I needed my mom’s help with this one. We’ve done every crossword in December! I know it’s nothing compared to some solvers here, and it took us over an hour, but we had fun doing it. What’s better than quality time with loved ones during the holidays?
@David Ramos I used to do them with my parents too.
@David Ramos I too have fond memories of doing the crossword in the local daily newspaper with my parents. They were pretty easy puzzles and we mostly did them for speed. They are both gone now, but I think of them every time I do a crossword puzzle.
I’ve heard of jack squat and I’ve heard of diddly squat. I’ve never heard of JACKDIDDLYSQUAT. That’s OK. I figured it out. I guess it’s in an extreme form when you combine the two into the longer one. Fun Saturday puzzle and not a stretch. Thanks.
@Jake G Totally agree, and judging from the number of "recommendeds", we are not alone.
Salesperson's favorite game show: "Spiel of Fortune" (I've seen it, but I don't know if I'm sold on it.)
@Mike preceded on most channels by a porter's favorite: Shlepardy
@Mike -- Isn't it just like you to Spiel the Beans!! (Can you tell I'm DOIN you a Fava?)
@Mike Like a character in a horror movie, you emerge from a cave, and the puns you've engendered are true spielunkers!
@Mike Wheel of Fortuny: On Halloween, Vanna wears damask of luxury.
Oh, the entire package. Here. Today. A wealth of gorgeous answers. Entertaining wordplay clues. Vibrant stacks. Junk free grid. All shoehorned into a single box. The longs – look at the longs! – LOOP DE LOOP! JACK DIDDLY SQUAT! CRINKLE CUT! And more. These three are NYT debut answers, BTW. The clues, OMG. So many that satisfied my brain’s work ethic. So many with smile-kindling wordplay. [Gets into a tight spot] for SHOEHORNS, and [Best performances by an actor in a short film?] for DEMO REEL. And more. Even lovely serendipities, such as a backward ARAL crossing A SEA. And more. Every long stack containing at least one “Mwah!” answer. It’s difficult enough to make a a stack that’s crossed cleanly, especially in a grid with so few black squares, but to do that four times, all with at least one dazzling answer? That’s art and science. The whole caboodle. Here. Today. You are a talent, Katie, and this was one extraordinarily splendid outing. Thank you!
A relatively newbie to NYT puzzles but this was my first Saturday gold star with no googling/hints. As an Aussie I often I often find a lot of the American trivia tricky, but it after leaving this for a while in between attempts i was able to solve it. I enjoyed the level of wordplay on this one.
@Gareth Respect! I needed 13 lookups to solve this, in my 31st month of doing NYT puzzles... The wordplay was pretty good but the amount of stuff I simply didn't know defeated me.
@Gareth Well done! Saturday gold. It’s a lovely feeling.
When you get hung up on a word (lookin’ at you, ALOP) and come to the comments just to see if you’re not alone. :)
I've noticed in recent years a new sentence structure is popular using the word "when" that leaves out the what part. It used to be that when someone told you that "when something happens" or "when something is true", you would learn "what it was that happens" or "what was true". Now we are left in suspense. Can someone put into words what is going on here? (Yes, my age is showing)
@Katie Did anyone else initially thing 47A was "BOX"?
I have never used or heard of ALOP. Sounded kind of EELY to me.
Most of this puzzle was wonderful, but that southwest corner was ALOP.
My favorite price NINES are the .9 cents per gallon of gas, which has remained unchanged at least since I started buying gas in the mid 1960s. Ubiquitous, impervious to price hikes or cuts and inevitable as death and taxes, If gas were free, it would still cost .9¢ per gallon.
@Mike R Now that the US Mint has stopped making new pennies, we will soon enough round cash Sal es to the nearest dime in exactly this way.
@Mike R Great observation. I wonder who's perspective will turn out to be correct, yours or @Matt's? I could see a world where gas prices remain posted with the .9 even as the attendant rounds the change (for the rare bird who manages to pay cash).
@Mike R Reminds me of the Simpsons bit where the "discount" at Donnie's Discount Gas was the .7¢ he charged instead of . 9¢
ALOP? Really? And RAT?
@Charles Engelke Rat makes sense to me, as a criminal turning informant (ie a RAT) is often said to be "singing." ALOP, on the other hand, is totally new to me.
@Charles Engelke ALOP was my fatal stumble in this otherwise excellent Crossword that tripped me non-fatally many times over. I suspect ALOP is related to “lop-sided”. I’ve never come across it, and kudos to those who have, and a raised eyebrow to those who merely claim to have, since the OED says it accounts for fewer than 0.01 occurrences per million words in modern written English…
Sorry that the Times editorial team dropped the ball on this, but [Amazon wrapper] - BOA was used so recently -- Nov. 27 in a John McClung puzzle -- that I was really disappointed in its exact repetition here. Jack diddly squat is such a beaut, and a Times debut to boot, along with crinkle cut, plunge pool, and the dookalicious I'm used to it (I mused to it), this being a typically spirited Katie Hoody puzzle, that I forgive Shortz the repetitious boa. And Aquitaine caused me to recall reading E. L. Konigsburg's "A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver" when I was a kid, which introduced me to the real historical figure Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose second husband was Henry II of England.* [Wind-up toy] - KITE and [Audio sensors] - EARS - both excellent. *Konigsburg, who came from Pittsburgh, was one of my favorite authors when I was a kid. Her "A View from Saturday" and "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" rank among the great reading experiences of childhood.
@john ezra “From the Mixed up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler” was hands down my favorite book as a child. Sorry I missed the rest.
@john ezra Also I got DOOKED by I MUSED TO IT too. And I hate to keep harping on spooky “Survivor” coincidences, but I am watching Season 29, episode 11 and literally 10 minutes after I finish the puzzle I hear those exact words come out of one of the contestant’s mouths.
@john ezra I immediately thought of Konigsburg too! Many of her books count among my favorites.
@john ezra I too adored E. L. Konigsburg! Thank you for bringing her up here. And you're right: A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver was very likely my first exposure to the land of Aquitaine, just as Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler most definitely formed my view of the Met long before I experienced it for myself. As for the cluing: while not as recent, I was shocked [Bad singer] was used verbatim from a puzzle I'd just completed in the archive (and said as much in my post earlier). I expect more from the editorial team, especially on a Saturday!
Glad to know there are so many fans of E. L. Konigsburg among the solvers here! Miniver is a pale white-gray fir mainly used for trimming garments, originally from the red squirrel, but now a general term, at least in England, for white fur. At some point I may have known that, but it took looking it up right now to get its meaning. Also (and being a Jew is hardly an excuse), I had always assumed that a manger was just another word for a barn or stable, not the small feeding trough in which Jesus was born, derived from the Latin mandiare - to eat -- and of course the French verb manger (to eat) also derives from that. I have a lot to learn. New year's resolution: learn more. And clean the basement.
Both today and Friday came hard for me. So many names I didn't know--ANYA Seton, ALTON Brown, Superman's mother, Bardugo LEIGH (or LEIGH Bardugo?), OSHEA Jackson, Jr. Never heard of NOOR, nor the TITI monkey, nor did I realize until pretty late that it's BETTE Davis, not Betty, or Betti. And, a word I've never heard of: ALOP. Most of the time straight up words I've at least run across once or twice. And I only saw "The Flintstones" and "The Jetsons" in black and white, so REDHEADS had to emerge from the chaos. I needed virtually every cross for PLUNGEPOOL. Then there were the playful, funny ones, that I really struggled to get--ASTERISKS for [They may go in for cursing] and KITE for [Wind-up toy?] So this was a real challenge for me, as I didn't find the crosses very obvious either: AQUITAINE could very easily have been AQUaTAINE. NOMSG was something I really needed spelled out. JACKDIDDLYSQUAT came easy.
@Francis I guess I should PS that I still enjoyed the puzzle a lot. It was way more engaging for the difficulties I had. And when I overcame the difficulties, that was even sweeter. So, good puzzle, iffy solver.
@Francis JACK DIDDLY SQUAT describes perfectly what I was able to get in the puzzle without lookups... But at least AQUITAINE was a gimme once my initial idea of LANGUEDOC proved to be wrong.
@Francis For Wilma and Jane, I wanted to put “tradwife,” until I realized it had to be plural.
Kinda gotta dredge up some recent past as I'm still adjusting to having my yesterpuzzle ring up an astounding 6 hours, 43:53. Seems I forgot the pause the timer when we left to go see Avatar III, which ran the clock for over 4 hours plus travel time. Would have put a lot of ASTERISK if the SilverSpot didn't have those big comfy seats. Really liked this very vernacular SatPuzz as it wasn't loaded with a ton of RANDO stuff from the ME-ME-MeGeneration. Had JACKDIDDLYSQUAT trouble merging the vision of Eleanor of AQUITAINE lounging in a PLUNGEPOOL with listening to DEATHMETAL. That great Southeast corner also had ADAM good NOAM clue and I'll bet you have me pegged as an FM radio fan, YES/NO? My detour to Waterloo came at 44D, where I figured "Let up" would be EGEST, which fit nicely with the "Amazon wrapper" being a recycling-friendly BAG, instead of the punnish BOA. I MUSED TO IT for a while, as EGEST didn't quite seem to pass the Breakfast Test (if it's still in play?) Finally sorted out the SW corner with the help of the ELITE EIGHT, although noplace DOTTED THE I's... because they were all *capital*. Just like this puzzle!!
@Leapfinger Thanks for the March Madness answer. Now I recall SWEETSIXTEEN. Is there a %FOUR? The entire SW was a black hole for me, so I'm happy that the comments seem to have given me all I needed, so no need to resort to the G. Am trying to boycott it in favor of DuckDuckGo but the latter is nowhere as good a tracking down fragments of poems, lyrics or random scraps of words.
This puzzle had my name (Dale) and the town where I live (Oak Ridge). I feel seen!
ALOP is not in standard online dictionaries, like dictionarydotcom and Merriam-Webster. However, I didn't have much trouble with that because I relied on the crosses. What got me for a good while was "YOUHEARDMERIGHT" crossing with ANYA because I thought it was "NOUHEARDMERIGHT" crossing with ANNA, but that was my fault for assuming the non-standard language was correct. I finally got it by using my fail-safe technique of staring at the puzzle and silently cursing it.
@Fabio Juliano I had the EXACT same experience!
@Fabio Juliano I've read a study, and it seems that cursing aloud has a quicker effect, even doing it softly under your breath. [asterisk, asterisk, asterisk]
Once upon a time, in Saturday morning TV Land, Wilma, Jane and Woody Woodpecker came to us in shades of black, white and gray. Not REDHEAD in sight! 🤣🤣🤣
I had NOUHEARDMERIGHT for way too long.
@Ken They dragged that author's name out of the 60's! I enjoyed her historical fiction as a teen...which was, shall we say, ages ago!
@Ken Me too! Seemed odd that the editors would allow the texty shorthand 'u' for 'you,' and Anya is much less common than Anna, but u never know these days, do u?
@MOL Lately I think they've been cluing ANYA to ANYA Taylor-Joy, a young actress who starred in a fairly recent movie version of Emma and also some streaming series in which she played chess that everyone except me watched which is why I don't remember the name.
For me, the clue du jour was "They may go in for cursing". And having it next to CRINKLE-CUT and MALIA made the NE delightfully fresh. DIDDLY SQUAT? Fine and dandy. JACK SQUAT? Perfectly acceptable. JACK DIDDLY SQUAT??? I dunno 'bout that. But I'll let it go, because it reminded me of this song from 1957, which will be today's earworm: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al3vEt5_rlE" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al3vEt5_rlE</a>
Ugh. "Alop" hasn't been a word in several hundred years — if it ever was. Slang for "zip" may be either "jack" or "diddly squat," so "jack diddly squat" is redundant, meaningless, and unguessable. Awful, punny cluing. My least favorite Saturday in a year!
@Murhatroid - Totally agree. Google can't find an actual definition for alop (as opposed to a hypothetical one), and Jack Diddley Squat was said by no one ever, because it combines two sayings. I also don't get the "unto" entry (I'll keep reading).
@Murhatroid yeah zero stars for this one. ALOP is a dq.
@Murhatroid I have only heard the phrase “jack diddly squat” from older folks when I was growing up in the South. In my mind it’s a colorful way to describe a feeling of frustration when your hard work amounts to zip. For example: “ the varmits got into my bean field so we got ‘jack diddly squat’ to can this year”.
JACK DIDDLY SQUAT is indeed a wonderful seed entry, kudos to the constructor. As with SEERED the other day, although I got it on the cross I have no earthly idea how to parse ALOP to mean off kilter. I'm just going to start using it in everyday conversation, rhyming with "a pop", until someone stops me and says, "wait, what?". At which point I will just pretend that I didn't hear them. 🤷🏻
@Michael B. Ha nevermind that is indeed the word! When I first looked it up I didn't get a dictionary hit. Learn something new every day.
@Michael B. I haven't heard alop in everyday use, but when I saw it in the puzzle I said "aha, like lopsided, but with the a- like asea or aroar". I have not confirmed this theory though...
@Isabeau as good an explanation as I would have!
One can always count on Katie Hoody for a smooth themeless puzzle, she seems to be the queen this year. And this was no exception, although I think this was a bit more forgiving than her previous ones, or else we just clicked. The SW practically filled itself for me, and some of the tricky clues came to me pretty quickly: KITE, ASTERISKS,DEERE. I’m a big fan of Eleanor of AQUITAINE (classic Hepburn role) so once that filled in it really helped with DIDDLYSQUAT (although never heard the JACK added). Loved the clue for REDHEADS. I’m intrigued by the number of permutations there could be for “Bad singer”—I thought of “Bad” singer—Michael Jackson; I thought of Bad Singer (sewing machine on the fritz); and I thought of bad singer (hot match or a lighter). And then there’s RAT. Thanks Katie for another puzzle that didn’t fail to AMISE.
@SP I found this impossibly hard and needed 13 lookups to have any chance of completing the puzzle 🤷🏽 There were just no gimmes for me here. I thought I was being smart when I entered LANGUEDOC for the French region... Yeah nah. Btw, I was supposed to take a break from solving, but it gets light here on Madeira fter 8 AM (it's still dark now at 7:40) and I generally wake up around 6, so I had to find something to do...
I plead Boomer handicap. We thought Wilma and Jane were "black and white" heads! 🤣🤣🤣
@Molly in Wake Forest I didn't have a color TV either, but I think with all the Hanna-Barbera marketing tie-ins (The Jetsons flying car appeared on the Kool-Aid commercials, and there were Flintstone vitamins, plus jars of Welch's grape jam with color pics of the characters, and of course "Fruity Pebbles" breakfast cereal), one just had to come across color pics of the characters.
I was surprised not to see ALOP mentioned in the writeup, I was able to guess it as some form of "lopsided" but as far as I remember, it's new to me. Well, it was a fun puzzle and I always enjoy finding new words, so good times all around.
@Dave 'New words' ... or really, really old ones.
Oh my gosh, JACK DIDDLY SQUAT and LOOP DE LOOP were worth the price of admission! Channeling my inner tween just a few days shy of a birthday that puts me precipitously close to yet another decade. Funny enough, just this afternoon I solved the crossword from 7/22/21 with the exact same clue [Bad singer] and answer as this one. It took me ages to see how that fill made sense through the wordplay. And then here it is again! Of all the puzzles on all the days... Speaking of my inner tween, RANDO is a term I use way too frequently – so it's especially embarrassing that that N was the last letter to fall for me! Thanks for a great puzzle, Katie Hoody!
I'll be over in the corner sulking because I bailed and could not see the REDHEADS to save my life. But I will be holding a lop-eared rabbit, whose ears are redundantly ALOP. A very nice puzzle, Ms Hoody. Plus, Leapfinger sightings!
@Vaer Leapfinger also knew there had to be lop-eared rabbit fanciers in the room, and IOTA known who'd come through like a Champ!
@Leapy So nice to see you here today. I've also been thinking that if David Connell was still commenting, he would give us one of his tutorials, this one about the prefix "A".
I have no idea what, exactly, "Where's Waldo" is -- but I've heard the title often, mostly in crosswords. So when that "interloper who no one seems to know" had the letters ?A?DO, I confidently wrote in WALDO at 9A. Nor did LOOR at 11D faze me. It's just as good a name for a sci-fi novel as NOOR, so far as I'm concerned. Not once did RANDO occur to me. But what to do about the two pop culture wives at 9D? It's good that the wives' descriptions begin with WED -- but WED what??? WEDHEAPS? WEDHEATS? What on earth is that streaming setting, ?ALES. Why don't I know more about streaming services? Oh, that kind of stream!!! I know now because I peeked at today's blog comments. But it was much too late to save me from a DNF. This was my kind of puzzle despite my DNF. All of the crunchiness created by devious, diabolical clueing and none of it by arcane trivia. A terrific Saturday.
Too many obscure proper names, too many Far-reaching (if not incorrect) clues and generally a lot of needless slop.
Some time ago, I compiled a report on women's health issues in several South Asian countries and became aware of Cardinal Sin of Manila. Archbishop Sin was politically active and a huge support of the People's Power Movement that resulted in Corazon Aquino replacing the corrupt regime of Fidel Marcos, who fled to Hawaii with wife Imelda and [hopefully] her 3000 pairs of shoes (1986?). Just like the Filipino people, how could you not love an Archbishop who greeted guests with 'Welcome to the House of SIN'? <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Sin" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Sin</a>
OK, I've gotta say it, folks, "Gets dragged along on a beach trip" is a misdirect. It tempts you to assume things it does not actually say. Nowhere does it say that sand is what the item is getting dragged through. No where does it say that the beach is an ocean beach. It also does not say that the unknown item is getting dragged _to_ the beach, only that it is getting dragged while you are _on_ the beach trip. Clues that force me to identify a series of unwarranted assumptions I just made help me maintain mental flexibility. I would call this one a most excellent misdirect.
@Lynn And most importantly, the clue ends with a ?, so you know you have to think creatively.
@Lynn Welp, lakes are popular place for water sports and often have beaches (usually man-made: both the lake and the beach.) The ? Is a dead giveaway not to see the clue as straightforward.
@Lynn In my youth we would go to Newport Beach, Calif, and water ski in the back bay. So, it was ocean and at the beach. But I had to have the _A_E_SK before the penny dropped. Oops -- will that become a nickle drop soon?
@Fritz As others have noted, strictly crossword-ese.
Solved this pretty quickly (by my standards) for a Saturday puzzle, but I still don't understand 52 Down. Clue is "off-kilter' and from the crosses, I got 'alop' which solves as correct, but I do not understand it. Never heard of 'alop' and checking dictionaries and Googling it, I cannot find it any where. Anyone out there with an explanation of 'alop'?
@Robert Google tells me it's an archaic word for lopsided.
@Robert Looks like most of us were only able to get it from the crosses! I found its entry in the Oxford English Dictionary: "That leans over on one side; lopsided."
Maybe it's just me, but I've never seen or heard 'bussing' being used in that context, and a quick Google search doesn't show it, either.
@Ray I don't think it's used very commonly, I'm not sure I've heard it in that context before in everyday life, but it is a synonym for kiss, which if done publicly could be considered a PDA. <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/buss" target="_blank">https://www.dictionary.com/browse/buss</a>
I thought there were too many obscure names for my liking. Not my favorite.
@Bob Huebsch We grew up speaking German at home, so I see HUEBSCH as meaning pretty or charming, in a petite way. otoh, some may describe that as an obscure name... :)
I have been featured in a crossword (I’m a REDHEAD)! Can I count it? 🤞By the way, redheads are less than 2% of the world’s population! 👩🦰 My dad likes to say I got my hair from rusty pipes! 😄
Fantastic wordplay Ms Hoody. I had little more than JDS after my first pass through. Very challenging, but fair. Thank you for an amusing Saturday puzzle.
My first Gold Star on a Saturday puzzle!!! My time was nothing to brag about… but it still feels pretty good.
@M G congratulations to another St Paulie!! And solve time is only meaningful if you want it to be. Keep it up and you'll rack up the gold stars a'plenty
@M G Congratulations! Any solve is a win, but on a Saturday with a puzzle this puzzling. And my times have never been bragable.
@M G yay!! And on solve times: longer times just mean you get to have fun for longer, sez me. But then again, I'm snail-paced, so having oodles of fun 😊.
@M G My goodness! I found this puzzle very tough. Went through three completely different versions of the SW block and, even after a CHECK PUZZLE, still had to tinker. No gold star for me. Congratulations to you!
The more I think about it, the more I love the word ALOP. I think I'm going to try to use it in daily conversation, going forward. I'm a gonna bring ALOP back, baby!!!
I came here to look for “alop” in the “Tricky Clues” section, and was surprised that it wasn’t included. Aside from the usual name/title/quotation stuff, it’s the only answer that I wasn’t familiar with and had to get entirely from crossing entries. An online search shows that it’s an obscure, rarely used word that’s derived from “lopsided”.
@Joey Wanna bet it's not accepted in Spelling Bee?
@Joey I had 'awry' here for the longest time: obscure, but a lot less so than ALOP! I'm not complaining – the crosses did as they are supposed to in a *cross*word – but just wanted to commiserate. Congratulations on getting it: very Saturday!
@Joey ALOP seems really forced here. Has anyone ever heard that word? The rest of the puzzle was good. No AM - funny.
@Joey I think ALOP is the only word I've encountered as an answer in a NYT crossword (with the usual exceptions...slang, initialisms, proper nouns, foreign words, etc.) that isn't in Merriam-Webster. It's probably in the OED, but I can't justify the cost of getting past the paywall to myself. I got it from the crosses, stared at it, and assumed that it was probably a mistake and that I was going to need to redo that corner of the puzzle.
@Joey Yes, I searched and found Wiktionary had the word and defined it as leaning over on one side; lopsided. There was even a quote to reassure me someone had actually used the word. And no, it isn't in Merriam-Webster. I cannot remember ever seeing or hearing the word and apparently I'm not the only one. I can't wait to use it!
Simply LOVED the ASTERISKS [going in for cursing]. Delightful
ALOP is in the OED so even though it's terrible I guess we have to take it. More importantly, I have an extra fifteen minutes to listen to my mother's kvetching since it is evidently Wednesday Christmas again.
Tough one for me, with a couple of completely unfamiliar phrases. No big deal. Puzzle find today - A Monday from July 9, 2018 by John Lampkin. Theme clues and answers in that one: "Arm exercise at a dairy farm?" CHEESECURLS "Shoulder exercise at a cutlery store?" FORKLIFTS "Wrist exercise at a candy factory?" PEPPERMINTTWIST "Chest exercise at a vintner's?" WINEPRESS "What the exercise regimen in 17-, 25-, 37- and 51-Across is worth?" DIDDLYSQUAT Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/9/2018&g=17&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/9/2018&g=17&d=A</a> ....
Unlikely letters kept bumping up against each other and made the puzzle seem a lot harder than it was, so it took some DOIN to get it done. One of my first fills was DIDDLYSQUAT (sometimes doodly squat where I came from) but usually JACK connected with another word in my vocab (one that would make the Emus go off the rails), and I needed that help from the crosses. A late fill was maybe my favorite, RANDO, because it seemed so absolutely right when I finally saw it. Made me laugh. Thank you, Katie, this was fun. Some of the slang didn't click for a bit, but at this point, IMUSEDTOIT.
So many fun answers. This one felt breezy to me, as I’m guessing I’ll see when I read the comments. Though I feel that just because it was a quick solve, does *not* mean it was on the wrong day. I do love a crunchy themeless, but I also love silly, fresh sparkling answers that roll off the tongue (brain) so easily, it’s as if I’d done this once before, knowing I hadn’t. A deja-vu puzzle. I may have already seen it, but I loved seeing it again, for the first time.
Huh. Just read the comments. So…hypothetically…if I *did* use the word ALOP… do people (hypothetically) find me odd? Hypothetically?
@CCNY I would find such a hypothetical person to by hypothetically charming, so use such ancient words playfully. Hypothetically.
Now that was a chewy puzzle. An absolute delightful mix of gimmes (AQUITAINE DEATH METAL) and a sea of blank space daring me to fill in. I needed the help of Wordplay to fill in some blanks; 36 and 56A’s complete unknowns, but it was satisfying to see the few crosses I had attempted were actually correct. Yay.
@Helen Wright Indeed, just last night I was reading about Richard Lionheart at the siege of Acre, with his mother looking over his shoulder. I was surprised to learn that AQUITAINE was a debut entry, but I think it's been in clues for Eleanor a few times.
I have only heard jack s—t and diddly squat, never jack diddly squat. I also hate poetry, so that region of the puzzle was not easy for me. I also do not know how RAT is the answer? Overall I enjoyed the puzzle.
@Mark +2 Jack diddly squat I can imagine as a regionalism. And I’m western so maybe east coast ? But RAT? No idea. Was trying to shoehorn Michael Jackson somehow.
@Mark it's old movie-speak. A rat is a mobster who "sings", i.e., reveals information to the police.
@Mark Someone who "sings" is giving away information, like a rat who betrays his fellow outlaws.
@Mark I put CAT first, from sounding like a sick cat, then remembered that snitches get stitches so when you "rat" someone out, you are snging like a canary.
This was a very tough Saturday puzzle! I had a great time working on the clues and I was almost finished in a reasonable time ... but then the quadruple natick happened with the Emily Dickinson quote and the French fries and the bad singer and the zip. Yowch!! Finally laid aside my pride and looked up the Dickinson quote, which did the trick. I thought the clue "Cardinal ___" was amusing because the answer SIN could refer to Cardinal Jaime Sin, a former archbishop of Manila. Also, this is a beautiful chiral diagram with fourfold rotational symmetry. And now I see that the eternal computer software glitch that is never debugged has added about 10 minutes to my actual solve time. (At least it didn't add several hours today as it did just a few days ago.)
@Dan -- I can't believe you beat me to Cardinal Sin by two minutes.
"Amazon wrapper" had me stuck for a while. Initially assumed BOX but BOA was a lovely surprise!