ENNEAD crossed with TNIA is a natick. Sorry, it just is. Nice puzzle, otherwise.
@John Depends on your vocabulary, I’d say. “Ennead” is not a proper noun and could easily be deduced from the crosses, even if you somehow have no knowledge of The Brady Bunch.
@John I really don’t like to complain about Friday puzzles and I get your point. I only got it by guessing the “A” in TNIA. I haven’t looked her up yet and I guessed that maybe it was T. NIA Miller. I wasn’t going to be defeated. Why would anyone guess that a name could be spelled TNIA?
@John ENNEAD is in spelling bee constantly. Of all the hard clues in this puzzle, that one I figured out once I got a couple of crosses.
@JohnMy own opinion, I have no problem with either word. ENNEAD is perfectly fine imo to describe a group of nine. It took me a long time to accept that TNIA could be the right answer at 29D, but it had to be, and it was. So today I learned something.
All my friends tell me this leather is amazing, but I can't be suede. (Maybe I need some new material.)
@Mike No skin off my hide.
@Mike Your puns are always a pleaather
@Mike I’m really moo-ved by what you said.
Mike, “The Punster From Munster” (patent pending)
@Mike The annual Pun-Off is only 6 months away in lovely Austin, Texas.
@Mike if I need new material, I just sneeze. Hey presto, a tissue!
@Mike What's a word for pseudo suede?
@Mike I think we are all in a cordoba liking this one.
@Mike I absolutely positively 100% will NOT accept synthetic fabrics on my furniture . .and that’s vinyl.
17a might be clued as “Bygone symbol of national dignity” or “Former symbol of bygone national dignity”.
Thumbs up to this puzzle overall, especially for all the fresh interesting long entries. I loved the central crossers, love the phrase LIKEABOSS, love the clue for SOLOCAREER, and love the trivia fact cluing SILKMOTH. Admittedly there was some inconsistent areas in terms of difficulty and some fill that may irritate some people—is TNIA Miller going to be the next celebrity we have to memorize for their crossword friendly name along with ESAI and NIA and AYO and ISSA? Calling the Brady family an ENNEAD seems like calling the three STOOGES a triumvirate (and what about Tiger and Cousin Oliver?) Between that, the unknown FLOG to me and going back and forth between GERM and SEED I definitely had some pause in the north and middle east. Still it was more than made up for by OLDIESBUTGOODIES like GARBO and OVALTINE and great clues for GURNEY, MOSS and GYM. So kudos from me.
@SP ONO and ENO and PEI will always prevail.
@SP Thanks for mentioning Ms Miller. I was looking cross-eyed at what the crosses had produced. But I heard music and figured it couldn't be a typo.
@SP -- I love your insightful and well-expressed posts.
My eyesight is rather poor, so I don't generally count squares when considering answers. Thus I got myself all hopeful that 19A would be "Clippy."
@Boris That was my first thought, too! And while I wouldn't necessarily associate STENO with office work, it certainly shows up regularly in the NYT crossword. Clippy, on the other hand... One can hope! 📎👀😎
TNIA crossing ENNEAD left me with some deep uncertainty about spellings when I didn't get the music, which I spent some time on before giving up to see if indeed TNII was someone's name. Poor YURTS being entered and erased so many times.
@Anthony I also stared at TNII for aeons sure that something (or many things) had to be wrong in there somehwere. Even when I had the notion to change the I to an E, I was thinking it wouldn't make it much better without also addressing that "TN..." situation. Was very suprised and relieved to hear the music! (I also love that ENNEAD for a group of nine Bradys is not considered a tricky clue. Y'all are beyond literate.)
A monad, a duad and two triads walk into a bar. The bartender says,“Enneadditional guests or is it just the nine of you?”
@Jack! Hands down, the best one liner for aeons. Mike the punster… watch out!
@Jack Sullivan first comment in a year that I've taken a screenshot of :-))
@Jack Sullivan Smashing! (I'd have said "Brilliant", but John Carson got there first.)
@Jack Sullivan the only good part about ENNEAD for me today! Well done!
Thought this was a good Friday puzzle, the kind where the first pass makes me think ‘this is impossible’ but by chipping away at it it all comes together. Add me to the list of people who wrote and erased YURTS many times.
Too much trivia for my taste. We're still doing obscure actors from a hundred years ago?
@Frankie B No, obscure current actors too, with "creative" names.
@Frankie B Greta Garbo is hardly obscure
@Frankie B Garbo obscure???? The most iconic actress of her era????
@Frankie B The "obscure" Greta GARBO died in 1990.
@B I find your use of "creative name" offensive, when it is simply people reclaiming their cultural identity and rejecting the identity thrust upon them by their oppressors.
My covid wracked brain was never up to this one. But even in a healthier state, I don't think I would ever get ATSEA from [Bamboozled]. Geez. Bamboozled to me indicates deception, not confusion. Just my opinion but I think that's a hugely bizarre clue. I've heard of flogging a dead horse, but "promoting shamelessly"? I find fault with that. The NW was torture. ULTRASUEDE? I got the "suede" part, but ULTRA? I got STENO, but couldn't rely on it because there was no indication of it being a shortening of the real term, stenographer. I know that late week puzzles don't adhere to the rule of indicating shortenings, but still it was quite beyond me tonight. The "aha" moments were entirely absent. Oh, it's a ROSEGARDEN, and not a beerGarden or winEGARDEN. ELOTE is a total unknown to me. You don't get "ahas" from complete mysteries. Then again, I feel so crappy that the only puzzle that would have made me happier would been one that actually climbed off the page and murdered me, getting me out of this state of delirium. I'm reduced to being desperate in wanting to taste something again. I don't even want to think about Saturday. I'm reminded of a Mad magazine cartoon sequence. A very depressed man walks by a sidewalk salesman selling ties. The sign says "Brighten up your day--buy a tie!" The last frame the guy had hung himself with the tie he bought, and he had a huge smile on his face. All of life appeared somewhere in Mad Magazine.
@Francis First off—hope you feel better soon. If it makes you feel a tiny bit better, I had the same problems with this puzzle, and I don’t have Covid. Had to rely on a bunch of lookups for this and that ubums me out. Ultrasuede was one of my gets—it was the trade name for a fabric that was developed to mimic suede—it’s not leather but synthetic textile. It was “Ultra” because it was easy to clean/maintain, less expensive (I think), and was soft and “luxurious” feeling. Plus they could offer lots of colorways. And I totally agree about Mad Magazine—I think I remember that very cartoon. Rest up. Lots of fluids. Take care.
@Francis Against two of your "objections": Regarding "Bamboozled", you are confusing (that is, being bamboozled by) the active and passive use of the verb (as the clue writer probably intended). If you bamboozle someone, you are trying to trick or deceive them, but if you are bamboozled, you have been tricked and are confused or AT SEA. It took me a while to get "Promote shamelessly", too. I thought "hype" at first, and then "pLuG". But FLOG is a perfectly good answer. I hear the sentence, "You have every right to promote your new book, but please don't FLOG it to death!"
@Francis Feel better soon my friend. And keep on puzzling.
@Francis Hope you improve fast! Sorry to hear. I still agree on bamboozled - while X-Phile's adjective explanation is correct, it STILL is a poor clue. When you've been fooled the primary feeling is NOT confusion. It's surprise and resentment / anger. If anything, the state after which you've been bamboozled is full of sudden clarity and the OPPOSITE of being "at sea". Not good cluing by any measure. (I don't concur on your other objections though. My pet peeve was pylons.)
@Francis Get better soon!! And when you get some taste buds back try some ELOTE, it’s really delicious and one of my favorite staples now at Mexican restaurants that serve it.
@Francis The clue for ATSEA seemed way off to me as well. But after reading @The X-Phile’s comment I’ve reconsidered. Now it just seems stretchy. Feel better Francis!
@Francis Ugh, covid. Hoping for a quick recovery for you. But even with a covid-wracked brain, you've made cogent and interesting comments. You're not as AT SEA as you think you are. ULTRASUEDE was "the bomb" in the seventies. Washable suede ? Fabulous. Don't hear much about it anymore. There are probably copycat fabrics available, weakening the recognition of the trademark. And since the globalization of trade and outsourcing of manufacture, real leather is no longer so expensive and exclusive in clothing, sofas, and car seats. Shades of the Mad magazine spies are in the puzzle at NSA and NSC
@Francis Some elote sprinkled with cayenne and a few dashes of tobasco should clear your head nicely. Get well soon. I had three meh covids and one oy veh covid. Not fun.
@Francis I first wanted ROOF GARDEN... Heal!
@Francis Feel better soon! I recommend a nice mug of OVALTINE and some SeLfCARing.
@Francis hope you recover quickly!!
@Francis Hope you feel better soon!! ❤️
@Francis Hope things improve and you start feeling better!
I knew the nomad dwelling had to be either a tenT or a yurT, but TNIA being somebody's name just wouldn't compute for me. I finally broke down and looked it up. I also had to check the meaning of that word I'm not even going to try to spell here. This was generally a very hard puzzle for me, which required Saturday time. Apparently my not being a native English speaker or resident of an English-spewking country mattered today. It doesn't, always, but on some days it is a major hurdle. For example, I figured out HEATING PAD in the end, but it was quite a struggle. We have the thing over here, of course, and I occasionally use one myself, but we call it "poduszka elektryczna", "electric pillow". I have no idea why GYMS are elliptical areas, and the column is little help, because I don't know what elliptical exercise equipment is. I'm not a gym goer, and all the related terminology I know is Polish. ULTRASUEDE is a brand name, I guess? That NW corner was horrific for me, but I did figure it out without Google. One of the few things I knew there was TRENT. A major Italian highway skirts that city, and over the decades I drove by it multiple times. Finally, two years ago my wife and I decided to finally spend a day there. It was well worth it - then old town, the Renaissance castle, romanesque cathedral and underground ancient Roman street museum were very interesting. Strangely, I remembered the Bessemer process from my highschool studies of the industrial revolution.
Lucek the puppy looking majestic: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/2nHx5bd" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/2nHx5bd</a>
@Andrzej Elliptical equipment are stationary machines you can usually simulate walking on. The elliptical path the pedals follow give its name to the equipment.
@Andrzej Another instance where my mostly forgotten knowledge of Russian is aroused in my memory. I remember learning the word подушка, your poduszka. "Under the little ear," I can still see my teacher saying, while tilting her head sideways.
Thank you, Kelly, for a fun puzzle! I was delighted to be reminded of a third grade science project: We took home silkworms, tended them, fed them mulberry leaves, and I heaved a sigh of relief when a cocoon appeared. We were told there would be a moth inside, but I don't remember seeing it emerge. Another, less successful project, was a sweet white rat I volunteered to keep at home when school closed for summer vacation. My mother made a cardboard box for it, but it didn't work because the rat tipped over the water dish to soften it up for an escape hole. We managed to catch her and put her back in different box, but not before she had managed a romantic liaison with an unknown basement rat. We thought the resulting five brown offspring were very cute, until their mom rigged a break one night and the box was totally empty the next morning. My mother pointed out that we now had a houseful of rats. (Best not to go into what ultimately happened, a horrifying drama, with one truly awful scene involving our fox terrier, "Cracker.")
Don't forget to drink your OVALTINE!
"Jouissance" just made my day! Great word.
@Patrick's sister Include it in conversation with normal people and watch your popularity soar. People love it when they can't understand you.
@Patrick's sister Me too! A word that sounds as it means. Yippee, what glee! I did try ELAN first, because I erroneously had EATS for [Victuals, informally].
My initial “Can’t be!” reaction to TNIA made that name backward feel appropriate.
I can’t tell whether it was a crunchy Friday or that it’s 4am and my brain’s not putting the pedal to the metal, but it took me longer than normal. I really liked the fill. Good puzzle. ELOTE was new to me, even though I speak pretty good Spanish. The secret to my “pretty good Spanish,” however, is Latin and, wouldn’t you know it, those uncooperative Spaniards had gone and got themselves their word for ‘corn’ in the New World, from Nahuatl. Live and learn. Also, while I knew that silkworms were domesticated, I didn’t know that SILK MOTHs were as well—or that there was such an insect in the first place—so another TIL for me. And lastly, as I’m sure this will come up in the comments today, I say OLDIE BUT GOODIE, with an ’an’ before ‘oldie’ if in a sentence, but no ‘a’ before ‘goodie.’ It’ll be interesting to see how different folks’ mileage will vary on this. Signing off for another couple hours of sleep. Thanks for a great puzzle, Kelly. Happy Friday, everyone.
@Sam Lyons I had the same thought about OLDIEBUTAGOODIE but let it slide. ELOTE is relatively new to me but I’ve come across it a quite frequently in Mexican restaurants in recent years so it was a gimme for me.
Yeah, I found that entry with the A to seem completely not what anyone would actually say or write.
@Sam Lyons The Spanish word for corn is maíz. ELOTE is a way of preparing corn that's super yummy: salty and creamy and spicy and cheesy. Try it if you have the chance and you won't forget the word! 😊
@Sam Lyons Slik moths are but grown up silkworms.
@Sam Lyons I seem to be in the minority, but I would say 'An oldie but a goodie', so the 'a' seemed correct to me. This was my favourite clue/answer in this puzzle. Too good.
@Sam Lyons I've used "it's an oldie but a goodie" when talking to someone who is not familiar with a particular song name that happened to come up in a conversation, but not often. Usually it's a song that's from before I was born. I had some sheet music from the 30s and 40s that had some popular tunes of the times that my mother had given me, including a couple booklets that were distributed to troops during WW II, but I gave them away to someone who would appreciate them when I moved.
@Sam Lyons I am lucky that I live in an area where (unlicensed) street food is common. There's an Elote cart around the corner in fresh corn season, and papusas on Sundays
Well, as someone who loves street tacos, I need to wear my glasses more often. It’s just that I rarely read the menu, I just ask for whatever is vegetarian. I’ve probably had elote and didn’t know it.
@Sam Lyons While defending a favored a song from my youth, I recall having said, “It was an oldie but a goodie.”
Oh, that lovely feeling when I return to a sticky area in the grid for the third or fourth time and with a boom an answer hits me. That happened several times today to my delight. And – ain’t the brain amazing in how it works under the radar? Also lovely is when a solve is enhanced by beauty: IDLE RUMOR, SILK MOTH, FLOG (as clued), GRUB, SEEMLY, GARBO, LUCRE, LET IT RIDE. Those first two are NYT answer debuts, and this puzzle had an ennead of them, with neverr-seen-before clues hitching on to those new answers, bringing spark. A pastiche for me of easy and hard, hitting that sweet spot between trudge and mindless. I got magnificently misdirected by [Shipping container], and smiled at the PuzzPair© of PINS near a backward GOLF. Thus, I was wonderfully walloped by a dollop of good today. Thank you so much for this, Kelly!
Pretty smooth but TNIA sure caused some agita. Nice one.
If I keep on beating my average like this then pretty soon I’ll have the puzzle done before it’s published
@Agent86 I was teaching about extrapolation today, and used this comment as a fun example.
The long answers aside, this is the epitome of an unfun crossword for me. A quiz about obscure names and a vocabulary lesson.
I had YURTS fairly early, but had to take it out when I put in OVALTINE (which was a gimme for me). Surely no one has a name that begins "TN". Meet T'NIA Miller. Oh, but we've already met. Looking her up on the Interwebs, I recognized her immediately. She's been in "The Diplomat" and "Sex Education", both of which I've watched. Now I know (and will remember?) the name.
The X-Phile, Back in the Bluegrass?
ENNEAD?? Argh! I had to do an alphabet run for the A, crossing with TNIA. Not complaining, though, it was a fun puzzle. I too read Dickens into 35A, but I picked up on that brain slip after a few crosses. Now OVALTINE and a Christmas Story I know very well! A lot better than Dickens, even that sappy holiday standby with Mr Scrooge. TIL a few things, like the OVA and SILKMOTH clues. Greta GARBO is not even close to obscure. I'd put her in the "eternally famous" category, and the Mysterious Lady film fits easily with "I vant to be alone", Garbo's famous wish.
@Nora I've never heard of the film, but an actress of that era, with a 5 letter name starting with G, could only have been Garbo - or so I assumed, to good effect, as it turned out.
@Nora For those of us acquainted with the neo-Platonist Plotinus (raise your hand if you're in this group) ENNEAD is a familiar word. It's the name of his magnum opus. Another time that a solid education in the Classics pays off. (I think this makes it the third time in my life.)
@Nora Garbo wasn't mysterious. She just got sick of all the negative aspects of fame and, as much as she was able to, opted out. Living in New York City, one of the few places where a famous face is a bit less likely to attract unwanted attention, helped. What she actually said was "I want to be let alone." Of course the press, always eager to lean into the "mysterious" persona, changed it. She was a great actor, one of the first to realize that acting in front of a camera allowed much more subtlety than acting on stage. But all the hype about her that persists to this day was fabricated.
@Nora seeing GARBO today was especially lovely after watching her just last night in Billy Wilder's Witness For The Prosecution. HIGHLY recommend -- the whole cast is stellar, and it's 90 minutes of fabulous fun.
@RozzieGrandma oh dear and thank you, you are right! I blush. It's still a great movie... Sorry for the misdirect!
oof, bottom left with "joissance", "victuals", and "long way to go", I just got stopped in my tracks Also, I call for a moratorium on using modern micro-celebs who have unique names. You can seemingly take any 4-letter combo and find some random person who was in a Broadway show named utqa or whatever. Feels like the puzzle maker is starting with the letter combo and then backing into the name as a crutch.
Isn't "utqua" Latin for something? @Sam Lyons to the rescue!
@LW Next month: Fake celebrity name originating in comments of NYT puzzle chat (UT_A).
@LWb I take umbrage at that remark. I positively RESEMBLE that remark! My great-aunt Utqa was a pillar of her community, a veritable saint, and I am absolutely incensed. (that is, I'm too tired to take a shower rn so I'm sitting here surrounded by 7 kinds of lit incense. Mmmm, sandalwood) PS - So disrespectful, you left out all the diacritics in her name! it's Great Aunt U'tq'å (and make sure to pronounce it "Aahhhnt")
@B @SBK @SP Thank you for recommending "Knives Out" yesterday. I just watched it and enjoyed it 👍🏽
@Andrzej That is a great film.
@Andrzej Glad to hear. I haven't seen the third one and am scared about whether it will resemble the first or second when it comes to quality. It's a c_apshoot with Johnson. (Poker Face is mostly great, with clunker episodes.)
Other than the broken link (again?!), this was a perfect Frday puzzle for me: Tough, but not as hard as a typical Saturday; fair; and fun. What more could one ask? I may be the only one who read the title "A Christmas Story" in that clue and thought it was "A Christmas Carol". Yes, the depredations of age. I knew OVALTINE was an old-time product (one I even enjoyed as a child) but — To think! — it was around during Dickens's time. Who knew!
@Dan Not quite, but closer than I thought. Per Wikipedia: Dickens lived 'til 1870; Ovaltine was developed in 1904. Decoder rings probably have an even longer history.
15 minutes..fast for me..I couldn't believe Tnia could be correct....but I had confidence in my crossing answers.
I liked the polar puzzle pair of FLIP OUT ON next to LET IT RIDE. OVALTINE over OLDIE BUT A GOODIE seemed apt. And POSER next to LUCRE reminded me of somebody. We probably all know a phony rich person. I almost needed a HEATING PAD after TRANSVERSing this chewy grid. Thanks, Kelly!
Today's ear worm: Here's the story of a lovely lady, Who was bringing up three very lovely girls. All of them had hair of gold, like their mother, The youngest one in curls. Here's the story of a man named Brady, Who was busy with three boys of his own, They were four men, living all together, Yet they were all alone. It's nearly impossible to think of this song without seeing in one's mind's eye the little three-by-three prison of that "mixed family" (and Alice!) each in their own little cell, eyeing one another, forming that famous ENNEAD.
Like today's constructor, I was amazed to learn that one could find vulgarities like "the beast with two backs" and "country matters" in the line of the "immortal Bard", and the discovery was one of the early lessons that taught me that learning could be fun. Whenever I hear the line "the beast with two backs", I think of a production of Othello I saw many years ago, in which the actor playing IAGO created a hand gesture to illustrate the "beast", making the line even more vulgar. He intertwined the fingers of his two hands and made his palms go back and forth. Amazing how such a scene can stay with one for so long! The power of great art, and the recognition that Art can also be "vulgar"!
Wow. No way I thought TNIA was gonna fly.
@Joe P, I'm not understanding the kerfuffle; is it because the name actually contains an apostrophe? If so, so what? Mr. T contains a period, but nobody gripes about it. If that's not it, please enlighten me!
Imagine my jouissance!! A day is not wasted when you can combine Brady Bunch knowledge with vocab. Kelly constructed this puzzle LIKEABOSS. Have a happy Friday!
Thought it was oldie but goldie? And I agree, let's keep the 'creative' names out of the actor clues. On the whole too much random trivia, not enough actual clever clues. It seems to be a 'shortcut' too many puzzle creators are taking lately to create difficult crosswords.
@Hitch "oldie but goodie" or "golden oldie". They pretty much mean the same thing.
@Hitch It seems from several commenters that "oldie but goodie" is more common in the US, while "oldie but goldie" is more common in the UK (and South Africa).
This was moderately challenging, though I finished about three minutes under my average, with the help of looking up T’NIA Miller. I wish I’d trusted my crossing fills, but doubted the T-N…ah, well. OVALTINE…yes, I can see, vividly, Ralphie decoding the super secret message, only to discover, to his disgust, it means “Drink more OVALTINE.” However, whenever I think of the beverage, the first voice that comes to me is Cloris Leachman, in Young Frankenstein. <a href="https://youtu.be/lcgEN3CaqXs?si=RNlQTdg-IujId3rX" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/lcgEN3CaqXs?si=RNlQTdg-IujId3rX</a>
@Joe I must have entered and erased YURTS a half dozen times before I looked up her name. T'NIA can t'ake a h'ike where I'm concerned
@Joe Before I even reached your final paragraph, I was reading OVALTINE in Cloris Leachman's voice. He vas my BOYFRIEND!
@Joe @Katie It remains one of the most quotable movies I've ever seen, and of course I had to go watch that clip the second the letters fell into place. There are some funny blooper reels from it.They were clearly having too much fun. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOjH-yoEJe0" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOjH-yoEJe0</a>
As a child I read classic comics. When we were tested for AP lit. I knew the plot lines and key events for all (e.g.: I knew the name of Prince Valiants son) and was readily accepted into the class. I have this paper to thank for my A in civics and a good score on the Foreign Services Officers Test (FSOT). Bring on the literary clues and we like to see NSA in the grid. Thank you Kelly
Back to trivia heaviness. Also lots of clues lately relying on knowing fancy words. If I look up the word and the first line in the definition gives away the answer, seems not like a clever clue. Just a vocab test. Feels more like homework than puzzle solving. Wish the puzzles relied more on solving and less on lookups.
Sing in me, Muse, of Carol, lovely, mother of three, Each, like their mother, gold-tressed; Cindy, the youngest, in curls. Sing, Goddess, of Brady, the man, sire of three noble sons: A tetrad they were, stouthearted, loyal, but alone. Till by Nemesis thrust, this man and this woman, to each other's embraces, Knew, more than supposed, the two should forge out a household, (By Hera and Hestia bless'd, daughters of lovely-haired Rhea.) Lo! Alice appears in their midst, woman of infinite talents: And thus we became the House Polybradides! (I leave it to @SL to translate this into flowing Homeric hexameters.)
For 31D, my guess is that moss is covering for a forest floor. Enjoyed the puzzle!
Really nice Friday. Reading the constructor notes. I’m guessing she is pretty young. But success came early and often. Congrats. TNIA was tough. Growing up watching Brady bunch. I was frustrated I couldn’t figure out the answer. What’s an ENNEAD versus a nonet? Anyway. Thanks for reminding of the show. And the tic-tac-toe grid with all nine of the characters.
@Weak Ennead is any grouping of nine anythings. Nonet is, I think, specifically musical although like trio, quartet, quintet, etc. its usage has broadened.
Blimey, that felt tough but actually solved pretty quickly. I see there’s not a lot of love for it in the comments but I thought it was a fair Friday with a couple of Naticks. TIL that you don’t call them PYLONS across the pond. Yes the odd name (no offence intended) and ENNEAD were show stoppers, especially as I have no clue who (what?) the Brady’s are, but the crosses filled in for me. I don’t know the Christmas Story, so where does OVALTINE come in? We used to dish it out as the bedtime drink for patients when I was a nurse, with its own stirrer/smusher thing to get the lumps out. Never drank it myself as the smell and appearance turned my stomach, but it was popular among the OLDIES. Thanks for the memory 🤢
@Helen Wright As a kid I drank Ovaltine and loved the crunchy unblended little malty lumps. I haven’t seen it in years.
@Helen Wright A Christmas Story is an American film from the 80s but set in the 50s. It’s a fantasticly funny and heartwarming film. Highly recommend it.
@Calig Christmas isn't Christmas without it. "Aaah .... Fragil-ay"!
@Helen Wright Pylons are what we yanks call the upright structures upon which a bridge sits. The wire support poles we simply refer to as telephone poles. Different parts of this vast and beautiful country call it whatever the local dialect dictates. There is an art to dissolving Ovaltine in milk. I’ve heard gin goes well with it 😉 You were once a nurse! Wow, mucho respecto 👩⚕️
Another thought provoking thread erased by the emus, about whether questioning the inclusion of TNIA was racist or not. I wasn’t offended by the original post and I hope no one was offended by my response. Heavens, if we can’t even have civil conversations about racism how can we begin to confront it?
Third attempt: Wow, it must be a really slow day in Crosslandia. “Let's see… 😇 I didn't think the passive-aggressive question by the OP of that thread carried any merit. Even prior to the post, I had scanned some of the T’NIA observation and did not sense any undertone of -isms. The OP came across like, “Gee, shouldn't somebody somewhere be offended?” Or, “Watch me create a dumpster fire.” Or, the common fallback, “I'm just sayin.” I think it was Sam Lyons (?), during her initial departure, who had the most insightful observation I've ever read about polarizing issues overshadowing such a great forum. I wish I could remember even half of it. It wasn't the ‘curbing of her enthusiasm’ comment, although that was a classic. 😆 Why that particular post gained any mileage at all is beyond me. I only saw 2 or 3 rebuttals, and it apparently received the intended reaction from the OP. Mission accomplished? Aww geez, It's gone. May it ever R.I.P.
@Francis You just had to open the door here. Against my better judgement, I'm just walking in. You caught me on an off night, so I apologize for this. You seem to have many off times, but evidently it's perfectly excusable for you. It takes a better human being to own up to one's actions, so much respect to you for that. And she was not brutal at all. Sometimes poignancy is the only approach to get one's attention. I'm glad it got yours. You're definitely one to be avoided at all costs. Perhaps refrain from invading everyone's space and pushing your misguided agenda, lest you be the lone survivor here. I'll likely regret posting this, but again, professor, you opened the door, not I. Really rough day for me today, so sorry, all.
Smooth Friday made easier by the crossing spanners that pretty much filled themselves in. I did waste time by first writing in OLDIE BUT GOOD___ and realizing it was too short, but my eraser took care of that. The fill was nice, especially SILK MOTH, ENNEAD and LIKE A BOSS. I liked seeing HEATING PAD instead of drugs for a change.
@Nancy J. And as one who has been treating back pain with one for over a week, I am embarrassed how long it took me to get it. I was stuck trying to find a GAS that would fit, since LAUGHING didn't and there are never [?] rebuses on Fridays. I did finally give up on 8D being a some variation on GET THE LEAD OUT but that slowed me up too.
Very hard for me--missed my Friday average by four minutes. I was hoping for Naugahyde (remember when you could buy a stuffed Nauga?). Never heard of Fannie HURST, but fair enough. There's really a person called TNIA, though? Really? STENO was my first fill, got the larval worm before the MOTH, and just kept pushing until I was there. Oh, and in the immortal words of Kenny Bania: Why do they all it Ovaltine? The jar's round, the mug's round. They should call it Roundtine. Thanks!
@Jack McCullough What a strange coincidence your comment is! I was just at the “Lost in New Haven” museum last night, where they had a US Rubber Company display, complete with and authentic stuffed Nauga! For those not in the know, Naugahyde is a synthetic fabric invented in Naugatuck, CT.
@Jack McCullough "That's gold, Jerry. Gold!"
@Jack McCullough It's spelled T'Nia outside of the crossword, if that helps
@Jack McCullough I counted the spaces first and Naugahyde wouldn't fit, but it certainly was at the top of the list of possibles. I actually have some small samples of ULTRASUEDE in case I need to cut letters for a quilt block. (It won't fray.)
Far from brutal, but required a tinge of the Bessemer Process. And oldie but a goodie got me started up: I “Oh, Mr. Grant!”
@JohnWM Fun fact about Ed Asher: only actor to win a comedy and drama award for the same role—Lou Grant, for “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and “Lou Grant”.
For a puzzle with such a mix of OLDIEs and more recent expressions, not to mention the long-since writer and the (apparently newer) actress with an incomprehensible name, this one solved rather quickly. I have no explanation for that...good crosses? Just enough Shakespeare? An especially good history text (Brinton, Christopher, and Wolf?) plus some random reading such as _The Secret History_ (basically a hatchet job on Justinian's wife Theodora)... I had EATS before GRUB and GERM before SEED. Otherwise, smooth sailing. I'll see y'all tomorrow; meanwhile, "Be sure to drink your OVALTINE!"
@Mean Old Lady Just for you: Why, you lousy… Saaayy… Why, I outta… C’mere you… Boy, I tell ya… Your post yesterday was hilarious!
Not sure how "wire holders" works out to be "pylons" (25D). I must be missing some context. But got it easily from the crossings.
@John Giant pylons carry electrical transmission wires.
@John Apparently it's a term used in "Europe and the U.K." according to the mighty Wikipedia. It doesn't belong in this puzzle as clued. Boo.
@John As a Brit, I had no problem with PYLONS being the structures carrying electrical power across the county. But the "wire" in the clue made me pause - I wouldn't call the massive cables on pylons "wires". To me, an electrical connector stops being a wire once it's 10mm (say, 1/2 inch) thick.
Elliptical areas was a great clue. The rest of the puzzle was... fine. Sort of Saturday-ish I guess, maybe. I don't know why pylons are "wire holders" and am a little tired of names that have spilled from a Perquackey tumbler, but I know I have to deal and that all names are made up anyway. Whatever, looking forward to a fun themed puzzle. Saturdays have become tiresome.
@B Pylons and wires make up power lines. It took me a long time to get that clue. That letter salad name was a bit much, wasn't it? Before anybody says anything, Andrzej does not look like a letter salad to any Polish person 😃
@B where else are you going to put the power lines (wires)? If you can tell my why a gym is elliptical then we’re even.
Just solved the Atlantic xword and TNIA made an appearance., clued as "VisionQuest" actor. I was thrilled to be able to pop it right in! So yes, T'NIA is a name to remember.
Two of my single-digit-aged staples: Straight Ovaltine by the spoonfuls, and St. Joseph's orange aspirin by the fistfuls. How my palate has evolved...never thought of combining them then but if I knew then what I know now I might have had a much more serious habit!
@Long walks n sunsets We were more of a Quik household. In hindsight making aspirin orange-flavored was pretty bizarre (and dangerous!). To this day. I remember the flavor every time I taste an orange Skittle.
And my puzzle find today. A Monday from August 6, 2001 by Bernice Gordon. Just three theme answers in that one - all of them appropriate fairly frequently for most of us: EXCUSEMEPLEASE IMTERRIBLYSORRY IBEGYOURPARDON Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/6/2001&g=50&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/6/2001&g=50&d=A</a> ...
I had no idea that Shakespeare was the source of that euphemism. Next, you'll be telling me that Laertes was doing the horizontal mambo with Hamlet's mom.
@Grant Sorry to be pedantic but that would have been Claudius (unless Gertrude was getting around even more than Shakespeare let on). Not sure if Shakespeare used your phrase, but I’m pretty sure that Oberon and Titania were Pucking around a lot.
@Grant, the column doesn't say Shakespeare was the source of the phrase. I thought it was older, and Wikipedia says it originated in French in the 16th century. Shakespeare putting the words into Iago's mouth may have been its first appearance in English. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beast_with_two_backs" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beast_with_two_backs</a>