"Do you like my cantata?" "Ugh. I'm sonata fan." ("But it's my aria of expertise!")
@Mike The tenor of your claim is alto familiar, but on what do you bass it? (I've heard this song before.)
@Mike You conduct yourself like a one man choir, with all those pitch-perfect zingers (er… beautifully zinging zongs)
Mike, Yeah, your cantata’s not great - but you did an ok chorale. (Fugue! At least that old pun’s out of the way now!)
@Mike I usually appreciate your posts, but today's just didn't symphony to me. Who thought I stoop solo to come up with a reply?
What kind of wood did they use in 17th century Europe for making tabletops in drinking establishments? Bar oak.
If it ain't BAROQUE, don't fix it.
That could also be said about the comments system.
@Barry Ancona Wouldn’t it be the other way around, at least for big Baroque fans? If it ain’t baroque, fix it!
@Barry Ancona I came to the comments wondering how many seconds it would take for someone to bring up that pun and who would do it. If there were a betting pool I would have won it.
My first Tuesday with no help needed! This was easier than yesterday's for me. The pet food IAMS is available here and I just bought some. As a great fan of Renaissance and Baroque music, it was nice to see the theme instead of having to struggle with rappers. Very pleasing.
@Jane Wheelaghan I suppose struggling with rappers is worse in a gun fight, but fencing would be a tougher challenge against a Renaissance musician. Respect on the no lookups 😃
@Jane Wheelaghan I also found today easier than yesterday. Less American terminology and GK.
Thought I would chime in with a Bach-Handel compliment on the puzzle.
Of course I did not understand how the revealer could be interpreted as funny. I needed the column to explain it to me. Do "broke" and "baroque" really sound the same in American English? I guess if I try to pronounce "broke" in a sassy way, it sort of does sound like "baroque". My solve was somewhat faster than my Tuesdsy average, but judging by how I needed a couple of across and down passes to fill the grid, it wasn't all that easy. It felt quite interesting for an early week puzzle, which rarely happens. My curmodgeonly persona won't rear its se×y head today. Am I ACTing NORMAL when I'm not being critical? A few years ago the NE corner would have stumped me - it was quite trivia-heavy, and I only learned IAMS from previous puzzles at the NYT. I suppose pearl clutchers will be ABASHed by SNAFU? "Nobody doesn't like SARA Lee" is exactly the kind of slogan that would make me never touch whatever it is they sell 🤣
@Andrzej I had same question. It seems unlikely as the A is not slurred over by anyone I've ever heard. I figured out baroque and saw the split in the types, but had no clue as to why. Seemed a stretch.
@Andrzej Puh-leese. “Broke” becomes “baroque” only in the sense of stretching out a syllable for the purpose of making a pun. And a pretty weak pun, if you ask me. But I guess it will do for a Tuesday. I see you’ve hopped off the Big D. Can’t say I’m not relieved, but I’m sure Sara Lee would be very disappointed.
@Heidi She can hop on herself now - the Big D of Delight does not discriminate. That actually reminds me of a song: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd9jeJk2UHQ" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd9jeJk2UHQ</a>
@Andrzej I’ve always found that slogan wanting, too. It’s like the ad execs thought, “We must come up with a slogan to celebrate the fact that nobody actively hates Sara Lee. In a pinch, Sara Lee will do, if there aren’t any available alternatives, I guess.”
@Andrzej I took it as a reference to a very well known play on the classic American pun, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. I may be speaking from my musical background bubble, but “If it ain’t baroque, don’t fix it” is very common pun here.
@Andrzej I assume you did not mean to delight me with that song, but you did. So there.
@Andrzej In my English English accent, the only pun I could think of was Bar Rock. Which might itself make for a good theme. Maybe I'll get round to it one day.
Would Andrzej happily eat frozen cheesecake? No, not necesSaraLee
@Bill in Yokohama I'll just go ahead and ignore the groaner as I still would like to respect you 🤣 Is that what they make? I'm way too much of a food snob to eat any cake that's been mass-produced. I'll see you at my local artisanal cafe and bakery. If it's bad for me let it at least be the best it can. Knowing American "cheese" and lack of standards in food regulation, I can't even begin to imagine the horror of an industrially made US cheesecake...
@Tay But that pun is also a line in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As a chd, this pun is how I learned what the Baroque period is.
@Andrzej - the slogan made me think of saragli (the rolled baklava) and I have to say that in that case, no matter how bad the slogan, I'd be tempted. Alas, after a quick google Sara Lee seems to have nothing to do with Greek/Turkish desserts soaked in syrup. Waste of a good name.
@Andrzej An attempt at an explanation here: so, yes, two pronunciations of Baroque exist—one with a short “o” sound (ba-rock), one with long “o” (ba-roke). I’m not sure about the entire U.S. of A., but in the northeast, I’ve always heard the long “o”—and still clearly using two syllables, not slurring them, it becomes a pun on the word “broke” when taking the expression “go for broke” (to give it all you’ve got) and applying it to classical music, “go for Baroque”. It’s a stretch but quite honestly, all puns are, right? True groaner, as they say. As for Sara Lee—actually they used to be pretty good—especially the pound cake. They were sold in the frozen foods section and became very popular in the 60s and 70s—also the height of advertising in this country. The oddness of the wording in the jingle “Nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee” made it really stand out. As for the pound cake, a slice right off the frozen loaf with a scoop of ice cream was the best quick snack ever…! Sorry for rambling.
@Andrzej I can appreciate as an adult who did not grow up in America your perspective of SaraLee products is different from mine, slogan or not. As a kid who grew up in the sixites who had a mother that often held a job outside the home, I don't recall a lot of home-baked goods outside of birthday cakes. So to us, SaraLee was a treat. As an adult, my goto freezer dessert is not SaraLee, but Pepperidge Farm Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake. If they have a cutsie slogan, I don't know what it is, and don't care. (It is hard to believe it has taken this long, but I can now spell your name without having to look it up.)
A more sophisticated, smoother puzzle than you usually see on Tuesdays -- even though I'll never be a fan of tiny little embedded circles no matter how elegant the embedded words might be and how elegantly embedded they are. I initially came here to look at the Constructor's Notes -- specifically to see what Jeff Chen would say about collaborating on a Tuesday. He didn't have a whole lot to say. But I found Stephen Prock's remarks absolutely fascinating --and extremely relevant to my own life. Specifically to my experience as both a non-grid-making puzzle constructor and as a lyricist who can't write music. Stephen discusses how the demands of writing music are highly similar to making a grid -- and he gives specifics. (There go my chances of ever doing either one!) I found his comments extremely interesting and think many other people here will find them interesting too. I recommend reading them.
@Nancy thanks, I wouldn't have read the column if not for your comment. Hrishikesh's column is good, too. I was intrigued enough to do an image search for the photo, which I think is a fellow know as Radio Man. Lots of things of interest today.
What a beautiful puzzle. I finished it wanting more from this collaboration.
As your resident alphadoppeltotter, a role I’ve inexplicably taken in the past eight years, it is my duty to inform you that this puzzle has an unusually low number of double letters, at four, where unusual is any number less than five. This is the second time this year that this has happened. I remain your humble servant, ever on the alert.
Never commented on a crossword puzzle before, but I just loved this one. Just the right kind of wordplay without, to my mind, any fussy ones or that's-a-stretch-es.
Tales from a struggling composer… Who says the ORATORIO is only from the Baroque? I’ve written an edgy new one featuring ORION (bass) and an ALBINO RAT (soprano). Oh what a SNAFU! The two themes I wanted to use in this FUGUE just don’t work together. Must I start over? GUESS SO! My PERSONA as an influential composer has taken a hit with my latest SONATA. It’s so bad it may need a TAE BO kick to the curb. PDQ Bach was Baroque, right? I’m emulating him in this new CHORALE, which tells the drama of LURCH standing for his ORAL EXAMS in algebraic topology.
@Cat Lady Margaret Even the oddest of J.S. Bach's 23-odd sons never constrained himself the way many modern composers do: all chords must be dissonant, and the top number in the time signature, if there even is one, must be a prime number greater than three! Now I must get back to constructing my pianofort.
A fun and delightfully straightforward puzzle! And to everyone else putting on a PERSONA for visiting family as they ask what you've been UP TO and PAN all the choices you've made last year, or getting ready to SATE yourself on all the festive snacks, a very happy LUNAR NEW YEAR from my corner of the world! 🔥🐴🧨
@Evan A very Happy Lunar New Year to you!
@Evan Thank you for this. This year is special for me since my mother was born in the Fire Horse year of 1906. Our family never suffered from any of the traditionally bad expectations.
My mother had to hide sweets from her four children if there was *any* hope they would last until company arrived. But we knew. And we were determined. So one evening when her bridge friends came over she was searching for the sweets she'd bought. No luck. We found them three weeks later when the snow melted. She'd hidden the Sara Lee goodies and some chocolates in a snowdrift in the yard. Crafty little Swede...
The classical music nerd in me lit up when I saw FUGUE. Great puzzle! FWIW, my personal favorite will always be the conclusion to Beethoven op. 110.
@James Funny, I assumed that would be a reference to my own favorite fugue, Grosse Fugue, and did a quick lookup to confirm it…and got disconfirmation instead. TBH only a handful of Beethoven’s piano sonatas have really stuck with me, and 31 hadn't been one of them. Listening to it right now, though :)
I really enjoyed “Boot out of Europe?” And “Some fancy finger painting”
Hah! What a terrific theme. It employs a visual element – a black square splitting a word, a riddle (What do the circled words have in common?) that is perfectly answered by the revealer, and silliness in said revealer. And it may be so tight that it’s a one-one-of-a-kind. Someone out there, please, prove me wrong by coming up with another one that fulfills all these conditions! I gotta tell ya, when I uncovered BAROQUE, I baroque into a huge smile. I also loved row twelve with its unlikely rhyme of SARA and FRERE (as sung in “Frere Jacques”). This quirky and silly theme upped my mood from neutral to tickled, and therefore to grateful. Thank you, Stephan and Jeff!
If it’s not BAROQUE don’t fix it. Loved this grid, despite being musically tone deaf; too many years spent pogoing to punk.
What an elegant puzzle to solve tonight. I enjoyed reading the constructor notes as well. The theme brought the following song to mind… Boulevard of Broke(n) Dreams 😉 <a href="https://youtu.be/Soa3gO7tL-c?si=0kaaOlxRKY7QWZyt" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/Soa3gO7tL-c?si=0kaaOlxRKY7QWZyt</a> Happy Tuesday everyone!
Very well composed Tuesday puzzle. I enjoyed the theme and the rest of the fill. I loved the finger painting clue!
@SP Isn't NAIL ART cool? Alas, I see it most often on my female students, and as a middle aged man I can't really stare at college girls' hands without it looking questionable...
I loved this on every level, especially the constructor’s notes and the parallels he presented between crossword puzzles and music. Bravo, Mr. Prock
A puzzle that brings together music and words is always a hit with me. Thank you so much, Stephan and Jeff. The way you peppered it all with musical bits beyond the themers is quite a feat. Loved it!
ALIENORAT sounded so much cooler, but maybe I need to go outside and touch some grass.
I really went for BAROQUE on this cutie pie. Also enjoyed today's guest columnist.
I'm no expert in music, classical or otherwise, but I did teach a course on Western Civilization that had a unit on BAROQUE music. Polyphonic music is hard to "get" for the inexperienced audience, so I would use this video that "diagrams" Bach's "Little FUGUE in g minor". It seemed to help. So for your enjoyment and edification, I present this candidate for earworm of the day: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddbxFi3-UO4" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddbxFi3-UO4</a>
@The X-Phile That was lovely, plus fascinating to ‘watch’.
@The X-Phile That was terrific! Thanks! Has anyone read "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid", by Douglas Hofstadter? If I recall correctly Hofstadter writes one paragraph in the style of Bach's Fugue in G minor, with the characters saying things in fugue. What I remember most clearly are those long whole notes, where he has the character singing it saying "Gee!" as if surprise by something another character said. 😀Yeah, that description sucked. *You* try to describe a word fugue in words.
Nice Tuesday puzzle and an enjoyable workout. Didn't really catch on to the theme until I was almost done, but that's always a nice touch. And... puzzle finds today were inspired by a search for BAROQUE. And yeah - it's been part of the theme in a number of puzzles. Here are some examples. I'm just going to list the answers (not the clues) and not link to the puzzles. GOFORBAROQUE FALCONCARESSED GRAVYTERRAIN DERIDEAPRICOTS THUNDERCOLLAPSE OILYAMERICAN TUDORSEDAN PARADEFORRAIN COLLIDEBARROW THOREAUSHADE FALCONCARESSED DERIVEINRESTAURANTS DURESSREHEARSALS DERIDEAPRICOTS ANONYMOUSBOSCH MOCKJAGGER BERNARDBAROQUE NELSONEDGY I'm done. ....
"Baroque" is not a "genre," but a period or style, right?
<a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/genre" target="_blank">https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/genre</a>
@Jonathan All categories are up for debate. I think it could be seen as a genre or sub-genre, along with being a period or style. In my personal music collection, I make it a sub-genre, with the genre title “classical-baroque,” with “classical” meaning the large category of music that basically includes everything likely to be played on a classical radio station, running from early renaissance music through music written in the 21st century, as opposed to true classical music, like the music written by W.A. Mozart and F.J. Haydn., which gets the genre “classical-classical” in my collection.
I love puns and didn't have any trouble with this one, perhaps inspired by a friend years ago who was in a band called "Going Baroque". Not a pop or ska band! More to the point, and why I came to comment, I quite enjoyed the column today. Let's have Hrishikesh Hirway write it regularly now.
Well, this is weird. I was working on a puzzle yesterday, and got stuck on two boxes, so I put it aside for later. Working on today's NYT, I got to the clue for 15 A, and thought, "Hmm, that looks familiar". Back to the puzzle I was stuck on. I was missing an I and an M and the answer was Idomeneo. It almost felt like cheating when I was able to fill it right in.
@Nancy J. The crossword ethosphere zeitgeist. Some days, it is downright creepy.
I loved the puzzle, and the constructor notes were the pièce de résistance.
I love listening to classical music, but I don't know much about the actual composition of it. Much of the constructor notes whizzed right over my head and into the neighbor's yard. Thankfully, I didn't need that knowledge to solve the puzzle! It was enough to know words like FUGUE and SONATA, even if I can't define them. Excellent puzzle, and excellent column! I bet today's going to be an excellent day.
Concerning the connection between music and crosswords, I remember a scene from the movie "Wordplay" from 2006 (twenty years ago?!?) in which one of the champion cruciverbalists related how his career as a pianist gave him the ability to simultaneously look at the treble and bass clefs of the written music while doing something independently with his hands. This was a skill that helped him become one of the best at crossword times. I had thought that I was a good solver, but I knew then and there that I would NEVER be a championship-level solver.
@The X-Phile I'm so glad you mentioned "Wordplay." I've been meaning to watch it for forever but kept forgetting, and now, at long last, I have it cued up. Thank you!
Now what? Comment submitted, not appearing. Am I an existential threat to the Column?
MOL, (1) A random glitch. (2) An innocent trigger word. (3) Perhaps an existential threat.
@Mean Old Lady You're one of my favorite existential threats.
All, I think I'D prefer "Existential Treat". :)
@Mean Old Lady What a shame. I love reading your comments every day, and now I feel cheated.
@Mean Old Lady Patience, Grasshopper.
A puzzle after my own heart! Most of this was already brought up by Hrishikesh in his column, but it's worth pointing out how the clue for 15A mentions tow operas which arguably bookend the Baroque Era in music--here's the opening Toccata from *L'Orfeo*, ushering in the Baroque with a blaze of D major: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjpFi9bn1do&list=RDmjpFi9bn1do&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjpFi9bn1do&list=RDmjpFi9bn1do&start_radio=1</a> Here's Pato Banton RAPping with Ranking Roger of the SKA band The English Beat (except in ska, they call it "toasting": https://<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwJ3XE_2INM&list=RDWwJ3XE_2INM&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwJ3XE_2INM&list=RDWwJ3XE_2INM&start_radio=1</a> Finally, here's "Variation 15" from Hans Zimmer's soundtrack to *Dunkirk*--this is the best vid I could find which shows how effectively the soundtrack is used in the movie: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtibK6xBBiE&list=RDvtibK6xBBiE&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtibK6xBBiE&list=RDvtibK6xBBiE&start_radio=1</a> Thank you, thank you Stephan and Jeff!
Two stories about Pauli. There is the Pauli Principle, which is fundamental quantum mechanics. There is the Pauli Effect, which has never been explained, that as a theoretician his presence would ruin any experiment. One group had an experiment completely collapse mysteriously, then started working again. They later found Pauli was on a train passing through the town at that point Apparently Pauli was quite delighted with his brilliance. He, like a lot of physicists, wondered if there was a relationship between fundamental constants, like the mass and charge of an electron. He died, went to heaven, and God explained it to him. He thought for a few minutes, and said, "No, no, no. That can't be right."
Even my college freshmen in music appreciation know the difference between an ERA and a GENRE.
The BBQ side dish reminded me of decades ago when the best place around (I will start a debate here) was Dreamland BBQ in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In the beginning they not only didn't have side dishes but would look at you like you were raised by wolves if you asked. They would provide sliced white bread but that's all. Anything else besides the meat and sauce was basically sacrilegious.
@Leontion For a long time our only counterpart of your BBQ places were grilled kiełbasa stands. For the base price you got the kiełbasa and a dollop each of ketchup and mustard. There were only two optional extras - kajzerka (a German-style wheat roll which has become a staple at our bakeries - before 1989 it was the only kind of roll you could buy) and ogórek kiszony (cucumber pickled in brine, without any vinegar - another Polish staple). That's it. No salads, no fancy sauces. I loved those simple kiełbasa stands. When I was a kid my parents and I always stopped at one on our family bike rides and long walks. The stand we ate at most often was in Powsin, a village on the edge of Warsaw's Kabacki forest. It was there for decades but 15 years ago or so it disappeared, no longer able to withstand competitors from fancier dining options. It still makes me sad. These days kiełbasa stands survive almost exclusively at roadside rest areas, but as our roads are transformed into modern highways, those places keep vanishing, too, supplanted by soulless cafeterias at gas stations.
Nicely constructed Tuesday puzzle, with a robust and well-handled theme and revealer (unlike yesterday). Seeing ALBANIA-- directly *west* of a correctly oriented ITALY was a bit unsettling geographically, but on the whole the fill was interesting enough. Still looking for the Adriatic ...
Xword Junkie, I've got the Adriatic...
@Xword Junkie ALBANIA, ALBANIA, You border on the Mediterranean, Your terrain is mostly mountainous, And your chief export is flax.
I baroque out a smile for this one.
Enjoyed this puzzle as an amateur musician and appreciator of classical music. Shout-out to the delightful Sandra Boynton, illustrator of Gopher BAROQUE: <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Gopher-Baroque/Sandra-Boynton/Boynton-for-Puzzlers/9781665938556" target="_blank">https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Gopher-Baroque/Sandra-Boynton/Boynton-for-Puzzlers/9781665938556</a>
@Pax Ahimsa Gethen Oh my gosh, thank you for this link: Sandra Boynton AND for puzzlers? So great. Boynton cartoons were everywhere when I was a teen, and I was all in for it: the mug, the notepad... Sweet memories.
I just did the puzzle but I am currently too tired to look through the comments, so apologies if this has been brought up. It's not exactly 36 down, but it's one of my favorite parts of Parks and Rec. <a href="https://youtu.be/aswgTPlzazo?si=OBvnl1NBRKoiwnQh" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/aswgTPlzazo?si=OBvnl1NBRKoiwnQh</a> 🤣 Off to bed!
I enjoyed today's puzzle and it's word play (Boot out of Italy). Theme was clever for a Tuesday. I was amused by constructor's attempt to compare crossword construction with musical composition!😊
That was amazingly smooth! So many callbacks to the theme, and just effortless wordplay in the clueing. Well done!
ORION is also an instrumental piece by Metallica. And the amp in the column photo looks like my old Marshall.
Quick to solve that one, 10 minutes and 10 minutes faster than usual too. No lookups. Pleased with myself!
Today’s poem. a/=across clues; d/=down clues; a/= answers <br> the night hunter<br><br> a/ a sound at the door<br> furtive, quick <br> someone’s name…<br> circled <br> the cry…<br> for nobody <br> for the night hunter<br> d/ who stored flowers <br> who stored the knives<br> in a cart <br> in a boot <br> on a roof <br> in a wall<br> in a hole in the earth<br> in a a/ fist<br>
@Peter Valentine I really like this one, as a poem on its own merits. More than just a "like" as I scroll past!
Delighted to know that Stephan Prock, co-author of today's puzzle, is a composer of classical music. Thanks, Stephan. I am enjoying visiting your website: <a href="https://www.stephanprock.com" target="_blank">https://www.stephanprock.com</a>
@JT Thank you for the link! Not only is the site visually stunning and a pleasure to read, the featured music is gorgeous. Bravo, Mr. Prock!
Great Tuesday theme, quite a giggle. And loved the clue for 18-down
I noticed the theme when I had filled in about half of the circled letters. I then stopped and filled in the rest of the circled letters, which I think helped me obtain a time that was 35% faster than average.