JP Me too. Made a mistake with epode, though. But still, I started with cautious optimism and ended up pleasant[ly] surprised. There, I said it. Anyway, a pleasant Memorial Day weekend to all.
"How do I get out of this Four Tops concert?!" "Aisle be there." Har.
COhost before COLEAD. HIres before HIDEF. FRied before FRYER. Slowed me down but I got ‘er done! Loved it. Wish it had taken twice the time. All day, in fact! Thank you Gene! When my kids were young, if they ever said, “…and he was like, ‘yeah’” I’d ask “Was he *like* yeah, or very yeah? And if they tried to get away with “…and then he went, “yeah’” I’d ask, “Where did he go? To Yeah?” I was a super fun mom. Not annoying at *all.* And this will probably either get eaten by emus or show up in three to six hours. Totally hit or miss, lately. Happy Saturday all!
@CCNY Nice! But you should have worked WENT for [said] in there somehow. Took me a while to get it. Would have been even trickier if clue had been [says] so answer would be GOES.
@CCNY And you DID get WENT in there!
I'm sure many posts below begin something like: "I approached this puzzle with cautious optimism and ended up being positively surprised." That was my experience, anyway. I filled the grid without outside help, and in Wednesday-ish/Thursday-ish time. It did not feel easy as such, but I did find it very doable. The things I did not know emerged from crosses, and also via crosses I was able to realize the mistakes I had made initially, for example, HIres and COhost. For once some names were gimmes: HAIM is among my favorite bands. I usually know close to nothing about the people behind the music I enjoy (unlike my wife, who is into musical biopics), but the Haim sisters are one of the exceptions. I liked how there was very little crosswordese glue, in the form or REMET and... That's it? SALES TAXES changing between states I learned about on our two trips around the American West and thus it was a gimme today. Btw, as Europeans we were very confused by tax not featuring on price stickers. Over here one of the prime rules of consumer law is that the sticker has to list the total amount the consumer will be paying at the register. I know how Americans justify their solution, but I just don't buy it. I had to do an alphabet run for the square at the crossing of INST_ and TE_. I have no idea what scuttlebutt means, these days or before. I started my run with an A and voila! Can somebody please explain why INSTA is clued as "Quick start?" It's a brand prefix, isn't it...
@Andrzej Yep, a prefix for things like InstaPot (quick cooking) and Instagram (quick messaging, I guess) and Instamatic (old snapshot camera). Not one of the better clues, for sure. Congrats on the cheatless Saturday. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@B Thank you. I don't call lookups cheats BTW. They are just a form of help. When I'm having trouble loading our old lab into the car (he can't or at least shouldn't jump any more) and I ask my wife to assist me, I'm not cheating, am I? I'm just getting help. I perceive lookups of arcana as a similar thing. Still, today I needed none, and I'm sort of proud of it 🙂
@Andrzej Sure. I wrote it with tongue in cheek, and besides, "lookupless" hardly has the same snappy ring. ) I'm still trying to decide if my running the alphabet on the occasional square counts as cheating. I think it does.... ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@B That stance seems very weird to me, but we can all set our own standards for ourselves 🙂
@Andrzej More crosswordese perhaps: SINES, STIX, RVLOT…
@Andrzej I was going to write my own comment but you summed it up better than I could have! Lovely fill (for the first time in a while I didn't think there was any notable crosswordese) and was a lot faster of a solve than most Saturdays for me. This felt a lot more accessible for me with way less Americanisms than I'm used to, which may have played a part? Obviously I can't complain because I buy this from a U.S. paper but it feels like a breath of fresh air when there's no obscure brand names, organisations or things like that. Love your insights too by the way, always look forward to reading your comments!!
Andrzej, Scuttlebutt in the puzzle clue is definition 2, originating from definition 1. I think you would still hear it used in the U.S. Navy. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scuttlebutt" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scuttlebutt</a>
@Andrzej It's your puzzle. Do it anyway you like, anyway that gives you joy. As to what constitutes a "cheat", that too may be a matter of personal opinion. Not worth a public debate.
YOU WOULDN'T and I NEVER WILL are also neat.
That was a lovely crunchy offering. I was getting nowhere on the first pass, but slowly the grid built. RIGAMAROLE was a rare gimme. I made the mistake of ship for HEIR, despite knowing it’s the Mary Rose. Worth seeing the recovered hulk if you’re ever in Portsmouth UK. Mentally kicked myself for not getting 30D immediately. Call myself a poetry buff? 🤦♀️ Missed it despite having read everything Ms Angelou ever produced. An excellent Saturday, thanks Mr de Vera.
@Helen Wright Hmm, I'm pretty sure Henry VIII named the Mary Rose after his sister, AKA Mary Tudor, and not his HEIR, who was not born yet. I visited the Cutty Sark in Greenwich, but I think the Mary Rose was still in the restoration shed at the time. I'll come back someday...
I was interested to see RIGAMAROLE in the puzzle. I had always heard it pronounced that way, and assumed it was spelled that way. But a couple of years ago, I learned that it’s actually spelled rigmarole. I’m assuming that RIGAMAROLE is an accepted alternative In any case I enjoyed this puzzle, which had a lot of fresh clues and fill.
@Marshall Walthew. Yes MW gives RIGAMAROLE as a less common variant. I have a feeling, possibly deja vu, that this discussion has appeared before.
My mother used the term RIGAMAROLE so frequently that it was the first word that popped into my head after reading the clue with an empty grid. The rest of the puzzle was a PLEASANT SURPRISE.
This was a tough puzzle for me, but very enjoyable. I was thrilled that my instant guess of rigamarole was correct!
My first Saturday puzzle that I managed to solve without autocheck or having to look up half the answers. I only had to look up 2 of them. (PECOS/EPODE and the -ious of CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM), so I think this means I'm officially leveling up in the crossword game
Further to the discussion of INNKEEPER ... Not only is there no infamous innkeeper in the Biblical account of Mary and Joseph's arrival in Bethlehem, there may not even be an inn. The Greek word translated as "inn" in the King James version of this story is "katalyma", which can mean a room in an inn, or a guesthouse, or a guest room in a private home. Elsewhere, Luke uses the word "pandocheion" to refer specifically to an "inn" (which would be more accurately described as a caravanserai) in the parable of the Good Samaritan. And the KJV elsewhere translates "katalyma" as being some sort of guest room. So one alternative reading of the story is that Mary and Joseph had planned to stay with friends or relatives, but the upper guest room was too crowded to accommodate them, so they were housed downstairs, with the family and their livestock---it being common to keep the animals indoors for safety (and central heating!) Hence, then, the ready availability of a manger for a crib. So no heartless innkeeper! I actually find the alternative version of the story more pleasing and plausible, but that's perhaps just me.
@Oikofuge I don’t think anyone has ever thought of the innkeeper (in whatever capacity) as heartless, but instead as apologetic—offering only what was available. It’s not like the innkeeper said, “We have many luxurious rooms available, but not for folks like you.”
@Oikofuge My dad was a liberal minister in the South back in the day. One neighborhood we lived in in the 60s had a big emphasis in putting as many lights into your front yard as possible. My dad got tired of the emphasis on what he regarded as competitive conspicuous consumerism, so one year, in an effort to turn folk's attention back to parts of the message he thought bore remembering, constructed a door of old boards and put it over our front door, along with a sign that said, "No room in the inn." To remind us of those less fortunate than our middle-class white protestant selves. Unfortunately, the neighborhood interpreted his sign to mean that we were full up over the holidays with relatives and chastised him for being flip. Sigh.
@kkseatle I'm sure the story varies from place to place and culture to culture, given that it has been entirely constructed to fill in the gaps in Luke's narrative. But the innkeeper was depicted as something just short of a pantomime villain when I learned the story at school---if he hadn't had a full house to look after, I suspect he'd have been tying Mary to the railway tracks. And the fact that INNKEEPER is clued as "Infamous denier ..." in the puzzle makes me think that the constructor may have had something of the same learning experience.
As to the origin of "The Innkeeper" as a character in the narrative of the Nativity, I'd guess he appeared as soon as anyone attempted to illustrate Bible stories. To show "no room at the inn" visually, you need someone to stand at the doorway to an inn, making fending-off gestures to a miserable Mary and Joseph.
@Oikofuge I think our church must have done the Nativity Play during the early service; we always attended Midnight Mass, because our parents were in the choir. Anyway, my only memory is from "A Charlie Brown Christmas," with Linus as the INNKEEPER and Sally as his adoring wife. They never did get to acting out the play itself, did they?
Seemed like a fair puzzle, and a bit easier for me than yesterday's. Didn't know SPAWNPOINT, but it resonates nicely with ENTRYLEVEL. Wasn't really on the constructor's "wavelength", but managed to solve this one without assistance. The editorial team missed a great opportunity to prolong yesterday's griping. Instead of "Direction for a dog", the clue for 50D should have been "Sock this spot!". Nice Saturday workout, though perhaps a bit too gentle.
Never seen RIGAMAROLE in my life, AFAIK. Always "rigmarole" (minus an A). So that held me up for a while. And the convoluted Merriam-Webster etymology is also new to me. In Scotland, the Ragman Rolls of 1296 are notorious---instruments signed by the Scottish nobility, under duress, pledging allegiance to Edward I of England and his puppet, John Balliol. The 2000 signatures made it a complicated document to prepare and sign, and as an act of betrayal of principles, it had negative connotations. Hence, the story goes, the origin of "rigmarole". The "ragman" aspect has various suggested origins: That there was once someone named Ragman who had prepared a similar document. Meh. That the "rags" are the multiple ribbons attached to the seals of the various nobles (the "men"). But I think I'm on board with Nigel Tranter's suggestion (IIRC) that "ragman" was a dismissive reference to the humbled Scottish nobles themselves. Seems obvious, but I don't know if that sort of usage is otherwise attested from the time.
@Oikofuge Funny, I've only seen "rigamarole." I wonder if it's a UK/US thing.
@Mike I presume so. My old OED CD-ROM doesn't acknowledge the existence of "rigAmarole" (and my BrE spellchecker has just flagged it as an error). The current online OED allows "rigAmarole" as a variant of "rigmarole", and offers ˈrɪɡ(ə)məˌroʊl as the US pronunciation of "rigmarole"---so with an intrusive vowel that M-W says drove the adoption of the RIGAMAROLE spelling as in today's grid. I've been walking along the road trying out "rigAmarole", and it just sounds unwieldy to me---too many vowels in rapid succession. I feel like I'd want to elide the vowel that AmE apparently wanted to insert!
I asked DHubby for an assist with "Digital recording pioneer." He had the INSTA-Answer: SONY When it turned out to be TIVO he was incensed! It was the "pioneer" part, for which TIVO had SONY to thank. DHubs doesn't do puzzles, but he is a serious Techie with the Engineer personality and approach to things, so.... The rest of the solve was less exciting. COLEAD... ugh. And I really wanted the GRUNIONS at 34A (especially with SPAWN in the puzzle) even though of course SEA TURTLEs are wonderful.
@Mean Old Lady - At first blush, I wanted grunions in there, too, even though it did not fit. That was one of the very last entries I typed in, in part because there are so many species that spawn on beaches. And, as you imply, "spawn" is not strictly correct for SEA TURTLES, considering that, to a biologist, "spawn" means to broadcast gametes which are then externally fertilized. TURTLES have internal fertilization and, therefore, do not spawn. It's OK for a crossword, I guess. Fuzzy logic and all that.
@Mean Old Lady - Ugh! Serves me right for not verifying my memory before posting. The clue for SEA TURTLE did not include any mention of spawning... I'll go back to my well-deserved self-banishment now.
Captain Q, No! No! Please stick around!
It seems they've switched days again. ;) This Saturday puzzle was, for me, much easier than yesterday's. I breezed through it without any hesitation. It was fine overall, not really much to note. (I still really prefer themes though.). ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
Just to point out that Mary I would have been an Heiress and not an Heir
"Heir" works fine for both, as a general catch-all term that's used as such by historians on a regular basis.
@Ian Hookham C'mon! Isn't any child an heir? Yeah ok "an heir and a spare", not 2 heirs. And of couse the whole sad rigamarole about Henry VIII's heirs. At one point both Mary and Elizabeth were declared bastards but eventually sanity prevailed and they both went back in the succession.
Mary I wasn't Henry VIII's heir as she inherited from her brother, Edward VI. (One could argue that she was his heir apparent until she was declared illegitimate following Henry's divorce, but at that time she wouldn't have been Mary I, so...!)
@Erika another definition of heir is more general and made true for Mary I in that she did inherit the rank of her predecessor
@Erika She was in the approved line of succession. Edward actually tried to remove her as heir just before his death.
@Erika I'm a victim of the emus! So just to let everyone know: I commented here that at one point, BOTH of Henry VIII's female HEIRS were declared a word meaning illegitimate that one apparently can't use. Such a sad historical period. All that concern about the royal succession. But there is a good line in the play "A Man for All Seasons": "Do you remember the Yorkist wars?"
@Erika I knew that the constructor skipped over Edward, so I went with all of Henry VIII's children being his heirs, especially as they all ruled. Gotta give some latitude and grace in a tricky crossword format.
It was especially satisfying to get the long spanners, although I needed my usual fair amount of help for a Saturday puzzle.
@suejean Same here. Glad to be in good company. I'll see how I do tomorrow. ..
The "Major producer of sci-fi films" is by far the superior clue. "Xenomorph" gave it away, turning a puzzler into a gimme. And all eggs are facehuggers, which is the next step in the xenomorph life-cycle. Drones and warriors are the end result, following implantation into the host (by the facehugger), incubation, and the chest-bursting. Sorry to get all Comic Book Guy, but Alien is my all-time favorite film.
Epode? I thought for sure how does etude not fit.
@Edward I'm not sure if this is what you are asking, but just in case: etudes, while occasionally lyrical, are studies intended to help a musician learn a particular skill. So more often than not, they are anything but lyrical; in fact, the majority of the flute etudes I spent hours and hours learning are downright boring, musically speaking.
That was far, far easier than yesterday.
Guess you could say I flew through this one. Thanks for a new Saturday best (8:43).
I solved the crossword on the app, but for 16 across I had EPODE. I first tried ETUDE, but that didn’t fit with SPAWNPOINT, which I was sure was right. I can’t find a definition for EPODE! Anyone know what’s going on here?
@Jaze I had to look it up too! I knew etude wasn’t right but tried it anyway. Here’s the definition I found for epode: 1. a form of lyric poem written in couplets, in which a long line is followed by a shorter one. 2. the third section of an ancient Greek choral ode, or of one division of such an ode.
@Jaze <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/epode" target="_blank">https://www.britannica.com/art/epode</a>
@Jaze Thank you for this!! Seeeing your comment helped me get the happy music :) I too did not know EPODE. I had EPOsE (because CsT seemed perfectly reasonable to me) and I couldn't figure it out!! A smooth-flowing and accessible Saturday otherwise.
Mostly flew through this puzzle, similar to yesterday's. Did not feel like Saturday difficulty at all. The long answers came quickly with no or few crosses. Didn't know SPAWNPOINT or EPODE, but after enough crosses to get S_A_NPOINT, I reasoned that SPAWN was the only word that made sense in terms of video game characters restarting, and I just hoped EPODE was a thing. It was! Coincidentally, I just listened to HAIM for the first time last week, so that one came easily. As an English major, I wrote a poem about SEATURTLEs SPAWNing on the beach, so that was another gimme. And seriously, that clue for INNKEEPER? Way too easy for anyone at all familiar with the Christmas story. Don't get me wrong. I liked a lot of the fill in this puzzle. I just thought the clues could have been a bit trickier.
@Beth I've known HAIM for years. I just love their sound, and the fact they are sisters warms my heart. What do you make of their music? I struggled with INNKEEPER. I'm an atheist but I celebrate Christmas and I am into religious art, big time. I've admired countless nativity scenes in museums and churches all around Europe, and I've been singing carols for 40ish years. Yet I've never heard of any INNKEEPER turning Mary and Joseph away. I quickly researched it now and apparently the story is not in the Bible (except a single mention of there being no room for them at an inn in Luke 2:7, or so Google tells me). Either the apocryphal story is more popular in the US than here, or maybe it's the sort of thing one hears from a priest?
Andrzej, You've created a Saturday clue just for yourself! You know the nativity scene is in a manger. It's not a U.S. thing that they were in a manger because there was "no room at the inn." The constructor gave us the INNKEEPER.
@Beth really replying to @Andrzej but avoiding the replies bug. Yes Joseph and Mary and innkeeper are well known in USA from custom of having children act out the whole nativity story each Christmas eve. Heart-warming tale of one such pageant when the boy playing innkeeper says his line about "No room" but then can't bear it and ad libs "But you can stay at our house"
@RozzieGrandma Thank you! That was informative and I loved the cute touch at the end. I don't have kids and I avoid plays put on by children (I don't like theater in general, and to see it done badly by kids is even more painful than seeing it done well by adult professionals) - maybe such scenes are a thing here too these days? I wouldn't know. They were not 40 years ago, anyway.
@Beth It was pretty obvious once I got a few letters, but there is a little bit of misdirect, I think of denier in a religious sense as someone who denies their existence, divinity, etc. so I was looking for some theological figure. Also “infamous” is a little cagey as it implies the person is well known. As Andrjez noted (sorry I can’t check the spelling right now) the event is briefly in the Bible, and though we presume there was an innkeeper he personally isn’t infamous. I’m not saying it’s a bad clue, it’s fine, it’s just that one could get misdirected even if one knows the story well.
I think the innkeeper in Bethlehem has roughly the same level of support from Biblical exegesis as the famous bunny who rolled away the stone in Jerusalem.
@W johnson I know - I watch very few movies but that one sounded interesting so I found it on streaming a few years ago. I loved it, and not only because the Haim sisters were involved :)
What a fun Saturday! I liked "Xi's language" - I was figuring on some Asian dialect, and was delighted when I had the G and the K. Also the clue for INNKEEPER, and the appearance of Hey ARNOLD, which my kids loved. Not a PB, but under 10 minutes. I've walked 5 miles, done all my puzzles, started laundry, watered plants, and the coffee is gone. Time for the real Saturday cleaning.
I don't usually expect to finish a Saturday before I finish my coffee and Long John, but today's puzzle went down so smoothly I barely had time to pause for either - and something about the anchors CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM and PLEASANT SURPRISE lifted my spirits this morning, so I'm grateful for that. I can only hope the rest of my day is as pleasant. Thanks for the fun!
@Peter C. anymore, I pretty much am always CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC and forever hoping and praying for a PLEASANT SURPRISE! Namaste!!
So much to warm my classicist heart: epode, xi, Ovid, even Psych(e)! Here's a little bit of Britten, being all Roman and reedy: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sCHhv1xuaQ" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sCHhv1xuaQ</a>
Priority one Insure return of Organism for analysis. All other considerations secondary. Crew Expendable. The most chilling scene of the Alien Franchise! Great puzzle:) Any puzzle with "Xenomorph" as a clue or answer is tops in my book.
I thought a few of the shorter entries were kind of gunky (REMET, HIDEF, etc.) but the longer answers were a PLEASANTSURPRISE. And nice shoutout to HAIM, who I need to listen to more.
@Jamie I just listened to them for the first time last week!
I was prepared to battle a lion but it turned out to be a kitten. It clawed me a tiny bit and then curled up and went to sleep.
Great puzzle! I found the first pass really daunting, but those beautiful horizontal spanners were seeds for the solve that ended up being quite fast. I think the constructor's original clue for 11D was the better option!
@Anthony Same here. Solving a puzzle after starting out with next to nothing is what I like best about Crosswords.
Not so easy for me, although some nice clues that demanded more than a straightforward synonym: PURSES, REEDS, ULNA, RUSTS, WENT, SPEW. No idea about the gamer clue, couldn't have guessed! Didn't know scuttlebutt, ARP, CDT, ARNOLD, EPODE, RVLOT or HAIM. Someone help me with SHAQ please? All I can find is a reference to a Shaquille, not magic. The innkeeper in children's nativity plays is a key role, alongside the usual suspects and 10 angels and 10 sheep (necessary if there are 30 children in your class).
@Jane Wheelaghan Shaq played center for the Orlando Magic
@Jane Wheelaghan CDT -- learn US time zones. They show up regularly as crosswordese. First letter is area of the country: Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific. Sometimes Atlantic zone shows up -- that's far eastern Canada. Middle letter is Standard Nov to Feb and Daylight March to Oct. T is for time. Of course, this means you know that Iowa is Central -- but it is in the middle of the country, if you know that. At least you can try different first letters, knowing the choices are limited.
@Jane Wheelaghan Back in the day, 1954, my afternoon kindergarten class had fifty students. The morning class, another 50. The highlight of the year was the Spring kindergarten play. Sr. Mary Anselm had to come up with jobs for each and every student. The Rhythm Band, 50 strong, performed during the intermission. I was passed over in the audition for triangle and served as one of a half dozen ushers. The real stars had one of twenty or so speaking roles which they learned by repeating their lines after they were read to them at home each night. Everyone left over was in a chorus that sang the musical numbers. My younger brother made the cut to sing Never Smile at a Crocodile with five other reptiles in 1957. A year after me, my wife was the leader of the Rhythm Band. Twenty years later she married a guy who couldn’t even play a triangle!
I wasn't making much headway last night. When I looked at the second word I saw that RIGAMAROLE would fit, and later when I started working Down I was able to use that as a basis for four more guesses. 34A, 39A, and 57A were other possible guesses, but as bedtime approached, I decided to peek at the column. That confirmed my first guess and gave me the two long things across the puzzle, the first of which supported five of my Down guesses; the second one says only three of my Down guesses crossing it may be correct. I am writing this separately thinking I might post it later. But now back to the puzzle to see how far I can get without looking at the column again. Those two 16-letter fills should be enough! They weren't enough by far. My WHAT/SEATURTLE survived, as did EARHART, ANY, and RIP. I had to give up KINGHEROD for INNKEEPER and TURNAROUND(??) for INEVERWILL. I finally noticed I had written 4D as DCT instead of CDT! The Column offered no more help. I turned to the Comments, and by the time I read back to six hours ago, someone or other had solved all my problems, including what was INSTd (at 7D) supposed to be. The only problem that still bothers me is how could one puzzle that no one else seemed to have had trouble with have found so much ignorance in my head? So many things I don't know.
A gentle Saturday, but I enjoyed it. I always like a good theme and this one felt like it had a mini theme of sorts to me: CAUTIOUSOPTIMISM, PLEASANTSURPRISE, STILLIRISE, and a SEA TURTLE returning to the beach it was born to lay its eggs... Balanced with INEVERWILL, the lesser of two EVILS, and ILLADVISED. Resilience in scary times. All we need now is a nice SNOG and a tasty little Eton MESS and we've got a stellar weekend going on! 😁
I have to take some issue with 5d: the clue would be more accurate as "Edward VI, to Henry VIII". The answer can be used in an indirect sense, but almost always figuratively (e.g. "Leo XIV is the HEIR of St Peter") which doesn't really work with the clue as written.
Glad y’all found this so easy. I was worried (hoping?) it would be a streak-breaker (currently at four hundred something - I don’t do hints). Maybe it was difficult for me because I held on to SAFEspacES, COstAr, and leTsEAT for so long. Never heard of HAIM, went to Spotify and never heard any of their songs before either. The name sounds very vaguely familiar. Probably been in the puzzle before.
@Jeb Jones HAIM has been clued to the girl band twice before; before that, it was the actor Corey. But maybe you know them because they have done some collaborations with Taylor Swift: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEPomqor2A8" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEPomqor2A8</a>
Nice Saturday - difficult and bordering on frustrating at first, but a satisfying feeling when finally finishing, all totally worth it. I loved the [Shelters from the heat?] clue, and I agree that [Major producer of sci-fi films] would have been an excellent one too! My bug-bear are clues that lead to non-standard phrases, like I NEVER WILL - it's just a series of words that might be used, not an actual idiom or anything. I suppose it's necessary at times for this type of dense crossword. Good puzzle, many thinks Gene Louise!
I learned about the HAIM sisters (and their rock trio of the same name) from the Paul Thomas Anderson movie "Licorice Pizza". Odd and quirky, but enjoyable. And Alana Haim has a remarkable llikeability in this film. Her sisters have cameos in the movie (playing her sisters), as I recall.
@The X-Phile I watch few films but that one intrigued me. I loved it, and she was brilliant in it.
@The X-Phile I’ve never heard of Haim. Had to run the alphabet there, though I guess STEM makes sense as a cross. (Obv not a musician here) Thought I had this one in the bag but got stuck there. Time to go learn about this band!
Not particularly difficult, but super satisfying. Very well designed and clued! A+