Ok, to dispense with the requisite self-flattery: did my crossword in 2.5 microseconds, so easy, omg why won’t the NYT challenge us. On to other things. By now I (as, I’m sure, most regulars) have come to mechanically start typing EROICA when I spot the words “Beethoven” and “symphony” in the same clue. And though this isn’t the first time that the piece’s original dedication to Napoleon has come up, I’ve been thinking a lot about the legend of Beethoven angrily scratching the name “Bonaparte” out of the symphony’s manuscript as soon as he heard the French statesman had crowned himself emperor. The Napoleon dedication was part of a larger Promethean theme (both musically and ideologically) B had been developing. He saw Napoleon as the hero who was willing to run afoul of the aristocratic Olympus to give humanity the gift of the republic. (In fact, he was kind of obsessed with these heroic notions throughout his middle period.) The point is: in the thick of his thirst for a hero to lionize, Beethoven realized his republican idol was just another greedy mortal and flew into a rage. He grieved. Why does this idea seem so farcical now, when time and again it is made clear that Trump is not some hero bent on freeing the masses from the oppressive ancien régime, and every time his supporters’ reaction is to pretend they never wanted the republic to begin with? Is there anything that would make them scratch out the name “Trump” from their proverbial symphonic score?
@Han Wudi, Beautifully put. When those bozos leave office, I'm going to play B's sonata known as Les Adieux. With the newly discovered Coda that B had opted to exclude, and threw in a pile of crumpled manuscripts that was miraculously preserved, entitled (and this is a rough translation from his German) And Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out.
@Han Wudi If he started acting like an actual mature and democratic leader, I think he would lose his die-hard supporters, no?
@Han Wudi Loved your entire post, and your first paragraph made me laugh out loud. 😄
@Han Wudi 2.5 microseconds… pshaw Laggard :)
@Han Wudi If this theoretical creative hasn't found anything to scratch out Trump's name by now, then he never will.
@Han Wudi "He grieved." "He wept." I get it! Well done!
@Han Wudi - Well put, Han Wudi! All of it.
I had to laugh at the odd formality of 29D (GIVE ME FIVE). I can't imagine anyone ever saying that instead of "Gimme five."
@RichardZ Right? It was one of the many confusing (rather than smartly misleading) bits of this puzzle.
@RichardZ I was the type of stiff and proper child who would have said "Give me five". 🙄 I failed to use the nicknames of other children. A real stick in the mud!
@RichardZ “Up and At Them!” (The Simpsons)
@DocP Well, it's going to one ore the other.
@DocP we can slag people off here in Australia, so there’s at least one more clue option yet.
Trying to parse the clue in such a way that [Sources of lines for a reading, maybe] indicates PALM instead of PALMS. Any explanations from more seasoned solvers? What did I miss? Thanks.
@Pezhead I think you are right in your instincts. "Source of lines for a reading" would make much more sense.
Wondered the same thing. If someone has a reasonable explanation I will do one face palm, or maybe two face palms.
@Pezhead thank you. I was going to ask the same question. I couldn’t figure out how PALS was a source for lines except maybe you get fun stories from friends. And then SIC didn’t make much sense unless you yell out that something was wrong in the text. Doh!
There simply was too much trivia in this puzzle for it to be enjoyable to me (yes, Francis, I used the t word, boo hoo). The editing error in the clue for PALM didn't help, either (a single palm can't be the *sources* of lines for a reading, can it...) I've never seen Seinfeld so the revealer did nothing for me. I was only vaguely aware of the name of the Amish rite of passage (it came up on "Bones", but I didn't remember the exact name). I knew VISION QUEST though - I learned it from "Star Trek: Voyager", of all places 🤣. The Jewish rite I know from films and TV, too. I was quite annoyed by the whole thing so I checked the puzzle when I predictably got the "So close" pop-up. Isn't there something condescending and taunting about it? I was not close - I was utterly lost and dejected. That pop-up has the insulting feel of a participation trophy - hey, you failed, but at least you tried (badly)!
@Andrzej It might be cool that have a screen that says "You are so far from getting this you might as well just give up now." I strikes me that in my vanilla Protestant upbringing I never really had a formal rite of passage. I guess my extended family held that going out of football was a kind of rite of passage. But I was really bad at football, other than being slightly bigger than many of the kids on my side of town. I didn't like getting hurt. Moreover, I can't think of a point in time when I suddenly realized I wasn't a kid anymore, not by anyone's definition. I think they sneaked up and threw adulthood all over me without my permission. Fortunately, my adulthood is giving way to second childhood. I think I'm about back to the 11th grade.
@Francis My mom was fascinated by Native Americans so when I was a little kid she and my dad read about them to me. It was cool to learn about a completely different culture. That being said, I was freaked out by the descriptions of rites of passage - I was afraid I would be expected to do something similar, and I just couldn't imagine it. My family has never been big on any rites though (a tradition, or rather lack thereof, that I proudly continue) so I never actually experienced any initiation into adulthood. Which is just as well as I'm enjoying being what ultimately amounts to a big child, shirking responsibility and doing everything I can to do as little as possible, especially of any consequence 🤣 Isn't that quite a common realization btw? That "adulting" isn't really a thing and that many of us are winging it most of the time, just like we did as kids? Serious adults always stress me out 🤪
@Andrzej I struggled with what, if anything, to say about this puzzle. I decided that for once I'd heed the adage "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all". So ... that's all I've got to say.
@Andrzej please don’t tell me there are no Jews left in Poland. Lots of Americans know the rite of passage.
@Andrzej The puzzle seemed hard to me, also, perhaps for the same reasons you did. But seriously, if there's any way for you to check "Seinfeld" out, you'd thank me. But you might not appreciate it until you've watched at least a few episodes or more.
@Andrzej I'm trying to wrap my head around "I've never seen Seinfeld"
@Sebastian Hmmm… is this meant to be an antisemitic dig at Jerry Seinfeld for defending Israel? I’m not saying that “Free Palestine” by itself is necessarily antisemitic—but posting it in this forum at this moment randomly when a Jewish performer happens to be referenced is offensive to me. Again if some Russian performer were referenced we wouldn’t see “Free Ukraine” posted here. I’m flagging this.
Crosswords are easier when you know how to spell Dehli
@Steve One of these days I'll remember that it isn't Delhi. Probably could have shaved a minute or two off my solve time if I were a bit smarter!
Reading that one of this week’s constructors has been doing Times puzzles for 65 years, and contributing for the first time, is incredible! Congrats! Super fun puzzle. Love when my fascination with Rumspringa and love of Usher intersect!
Re: 49D: I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll say it again: the material used to make roads, sidewalks, etc is “concrete” of which cement is an ingredient. So we do not TROWEL cement, but the concrete that it’s an essential part of. Fun puzzle and I really enjoyed the revealer! And in a nod to Sam, I am the father of 2 Jewish daughters so my instinctive answer for 30A was BatMITZVAH 🤣
@Mark Right? It's the same in Polish. My dad had once worked as a masons's assistant and he always corrected me when I made the cement/beton (cement/concrete) mistake. Strange to see it at the NYT. Also, the clue for the singular PALM implies plural... (Sources...) This has to be one of the worst edited NYT puzzles in quite some time.
@Mark A trowel is used to put cement on the bricks when laying them. Same for stones and cinder blocks. The clue is fine.
Loved this puzzle and its rites of passage! Of course, the kicker, Hello new man forces the puzzle to have only male rituals, and that's a potential drawback, or is it? I wouldn't have pointed this out if all the themers were female-oriented. We all have baggage, and some check it at the gate and others bring it with us. Well, on to Alcoa, the Aluminum Company of America. Aluminum is the third most abundant element in earth's crust and the most common metal, but it's rarely found in its pure form, it must be refined from its ORE -- mainly found in bauxite, and the greatest abundance of bauxite in the western hemisphere is in Brazil: early on Alcoa established bauxite mines in Suriname and Brazil. Bauxite was then refined, producing aluminum hydroxide, which was then smelted in an electrolytic process to produce aluminum. And its byproducts do indeed include quite a bit of SLAG. If you'd like more information on aluminum and its history, I'm here all week. For me, I can't tell which I hate more, using -- and then discarding -- aluminum foil (the idea of throwing out metal, of wasting metal to cover bowls of leftovers, horrible!) or using -- and then discarding -- saran wrap. It's all such a waste. I'll go eat my oaten biscuit now and XYZ.
Now that I've read a bit about Rumspringa, which I thought was purely for the lads, no apparently it's for Amish youth in general. I need to get out more!
@john ezra I feel the same about aluminum. It takes so much energy to get it to the metal form that it seems crazy not to recycle. In fact we used to, didn't we? I remember a chart in a general chemistry book showing the value of aluminum jewelry nearly as precious as gold or silver a couple of centuries ago. That's testimony to the value of the process to convert bauxite to metallic aluminum when it was finally developed.
@john ezra way back when I was a broke student, there was no way I was about to waste part of my grocery $ on foil or plastic wrap. I just stuck a plate on top of the bowl. Not air tight but close enough. Now there are all those silicon lid snap-on containers but now and then I still grab a plate.
@john ezra It's really sexist to limit this to just "new men".
@john ezra When I lived in Knoxville, I often drove through the little town of ALCOA, TN, on my way to the Smokies. A nice reminder of a time not too long ago when a company could own a town.
@john ezra who throws out foil any more? Wash and reuse till it’s full of holes and then put it in the recycling bin.
@john ezra Thanks for all the information about aluminum process. I'm from Massena NY, where Alcoa built an aluminum smelter in 1902. My dad worked for "the plant" from age 19 to retirement, eventually heading the Industrial engineering department. The whole town worked for or benefited from "the plant" in one way or another. The only thing I can add about the smelting process is that it used the Hall process, required immense amounts of electricity, and was highly polluting (though we didn't know the last thing at the time.)
@john ezra I very vaguely remember my Granny using shower-cap like things to cover bowls of leftovers--a circle of plastic with elastic around the edge--they were not shower caps, but intended for kitchen use. They'd work on several different sizes of bowls. She'd washed and reused them for years. I thought that was a fairly good idea--less waste. Just a few years ago you could easily buy storage bowls with glass lids. Now they have plastic lids so you have to buy new plastic lids all the time because they break. More profit for the corporation! I use plates of different sizes flipped backside up as lids on bowls. They seal quite nicely.
As others have noted, the clue and the answer for 24D don't match (SOURCES is plural and PALM is singular). That's such a careless error. Do the NYT editors ever admit to making a mistake?
@Puzzled Yes but rarely. You may occasionally find a footnote at the bottom of the column explaining that "Earlier versions of this puzzle, etc." and showing the original mistaken clue. It's simpler to change the clue than to reconstruct the grid.
Face-palmed when it hit me that "Oatey" was my mistake. I kept trying to imagine Kramer saying "hello yew man" and wondering if I had missed a key episode. It still sounds like something he would say.
@Leontion - Same here. As I think tastes "oatey" is something someone would actually say, describing a biscuit. Not "oaten".
My kind of puzzle, wordplay-abounding in theme and clue. I tried hard to guess the revealer, leaving it blank and not reading its clue, to no avail, and when I finally uncovered HELLO NEWMAN, well, that was a knock-me-over banger. Sure, the terrific wordplay, but also its iconic sardonic delivery. There is only one way to say it, and it’s funny. That moment turned this puzzle from a simple fill-in to a worth-the-price-of-admission. That’s on top of the clue wordplay scattered about. Such as [Ball one or ball two] for EYE – an answer that has appeared more than 500 times in the major crossword outlets, but never clued like this. Kudos to the constructors for coming up with this theme set that fit symmetry and setting it in a cleanly filled grid. Loved it. For me, this was Hanh and Ted’s great adventure. Thank you both, and congratulations on your debut, Ted!
@Lewis I wanted "NOT that there's anything wrong with that!" for the Seinfeld catchphrase. There's nothing to catch in "helLO, NEWman." Not that it's not funny, but Newman's not around during Jerry's sets.
As noted last night, I did the Tuesday puzzle 35.1% faster than my Tuesday average. I did Monday's puzzle 26.9% faster than my Monday average. I did this one 42.1% faster than my Wednesday average, although in actual minutes and seconds, it took me almost a minute longer. Xwstats.com's rating for this one is currently Easy, but that might change eventually. It's definitely easy week at the NYT. Maybe not coincidentally, they're pushing us to convert to multi-user subscriptions recently. Maybe it's easy week for the newbies. I hope there's a little more bite in the next few puzzles.
@Steve L Monday and Tuesday were near records for me. Today was below average. I struggled a fair bit on my first across pass
@Steve L Agreed. Finished Mon Tues Wed in under 18 min combined.
@Steve L Had I known all the trivia, I would have finished this in Tuesday time. But I didn't, and I finished quickly but only after checking the puzzle...
@Steve L The push to multi-user subscriptions is so annoying. I don't have anyone to share the subscription with, my crossword family is here. And it's a great family, from young whipper-snappers to old geezers, curmudgeons and bubbly pollyannas, wise aunties and fun uncles. I appreciate the few black sheep, even. :)
Speaking of ON THE VERGE, world-class crossword constructor and speed-solver Paolo Pasco has taken a commanding lead in Jeopardy's Tournament of Champions. He is not only likable, funny, knowledgeable, and adept at playing the game, but in wordplay categories, his brain seems amazingly super-human. He's being doing this pastime of ours proud. Go Paolo!
@Lewis I can't watch Jeopardy, so please keep me informed about Paolo here!
@Lewis He's really smart when there is a tricky clue; unless you KNOW, don't ring in!! The opponents shoot themselves in the foot, while Pablo politely waits. Such a likeable, engaging fellow, too.
@Lewis Yes Paolo, cunning cruciverbalist, is on his way to the championship. Go Paolo, indeed.
@Times Rita You can usually see the same-day show on YouTube at any time, and the previous 5 days are on Hulu.
Shouldn’t 24D PALM be plural due to the clue “sources”?
@Abby The singular works in this case as there are multiple lines to read on a PALM.
@Lisa B No, one palm is one source. Lines are found within the source. Example: Answer: book Wrong clue: things you read Right clue: thing you read Doesn't matter that within the book you read pages or words, book is singular
@Abby Yep, on my first pass I thought "hmm, PALs can't be right", but I then filled in MIC and forgot about the plural. This is why you should never concentrate too much when doing crosswords. Like using soft hands to catch a ball.
Great Wednesday puzzle. A small and admittedly nit-picky comment from someone who works in the cement and concrete industry. Cement is the precursor product to concrete, and is a fine, soft powder. One would not use a trowel to “spread” cement, as one would not be spreading cement at all. The correct clue for 49 down would replace “cement” with “concrete”, the final product that is actually used for masonry, construction and other end-use applications. Cheers!
@Blake Yes, but you spread concrete with a float, not a TROWEL. I assumed the clue referred to bricklaying, in which case cement (with no aggregate added) was just fine.
This is a classic! Very nice construction and clueing. I know Seinfeld fairly well but still got the Seinfeld catchphrase last.
RUMSPRINGA. My brain tapped me on the shoulder and started singing “Goldfinger”, substituting this word.
@Lewis Great, now I’ve got that in my head. “Rumspringa, the rite with the Amish touch.”
I really love the photograph that accompanies today's Wordplay column. It reminds me of the famous Classical sculpture of the Discus Thrower (the Diskobolus by Myron). Both works show an athlete, apparently deeply focused on their athletic endeavors, but really demonstrating the beauty of form and line. Google Lens identified the thrower as American javelin thrower Creth Hines, who competed for the USA in the 1928 Olympics, but the subject of this photograph doesn't much look like Hines. A deeper dive shows that the photograph is by the German-Israeli photographer, Liselotte Grschebina, but I couldn't identify the athlete. It was enlightening and pleasurable to explore her work in greater depth. <a href="https://www.europeana.eu/en/collections/person/130464-liselotte-grschebina" target="_blank">https://www.europeana.eu/en/collections/person/130464-liselotte-grschebina</a>
@The X-Phile I think I've got a candidate. Here's Soviet javelinist Vikyor Tsybulenko. <a href="https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/77692" target="_blank">https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/77692</a> To my eyes, he looks like the right guy. Opinions?
One of the more educational puzzles I've ever done -- or at least it would be if I made the effort to immerse myself in the ins and outs of VISION QUEST and RUMSPRINGA, two coming of age rituals I never heard of. Of course I've heard of a BAR MITZVAH -- as has just about everyone I imagine. But being me, I probably won't immerse myself in the ins and outs of VISION QUEST and RUMSPRINGA -- I'll just take the constructors' word for it. Did many of you not want to write in the very peculiar RUMSPRINGA? If you don't already know ir, it sort of looks like a typo. As soon as I had HELLO, I knew the next word was NEWMAN. I'm a real Seinfeld fan. And I enjoyed the wordplay and the double meaning. I think the theme is pretty neat. A big nit at 24D: You can't clue a singular answer with a plural clue. I thought of PALM immediately, but since it wasn't a plural, I didn't write it in. When I finally had to, I was annoyed. And I think the clue "Ball one or ball two" for EYE is beyond weird. But basically I liked this cute and educational puzzle.
@Nancy I'm betting there are many people out in the Great Plains who have heard of a VISION QUEST, but not a BAR MITZVAH, and others in Lancaster, PA who have heard of RUMSPRINGA and not a BAR MITZVAH. Be careful not to project your knowledge set onto everyone.
Nancy, I may be the only solver who knew all three themers but did not know the ["Seinfeld" catchphrase]. N.B. Isn't PALM a plural too, like "deer?" P.S. Ball three would be weird.
Fun theme! Puzzle was very easy for me until the SE corner which took a long time and one lookup (57A) to even have a chance.
If only “I wish it were so” had been ifonly. But ALASNO.
The comments here are wild to me. People noting "quite a few things I didn't know," as though that is something to be noted. First, we are sadly losing knowledge of anything not pop culture. We should know way more, and we should feel bad that we don't. Second, you're really, really not supposed to be able to easily fill in every clue with your "knowledge." It's supposed to require advanced knowledge, thinking, and over all, PUZZLING.
@Endall This is a board where we tell others about our solving experiences. Sometimes that involves not knowing things. Your highbrow condescension is not welcome. First, there is nothing wrong with pop culture. Second, all people lead complex lives and they learn things along the way. The elitism of those who expect everybody *should* know some things was a good look in a Victorian salon, maybe, but it no longer is.
@Endall *You* as a person are welcome, and I personally value knowledge of all sorts. However, belittling people for not knowing things, and thinking less of them because of it, is not welcome. Not all people, very smart ones, too, have had the benefit of the sort of education that makes one familiar with high culture. And what's more, these days more people than ever before have access to culture, both high and low. Thinking it used to be different is believing in a myth of the good old days, which never existed.
@Endall Just remember that Shakespeare was pop culture once. I'm not saying Blackpink is timeless, but maybe "Seinfeld" comes close. Italian Renaissance painters always trip me up.
@Endall I see the comments here as being similar to chatting with friends. There were quite a few things I didn't know because I'm not American. It's not a criticism and it's not very important, like saying "I wish this rain would stop" to someone at a bus stop. Just a friendly exchange. In fact, I knew none of the pop culture, I never do, I did know Eroica and Osage. Even with crossers I couldn't puzzle some of it. I still enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy your snotty comment.
@Endall I think I understand where you are coming from, but for me, the issue isn’t that people don’t “know” things, but rather that they know a ton about things like pop culture and sports to the exclusion of other knowledge. I found some of this puzzle somewhat difficult because I’m not American, have never watched a lot of tv or movies, don’t listen to pop music, and don’t follow sports (US or otherwise). A co-worker of mine easily solved those clues, because he is a walking encyclopedia of pop culture are US sports knowledge, whereas he couldn’t name the primary belligerents in WW2. He can’t point to Spain on an unmarked map. He knows nothing about music recorded prior to about 1998, let alone basic music theory. Has never read a single book, let alone anything that could be classified as literature or a “classic”. Can recite the menu of every fast food chain in the US or Canada, drinks a six pack of soda per day, but otherwise knows nothing about food or cuisine. In the context of playing a game like a crossword puzzle, all knowledge has equal weight. But for societies, having an incredible depth of knowledge about pop culture at the expense of other types of knowledge is problematic.
I came on here to complain about what an easy Thursday this was (and no tricks!). I read through some of the comments, and mentally corrected the first person who said this was a great Wednesday puzzle. By the third mention of Wednesday I had to gingerly get off my high horse and accept my error. Happy almost Thursday!
@Karen - So, you're retired, too, eh?
All I can think of is, "Can one go "up top!" with a single PALM?" But seriously folks, a very clever and funny theme so well done. I've tried those PEATY Scotches, taste like a 3 day old fireplace.
@John Carson, It is an acquired taste, as they say. Or you may have tried the wrong one. My first taste of Laphroig was a revelation to me. Loved it.
Wouldn't PALM S be "Sources of lines...", and PALM "Source of lines...?
Unsurprisingly, PALM has been a topic of discussion here in the comments since yesterday. First thread: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4dned4?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4dned4?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a>
Great theme. I got the revealer after solving VISION QUEST and BA_MITZVAH. I had initially started with BA_ knowing it could go either way until I read the clue for the revealer. Aha! Definitely BAR. Here is a compilation of Jerry and Newman greeting each other… 😆 <a href="https://youtu.be/u-O9xFnhlfM?si=6H2LJkC676oMXc6x" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/u-O9xFnhlfM?si=6H2LJkC676oMXc6x</a> Thank you for the fun romp, Hanh and Ted (and congratulations on the debut, Ted)!
@Jacqui J for a girl ➡️ womanhood theme, we could go with BAT MITZVAH, QUINCEAÑERA and SWEET SIXTEEN. Are the any others I’m not thinking of from other cultures? The revealer could be the TV show NEW GIRL starring Zooey Deschanel 😉
@Jacqui J I just remembered that Spain does the Camino de Santiago as a rite of passage, but that isn’t female specific. Any other rites of passage? I love learning about this kind of stuff!
In the spirit of Dr. Seuss and his characters Thing 1 and Thing 2 from "The Cat in the Hat", I am renaming my eyes Ball 1 and Ball 2. The trick will be remembering which is which.
@The X-Phile, Don’t get them crossed. They may stay that way. — My Mother
The X-Phile, The constructors must have gone on a vision quest before they found that clue. And for the editors to run with it took… inner fortitude.
@The X-Phile Maybe it's because it's so late that I'm this pzzle, but your comment just struck me as hilarious. Actual tears came out of my eye balls. Both Ball 1 and Ball 2! Thanks for the laugh. I needed it.
And that's 200 Days. My Seinfeld Facebook group will be very happy about today's theme
I find it unbelievable that MAV shows up in almost the exact same spot with almost the exact same clue two days on a row. Other than that, this was a personal best time for Wednesdays for me.
@JAG Actually this is the third time this week I think!
@JAG I'm not sure whether there are any alternative ways of cluing it, other than various ways of referrimg to Dallas.
Quite a few things I didn't know, and no matter; I tried my best with the crossers. I've never seen Seinfeld either. The actors/musicians, the sport, the snack, the company ... and I say ECG not EKG - I wonder why? The isle of Islay (pronounced EYE-LA) is beautiful and worth a visit, apart from the peaty whisky! Once I revealed some, I realised that the theme is really interesting and clever.
@Jane Wheelaghan I think the ECG/EKG depends on whether you're using the American cardio or the German kardio. Very pesky for crosswords.
@Jane Wheelaghan My son is a resident doc, and I asked him about this when hubby was in the hospital in December with a heart scare. Francis is correct- EKG is the German initialism, but it is oddly more commonly used in the US than ECG. (At least at our hospital.) So we call electrocardiograms EKGs. Go figure.
@Jane Wheelaghan Thanks for including the pronunciation of Islay. I've spent a lifetime mispronouncing it, gulled by its seeming pronounceability. At least once every few years, I take a sip of some good whiskey or other and let it evaporate into lovely fumes against my palate. That usually holds me for a year or two.
Another PB, two days in a row. This is the easiest week I can remember. ALCOA, SLAG, ORE - somebody on a smelting kick today?
love a crossword solve that makes me smile
Nice misdirects in the clues....though of course I did not know the movie, the actress, or the rapper. I don't mind archaic language, but if you ever use the term OATEN, please raise your hand to participate in my survey..... (I thought not. It's not one of those useful terms.) We lived near several Amish communities in NE Ohio. A few folks made a living giving rides to Amish teens who had jobs in the local area. After a surgery, I had a girl coming to clean for a while. As soon as she got on the van, she produced lipstick, eye shadow, rouge--and had transformed herself by the time she arrived at our house. (Education ended after 8th grade. Some girls became teachers--"We just think about our schooling and talk to our mothers, and go ahead.")
@Mean Old Lady Never heard of oaten. (Spellcheck just changed it to often). 🤣
@Mean Old Lady <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Oaken_Bucket" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Oaken_Bucket</a>
The plot twist waiting in the revealer completely shifted the tone of this puzzle. A delight! The beauty of this particular catch phrase being "in the language" for three decades is that it isn't something we've integrated while the origin fades from the context. It's maintained it's originality so succinctly that we all heard Jerry's voice utter this salutation through audibly gritted teeth the moment it clicked. (Although admittedly when I initially saw "Seinfeld catch phrase" in the clue my first instinct was to wonder how I was going to fit "king of my domain" into the spaces provided. That's another puzzle idea for another day, I suppose!)
@KB ...*master* of my domain...
@KB I've never watched an entire episode of Seinfeld. I rarely ever enjoyed the bits & pieces I have seen (one exception: "No soup for you!"). So no, not all of us 'heard Jerry's voice utter...' anything. If it wasn't for the column, I wouldn't have know how the phrase HELLO, NEW MAN had anything to do with that sitcom about nothing that was canceled over 25 years ago.
Congrats to Mr. Mayer on a fun debut and a successful collaboration with the creative Hanh Huynh. Who can resist a puzzle that includes RUMSPRINGA?
Eroica, Arepa, Alcoa, and Anya was too much for me. I had to look up Eroica and then guessed the others. Otherwise, another fun puzzle. Thank you, creator. Cheers.
@Joe Now that I've see Anya Taylor-Joy in "The Witch" and "The Queen's Gambit", I will never not know her.
Congrats to the constructors for finding the one KEANU Reeves movie I'd never heard of. And LISA is an odd name for any rapper, let alone a Korean one. It's just so...ordinary, and spelled correctly.
@Grant LISA is a stage name for Lalisa Manobal, nee Pranpriya Manobal. She changed her first name on the advice of a fortune teller.
@Grant she is also known for her character in White Lotus season 3
I thought this was just going to be four rites of passage—which would have been ok since finding four symmetrical ones is a feat, and it was a fairly chewy Wednesday for me. But the fun revealer made it a bit more special and brought back fond memories, even if it may be a bit dated for some. I can thank my son for teaching me about Rumspringa—even if I couldn’t pull it out right away—he once wrote a script about it for a film class. I liked the clueing for this puzzle—even if the grid was pretty basic I found it ambiguous enough that I had to think about it.
That was pretty sticky for me. Never saw Seinfeld, RUM what now? Industrial who? And so on and so forth. I don’t mind, always good to have something new to learn. Off to ask Google what the heck RUMSPRINGA is now. Toodles.
@Helen Wright What's reasonably easy for Americans may be less so for others. ALCOA--Aluminum Company of America--is understandably tricky for non-Americans. But it's an easy one over here. As for RUMSPRINGA--similarly, a clue about the Amish is much easier for many Americans (note, I said "many," not "all"). It's where Amish teens get to be regular people for a while to see if they want to live their adult lives as Amish.
@Helen Wright "Devil's Playground" is a 2002 documentary about rumspringa, if you're interested.
I've heard it said that young people don't get "judgment" until they're in their twenties. Well, I can testify, oh never mind.,, How about SWEETSIXTEEN QUINCINERA or WALKABOUT? Have you seen the film about the Australian coming-of-age ritual? <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067959" target="_blank">https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067959</a>/ Unfortunately, the real rite of passage in our society is FIRSTCAR which also serves as a first (mobile) home!! But then there's also, again unfortunately, FIRSTUNPAIDINTERNSHIP.....
@lucky13 Unfortunately, word length plays a part in deciding theme entries. And I'm not sure many people would know about WALKABOUT.
@lucky13 What an interesting bit of serendipity! Just before solving the puzzle this morning, I watched a short video (from a series of such videos) of the Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan visiting the Criterion closet and selecting favorite movies. One of the movies he recommended was Nicolas Roeg's "Walkabout" (from 1971!). And then in the "Wordplay" column, Sam mentions the Criterion channel, and here in the comments, you mention "Walkabout". Coincidence???
@lucky13 I mentioned sweet sixteen and quinceañera last night as well as bat mitzvah😉 The revealer would be new girl like the TV show 😆
Of course I knew BAR MITZVAH and had heard of RUMSPRINGA, but VISION QUEST was a new one for me, which I got from the crosses. But I didn't get the totality of the theme until the revealer, and then I broke out in a great big grin. Very clever, even though I knew that most non-native English speakers wouldn't be happy with this puzzle (Here's looking at you, Andrjez!)
One the slow side for me with a couple of completely unfamiliar terms. No big deal- managed to work it out from the crosses. Puzzle find today was inspired by 37a (RAVEN). A Sunday from December 3, 1972 by Elmer Toro with the title: "Wild Life." Some theme clue and answer examples: "Bye-bye blackbird? QUOTHTHERAVENNEVERMORE "Start of a certain recipe" EYEOFNEWANDTOEOFFROG "Blake's vision." TIGERTIGERBURNINGBRIGHT And a couple of other theme answers: ANDLETSLIPTHEDOGSOFWAR WHEREEAGLESDARENOTPERCH ANDWHETHERPIGSHAVEWINGS Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=12/3/1972&g=94&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=12/3/1972&g=94&d=A</a> ....
My girlfriend and I were thrilled to know EROICA from having seen it performed at the symphony a few months ago, but I guess doing the crossword for several decades and being clued in to its familiar rhythms is another way to go about it! Loved this puzzle and it came together pretty painlessly. HELLO NEW MAN made me cackle.
@Erin E I think it is hard to beat one's first experience of great works being performed. Finding it in the crossword puzzle is extra!
Little SUSIE and Beethoven's Third in the same puzzle? Happiness is. Like Andrzej, I knew of RUMSPRINGA from the Bones episode.
Kind of shocked we're giving Seinfeld any kind of cultural relevancy in the year 2026, but here we are. This was fine. Not having watched the show, the revealer didn't grab me, and I was able to solve the themed clues on their own merit. Really not sure why we bothered with using Seinfeld as connective tissue at all. I found the top half way more doable than the bottom. Not sure if the two constructors split this puzzle in its creation or what, but I felt that discordant shift at about the halfway point. Not the most elegant construction. The cluing was fun though. A lot of wordplay, a good range of subject matter. Maybe a few too many sports references for my personal taste, but hopefully it appeases those who claim sports clues never make it into these puzzles. The clue for EYE can go, though. Never should have been accepted. Happy Wednesday.
@D You're having never watched the show explains why you are so ill-informed of why it is still relevant.
@D Hardly irrelevant Seinfeld: The $500 Million Sitcom Masterpiece Netflix Acquired Jan 27, 2026Netflix's $500 million acquisition of this series revitalized the iconic sitcom for modern audiences and solidified the streaming giant's dominance.
Too bad, "These pretzels are making me thirsty" didn't fit! Someone should really do a theme around that. Har! Or, "The sea was angry that day, my friends." A fun and fast puzzle, which was good because I was running all kinds of late for work today, thanks to a migraine, which is also why I haven't read more than a few of the earliest and latest comments. Hope everyone, or most people, enjoyed this as much as I did—once I was able to get the migraine to pass, anyhow. Thankfully, they don't last days for me, like I know they do for some. Anyhow, I did get the revealer right away and figured out the theme. I knew the three theme answers, but unfortunately had some misspellings in two of them. Words I've heard more than I've actually seen spelled out, I guess. Easy to untangle though and I finished up significantly faster than my average. (Well, that's true of every day this week.) I don't know of Lisa and Blackpink but I wonder if she is an EVIL DIVA. Giddy up!!
@HeathieJ And you want to be my latex salesman. I've heard about the Amish rite of passage, because I'm not too far from Lancaster, PA, but I thought it was spelled RUMSPRINGe. I should know more German.
@HeathieJ But are you still master of your domain?
@HeathieJ I only know who she is because she was in the latest season of White Lotus. My knowledge of K-pop is not vast.