This was a really impressive debut for a number of reasons. A very charming theme that I enjoyed as a fellow lover of mythology. The revealer conveniently stacked right under the last clue. Four long extra down clues that were pretty interesting. Very little glue. I thought this was above average both in skill and solving enjoyment for a Tuesday. Well done!
@SP Charming? Next week, a charming theme involving Laocoön. Nay! Apollo and Marsyas. 🤣 I mean, it was a good theme, but given the subject matter I wouldn't call it charming.
@SP oddly enough “very little glue” was the downfall of the subject of the puzzle, as well as a compliment to the setter
I did not know it was "Madama".... one of those things you must see a million times but your brain tells you it's Madame.
@Richard I also entered MADAMe and had to fix it on the crossings. But it makes sense if that opera is Italian, not French 🤓
@Richard Madame Butterfly is the name of a play based on a short story with the same name. The Puccini opera is indeed MADAMA Butterfly, which many people enunciate as "Madame," regardless. Interestingly, the word for "butterfly" is farfalla (cf. the pasta shape "farfalle," its plural) but the name of the opera in the Italian is actually "Madama Butterfly."
@Richard Take the Madama. Leave the Cannoli. 😉
@Richard coincidentally I just bought a poster for my collection of vintage advertisements - the one for the production of MADAMA Butterfly at La Scala in Milan. I thought at first it was that way because the opera was performed in Italy. I left it blank to let the crosses decide.
@Richard Hoping this inspires an Italian restaurant to create a dessert called cennoli (which apparently means "nod to them").
@Richard I remembered MADAMA from school. We once discussed interactions between Polish and foreign languages, and how our ancestors dealt with gendered nouns and transcription in such cases. MADAMA BUTTERFLY was given as an example. It stuck.
One of Crosslanidia’s golden moments is when you uncover the revealer, and what connects the theme answers suddenly not only clicks, but is amazing. I fell into in a state of wonder for a precious moment after filling in ICARUS, seeing his story told so ingeniously. Ever so briefly the world stopped and I bathed, jaw dropped, in a euphoric wow. When a puzzle does that, I don’t care how easy or hard it was – it was very, very well worth doing. Then I noticed more: • Beautiful answers – LILAC, LAMINA, ONYX. • A theme based not just on the first or last word of its answers, but of the entire answer. • An uber-rare-in-crosswords six-letter semordnilap (LAMINA). • Theme echoes – ORCA and UBOAT to go with UNDER THE SEA, LAVA and ROOT going with DOWN TO EARTH, and LIGHT near DAY IN THE SUN. DAY IN THE SUN indeed, Corry – what a splendid Times debut! I eagerly hope for more – thank you for a most memorable puzzle!
@Lewis When reading what you and others see in the puzzle that I totally miss makes me think of my oft stated inability to read poetry. I wonder if that's not coincidence--is a crossword a kind of poetry?
@Lewis My I add: The entry/clue parallelism of ["Bel Canto"](ANN Patchett) and "MADAMA Butterfly."
@Lewis I had to look up semordnilap. Oh, lamina and animal. I never heard it before and autocorrect doesn't like it.
I’m going to try and scoop Mike for a change: Did you study for the test on Icarus? No, I’m gonna wing it.
@SP You'll probably get waxed by that exam. Cheer up. It's just a drop in the ocean.
No GUTS no glory is a fitting start to this ode for Icarus.
To say that "diaphanous" means LIGHT is kinda missing the point. The reason "diaphanous" exists as a word is not because such a fabric is light, although it usually is. It's because it's sheer, see-through, and thus a bit scandalous. Garments that are light but opaque are not diaphanous; those that are diaphanous are only light as an aside. This is not to say it fails as a clue for a crossword, but it's a little disingenous.
Steve, Or definition 3? (Perhaps odd for a Tuesday.) <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diaphanous" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/diaphanous</a>
@Steve L. “Sheer” has the same number of letters as LIGHT, but didn’t fit the crosses.
@Steve L I was going to say the same thing. The defining attribute of something diaphanous is translucent. Many things can be defined as light that are not at all diaphanous. And so, I initially resisted filling in "LIGHT".
@Steve L I know what you mean - I personally also didn't like this clue/answer combo. All diaphanous materials are indeed light, so, as you say, the clue doesn't fail. Yet I still think it was a bad one.
@Steve L Sheer was my first guess. I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with it, but, alas, the crosses proved me wrong.
@Steve L And yet here you are misusing the word "disingenuous," which means "lacking in candor" or "calculating." The implication that the constructor and editors used the incorrect word on purpose in order to trick people is ludicrous.
Musée des Beaux Arts By W. H. Auden December 1938 About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters: how well they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting For the miraculous birth, there always must be Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating On a pond at the edge of the wood: They never forgot That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse Scratches its innocent behind on a tree. In Brueghel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky, Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.
@Bill I remember reading this poem and loved it
@Bill This is but one of the many reasons I come to the comments. Unknown to me until today, this poem is a gem following what I thought was a wonderful debut. Thanks, Bill and Corry.
@Bill I actually think I understood part of that poem! You have no idea how exciting that is for someone who hasn't really achieved that in 73 years. It helped a lot to know of the painting referenced in the final stanza.
@Bill Thank you for posting this! The same newspaper that publishes this crossword had a close read essay about this exact poem, with close-ups and a full view of the Icarus painting (and another Brueghel painting of the nativity). Very cool. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/06/books/auden-musee-des-beaux-arts.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/06/books/auden-musee-des-beaux-arts.html</a>
My book group likes to tease me about loving every book I read (which is absolutely not true, but years of running book discussions for surly teenagers trained me to tease out the positive). This always makes me self conscious about coming here to declare that I loved a puzzle, but I loved this puzzle! Terrific debut! I loved yesterday’s too. I am who I am.
@Shelby It's a gift to be able to find the positive in things. Wear your flag proudly!
Fine debut, Mr. Cropper! It felt slick, delicious, like swimming in a root beer float, rich and creamy. I have no idea why I wrote that. But I'll stand by it.
Nice theme, pretty good puzzle. The fill was quite hard for me in places but I managed to deal with it in standard Tuesday time in the end. R/H/E was my biggest stumper today but crosses gave me the answer, and then I found an explanation of what it all meant in the column. TOTAL for wreck beyond repair had me sigh. Poland is notorious for the cars on its roads being old and poorly maintained. The statistics are imperfect, because many people don't bother to notify the authorities when they scrap an auto but still, the average age of a car here is 18 years, and all parking lots are dotted all over with oil stains. There was a time when a million old cars were imported into the country from the West per year. Many of them were written off as totaled in Germany. It was illegal to repair those wrecks over there, but unscrupulous Polish mechanics didn't care - they Frankensteined them back to life, or rather, undeath - and equally unscrupulous used car dealers sold them on, keeping the vehicles' history a secret. My ex's brother unwittingly bought such a Honda once. It cracked in half in a light collision. Only then did it turn out the front and back ends had come from two different wrecks that had been welded together... Things are slowly improving now as prosperity increases, but it will be decades before our roads are rid of those deathtraps.
@Andrzej You got me curious about the average age of cars by state in the USA. I don't think we're all that different in much of the US. Several states are in mid-double digits, and Montana leads the list with 17 years.
@Andrzej, I think you misunderstood TOTAL to mean wreck. It’s a verb, not a noun. To total a car means to be in an accident that TOTALly wrecks the car so it has to be scrapped.
Anyone else get a good smile when they had to erase SLAT in 5D only to put it back in at 62A?
@Striker That’s what Andrea Carla Michaels referred to as a malapop.
@Striker I already had MADAM_ in there, so Nope. Plus LATHs are part of my life experience...
Congratulations on the debut! I took your French 340 class in Winter 2006 and have many fond memories of your class, like the time you sold advertising space on your shirt and the news came to class. Loved the Moliere reference!
@Elisabeth Larsen That's pretty amazing to see your professor's work some 29 years later. I have fond memories of many of my H.S. teachers and a few college professors, but haven't seen such as you have.
Just a quick de-cloaking to strut about and pump my chest and announce that I reached a 1000-game streak today. I never cared about streaks at all until someone pointed out that if you miss a day or three, as long as you complete the older puzzle(s) before the newer one(s), your streak is maintained. Sadly, this meant I started to care about streaks. (Whenever I traveled my streak would get broken so I didn't care...) I am not sure my life has improved now that I care about my streak. I'm not about to break it, though! So, a hearty "thank you" and an equally hearty "damn you!" to whoever it was who turned me on to this little bit of streak strategy.
@CaptainQuahog - I'll also point out that someone today mentioned that their streak was broken even though they completed Sunday's puzzle, which they had missed, before continuing on to the Monday puzzle. I'm not going to test it, but it is possible that the streak-maintaining window has been shuttered.
@CQ Congratulations! I reached a 1000 day streak in summer of 2023, celebrated by taking a two-night backpacking trip, and purposely breaking it. Now I regret that--I took my phone with me, so I could use it as a camera, but also had good enough reception, and enough battery endurance, to be able to call home to check in both evenings; so, in fact, I could have done the puzzle that day. Then, in 2024, I broke it again, purposely broke it, as an act of solidarity with striking journalists (remember that?)--in retrospect, once again felt it was a stupid move. Now my streak is 300 and change. Pfft! Should we care about streaks? In the long run, probably not; but David Connell (whose streak should be approaching 3000 by now) once remarked that every day his streak is maintained is proof to himself that he is still among the living--and who are we to question that reasoning? Où sont les étoiles d'or d'antan?
@CaptainQuahog, Congratulations!!! 🎉🍾🎈 That is a remarkable milestone to accomplish, in my book! And welcome back, however short-lived it may be. Always good to see you ‘round these here parts.
@CaptainQuahog More than one thing can be true? 🤣 Before I learned about the "strategy", mine was only broken because I was doing something so fun I didn't get to that day's puzzle. So it became a bit of a marker of good times. ("Oh, 64 days ago I was camping at a music festival. Hooray!") Now I try to do them consecutively and somehow have two streaks. On my phone app, the gold star happy music page shows quadruple digits, but the website and Me stats show 16...when I was spending time with family after my cousin's wedding in MN. 🥰 I suppose I could email support if I wanted to sync them up, but I guess they just tell two different stories.
I always, even before I was a father, felt more for Daedalus than I did for the kid. And now as a father, I imagine that a father or two must have been involved in the origin of this myth, it's heavy with the tragedy of ignored fatherly advice, and of course lessons on hubris, greed, discontent, and that children traditionally ignore their parents' guidance at their peril -- but what's adolescence for if not that? None of which offers any consolation to a bereft father. It's not a myth that plays well these days. Have to say, this one has an abundance of familiar words and clues, old friends, it's good to see them again! Went downtown last night and saw a restored version of Charlie Chaplin's "The Gold Rush" (1925). What a masterpiece. In the scene I've linked below, he's invited some dance hall girls to have New Year's Eve dinner with him, there in the Klondike. They agree, including Georgia, the object of his love. Of course, they don't show up, and Charlie sadly lowers his head and finds himself dreaming of the dinner party that might have been, and how he'd entertain his guests... <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DLdMa98JdM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DLdMa98JdM</a>
@john ezra It's amazing how he was able to make the simplest things so funny. A true genius, born in abject poverty, eventually run out of the country by J. Edgar. (Now, it is true he has a real cringey attraction to women way too young for him. So note that I so not posit he was a saint.)
From the opening clue and answer (No GUTS, no glory!) to the ultimate fall of ICARUS, this was chef’s kiss perfection. The theme answers provided a perfect visual of the rise and fall. Even though Corry is NEW IN TOWN, I’m pretty sure we will be seeing more from him. Well done and congratulations on this exceptional debut 🌟
Oh no! This is not the puzzle I’d have thought my streak would succumb to, but (as a non-native speaker who started speaking English well into high school) the NW corner bested me. A combination of not being too acquainted with Shakespeare, not having heard of Fiddler on the Roof ever before, and being unfamiliar with “DAY” IN THE SUN doomed me (Time? Sure. Bask? Absolutely. DAY?? I couldn’t imagine Icarus spent more than a few minutes in it, with how close to it he got!). In retrospect, I should have easily picked up GILDS — then, I could have inferred LOVE and probably cinched this thing. But listen, rambling aside, my educational deficiencies aren’t the puzzle’s fault. It was a delight. Though perfectly average on the difficulty scale, it was much richer and less prosaic than your regular Tuesday. Fantastic debut!
@at Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, probably his most famous, and a favorite of mine among all poetry: Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments; love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove. O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand'ring bark Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come. Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom: If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Mel OTT! DUDE! (My grandmother would be pleased.)
@Barry Ancona She was a Giants fan, huh? From the days when NY had *three* teams?
A breezy, fun Tuesday puzzle. Love the downward trajectory reflected in the construction. But, I particularly enjoyed the charming constructor notes. Congratulations on your terrific debut, Corry. My mother introduced me to puzzle solving too and she also enjoyed calling out the snicklefritzes in our family.
I'm OVERTHEMOON for today's puzzle. Today is the Harvest Moon, and the first supermoon of the year.
@Dave K. Yes! It's a big, glorious Harvest moon. Tonight's walk was illuminated by an opal studding an onyx jaw... And of course, the brain searched for Selenian serenades . . . Moondance The Man in the Moon Blue Moon Does That Blue Moon Ever Shine on You? Bad Moon Risin' Talking to the Moon Spanish Moon Dancin' in the Moonlight Blue Moon of Kentucky Moon River Harvest Moon Fly Me to the Moon In other words - There's a Moon Out Tonight!
@Whoa Nellie And now I'm gonna have to go listen to Little Feat.
@Whoa Nellie R.E. M.'s Man on the Moon Yeah yeah yeah yeah
@Nancy J. I was going to add The Waterboys if no one else had. Thanks! I was able to check them off of my longshot bucket list last month. I was SHOCKED to see them on the lineup of a festival I was going to anyway, and their all too brief set was one of my highlights. ❤️🌕 (I'm going to add the moon adjacent "Wolf Like Me" because it's in my head and I love TVOTR, another bucket list band I caught last month.) <a href="https://youtu.be/xZl-ssLKyPE?si=tqAb_BV63OCAdMz6" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/xZl-ssLKyPE?si=tqAb_BV63OCAdMz6</a>
@Dave K. Thanks for inspiring all the song sharing! So many great ones here. Late to this thread, but let me add one of my favorite MOON songs: Blue Moon (Song for Elvis) sung by the inimitable Margo Timmins with the Cowboy Junkies <a href="https://youtu.be/1lRDT-TyPPo?si=abncFwqG-46gZhbr" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/1lRDT-TyPPo?si=abncFwqG-46gZhbr</a>
Poor old Icarus - he came a cropper. (Sorry, Corry, could not resist.)
@Cat Lady Margaret That expression was running through my head when I saw the name of the constructor. Old enough to know it, but have no clue what it means. And it's too late to look it up (nearly 4:30 a.m. for me!)
@Cat Lady Margaret and @Times Rita So, there are three of us! Just as Shakespeare described...
Hmm...could we say ICARUS "came a-cropper"?? Is Corry having a little fun with that? Charlotte the Kitty seems to think she has an answer to that--she has joined me to be helpful. That, or it's just that the floor is chilly and my lap is warm. In these parts, nobody asks if you are NEW IN TOWN; they say, "You ain't from around here, are ya?" (I try to beat them to it with "We're NEW here." Back in Arkansas (where they ask the same question) I joined the NEW-comers Club. When I asked one lady how long she had been a member, her response was, "Twenty years." I need to go change out of my walking clothes. If I was constructing a crossword, I'd try to think of all the ways to say HOT AND HUMID.
@Mean Old Lady enjoy the dog days of summer! We are expecting snow by the weekend. My frenchie (aka catlike dog) is lap seeking for warmth as well.
Wow, this was just a good, solid puzzle, with everything interesting and no garbage. Enjoyed from start to finish. Thank you, Corry Cropper! More, please!
Finished in just under 8 minutes and scrambled over here to leave the first post. But someone else was already ahead of me! 😅 Oh well, that was a fun, quick, early-week puzzle. I appreciated the way the revealer brought all the theme clues together.
A lovely debut! I've always loved Greek mythology, so this puzzle was super fun.
I loved this crossword! It was just really rich with a satisfying and lovely fill. And I appreciated the poetic and the ever-so-slightly mournful tone of the theme. Thanks for this one. I found it deeply satisfying to solve. (Oh and thanks for teaching me the word "snicklefritz"! It's a great word that I will be sure to start using!)
@Laura Kay And thank YOU for writing my comment for me! As if you plucked it from my mind. Have a great day!
Entered MADAME instead of MADAMA, and didn't catch my mistake in time. Shouldn't have left the CENNOLI. Defeated by a Tuesday puzzle. Sigh. Congratulations on the debut!
@Xword Junkie I also stared at the word CENOLLI for way too long.
@Xword Junkie Same here. My MADAMe and TEVYa seem to have swapped vowels today (Do you think a STaNO would like a CeNNOLI?)
Ah, how Ayn Rand hated the myth of Icarus! The poor fellow dared to aspire, and he paid for it with his life. The universe itself must be a collectivist second-hander! This is a fine debut puzzle, and just right for a Tuesday.
@Jeff Z I think you need to re-read "Atlas Shrugged." Daedalus is basically Hank Rearden, except he's being held captive and exploited by King Minos, and not a faceless bureaucracy. Who is Ioannis Galt?
Thanks, all, for helping me with “Madama” vs “Madame”. Also, for being kind about it, which does not always happen with the spelling bee… BTW, don’t you just love it when some word/phrase/expression you’ve known for years and years turns out to be incorrect? 🤪
@Katy Your welcome, from all! I filled in MADAM_, waited for the crosses, and was happily surprised when the A filled in. Of course, even veteran operaphiles say "Madame Butterfly" in casual speech--although oddly no one says "Mrs. Butterfly, which would also make sense, seeing that she's the wife of an American. But Italian opera is full of titles like this: Donizetti's *Anna Bolena* and *Lucia di Lammermoor* (Walter Scott's Lucy of Lammermoor), and Puccini's *La Faniculla del West*--the "Girl of the (Golden) West"--spring to mind. The graphic novelist (?!) Edward Gorey did a good parody of this in his stories "The Gilded Bat" (ballet) and "The Blue Aspic" (opera, including the moving *Lizzia Bordena*).
MADAMA, I AM ADAM , or, as I like to say in Spain, DAMA, I AM AD. Incredible theme! (I miss Saigon)
@aa or as I say when someone take the last of the cannoli: MADAM, I'M-A MAD! Capisce?
@ad absurdum I can no lie, I capeesh.
My Diary of a Crossword Fiend review: <a href="https://crosswordfiend.com/2025/10/06/tuesday-october-7-2025/#ny" target="_blank">https://crosswordfiend.com/2025/10/06/tuesday-october-7-2025/#ny</a> Thanks for the fun, Mr. Cropper! Congratulations on the debut!
@Eric Hougland I see you had your CANNOLI alongside a nice cup of CAPUCHINS.
@Eric Hougland Quick question: I noticed you (as well as Jim at xwordinfo) referred to the constructor as “Mr. Cropper.” With an ambiguous name like Corry, how do you know it’s a Mr.?
I’m surprised that this was Corry’s first puzzle for the NYT , a nice balance of challenging but fun for a Tuesday. Looking forward to more.
I was a little bit gutted to find that 25A wasn’t neep but ROOT. In Scotland, neep and turnip are synonymous* names for rutabaga, and for a moment it was thrilling to see this recognised in the NYT! Alas. It would’ve been fitting for October, time to start gutting your neeps for jack o’lanterns, the harder to carve and more horrifying precursor to the pumpkin version. *Yes, I know this doesn’t track to botanical nomenclature, don’t come at me
@KJ I love this comment board - one can learn not only about words but also cultures around the world. Thanks!
@KJ Me too. Turnip lanterns - a yearly torture, then trying to get the candle to sit inside. I haven't lived in Scotland for some years, but still call the small white/purple root veg "swedes".
@KJ One of my favorite authors is Iain Banks (or Iain M. Banks, depending on the genre). He had a passage in one of his books where two aliens, one insectoid, the other a globular, spiky sea-creature in a water-filled spacesuit, were having a conversation. It was fairly impenetrable to me, as you would expect given it's a conversation between two aliens, until I got suspicious and started looking up some of the terms in the OED. All of it was Scottish dialect.
@KJ Just FYI - NEEP has been an answer in 4 puzzles, but only in the pre-Shortz era. Last time in 1992. And.. "Turnip" was always in the clue. ....
@KJ Here (in the northeast US at least), turnip and rutabaga are two different ROOT vegetables, so it's interesting to me that the terms are synonymous for you. One of the best aspects of the autumn harvest for me is the Macomber Turnip, actually a turnip-rutabaga hybrid that is so much tastier than either of its parts and found only on the South Coast, an area of southeast Massachusetts and the abutting area of Rhode Island. <a href="https://plantersplace.com/just-veggies/savoring-the-local-macomber-turnip" target="_blank">https://plantersplace.com/just-veggies/savoring-the-local-macomber-turnip</a>/ I don't think I'd use any for jack o'lanterns, but your phrase "more horrifying" version led me to imagining a parsnip carving-!
Hats off to the constructor's mom: snicklefritz is given the day in the sun it needs; that's a jewel of a word there, rarer than the finest onyx.
For the longest time I had IN_TI_ATE for 10D, and just couldn't see past wanting it to be 'Initiate'
DUDE! You may be NEW IN TOWN, but you’re a TOTAL NAT(ural). ASLAN the lion, a great book by Jon Krakauer, and a shoutout to Marcel the monkey! What’s not to love (or AMOUR)? ❤️
Poor ICARUS, who girlbossed too close to the sun
**One Second** off my best time, but I take it as a record, because my previous Tuesday best resulted from re-entering an entire puzzle due to a glitch. It's been tough to beat that illicitly-if-innocently-attained time. A great puzzle, and I loved the evocative theme.
Wow, pretty Saturdayish for a Tuesday… truthfully, I don’t know if there’s ever been a puzzle with so many words I have either never heard of or very seldom heard used. This is one of those puzzles by a new constructor that wants to show the world how clever they are by inserting words that no one uses with poor clues.
Darren, Sorry you had a hard time with this one, but objective data suggests that's entirely on you and not one bit on the constructor. 🌎 Global Stats Difficulty Average Median Solve Time 7:00 Median Solver 12% faster ⚡71% of users solved faster than their Tuesday average. 31% solved much faster (>20%) than their Tuesday average. 🐢29% of users solved slower than their Tuesday average. 10% solved much slower (>20%) than their Tuesday average.
"...inserting words that no one uses with poor clues." Darren, The only entry in this puzzle I have never used -- but I'm sure some of our U.K. readers have -- is TESCO, and the clue for it seems to be fine even though I needed the crosses to fill it. Which words do you think no one uses ... and which clues did you find poor?
@Darren I tend to agree along the 'new constructor' lines, maybe worded another way. I never scan through the Wordplay article, or this comment section, prior to attempting the puzzle. I got the feeling this one seemed amateurish, as I started on the journey to solve. After reading Sam Corbin's announcement about his debut, I knew I was right. Then... I read he is an Univ. Prof. So, even PhDs have a lot to learn(?)
@Darren I agree. First Tuesday in a long time I’ve needed help to finish.
@Darren I agree. It felt a little desperate. Some nasty naticks in there as well.
@Darren From the constructor's notes. This is my debut puzzle with The Times. Until now, my only published crosswords were those in our college alumni magazine. But since I’m a senior faculty member, my “Humani-minis” and “Cougar Crosswords” have never been turned down in that venue. His first Times puzzle, but he's constructed others.
omg the dramaaaaa! Here's my ruling: - defendant and OP @Darren was rude to highlight that the constructor is "new," and to accuse them of "want[ing] to show how clever they are" and writing "poor clues." (And will he reply to Barry's questions—or take the 5th?) Finding: probable cause on a charge of rudeness. - cross-defendant @Barry Ancona showed him DATA that suggests his assessment of the difficulty is flawed; and asked what specifically he objected to. Finding: no probable cause on a charge of rudeness. - sur-respondent @D has probably seen Barry Ancona making comments, that are questionably helpful and arguably before; but his rap sheet isn't admissible in the present case to establish action in conformity therewith, and they're bias renders them an unreliable witness. Objection overruled. Jurisdiction is proper in my heart, and appeals should be timely filed. xoxoxox
@Darren Please note that – short of the constructor coming out and saying so – there is ZERO way to know which clues are theirs and which were created by the Games editorial staff. You are entitled to your opinion, but the way you wrote it is discourteous to all involved – and to those of us who get stuck reading it.
@Darren Sounds like you know more (or claim to) about constructors' attitudes than you do about solving puzzles.
Classic malapop for me today, and I'm thinking, I'm not alone. A malapop, btw, is a crossword term, like natick. It was coined by constructor Andrea Carla Michaels, and is when you place an answer down, but then take it out because it doesn't work with the crosses ... then, later, that very answer you took out turns out to be the right answer somewhere else in the grid. My malapop was entering SLAT for [Wood strip], taking it out because it was supposed to be LATH, then, sure enough, SLAT got into the grid elsewhere for [Venetian blind component]. Anyone else do the same?
Lewis, There was a whole thread on that earlier. Here's the link: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4b0jiq?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4b0jiq?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a>
@Lewis Google isn't showing me anything for malapop, except for an Instagram account. What you described seems extremely rare.
What a great theme. I couldn't help but think of the great landscape painting by Bruegel the Elder depicting the fall of Icarus. Icarus makes a relatively small cameo; you can see his legs flailing in the lower right corner, UNDERTHESEA. If you didn't look close enough, you might have thought he disappeared INTOTHINAIR. Meanwhile the farmer in the foreground plows away oblivious, and the shepherd casts his eyes skyward, enjoying his DAYINTHESUN
Seeing 54D (LATEX) reminded me of the Seinfeld episode in which George Costanza attempts to concoct a fictitious job application in order to keep collecting unemployment benefits. It fails miserably (and hilariously), as seen in this clip: - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T35QhLx_KI" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T35QhLx_KI</a>
@RichardZ I love that "And you want to be my latex salesman."
@RichardZ Great scene, although it does have one of those plot inconsistencies we sometimes see in Seinfeld. In the episode with the 3-d posters George goes to a party at his girlfriend's parents' house and comes out of the bathroom with his shirt off, which he later explains he always takes his shirt off. In the latex salesman incident he runs out of the bathroom with his shirt on. Still a great scene, and a great line.
Pretty tough fill for a Tuesday, though I’m not complaining! Was nice to get a little workout so early in the week.
@Stephen These clues were easier than usual for me. Could age be a factor? (early 70s)
@NESB is Still thinking How many years have you been doing crosswords?
Excellent debut, Corry. Keep them coming!
Nice Tuesday puzzle. Typical workout for me and I didn't grasp the theme until I worked out the reveal, but that was a nice 'aha' moment. And... must confess that with my poor memory I needed a couple of theme answers before I finally kind of remembered the connection to ICARUS. Fun puzzle find today - a Sunday from November 14, 1999 by Lloyd E. Pollet with the title: Stars "R" us. A couple of theme clue and answer examples: "Actor getting bad press?" HENRYWRINKLER "Actress who's cold?" JODIEFROSTER And some other theme answers: JACKPARLANCE DEBRAWRINGER WESLEYSNIPERS PHOEBECRATES VIRGINIAMAYOR And there were more. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/14/1999&g=30&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/14/1999&g=30&d=A</a> ....
A very fine debut indeed. Many thanks.
Great job, Professeur. I liked this puzzle a lot.
So why isn't the opera called, "Madama Farfala?" And isn't the geisha's name Cho Cho? Someone is cheating here, and I think it's Puccini, not the constructor. I don't really follow opera; my tastes run more towards Iron Maiden, so here's an appropriate cut from "Piece of Mind": <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9oGkvpkefg" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9oGkvpkefg</a> I just learned that the new Prime Minister of Japan is a huge fan of the band, and once played drums in a metal band herself.
@Grant Well, thank you for that! But I know enough of your tastes in 80's New Wave that you might remember this: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ0ohma987g&list=RDOJ0ohma987g&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ0ohma987g&list=RDOJ0ohma987g&start_radio=1</a>
TEVYE / AMOUR / MADAMA / NORI / LAMINA / ASLAN / TESCO / ETNA / IDEE... rather ridiculous for a Tuesday. another round of Jeopardy!
@Charles Fiddler on the Roof (musical and movie) French: common word in crosswords, elsewhere Opera, popular, with many adaptations since 1898, including plays movies, and books. Started as a play named Madame Butterfly, on which the opera was based Seaweed option at many Japanese/sushi restaurants Scientific term: spinal surgery, vehicle airflow, etc. Symbol of Christ in C. S. Lewis's Narnia series British grocery store, name not well known in US Famous Italian volcano French: term for preoccupation; not seen often While some of these are not common, I've encountered all of these terms, most of them more than once, and not only in crosswords. I would not have called this anything close to a Jeopardy-level quiz, although it also had some older words not commonly used like GILDS or LATH, or even STENO. In any case, the crossings were quite fair, and helped me in several spots as I cruised through this in about two-thirds of my usual time.