When Dorothy's dog got into the trash, the room was in Toto disarray. (No bones about it!)
@Mike …but was it in the cansas?
@Mike It was so disgusting, it made me want to throw up—but I took an AUNTIE-EMetic.
@Mike The emus didn’t let this through, I will try again: It was so disgusting, it made me want to v-mit—but I took an AUNTIE-EMetic.
@Mike Third try to get past the emus: The mess was so bad it made me want to toss my cookies—but I took an AUNTIE-EM-etic
@Mike Bad dog, we know you did this. We took a straw vote, and the result was tin to one, so please stop lion!
@Mike, the photo caption is cutting into your territory! “We drive a hard toboggan” LOL
Here is the Tuesday puzzle! And a fun one at that. Thanks, and happy birthday, Adrianne.
@Barry Ancona I fear that, from the last two puzzles, the editors are going to infer that when they make a puzzle a little harder than normal, they get a lot of grief; but if they make a puzzle a little easier than normal, nothing but love.
@Barry Ancona It was a Wednesday puzzle for me. 8% slower than my Wednesday average.
@Barry Ancona Indeed! This took me about half the time that yesterday’s did.
I’m on a comment lag here but I just came here to say that I did not hate yesterday’s puzzle at all, despite the unfortunate vitriol it engendered. And I say that not only because my cousin, Sara Teasdale, was in it, though I did find that an enjoyable twist. I doff my cap and bow my head to all of the creators, of puzzles and poetry, who aim to enrich our shared world with their creations.
@Aaron Teasdale Pretty cool about your cousin. Did you know her well?
@Aaron Teasdale Several of Sara’s poems were in a collection of poetry for children that was a big part of my early reading.
@Aaron Teasdale - I think you're the photographer! Can't be too many Aaron Teasdales in Missoula. Welcome! FYI, my late brother was an alum of Gustavus.
@Aaron Teasdale That's a large age gap for cousins!
@Aaron Teasdale I loved going to look up Sara Teasdale’s Pulitzer Prize winning ‘Love Poems’. I once sang her song cycle, “To A Little Sphinx”. Was so funny but also beautiful. I should say, I tried.
So everyone is going to say how easy a Wednesday puzzle that I couldn't finish was, right? I blame the constructors for knowing things I don't know, and using them. I blame the editors for cluing "purple boba", when I don't have any idea what "boba" is. I suppose it's only known by the fancy-schmancy New York City people who are so cosmopolitan and who hate all us mid-westerners, and don't want us to be able to solve their puzzles. I think the constructor is a horrible, horrible person for knowing that Tao Terrence was a mathematician. Or is it Terrence Tao? It's completely unfair for such a thing to happen to me on a Wednesday. How is anyone supposed to know that? By reading, and learning and all that silly stuff? That's totally bonkers. Everybody's awful. The constructor, the editors, the programers, the NYT legal team, the reporters, the paper boys, the editors (yeah, they're so horrible they need a second-call out). I hope every one of them loses their jobs, and never get another chance. That'll teach them to hurt my pride. My self-esteem is dear to me, and it's not right for me to have to suffer the humiliation of not getting an early week puzzle. Yeah, and to all those people yesterday who screamed about how hard the Tuesday was, I'm sorry I chided you. You were 100% right. If someone can't solve a puzzle, it's everyone else's fault. 😭 <-- This is me. I hope you're all happy.
@Francis someone from Warsaw called and he wants his soapbox back. 🤣🤣
@Francis Chill out my friend slash love slash brother from another mother - I did say you *almost* succeeded!
@Francis Lighten up, Francis. (I've been waiting forever to use that line 😁)
@Francis I don't know why everyone is assuming that you're being sarcastic. I know you to be a sincere fellow.
@Francis [Enter dismissive and/or condescending comment where I, the almighty and all knowing puzzler, inform you and everyone else why you should have known x and y, and why whatever you think you know is wrong, with a link to a Wikipedia article to prove me right]
Happy Birthday, Adrianne! This was the fun and clever puzzle I needed after a long day. Thank you for sharing your gift with us.
Random thoughts: • The evolution of language. In 2021, on the day WOAH was introduced to the NYT crossword, it clearly dominated the comments as a woe. Today, not much of a mention. • I like SHY AWAY slinking on the outer edge of the box. • Such a clever and original theme, playing on common phrases including words for females – terrific wordplay. • Speaking of which, PESTLE, which trips off one of moviedom’s great wordplay lines, "The pellet with the poison is in the vessel with the pestle, the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.” (The Court Jester, 1955.) • Love the confluence of SMOG, FOG, and DOG. • Interesting facts re the constructor: This is Adrianne’s fifth puzzle in six months, and she’s a Monday, Thursday, and Saturday away from hitting the cycle (a puzzle for every day of the week) in her first seven puzzles -- done in the Times only once before. This was a feel-good puzzle, Adrianne, and that’s a gift. Thank you!
@Lewis -- ERRATA: This is Adrianne's fourth puzzle, not her fifth! I am sorry about that.
@Lewis et alia, For your viewing pleasure: <a href="https://youtu.be/TJ9f2rnjB84?si=9ykdpl7tlsnS-ez8" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/TJ9f2rnjB84?si=9ykdpl7tlsnS-ez8</a>
I laughed out loud, not at a clever clue, though there were many. But my guffaw was at my own expense. I stared at 12D for a good half minute, wondering what on earth an EAR NEST was. Waxy buildup? Precursor to a bird brain? The mark of a good puzzle is even when I get it right, I get it wrong.
@Don H Speaking of wrong, I at first eliminated EARNEST because I entered ERNEST, which I thought was wrong because it didn't fit, before realizing I don't know how to spell. Duh!
The theme was cute and the puzzle had some nice clues. As a birder, I tried auks for the great animals, even though they’re extinct. Thanks to Adrienne Baik for adding circadian dysrhythmia to my lexicon. I can’t wait to say “I’m so circadian dysrhythmiaed” after my next time zone jumping flight.
My first time commenting but I wanted to mention how much I loved this puzzle! I loved the above-average Asia representation, from Hello Kitty and Congee to Aloo and Lee, and as a fellow college student, I felt much more comfortable with this construction compared to yesterday's. I also thought the theme and clues were quite clever, despite what others may have to say. Don't let them bring you down, great work!! Happy birthday and keep up the hard work :)
Woah did I go awry in the NE, until I realized the importance of being Earnest.
Is NANCY DREW a "cover girl" because she's on book covers, or is there some other use of "cover" that I'm not thinking of? If it's book covers, I would have preferred a different theme clue/answer pair, because "cover girl" is referring to magazine covers, and book covers are not that much different. Other pairs like ELLE WOODS and "sister-in-law" use different meanings in the clue and the answer. Although I think the clue should have been "sister in law," without the hyphens.
@Derek I ageee..I still dont understand Nancy Drew as "cover girl" And woah?
@Derek Maybe because as a detective Nancy Drew goes “under cover?”
@Derek I was thinking maybe because she “covers” stories?? Not sure on that one either
@Derek Nancy Drew may not be on every single cover of every single edition of the Nancy Drew mysteries, but she certainly on enough of them to qualify as a cover girl.
@Derek, wondering about that too. Does she cover cases as a detective? Or is Baik referring to the iconic covers of the dust jackets featuring Nancy Drew on the original printings? I'd have gone with Spy Kid, but even that's not quite right.
@Derek — three of the five theme clues seem flawed — and the flaw for two of them is the idea that any uniquely female term can be used for any woman, whether it’s appropriate or not. Dorothy isn’t a queen, Elle isn’t noticeably a sister — if the character has a sister, it’s incidental to the story, and the actress who played her is certainly not a “sistah” sister. Also, the hyphens are unnecessary and misleading. Also no one I’ve seen in the comment section has a plausible explanation for what specifically makes Nancy Drew more of a “cover girl” than hundreds of fictional characters whose name appears in the title of their respective books, from Emma & Jane Eyre to Anna Karenina & Eleanor Oliphant. “Cat lady” and “Wing woman” are great clues, though.
@Derek She uncovers the truth? Still a stretch either way.
@Derek She's on the covers of the books.
@Derek The Google says: "Nancy Drew has gone undercover in various books and adaptations, such as posing as a trainee at the FBI Academy in Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Super Mysteries: Spies and Lies to protect a senator's daughter, and even working at a magazine for a case in the Nancy Drew Case Files series" But that's the Google for you.
I thought Adrianne’s puzzle was strong despite some of the commentary here. At age 21! I hadn’t even completed my first Monday solve at that age. Sam, you graciously and sincerely honor Deb Amien with your wit, enthusiasm, and support for solvers of all stripes. In my mind you are her apparent.
Names! Names! Names (I sound like Edina and Patsy, of ABFAB fame). Fortunately, with help from crosses, I managed to figure them out, and for the most part, stay out of the blind alleys. When the girls emerged, the lights went on. Cynophilist isn't a word I use every day, so I had some trouble there, and I do eat Indian food, but I had to guess some of those. All in all, though, the puzzle was lively and fun, and filled up quickly. W**H is an execrable butchery of WHOA, an imperative verb that was first recorded in the 15th century, and then somebody misspelled on the internet. As so often happens, it was accepted as being okay because nobody bothered to check it out, and it bled all over the net. Ugh. How would you even pronounce it? Otherwise, a terrific puzzle, Adrianne. Thank you.
@dutchiris 🎉🎉🎉 Almost forgot! 💐💐💐 H🍰A🍰P🍰P🍰Y 🎶!!! B🍰I🍰R🍰T🍰H🍰D🍰A🍰Y 🎶!!!
@dutchiris since the H is elided in the pronunciation of Whoa, this correct spelling is just as puzzling to me. Why not an H sound as in Who or Where etc? Maybe because of its origin but I haven't dug that deeply. Anyway if language is based on usage then I don't know how internet usage can be ignored since it's now the prevailing mode of communication. Tbh I never really learned the "correct" spelling so maybe that's why it bothers me little. Otoh don't get me started on there/their/they're, but that's a whorse of a different color.
TIL, and most likely will forget, Dorothy's last name. If I only had a brain.
@Jim Today I wondered for the first time if her last name was related to the storm…
@Jim I submitted this comment two hours before it was published. I am curious what word caused the comment to be caught in the emu net. The body part? Not sure why that would be a problem. A duplicate of the above may be along shortly...
Someone said yesterday that people only tend to talk about puzzles being too easy or too difficult. Well this was a perfectly appropriate Wednesday, in my book. And fun theme!
I really wanted 16A to be WTAF (a far more satisfying way of expressing “that’s crazy”). Oh well, hope springs eternal LOL.
Today I learnt that ties may be powerful. Now I need to know how to recognise a POWERTIE at work or at conferences so that I may appropriately brace myself or avoid that person! Nice puzzle Adrianne, thank you! And holy mcflashbacks, Gridlady, NANCYDREW came into my head before I could even rationalise the answer to myself. I don’t even think I read one of those books but can see the covers in my head, haha! Would she not be an “undercover girl”? :D
@Horsefeathers Yeah, those yellow-bound books were so distinctive.
@Horsefeathers POWERTIE was a flashback, too. Along with BMWs and MBAs, power ties were Yuppie staples back in the 80s! (And until today, I can’t think of when I’ve seen that term in the wild after 1990!)
Now, that’s more like it. Yesterday’s was awful while this was fun and breezy. Dare I say, you could even have swapped both days over (I’d still have hated yesterday’s though 😁)
Aha! I have already picked out the Controversial Crossing... My guess is 40A x 38D. I mean, I most certainly DO try to stay abreast of all budding Mathematicians throughout the Entire World--just a little sideline we 70-Somethings like to pay attention to between rounds of Bridge and MahJong. How did I know we'd be seeing more of Edebiri? And that I would forget the first name? New vocab: "cynophilist"...which I won't be using because: Cat Person. The problem with Hawaiian pizza is not the HAM; it's the pineapple. I have been making pizzas (yes, from scratch) --wait, have to do the math; where's TAO when I need him?-- since 1973, so 53 years. (That means seldom HAM, and not as many with anchovies, alas, due to veto by DHubby/PhysDau, but otherwise every other ingredient that can legitimately be included in a decent, edible pizza.) Number with pineapple: NENE EGG.
@Mean Old Lady Terence Tao is no mere "budding mathematician". He is perhaps one of the most brilliant mathematicians of all time. The breadth of his mastery of the field is truly staggering. Here is a quote from one of his fellow Fields medalists, lifted from Wikipedia. British mathematician and Fields medalist Timothy Gowers remarked on Tao's breadth of knowledge: Tao's mathematical knowledge has an extraordinary combination of breadth and depth: he can write confidently and authoritatively on topics as diverse as partial differential equations, analytic number theory, the geometry of 3-manifolds, nonstandard analysis, group theory, model theory, quantum mechanics, probability, ergodic theory, combinatorics, harmonic analysis, image processing, functional analysis, and many others. Some of these are areas to which he has made fundamental contributions. Others are areas that he appears to understand at the deep intuitive level of an expert despite officially not working in those areas. How he does all this, as well as writing papers and books at a prodigious rate, is a complete mystery. It has been said that David Hilbert was the last person to know all of mathematics, but it is not easy to find gaps in Tao's knowledge, and if you do then you may well find that the gaps have been filled a year later.
a super hard tuesday and a rather breezy wednesday this week!
The extremely slang term "no cap" has appeared three times in four days (Sunday's and Tuesday's main crossword, and today's mini), all clued very similarly, although today's clue didn't even mention that it is not widely accepted as common usage. I don't object to slang, but this is a phrase I have never heard in person (despite teaching university students), and only ever in ironic/spoof contexts elsewhere. Do you have a gen-z mole on staff trying to get us using the term so they can laugh at us?
@snufkin You make me feel better, I thought it was just me getting old! Have checked in with the almost 24 yo in our house; his response was too rude for the emus, but basically translated as ‘what US rubbish is that?’ With apologies to our American friends here. Clearly it hasn’t crossed the Pond yet.
@snufkin Mostly used by those under 20 (my kids, e.g.). Probably an Americanism.
@snufkin it was a thing in like 2022-23, haven't heard it since. Kinda weird that its seeing so much use but i guess its pretty versatile
Congratulations and HBD, Adrianne Baik! From one Capricorn to another. :) I love when a puzzle appreciation grows as I go through it! A clue's change of pace makes me glad — ["Great" animals], for example. An answer makes me feel knowledgeable — ENRON — and another makes me feel clever. (Even though I was wrong at first pass! That would be LEFT instead of AWRY...) All the girls! From JADA at the jump to MISSY Elliot at the finale. And the yummy cross-cultural food! Who wants to [Enjoy a home-cooked meal] when your CITY offers you AREPAS, TARO boba (my favorite!), ALOO with spices freshly ground in a PESTLE, slurp-worthy CONGEE and even [Hawaiian pizza] (not my fave!). You're not in NYC you say? Get thee to AMTRAK!! Whew! Or should I say WOAH!!* (*Agree that the clue here is clunky; I prefer it as a term of excitement and awe.) I raise a now-fully-legal toast to you, Adrianne. Chef's kiss!
@G A few others I liked: The adjacency of FED-SSN-TSA; STEALTH and MALWARE, and of CITY and SMOG. (Though now we have greatly DEFOGGED!) DOG LOVER and PET SPAS. D-PLUS and needing A WORD. Or how about AWARD and A WORD? And I forgot about MENU. It could have been: "...when your CITY offers you a MENU of..." Wish there was an edit button? I DO, TOO!
Today’s mini features the slang phrase of the week. I won’t spoil it, but it’s there, really, truly, honestly.
@Dave S I spoiled it in my comment before I saw yours…
@Dave S It’s a straight up conspiracy. Facts.
@Dave S I laughed out loud at the Mini! At this point, it's the phrase of the year!
In all seriousness, this puzzle undid me. I had no idea what the cross at TAO/TARO was, having only T_O/T_RO. I also had no idea whatsoever of the crossing at the G in DOROTHYGALE/CONGEE. Still don't, but I figure Wordplay will tell me. One square I can run the alphabet. I can even do that if I'm sure of one or two possibilities for the other one. But this time the math was just against me. So I keeled over. I fell on my sword. I gave up the ghost. I made the trip down the River Styx. I let the asp bite me. I put on my blindfold, and stood against the wall. I joined the choir invisible. I am an ex-puzzle solver.
@Francis I'm going out on a wee limb to say methinks you just too much Thai food or wine last night. Or you've got a hangnail that's festering in your noodle... You've pranced your plumage over much more sticky puzzles, and your feathers are forever fastened right here. Sorry. Alliteration distracted me. But I *think* I had a point when I began to reply...
@Francis Once you know that DOROTHY's last name is GALE it is unforgettable since she was taken to Oz by a big wind, i.e. GALE. Bit of insider knowledge
I believe the last two puzzles have divided those who know what CONGEE is from those who know what LDOPA is. For those of you smarties in the intersection of that Venn diagram...well...I guess not all of us can be smarties. Some of us have to be devastatingly handsome or beautiful, take your pick.
@Francis You never read or saw Awakenings? That's where I remembered it from.
Happy birthday! It was another tough one for me this week. I’ve been a few minutes above average every day. Thank you for the excellent challenge. I’ve never heard of arepa and congee before. Yummers! Speaking of cooking, I finished making my annual French onion soup last night. It all starts with saving every unused end of onions, garlic, shallot, and leek for the year and freezing until I have enough to make a nice base for the stock. Then I add roasted oxtails to finish the stock, simmer for a good while, and defat. Lastly, I caramelize a dozen or more of assorted onions et voila! I also tried my hand for only the second time at sauerkraut. My first try maybe a decade ago was a failure and I've finally gotten the resolve to try again now that I’ve gotten some proper airlock fermenting Mason jar lids. Bon apetit!
@Geoff Offermann I just go to McDonald's, but that sounds great! I love the idea of storing onion, et al, fragments.
@Geoff Offermann It's so rare to get a good French onion soup, even in up-scale restaurants: they throw some caramelized onions into packaged beef stock, or add beef base, and call it a day; when what is needed is a good, house-made beef or veal stock, simmered overnight, if possible. I would love to taste yours. Didn't we just get DEFAT as an entry recently?
@Geoff Offermann What time will the soup be ready?
I had WTAF for 16A, and that set me back a bit in that upper right corner. 😅 Only when I took it out and solved the down entries without it did it come together. I never would have gotten WOAH.
Should also have mentioned, I loved this one. Fun solve!
Thank you for a delightful puzzle, Adrianne and Happy Birthday! I hope your next trip around the ☀️ is a great one and includes more puzzles from you! I really enjoyed the theme, as well as the clever soft (egg) clue of "Day for hunting"🐰😉 Happy Wednesday, everyone!
I love this grid. Crunchy enough to set the synapses going, interesting theme, not too much glue though WOAH is close to the line. Then I learn the constructor is only 21. Mind. Blown. Finding the right female was fun. Don’t know why but I wanted Tank girl at 17A when I had the T-NK——-L. Does that age me?
It never ceases to amaze me how young our new creators are. Happy birthday to Adrianne and you did a great job with this puzzle! Keep ’em coming! You’ve got years ahead of you to hone your craft. I’m gonna definitely keep my eye out for you. Congrats
[Cat lady?] reminds me of our dear @CLM, and its answer HELLO KITTY is so close to "hello witty", which is how I feel after reading one of her posts.
@Lewis: aw! Blushing! [desperately trying to come up with a suitably witty response for the alphadoppeltotter…]
Thank you for highlighting women in a Crossword puzzle!
Good puzzle today, felt more like a Tuesday than Tuesday but good cluing. I did end up looking the last name of DOROTHY and ELLE because though I knew exactly what characters I was looking for I had no idea what their last names were. I need to remember the word EMBANC this time because I'm pretty sure I've seen the exact same clue in the last month or two.
Chris, Please remember EN BANC. (With an N, and two words IRL.)
@Chris Is 'felt more like a Tuesday than Tuesday' intentional? If so, very nice! If not, then hey also very nice! I'm gonna use that!
As a zillennial, sometimes I don’t relate to many of the clues, but as I was doing this one I could tell the author was younger like me! Thanks for one of the most enjoyable puzzles I’ve done yet and hope you have a great birthday :)
The area with the stacked crossing of _S_ (W-9 fig.), _H_ ("___ 'nuff!"), TA_ (Mathematician Terence), CO_____EE (Savory rice porridge - that sounds disgusting btw! I can only stomach sweet porridges), and DOROTHY _ALE defeated me 🤷🏽 (no idea who that latter character might be). I was only able to resolve that area with lookups. Other than that the puzzle was much easier than yesterday's. I can't say I enjoyed the trivia-based theme though. Thankfully I have heard of TINKERBELL (in these puzzles) and NANCY DREW (I got the entry from crosses, not the clue; I think I learned the name from "Stranger Things," of all places), and ELLE WOODS came to me, in the end - I saw the movie once, 25 years ago. I suppose this was just one of those foreigner-unfriendly grids 🤷🏽
Oh, Dorothy Gale is the Oz character. I never knew she had a last name 🤣
@Andrzej I recommend that you make room in your heart for savoury porridges. My wife is Cantonese and her mother makes delicious congee with pork and salted egg. Plus, if you eat congee at a congee restaurant, you get to order it with fried doughnut sticks, and who doesn't want doughnuts for breakfast? See also, cheesy grits in the Deep South. Delicious. I need to find out where to buy grits in the UK - that stuff is good.
Happy birthday, Adrianne. May the next year bring many marvelous things. The puzzle was fairly breezy; I finished around 25 percent under my Wednesday average. I’d never heard of CONGEE, or Terrence TAO, or AREPA, but I was able to suss them easily enough from the crossing clues. As for the NANCY DREW “controversy,” it did take me a bit to get it from the “Cover girl” clue, but once I had enough of the letters the first thing that occurred to me was that iconic cover image to the first book in the series, The Secret of the Old Clock, which I've seen several times this past week, illustrating articles about works entering the public domain as of 1/1/2026. Thanks for an enjoyable start to my day.
Yet another word I apparently stored in my brain's junk drawer: CONGEE. Recalled it with the help of some crossing letters, but have no idea what it came to mind, no idea why I "know" it, and certainly never have eaten it. Weird.
Loved this puzzle that includes some of my favorite female characters, esp. the brilliant Elle Woods/Reese Witherspoon. A fine way to celebrate your 21st birthday, Ms. Baik. Wishing you a very happy one and I look forward to seeing more puzzles with your byline in the future.
Guessed at least 7 squares… Keep trying. Amazingly changing only one letter a couple times rang the bell. Lots of naticks for me. I thought my streak was surely over. Glad I didn’t give up. Happy 21st Birthday Adrianne.
Why is WOAH clued as “on the internet”?? It’s a normal word, existed well before the web and has no specifically internet connotations… Why is Nancy Drew a cover girl? Wasn’t she a detective/mystery solving character? I think I missed the joke there and haven’t seen it in a comment yet.
@Marty Well, the standard spelling is "Whoa," and the inference is that on the internet people are more likely to (mis)spell it "WOAH" Rather judgemental, I'd say. Per the OED, the first citation of the form "woah" is from *The Merry Companion; Containing Theatric Recitations; Bacchanalian Songs, Joyous Toasts, and Pleasing Sentiments*, published 1790. But I did access both the OED and "The Merry Companion . . . " just now, over the internet, so I guess there's that: <a href="https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-merry-companion-con_1790" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-merry-companion-con_1790</a>
@Marty the first Nancy Drew book entered the public domain this year, and many of the articles about that have included an image of the cover of the book which does feature Nancy. One of those instances where reading the whole NYT or staying abreast of the news in general, helps you catch the clue. Serendipity and synchronicity and all that jazz.
@Marty As a cynic, I'd say "on the internet" has become synonymous with "not to be trusted."
@Bill One day I really hope "WOAH" is clued related to the "World Organization for Animal Health" which would be an obscure clue but a weird fun fact I know.
Happy birthday, Ms Baik! Thanks for a sweet puzzle, a brief, but welcome, distraction from what was distracting me from my work today. So I don't know EMO really outside of these puzzles, and I don't know if REM is considered emo or if that's why the book was titled as such, but I enjoyed listening to Everybody Hurts by REM again today after the puzzle. And it was a really good reminder especially on this particular day where AWRY seems to be the name of the game. Also loved NANCYDREW, though I'm always a Trixie girl, first and foremost. TINKERBELL was a really cute one. Think I'm going to go watch a couple sketches of Black Jeopardy on YouTube now. Wish I had some ALOO gobi and TRES leches cake to enjoy while I watch.
@HeathieJ The ice seems particularly dangerous in Minnesota this winter. I almost fell several times walking to the store.
Happy Birthday Adrianne and congratulations on getting published. I enjoyed solving your fun and lively creation.
@Vaer Whoops. Somehow I got the impression that this was Adrianne's debut puzzle. Sorry about that.
So this was definitely a ho-hum to disappointing solve for me today, for a few reasons. Agree with Derek that whether Nancy Drew is a COVERGIRL because she’s on book covers or goes undercover (which she doesn’t, really) is a stretch. I took HELLOKITTY to be a female cat, which was a pretty wide field; she certainly looks like a CAT, and if you have to go deep into San Rio lore to prove she’s a girl that also a stretch. TINKERBELL was cute. The cleverest theme entry was ELLEWOODS which was completely ruined by spoiling it with REESE—no guessing or thinking about it at all. I appreciate fitting REESE in but just clue it as “portrayer of…” because Witherspoon is a gimme which just makes it too obvious. There’s also a lot of messiness given to ages; if HELLO KITTY is a human girl, she’s certainly not a LADY and categorizing DOROTHY as a QUEEN is also a stretch to make the theme work; she’s a PRINCESS at best. I’ll grant some cruciverbial license here or there for an otherwise tight or remarkable theme, but this was too much for too little, in my opinion. The rest of the fill was definitely more Monday/Tuesday-ish. I did like GENETIC makeup and EASTER as a hunting day.
@SP I agree that hello kitty is not a female girl. She has cat whiskers for crying out loud!
@SP Hello Kitty is also three apples tall weighs four apples. Sounds perfectly human to me.
@SP and others: All this clue griping seems excessive to me. Yes, it's a stretch* to call Nancy Drew a Cover Girl, but we all solved the puzzle anyway, right? Did anyone write in Tyra Banks or Kate Upton only to have them spoiled by the crosses? I doubt it. Why no complaints about Dorothy's apt surname? AI tells me that Gale never appears in the 1900 book and is never spoken in the 1939 movie; it only appears on the family's mailbox. But it was still a good clue/answer pair. I have two female cats and I call them "my girls" frequently and no one scolds me for anthropomorphizing. This was a good theme with entirely acceptable clues. I guess picking nits is a popular après puzzle passtime. *It's really not. She's a girl, she appeared on the cover of 620 books in name and usually with her image. Covers. Girl.
Deb, being female, is a columnist emerita.
@ronaldholden I suppose, but Websters says "a person" for the noun and doesn't specify gender for the adjective.
Fun fact! The Hawaiian pizza did not originate in Hawaii, or anywhere near it, but was invented by Greek-Canadian restaurateur Sam Panopoulos at his establishment, the Satellite, in Chatham, Ontario, about 50 miles east of Windsor/Detroit. <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39072331" target="_blank">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39072331</a> (That BBC article does contain one mistake: it claims "At the time, pizza was making its way into restaurants north of the border from [Detroit]." It should read "*south* of the border.")
Bill, And of course there is that most-Canadian-of-all pizza ingredients: pine….. tar, to keep it dry in winter or on long canoe trips, to Hawaii. :)
@Bill That’s not a mistake in the article. The passage in question is explaining how pizza was spreading through Canada, i.e. in areas north of the US-Canada border, so “north” is correct.
Happy Birthday! 21 is or used to be a big deal. I loved the puzzle and believe it or not the only thing that tripped me up was Elle’s last name. But I got it in the end. So much bellyaching, I see strange words as learning something new which we should all do everyday. Congee I am sure I learned through puzzles or maybe through reading and in SE Asia it was a staple at fancy hotels on the breakfast buffets so even got to try it. To those who think it sounds UNsavory, don’t yuck someone else’s yum. That’s just crass.
@BarbK There's also a fabric: PONGEE, that made me hesitate. Anything resembling a rice pudding is kind of a trigger for me... DHubby's folks were visiting when our daughter was born (C-sec, so I was kinda laid up) and his mom fixed a huge batch of "HAM salad" and a tub of "rice pudding"--made with Minute Rice--served every day. Both had dreadful taste and texture, and are associated (for me) with the absolute terror of our newborn daughter's collapse and near-death due to a heart defect. (The scent of Hibiclens is also etched in my brain.) So maybe it's not necessarily bad manners that is behind someone's reaction...
To those who have a problem with the homecoming queen clue: Queen isn't meant literally. It is used in order to produce the common phrase "homecoming queen" and hint that the answer refers to a female. The question mark that ends the clue provides the license to use such a clue.
@Jim And if Oz had a queen, it would certainly be Dorothy.
Wonder word woman? Adrianne Baik.
A thoroughly delightful puzzle which probably should have run yesterday, but lined up with the constructor’s birthday (HBD!! 🥳🎉). I have two main complaints. As others have said, some of the themed clues didn’t necessarily track with their answers. For me, that was calling Dorothy Gale a queen (maybe she does ascend the royalty in the books? But I’ve never heard that). Second, the NE corner was a mess. Editors, when we need to include three answers from one tiny section into the Tricky Clues section of Wordplay, we might consider reworking something there. Overall a much better experience than yesterday.
@D But is 10 Across really a tricky clue or just something Sam wanted to riff on?
@D As a matter of fact, in later books, Dorothy did become an official Princess of Oz; but it wouldn’t have bothered me even if she hadn’t, because you can call little girls Princess idiomatically. But calling a little girl a queen was a yellow brick road too far for me for the theme.
I appreciate the puzzle author agreeing with me that WOAH is a spelling that needs to stay on the internet! ;) I felt foolish after immediately filling in MA___R_ with MARBURG. (I didn't understand why it would be a virus "of sorts" but my brain seems to be stuck on the spread of infectious diseases for some reason that I just can't imagine...)