I recall when my then wife and I were living large as DINKs. But soon enough, we became SITCOM. Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage.
@Isaac P Which put you in the state of DEPRAVITY - Don't Even Pretend Retirement And Vacation In Twenty Years.
Main grumble: the crossing for L_A and _EROS was one I had to run the alphabet on. Luckily that didn't take long...
@Isabeau I hope you started from the top of the alphabet…
@Isabeau Same here. Although I didn’t start at the beginning and somehow skipped “A”, so that ended up being a very anti-climactic Reveal Square. And I was having such a good time until then. 😖
@Isabeau I was so fixated on how either Crunch or Krackel could possibly fit in 52D (random Wednesday rebus side quest?!) I didn’t stop to think that they are full of rice, not air. (And one of them is a Hershey product:)
@Isabeau I kept thinking ZEROS as there is a ZERO bar
I loved this puzzle! It was different, with a creative theme, and interesting, with a variety of fill. The twice in a lifetime clue had me holding my breath as I solved the crosses, waiting for some kind of deep and mind-blowing revelation, something that someone had thought of and that no one else ever had and that now I, too, would be privy to. — LONG I? Come again? Oh well. Fire wasn't discovered anew and my brain didn't rattle and shake, but I sure got at least a smile out of it. Thank you so much, Mr Collins. I truly enjoyed solving your puzzle!
@sotto voce I loved the twice in a lifetime clue as well. And it also kind of reminded me of City Slickers. <a href="https://youtu.be/DOjV_YTSp0I?si=aSeYdvYzqmy7nD_3" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/DOjV_YTSp0I?si=aSeYdvYzqmy7nD_3</a> ☺️
@sotto voce That was definitely a noteworthy clue. And your description of how your excitement was building up...mwah...it is cinematic worthy of Cecil B. DeMille. Yeah, kind of an anticlimax. A joke about language and pronunciation. But a brilliant clue.
32 Across, Business Magnate, I had only the ___on. 1st word that came to mind was 'felon.' Lol
A nice little dash of Canadiana, not just ONT and PEI, but also AEROS. And while it was far too easy to complain about in general, I will say nobody in the history of humanity has spelled NARKED with a K. (I'm sure somebody is already rushing to Google to prove me wrong, but I blissfully do not care.)
@Shrike Not caring if you are wrong or no is an essential quality
@Shrike Interesting, Merriam lists the K variant for the noun form but notably does NOT include a K variant for the verb form of narc/narced. Most sources show the verb only to mean annoy, not fink.... You may just be right. :)
@Shrike, I'm used to "nark" being a noun as in "copper's nark", but one of the sources I looked at suggests that the verb is slightly older than the noun.
With 104 themed NYT puzzles, Peter has an inventive mind, and it was out in full force today. There were double-plays in the cluing: Two with rhymes (luck/struck, Maine/Spain), two with Cannonball Adderly, two with “squeal”, and a pair of Canadian provinces. Also, he crafted a grid accommodating three elements -- The what-crossed-fingers-signify answers on top, the circled letters in the middle, and the two-answer revealer at the bottom. Wow! And by the way, it would have been much easier to simply cross a horizontal and vertical MIDDLE and INDEX, but Peter crossed them diagonally, which, as Peter says in his notes, makes cleanly filling a grid much tougher. Yet he succeeded admirably. Oh, and that magnificent riddle clue – [What’s heard exactly twice in a lifetime?]! Not only fooled me (Hi, Sotto Voce!), but gave me a glorious combo of “D’oh!” and standing O. All this plus brain-pleasing rub from a couple of no-knows and a handful of had-to-wait-for crosses. Cleverness and mastery in the box today on top of a sweet solve. What a delight! Thank you, Peter.
@Lewis The crossing of DUMB BLONDES was unfortunate.
"How come that button isn't working?" "Yeah, I just can't put my finger on it." (These puns are getting out of hand.)
@Mike. You nailed it. Though it's easier to palm that off in the digital edition. ("That's a fail, Angie.")
@Mike I haven't the remotest idea. No offense, but is it on?
@Mike I'll ask our pun technician, Phil Anges, to have a look at it. (Phil, despite his reputation, is not a knuckle-head.)
@Mike My wife is in a ride sharing club at work, which means she no longer has to stand by the side of the road with her thumb out. Like today, she just met her car pals
don't usually post a comment but that was a terrific puzzle, well done to the author and editors. Thanks for being such a fun way to start the day (this and every)
Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, as Cannonball Addely’s SAX might say. That was a cute Wednesday. Will people like it. IHOPESO. IMnotLYING!
Odysseus' words to his beloved at their reunion are perhaps the most moving and beautiful(and perfectly-metered) lines in all of literature: Ye crossed your fingers(like silken rope) Ye did not abandon hope You ate cantaloupe Pushed the envelope And rassled an antelope (how I love that Greek trope) My rosy-fingered dope My loyal, clever Penelope
I do enjoy the ad absurdum translation...
@ Barry I like that it reminds us of the proper, original pronunciation of her name.
@ad absurdum Florence Nightingale's sister was named PENELOPE, and yes, I pronounced it "Penny-LOPE"....how else? That book also had a confusing word: EUROPE! I finally had to ask my sister (it was her book, anyway)...what a surprise! (I was a student in the "Look-Say" Generation--phonics were never taught!--and it's a miracle any of us learned to read at all. )
@ad absurdum "I know you cantaloupe . . . . . . but please honeydew"
Please stop with all the Pips references!
And repeating words we just saw a day or two ago.
@Dan This seems to happen pretty frequently. Years ago, I caught up using them archived puzzles. It was not uncommon, which surprised me.
@Brendan It’s called product placement. (I do love the new Pips game, though!)
@Brendan I'm just going to chill out over here with this bag of Kit Kat Minis....
@Brendan I was just listening to Gladys Knight's version of "Heard it through the Grapevine", and I was thinking that I just can't get enough PIPS! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWvwP72FuVg" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWvwP72FuVg</a> And "Midnight Train to Georgia": <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhnRyQCeqXI" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhnRyQCeqXI</a> More cowbell??? I say, "More Pips!"
For God's sakes people, can't you just accept that you don't know everything and move on? If you must, tell the world you have never heard of it (I know I do occasionally), but please don't assume that the clue is wrong.
This satisfying puzzle, Cannonball Adderley’s Autumn Leaves, and a strong cup of coffee was a perfect start to the day. Happy fall, y’all.
@Shelby “Something Else” is a great album with a great lineup.
@Shelby Lovely! I'm playing it now too. Wonderful to receive an Autumn wish from Vermont- I have several fond memories of visiting there for (Canadian) Thanksgiving with my family as a child. Every fall brings me back in my mind. Hope to actually return someday. The colours must be getting beautiful!
First time commenter here…just felt I had to defend NARKED! Not sure if this is a British thing, but to me that’s if anything the standard spelling… (maybe would have been fairer if they’d said “to Brits” instead of var). Anyway, I always enjoy these rare moments that make up for all the times this crossword is incomprehensible to your friends across the sea!
@Caroline I am right there with you. I am 100% sure the spelling "narked" is ok. I am also 100% sure the spelling "narced" is ok. Welcome to commenting. I started about 18 months ago, and now it's all I do, during all waking hours, every single minute. N.B. I am an unreliable narrator.
@Caroline as mentioned elsewhere, I think our "narked" (meaning mildly annoyed) is different from their "narced" (meaning to inform or snitch). Didn't bother me in the crossword tho, it did say Var!
@Caroline Thanks for commenting! Welcome.
@Caroline Is it one of those words where the c has to be changed to a k when followed by an e so it's not a soft c? Like picnic to picnicked. Ok, bad example, there c just gets a k added. There must be some example I can't think of.
I found this pretty challenging for a Wednesday. The NW corner was tough for me, although Viola DAVIS should have been a quicker gimme. I do not, however, resent NARKED. We were warned that it was a variant, which means brace yourself for a crazy spelling. I take that as a clue to move on to the next word, as I do with any clue that ends with "on scoreboards." The root in this case is narc, from narcotics. The problem with "narced" is that rules of pronunciation tell us to rhyme that word with parsed. (See forced, paced, lanced, and narcissus, but not arced.) Plus the crosses were easy enough. Ok, go ahead, tell me I'm wrong.
@Nora I would be the last one to say you're wrong. Fascinating little glimpse into a part of the rules of pronunciation I was never explicitly aware of. By George, I think you've got it.
@Nora The rules of pronunciation tell me that "mic," used as a slang term for "microphone," should be pronounced with a short "i." Yet there it is, in several dictionaries, with a long "i." The English language, like some city-sized amoeba from a fifties sci-fi movie, just oozes forward. It doesn't care about rules. It doesn't care about logic. It doesn't care if it's absorbing something from another culture or another language. If it has utility, it gets absorbed.
@Nora you are correct. The letter K is primarily used for the /k/ sound to avoid the "soft C" before the vowels E, I, and Y. Therefore I have always spelled it NARKED in my head, regardless of knowing it is derived from narcotics. Narsed would sound wrong and that’s how I would pronounce it if it were spelled with a C.
Cultural differences: crossing fingers is not really a thing over here. When wishing for a positive outcome, we may make a fist with our thumbs in the middle of our palms. It's called "trzymać kciuki", to hold one's thumbs. I don't believe in luck, and I'm not superstitious at all, yet I sometimes catch myself doing it. Of course I know the expression "fingers crossed", but I had no idea crossing fingers may also be an indication of lying. The concept seems weird to me. Why would you make a gesture that may be spotted, ruining your deception? Lying is about body language, too, not only words. Is it about lying to yourself about your lie? "Hey, I'm not *really* lying!!! See, my fingers are crossed!" If so, it's just hypocrisy. The puzzle's fill was confusing to me, in quite a few spots. Seeing the same unfamiliar musician in two places didn't spark joy. In the end I needed one lookup, of the actress in the NW corner. Not knowing a thing about "Survivor" and my apparently not being on the constructor's wavelength meant I just could not make progress there without outside help. Googling DAVIS was what I needed to finish that final area of the puzzle.
@Andrzej Why I, perfect and pure as I am, would never lie, I understand that it's sort of invoking a protection or exemption against your lie. It would normally be done with ones crossed fingers behind their back or in a pocket or somehow hidden. While I haven't seen the movie highlighted in the puzzle yet, Viola Davis is amazing!! She's a wonderful human and actress!!
@Andrzej The idea is if you are a little school kid primarily and someone asked you to promise something, you would have your hand behind your back or otherwise hidden, and cross your fingers and it meant you didn’t have to keep your promise. Not sure where it came from but probably means you are letting God know ahead of time you don’t mean it just as the other one means you are asking God for help, both invoking the sign of a cross (that’s a total guess though and I’m too tired to look it up).
Wouldn't an omnipotent god know you didn't mean it even if you didn't cross your fingers? And would he be OK with your deceiving another person, anyway? Are there get-out-of-jail-free cards for other sins, too? @HeathieJ As you may remember, I don't really watch movies (any more), so I'm not familiar with almost any currently popular actors.
@Andrzej Similar in German/Germany. We "press our thumbs" for good luck, but I think we do cross our fingers behind our backs to signal we are lying. Although being an English/German Translator and consuming a ton of American media, I more and more struggle with what is my "original" culture and what is my adopted one.
@Andrzej "Holding thumbs" is used in many countries, really unknown in others. I doubt that many people saying "cross your fingers" actually believe in good or bad luck! It's a custom that dates back to the Middle Ages when people were more superstitious generally. Like "touch wood" - another ancient custom to prevent bad luck.
Fabulous crossword. Interesting to read of the varied meanings of the CROSSED FINGERS. I’m aware of I HOPE/IM LYING. Fascinating to hear it’s a rude gesture in Vietnam (@CB) and that it isn’t a thing at all in Poland (@Andrzej).
My favorite scene in the "Odyssey" occurs when Odysseus, still disguised as a beggar, offers advice to his wife PENELOPE. Her handmaiden, Eurycleia, comes to wash the beggar's feet and recognizes her old master by the scar on his thigh. In the split second between the moment of recognition and her reaction to it, Homer gives us a beautiful flashback in which he retells how he got the scar (during a boar hunt) and how Odysseus got his name (from his maternal grandfather). And then Homer abruptly alters the tone of the scene as Odysseus claps his hand over the slave's mouth and threatens her with death if she reveals his identity. Wow! That Homer fellow sure could compose a scene!
This was so a good puzzle! Thanks, Peter! Did you know that the ancestors of Red Pandas are from the Southern Appalachias? Our Western North Carolina Nature Center has a pair. “History: The red panda’s ancient cousin once lived in the Western North Carolina region. Bristol’s Panda (Pristinailurus bristoli) is an ancient North American relative of the living red panda whose fossils have been discovered at the Gray Archeological Site in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee. Western North Carolina’s climate and ecosystem is almost identical to the lower mountain forests of Central Asia where red pandas currently live. The red panda is an endangered species with less than 10,000 (possibly as few as 2,500) of them in the wild. Their natural space is shrinking as more and more forests are destroyed by logging and the spread of agriculture.” <a href="https://wildwnc.org/animals/red-panda" target="_blank">https://wildwnc.org/animals/red-panda</a>/ Hope all y’all have a great Wednesday!
A fun puzzle, perfect difficulty for mid week IMO. I found NARKED a bit jarring/contrived but we can't expect all puzzles to be perfect can we? (except Robyn Weintraub's! When do we get another from her?!! 😍) I feel like there was another puzzle in the last few years with a fingers theme. I don't have the energy to look for it right now, maybe tomorrow.
What amazes me is how many comments are about NARKED. It seems like every puzzle has an entry like that.
No, I didn't like this. Resent is a strong word but I did not enjoy being immediately directed to a much lower revealer clue while starting to complete the first section. Right off the bat, 20A is requiring us to consider or fill in 54A and 57A. No thanks. It didn't prove necessary but it left a bad taste in my mouth. It turned out to be one of those puzzles where the theme was extraneous to solving it. The theme should complement a puzzle and play an active part in solving it. Not here. And the silly diagonal digits. Sigh. Anyhow, this was suitably Wednesday quick, although I had TenK instead of TenG for a little while.... I could have lived without the "ya" instead of "you", but okay. The twice in a lifetime clue was interesting. I would guess that many others enjoyed it more than I.
@B I used the index & middle to figure out the other 4, so my experience with the theme was very different than yours! And I thought it was a great puzzle!
@B For the record I certainly did use the theme to solve. And aren’t most revealers put at the bottom (or at least the middle?)
Fun puzzle! And fun fact - in Vietnam crossing your fingers is a rude gesture, essentially flipping someone off.
I have worked in pro volleyball for almost a decade and I have never heard of a DINK. I was stumped for the longest time.
@Sonja Really? Are you gonna tell me you haven't heard of brunk, gloof and mewmew, either? 🤣 (The only Dink I have ever heard of was a minor Bond girl, typically mistreated even before she was killed off by Goldfinger)
@Sonja I don’t have a good reason like you do, but I was thinking bump. Dink is connected with Pickleball in my mind.
@Sonja I have heard of DINK in volleyball, tennis, ping pong, pickleball -- pretty much any net sport. What do they call it in Finland?
Clever theme. I was able to deduce the theme and finished filling in MIDDLE and INDEX which helped with all of those answers. My last entry was the LAA/AEROS cross. I entered LAA from just the L, but then I backed out the As when the second letter down was an E. I’m unfamiliar with that Nestle product, but when that A was the last man standing, I figured it had to be right and plugged it back in. Voila…happy music and gold star ⭐️ Thank you, Peter. Happy hump day, Crosslandia. 🐪
@Jacqui J Similarly, I only vaguely remembered AEROS from us semi-recent puzzle, where I think it was closed similarly. I can otherwise neither confirm nor deny the existence of such a product. ☺️
I've seen it in Poland too, or at least I saw it some 20 years ago.
If you have absolutely no alibi or defense to a RAT squealing on you, does that make you STARK NARKED?
I was just listening to Gladys Knight's version of "Heard it through the Grapevine", and I was thinking that I just can't get enough PIPS! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWvwP72FuVg" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWvwP72FuVg</a> And "Midnight Train to Georgia": <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhnRyQCeqXI" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhnRyQCeqXI</a> More cowbell??? I say, "More Pips!"
@The X-Phile - Well, if you're truly a Pips fan, there's always "and the Pips" <a href="https://youtu.be/_95Rv68qlvU?si=q6LOPTyxCox6sSau" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/_95Rv68qlvU?si=q6LOPTyxCox6sSau</a>
To use "madeyalook" in a sentence frequently heard in a 50's childhood: "Madeyalook, you dirty crook, you stole your mother's pocketbook. You turned it in, you turned it out. You made it into sauerkraut."
@Phil Same here, except 1960s childhood and "turned it into sauerkrat!"
I'm always a fan of clues that speak to each other and this puzzle delivered some great ones! Squealed and squealer. Two Cannonball Adderly clue, lining up on the left side of the board. Two Odyssey references on top of one another. Most populous and least populous Canadian provinces. A good puzzle doesn't need to be this extra, but it just shows the constructor's commitment to detail. It's not just a fill that supports the theme–it's a fill with it's own intentions.
Obviously I've been spelling the word "narkotics" wrong this entire time.
Is it selective memory or maybe archives I’m doing. But PIP and ELM are in every puzzle I do. It used to be ENO, ONO, and MAA/BAA. I’ve never watched even one episode of survivor. But simply voting someone off the island is called blindsiding them, generically? Blindside has to be a setup where the unsuspecting target gets punked by their teammates. Assuming there are teammates. Alone. Now that’s a sweet outdoor reality series.
@Weak I have suffered through too many second hand smoke style Survivor viewings and as far as I can tell it just means planning to vote against someone without telling them first. But man do they like using that term ALL the time. It apparently makes them feel as if they're actually doing something besides chatting and calorie restriction. Reality TV is such a pox. And yes I'm a hoot at parties why do you ask? ;)
@Weak I guess we did have LAA (Los Angeles angels of Anaheim). So MAA/BAA was represented…
@Weak @B I love Alone for the simple reason that the ‘drama’ or tension in the show is mostly just nature being nature. And not a vote has been taken in 10, maybe 12 seasons! Sure, the producers make the competition appear closer than it often is but still, major respect for what those humans can do.
@Weak As an admitted and unabashed Survivor fan, everyone gets voted off the island when they leave. Sometimes they more or less know it’s coming. But part of the game may be to vote people off without them knowing it—and yes, when that happens it’s called a blindside. That is generally because you don’t want them to have time to talk to or make deals with others to try to save themselves, or because they may have found an “idol” which gives them immunity if they play it and you want to make sure they don’t. How’s that for reality geekiness?
@Weak I think DAB, USED, ADEPT, PDA, ALOHA and LSAT all used recently
@Weak Blindside:Vote:: Jellybean:Candy (All blindsides are votes but not all votes are blindsides) Looking forward to Mike White's reappearance on tonight's season premiere
Fun Tuesday puzzle. Typical slow start for me, but then things fell together from the crosses. Finally tumbling to the trick was a nice 'aha' moment and that's always a nice touch. Two thumbs up (and yeah - that's been an answer in a couple of puzzles). A couple of appropriate puzzle finds today. First a Wednesday from July 25, 2018 by Emily Carroll. The reveal in that one: "Gestured rudely ... or what this puzzle's circles have done?" FLIPPEDTHEBIRD And a couple of theme answers with theme related sequences circled: POL(TERGE)ISTS (EGRET) GOLD(ENARC)HES (CRANE) Here's that Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/25/2018&g=56&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/25/2018&g=56&d=A</a> I'll put the other puzzle in a reply. ...
@Rich in Atlanta As promised - a Sunday from January 16, 1977 by Jordan S. Lasher with the title: "Variations." A couple of theme clues and answers that led me there: Egret plumes, e.g. : FEATHERSOFABIRD Turkey-stuffing situation : AHANDINTHEBIRD And some other theme answers: PARTOFTHEFIRSTPARTY ACTIONOFTHEPIECE THEMARCHOFIDES COLOROFANOTHERHORSE MOMENTOFTHESPUR NORETURNOFPOINT And there were more. Here's that Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=1/16/1977&g=70&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=1/16/1977&g=70&d=D</a> ...
@Rich in Atlanta it’s a Wednesday puzzle 😉
@Rich in Atlanta That one with the 15 letter rebus was fun!!! I did see you mentioned something about a rebus when you posted but I managed to just get the date and did it without your full notes. Super surprising and super fun!
There is a convention in crossword solving that has long irked me and today you have the pleasure of learning of my irk. I'm speaking of a clue such as: -- What's heard exactly twice in a lifetime? -- This is outright cheating. Any educated adult, nay, teen, knows that "lifetime" or "a lifetime" ought to be in quotes. The idea that I am meant to look for letters of the alphabet rather than things heard in an actual lifetime is simply a bridge too far to carry, to mix a metaphor for all who wish to buy a bridge. Of course, it would be rather easy to solve if the clue were: -- What's heard exactly twice in "A lifetime." What to do? 1. Live with my irk. I am no fan of this solution. 2. Change the convention. Big fan. 3. Don't clue "LONGI" lest you risk my wrath.
@Asher B. I saw it in the way you need to see a lot of words in British cryptics: they're not actually words, but rather a collection of letters that happen to be in a particular order by pure coincidence. The fact that this particular collection of letters in this particular order happens to spell a word with two long i's is an interesting thing to notice...
@Asher B. I would say #1, although there’s another option: 4) stop doing NYT crossword puzzles, which I don’t advise. Of course you are literally correct. But as you say it’s a convention that these clues are allowed as is and I would rather not change the convention because the answer would be too obvious and then what’s the point? The question mark lets you know the clue is not exactly literal, hence the allowance to dispense with the quotes. Lighten up, have fun, don’t you get some joy when the answer dawns on you?
@Asher B. 4. Realize it's not at all cheating but rather wordplay, and enjoy being fooled.
@SP Do you run into a lot of people who appreciate it when you tell them to lighten up? I view myself as a feather. If you don’t, alas.
I joyfully, and with great confidence, typed in Wakanda and Forever for 20 and 22 across. Sad to see they did not work with crossings.
My first thought on the clothing/surf shop clue was RonJon, which is pretty much local all over Florida. Obviously, that didn't work, and it didn't take long to come up with PACSUN, which I've seen at a number of malls around the country. My other goof was TEN K instead of TEN G, which had me puzzling about 22A for a while. Thanks for the fun, Peter!
@JayTee I had the exact same thought about RonJon! 😄
Overall fun puzzle. Wasn’t too thrilled with “ten g” answer for the clue “100 c-notes” though. Since c-notes is plural in its abbreviate / slang context, ten g’s should have been as well. Nobody says “yo I got ten g”. “Ten k” would have been a more appropriate answer here. Sorry this stuff bothers me!
John, 2000 pounds (plural) = 1 ton (singular). Where's the beef?
@John Isn’t “ten g” short for “ten grand”? I don’t think I’ve heard the expression “ten grands” before.
@John nobody but Ice-T’s Law & Order tec. But then who calls detectives tecs?
Sailed through except for the last letter: the A in AEROS and also LAA. Would never have gotten! Very clever puzzle. Thank you, Peter A. Collins.
@Convoid-04 I had ZEROS for a while there!
Seemed like a Tuesday for a Wednesday. But there was some nice fill and nice clueing. I especially enjoyed the clue for EDEN. Made ya look Made ya look Now you’re in The baby book.
So for NARKS naysayers, no I’ve never heard of it either but if you look it up it is a real spelling (primarily in Britain?) and in fairness the clue did say var. That whole corner’s a bit clunky with both fingers there and the word CROSSED, I guarantee the constructor racked their brain to find cleaner fill and this was the best they could do in service to the theme. Not my favorite Wednesday but not bad and I won’t call foul.
@SP No, it's not. Nark is a different, older word that never meant squealed. It's not a variant of narc and never was. It's a relatively benign mistake / stretch by the constructor.
Another crossword that wasn't too difficult for me. What's happening? I had to look up DAVIS, I'm useless with famous people, and PACSUN was unknown, and LAA. I did know PENELOPE though. I used to think it was pronounced penny-lope, until I heard it (Lady Penelope). Like Her-me-own for Hermione. They weren't names that my friends had as a child. Enjoyable.
@Jane Wheelaghan LAA is the Los Angeles Angels baseball team, although I still think of them as the Anaheim Angels as that was their name when I was a kid and they are still located in Anaheim (where Disneyland is) 😇⚾️.
@Jane Wheelaghan Years ago when visiting my niece and nephew I read some Harry Potter to them. They objected to my pronunciation of Her my oh nee, because their mother had read it to them as Her me own. They were properly contrite when the movie came out.
@Jane Wheelaghan The name of the older Twite daughter was pronounced Penny-lope in Joan Aiken’s “Wolves” series, if you’ve ever come across those books.
My fave was MADEYALOOK, loved the puzzle.
@Skeptical1 I'm picturing the reaction of someone who had the entire puzzle worked out and had to look that one answer up.
I really enjoyed the puzzle. A small nitpick: narc is short for narcotics and informing on someone to to narc on them, not nark on them (47 down).
A fun solve! I'm always happy to be reminded of the existence of REDPANDAS. What terrifically adorable and unusual looking creatures. As it happens, red pandas have an additional digit on their front paws, giving them six "fingers." (These are technically not fingers, but elongated wrist bones, which allow them to better grip bamboo.) However, I don't think they have the dexterity to cross them!
I did it, but not sure what I did. One I didn't do was figure out the theme. Switched some letters and got a star. Thanks, Peter.
Kudos to Peter Collins for coming up with this worthy mid-week theme. I had to derive the revealer (MIDDLE x INDEX) from the fill before getting the theme entries. Icing on this cake - the witty clue for LONGI.
Like any card carrying crossword cheater, of course I focused on the crossed circles, worked out the reveal answers and figured I was done! Why bother with the rest of the puzzle, right? Wrong! 20 and 22 A a pleasant and fun surprise. My heLEN for the Nobelist and no clue on the clothing store chain did make that top part a bit stickier. Nicely done and thanks.
@John Carson I knew PAC SUN from my mall rat days. The really cool kids had shirts from the Sunshine House, in OCMD.
If everyone had been involved in the drug culture in the late 60s or early 70s, then there would be no comments about NARKED today.
@Jim I’m with you. I always thought that was the correct way to spell it (with a K) in order to get the right sound. If I spelled it with a C, I believe it would have the S sound, like forced. 🤷🏼♀️
@Jim I'm pretty sure we were saying NARKED for "snitched" before we knew what narcotics were, and that was in the suburbs, not the mean streets..
@Graphic ...and yet it's spelled NARK... (quoting the Shelton Brothers from 1963 here) "because, baby...just because.”
What a cool puzzle...but what else would we expect of Peter A. Collins? Did I know you could CROSS your FINGERS to (supposedly) get away with LYING? Must have missed that one. I do remember a spate of fibbing around age 13--attempting to avoid what I saw as prying and over-supervising; it was really too much work to keep up the dissembling. I just tried it, only to discover I can't really manage crossing my fingers any more. It never worked anyway.
@Mean Old Lady I thought crossing one's fingers warded off the evil eye. And spitting on the ground.
@Mean Old Lady We're from around the same generation and I actually do remember that use of crossing your fingers. The standard ritual was to put your hand behind your back (or hide it somewhere else) and then tell a lie. ...
@Mean Old Lady Fingers crossed when lying was standard procedure when I was a kid back in the 1970s. Not sure what the kids are doing these days....
@Mean Old Lady That was even seen in some of the cartoons back in the day… Tom and Jerry, if I recall correctly.
PhysDaughter is here working the puzzle with one eye (the disparity being so great that she is closing her newly-repaired eye and looking at things through her (thick) glasses with the other eye... Anyway, I pointed out an error she made, only to learn that we both have an error to do with the candy bar crossing some team... and we both guessed wrongly. Dang. I don't eat candy, so PFFT! And the Baseball Season should have been over ere this! I guessed ZEROS. (Sour grapes!)
@Mean Old Lady I’m regular nearsighted in one eye but have been legally blind in the other since birth. They’ve had the technology to fix it for a while now but every eye doctor I’ve had said I would absolutely hate it since I’ve lived this way for so long and I completely agree! The pros for me would basically be seeing 3D movies and possibly bowling better lol.
@Mean Old Lady I had a torn macula a few years ago, and had that surgery where you have to recover flat on your face for 2 weeks. It left a scar that causes anything in the very center of that eye to "swim around". Also caused a swift growing cataract. To that end, I've had cataract surgery in both eyes. Now, my long vision is sharper in the "bad" eye - except for the swimmy part. The "good" eye is blurry. I just let the eyes and brain fight it out between them.
@Mean Old Lady zEROS would be a good name for a calorie-free candy bar, although it would probably taste awful. AEROS is the name of a candy bar that they put a lot of air into so that it looks bigger than it actually is. Ain't capitalism grand!
I liked it!! (fingers uncrossed).