"'Grass, leaves, spider webs'...what's this?" "Oh, just my to-dew list." (Just had to drop in with that one.)
@Mike What a condensation of puns!
Mike, Don’t be shy about those tasks - time to get your feet wet. (Up north, ‘grass’ is also frost on the list.)
@Mike Must you ALWAYS claim a d0-over? I'ma callin' you "DOodlebug" from now on.
@Mike Now is the hoar of our discontent. Let's see if that makes it past the emus.
@Mike The punchline just dawned on me. I almost mist it.
@Mike Doo Wop, Especially for you! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAPEfdjvTqE&list=PLyttFeeAZjF9UA9raLLYYNH-vjBk6Q1SZ&index=5" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAPEfdjvTqE&list=PLyttFeeAZjF9UA9raLLYYNH-vjBk6Q1SZ&index=5</a>
I am usually one not to crow, but I’m bursting with joy and I can’t hold it in. Some of you know that I like to leave the revealer blank, fill in the theme answers, and, without reading the revealer’s clue, try to guess it – a skill I’m weak at. Occasionally I report coming close, maybe figuring out the reveal after finally reading its clue, or after having filled in a few letters. But today, after filling in three of the four theme answers my brain saw it and shouted “TO DO LIST!” I plugged it in, and it worked! It worked! Now maybe this was an easy revealer to thusly crack, but I do not care. As I sublimely float, thinking that maybe, just maybe, I’m getting better at this, I will not accept any naysaying. La la la la la la la. And woo-hoo! Thank you for your attention to this matter.
@Lewis That's impressive - congratulations 🎉
@Lewis You’ve found a way to make it a different kind of chalk. The perfect remedy for those who aren’t challenged enough.
@Lewis: congrats! I know that guessing the revealer is always on your TO DO LIST.
@Lewis Good for you! Aaaaand once again I am reminded that I should read EVERY clue even if I've filled in areas via crossings. I never read the clue for 57A because I'd filled the whole corner in with Down entries. It always seems so random, whether there is a theme...
@Lewis Why would I know that about you? Who are you? What a bizarre comment.
Yeah, let’s not make “reune” happen.
@Dewdrop Too late. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reune" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reune</a>
In the entire corpus of medieval Icelandic literature, there are only two so-called Eddas: 1) the "younger" Edda of Snorri Sturluson, which is a poetic — a manual for poets; and 2) the "elder" Edda, a collection of short narrative poems written in alliterative verse. Sagas, of which there are many extant, are lengthy prose narratives similar to the modern novel. "Saga" and "Edda" are not synonymous.
@Fact Boy I knew someone would bring this up, and you didn't disappoint.
@Fact Boy Snorri Sturluson? Was that his REALID?
@Fact Boy Wasn't Snorri Sturluson on Real Househusbands of Dalasýsla?
Not that I’m a poet, but I’d sure appreciate ETERNE more than ETERNAL— My love for you will be ETERNE; For you I long, for you I burn (Or yearn, or turn, or learn…) But ETERNAL? Not so much. I took a stab at a few: My love for you will be ETERNAL; I’ll write it in my daily journal. (Nope) My love for you will be ETERNAL; Both night and day, and not diurnal. (Still nope) My love for you will be ETERNAL; I’ll rule your privates with my Colonel (getting there) My love for you will be ETERNAL; I got your number on the bathroom u-Inal See what I mean? Let’s stick with ETERNE.
@SP -- Judging from reaction here ETERNAL is the less infernal It seems to be the choice more dear ETERNE turns out to be more spurn-al
@SP My love for you will be ETERNE Or maybe not - you live and learn
@SP My love for you will be ETERNAL. Thank the heavens it's not infernal. Well, there's a little yin/yang in everything.
@SP My love for you will be eternal. For you I've got a little burn'l. I find in you some great discernal. Within my heart you are the kernel. You shook my life; it's now consternal. You are no burden; I'm not hiernal. It's spring again! I'm just all vernal.
@SP ERRATA: I am not *hernal. Phnoo!
This grid has 70 words, more typical of a Friday puzzle, and yet it solves like a Tuesday, which goes to show how important the cluing is to a puzzle’s difficulty. I believe Joe nailed the cluing – keeping it Tuesday-easy yet not embarrassingly easy. For instance, [Fancy] for DESIRE, where I wasn’t sure of the answer from the clue, but with a couple of crosses, it was obvious. Enhancing my solve were a passel of words I like, old friends that I don’t run into that often: SIEVES, MUESLI, SUTURE, JETSAM, STOKES, TINKERER, LOBO. It’s a tight theme, though there are a few other possibilities, like TOUCH DOWN, TOY DOG, and TOFU DOG. So, credit to Joe for coming up with an answer set that met the requirements of symmetry. The image that the dook of SENT COD elicited, brought an inner laugh (Hi, @Sam!). And I liked EDDA crossing EDDY. Much, therefore, to like and admire in the grid for me today. My day is much better for having done your puzzle, Joe – thank you!
Just noticed the theme echo in "toondom's", a word in OYL's clue.
Lewis, Myself, I just now noticed you already had “TOUCH DOWN” listed here. When I searched before, I did so using the search function, and without the space, so I missed yours. Totally don’t mean to steal your thunder :)
My mother made a list every morning. First thing on the list was always "make list." When she finished, she already had one item to cross off. Great way to start the day! 💃🏻
@Molly in Wake Forest This I will share!
I call this a tasty Tuesday, and it does check all the boxes. Thank you, Joe. Can I have another one?
Actually, Sam, the conventional — I won’t say only — meaning of C.O.D. — is “cash on delivery”. Of course, it won’t be long — maybe we are already there — before people will say, “Cash? What is that?”
@Strudel Dad I beg to disagree. At least where I live, more and more stores and service business are tacking on at least 3% surcharges for using credit cards. And my daughter got charged that for using a debit card, which is illegal. So little by little, cash is coming back here, and that doesn't make me happy. I no longer write checks unless forced to, and I have almost the same amount of cash remaining from an ATM withdrawal I made right before the pandemic started, not kidding.
@Strudel Dad I would have said the same thing, but the US Postal Service is with Sam. <a href="https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Collect-on-Delivery" target="_blank">https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Collect-on-Delivery</a>
I, too, side- eye REUNES. Don't mind NEONATE as much, though I can't recall if my familiarity is because crossword or if it's something I encounter irl (neonatal being the more common form). Bet there will be grumbling in comments, said I, as soon as I had that filled. Didn't expect grumbling in column, lol!
@Isabeau I never was a fan of REUNES either but (sigh) it’s standard crossword fare. As a pediatrician I can confirm that NEONATE is absolutely kosher.
@Isabeau I also expected EDDA grumbling (yep). On more thinking, I don't mind NEONATE because there's a difference between that and baby -- baby is more general, whereas neonate is usually under a month old. (All neonates are babies but not all babies are neonates.) REÚNE, though, is worse than "orientate". Both are unnecessary (there's no difference between reuning and reuniting), but reúne makes my autocarrot think I'm speaking español.
@Isabeau Yeah, that took me by surprise, too. "And why is a [Newborn child] a NEONATE, rather than, I don’t know, a baby?" Uh, I don't know, because it's a crossword? Don't mean to be disrespectful, but...🙄
@Isabeau That’s why I love Sam. I suspect the others would keep that to themselves.
@Francis - Not a medical person, but I can appreciate that the issues of treating a newborn vs a neonate (til), a 9-month-old and a 12-monther not toddling yet are significantly different. They grow so much that first year.
Just here to similarly register disapproval of REUNES and ETERNE. NEONATE does actually exist in the real word.
Liam, I assume you meant real "world," not real "word." The world is bigger than you know.
Raise your hand if you have ever in your entire life (before now) said REUNE, or heard anyone say REUNE. Like maybe, " I think the old crowd should reune sometime," or "Are you going to the high school reunion? I'm just dying to REUNE!"
@dutchiris I can only imagine using it for comic reasons - e.g. if I was trying to make up some deliberate doggerel: Oh Gertrude, as I gaze upon the waning lune, My heartstrings thrum to a melancholy tune. I hope you won't think my sentiments jejeune If I confess that I long for us to REUNE...
Nora EPHRON makes me think of all of her Meg Ryan movies…When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail. The “I’ll have what she’s having” scene in When Harry Met Sally is iconic. I considered Ms EPHRON the Queen of the Rom-Com. She is truly missed Clever theme with decent fill (other than REUNES). Thanks, Joe m, you Top Dog, you. 😊
@Jacqui J not sure why an m showed up after Joe. Must be afflicted with fat fingers tonight…
@Jacqui J Fun fact: the woman who delivered that line was director Rob Reiner's mother
@Jacqui J. When I think of Nora Ephron, my mind immediately goes to her film, Heartburn, in particular the scene in the hair salon where it finally dawns on Meryl Streep exactly what Jack has been up to.
@Jacqui J and others Rob Reiner directed When Harry Met Sally. Nora wrote the screenplay.
@Jacqui J I wasn't aware of all her works. My wife and I have watched every one of those movies several times over. Thanks for posting that.
A Tender Hearted Tuesday but the SW did make it interesting. "I was floundering to find postage so I SENTCOD".
Cosine, secant, tangent, sine - come on boys, hold that line. Where was I - oh yeah - an enjoyable Tuesday. Just a bit on the slow side for me, but was close to finishing before I finally caught on to the theme and that's always a nice touch. And, first puzzle find today - a Thursday from January 5, 2012 by Dan Schmiedeler (his only puzzle in the Times). The reveal(s) in that one were two answers that crossed in the very middle of the puzzle, the across clued as "with 21 down, catchphrase that provides a hint to eight answers in this puzzle." And those answers were: ONEFORALL ALLFORONE And some sample clues and answers: "Crowns" ENTHRALLS "Captivates" ENTHRONES "Jane who wrote "In the Shadow of Man" GOODONE "That was funny!" GOODALL "Set up, as software" INSTONE "Fixed" INSTALL Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/5/2012&g=14&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/5/2012&g=14&d=A</a> Will put another puzzle find in a reply. ....
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: a Sunday from January 19, 2003 by Eric Berlin with the title: "ME ME ME ME ME!" Some sample answers, all straightforwardly clued: RUBEGOLDBERG MINIATUREGOLF OVERTIMEGOALS DURABLEGOODS BOTTLEGOURD SPRUCEGOOSE WINEGOBLETS And there were more. And the 'reveal': "Possible alternative title for this puzzle" EGOCENTRISM Thought that was really clever, and must have been a really challenging feat of construction. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/19/2003&g=15&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/19/2003&g=15&d=D</a> ....
@Rich in Atlanta So you’re writing cadences for the kinder and gentler Space Force?
Another fun one. Liked the theme. Thanks, Joe! Y’all have a great Tuesday!
Crunchy Tuesday for me. Was never in jeopardy, but much longer to solve than my usual Tuesday these days. NW corner gave a run.
This is a crispy and fun Tuesday. Well played!
Oh... and one more puzzle. Again, I've never seen another one like this. Can't imagine having much of a chance at it, other than working it out from the crosses. Anyway - a Sunday from March 8, 1992 by Kevin Boyle with the title: "In other words." Some theme clue and answer examples: "Detritus" FLOTSAMANDJETSAM "Unguentary drosophila" FLYINTHEOINTMENT "Lucubratory pabulum" FOODFORTHOUGHT "Perform peripeteia, in a way" DOANABOUTFACE "Vespertilio from Abaddon" ABATOUTOFHELL "Compendious plus melliferous" SHORTANDSWEET "Puissant spondulicks" ALMIGHTYDOLLAR Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=3/8/1992&g=25&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=3/8/1992&g=25&d=A</a> ....
I saw REUNES & thought, ooh, a rebus! But, sadly the cross didn’t fit so I was stuck with a weird partial word. // Ironically, auto-correct tried at least 5 times to correct the R word above, which justifies our complaints. Otherwise thought it was a clever quick Tuesday puzzle. I always enjoy @Sam ‘s oped.
@CeCe Auto-correct? In the puzzle? My app doesn't do that.
I finished this pretty quickly but somehow it felt like a crunchier Tuesday. Only 8 three letter words. For some reason I didn’t guess the theme until the end although it should have been obvious—I was leaning toward guessing it was a common word before or after since I saw TOP and DOWN. Once I got it I thought these were great theme choices. Seems like Mondays and Tuesdays have become more polished and interesting lately. I really enjoyed the clue for INTERN.
Neonate was fine--the neonatal units in hospitals are standard. I've seen eterne used in some poem or other. But reune is just stupid. (Although I appreciated jejune as a a descriptor.)
This was quite an enjoyable puzzle. Unusually for an early week grid, the realization of the theme actually helped me solve it, as I was completely clueless about TOKYO DOME. I ran into the bug people sometimes experience - even though I completed the puzzle and got the related popup, the timer keeps running and my only option is to reset the grid. What is that email for support? I can't find it anywhere in the app.
@Andrzej <a href="mailto:NYTGames@nytimes.com">NYTGames@nytimes.com</a> -- its in the Comment section intro
So I sent an email to the support "team". I got an automated reply asking for more details. Ok, I replied with more details... And got the exact same automated reply, again asking me for details. How Kafka-esque...
@Andrzej When my gold star pops up - that's the time in my stats. Sometimes when I come back hours later (e.g., to check comments) the clock above the puzzle says it took me hours to complete. But if I look in my stats, it shows the original time. I.e., I don't think the timer continuing to run is actually anything to worry about.
If I was teaching English to a non-English speaker and they said REUNES I would say “sorry that’s wrong, it should be ‘reunites’”. If they then showed me it in a dictionary I would say “Trust me. It may be in the dictionary (and I should mention in passing that I’m impressed by your use of NEONATE, which *is* a word) but nobody ever said “reune” and if you say it people will think you don’t speak English well.” Yes, REUNES is that bad.
@Petrol If you think REUNES is bad, imagine what I thought about it when I misspelled TzAR and got REUNEs as a result. I was prepared to rant about it here more than ever before :D But then I realized my mistake, and REUNES being bad but still so much better than REUNEz made me pass on the rant :D
I'm a NEWBIE but breezed through his one. I could agree with Wordplay about REUNES or ETERNE, but I think NEONATE is a very nice legitimate appropriate word. From the internet: ne·o·nate /ˈnēəˌnāt/ nountechnical a newborn child (or other mammal). Medicine an infant less than four weeks old.
Don't know if anyone will be interested in this, but one more surprising answer history search result. Looked up... INTRODUCES Today is it's ONLY appearance in a Shortz era puzzle, and... it was only in one pre-Shortz puzzle. And... INTRODUCE was only in 5 puzzles and all of those were pre-Shortz era. Furrowed brow. Must be something about that I'm not getting. ....
Rich, It is a rare case of anticrosswordese, a common word or phrase that rarely appears in the grid.
A Tuesday Joe Deeney puzzle with ARETHA and Norah EPHRON is more than okay by me. Here's Ms Franklin zooming down the Freeway of Love (in a pink Cadillac) accompainied by Clarence Clemons. <a href="https://youtu.be/Ip_pjb5_fgA?si=3NBhnjIs-nRlmE8r" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/Ip_pjb5_fgA?si=3NBhnjIs-nRlmE8r</a> Fun Fact--Flotsam and JETSAM are the names of Ursula's eels in Disney's The Little Mermaid.
My responses to REUNES, ETERNE, and NEONATE are quite different: REUNES: I know that it's a well-established word that goes back more than a century, but I think it sounds like corporate speak. I have never heard anyone ever say this in real life. If someone said they were reuning, I think they'd get the Gen Z Stare from me ETERNE: another legitimate word, but something no one has said in centuries. A sign that the constructor is reaching in order to fill this section of the grid NEONATE: a standard term that's used by doctors every day
@Madi You did note, did you not, that the clue for ETERNE includes "to a poet"? That happens a lot in these. "Oer" instead of "over", "tis", "ere". I don't call that "reaching" at all. I call that writing crossword clues.
TOTALLYDONE with this puzzle. Pretty easy.
I'm gonna object to the use of "comprise" in the clue for the theme revealer while I send my thanks to Sam for using it correctly. And before Barry Ancona links to Merriam Webster with its snarky summary of the dispute, I'll just say this: either the whole comprises the parts (music to the ears) or the parts comprise the whole (ew!)--you can't have it both ways!
@Bay Area Native Of course it can mean both things. Consider this: Smith leased the apartment to Jones. Jones leased the apartment from Smith. Aren’t these two perfectly valid sentences? And doesn’t the two uses of “leased” parallel the two meanings of “comprise” to a T?
@Bay Area Native YES. Strunk & White use the example that a certain zoo COMPRISES the beasts of the savannah, the major predators, and small mammals. Those critters certainly do not “comprise” the zoo. It’s possible that the zoo “is composed of” the groups of animals, or maybe the animals “constitute” the collection of the zoo. 🦓🐅🐿️
@Bay Area Native Why can't you have it both ways? There are other words in English that have opposite definitions -- cleave, clip, drop, dust, etc. Contronyms are fun!
Hey, Tuesday PB. Besides the puzzle that involves no interruptions, no distractions (hey..a squirrel!), no typos, and no mis-clicks. Thank you, crossword Gods!
I share your "Harrumph!", Sam... otherwise, a fun Tuesday puzzle.
OMG what a great puzzle! I didn't get the point until the end but it was fun. As for Sam's comments I agree with the first 2 "kvetches", but I have to admit as a pediatrician a newborn is called a neonate!
731. I thought yesterday made two years but forgot Leap Day.
"One person’s JETSAM is another’s flotsam, I suppose." Well done, Sam--using this!
A very crunchy Tuesday for me, and not just because of MUSELI and OATY being two clues that gave me a run for my money. Anyone else have a tough go with the NW corner? I think I like to forget JLO exists, and she never crossed my mind as an option. Nevertheless, we got it done, it just took a lot longer than usual!
REUNUES? really? also... crossing JETSAM x LAOTZU x AZTEC x MUESLI x CLIO was... a choice...
Wow, Sam, you ruffled some feathers with your take on reunes etc. For some here the argument starts and ends with "Is it in the dictionary?" and won't listen to anything else. I'm glad to hear your honest reaction (and I share it).
@Mr Dave With some others here, the argument starts and ends with "do I constantly hear this being used". If not, it doesn't matter when it's used, where it's used, or how it's used. I'd rather have a dictionary as the deciding factor than your own personal experiences. I don't always agree with those you describe as "some here", but I almost always disagree with you.
Reunes? Such a stupid excuse for a word.
Words don't have to make excuses for themselves. <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reune" target="_blank">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reune</a>
@redweather How can a word be stupid? Do you also have stupid numbers? Is 1248 stupid? How about 103?
@redweather I looked up this article because of this word. @Barry Ancona you'll find that even in your posted link the definition is listed as "proscribed". It's a Tuesday, if they wanted to use a questionable form of a word with a questionable etymology they should have clued it differently, at the very least.
I've never SENTCOD but a few years ago I overnighted lutefisk to a person in Oklahoma... along with Swedish meatballs and lingonberries. Fun puzzle! Didn't get a chance to read comments but I hope others had a good time with it too!! That's all I got fer ya today!! ☺️
@HeathieJ Calvin Trillin wrote a column about how, at any moment, there are hundreds of packages being jetted from each hometown to its emigres scattered across the US, with other planes flying in the opposite direction bearing goodies from the emigre's new home to that city's scattered expatriates. In my case, the plane would be carrying rye bread and smoked goldeye.
Pretty good puzzle, mostly easy. I finished in 9:41 which might be my Tuesday PB but I don't know because when I was on vacation and playing with crappy Wifi they set my Tuesday PB to like 3 minutes and I can't get them to remove that result. I had a few squares I needed to fix at the end. First, I had LAO TSU instead of LAO TZU so didn't realize it might be AZTEC until later and have never heard of CLIO awards. Then since I had OATS and not OATY I didn't realize it was wrong until I had all the other crossing clues for TOKYO DOME. And yeah REUNES makes no sense, nobody shortens it that way. But most of the puzzle was like a slightly harder than average Monday.
@Chris Any clue beginning with "Like (noun)" is going to require an adjective, so OATY and not OATS. In another puzzle, perhaps OATEN. And please don't say "nobody (does something)." I've heard people say REUNES, and it's in the dictionary. Maybe the clue should have included a "jocularly" or an "informally," but it's a real word, dating back 150 years (as per OED).
"And yeah REUNES makes no sense, nobody shortens it that way." Chris, I gather you're too young to have been on a reunion committee...
I am truly embarrassed that my original answer to 24A, from the crosses, was osTEC.
@Francis I had AsTEC because I’d originally spelled the end of 2D Tse instead of TZU then changed it to TsU as I was filling in 28A. That Z was the last square to fall because I was proofing based on the downs and not the acrosses. Whoops!
Can I carp too, about my own areas of (what passes for) expertise? Trigonometry is all about ratios. Yes, COSINE is a ratio, but so are secant, cosecant, sine, tangent, and cotangent. I don't think that makes the clue invalid. Simply that you have to use crosses to distinguish between COSINE and secant (in this case).
@Francis Yes, that was my exact problem!
@Francis yeah, but its pretty common for some clues to be ambiguous without crosses. (That said, people are far more likely to think of cosine than secant, us math nerds aside)
@Francis in Surfin USA The Beach Boys slurred “coastline craze” into “cosine craze”, or it least that is how it sounded to me. Until 1966 when I heard Chuck Berry and Dick Dale. Well, Brian’s music still stays with me.
@Francis sin(x) and cos(x) tried couples therapy. The therapist said they needed to work on their derivative communication issues. sin(x) said, “Whenever I open up, you just turn into me!” cos(x): “Well you always shift the conversation by 90°!”
That was a really good fill! A few red herrings here and there and some intelligent clues. Loved it.
Ah, so a neonatal unit is where you find a NEONATE! And a reunion is where you REUNE! Gotta admit, while I’ve never heard these words before, I’m kind of fascinated to learn they exist. But I don’t think I can really get behind either one. To me, NEONATE is infant’s pretentious cousin, and REUNE sounds lazy. Just say the last syllable, bro! Because while the mini version of a word may be legit, sometimes it just sounds ridic.
@Heidi when a newborn or “neonate” is staying in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit there is nothing pretentious going on…rest assured. Have been on both sides in that unit…as a parent and as a pediatrician…no joy rides going on.