When it comes to bird puns, owl never egret them. (Okay, now it's your tern.)
Mike, Can one eagle on a crossword? (Or is that too much to swallow?)
@Mike One bird can't make a pun, but toucan.
@Mike Shirr heaven to see you back! We really souffle when you're not here to egg us on. Omelette you off this time, but please fry to do batter.
@Mike There's a guy who thinks his pigeon is a bird of Paradise. It's flying around the bases. He calls it a homer! Most think he's stork raven mad.
@Mike I’ll sparrow my attempt, it’s not my gull
@Mike thought I’d pigeon, but everyone is so swift!
Enough with the fowl humor! I'm tired of heron it!
@Mike When I open the comments section, I normally just think “Cor, more rant?” Then I see your puns and I think “I wish Eider thought of that!” (If this is the last reply in the thread, please forgive me for bringing up the Rhea)
@Mike I have a flicker of an idea but I'm too yellow-bellied to lay it on the table.
@Mike You go around robin nests, and it just makes my eyes finch. So, I hoopoe this is the wren of it.
@Mike I was going to join in but decided to chicken out. [ ducks down ]
Tough but not all that fun. I didn't enjoy these clues and was not familiar with a lot of the fill. The theme felt middling to me. I thought perhaps "common" was a play on "come on" regarding the late arriver. Like the constructor, I too miss the United States very much. And I live here. :(
@B First of all, I am so, so, so, so, so glad you're posting again. Second, I am very sorry about the blowup a few days ago about a puzzle. Please accept my humble, un-nuanced apology. Third, I completely agree with you opinion of the puzzle, other than you liked it more than I did.
@Francis I tried to reply but it's not appearing. This forum, man. I copied it this time so here goes another try - I'd self censor but I can't find anything objectionable: No sweat. We're all semi-anonymous schmoes here. With opinions that smell like everyone else's. I don't think I spent much time on that thread but I don't recall anything you'd need to apologize for. I remember the emus were voracious that night and my posts weren't appearing. Maybe you slammed me after I left. :) But your sentiment is accepted regardless. Hope you have a good week; I noticed you admitted to being cranky. Quite understandable. We've moved a bit past the curse of interesting times and into appalling ones...
@B You and ME both!
@B And there's my original reply, appearing nearly a full day after the "I tried to reply" post that INCLUDED a paste of the exact text in its entirety. The emu algorithm and/or mod team process has really not gotten any better at this stuff over the years. :(
After almost 50 years, I just got the joke in “Asterix and Obelix”.
@Petrol I always thought the comic book character was named Obélix because his height and heft resembled an obelisk. There’s the famous “obélisque” in t(e center of the Place de la Concorde after all.
@Petrol I think you mean "Asterices and Obeli".
@Petrol For those like me who still didn't get it, "The dagger usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used." (Wikipedia) Thanks Petrol.
@Petrol I just got it after reading your comment!
TIL about OBELI. I always just called them “.daggers”.
This puzzle was so far up my alley that if it were a VAN, it would have RAMmed right into my garage. Not that I know anything about BIRD CALLs. As I sit here waiting for the coffee to finish brewing, there’s a bird, er, hooting? outside my window somewhere. It’s done this faithfully each morning since we moved into the house, and each morning for going on a year now I’ve wondered if owls hoot after sunrise. Have I looked it up? I have not, and I’m someone who looks everything up. Loved, loved the clue for AMERICAN CROW. Currently an expat like Ginny, I also found my last Thanksgiving and 4th of July lacking in proper fanfare. No one was crowding around the frozen turkeys for the former and we flew our flag alone for the latter. Today feels particularly expat-y as I hear the morning traffic in the distance. It’s Pioneer Day in Utah. We should be home, fixing to watch the parade. [Ahh, yes. That first sip of coffee.] Back to the puzzle. AMERICAN CROW was a bittersweet reminder of the cawing I used to wake up to when we lived in Seattle. We’d been adopted by a crow, whom I christened Cawrlos. Cawrlos later brought his family—his crow wife Isabella and little Cawrlito and Bella. Those 3 years were the only time I inhaled books about a bird species. Which, I might add, I’d read while Cawrl sat on a branch near me, usually in companionable silence, occasionally rattling or clicking to get my attention. How I miss our special relationship. Thank you, Ginny. Fantastic puzzle.
@Sam Lyons That’s a beautiful crow story. I think there could be a Cawrl children’s book in your future. Hope you’re doing well! I also loved this offbeat puzzle.
@Sam Lyons Good puzzle and good comment! Have you tried the Merlin App that recognizes birdcalls? It’s free although eventually there would be asks for donations to Ornithology at Cornell, but yes first few tries are 100% free, I think. Great App
@Sam Lyons Just found out tonight that my brother-in-law helped design and build the float that one some big prize in the 24th Day parade! Very fun!!
Ah, the beauty in the box today! ARMADILLO, DIORAMA, LUSTER, SITS PAT, MOCHI, UNITARD, TEALIGHT, and my two favorites actually crossing, up there in the CAESAREAN section – MELISMA and SPELUNK. Then add … birds! I was given a bird feeder two years ago, and I’m smitten as I watch and listen to these stunning ravishing creatures – pulsing with personality and athleticism. Yes, athleticism – beelining at top speed, then stopping on a dime on the feeder’s perch, or dropping from the top of the feeder to the perch and landing perfectly every time. I love seeing them observe a code of conduct that determines who has first, second, and third rights to that perch. And the interaction of parents and their little ones. Birds, precious gift tossed into my life from out of the blue. Then there’s MOCHI. Melt-in-your-mouth mochi. And humor in the theme answer clues. And wordplay, i.e. [Head into?] for RAM. (Speaking of humor, to you remember Ginny’s clue for LIMO in her last puzzle – [Caaaaaaar, you might say]. Just an era of good feelings today. Mwah and thank you, Ginny – what a tonic!
@Lewis I'm sold. Give me whatever he's having. Make it a double.
Bird is the word. I thought the clues and answers were quite amusing. Good workout for my birdbrain. Forgive me, but I've gotta crow: I, too, am a mammal that can roll up into a ball. (Still waiting for a good reason to unroll.)
@ad asbirdum You could have added one more S to your today's nickname as a further tribute to the puzzle - 30D, specifically :D Unroll just to do that, maybe?
@andrzej Let's see if this gets through
Ok, this reminds me of a joke. A student never went to biology class on Birds. But he did show up for the final. On a table were twenty taxidermy bird specimens, but all but the legs were wrapped, so that the only part visible were the legs. The instructors said the final was to give for each bird: 1) the genus species name, 2) the natural habitat, 3) the mating behavior, 4) the average lifespan, and 5) the natural diet for the bird. Obviously the student had no idea, and in a huff we stood up and said "This is the stupidest test I've ever seen, and in the stupidest class taught by the stupidest professor." As he was walking out, the professor said "Just a moment, young man, what is your name?". The student pulled his pants leg up and said, "Here. You tell me."
@Francis I laughed so hard I have tears in my eyes. I literally became my favorite emoji:😂 Thanks!
@Francis Somehow, I think there’s some true — but rather sad — wisdom in that joke.
@Francis You've reminded me of my favorite philosophy exam joke. A lazy professor realizes that he's giving his final exam in a few minutes, but he hasn't yet prepared anything. When he gets to his classroom, he writes on the blackboard: "Compose a question that touches upon the major themes of this class and answer it." Most of the students get to work, busily writing to try to sum up the entire course in the allotted time. But one student pauses for a moment, quickly writes down a couple of sentences and turns in his exam. "This is it?" the professor questions. "I think you'll find it satisfies your requirements." The student's exam: "Question: Compose a question that touches upon the major themes of this class and answer it." "Answer: Compose a question that touches upon the major themes of this class and answer it." The professor gave him a B+.
Well it didn't help matters that I thought ELI CITY, preconditioned by iterations of ELI's here, which led to a s Nightmare on Eli Street ("The JD Vance Story!"). Good to see the obelus return. There are so many people I'd love to see with obeli next to their names. So many. Anyway, what a great puzzle, to come up with those great themers, to have them be symmetrical and of the right letter-count, to get the BIRD CALL thing in there, to make all the other clues rock -- that's a well wrought grid you got there buddy. And a debut that appears more slick than you'd think possible for a noob. [Telly Savalas goes two below par] BALD EAGLE [Justin Trudeau pinches you suggestively] CANADA GOOSE [Didn't get out of the way of the water balloon] LAME DUCK [Complaint from the man dressed as Shakespeare] RUFFED GROUSE [Dizzy takes a dive?] TRUMPETER SWAN [Bue colored swags and streamers] INDIGO BUNTING [Cowardly maple syrup lover] YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER
@john ezra Those are all fine but they aren’t bird CALLS—things you might call out—so this was a tighter theme then you might imagine.
Not a fun Thursday puzzle for me. The theme was middling and there was no fun twist. And many of the clues were straightforward trivia, not sparkly wordplay. I know they can't all be winners for everyone, every day. But as a Thursday puzzle lover, this one felt really flat and disappointing to me.
@Gregg I agree. Thursdays are the puzzles I most look forward to, but this one was flat. More of a Wednesday vibe, I thought, or even a Tuesday.
I’ve stopped reading most of the comments after completing puzzles, so much whining and griping, but I’m here to say I thought this was a fabulous and creative puzzle today, the most clever I’ve seen in quite a while! Congrats -
@Tom Bandy Do you not see the irony of whining and griping about others whining and griping? Or is meta-whining for some reason more worthy than other kinds?
@Tom Bandy I rather enjoy the whining and griping, particularly when someone (most often Barry) refutes a nit pick.
@Tom Bandy @Andrzej likes to complain about people who complain about complaining. And I'm with him. @Francis just likes to watch.
Cackling at the Doris Day bit in the column. Love that song!
Nice puzzle, Ginny. I guess it's officially Easy Week at the Crossword. This was a nice Wednesday, yesterday was a fine Tuesday, Tuesday was a dandy Monday and Monday was a very Monday Monday.
@Barry Ancona CAESAREAN! Beware the Ides of Friday!
This was a good. I love it when I can figure out a Thursday theme with no help. I enjoyed this one immensely. Better than average time. It’s been a good puzzle week so far. Thanks!
@Terry I found this one fun, too. I had such a wee cheat, 'une' for "UNA", having spelling 'Caesarean' wrong. I agree, a good puzzle week. It's much appreciated.
I’ve been enjoying and smiling at your columns for a long time, Deb, but the image of Doris Day tapping you on the shoulder and asking if she was chopped liver - well, that was a whole new level of joy (as well as being the way I finally figured out that clue too). Thanks for the morning chuckle 🤭
I don't know about you guys and gals, but I had huge fun with this one. Good job Ginny!
Vests are stereotypical attire for finance bros, not tech bros.
I would never think of describing one of Cornell's† delightful boxes as a "diorama"--I shall have to ask one of the curators at the Art Institute of Chicago--which holds some four dozen of Cornell's works in its collection--for their opinion. Speaking the AIC, the last time my Partner and I visited it was in the company of our good friends, Katherine and Wilbur. A happily committed couple, despite Katherine not sharing Wilbur's passion for early 20th c. French art. When the four of us entered the opening main gallery, Wilbur exclaimed: "Kay! Seurat! Seurat!" To which his wife replied, "Whatever, Wilbie." †Not that it's a definitive source, but a CTRL-F for "Cornell" on the wikipedia page for "Diorama" did not produce in any hits, nor for "diorama" on the one for "Cornell."
Bill, OBELI, obela, life goes on, brah!
@Bill I can't believe you would do this to us! And of course @Barry Ancona couldn't NOT pile on. It's only 8:10 a.m. here, and I've already had a hard day!
@Bill It's funny, but DIORAMA came to me immediately from the clue. However, my knowledge of Cornell boxes is wee - I only recall seeing images of them and it was easy for me to associate them with entries the now defunct "Peeps" contest that used to be sponsored by (I think) WAPO.
@Bill I skimmed past the story of your friends the first dozen times through this thread. Now actually having read it, I'm not sure if I'm delighted or angry. :)
MELISMA, UNA, OBELI, HUP, RAWR, ESE, DIS, ARO, MOCHI, SHIM, SERA, RAND, ABRA, SIAM, ROSACEA, HEWTO... umm... what are we doing here?!? what an awful puzzle...
@Charles - If you consider all of these words "awful", I have to question what *you're* doing here.
@Charles I agree! Makes it not as fun.
@Pax Ahimsa Gethen tbh, "rawr" does push the envelope a bit.
Nice puzzle, Ginny! I liked the bird theme. Very cleverly done. Thank you!
I don’t want to say that this was like pulling teeth because honestly it was like a hernia operation
Oh, does SITSPAT and getting hit refer to card games? I think I picked that up in the comments. Yeah, that makes some sense now. That clue was way over my head! But what I really wanted to share is that I have an adorable pair of socks with cute dragons on them and they're all breathing fire and yelling "RAWR!" I've had them for a number of years. They were given to me in the midst of infertility treatments to remind myself to be brave and fierce when it was so hard to keep going... or to consider stopping. Though the treatments were a very long, treacherous roller coaster ride of intensely high hopes and the very lowest of lows that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy (note to self: get an enemy and make sure you don't wish IF on them), which ultimately proved unsuccessful, the socks still make me smile. It's funny the little things that someone can do for you that means so much to you when you're going through something horrible. 🐉 RAWR!!!!! 🐉
@HeathieJ, Just noticed your avatar/picture. Is that you in the Caribbean?
@HeathieJ I'm sorry that the IVF didn't work out for you. I'm glad something good came out of it, even if it is simply a pair of socks. After my second open-heart surgery left me with an aortic valve that came out of a pig, my dear friend Margaret gave me some socks that have pigs with wings on them. I no longer have the pig valve, but I still have the socks. They remind me of Margaret, who died not even a year ago.
@HeathieJ I love this socks story so much: it speaks to your tenacity, and you speak of the ordeal you went through with such clarity, and humanity. And you bring the community here along with you! I am truly so sorry for everything you went through with IF. But thank you for continuing to share your story and support others in that journey!
I think I would have rather had a rebus. Weird trivia, very confusing cluing, and things like SITSPAT. Didn’t enjoy at all.
@Jamie It's a Thursday puzzle, what did you expect? It's supposed to be confusing and tricky. There were answers I wasn't familiar with, but do I think they're weird? No. Unusual or uncommon, but that's par for the course in late-week puzzles. SITS PAT is a variation on the term "stand pat" in card games like blackjack or poker when staying with the cards you've been dealt; or when talking about being inflexible or unwilling to change one's viewpoint.
Fitting in Joseph Cornell, an avid BIRD-watcher who often used them in his DIORAMAs was a nice touch. A fine puzzle, but it felt more like a Wednesday theme than a Thursday trick.
I didn't know "obeli" and "abra" but the puzzle fell into place, with clever theme.
Cute theme that did not require actually knowing bird calls. The mnemonics that are used for learning bird calls amuse me. Only when you actually hear “Old Sam Peabody” do you say Oh! *That one*! For example, some entries in the puzzle could be someone’s idea of a bird call: “Poli Sci! Poli Sci!” says the chickadee. “Clam! Clam!” says the raven. “Melisma” says the hermit thrush.
I'm sure some techbros wear vests, but it's way more associated with hipsters. Jobs wore turtlenecks. Zuck wears tees and swears. Epstein fan Gates favors avuncular cardigans. And they should all be taxed at 99%.
I finished this sitting on my deck while a juvenile [67 Across] screeched from up on a high branch. I told her she'd made it into the NYT crossword; she didn't seem as impressed as I would be.
I have to challenge this. Obeli were used in ANCIENT manuscripts to call out something that was considered spurious. In modern usage the † is part of a footnoting system that starts with * and goes on to # and other symbols before doubling the **, †† etc. And that symbol is referred to as a cross among editors, authors, printers, and typsetters.
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight I am right there with you. Even though until your post, my irritation at OBELI and MOCHI naticking me was the only reason I had for hating it. You've given me something that sounds better. And once I understand it, it'll probably sound even better.
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight There's a huge gap between "best modern definition" and "acceptable for a crossword puzzle." The word exists (although new for me!), hence it is fair game. But Francis's answer is funnier. Not to mention Astérix and Obelix! Pow!
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight That is my understanding of "crosses", too, though Nora's comment is well put. Together, it helps me realize what's been bothering me about this puzzle: the clueing level is all over the place! Some clues are absolutely spoon-fed and others are obscure to the point of frustration. If it was less of a bumpy road, even if all super-obscure, it would have felt more enjoyable!
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight Since the clue doesn't specify ancient or modern, it seems perfectly acceptable to me. No?
I dredged OBELI out of some dark corner of my memory, but MELISMA will have to be Googled (and no doubt there will be an accompaniment demonstrating this "vocal flourish")....plus I still have to remind myself that Lady Gaga is Not a guy in drag. (I don't get out much, apparently.) Now I would like Ginny to submit more BIRD puzzles with charming Carolina wrens, brown-headed cow birds, yellow-shafted flickers, tree swallows, and purple finches. Thanks in advance. ROSACEA....a big gimme, though the flushing is not the biggest trial. I take a drug that manages the worst of the flares, but there's not much that can be done about the flushing. I gave up wearing red because it clashes with the bright pink.
A proper chewy Thursday. Lots of unknown today; OBELI, TEMPE and ELM among them. Love the BIRD theme. Now, would you call a crow AMERICAN as opposed to just a plain old crow? Is there a difference? I could google it but can’t be bothered. In other news: my Alpacas are finally sheared. They look like leggy, startled deer now instead of walking duvets. They’re so happy they’re leaping around like spring lambs. Finally; so very pleased that Benny the dog has come through his surgery. 👍
@Helen Wright It's official name is American Crow, as opposed to a Fish Crow or Raven.
I wondered if I could possibly turn my three-day no-Autocheck streak into a four day one. Over an hour and not without lookups, but I'll call it a streak. Lookups included an unlikely ARO that had filled in 67A. COOPERS to get the last four letters of 61A. MELImbA hoping for a correction to my 22A. That didn't quite work and I had to go to "casino style cooking" to find out that CrAb wasn't the only possibility for C_A_ at 12D. Then I was able to fix my UNA with a penciled A at 27A and finish 11D (until then I had had BCS at 11A) and the puzzle. I enjoyed it in spite of its temporal costliness. Of which I am facing more as I made ready to read the comments.
@kilaueabart, Reading the comments these days takes well over on hour by itself. Congratulations on the streak! 👍🏻
As a devoted birder I had a leg up on solving this one as the BIRD CALL theme became clear when the crosses revealed COMMONSNIPE. I spent some time trying to find some sort of anagram or other link to the clues. I quickly gave up and just used the avian theme as an aid in solving the puzzle. The revealer made the relationship between theme answers and clues clear ex post facto. I am fortunate enough to have COOPERSHAWKs and AMERICANCROWs visit my yard with some regularity. I can always tell when the hawk is near because a mob of noisy crows will assemble to try to drive it away. Watching the crows work cooperatively, sometimes aided by blue jays, is fascinating. I was happy to see Joseph Cornell grace the puzzle. His small boxes (DIORAMAs) filled with objects he collected while wandering the streets have always intrigued me. They are usually whimsical, sometimes creepy, but always striking. For anyone interested in this unusual man and his unique art, there’s a fine biography, Utopia Parkway.
@Marshall Walthew [N.B.] After writing my post it sounds like we might be talking about two different kinds of dioramas. I'm off to google Joseph Cornell. So thanks for the rabbit hole. When I was a kid I'd get to go to the Denver Museum of National History, which had a lot of dioramas. I was just fascinated by them. I loved the way the real objects blended with the painted background. I loved the general sense of balance and order in nature. I would love to wander those halls again.
"I would love to wander those halls again." Francis, Anything preventing you from doing so?
Francis, I'm no spring chicken either, and I wasn't suggesting going home again, but I periodically revisit the dioramas at the American Museum of Natural History I first saw as a young child.
@Marshall Walthew Thank you for the Cornell biography recommendation - have just made a library request for it.
Please allow me to comment here on today's mini puzzle. The clue was "Dish over which Lady and Tramp share a kiss." "Spaghett" I cried out loud. I can see the two across the table each with an end of a spaghetti strand in their mouth. You know how it ended. The reason the scene stays with me is because it was one of my mom's favorite movies. Mom died last November and today's mini made me smile and recall a lovely memory of her. Mary C P.S. Lady and my little sister share a nickname. That's a clue for another puzzle.
@Mary C I loved that moment in "Lady and the Tramp", too. I must have been three or four when I first saw it, and even though I was still in the "kissing is yucky" stage, I was just so happy for The Lady and The Tramp. Your Mom had great taste.
@Mary C I'm an old man and its always been one of my favorite movies too. Seen it a hundred times with the grandkids.
@DocP The first thing I did after waking up was check your yesterday's thread for updates. I'm so happy Benny is doing OK ❤️. About the puzzle: I enjoyed the puzzle and found it mostly doable, but the NW, NE and SE corners stumped me. In the end I had to resort to several lookups there and elsewhere: OBELI, MELISMA, TEMPE, ABRA (I was missing the R and somehow not getting the clue for RAM...), and CASTE. Some things I got from crosses only. HEW TO I did not know, and I didn't get the clue for GLASS: shot glass, ok, but glass cut? Cut glass? What is that? Once I understood the theme (which was more like a Wednesday than Thursday one, maybe?) I was afraid my unfamilairity with bird names in English would be my undoing. It nearly was! I had no idea SNIPE is a bird. I stared at SN_PE and the cross of SH__, confused. Nothing but an "I" made sense there (well, A, maybe? Maybe that guy from Harry Potter was named after a bird? But I went for an "I", anyway). Still, not knowing the words SHI(M) or (M)ELIS(MA), I was still lost so I googled the vocal flourish. Not speaking Spanish and being unfamiliar with CLAMs casino style did not help. So yeah, it was one of those days when my being Polish and not a native speaker prevented me from solving without outside help. It's bound to happen from time to time so I'm ok with it. I agree with Deb on VESTS. I had to rely on crosses there, as I really don't associate vests with tech bros.
@Andrzej Regarding cut GLASS Are you familiar with Waterford Crystal from Ireland? Most of their creations are cut glass designs.
@Andrzej Snipers were originally soldiers who were good at killing SNIPEs. I used to have an English upper class flat-mate who would occasionally go to Morocco for the weekend to have fun killing one or two hundred SNIPE. "They were all eaten by the locals", he assured me. We English are notoriously bad at other languages, but SERA is in a football (soccer) fan's wheelhouse: "Que sera sera, whatever will be will be, we're going to Wem-b-ley, que sera sera".
@Andrzej As kids, we used to go snipe hunting. It was a joke, which one of the group was not familiar with. Give that person a paper bag and tell them to go and find a snipe in the brush. We had no idea what the bird was--it was just a silly kid's game.
As a resident of Tech Stereotype Central, I have to take issue with 39A: vests are signifiers that one is a VC / finance bro, not a tech bro.
@Stephen Your party has already arrived and welcomes your arrival. See below for several observations to that very point.
Must say I hated this one, too much junk fill and esoterica, and no Thursday trick
The trivia was ok, but this was possibly the most thoroughly unsatisfying theme I’ve seen in a Thursday puzzle.
I struggled quite a bit with the NW but got it after some fiddling. I have been meaning to say this for a while so why not today: I would love a puzzle that doesn't have any P's. I am right handed but for some reason I hold my phone with my left hand and often solve one handed lying down, typing with my left thumb. And I can't quite comfortably reach the P with my left thumb. So (and this is a bit crazy) if I'm feeling quite tired I sometimes put a Z where all the Ps go and then fix them all at the end. And now you may laugh at me 😄
@Lpr I think I'll take you up on that offer. 😀
@Lpr So, you are in bed and need a P but can’t be bothered and just go 💤 instead? Know the feeling!
@Lpr Are you left-eyed? I'm right handed but hold a phone to my left ear and look through scopes with my left eye.
So to start I did enjoy this puzzle. It was quite a challenge for me, a lot of words I didn’t know and a lot of bad guesses- ELI before ELM, TAMPA before TEMPE, UNTIP before UNHIP. I thought the theme was clever. But I shuddered to open the comments because there’s a lot to dislike in this puzzle if you are so inclined, I don’t begrudge anyone who feels that way (Frances I hear you and I am dying to hear what Andrjez has to say). The birds were mostly pretty uncommon for folks who aren’t ornithologically inclined. (And how many people even know what a cooper is these days?) A LOT of very obscure words. I’m not a fan of RAWR either. I think it’s indicative of a relatively new constructor who had a great idea that was a little bit on the esoteric side, and then had to use a lot of obscure crosswordese to make it work. Again I learned a lot and consider it a fine effort, no dis from me. But I hope you’ve got tough skin because I think you are going to get some barbs.
@SP I must have handled, proofed, and edited thousands of manuscripts in my career and nobody ever called a † anything but a cross. No authors, no other editors, no supervisors, no typesetters, and no printers! I called it a "fancy cross." We were all veteran publishing professionals, so that terminology in the puzzle must be obsolete. It's not modern publishing usage.
@SP, "rawr" is actually commonplace, especially among small-fry. I teach third grade, and it's a common utterance. I don't know if it comes from a kids' book, TV show/movie, or video game, but I hear it all the time! I fervently hope people know what a cooper is; I teach my students this when we study colonial history. Finally, the only bird I'd consider obscure would be the snipe; once you get cooper, hawk is easy if you've gotten the theme. I have nothing but love for this clever puzzle!
@SP I know what a cooper is, because of my Polish history education. Bear with me. When we learn about Polish history in school, the topics include not only politics and war, but also elements of economy, geography, demographics, and law. For the medieval era (for us, 10th-15th centuries) we learn, among other things, by whom, why and how the land was settled: who founded towns and villages? Who lived there? Why did it all make sense? The interesting thing is, much of that history is preserved in place names. Many of the earliest settlements were founded by the ruler for tradespeople who provided him with all the goods he needed. The villages were called by their trades. Bednarze (literally, Coopers) was a village where barrels were made, for example. Other names tell similar stories (Bartniki: barć is an old Polish name for a beehive; Szczytniki: szczyt was a shield, etc.) So we learned about traditional trades, and knew all their names, even as city kids in 1980s and 1990s Warsaw. It was only natural to learn their counterparts in English.
I like my Thursdays to be more Thursday-y
@BR Me, too. But a whole buncha people like Thursdays less Thursday-y. You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't roller skate in a buffalo herd. Nor, it is written, can you take a shower in a parakeet cage.
Wow. Yesterday, I hoped that today would be harder for me and give me more chew. So many terms I didn't know! (And a candle I've been calling by the wrong name for my entire life.) I love vocabulary expansion days!
Enjoyed this one, but not enough gimmick for a Thursday in my opinion :P
Whew. Typical tough Thursday for me. Actually surprised to see that many others found this one unusually easy. None of the theme answers were going to come to me without more than a couple of crosses, and must admit that I wasn't entirely grasping the theme even when I was done. But... I guess not. No big deal. And.. my puzzle find today. A Thursday from February 13, 2014 by Daniel Landman. That one had 8 rebus squares all with the same three letter word. Four of them were in one long down crossing answer. The clue and answer in that one: 1963 movie with the tagline "Everybody who's ever been funny is in it!" ITSA(MAD)(MAD)(MAD)(MAD)WORLD The rebus crossing across on that one were: AR(MAD)A NO(MAD) LADY(MAD)ONNA (MAD)RE And some other theme answers: A(MAD)EUS crossing (MAD)AM (MAD)DEN crossing (MAD)EWAVES Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/13/2014&g=1&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/13/2014&g=1&d=D</a> I'll shut up now. ...
@Rich in Atlanta Oh... and one more pair of VERY unusual puzzle finds. First a Tuesday from April 5, 1955 by Roberta Morse. Two 15 letter grid-spanning entries in that one: THEGULFOFMEXICO THECARRIBEANSEA Two very familiar 15 letter answers and that was the first appearance of those answers in any puzzle, and... they both only appeared in one other puzzle: A Sunday from January 12, 1958 by... Roberta Morse (again) Just completely baffled by that. Here are those Xword Info links; <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/5/1955&g=17&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/5/1955&g=17&d=A</a> <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=1/12/1958&g=23&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=1/12/1958&g=23&d=A</a> ...
I've not had time to scan the comments and I'm sure it's been mentioned but I fell hook, line and sinker for the misdirect at 4D (had ELi. Boy, was I up a tree). Plus forgot the spelling for MOCHI even though I've heard it a million times. So nothing COMMON about this great debut. Nicely done.
@John Carson Eli/ELM, KeaLoa. Best to wait, assuming one knows that Elm is a possibility. Since New Haven is in New England, I figured it might be, plus I figured NH would not want to be identified solely as the home of Yale.
Just want to say that, as a pedant of roman history, that the clue "like the Roman empire around 48 B.C" was a bit grating. As a person who thinks about the Roman empire at least twice a week, I have to correct the maker that Rome was not an empire in 48 B.C but a crumbling republic in a civil war.
@Nrei "...a crumbling republic in a civil war." That sounds familiar, somehow.
I found the clueing a little obscure, but ultimately fair. The crossing of M_CHI and _BELI had me stumped, though. I also had “rowr” instead of RAWR, which led me to think maybe people pour candlewax into geodes and call them geoLIGHTS? (But then I had to convince myself that it was advisable, or even possible, to stay “pag”, and the whole theory fell apart.) Enjoy your life in England, Ginny. Trust me, you’re better off. These days, Americans have very little to CROW about.
@Heidi MOCHIs used to be niche, but now they're all over the place. Our Whole Foods grocery has a freezer case by the front of the store dedicated to them. (Which is not to say that I care for them.)