I can’t even anymore with the too easy crowd. You all have the Games app, go play some old crosswords and spend 45 minutes on a Friday and knock yourselves out. Most of us solvers are angry and depressed and miserable people, for reasons that should be very obvious today. We can’t take any of it out on the people we’re actually mad at, and so we’re very pleased to get a little joy from a lively, contemporary Friday grid. Even if it only took us 10 minutes.
@Jamie We haven't even heard from Mike in Munster today ...
@Jamie I'm not. The again it took me 45 minutes. Maybe there's an inverse relationship.
@Jamie Or, alternately, the "I don't like hard puzzles crowd" could be satisfied with having 5 days a week of breezy puzzles and let the rest of us just have a day or two for the kinds of puzzles that we prefer? We can all have nice things. That used to be the purpose of the daily increasing difficulty setup.
@Jamie In re: "Most of us solvers are angry and depressed and miserable people..." If you substituted "several" in place of "most" and inserted "in this forum" after the word 'solvers,' you'd be more accurate. If "reasons that should be very obvious today" refers to the exploitation of the mostly naked male bodies in the picture, I wholeheartedly agree. If you refer to the zero mention of America's celebration of our Declaration of Independence from a tyrannical government (at the time), I also agree. I hope you do, or have done your part in making this a better place.
Maybe I’m just in a good mood, but I loved “To pieces?”
@Logan Me too, and I’m still laughing at BALLOONDOG.
@Logan I had "ODDS" for the longest time, as in "five to one odds." Sigh.
@Logan That makes one of us. That was my least favorite moment in an otherwise delightful solving experience. In fact, it's why I'm here in comments: seeking like-minded "to pieces" dislikers. So imagine my surprise when I read that it was well-liked by some.
@Logan "To pieces" took a minute to figure out, and then I laughed. Delightful, a treasure.
A word about SHOHEI OHTANI, for the uninitiated. Not following baseball is not a cromulent reason for not knowing this name. It's like saying you don't follow soccer, so you've never heard of Lionel Messi. Or Tom Brady for football. Or LeBron James for basketball. But with one divergent fact. In baseball, you are expected to be one of two things, a pitcher or an everyday player. A pitcher plays every five days, generally speaking, or a few times a week in short relief appearances. Everyone else plays every day. Pitchers were never expected to be good batters, and a couple of years ago, the designated hitter rule became universal, so nowadays no pitcher ever batters. Except SHOHEI OHTANI. He is both an outstanding batter, having joined the 50/50 club as its only member (as referenced in the clue), and an excellent pitcher, who is just now returning to the rotation after having had surgery in late 2023. There has only been one player who was able to dominate the sport on offense and as a pitcher, but he did not do both at the same time. That man was Babe Ruth. He was a star pitcher first, and then his hitting prowess made his team realize he'd be more valuable as a hitter, so he stopped pitching. The football equivalent would be if Tom Brady were both an outstanding quarterback and linebacker at the same time. In other sports, there is no equivalent.
@Steve L You had me at "cromulent".
@Steve L You know I like and respect you but I just can't agree with you here. I know you love baseball, but over here I know literally nobody who watches it - not a single person. As far as I remember, I never saw a baseball match browsing the 200 or so channels on Polish cable tv when I still watched it 10 or 20 years ago (American football was regularly on though). There is no reason for me to know the guy, and my literally only opportunity to learn about him came about with these puzzles - and I actually remembered his name today. Despite reading your posts for 2 years now I still know so little about baseball that I can't at all appreciate how unique this guy may be. Football (soccer) has tens of millions of fans in Poland, and billions around the world, so I know some football names, like Messi. I don't care about knowing them, as I don't care about football, but it's just unavoidable that I learn them. Janja Garnbret is the best competition climber, male or female, who has ever lived. She does both lead and boulder, and excells at both. Nobody has ever been as good at it as she is, and perhaps there never will be anybody that awsome again. Have you heard of her?
@Steve L In the early days of football it was not uncommon for players to play both offense and defense. One of the best examples was the Eagles Chuck Bednarik. And just last year Travis Hunter played both wide receiver and cornerback for the University of Colorado and hopes to do so in the NFL this year. Whether the Jaguars allow him to remains to be seen.
@Steve L If I have ever heard or seen his name before, it's certainly has not made any lasting impression in my brain. But I got it from every single cross and I have no complaints about him being in the puzzle. Next time, I will probably remember that I know this name and maybe not need quite as many crosses.... we'll see. Also, I see that his birthday is tomorrow!! I learned Messi here in the puzzles, as well. I used to follow the nfl, so Tom Brady is very known. And yes I do know of LeBron James even though I don't follow basketball. So, I agree with you in a lot of these things but, I don't know, unless it's a sport I follow or care about, or they've crossed from sports news into a wider set of news, I probably haven't heard of them. But I think you know me well enough to know I don't complain about that sort of thing. There are gaps in my knowledge and sometimes they show up in the puzzles and then some of those lapses get filled in a bit, which is a good thing. Plus, though it was a bit on the easier side, it is a Friday and I expect to encounter things I don't know.
@Steve L The basketball equivalent is a player who is outstanding both offensively and defensively, like LeBron James at his peak.
Steve, I have heard of him. I needed every cross to spell his name. (As noted early last night, that was not a problem).
@Steve L As Andrzey says, baseball is not regarded as a major sport in countries such as Poland. The same applies ot the UK. Just as most people here have not hear of Janja Gambert because climbing is a minority sport, most people here have not heard of Shohei Ohtani. I have only met that name because I do the NYT crossword. Just as I have not heard of most of the other stars of sports that are much bigger in the US than the UK who have featured in this crossword. Babe Ruth I have hear of and Joe DiMaggio, but the latter marrying Marilyn Munroe is probably a larger chunk of that. I know there was someone known "as the refrigerator" and there was some coverage of Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan etc playing in the one sport. Sohei Ohtani has the additional complication that there are not many Japanese people in the UK and so my brain (which isn't very good with names in the first place) hasn't been configured to remember names like this. Foreign sport stars whose name I can remember are people like Jonah Lomu, Muttiah Muralitharan, Bishan Bedi, Asif Iqbal, Imran Khan and Sunil Gavaskar. They both have played against English sports teams in my life and, except for Lomu, are from ethnic backgrounds which are well-represented in the UK. So their names are more memorable to be for two different reasons. I don't expect you or other Americans to have heard of any of them apart from Imran Khan who became prime minister of Pakistan and was then forced out of office and imprisoned.
@Steve L Competition bouldering involves climbing short, intense problems on a wall no higher than 4,5m. When one fails, one falls onto a thick mattress. Bouldering requires technique and strength, and a perfect sense of balance, but typically endurance is not very important. The point is to do the problem in as few attempts as possible. The climbers have 4-5 minutes on each problem for their attempts. Doing the boulder on the first try is called a flash. Janja usually flashes all her boulders. Competition lead climbing (as in, leading as a leader does) involves climbing a route on a wall typically 15-18m high. The climber has a rope attached to their harness, given out by a belayer at the bottom of the wall. The climber clips the rope into quickdraws (carabiners, sort of), every 1m or so along the route. When the climber falls, they hang on the rope by the harness. The goal is to get as far along the route as one can without fakling, with the Top being the ultimate point. There is a 6 minute time limit. Endurance is key, but strength and technique matter, too. Janja Garnbret almost always tops routes. Janja's strength and endurance are outstanding. The fact she flashes almost all boulders and tops almost all routes is preternatural.
@Andrzej Climbing fan here. Like you, I know a lot more about those competitions than about baseball. When a relative is competing, our whole family watches the live stream and texts comments to each other.
@Steve L I follow baseball very loosely nowadays, and I'm amazed that a pitcher would steal and dive into the bag that much. Risk of injury seems high. I suppose he reaches for the base with this glove hand.
@Steve L Australia would like a word… <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Bradman" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Bradman</a>
Oh, I adored “THIS OLD THING?”. I can’t put my finger on why, but I just imagine someone saying it after getting a compliment about an article of clothing, and it just touches my heart. I adore word quirks as well, and here we had two palindromes, ELLE and ATTA, each consisting of two twice-used letters in the same vowel-consonant pattern. The adorathon continued with [Start to rally, maybe] a fresh clue for SERVE, and special props to an original clue for an answer that has appeared more than 500 times in the Times – the stellar [To pieces?] for ODES. A good omen for this puzzle was the grid design, which has been used only twice before in the NYT, by the Queen of Fridays, Robyn Weintraub. Anyway, for me, this was an adorable puzzle, and a lovely balance for what will be a long evening of reassuring our stressed-out dog during an evening of nearby fireworks shows and neighborhood pops and bangs. Thank you for this splendid outing, Colin!
@Lewis Are you a fan of the Christmas classic, It's a Wonderful Life? The scene came immediately to mind. <a href="https://youtu.be/QPxkX6pPBr8?si=3nx9D0iSOxF1L6Vj" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/QPxkX6pPBr8?si=3nx9D0iSOxF1L6Vj</a>
@HeathieJ -- Oh, thank you for that. That's a terrific scene!
@Lewis Yay! Elsewhere I wondered if "To pieces?" would make next week's list.
Maybe it’s that it’s 4am, but I just couldn’t see the HOOHA/UHOK cross (I was only seeing ‘I’m OK”) and UBER and OXES in the SE corner. Had to close the puzzle and do Wordle, Connections, and Strands really quick while the back of the brain processed the jigsaw puzzle pieces. Other than that, it was a zippy puzzle. Really great cluing and interesting entries—a real Friday treat. Happy Fourth, everyone!
Got it in the end, but the OXES corner had me annoyed for a long long time. Also, not sure that “please rise” is a thing. In every court I’ve been in, it’s not a please… the magisterial command “all rise” lets everyone know who’s who!
@Chuck Berger Yeah… and “please rise” seems like less of an order than a polite request. Maybe we’ve just been in less friendly courts.
@Chuck Berger I've watched enough Peoples' Court, Judge Judy, and LA Law episodes to know that it's never PLEASE RISE. Not in this uncivil country, anyway.
@Chuck Berger When the judge is about to read the verdict, he/she may address the defendant by name and say, “Please rise.” It’s not always left to the bailiff.
Unless Santorini is a Greek restaurant in Ithaca NY, if you ask for “a gyros” on Thira you will not get a sandwich … any more than a Brezeln in Bavaria is what you would call a pretzel. Food evolves and I’m delighted that Greeks and Turks and everyone else is exporting tastes and even happier that you like them. What you may want to order in Santorini is “a souvlaki with gyro” (declensions are important in Greek). You’ll have to decide on whether you want onions, tomato, sauce, chips (your fries) etc or just “me ola” ie the lot. Just gyros will get you the meat … Sorry for the rant but I was pretty sure @Andrzej would abide 😀😀 Nice puzzle otherwise
@Ιασων Even I (Hi, Francis!) winced at the GYROS thing. I loved your post - almost as much as Greek cuisine 😃
NYC residents don't have to go a Santorini as far away as Ithaca (NY) to find a GYRO (no S!) called a sandwich. <a href="https://santorinigreeksleepyhollow.com" target="_blank">https://santorinigreeksleepyhollow.com</a>/# Have a tamale! Or shawarma. Or doner kebab.
I’ve fallen down a flying fox hole. Remarkable creatures. Excellent video about them: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5SaGn9wEsE" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5SaGn9wEsE</a> Given their nomadic nature, and the catastrophic effects of global warming on them, it’s fitting they were crossed by FORAYS and ATMOSPHERE. Lovely puzzle.
@Puzzlemucker PM! [beams]
@Puzzlemucker Fantastic video; thanks for sharing.
oHTANI is a historically relevant baseball player who will probably go down as one of the all-time greats. That said, if the only way to fit his name in a crossword requires you to also include HOOHA, you should probably skip him and go with RUTH or BERRA.
@Delg I wanted to fit Rickey Henderson in.
I thought I was wo clever when I put down Relit, for putting a Pilot Back In Action. Alas.
What do you get when you cross a baseball player with a FRUITBAT? A nice Friday puzzle from Colin Adams. Leaving in my MUSCLECAR now. (I'm not MEDIASHY.)
@Barry Ancona What do you get when you cross a baseball player with a FRUITBAT? A protagonist in a new Godzilla film. A fly(ing) catcher with a sweet tooth. Motherhood, baseball, and apple pie. Happy Fourth!
Today I learned that FRUITBAT and SQUIRREL have the same number of letters and the UI in the same position. Boy, did that add a layer of difficulty to the right side that was already difficult!
@MamaKat. Me too! It became clear later when the Q was working with the down answer.
I'm positively thrilled for the people who found this puzzle mind-numbingly easy, but I'm grateful for the time away from the times that it took me to solve it. The clues that could go either way were especially appreciated, because I got a little bit of a lift each time I figured one out. We're living in a grim fairy tale now and it's not one that promises to end well. Thank you for the respite, Colin Adams. I can't lie, I was happy to be at a loss for that baseball player. You brightened my day.
@dutchiris Keep the faith. And maybe get a Signal account and encourage those you trust to do the same.
Why was six afraid of seven? Because seven was a registered six offender. And speaking as a Gen X woman, that's not what HOO-HA means. This one involved a lot of Googling, but cheers to all the sports / car / geography people out there. I can tell you had fun.
SHOHnIOHTANI was just a string of letters to me and made me doubt every crossing entry— except for the one I should have doubted. (TIL in Spanish “n” is not “enn”, it’s “ene”!) I wouldn’t have found my error with a spotlight and GPS coordinates, so I happily defaulted to autocheck and a pretty blue star. Sportsball ignorance: it gets me every time.
@Heidi Same. It felt pretty diabolical.
@Heidi Crossing OHTANI (I knew the answer but not how to spell first and last name) with ENE is two foreign language clues (basing off of New York) crossing, which equal a Natick. Other than that, a fine puzzle.
@Heidi Exactly. As I wrote above, it's like shaking a bag of scrabble tiles and getting an unfortunate selection on your tray. (And I don't know the Spanish alphabet or how its letters are spelled phonetically.) I didn't resort to any lookups but I did have to roll the alphabet to get the last "e" in "ene".
@Heidi Agree with this — this was exactly where I got stuck too and had to lookup the answer key.
Personally a very difficult puzzle. I got stuck on several of the crossings, and was completely lost on the baseball references. Also not helped by some wrong entries on my part (SQUIRREL instead of FRUIT BAT springs to mind. I also somehow put HOCUS POCUS instead of ATMOSPHERE which to be honest I have no idea why my brain went there.) As a fun aside to the wordplay column, there are actually four Paddington bear themed 50p pieces. Each showcasing Paddington bear at different London landmarks: St Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace and, of course, Paddington Station. Why yes I do collect coins why do you ask 😂
"GASES" right-most column??? That's Surface-of-the-Earth centric! Depends on pressure and temperature -- these elements can easily be solids and liquids. They are however, in their elemental state, NOBLE (but they are not INERT). So much for science education in the US....
@Super8ing Sure. And where are we all located as we solve this puzzle? ;-)
@Super8ing "That's Surface-of-the-Earth centric!" Guilty as accused! There's a Stanislaw Lem short story which tells of a planet, Cryonia, whose inhabitants carve gemstones of of solid Helium, Neon, etc., the artistry of which is renowned throughout the Galaxy. Three Electroknights conduct forays to Cryonia, in attempts to steal the jewels; but in each case, their very presence raises the ambient temperature and causes the gems to sublimate and go "pooft." A beautiful metaphor for the vanity of avarice.
@Super8ing, I had bASES for the longest time. What do I know? 🤷🏻♂️
Solved it when I finally gave up on the idea that a flying fox is not some kind of squirrel but a FRUITBAT. Anyone else make that mistake? Always learning something from the crossword.
@Marty Yep, fellow members of team sqUIrrel 🐿️ unite!
@Marty When I had the AT, I assumed it would be a cat, even though that didn't gibe with the UI. It took me a bit to change gears from that.
I posted this on a comment for Lewis but I wanted all to enjoy. From the holiday classic, It's a Wonderful Life: <a href="https://youtu.be/QPxkX6pPBr8?si=W5IqcJ99575PwdoZ" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/QPxkX6pPBr8?si=W5IqcJ99575PwdoZ</a> Enjoyed this puzzle! Needed every single cross for SHOHEIOHTANI but that's what crosses are for and I found them quite gentle. And looking into who he is more, I learned that tomorrow is his birthday, so if you're a fan you can send your birthday wishes! I don't think they're FRUITBATS, but every night here in Utila, a or two will fly through our front porch. Front porches are life out here, so we're out there quite a bit. At first I thought I was imagining something bc it almost looked like an apparition. It went so fast and it almost didn't seem solid. I wondered if it could have been an eye floater... I didn't say anything because, ICAN'TLIE, if I'm going insane or blind, I would rather do it back home, but a couple days later someone else commented on them and I was like phew! Evidence of my sanity is always a precious thing! I liked the clues for ODES and PLEASERISE a lot. Grateful for fun diversions and good company out here on the message boards. The days here are pretty busy but at night when everyone is gone and we put Ma to bed, I have a chance to read the news. I read some of it to my husband last night. After a while he said, you're never going to sleep if you keep reading things that upset you, why don't you do your puzzle? 😆 My sweetheart was right as usual!! 🍸 to all of us! 🍸
@HeathieJ That scene is exactly what went through my mind as I filled the squares! One of my all time favourite films.
@HeathieJ What a great old movie. Oh, how those men loved a flirt. But thankfully today's men are educated and liberated and would never look at a woman as a mere "object". [I especially enjoyed the hair flip,]
So much for the MOL! I just could not get going on the NE corner despite knowing SHOHEI OHTANI and guessing TONI. I put in RODS and took it out, since STROLL would not fit for the model's runway walk. Models STALK and STOMP/STAMP. Then I tried to modify BALLOON TOY....(the BALLOON acts come up with all manner of creations. I even got WHISKS!!! To no avail. OH, OK. I see the tricky 13D clue, and even with OHTANI there to put me in the mood for baseball, I didn't figure out the runners; I was thinking of plants or Congressional pages. I do slightly quibble over STRUT....models are there to present the fashion designers' works, not to call attention to themselves (as STRUT would imply.) The clothes should be the focus, not the body wearing them. Welp. After all the hurly-burly in DC (HOOHA? Srsly?) the sun also RISEs.....on a day I never would have believed could come.
@Mean Old Lady Here's a more detailed look at what goes into a model's catwalk strut: Purposeful Stride: Models don't just walk; they strut. This involves a controlled, rhythmic pace with deliberate movements designed to showcase the clothing from various angles. STRUT was my first thought when I read the clue, but I didn't enter it until I had a few crosses to confirm it.
I slowed myself down by deciding early on that a flying fox is a type of SQUIRREL. Oh well.
@Steve I made the same mistake initially 😆🤦🏼♀️
@Steve Yep. I was stranded with about half the puzzle unfilled. Once I fixed that, I flew through the rest. Nice puzzle overall!
So grateful for an easy Friday because it's been a hard day, not only because of certain events, but also because I'm not feeling well. Nevertheless, this non-sports fan got all of the sports references this time, even if the reason I know of Shohei Ohtani has nothing to do with his athletic prowess but with the unfortunate actions of his translator that were all over the news. Going to sleep now. Good night all.
@Beth in Greenbelt By the time you wake up tomorrow and read this, I hope you'll be rested, refreshed, and all well! 💕
@Beth in Greenbelt I hope you can so keep away whatever is ailing you.
@Beth in Greenbelt I needed every single cross for SHOHEIOHTANI. Yikes! Smooth going otherwise. Today was definitely rough.... Sorry you are under the weather on top of the madness. Feel better soon! ☺️
I have no idea how I was able to complete this puzzle without lookups, and quickly, too 💪 I knew little of the names and trivia - only ELLE and TONI were gimmes, and TETON came to me with a few crosses (my wife and I loved Grand Teton National Park). The most astonishing experience was confidently putting in the missing letters in the baseball player's name: I must have remembered him from previous puzzles, and given the very weird spelling (it looks absolutely cray cray to a native Polish speaker), it was quite a feat. In the end I thought the NE corner would be my undoing. I have no idea what Hurly-burly means, and I didn't know who/what puts runners out. I had _OO__ and T_GS there. The latter became HOO__ when I remembered the baseball player. Ok... UHOK (how I dislike entries like that...) was more likely than UmOK. So... HOOH_ x T_GS. Nope, not a "u". Oh! An "a"! Voila, gold star! I still didn't understand either of the clues at this point but at least the puzzle was complete, and in closer to Wednesday time rather than Friday. The column tells me TAGS was about baseball... Today's constructor had little mercy for us foreign solvers, that's for sure 🤣 CHIN for gossip was new to me, and the etymology eludes me. Is it short for chinwag, which has to do with the action of the chin wagging when one talks, as the internet seems to be telling me? But the chin moves when talking about non-gossipy things, too... I'm so confused 🤪 It was an OK puzzle.
@Andrzej I thought of you facing SHOHEI..,BATTERSBOX, COACHK. Glad you aced it. Btw, when considering German cars don't overlook Audi. I enjoyed driving various Quattro models over the years.
@Andrzej I was a little bewildered by the hurly-burly one as well. I thought it was a storm, maybe metaphorical. One of the weird sisters in Macbeth has the lines, "When the hurly burly's done. When the battle's lost and won." But I don't think I've ever seen it anywhere else. I probably got it all from the annotations.
@Andrzej I think chinwag for gossip is to do with the fact that when gossiping you are achieving nothing _but_ wagging your chin. Whereas when talking about non-gossipy things, yes your chin still wags, but with purpose. See also to flap one’s gums 😁 I’ve never heard chinwag shortened to chin though
@Teresa When I've heard it spoken, it was more like, "Uuuuh...OK....." indicating lack of complete agreement, but a grudging willingness to go along. Rather than the more spritely sound of complete agreement, "Oh! OK." The clue to me implied the former, so I felt pretty confident of the U.
Baseball player was just a string of guessing letters and even as a Brit the P in Paddington makes no sense I’m afraid. Enjoy the weekend everyone
Some unnecessary forced entries in this grid. Most of the solve was good but some serious nits to pick: 3D It's "All Rise". No bailiff ever says please. It's too informal for a courtroom. 9D is arcane and impossible to sound out unless you just know it. Unfriendly cross with 25A. 18A Dog is completely made up. It could be one of several dozen possible fills for types of balloon art. 61A - No, just no.... I don't care if it's "technically" correct.
Michael, I hope you're not bleeding from all that picking.
@Michael Agreed, same stumbling blocks for me.
@Michael Well, the plural of the synonymous (but apparently unrelated) word "lummox" is definitely not "lummoxen". ;-) That said, we can easily make 46D BYRON, with 45A becoming "leading nonprofit organization supporting vision care". And "Request in church" could serve for PLEASERISE, but then we lose the cutesy "Order in the court".
@Michael What bailiff? Before every NBA game, the national anthem is played and everyone is instructed to PLEASE RISE at the basketball court.
@Michael SHOHEIOHTANI is arcane?! He’s one of the current superstars of baseball! I know next to nothing and have no interest in the game and that was a gimme for me.
@Michael I'm glad you liked the puzzle overall, but I just wanted to comment to that I don't think 9D is arcane. I didn't know it, but I know very little sports ball people or facts these days. From what I've read, he's quite well known and has had seasons that are contenders for the best in baseball history, possibly comparable with Babe Ruth. See Steve L's post below. My main point is, not knowing something doesn't make it arcane. ☺️
@Michael SHOHEI OHTANI is one of the most famous athletes in the US. Baseball bores me to tears, but even I know who he is. Not an "arcane" reference at all.
@Michael After the Nichole Rice Not Guilty verdict, the judge or someone off camera says "Please rise". Never say "No [x] ever says [y]" because there will likely be video somewhere proving you wrong. It's at about 1:10 in this video. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sFIiOf_ghJ4" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sFIiOf_ghJ4</a>
While not a question, I really wanted the answer to the clothing compliment clue to be "it has pockets" (which does fit!).
@Emmy Haha! I agree with your enthusiasm even if it isn't a question. The addition of pockets in more women's clothing these days is a delightfully welcome new trend!! I bought a couple dresses last year for a variety of occasions and everyone who complimented me on them, I pretty much yelled in my enthusiasm,, "They have pockets!!" And then I proceeded to show them because I'm classy like that. 😄
@Emmy I hope you construct a crossword that centres around that very answer!
i would like to formally dedicate today’s perfect, lookup-less, column-less Friday solve to the Seattle Mariners. thank you for keeping me in the loop on MLB news (that I would otherwise not pay any attention to) juuuuuuuuuust enough to have read several headlines containing the name Shohei Ohtani in the past year or so. luckiest “what if it’s this guy lol” first guess for me, ever! hoping the team has the same luck for the rest of the season :) go mariners!
Most of this puzzle came together fairly quickly for me, and I thought a lot of the longer clues were nicely clever, but… OXES? Is there something I’m missing here? Normally the plural of ox is “oxen”.
@MRR - You're not missing anything. It's definitely the nonstandard plural form. Seems like the clue should have had "(var.)" appended, though I don't know if the NYT crossword uses that convention (many other puzzles do). In its defense, I see (from XWord Info) that "oxes" has appeared in the Times puzzle eight times, and it's also a legal Scrabble word. That said, I think it sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise enjoyable puzzle.
@MRR Oxen are animals that pull a cart. Oxes are dummies that drive you crazy.
@MRR The plural of ox the animal is oxen, but the clue was for oafs, and evidently the plural for an ox that is an oaf can be oxes.
@MRR What I was able to figure out is ox is short for lummox, i.e. an oaf. Therefore it's no longer the bovine so it gets the normal plural form.
Happy 4th, Crosslandia! This puzzle hit close to home today. Seeing SHOHEI OHTANI debuted in the puzzle was pretty cool and leads me to this story. In the summer of 2019, we hosted a rising college baseball player named Will Klein when we lived in Wisconsin. He’s a closing pitcher and he played in the Northwoods League for the Lakeshore Chinooks. He got drafted by the KC Royals the following year and made his major league debut in 2024. He was traded to the Oakland Athletics, then the Seattle Mariners, and this past month was picked up by the Dodgers! My son got to see him pitch two days ago and clinch the win against the White Sox. Needless to say, we are super excited to have him close by and able to watch him play in person once again. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Klein_(baseball)?wprov=sfti1#Amateur_career" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Klein_(baseball)?wprov=sfti1#Amateur_career</a>
Confidently entered ITHASPOCKETS for 21D on my first pass, it hurt to delete
When I can shave 8 minutes off my Friday time I have to believe this otherwise good puzzle was published on the wrong day of the week.
@Dave S similar and agreed! 9 seconds from being a Friday best, but 10min below average. Congrats on the new PR!
@Dave S But which day? Only Friday and Saturday are themeless.
Good puzzle with some fun clues. As for difficulty, maybe it was put on a Friday due to the sports entries? SHOHEIOHTANI, COACHK, BATTERSBOX.. These were instant gets for me and led to one of my fastest Friday times ever, but I imagine if someone is not familiar with Shohei Ohtani, the puzzle becomes a bit more difficult. Still probably not Friday difficult tho.
This and yesterday's puzzle each seemed about a day off of where they should be in the week in terms of difficulty. But a satisfying solve, and I'm not complaining about a gentle Friday entry to ease us into a holiday weekend. The only entry I didn't love was OXES. Shouldn't the plural be OXEN? Then again, saying, "After Al coughed in my coffee, and Joe sneezed in my soup, I swore to never eat with such dumb oxen again," doesn't sound right either!
@Jim But would you ever eat with such lummoxen again? Yeah, "oxes" sounds a little off, but maybe we have to think outside our boxen. And think bat instead of squirrel for flying foxen.
Nice Friday puzzle and an enjoyable workout. Not all that easy for me, of course - some of it because of my memory. Most notably SHOHEIOHTANI. I'm a big baseball fan and absolutely knew that and... couldn't remember. Had to work it out. That's all on me. Appropriate puzzle find today. A Thursday from July 4, 1985 by A. J. Santora. Two fifteen letter theme answers, each of them with a connected answer right beneath them, and placed symmetrically in the puzzle. Here those are as placed: IMAYANKEEDOODLE DANDY BORNONTHEFOURTH ------------------OFJULY Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=7/4/1985&g=47&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=7/4/1985&g=47&d=A</a> I'm done. ....
1) Thanks for featuring me in today's photo; 2) I'm getting a streak going, but most of the time my solve seems attributable to luck. Hmm...
@Jeff Z Lolllollo! Smiling :~} ... Thank you.
Nice puzzle with some witty clues. As a baseball fan, SHOHEIOHTANI was a gimme, but I liked the sneaky baseball clues (TAGS and BATTERSBOX) as well. Also FRUITBAT made me chuckle because it called to mind the classic Monty Python sketch in which John Cleese attempts to purchase a license for his fish, Eric, in the course of which he reveals that he paid 8 quid for a license for his FRUITBAT, Eric.
@Marshall Walthew I too couldn't help but "hear" that entry in a Cleeseian voice.
@Marshall Walthew Do I recall correctly that Eric is really his pet bee (half a bee, actually), but there's no such thing as a bee license, which is why he's requesting a fish license? Or did I dream it?
@Marshall Walthew omg I wore out my vinyl copy of matching tie and handkerchief. I still often say "look, it's people like you what cause unrest" and "did did did did didn't did". <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2maz36_q6Fk" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2maz36_q6Fk</a>
@Dan Think there was another way to clue that?
[Hurly-burly] and HOOHA. What's the uproar about a clue and and an entry that are both in the dictionary as synonyms for uproar?
Thank dog I’m sports-avoidant so it entertained me nicely 31 minutes, some of which was cat distraction. Even so, a good easy Friday. Thank you. Enjoy this “long weekend” as the name of the holiday seems to have lost its meaning.
@Jeanne Would it help by recognizing the presence of a God, over a dog? Are you blaming the retail industry for the loss of July 4th's original meaning? I'll agree, it seems all about sales and spending money. BTW, I didn't see underhanded comments from our Canadian neighbors in their celebratory well-wishes for Canada day.
Hurly burly. Seems like a lot of hooha to me. You guys are dumber than bricks. Gossip is chin? Get a grip. Can’t believe I pay for this. Quit.
@NYT Author Hater "You guys"??? Who guys???
Time to get my geek on... I believe EWOKS are from the forest moon of Endor and not from Endor itself. But overall a very relaxing puzzle anyway for a Friday. Didn't have to pull out any of my hair at all!
@Paul the Newf - I always thought “forest moon of Endor” was just a descriptive way of referencing Endor, the forest moon. But there are probably wikis out there where people have already fully debated and concluded the forest moon of Endor didn’t merit its own name beyond what kind of a moon it was to the planet Endor lol.
@Paul the Newf Couldn’t sleep last night and picked up a Sunday from June 2023 in the archive. It was a bear of a puzzle so I looked at the Wordplay comments and another poster made the same observation about Ewoks and the forest moon of Endor. I do love the degree of serendipity (and continuity) we find in this simple pastime!
I got delayed while I mustered up this entry, but I'll ketchup.
A generally workmanlike puzzle with a few sparkling entries—MUSCLECAR over SPEEDWAY; FRUITBAT. But I do think clueing ORAL with a wholly unnecessary brand name reference showed a lack of imagination.
@Marc A. Leaf One problem a constructor might face with ORAL is that it shows up often in a CW…351 times in the last 30 years (the modern era), so it’s tough to be fresh. <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Finder" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Finder</a>
I literally did not realize it wasn't Saturday until I reached the end of the constructor's comments. I had been thinking this puzzle was slightly easy for a Saturday. Well, it's perfect for a Friday! I got hung up on 6D, which I wanted to be relit. My stove is ancient, and a stiff breeze will snuff out the pilot lights, so I am constantly having to relight them. Anyway, I eventually figured out that there's no such thing as a bllloon dog, so I go the gold star in the end! Happy Independence Day!
With thanks to @HeathieJ I too immediately had that scene from my favourite film go through my head. Sadly most of the clothes in my wardrobe are in the category of ‘why, I wear this when I don’t care how I look’. The animals and, let’s face it, the general farming community don’t give a hoot. FRUITBAT, yes. There is a wildlife park in Kent that has a bat house; no cages, they’re just flying around your head. I went on a Beaver pack trip with one of the kids; none of the other adults would go in so I had the whole pack, most of them hiding under my arms. The bats are huge and very, very smelly, but absolutely fascinating to watch. A great, chewy Friday offering. The Paddington clue threw me for ages, til the penny finally dropped.
For those of you unable to hop on a bus and go to Six Flags Great Adventure, I give you this POV video of EL TORO: <a href="https://youtu.be/nNLgc6_qm8k" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/nNLgc6_qm8k</a> Fun puzzle, thanks Mr. Adams.
@Bob T. Thoroughly enjoyed that! I have such fond memories of Six Flags from (eek) 20 years ago when I backpacked around North America.
Whenever there's a reference to models' walks in a puzzle, I'm contractually obligated to post this. <a href="https://youtu.be/P5mtclwloEQ?si=yccUR-JmtJhXiVUw" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/P5mtclwloEQ?si=yccUR-JmtJhXiVUw</a> Nice puzzle, that gave me, and apparently many others, fits in the NE. I saw a revival of David Rabe's play, Hurly Burly, (great cast) a long time ago, but that was not helpful here. What would have helped was getting the DOG part of BALLOON DOG. I had the O, but for the life of me, could not see it.
@Vaer :-) I thought about posting that vid too, but decided on the one from Portlandia ("Cacao") instead. I don't think anyone bothered to click.
@Bill I'm always torn between this and the Sex and the City scene where Carrie falls on the runway, Heidi Klum steps over her, and Sanford says Oh my god, she's fashion roadkill.
@Vaer And here I was hoping it would be Zoolander!! 😃
@Bill I couldn’t find the Portlandia clip.
Boy, I sure do not know where to put A's and O's in CACAO. I think I started with COCOA. Which still seems right to me, come to think of it.
@Francis They’re two different things. CACAO is the raw product, the actual Ivory Coast export in this case. What we then make out of it is cocoa, the stuff you get in a tin.
@Francis I did the exact same thing, CoCoa first, CACAO later. BTW. A friend gifted us roasted cacao seeds. They are supposed to be a snack. Madre de dios! They are so horribly unpalatable it boggles the mind! Dry, bitter, gritty... I can't imagine anybody enjoying them. It's like trying to eat tree bark. I'd only feed that stuff to an enemy, and only if I were in an especially cruel mood.
“Hoo-ha” in my mind is quite different from “hurly-burly.”The latter refers to something like a battle, or at least the noise of it, as in Macbeth, whereas the former is conversational excitement, say about an exciting new product or restaurant or perhaps a political upset, as in Mamdani.
@Michael G I never works have gotten hooha regardless of how it’s clued.
@Michael G Just on the edge of my memory I have the idea of someone saying like "from what I hear, that party was quite the hoo-ha". Maybe something from a Doris Day movie, or the like.
@Michael G I seem to recall from my long-ago childhood that many English speakers whose native language was Yiddish would use hoo-ha. So I just checked M-W and found this: "Etymology probably from Yiddish hu-ha uproar, exclamation of surprise. And boy, am I surprised!
Some elegant, long beauties- PLEASE RISE THIS OLD THING ILL CATCH UP ATMOSPHERE BATTERS BOX and SHEIOYOETKNIEOTIANIHO. Thank heavens this is a *crossword* puzzle. Truly enjoyed it. Tiny request to whomever is certainly *not* reading this ever? It’s Friday. Question marks are like having the answer key. Maybe less, or even zero in the late-weeks..? [ …crickets… 🎵 ] Thank you Colin! Always a joy. Enjoy your Saturday all!
For 20A. “Just being honest…” and I_AN___E, I was hopeful for ImANarsE, because it captures the essence of a non-apology.