Re: 16A Do you know the difference between a hippo and a ZIPPO? A hippo is really heavy, but a ZIPPO is a little lighter.
@Jack McCullough You made Zeppo roll over with that one!:)
Cute, clever little puzzle. Fun and quick enough that I didn't even notice the break from the format - - had to go back to look at the not-quite-square puzzle after reading the constructor's note. A poem comes to mind. I'll share this excerpt, from an Emily Dickinson piece whose title is the first line: “Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all[.] I would like to think that in a broader sense, hope has us covered, too.
@Kurt Thanks for sharing this lovely poem -- especially as a comforting salve to get us covered through the upcoming winter months. :)
OK, this Monday grid is as smooth as chocolate pie, yet I'm still dazed by Sunday's thrashing. A person shoulda, coulda, woulda just grin and bear it. Dang right I'm smiling . . . like a pup with a mouthful of bees . ... “The problem is not inside your head” They said to me “Sunday was easy if you Took it logically It felt like (hail) in my struggle To be free There must be fifty ways To solve your rebus” They post, “It’s really not our habit to intrude Furthermore, we hope our discourse Won’t be pedantic or too rude' But I’ll repeat myself At the risk of being booed There must be fifty ways To solve your rebus Fifty ways to solve your rebus” You just clog up your grid, Sid Shove as much as you can, Nan Rebus ain't never been coy, Roy They just spring 'em on me! Fill 'er up and don't cuss, Gus Give those letters a tush push Just hit that rebus key, Lee Or set your streak free!
@Whoa Nellie Since you brought it up...yesterday's puzzle brought out the indignant newbies who couldn't figure out how to enter a rebus (both the mechanics of opening the square up and that of what to put in the square), the old time "I've been doing the puzzle for 60 years and I've never liked rebuses" crowd, the (really, there's no other word for it) ignorant people who think that creating a double rebus is "lazy construction" ("Nothing else fit, so you had to resort to this"), the ones who found two different rebuses in the same square one rebus too far, the ones who thought the two states in each box should have had more of a connection ("some shared a border, but the others did not"), those who thought the title "Swing States" meant politically and couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that it was just a hint that it was a two-way rebus, those who thought "it wasn't a crossword, it was something else, and I want my crossword", those whose Sunday (or week) was ruined, etc. I thought it was a clever and fairly original puzzle. I was amazed at the pure inanity of many of the comments. If you don't like shenanigans, there are lots of other crosswords out there. The NYT is for innovation; if you want status quo, you'll be disappointed over and over. But maybe you said it better.
@Whoa Nellie Second attempt: Since you brought it up...yesterday's puzzle brought out the indignant newbies who couldn't figure out how to enter a rebus (both the mechanics of opening the square up and that of what to put in the square), the old time "I've been doing the puzzle for 60 years and I've never liked rebuses" crowd, the (really, there's no other word for it) ign0r@n† people who think that creating a double rebus is "lazy construction" ("Nothing else fit, so you had to resort to this"), the ones who found two different rebuses in the same square one rebus too far, the ones who thought the two states in each box should have had more of a connection ("some shared a border, but the others did not"), those who thought the title "Swing States" meant politically and couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that it was just a hint that it was a two-way rebus, those who thought "it wasn't a crossword, it was something else, and I want my crossword", those whose Sunday (or week) was ruined, etc. I thought it was a clever and fairly original puzzle. I was amazed at the pure inanity of many of the comments. If you don't like shenanigans, there are lots of other crosswords out there. The NYT is for innovation; if you want status quo, you'll be disappointed over and over. But maybe you said it better.
@Whoa Nellie That's a great plan, man.
@Whoa Nellie, I love this. You are too clever for words! 👏🏻👏🏻❤️
@Whoa Nellie Brilliant!!
@Whoa Nellie THIS redeemed the frustration of staring at yesterday's rebuses for me! Thank you and happy Monday!!
@Whoa Nellie, that was brilliant! I'll never hear that song again without thinking (admiringly) of you! Edit some fill, Will!
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. Thrill seeker's line (6) 2. Shipping container (6) 3. Something often hit without you seeing it (6) 4. Overseer of Artemis (4) 5. Traveler's check, in brief? (3)(3) BUNGEE MAILER PINATA NASA NBA REF
My favorite encore clues from last week: [Get together for a party] (6) [Red state?] (4) CAUCUS OHIO
I'm not sure I like this new salon, but I guess I'll comb to terms with it. (Oh, hair we go again...)
@Mike When I was young I was part of a fringe movement, but it turned out just to be youthful folly - call it what you like, but I soon receded, and although I hoped to mull it over, i had to accept nothing was gelling any more. I looked for alternatives but the price was too much to pay. In the end it was a close shave. Ah, parting is such sweet sorrow!
@Mike Petrol has beat us to all the appropriate puns, here. It makes me want to wig out!
Mike, Don’t worry, the puzzle has you coiffured.
@Mike I'm dying to hear why you're curling your lip and upbraiding this shop. Your humor is usually so much dryer. Maybe you just didn't like the look of it?
What a delight after Sunday's quasi-rebus (which was quasi-guaranteed to rubus the wrong way): a Monday puzzle that danced around with fun, sly clues, and made up for all that tsuris. Thank you, Zhouqin Burnikel! I feel better already.
@dutchiris Thanks for recommending The Uninvited the other day. Although I didn’t see the film, I treated myself to the book by Dorothy Macardle this weekend—and I loved it.
@dutchiris -- "...rubus the wrong way". You are a wordplay of the highest order. I love your posts!
The across pass yielded almost nothing - I've had many Fridays with better results after several minutes, and an occasional easy Saturday. The down clues were incomparably more straightforward but still, to me it felt like the puzzle ran on the wrong day. In the end I completed it in Tuesday time. The theme did nothing for me. I always find it a let-down when themed elements of a puzzle have nothing to do with the entries they feature in. Some words that fit into a random category, if cut in two. can be found in an assortment of random phrases... Ok, but so what? Of course coming up with this undeniably required skill, but ultimately I didn't find it interesting, at all. Over the decades, and especially the two-plus years of doing these puzzles, I got used to Americans abbreviating everything and its mother. SUPE and STOLI were gimmes. Still, especially STOLI looks so wrong! When Americans shorten English words, there is a certain logic to it, and often a perver5e sort of respect for the language. With foreign words though... Eek! Stolichnaya means "of the capital". Polish has a very similar word - "stołeczna". There is no way to abbreviate either of these words in their native tongues. It just can't be done, period. I understand that no longer applies when you subject the word to the rules (or, in a way, the lack thereof) of another language, but gurrrrl, does it look *wrooong*! [Ιάσων mode] Thanks to the editors and constructor [/Ιάσων mode]
@Andrzej I had ruled it out because I didn't realize that Stoli had become the official name of it now, at least here in the US.... I got it on the crosses and then learned about that from Steve L's earlier post. But, without the E on absolute, I did figure out it meant vodka pretty quickly.
I just read Steve L's post below and discovered STOLI is an actual Latvian brand of vodka that purposefully and very understandably distanced itself from the Russian Stolichnaya. I'm not a vodka drinker and never have been. My hard liquor abuse involved whisky, whiskey, bourbon, and rum. However, Stolichnaya was a staple in Polish shops for decades. STOLI, as a newer brand, never registered for me. Thanks, Steve. Still, my brain perceives the brand name as an abbreviation that looks beyond wrong, linguistically.
@Steve L Yes. However: STOLI is not "just like" Pepsi for Pepsi Cola. The latter just drops the "cola". STOLI for Stolichnaya is as crazy (to a Slavic language speaker) as shortening "Of the city" to "Ofth" would be to a English speaker. The word just stops in the middle, and in fact in the middle of a syllable (Sto-lich-na-ya). It looks so loco my mind wants to scream at it 🤣
@Andrzej For me part of the charm was the double meaning to the revealer—the circled words cover the animal and also cover the word—so this was a pretty tight theme and I appreciate that, especially FIREBREATHERS which was no easy FEAT… can’t think of any other options unless you want to make up a new D&D creature (“Suddenly two level 5 FEARPANTHERS jump into your path”) or seating arrangements at theaters (“The back seat at movies?”—FEATUREBLEACHERS) Nope. But YMMV.
One gripe with 28 down today. A sprain refers to injury of ligaments while strain refers to tendons and muscle. So a consequence of a sprain isn’t a tendon tear (at least not directly)
I must say, we've only a paltry 114 Comments so far; Sunday's total was something like 987 last night when I drove by....sheesh, indeed. CC Burnikel always delivers a silky-smooth grid. I know that 'the TEAM' tweaks the clues, but whoever thought to honor Sabin rather than Salk at 66A has either a short memory or an ungrateful soul. Jonas Salk was a national hero in the mid-1950's, and mass-vaccinations (at the schools, nationwide) were held with much gratitude and relief. Sabin's oral vaccine was a welcome development for those fearing needles, and once again schools were the sites where we received the sugar cubes. I recall a further oral vaccine booster in the early 70's at my doctor's office. At one time, POLIO was considered eradicated in our country... So, Yes, the clue is accurate, so kindly skip pointing that out...but consider giving credit where credit is due... We are freshly reminded of this after the death of Watson, ballyhooed as THE discoverer of DNA structure....
@Mean Old Lady As a former development writer for the University of Pittsburgh, I couldn’t agree more! Seriously, though, Salk is a hero. I’ve been told he tested the vaccine on himself and his family, and when asked who owned the patent for his vaccine, he responded “Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?” He believed the world needed a universally free polio vaccine, so he never sought profit from sharing it. Ah, whither is that America?
@Mean Old Lady Cincinnatian here—so with all due respect, giving some props to Sabin (who developed the oral vaccine here) is not unwarranted. Salk did develop the first vaccine, so all honor for that, but it was Sabin’s live vaccine that allowed us to really almost eradicate it across the globe. Gotta support my homeboy. In fairness, though, we no longer use the oral vaccine in the US now that it’s almost eradicated due to risk to immunosuppressed individuals.
I love how the circles letters bookend the theme answers, “covering” them, in a way, to bolster the theme. I also love the consistency in that each theme answer is a two-word phrase. These are lovely touches, something this constructor, excels at. Speaking of I’VE GOT YOU COVERED, I love seeing SNOW and HAIL in the grid. Some sweet serendipities as well: • Rhyming crosses of SWOLE/TROLL and SPELL/ELLE. • A rare-in-crosswords five-letter palindrome (STATS). • An enniad of long-O-enders, in ZIPPO, AUDIO, POLIO, POLO, RIO, PESO, ECO, APSO and EL TORO. And in my constant drive to guess the revealer after uncovering the theme answers, a skill I’m weak at, I couldn’t get it without looking at its clue, but after I did read that clue, my brain hollered I’VE GOT YOU COVERED! That, my friends, triggered a fist-pump feeling for the ages. C.C., your puzzles make me smile all the time, and you did it again today. Thank you!
(C.C., by the way, is Zhouqin's nickname, and she uses it in her puzzle bylines in publications that allow it, but the Times requires the legal first name.)
STOLI, at least everywhere but in Russia, is the Absolut rival, absolut-ly, no "for short" anymore. In an effort to distance itself from its Soviet roots, the group that produces the vodka in Latvia has officially shortened the name. As we might phrase it if we did Saturday's puzzle, it's a shortening that omits "chnaya," but it's the official name of the vodka outside of glorious Mother Russia. A different company produces a Stolichnaya vodka within Russia, but that's not what NYT audiences are likely to have ever drunk. If they sell Absolut in Russia, too, maybe the clue is still technically correct. But I'm not going to volunteer to find out.
@Steve L I shan’t be finding out in person, but I brushed off my Cyrillic skills and searched one of the major Russian e-commerce sites, and apparently the clue is indeed the best kind of correct.
@Steve L It is past time to to say Sayonara to Stolichnaya with Haku vodka, entirely delicious from Suntory in Japan. Stoli tastes terrible by comparison.
ORCAS are the new oreos. Now I know how to spell SHEA since it has recurred! Most fill felt fresh though, and I love the long entries in this puzzle. AVAST is nice!
@sonnel Orcas eating Oreos whilst Ana de Armas shows the college srs her skills as an Epeeist!
Still a few residual comments today concerning yesterday's puzzle which, I think it is fair to say, was not universally loved. At the behest of Puzzlemucker, I went back to solve a Sunday puzzle from October 31, 1999 with a not dissimilar theme. While the "trick" was equally hard to deduce, the clueing of the rest of the puzzle was infinitely trickier than what we were given yesterday. My feeling yesterday was that a lot of the non-theme clues were very easy in order to give solvers enough letters to the themed entries that we might deduce the theme through realizing the missing letters. Not so in 1999. If I hadn't had the heads up on the theme, I don't think I would have been able to complete it, which leads me to believe that the puzzles have become intentionally less difficult in recent years.
@Andrew So I'm mid solve. Not far enough along to have enough of any theme entry to figure out what the trick might be, but doing well on the PPP, which is my strong suit. I agree that the difficult puzzles have become easier. In the 1990s through 2000s, I could barely make a dent in Friday or Saturday puzzle and now I can gold star them 50 to 75 percent of the time. I have gotten better, but not that much better.
@Andrew agree 💯…forty years ago in graduate school I did the puzzle every day and the nyt puzzle was a much different beast in those ancient times…but beloved nonetheless
@Andrew I think you’re spot on about the easy cluing to allow solvers enough letters to “figure out something was awry.” That’s exactly how I stumbled into the trick.
@Andrew I took up your recommendation and tackled the Halloween 1999 puzzle. Well, more than 90 minutes' worth of solving later, I agree with you. My word -- even without the stuttering states trick, this was a rip-snorter! Some great clues and I see that the composer, Frank Longo, was very busy around the Cross-world. I'll certainly keep an eye out for his work in the archives.
Great puzzle! Nice start to the week! 👏🦋
Ah, Ab Fabs STOLI/Bolli cocktail of choice came to mind, a delicious but lethal combination. Sweet theme, cool grid. What’s not to like? I filled the grid surrounded by myriad builders etc and the truly deafening noise of a Kanga drill (jackhammer to y’all?) about 5 feet and an internal wall away. The building project is 2 months in, with one to go. Living in amongst it is never going to be one of my top ten things to do ever again. It’ll be fun, DH said, like camping with no kitchen or running water, but indoors, he said. Oh by the way, he said, I’ll be away at work for large chunks of it…the only reason I don’t divorce him is there’s no way I’m giving him a chance of a happy life.
@Helen Wright I had to read this aloud to DHubby! I wd have liked to do an accent, but haven't the talent. (I guess our building projects didn't go as badly because we did most of the work ourselves, just hiring help with the basic framing....)
@Helen Wright My mom is in an almost identical situation! Two months in with about a month to go, no kitchen, no laundry and for a while, no heat. She has no one to castigate though, being that it was her idea and she lives alone... Very much looking forward to the end result, as it will be a vast improvement and support for her in older age. Her SOLACE of choice is wine. May you find some sanity-saver (Ab Fab inspired or otherwise) as well!
AOL made me laugh, because: I’ve been following some journalists on Substack. One in particular does excellent interviews and discussions, many of them live and unedited. So the occasional blooper sneaks in. She was speaking the other day about a person who hasn’t been doing his job lately. She meant to say “AWOL”, but what came out was “He is AOL”. Hey, could be worse. He could be DOA, SOB, or LOL. Always fun to have a C.C. Monday.
@Cat Lady Margaret I like a CC on any day!
I love it when an answer evokes a fond memory. This time it was quite the opposite. If you're of a certain age, you might have had the "pleasure" of having a tonsillectomy or appendectomy and being put under with the use of ETHER. First, the smell was so horrendous that 65 years later I can conjure it up just by seeing the word. Then the visual — black spinning concentric circles that were the same as a bit that was used by a local children's program entertainer, Sandy Becker, as his schticks transitioned from one to the next. Then the nausea from the anesthetic after being awakened after the surgery. Thank goodness surgery has evolved since then.
@Times Rita Lord yes. Tonsils and adenoids out age 8, a common surgery then but fortunately rare now. That awful smell, the black rubber mask suffocatingly large to a small child. They forced us to eat cornflakes and milk the next morning. I was told off for vomiting it all back up! With apologies to those of you reading over breakfast.
@Times Rita I watched Sandy Becker every Saturday morning! And Captain Kangaroo. And all those others. Thanks for the memory!
Times Rita, Amen. It is much more pleasant when the "gas passer" uses an IV.
@Times Rita I don’t exactly remember ether, but do remember Sandy Becker!
@Times Rita I am of a certain age, but thankfully I still have my tonsils thanks to an enlightened mother. At every routine exam the school nurse would sniff disapprovingly. I'm also still left-handed, as is my big sister. Thanks mom! For my friends who did get their tonsils out, the big deal was that they got ice cream afterward. I was jealous.
AOL was very much NOT a dial-up pioneer. That credit goes to Unix developers in the 1970s who started with UUCP and USENET. Before them dial-up services were created by Bell Labs developers who figured out how to acoustically couple serial ports to telephones. If you mean the entities responsible for making Internet access available to the public, that was ARPANET, CSNET, NSFNET, JANET, etc. If you mean pioneering commercial internet service, that was STD, AT&T, GTE, etc. AOL showed up later and didn't even provide real internet access at first. Their initial service was a walled garden. Even with that they were far from first, as those existed for decades in the form of BBSes and dial-in Unix systems.
@Jordan Jeez, I'm not aware of any of that. What SHOULD the clue have been?
I was aware of most of this and yet the clue was a gimme 🤷🏽
@Jordan I had a friend who had a friend who once showed us how he could put his telephone receiver on a contraption, and his computer could communicate with someone else's computer. This was when I lived in Greenwich Village, so it was between 1977 and 1979. None of us was that impressed, because we couldn't appreciate the value in it. But because of this, I distinctly remember that dial-up computer connectivity existed at least that far back. A few years later, Prodigy, CompuServe and AOL began offering online services to the general public, most of whom had no concept of an "internet"; in fact, in the early days, they were indeed a "walled garden," which is to say they provided their own propietary content, and nothing else. Much like Henry Ford did not invent the automobile, but his assembly line revolutionized auto manufacture and brought the car into everyday use, AOL did not invent the internet, but through the distribution of tons of free program discs, brought online services to the masses. I think that "pioneer" can include Henry Ford and AOL. Merriam-Webster (def. 2a) seems to agree with me: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pioneer" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pioneer</a>
@Jordan BITNET (Because It's There) came to mind. I recall hearing it mentioned during a work-related introduction to computer networking I attended at University of Florida long ago. At the time I didn't 'get it.'
@Jordan Dude. It's Monday. AOL was a fun, easy guess that 99% of the non-computer-science population knew. But, I did enjoy playing Star Trek on a Trash-80 using dialup in the 80s.
That was an absolutely charming puzzle. Really got me thinking about why some grids “spark joy” as someone put it the other day. Fresh entries help, and a good sprinkling of longer words or phrases, a sense of humor, not taking itself too seriously, but there’s also another quality—flow perhaps—that you notice most when missing. I enjoy my morning puzzle break every day, but some days are better than others. Or perhaps it’s just my frame of mind!
Was stuck for a while because I had 61a as PILLOWS.
Ending period Final hoUR When the beach narrows High tIDE Fun and breezy Monday puzzle, thanks, ZB.
@Linda Jo I'm.....not getting this. Help?
I always enjoy a Zhouqin puzzle and this was no exception. Kind of a tough one for me and had to work the crosses for a whole lot of answers, and... didn't catch on to the theme until I was almost done. That's a nice touch and was a great 'aha' moment. Appropriate puzzle find today - another one by Ms. Burnikel - a Wednesday from May 15, 2019. The reveal in that one was right down the middle and the clue and answer were: "Mrs. Doubtfire" plot device - or what the letters in this clue's answer do five times? : CROSSDRESSING And those crossing answers with the implied crossed section in parentheses: JAIL(HOUSE)ROCK HAIL(CAESAR) DUDE(RANCH) (RUSSIAN)MOB THE(ITALIAN)JOB You really have to look at the puzzle to entirely get it. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/15/2019&g=24&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/15/2019&g=24&d=A</a> ...
And... a quite unusual search result. Can't even remember now which answer search led me here, but... ... found at least 15 puzzles* that shared the same type of theme with a number of answers that each popped up in several of them, though there was always a different mixture in each puzzle. *(and I suspect there are probably many more puzzles that I haven't stumbled across yet) Here are some of those answers: MUMBOJUMBO PALSYWALSY HOITYTOITY NAMYPAMBY ABRACADABRA HOCUSPOCUS WISHYWASHY HURLYBURLY WILLYNILLY HICKORYDICKORY KILLERDILLER WHEELERDEALER EVENSTEVEN HIGGLEDYPIGGLEDY HANKYPANKY HELTERSKELTER PRETTYKITTY EVENSTEPHEN ROLYPOLY And.. there were a lot more. I'm done. ....
What a fun Monday puzzle! Thanks, Zhouqin! Y’all stay warm out there! Hoping for a dusting of snow here in Western NC! 🤞🏻❄️☃️
Fun, and not too taxing! Shaved a few minutes off my average, would have been a few more were it not for my chubby fingered typos. My only real hurdle was STOLI, which is a brand I’d not come across. I thought it might have been grey GOOSE on my first passes, which made for a double dose of silliness with GOOF. But I suppose it was NOTATREAT for me to discover I’d gotten it wrong! I’ve also learned today that I’ve been misspelling something wrong for many years - I thought I’d cracked an excellent pun down the in the SW…what better way to distribute your loose tea than by way of a Royal DALTON Teapot? Turns out it’s a Royal Doulton, and now I feel like a Do(u)lt! - but that punny clue is now anyone’s to use should they so wish, I’m quite proud of it!
@Nathan Goodness, a Brit who doesn't know about fine china! I'm knocked off my pins. I grew up in a china-laden household and still have dozens of what are called occasional teacups and saucers from when my mother used to host congregational teas. /All/ the ladies at the china shops cultivated English accents even if their names were Stepaniuk or Klymkiw.
Super tight theme. Excellent fill, which is what I expected when I saw Zhouqin's name up top.
Clever tight theme and good Monday full. Was the boxer clue a double bluff? Usually the trick is you think it’s the athlete but it’s the dog. Today I thought that too and was looking for a dog show and ended up back at the athlete. A deliberate trick, or just overthinking a Monday?
@SP Good thing this wasn't the Dec. 26 puzzle, or you might have been triple bluffed.
First rate fun. Many thanks. RE: "Explore any thread. Replies are easier to follow now". Yes, the new format does seem to work better but what would help is an "Expand all replies" button. For example, an original post has 3 replies displayed (good so far) each with its own reply but we have to click on each of those 3 replies to see the full thread.
@John Carson I dunno, of all the issues with the NYT comments functionality, threaded replies seems the feature we didn't need being prioritized over more pressing matters. (An Edit button, for example.) I think your recommendation is an excellent one, as that is an issue I have found irritatingly exists in pretty much every threaded-replies commenting platform out there. (I have no idea why the NYT decided to adopt it now!) I do hope you send your feedback to the product staff, too!
SOLACE is a lovely word, and after the drama of yesterday's comment section, this puzzle of CC's provided some to me. At the risk of ROILing the waters, yesterday I looked up the definition of or Rebus and discovered that one of the "used in a sentence" examples provided by Merriam Webster, was taken from Deb. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rebus" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rebus</a>
@Vaer SOLACE is a lovely word, which happens to have the same length as Succor!
@Vaer I love the Scott Joplin piece called "Solace." Along with many of his pieces, it was revived by its appearance in "The Sting". Find out about it and listen to a performance here: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solace_(Joplin" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solace_(Joplin</a>) It can indeed provide what it promises, in a small way.
@SBK Bill from Detroit posted a performance of Solace, which i just listened to. It is quite lovely, and I did recognize it from The Sting.
I almost always like to spend some time thinking about the picture that accompanies the "Wordplay" column. Usually the connection is obvious and relates to the title of the column. Sometimes it leads to some interesting reflections and memories. Today's photo took me a minute to get. I think it's because I generally call an unformed mass of clay a "lump" rather than a "clump." But it triggered this memory: "But of all God's miracles large and small, The most miraculous one of all Is that out of a worthless [c]lump of clay, God has made a man today." And for that, I thank you, Sam.
And one more puzzle find. Don't recall ever seeing another like this. A Sunday from August 8, 1982 by Mary Virginia Orna with the title: "Latin rhythms." Six 23 letter grid-spanning theme answers. Here are a couple of those with the clues: "Carousel" finale? : YOULLNEVERAMBULATEALONE Foster favorite? : MYOLDKENTUCKYHABITATION And the other theme answers: BYTHEPULCHRITUDINOUSSEA DANCINGINTHETENEBROSITY IVEGOTYOUSUBCUTANEOUSLY ILLSEEYOUINMYPHANTASMAS Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=8/8/1982&g=103&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=8/8/1982&g=103&d=A</a> ...
Tis the season…today’s ear worm: Eartha KITT’s Santa Baby <a href="https://youtu.be/HTCFi4l3nkY?si=0VmXp0Nhm_xy73yd" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/HTCFi4l3nkY?si=0VmXp0Nhm_xy73yd</a> Thank you, CC!!
Just finished Saturday's! A slow solve but satisfying.
@Mehitabel My partner takes the "slow and steady" approach to crossword solving. I admire her persistence, and yours.
Sam, I enjoyed your links to the wildlife this morning. Thank you! The crabs were quite entertaining! And I love the symbiotic relationship between the mule deer and the Abert’s squirrel. I love learning stuff like that!
I admit, I forgot to look at the circled letters until Sam’s column reminded me. This isn’t the first time that’s happened. Part of me feels bad, because I’ve failed to notice something that the constructor put a lot of effort into. But another part of me wonders why anyone would bother to add extra layers to a puzzle that is designed to be a quick and simple solve. I liked it. But I’m not sure I fully appreciated it.
@Heidi i believe its simply a matter of self-challenge/auto-amusement. because he or she can. which is mostly why i find it so cool. like: "notice it or not...im having fun flexing my cryptogram muscles. if you catch it, great. if you dont, also fine..."
@Heidi I've done that many times, myself, on early week themes. Today, as I've been trying to do lately, I ignored the circles during my solve, but made myself stop and look at them before I put in the last letter.... Figured out and then put in the last letter. I don't really care about speed, so it makes me feel a little bit better about not ignoring that part, that layer of the puzzle. But I will admit that my preference is to have the theme help me with the solve. I find that the most satisfying. ☺️
@Heidi I overthought the revealer and kept looking at SCA and HAI and trying to figure out where the hidden u could fit (IVE GOT YOU COVERED, see?). Then i finished the puzzle and realized, duh, there was no phonetic trick involved! Brain's not braining this morning 😂
@Heidi It also helps inexperienced solvers. The theme gives an extra opportunity to find letters in some answers without needing to figure out the crosses.
C.C., thank you so much for this Monday outing! As I was solving last night, I felt a full range of reactions to the verbal clues: stomach growling from all the food references (and the unfortunate timing of a pre-dinner solve), a jolt of surprise with SCALP MASSAGE, and another jolt (wincing) having to fill in the tendon injury. (Yikes!!) Like others, once I realized the circled squares didn't need immediate attention, I waited until I had filled the grid to suss them out. The R in HAIR was so far away that I didn't immediately get it, but by the time I got to FEATHERS, I was grinning from ear to ear. What a lovely theme! And @Lewis and @CLM's subsequent contributions keep the fun going. Chef's kiss!
@G And a nice little echo between the Crossword and Connections today!
Good morning! Speaking of "form a clump", 49A today....didn't I just see that clue? Yep - 56A yesterday. I might not have noticed, but I did Sunday's puzzle this morning, so it was instant deja-vu.
a weedy but solid quibble: sprains cannot result in TORNTENDONs because sprains do not involve tendons - strains do. sprains involve ligaments. sprain = overstretched ligament (ligaments connect bones to bones) while strain = overstretched tendon (tendons connect muscles to bones). ill wait patiently for the cluer/editor apologists to argue with me. at least its not too early in the week...
@Matt You're so wrong. Sprains do involve tendons. They are caused by ingesting paracetamol. However, you can lower the risk by consuming lots of saturated fats and eschewing vaccinations.
Can anyone explain the theme of today's mini? I see "vanilla," and the bottom is "cone." But if that's supposed to look like an ice cream cone, well the cone is square and the ice cream is drifting away. Why are the V and I in different colors and the CONE is also split in 2 colors? Is there some other place for discussing the mini? Mini's info button goes to the main puzzle's wordplay blog.
@David i sort of imagined a chocolate cone with melty vanilla ice cream. i applauded the effort to pull this off in a mini. a for effort and b minus for execution are my grades.
@David It's fine to discuss the mini here. There are some CONES that have flat bottoms, so I don't see a problem with that. Can't help with the other issues you point out.
@David I spent a few minutes staring at the grid and came up with the same conclusions that you did. Mainly, um, why?
@David As for colors, on my screens (laptop and phone) VANILLA is cream colored and CONE is brown. And no, the image is not symmetrical, but have you never received a cone with a blob of ice cream sticking out that you needed to eat quickly lest it fall? That's part of the fun of an ice cream cone. Ok, a flat-bottomed wafer cone is more tan than brown, so I'll give you that quibble...
Did not like this. I still don't get the theme after solving and am coming here to understand what it was about. Crossing "Avast" and "Apso" on a Monday? I've never heard either of these terms in my life.
@LW You've never heard of a pirate saying "Avast, me hearties!" or the dog breed Lhasa Apso? Well, all I can say is, now you have. Add them to your crosswordese folder and I promise, you will use them again.
@LW Sorry, those are Monday level entries even if you haven’t heard of them—and now you have.
When you see a puzzle maker struggle to fit in TORNTENDON, you know that they must have recently experienced such a (painful!) event, and couldn't get it out of their mind. Also, off topic, what was the deal with the colored squares in today's Mini? Several shades, and I couldn't see any reason for them.
@Don H It makes an ice cream shape! Not sure why, but it's neat.
That took me 17% longer than my Monday average. I've no idea why. Looking back over the puzzle I didn't notice anything too tough. Maybe Salk is better than Sabin for a Monday POLIO vaccine clue, but with the crosses the answer was obvious. I enjoyed the theme.
sprains injure ligaments not tendons! strains injure tendons (if you want to obliquely claim that a bad sprain could lead to or be associated with other injuries then you may as well say "concussion" since an ankle sprain could make someone fall on their head)
"It is never right to play ragtime fast.": <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OKNHp-daefk&list=RDOKNHp-daefk&start_radio=1&pp=ygUTc2NvdHQgam9wbGluIHNvbGFjZaAHAQ" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OKNHp-daefk&list=RDOKNHp-daefk&start_radio=1&pp=ygUTc2NvdHQgam9wbGluIHNvbGFjZaAHAQ</a>%3D%3D Fun puzzle, CC
Calming and gorgeous. Thanks for posting this.
@Bill You led me to do an answer history search: SCOTTJOPLIN was only in two puzzles and was never part of a theme. On the other hand - JANISJOPLIN was an answer in one puzzle and the other theme answers in that one were: JESSEJAMES JACOBJAVITS JOEJACKSON And... JOPLIN by itself was in 5 puzzles - once clued with 'Janis,' but all the other times as a Missouri city. That's it.
@Bill When I saw previous references to The Sting, this immediately popped into my head despite not knowing the title. A lovely tune in one of my favorite movies. Thank you!
@Bill Someone should have told Marvin Hamlisch.
@Bill That was great! Thanks so much. I used to listen a lot to Scott Joplin when I was programming in a room filled with too many developers with too little oxygen or air circulation. (The guy across from my table was giving pitch by pitch accounts of the Twins game going on, but headphones kept most of that out except when the ball was put into play...then it got louder.) Some of those Joplinesque trills become especially fascinating when you're flirting with CO2 asphyxiation. It was so reminiscent I almost passed out.
I did not post this yesterday, since when I looked there were already 700+ comments, but would like to offer a suggest about rebus puzzles. I am a fan, and one of those who don’t want to know ahead of time but I do understand folks who are thrown by a rebus. I suggest a “black box warning” that would appear every day, perhaps at the bottom of the Wordplay column. It could say, “Rebus Ahead!” or “No Rebus Today” or “No Rebus Requiring Multiple Letters in One Box But Look Out for a Trick”. I think this would accomplish three things: -People who don’t want to know ahead of time could easily avoid the warning, but folks that do want to know could easily find it. -Instructions and/or a link to the Wordplay column on how to put more than one letter in a box could be included for those new to the rebus. -Finally when there is a rebus, there should be a clear explanation of which configurations are acceptable for that particular rebus (slash or no slash, etc.). I’ve been solving for a while, but when I don’t get the happy music at the end of a puzzle like yesterday’s, my first thought is did I enter the rebus blocks correctly. I usually skim through the Wordplay column since it is sometimes, but not always indicated there. If I at least know that I have entered those squares in the proper format, I can eliminate that from my error search. Think this might make puzzling happier for all of us.
@Ginger What do you mean by a black box warning? Is it disguised in some way?
@Ginger I support any and all proposals that will eliminate 90% of the complaints about Thursdays and the occasional Sunday--those ones who always make my eyes bleed. If that means that glaring flashing lights and klaxons go off saying "Warning: Rebus", so be it. Maybe we could get the olfactory senses into it as well, by building a system of smell producers. Dog breath maybe. Or grandpa after he's risen slightly from his seat. I'll just link directly to the puzzle, before the reformers decide that the warning should be flashing and blaring all the while the clock is running.
Thank you, Zhouqin, for a lovely start to the solving week - I found it to be a much-welcomed recovery to this past Sunday's puzzle challenge. Happy Monday, everyone!
This one didn't come together for me like I wanted it too. Could be the new schedule I'm trying of doing these as I nod off to bed. SOothE instead of SOLACE really slowed me down and made the middle chunk largely impenetrable with the revealer. laTORO instead of ELTORO (my fault -- I took French instead of Spanish so I was fumbling in the dark) FIREBREATHERS doesn't seem like a term I'm familiar with. And SHORTSPELL feels awkward -- I would probably just say "a spell" which infers a short period of time. ZIPPO was problematic, and I think could have been highly reworked or omitted. Bad clue/answer pairing. Not a bad one, but not as smooth a performance for a Monday puzzle as I usually have. Have a good day!
@D What's with the forced positivity? 🤪 Have you been bullied into feeling better about these puzzles? 🤣
@D SPELLs come in all lengths. If you invite a neighbour onto your porch to set a SPELL, you're not asking them to move in. But you can certainly have a long SPELL between visits if they're not that friendly (or you're not).
Dee-lightful Monday! Grazie Zhouqin!
Very classy, constructor, as usual.