"Wow! Another small carnivorous lizard!" "You've got great gecko location." (He researches them on his monitor.)
@Mike Iguana be the first to say that is a fine eftort.
@Mike really chameleon the vibe dude
@Mike Sauria don’t have anything to say about it.
@Mike I met a lizard in Arabia, and i was a bit lost for words. All I could say was “Salaam! and, er…”
Wow, what a clever theme! And very impressive that each of the four theme phrases and revealer is a debut. I love the inclusion of WHALE PODS and its positioning directly below ECHOLOCATION. Congratulations, Jonathan. Excellent debut! Congratulations, Jonathan. Excellent debut! I thought that beared repeating.
@Anita A friend of mine would often come out with a pithy statement, preceded by “It goes without saying, but bears repeating … “
Very nice! And congrats to the constructor on the successful debut! Really like the theme. Using the word 'Echo' literally + in 3 other, widely different contexts, all of which are consistent with the 'location' requirement in the clue.... well done! Looking forward to your 2nd puzzle!
Sprightly? First word that came to mind for this lively puzzle. Simple but tightly woven and fun to solve. Thank you, Jonathan, and welcome to the Times. Always nice to see a new byline, especially one that promises to be a keeper.
Not a bad theme, but the trivia-heavy fill annoyed me in places, especially in the NW corner. I managed to handle it without Google though, in the end. Originally I had misspelled WAREHOUSE as WEARHOUSE, but I realised what I had done when the crosses simply wouldn't work. I have @HeathieJ to thank for helping me remember HAR - "har har" just isn't what any laugh sounds like, to me, but I had an exchange with HeathieJ about it once, which helped today 🙂 As for the WARE(WEAR)HOUSE mistake - I can never remember the exact spelling of words pronounced the same but spelled differently: probably because Polish generally lacks such cases, my brain is not attuned to tracking them, even though I've been speaking English for only some 7 years less than Polish. Do you have the right to bear arms or to bare them? (One variant has me picture and American with clawed paws, the other with nude arms... I suppose both are kinda s€×y) Am I grateful or greatful? Etc. Speaking English is way easier than getting the loco spelling right 🤣
@Andrzej Yeah, spelling is a real problem for English. It occurs to me that when I was taking German, I don't recall ever seeing a word which had more than one accepted spelling. Are there any in Polish?
@Andrzej What makes this worse is that there is (was?) a menswear chain in the US named The Men's Wearhouse which injected a tiny bit of doubt into the answer Everytime you spelled it.
@Andrzej The key to English spelling is etymology
@Andrzej warehouse reminded me of trying to say peculiar this morning with an extra r… Perculiarly… actually what I was going for.
@Andrzej My theory is that vowels don't matter much in English. You can leave vowels out of longer words and not have too much problem parsing a sentence. "The prcl is in the WRHS", for instance. Pronunciation of vowels in English is so regionally variable (we have 4+ distinct accents in London alone), that I think our brains are adapted to ignoring them somewhat. Probably why we don't really have any consistency as to how we use vowels to spell words. An expert may have a more informed view, but that's my theory until proven otherwise!
@Andrzej on reflection I did quite like the close placement of har - from the sarcastic har di har - with lah from lah di dah. Of course, at the time, I put Heh, which took a little time to unpick later.
ECHO LOCATION? Bravo, Jonathan! Charlie Delta
I love me a good riddle, so after I filled in the three theme answers, having left the reveal blank and not reading its clue, I stopped the fill-in and started trying to crack the big question: What did those four answers have in common? It turns out that all I had to do was focus on the first two, finding a Greek god in the NATO alphabet. That never occurred to me. But oh, the places I went! First letters of the theme answer words, commonalities among the last words, descriptors of the Grand Canyon … The point is my brain was pinballing all over the place, looking at letters and words, visualizing warehouses and canyons, and spending much time, to paraphrase one of the puzzle’s answers, going, “WA?” “WA?” Finally, I uncle-d, having been gotten good, read the revealer’s clue, and immediately underwent an aha moment for the ages that included the mighty riddle-crack, awe over the brilliant repurposing ECHOLOCATION, all on top of post-workout-odyssey brain-glee. To which I say wow, thank you, and bravo, Jonathan, not to mention congratulations on one terrific debut!
Serendipity watch. Rare-in-crosswords five-letter semordnilap (ENOLA), LEFT in the appropriate side, and a lovely nonet of long-E-sounding enders (MARY , MYTHOLOGY, ROTI, NEWLY, TECHIE, OPIE, OXY, SNEERY, PARTY).
Anyone want to join me in a bronx cheer for UEYS? I've never liked the word, if it actually is one. I knew what it was after, but I had UieS. But good puzzle otherwise. Seemed to me a little tough for a Tuesday, but that may be because I really don't have much game.
@Francis I agree. I pull fewer UEYS these days—thanks, GPS—but back when I did, I thought they were Uies.
@Francis ueys, uies (spell check rejects both), czar, tsar (spell check rejects the former) oks, okays….part of the charm of NYTxwods
On vacation here in Indio CA and an earthquake hit as I was trying to solve the puzzle.That’s my excuse for having a tough time finishing. I’m all shook up.
@Laura welcome to SoCal! That was a pretty big quake you felt.
@Laura Goodness! Hope you're OK. If I were in an earthquake, an uncompleted puzzle would be at the bottom of my to-do list.
@Laura Sounds like you're an earthquake magnet. I lived on the West coast from about 1974 to 1980, and I experience a couple that were disconcerting. Two were kind of brief jerks, over within a second or two. One was downright scary...it just wouldn't stop. I don't know how long it went on, but I'd say at least five seconds. Anyway, it took enough time to think "Hey, cool...wait, is this going to stop?"
In 1999, we were buying a new car. Had our eyes on one particular model, and were set to buy it, but Consumer Reports advised, "If you are considering (this), test drive (that)". So we did. I loved that. And this was to be my car. So when the dealer asked me for my opinion, I said, "Well, it's nice, but...can it fit a 20 oz. WaWa?" He thought I was kidding, but not every car had cup holders at that time, and I picked up a 20 oz cup of WaWa coffee every morning on my way to work. The next morning, there was a message on my work voice mail. "It fits a 20 oz. WaWa." He had tried it himself on his way in to work. We bought the car. I know many of you are wondering what the heck kind of a name WaWa is. WaWa is the name of a Pennsylvania town, and the convenience store's headquarters are located there, and obviously named for the town. The coffee is excellent, and it is a well-loved shop for all kinds of convenience items, including made-to-order (choose your term:) hoagies, subs, heroes, grinders. I lived in NJ at the time, and WaWa is all over there as well. Their gas stations used to be well-priced, too. Now, just like every one else. And that concludes today's lesson on WaWa.
@Marlene LOL I have a friend who chose her vehicle based on whether it could hold her (large) insulated beverage cup!
@Marlene I've never seen a WaWa but I knew the answer immediately because of a funny story my wife tells of a business trip years ago (before we met). She was driving a rental car in New Jersey, well before the advent of GPS and turn-by-turn maps. She stopped to ask a policeman for directions, and his first instruction was "go up the road and turn at the WaWa." She had no idea what a WaWa was. It took several minutes of her bewildered "excuse me?" and his insistent repetition of "turn at the WaWa" for her to get an idea just how to get to her destination.
@Marlene There’s a Wawa off I-78 just before one crosses from NJ into PA, and we routinely stop there when driving south to visit family. Thanks for the origin of the name.
@Marlene Wawa does not make heroes subs or grinders - hoagies only. And Wawa is a name for a goose which is the logo.
@Marlene Wawa is also a very cute little town in Ontario. They have a giant statue of a goose, and I thought that Wawa was some indigenous persons' name for a goose. Anyway, I enjoyed my stay with the good people of Wawa, Ontario, last September doing the Circle Tour of Lake Superior.
This is an A+ debut, Jonathon. I didn’t find it that challenging for a Tuesday, like Jo did, but it wasn’t boring either. In any case this was an extremely clever application of the common early week theme of finding theme entries that all share a common element in unique and interesting ways, and four different interpretations of the word Echo is a great achievement and a tight theme (and don’t forget the symmetry constraints and the need for fill that’s smooth enough for a Tuesday). Loved the interesting fact about Mark TWAIN which oddly I happened to know. I did have some nits about clueing which I will add below. I don’t blame you, Jonathon, even if you wrote them it’s the editors’ decision.
@SP To continue: EMBARK in the context of a boat means to get on board, not set sail; yes, Barry, a second idiomatic definition is to start something, but it specifically said “set sail” which is confusing especially for a Tuesday. There is something not quite right about “not lease” and OWN. Yes something not leased may be owned, but somehow not in the present or future tense; if I don’t lease this car I BUY it, and then only after that do I OWN it. Finally I’m very annoyed for some reason about “Hellenistic storytelling” for Greek mythology. I get it’s trying to get the Greek across somehow without saying so, but the Hellenistic period is very late Greek, post Alexander; sure they probably told stories from Greek mythology but those were really more from the Classical or pre classical period. There was no better clue to use? Stories about Olympic achievements or something? Look I know these are nits and each by themselves could be ignored. I just feel they all could have been clued better, none of them were meant to be misdirections or clever, so why not just clue them more accurately? If everyone can complain about SPARKPLUGS yesterday then I get to have my moments, too.
Good morning, SP. While I slept, owners and leasers have spoken, and Hellenism has been restored. Regarding nit #1, my EMBARKation point for overseas replacement was Travis AFB. The MAC charter flight crew did not set any sails. [Set sail] these days is in most if not all use a metaphor, and in much usage EMBARK is too. As such, they mean the same thing. Where's the nit?
SNEERY? Any relation to Sneezy or Bashful? Seemed like a nice Tuesday puzzle, all in all. Liked the theme---simple but well handled.
@Xword Junkie I've known a few Docs who were more than a little SNEERY.
@Xword Junkie That reminds me of David Sedaris changing his elf name from Crumpet to Blisters.
Really beautiful puzzle! It took me a second once figuring out the revealer to understand how it connected to the other words. When I got it, it felt like an "Aha!" moment. Perfect level of difficulty for a Tuesday IMO. Glad to see my first year uni logic course come to use haha. What a lovely debut :)
Charming theme, but cluing brands using other brands was not an enjoyable part of the fill for me.
“Air Bag” is one of my favourite novels, but I am surprised to learn it was included with the 1974 Olds Toronado. As I recall, back then the in-car novels didn’t even come with “Do Not Read While Driving” warning stickers. Crazy times. And a crazy, nice puzzle - off the beaten path in places. (I took my whalePod in to the iStore, and had to deal with a very sneery techie. So I just did a uey.)
@JohnWM What were in-car novels?
Re: The Mini, 3 down. The given clue describes a conga not bongo. Bongo is the small hand drum, conga is large.
@john Definitely tripped me up! It wasn't a red herring, just an incorrect clue.
@John you've generated your very own CONGA line here.
What a great debut! The themed clues were especially fun, and felt like a good purple category for Connections.
Actually, the SONATINA is a sub-compact manufactured by Hyundai. *** Great theme! After I finished the puzzle, I wondered, "Do all the theme entries really fit the revealer? Geez, they do!" Definitely the purple category in Connections! *** *** Who wrote a Sonatina in C-sharp? No obvious composers came to mind, but DuckDuckGo suggested I take a listen to the contemporary Quebecois pianist Raynard Grenier: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jhG5AYYtMM&list=RD1jhG5AYYtMM&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jhG5AYYtMM&list=RD1jhG5AYYtMM&start_radio=1</a> (rather new-agey pretty, but it's only 2:11 of your life.) But for something truly lovely, Maurice Ravel's Sonatina is in F-sharp, but the second movement, a menuet, is in [D-flat] major; here's an arrangement by the great harpist Carlos Salzedo: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5KEsXuoM24&list=RDy5KEsXuoM24&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5KEsXuoM24&list=RDy5KEsXuoM24&start_radio=1</a> Echo effect have been used in music for a long time. Here's an early example, "Audi coelum," from Claudio Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbquiJW6cQg&list=RDNbquiJW6cQg&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbquiJW6cQg&list=RDNbquiJW6cQg&start_radio=1</a> (Hey, isn't Vespertilionidae a family of bats?) Gosh, these are a lot of high-brow tracks! Here's something for @grant: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hGcJA8fXvU&list=RD9hGcJA8fXvU&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hGcJA8fXvU&list=RD9hGcJA8fXvU&start_radio=1</a>
@Bill C sharp minor is a gorgeous key to sing (Louis Vierne <a href="https://youtu.be/gZ44sYwwmxU?si=x8_3oOXUwPTlYDet" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/gZ44sYwwmxU?si=x8_3oOXUwPTlYDet</a> e.g.).
I found this pretty easy, but not too easy, and definitely not dull. It hit that Tuesday sweet spot, and for that Jonathan should be commended. I just have one request: can we please decide on one accepted spelling for UEY/uie/uee/whatever combination of letters might fit? That’s one that always has to come from the crosses, because it’s different every time.
@Heidi Exactly. I knew the answer but only filled in the U since there were so many options.
@Heidi Sounds like a U problem. To ECHO a recent puzzle.
@Heidi Just ban the word in all its variations. Forward forever! No turning back!
Nice Tuesday puzzle. Wasn't Dog Easy for me but managed to work it out. A couple of rather amazing puzzle finds today, with similar themes. Here's one: A Sunday from July 19, 2009 by Lynn Lempel with title: "You are there." Here are some of the theme answers; you'll have to guess at the clues: BURYALLACOUNTS FURRYCOOK CURRATIONS CURRIEDWOLF OHMYGOURD HOURLYMATRIMONY Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/19/2009&g=34&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/19/2009&g=34&d=D</a> Will just note that 'UR' is the trick in all of those. I'll put another puzzle in a reply. ...
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Sunday from August 7, 2005 by Lee Glickstein and Nancy Salomon with the title: "You are here." Pretty much the same trick Here are some sample answers: URBANDEODORANT NEUROCONSERVATIVE BUREAUBRIDGES HOURLYMATRIMONY TOWNWITHOUTPURITY ALTEREDSTATURE Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/7/2005&g=59&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/7/2005&g=59&d=A</a> I'll shut up now. ...
@Rich in Atlanta As promised: A Sunday from August 7, 2005 by Lee Glickstein and Nancy Salomon with the title: "You are here." Some answers in that one: URBANDEODORANT THECURRYINGGAME BUREAUBRIDGES TOWNWITHOUTPURITY ALTEREDSTATURE Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/7/2005&g=59&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/7/2005&g=59&d=A</a> ....
Never would have guessed that great revealer on my own. Good job, Mr. Raksin. However, anyone who's ever read the Eddas knows that Pur and Brita were allies, not competitors. Where's Fact Boy when you need him? And bongos are indeed very large for people with tiny hands. Hello, the puzzle is called The "Mini".
@ad absurdum, regardless of hand size, they are among the smallest drums. I suspect there is some confusion with congas, which are significantly larger.
@ad absurdum Brita and Pur are competing water filter brands.
Name-brand recognition is always bigger on the inside. (just here to give you a big hand, ad ab.)
ad absurdum, Some people just don't recognize your name...
@aa Yes, but in *Vikings* they were rivals.
Hey, that was fun! Really on the constructor’s wavelength. First to post tonight?
@NYC Traveler, Yessss! I just figured out the theme. Very smart! Color me impressed. Thank you, Jonathan!
Split ENZ takes me back to middle school. I Got You was one of my favorite songs back then!! Enjoy today’s music choice… <a href="https://youtu.be/wiqBlKnb91A?si=tgE2VzrHQb1g0MbX" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/wiqBlKnb91A?si=tgE2VzrHQb1g0MbX</a> Jonathan, thank you for the trip down memory lane and congratulations on your debut.
@Jacqui J I don’t know why sometimes I get frightened…Yeah, great song. It was on my favorite driving mix tape, along with Avalon and Everyday I Write The Book. And a bunch of other songs I can’t think of right now. I want my Honda Civic back!
@JJ I didn't get to yesterday's Wordplay until mid-evening, but I'd like to tell you that the two songs you linked, were two of my favorites from the 2010's (Although if the Mumford & Sons came up on my playlist at work I'd have to skip it--NSFW.)
Felt like a good training puzzle for Friday’s. Long answers. Those answers that are just beyond the first half of the brain, buried somewhere in there. Great mental workout. Good solve.
That's two solid Tues-debuts in a row! The panda pup (Opie) who is nestled on my lap gives this one a nose boop, a looooong stretch, and has now gone back to snoozing. Have a doggone delightful day all! (That includes you, our delightful European...)
@CCNY, I see what you did there … 😄
@CCNY You called? 😃 I was at thr groomers with Lucek today. Apparently they took his photo when we were there last in December: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/XJwdNA7" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/XJwdNA7</a>
@CCNY Um, something must have gone wrong. You you don't have a photo.
Re the mini and the BONGO/conga issue Here we have Miami Sound Machine to heat up the morning and some conga playing. <a href="https://youtu.be/54ItEmCnP80?si=RpuYA9PGZyHzkcRy" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/54ItEmCnP80?si=RpuYA9PGZyHzkcRy</a> And here we have Sheldon from Big Bang Theory playing the BONGOs. <a href="https://youtu.be/q5wtoxvlO50?si=IDHFfjcPhK2jxiKR" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/q5wtoxvlO50?si=IDHFfjcPhK2jxiKR</a> Maybe there are giant BONGOs out there, but I didn't look. And l did like our Toughened Up Tuesday, especially the theme.
Really nice puzzle overall and especially for a Tuesday.
Maybe my brain is still foggy because of this icky flu, but this was crunchier for me than Tuesdays usually are. It was a fun challenge though, and a great theme that took me quite some time to figure out. Congrats on a terrific debut Jonathan Raksin.
Plugging The Griddies, round two! <a href="https://form.jotform.com/260176984868173" target="_blank">https://form.jotform.com/260176984868173</a> Ballot now has the top five in each category: vote for ONE in each and press submit...and you're done. Second round voting is from now till Jan. 25 at 11:59pm EST. If you didn't catch Eric Hougland's message yesterday, this is a revised edition of an earlier ballot (Puzzlemucker astutely caught an error), so those who voted before yesterday, please vote again! That's right, if you voted more than two days ago, VOTE AGAIN. All are welcome to vote, including first time voters.
@john ezra Maybe that's why I was unable to access the ballot yesterday?
"...those who voted before yesterday, please vote again!" john ezra, Done!
@john ezra I just voted again. Thank you for the heads up. I had missed Eric’s message!
Great debut, Jonathon. I found it fairly difficult for a Tuesday, but that’s a plus in my book.
While I was doing this xword I was listening to a radio competition for which part of the prize was tickets to the Split ENZ concert tour whose two Sydney concerts are virtually sold out (Anyone for SRO?). Here they’re far from “obscure”.
@Patrick J. I agree. I don’t think Split Enz are obscure at all. They had heavy radio play on KROQ back in my youth and Richard Blade (who was a DJ on KROQ) has an XM radio station channel where he continues to play them a lot!!!
Lovely to see my NZ hometown boys (or near as can be - shout out to Te Awamutu from a Hamilton boy!) make the crossword with Split Enz making the cut. Definitely part of my teen years and the forerunner to Crowded house through Neil and Tim Finn. Check out “Six months in a leaky boat” which was banned in the UK as demotivational during the Falklands war…
@Jason This is a great comment, of which I understood very little for sure.
@Jason I was afraid I'd be the only one who remembered Split Enz from the '80s - they were a bit niche over here. I did get to see Crowded House at a festival.
First, I really wanted this constructor to be a RASKIN (just for fun), but that was asking too much. Jonathan more than made up for that with this very clever theme. I imagine I am just here to ECHO the praise from earlier risers/solvers/posters. I slept until 7:19 CST! (Had to skip walking ~ 6:30 thanks to having a cold/sore throat.) DHubby--off to an EARLY appt, left coffee in a carafe for me! Only 46 years, and see how well he learned?!) I feel much better than Sunday/Monday, too. Whew. Back to the puzzle. AIRBAG in 1974? I remember seat belts (without shoulder straps) in the '60's, but few other safety features. Novel and clever! Reminds me of the TUCKER movie--a motor vehicle ahead of its time. Of course, WAWA meant nothing to me, so I was glad to have that crossing. Sarcasm is one of the services I offer, but I never say HAR HAR. How about you?
@Mean Old Lady When I'm channeling Ralph Kramden, I have been known to let loose a "Har-har-hardy-har-har." But I'm not proud of it. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YztNYiZrzo" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YztNYiZrzo</a>
@Mean Old Lady, My first car was a 1965 Chevy II Nova, bought for me by my dad in 1968 after I got my driver’s license. It had seat belts (lap belts only), which were new to me. Come to think of it, I’m not sure if they were factory installed or put in later by a previous owner. Anyway, they were a thing by that time.
@Mean Old Lady Feel better! You inspire me to be a better crossword solver
Here to pick nits regarding today’s mini. A large drum played by hand is a conga. A bongo is a small drum played by hand. The similar spellings make this a pretty bad thing to miss in a crossword. It’s a common confusion, but come on. Just look these things up before publishing.
@Seth--Agreed. Conga see Desi Arnaz standing behind it, bongo think a smoky beat club where people applaud by snapping fingers
I’m probably showing my age as someone who watched MTV when it first came on the air, but I immediately knew 27 down, and don’t think of them as obscure at all.
@Al Vyssotsky 1) I knew it and I’m in my 40s, but I’m also a musician who listens to a lot of music. 2) Are you related to Vladimir Vyssotsky?
After finishing today’s puzzle and listening to the continuing slog of awful news on this one year anniversary of DT’s inauguration, I was ready for another puzzle. So decided to go to the archives & do the puzzle for January 20, 2009 = Barack Obama‘s inauguration day. Such a nostalgic, welcome, palate cleanser—Highly recommend!
Very nice debut! And a lot of fun to work through. No major problems, although I did catch a couple letters that had to be changed well before I got down to the bottom to finish this one off. Thanks, Jonathan, and hope to see more from you!
I very nearly bit the dust on this one. That would have been a first for at least a year or so on Tuesday. Having entered ENd for 27D and xOR for 36D, I went round and round trying to figure out what A MAD OX WAREHOUSE was.
@Francis I struggled in places, too, and almost needed lookups, especially in the trivia-infested NW corner.
Thanks for Split Enz. One of my favorite 80s bands. The Finn brothers would be proud. <a href="https://youtu.be/wiqBlKnb91A?si=2DBNyXiB9wolf1Yk" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/wiqBlKnb91A?si=2DBNyXiB9wolf1Yk</a>
@David I was chuffed to see that too. I See Red and Message To My Girl are always in my regular rotation.
@David I posted the link to the same song last night 👍🏼☺️ Great song!!
@David I always liked that song. Thanks
Very impressive debut. 4 different ways to look at ECHO, bonus theme material with WHALE PODS, and NATO ALPHABET members with [Juliet(t)], [Romeo], [India] and PGA (thanks to Robert M for picking up Golf. I missed that one). Until I read the column, I just assumed [Follower of "T."] was a reference to the band. I didn't even think of the dinosuar. <a href="https://youtu.be/K_5IQrQ6x04?si=S4ikphd3HOv8sp7t" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/K_5IQrQ6x04?si=S4ikphd3HOv8sp7t</a> Finally, Split ENZ obscure? NEIN!
Terrific puzzle… thanks Jo. The Thu through Sun puzzles sometimes take me forever too, or, well up to 2 hours. That moment when I see an answer after a long struggle with no ideas is addictive. Great This American Life on how Daniel Kish uses echolocation from clicking his tongue to navigate the world, and even ride a bike. He is blind! <a href="https://www.thisamericanlife.org/544/batman" target="_blank">https://www.thisamericanlife.org/544/batman</a>
@sonnel This is a mind-blowing episode. I heard it a while back, and often think about it.
@sonnel DHubby has accused me of something like that, but the truth is that I just have very acute hearing... no ECHOLOCATION. (I do often hear both sides of cell phone conversations, though; you are warned.)
What a wonderful debut, Jonathan! Thank you. Lots of fun! Y’all have a terrific Tuesday. Here in the NC mountains we’re preparing for a big snow storm this weekend. Probably means we’ll get nothing. But here’s hoping! ❄️🥶☃️🌨️
Stumbled in a few places. I’m a musician so csharp should have been a gimme but no. I just used echo location in a sentence on Saturday. I was telling a friend about the memoir Running with Roselle by Michael Hingson who used echo location. Read the book. Great story. Amazon warehouse not only where you find Amazon echo but warehouses tend to echo. I was thinking rivers after Amazon so I started with riograndcanyon. That would make a great before and after answer in Jeopardy
@Megan that would also work in Wheel of Fortune “before and after” phrase. I like it!
@Megan Not quite. Rio Grand-E-Canyon. That middle E gets in the way.
It's funny, but I think aloud, so I kept saying to myself "echo" over and over again... and my Echo kept responding. And I couldn't for the life of me figure out 34A.... Thanks for trying to help, Echo :)
Dang good debut! Lower left corner a bit rascally for Tuesday but very doable.
Strong enough debut that a shout-out is in order. I did not find it as challenging as some (we all know how that pendelum swings among us), but it was a puzzle I enjoyed thoroughly from start to finish. Perfect Tuesday, methinks. Thanks, Jonathan!
That was a fun solve, thanks! Considering the answer to 19A, It was fun to see Romeo, Juliet and India within clues along way. There’s as sneaky “golf” in the answers, if you want to stretch it, that I didn’t get til the end of my fill. Great work, friend!
@Sam Lyon (continuing last exchange) Borges ends one of his stories with something like this: Words, displaced and mutilated, are all that the centuries have left behind after all their glories have turned to dust. That being the case, "to labor among millennia-old words as a career" is the only way to connect with the deep history of our species and interpret ambiguous archeological artifacts. Seems like a worthy effort. Btw, I've paused my reading to organize my thoughts on the first 100 pages of The Magic Mountain. If there are others here who would like to chime in on this discussion, please do. Input from any who have read it German would be especially welcome.
@Al in Pittsburgh no You’ve paused right before ‘Excursus on the Sense of Time,’ is that right? (I looked to see but I wasn’t sure whether you were going by IA paging or the actual page numbers of the book.) The tragedy of the words our predecessors leave behind is that even when relatively little time has passed—say, a generation; four in the case of The Magic Mountain—so few stop to absorb the lessons. If more cared to look at how millions of Hans Castorps thought—and acted—at the precise moment in history Mann tackles, maybe we wouldn’t be barreling headlong into another disaster a mere century later. We leave behind words not just of our glories, but of our worst mistakes, always hoping that the generation that follows won’t repeat them. So yes, displaced and mutilated—and never seen for the caution they carry. You’ve met Settembrini by now and, I believe Chauchat. I’m looking forward to your meeting Naphtha.
@Al in Pittsburgh Your comment reminds me of the days when the NYT had book discussion forums presided over by Mick Sussman. Nice to know he's still around. <a href="https://www.nytco.com/press/two-new-editors-for-standards-mick-sussman-and-tom-kaplan" target="_blank">https://www.nytco.com/press/two-new-editors-for-standards-mick-sussman-and-tom-kaplan</a>/
Some fun clues, I think definitely more of a Wednesday level of difficulty. A couple of the clues were pretty useless trivia that no-one with any self respect should know -- '74 Olds Tornado? That's the reason I don't play Trivial Pursuit anymore.
@Gabe It's not the make of car that is really important. It's the date. Ask yourself: what important technological innovation appeared in US cars in the mid-70s? There you are.
6D. My mind got stuck on figuring out the last letter in a type of plastic. Once you get channeled in certain direction it's hard to change course. Of course, that's what it some clues are meant to do.
Call Me Al, My first thought, too. But then I just said: Good night, styrene. :)
@Call Me Al I think that's why taking a break works. It helps get your mind unchanneled. When I feel myself slowing down, I just jump to another region of the puzzle. Then, later, I'll just back to where I was slowing down. I really think it's a matter of breaking thinking patterns.