I put myself behind the eight ball on this one by trying marble ryes instead of JEWISHRYES and space ship instead of SPACESHOT and tamer instead of TAMED. After asking (like Marvin GAYE) “What’s going on?”, I sorted it all out with a little thought and some crosses. Of all the great soul singers, Marvin is my favorite, and I mourn all the great music we lost with his untimely death. PBJS, OREOs, JEWISHRYES, MISO, EGGS; that’s two nights in a row with a plethora of edible entries. A nice puzzle that had me at POMPOUSASS.
@Marshall Walthew I had the same three mistakes as you. Took me a while to untangle that, and my last to fall was TAMEr.
@Marshall Walthew My history of solving in pen on paper before I joined the electronic community taught me not to put an answer in before you had a cross (or two) to confirm. That rule might be suspended on a Saturday, when I was looking at an empty grid. But not on this Saturday, when everything went (too) smoothly...for this solver.
This was quite doable in the NW, NE, and SW quadrants. Solving the SE quadrant though took me as long as the rest of the puzzle. Starting with SILENT DONOR did not help, especially as that second N crossed with the correct entry of NOTE. Of course I know no gospel singers, and even though I'm familiar with GAYE, the clue confused me. I've never seen "genie" pluralized as GENII - it's always been "genies" or just "jinn/djinn" for mme. There was also a sport clue... What 9n earth is a BETATRON? In the end I dealt with it all without lookups, but it was super hard and I'm proud of myself for persisting.
@Andrzej Good work! I too fell for the SILENT DONOR trap with the N from the most obvious clue. Doesn't help that there are two Winans CeCe and BeBe, so the E at the end was nowhere near helpful. Very devious.
@Andrzej α are helium nuclei, γ are photons, and β are electrons. So a betatron is a machine that makes electrons go very fast by making them go round and round in magnetic fields.
@Andrzej -- SE put up the biggest fight for me as well.
Fulfillment has 11 letters, therefore, the middle is ell, not els! I am not fulfilled.
@Sean I too think that "els" is problematic. The answer I think is best is "ill". That is truly in the center, with 4 letters preceding it and 4 following. It took me a while to change to "ELS."
@Sean That bothered me as well.
@Sean I suppose it's just "somewhere near the middle of the word" are two els, and the constructor/editor really wanted the clue... Editor should have said no and only allowed it for "ELL" in my view.
@Sean agreed! Otherwise, loved the puzzle.
@Sean same! I swear something like this happened somewhat recently, but the other way around. Maybe a different letter, and I don’t remember if the “correct” answer (the one that worked with the crosses) was singular or plural. In that case commenters here pointed out that the other answer that seemed plausible didn’t work because it was not perfectly centered. I guess this clue proves that (for the editors) either is acceptable for this kind of clue and it will depend on the crosses. A type of kealoa I guess.
@Sean Aha! I got this answer through crosses, but had no idea why. (I hate these kind of clues and solutions)
That felt just like a fine Saturday puzzle during the solve, but it was over too soon.
Which suggests it might be a fine Friday.
Please can we roll back this change that’s making the column open in the same app as the puzzle? It’s so annoying having to go back and forth instead of just having the column open in one app and the puzzle in another.
@E. seconded! Awful system, I have to click on the Wordplay author's name to open it in the browser then click today's column to try and get back to it. At least give us the option of opening it in the browser from that new window.
YESINDEEDY this was a fun one, the SE was tough to crack for me. I'm sure this forum will love POMPOUSASS
And here I thought this puzzle was bound to be one that would be hard enough for the forum. Apparently not so. It certainly took me, personally, long enough, assuming the time it gave me is correct. I had to overcome GLamorRATTI, which now that I look at it doesn't look like it's even spelled right. Also I had noTED instead of CITED, GOTmarriED instead of GOTENGAGED, AnYA instead of ARYA, and tencommandments instead of GOLDENRULE. I'm lying about the last one. But I was glad to see GOLDEN RULE mentioned as a code for living in the puzzle, even if the church itself doesn't seem to think so, given all the effort going into getting the Ten Commandments posted in schools. I would heartily endorse the Golden Rule posted in schools, even though I am a doubter.
@Francis The Golden Rule was posted in my elementary school classroom. Short and simple. Essentially, “don’t be a jerk.” What more do kids need? I’m glad that I didn’t have a single religion forced upon me in my early years. I would have grown up much less curious.
I came here to mention that H is a musical note in German nomenclature, only to find I was late to the party. So I'll just add that H (= B natural) allows the creation of the familiar BACH motif in classical music. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BACH_motif" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BACH_motif</a>
@Paul And it also forms part of DSCH which similarly recurs in the works of Shostakovich.
Note on 53-Down (NOTE): What English-speaking musicians call B-natural is what their German counterparts call the key of H; see, for instance, Bach’s Messe in H-moll (Mass in B minor, BWV 232).
Fact Boy, I hope you'll meet up with Mean Old Lady when she visits your fair city.
@Fact Boy I was wondering if this was really the answer for this reason. Surprised this clue was used especially as the authors appear to be in German-speaking Switzerland!
I love the moment when I add a single letter (from a cross) to a long answer that’s been stymie-ing me, and suddenly my brain sees the answer. Today’s puzzle, with its 18 longs, brought those happy pings again and again. I also love being stuck in an area – as I was in the SE today – going over the clues to the answers that are eluding me, again and again, waiting for that sweet moment when the answer to one flashes, then it does, and suddenly the whole section falls. As the SE did, with a rush. I liked uncovering DAYS END, which, like yesterday’s FRET NOT, is a phrase I never use, but has such a lovely lilting quality, that I want to try to use it. I liked the cross of PBJ and JEWISH RYE, because that sounds like an intriguing combination to try. Sometimes I come into the box neutral, go through highs and lows, and by completion I feel like I had a genuine experience and that my day has been better for it. This was one of those puzzles, and thank you, Royce, for making it!
@Lewis Rye bread is wonderful, but the thought of peanut butter with it (much less jam) is just awful, IMHO. Neither-- or None-- will be iimproved by the combination! Is nothing sacred?
Oof. This rocket surgeon Swede (who has not yet had any caffeine cuz this entire city somehow wakes up at 9) thought all y’all were supposed to run through Swedish numbers, and add a letter (e) to make a name. Um, no CC. Just…no. Added confusion was PBJS / marble? RYE and I was feeling utterly muddled. Hubby arrived with tea and the rest was mostly smooth with a couple sticky wickets, which I love. Have a lovely Saturday all!
Show of hands: Exactly how many of us had "marble" before JEWISH?
Katie, I solve on a stone tablet, so I measure twice before cutting once. The crossing sandwich gave me the J.
@Katie I actually got the first E from the cross, and then confidently filled in "seeded rye." That slowed me down for a while, and I richly deserved it. Oy.
@Katie I’m not from the US so wouldn’t have heard of Marble Rye unless I’d been a massive Seinfeld fan!
@Katie Being a big PBJ fan myself, I had that before I got to the bread problem. When I typed in PBJS I thought to myself, what is going to start with J? I got hooked on Reuben's living in Back Bay Boston 50 years ago. Some deli near my office had great ones!
🎶🍾🎈OREO is back. Since civility is required and should be expected we can now use 4/4/26-1A as code in the comments when necessary. (One of those dates that works even in the backwards US format) I‘m wondering whether the setter‘s location close to CERN is connected to the BETATRON answer. Nice puzzle. Not hard rather interesting.
Anyone else spend time hunting for the happy noise with SPACESHip instead of shot? Had never heard of a car, and I was thinking of many possibilities for LEP to be a realistic answer 😂 My favorite answer was eggs as easily beaten. Did Billy Crystal do a good job hosting the Oscar’s?
@Judy I don't watch the Oscars, so though I'm a Billy Crystal fan, I couldn't say for sure... But I am pretty sure he never got slapped on stage.
@Judy I came here hoping to find an answer to my mistake, and that was it 🤦🏼♀️ thank you. I looked at LEp and just shrugged and moved on. 😂
@Judy Same here, was so stuck on SPACESHIP and still don't understand why LET was the answer!
@Judy He was amazing this is my favorite Oscar opening ever (if you want you can jump to his musical medley at the end) <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UCAi1744Sa0" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UCAi1744Sa0</a>
@Judy I also loved the clue for EGGS.
Here’s to you, YUGO. You cost less than $5,000, were unlovely, broke down again and again, were called by Time magazine “the worst car ever”, and were so basic that it seemed that someone with a six-pack and a screwdriver could take you apart in an afternoon. Yet, you never pretended to be more than you were, you were accessible, and you had the best of intentions. Your body had its faults, but your heart was impeccable. You engendered laughs; you engendered warm smiles. You had fans and detractors. Your day in the sun was brief yet vivid. Here’s to you, Yugo, the Little Car That Could … and did.
@Lewis For some behind-the-Iron-Curtain context: In out part of the world the Yugo was considered a premium car before 1989 🤣 And no wonder! Most people didn't own a car, and the most popular model *for families with kids* was this: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_126" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_126</a> (You had to wait 5 or 10 years to get one of those)
@Andrzej -- I think the same company (Zastava) made both the Fiat 126 and the Yugo.
FSM (Fabryka Samochodów Małolitrażowych, literally the Small Displacement Car Plant) made the Polish Fiat 126p, using an Italian design from the 60s, well into the 90s. I used to travel with my parents all over the country in that tiny city car, with luggage for several weeks. It was surreal, as I can now appreciate.
No rye bread today, it’s Passover
Norman, I don't eat the puzzle at any time during the year.
@Norman Let the goyim eat the RYE. Remembering back to Sunday School days and the ways of the orthodox in cleaning all "chametz" from the house, I'm guessing that (orthodox) Jewish bakers must take a holiday during Pesach.
As always, my hat’s off to our cadre of puzzle creators for their ingenuity: this was a happy, crunchy puzzle for me — and I loved the appearance of SPACESHOT, given the progress of Artemis II just now. Y’all have a lovely day. Be kind to yourselves and one another, and go have another look at the “blue marble” pictures coming back from Integrity. They make me think all over again,,,.
SPACESHOT feels like crossword malpractice…
A very easy Saturday puzzle for me. I completed it 46.6% faster than my average Saturday. It was a clean solve for me, but I had trepidation in one spot, where 47A crossed 34D. The author's name, which I had to guess at, was not an inferable name; in fact, I'd never come across it before. And even though we just had "Mystic River" in a puzzle just the other day (was it the Midi?), I had no idea of anything about it, least of all, the author. All I knew is that it looked like a vowel had to be the crossing letter. But ET ALI- could end in an A or an I. Equal chance. 50/50. I felt the A was a better guess, and as it turned out, it was right. I don't recall having to make a blind guess in a puzzle in forever. But there it was. I predict that this spot will rightly be called out as a Natick for the next 24--well, 20--hours. (Sunday puzzles come out earlier.) I did like Crystal and Rock for OSCAR HOSTS, and crossing MICA, at that. ATTA was not an Indian flour today, and was back to the old-fashioned usage. MEWL is back; maybe today, some of the other day's complainers will realize it's a real word. OREO has a new clue and is next to PBJ. The rocket to the moon SPACE SHOT was apropos today. Fun fact: In German notation, H is indeed a NOTE. (Equal to I flat, I think...) HELIO is in the dead center. I guess it's HELIOcentric today (as it always is). The ELS weren't dead center in "fulfillment," though. But CECE was next to DEEJAY!
@Steve L As I was composing this rather lengthy post, Barry briefly mentioned the same potential Natick, and Fact Boy the German H note (albeit without the little humor I added).
@Steve L That was a nasty natick. I think I must have seen the name LEHANE somewhere, which helped, but personally I think crossing the two was bad construction.
@Steve L LEHANE was such a gimme for me that I never noticed that it could be considered a natick. They did give a first name and TWO works of someone I would have considered a very well-known author— which seemed fair enough to me— but yeah, IYKYK! (And clearly, the reverse!) I had never heard of BETATRON, but the crosses all worked there. I found it a mostly smooth and easy but enjoyable Saturday.
"Win after ad out"?? What does that even mean? I looked up what the answer means, but this clue still doesn't make sense to this non-tennis player.
@Kathy Celer In tennis, when the non-serving player wins a game, they are said to have “broken serve”. The potentially game determining point is either “ad in”, if the server has the advantage, or “ad out” if the game would go to the receiver, if they win that point. So if the receiver wins the point at ad out, they “break serve”, winning the game. If the server wins the point, the game reverts to deuce and continues. A game is only won on an ad(vantage) point.
Not a taxing puzzle at all but I found it very engaging. First, very not Kosher for Passover—JEWISH RYE? Shame on you, Sam Ezersky, you’re an editor and a nice Jewish boy like you should know better than serving leavened bread today. On the flip side “rocket to the moon” was very topical, good luck Artemis astronauts! Somehow I thought it might be a callout to this classic early silent film: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNAHcMMOHE8&pp=0gcJCcQBo7VqN5tD" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNAHcMMOHE8&pp=0gcJCcQBo7VqN5tD</a> What else? Loved the MICA and GLITTERATI juxtaposition and then the equally apropos clue for OSCARHOSTS right next to it. (Billy Crystal—1992 —still the best Oscar opening ever). Hopefully if MEWL was new to you the other day it wasn’t today. Thanks to those who thought the college “Holy War” yesterday was ARMY/Navy, you put a bug in my ear today. And speaking of bug in my ear I loved the LET clue but got it a lot faster since I had tennis on the brain with BREAKSERVE. Yeah, so more of a Friday, I suppose, and I keep saying all it would take to make me happier is fewer gimmes and more ambiguity on the shorter clues. But still, a fun grid and I can’t say I didn’t enjoy myself.
@SP Wow I literally posted this at midnight last night and it just showed up now!!
SP, Looks like your ancient post was just released from the filter, along with quite a few others!
I very much enjoyed the puzzle, albeit it was a much quicker solve than I would expect. Thank you, Mr. Ferguson! And now I'm very much enjoying and groovin' to some Marvin GAYE and his magnificent, albeit heart-wrenching, "Inner City Blues"... <a href="https://youtu.be/57Ykv1D0qEE?si=jVLzkiUcmQnHdrlq" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/57Ykv1D0qEE?si=jVLzkiUcmQnHdrlq</a>
@sotto voce Interesting Marvin GAYE lyrics for today and for today's puzzle in "Inner City Blues"-- "Rockets Moon shots Spend it on The have-nots"
@sotto voce. Marvin was just the best.
29 Down EMAIL SCAM vs EMAIL SPAM The C works equally well as the P for the 56 Across clue, ‘Gone’ CAST vs PAST V annoying
Interesting. I'm not familiar with filters for scams, and I'm not clear on how [Gone] suggests "cast."
i thought - this is really hard for a sunday. but the fact it was a sunday made me persevere, no look-ups, because of course a sunday should be something i can handily do. then i realized it's saturday! i woke up way too early, and clearly i'm not fully awake! good puzzle though.
This is a perfect Friday puzzle, in my opinion. Unfortunately, it's Saturday. I enjoyed the solve: good fill, nice cluing for the more common fill, nice longer answers. But... The puzzle provided no real resistance (for this reasonably experienced solver.) No searching for a gimme that would give me a toehold into an empty area of the grid. No moment of (pleasant) frustration. No wondering, "Gosh, will I be able to finish this one?" No a-ha moments. These are the features of a true Saturday puzzle, for me. So, thanks, Royce Ferguson. Nice puzzle. Just the wrong day. And that's on the editors.
@The X-Phile For me this was hard even for a Saturday 🤷🏽♂️
I need to remember in the future, when there is a clue that I can't make out at all such as "win after ad out" I should think: Tennis.
@Asher can someone please explain the meaning of "ad out"? Not a tennis fan.
Good morning! Slightly hung over - I had 2 lemon basil martinis last night and wow! They hit me like a ton of bricks! Probably the sugar + alcohol. I'm generally a wine drinker. Good Saturday challenge, and I'm relieved to see my brain is functional. (I was considering Crystal and Rock as some sort of "salts" until I copped on to the capital R. Anyone else?) Anyway, I have no idea what my real time would have been, as I got up and folded a large load of wash right in the middle of it. Off to bake and clean. Need to make rolls and a banana cake with dark chocolate frosting for Easter dinner. Have a good Saturday
@Amy if they hit you that hard, check out your water hydration level! Bartender secret is to drink a huge glass of water and take an aspirin before bed :-) I also thought they might be salts!
@Amy A lemon basil martini sounds great. I think I'll have one (but not two).
Frustrating that the app won't simply link to the wordplay column so you can read
Frustrated that the wordplay column still opens in the app, why? I have emailed the columnist but no response.
@MWC Reasonable, but the columnist is not the programmer. While you may get eventual acknowledgement via the columnist forwarding your request to Support so it can be forwarded to the correct team such that Dev can eventually see it, it would likely be more efficient to send a message to Support directly, and preferably with screenshots and/or a very specific description of where you were in the app and what button you hit that opened up the column in the app, including your OS version and model of phone. Might seem like it doesn’t matter, but it does. (I do recognize it this might seem redundant, especially if you are reporting a thing specifically in regards to Wordplay or the Crossword, but I promise you, as IT/dev, it’s way easier to have that information directly in the ticket so we don’t have to go hunt for it. It’s one of those things that will get a request answered way faster than another without that information. Even if it seems like it should be simple to get.)
@MWC Why exactly does this bother you? I was always annoyed when using the games app that I had to open another app if I wanted to see the comments... seems like very basic organizing to me
@MWC if you delete the app you’ll probs be brought to the browser … or open from a device that doesn’t have app like iPad or computer
My favorite puzzle since Katie Hoody's I didn't find it as easy as some others did; a pleasant challenge for me. Enjoyed all the clues/entries, even for OREO
Do I hear more MEWLing about the (long-lived) vocabulary in the puzzle? Obviously, the other day was meant to soften folks up for the repeat.... 42A was the hardest entry for me, given that SPACESHIP made sense initially.... I even took part of the YUGO out briefly... And BTW, wasn't that the automobile that was touted because when it broke down, it could SERVE as a backpack? Is it actually "disrespectful" to nail a self-important bloviator as a One-Across? Asking for a friend.... My work here is done....
MOL, No it isn't! Scroll down for discussion of your Seattle trip.
@Mean Old Lady Yugos were famous for pretty much falling apart after 12,000 miles or so. At the time, one of the local car dealers had a promotion where if you bought such-and-such car, they'd *give* you a Yugo. Almost nobody took it, because it was too embarrassing to be seen in one!
My comments got emu’d twice yesterday so here’s an abbreviated version: I cheekily called out Sam as an editor for allowing JEWISH RYE to be an entree on Passover. I noted the timeliness of SPACESHOT and wished the astronauts well. I reminisced about the old silent film from 1902 “A Trip to the Moon” and included a link but you can Google it. I praised the engaging MICA and GLITTERATI juxtaposition and the clever related clue for OSCAR HOSTS. I extolled Billy Crystal’s 1992 Oscars (Silence of the Lambs) as the best opening and hosting job ever. I hoped that folks who missed MEWL the other day got it today and thanked folks who thought the college war yesterday was ARMY and Navy since it reminded me today. I also noted that LET was a lot easier to get since I had tennis on the brain with BREAKSERVE. Finally I said this was a fairly straightforward challenge today but had a lot of fun clues and a great grid, I enjoyed it. I think often the thing that would really make me happier is just to have fewer gimmes and more ambiguity in the shorter crosses; it wouldn’t take much to make this more of a Saturday for me. Hope the comments make it through today, not sure what the problem was yesterday. I did reference yesterday’s clue for college h**y war maybe that was it?
@SP Do you understand the LET? still don't get that but seems to be understood by most others.
Here’s to you, YUGO. You cost less than $5,000, were ugly, broke down again and again, were called by Time magazine “the worst car ever”, and were so basic that it seemed that someone with a six-pack and a screwdriver could take you apart in an afternoon. Yet, you never pretended to be more than you were, you were accessible, and you had the best of intentions. Your body had its faults, but your heart was impeccable. You engendered laughs; you engendered warm smiles. You had fans and detractors. Your day in the sun was brief yet vivid. Here’s to you, Yugo, the Little Car That Could … and did.
Oh dear, frustration on my part on just not knowing so much. Sigh. We had a Mystic River clue recently and I looked it up so knew the author (or was that a different crossword? no-one else seems to remember it). Never heard of the bread nor the connection with corned beef. Didn't know the slogan for Oreos. I tried one once, very hard and not much taste. Then SERRA, ARYA, EPA, ELS, SUPES, OPRAH, YUGO, ATTA, (must try to remember that one), Crystal and Rock, CECE, BETATRON, Kazaa and Wishmaster, ARMY. Very faintly remembered GOLDEN RULE from some US film. Sorry to moan. If you knew all these, then it was easy!
@Jane Wheelaghan there was something where mystic river was the answer in a NYT puzzle recently I believe! Or maybe it was a clue…I remember!
@Jane Wheelaghan It was the FANTASYLAND puzzle—MYSTIC RIVER, MAGICMOUNTAIN, UNCANNYVALLEY
This was a good puzzle! I really enjoyed it. Thanks, Royce! What I do not love, and please forgive me if y’all have discussed earlier - I haven’t posted lately, is the new way that I have to go back and forth between the puzzle and Wordplay. I think it stinks. And it causes me frustration on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday when I need the most help. That is all. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. Happy Saturday!
@Terry Paper and pen, buddy. Problem solved.
@Terry don't know if you'll see this late response. You're not alone; it's been a subject of extensive discussion, and apparently there are workarounds. I'm not affected--i solve in the Chrome browser--but many have complained. take heart.
56A square could be C or P. An EMAIL SCAM can be filtered. Something CAST is gone.
Not in a crossword. D: There is no "scam filter" as there is a "spam filter." A: Verb/noun clash.
Not fair having Jewish rye during Passover week. And Oreo to boot. No indeedy!
I entered the Chevy NOVA instead of YUGO, and it reminded me of the importance of product naming, as a car named No Va did not market well in nearby Mexico. Cheers!
@Joe Except the Nova was around since the '60s
@Joe @Bill also, the "no va" marketing story is fake. the car sold well and did not need to be renamed. It's one of those things that so many people have been saying for so long that people assume it's true. I heard it from a famous language teacher at my college in 1979. check out snopes, or NPR, or any source you deem reputable.
Some claim the puzzles are trending less difficult than in the past. My times this week support that theory to some degree. Monday and Tuesday were right at average times, but Wednesday through Saturday times were 34%, 50%, 54%, and 45% faster than average, respectively. Even though I got today's puzzle done quickly relative to my average, I still enjoyed the solve, and it still took 41:51, which is a long time by some others' standards. My Saturday average is 1:16:00. And I am not newbie solver so I don't believe I am getting significantly faster. I have a 98% completion rate without lookups since I started solving online about seven years ago.
As a Jew, I have always felt a bit odd about having a rye named after me. I don't take severe umbrage, it's not that big a deal, but it's a cultural oddity that is on the outskirts of offense -- or maybe not. What say you? It's more like "Eastern European Rye imported more by Ashkenazi Jews in the early part of the 20th Century,, but certainly not exclusively by that group," which I think would be a great way to list it on the deli menu. If you ever dunk an Oreo in anything, you and I are through. Just eat the thing. It doesn't get dunked. I will accept separating it into sections or licking off the white part, but heaven help you if you start dunking. In milk or anything else. We aren't animals.
@Asher B. On Passover I always dip it twice…
@Asher B. If you have odd feelings about JEWISH RYE, imagine how Russians feel about Russian Roulette!
"As a Jew, I have always felt a bit odd about having a rye named after me." Asher, It's Jewish rye, not Asher rye.
Don't get mr started on shoe Polish...
I know there are lots of issues with folks with the app and things changing, but it's odd because I feel like my things have changed in different ways than what everyone else is reporting. Also, my app is wildly inconsistent with itself. It's like there's two versions of it that flip flop however it sees fit. Some things are consistent though, like I don't have access to the search button, like I do on my computer, and there are no avatars or profile pics showing. It's so weird! I don't even know what to try anymore. I've restarted my phone, I've uninstalled the app several times and reinstalled it, restarting the phone again, etc. but nothing works...
@HeathieJ It's not you. My android app has the same failings. Before it used to open the comments using the browser app. Now the games app itself "handles" everything, but being designed by the in3pt NYT IT team, it does it very badly. Which is why I usually open the comments in the browser on my phone...
Okay. I got it done pretty quickly but still enjoyed it. It made my brain work before going to sleep. NE corner fell last. Thanks.
For the record, Alta doesn’t specifically ban snowboarding. They simply don’t allow snowboarders to use the chairlifts.
@Allen Rebchook Is there another way to the top of the mountain?
If for no other reason, a strong effort for its novel (to me, anyway) clueing of OREO. There should be a separate contest at Crosswordcons for cleverest clueings of fallow fills. Not to say there weren't many other things to like and the grid did take me > 30 minutes to solve after all and not <, so I liked that it wasn't too quick. And MEWL got a callback. But still too many pesky-easy clues which could have been amped up with ease. Ah the vaunted Saturday grid... Wordsworth sums it up best for me: There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, The earth, and every common sight, To me did seem Apparelled in celestial light, The glory and the freshness of a dream. It is not now as it hath been of yore;— Turn wheresoe'er I may, By night or day. The things which I have seen I now can see no more... Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now, the glory and the dream?
@Matt There appears to be an ongoing effort by constructors and editors to devise new and amusing clues for the (in)famous sandwich cookie. XWordInfo lets you search for clues and answers--OREO has evidently 516 times in the "modern" era, with a wide variety of cluings. Today's clue was a first.... (according to XWordInfo....)
Oh those babies, MEWLing again! And since we just saw Mystic River, it’s nice that the author gets a shoutout today. I loved the movie, but the book is even better. Dennis Lehane is one of my favorite contemporary authors. I found the top right section tough to break into, since I didn’t know the Kitty Kelley book (I guessed “Diana”), I don’t remember the YUGO, and am unfamiliar with ALTA. I also had “Got a fiancé” instead of GOT ENGAGED, and “space ship” instead of SPACE SHOT. So for me, it was like a chewy Wednesday with a gristly Saturday corner. I guess it just depends on what you know (and what you don’t).
Broke my streak with emailsCam and Cast vs email spam and past. alas.
@Sharon Yeah. By definition, not a Natick, but same issue. I think the editors should have recognized that cross had two possible solves.
@Sharon Didn’t cost me my streak, but the same issue cost me enough time to put me over my average by a bit.
Copernicus would like this one. Go Gunners! 🏆🏆🏆
@Becky EMAILSPAM? OSCARHOSTS?? SUPES?!?!!? Yeah, I loved it. Do any of those actually mean anything? I know, I know, it's a foreign language crossword from a foreign country that doesn't exist yet so I shouldn't complain. I'm guessing you thought I'd like it because of HELIO, but that's Greek to me. Give me Latin or Polish or German and I'll probably know it. Rant over. At least OPRAH was a gimme. Do better, NYT, or I'll likely be the only Pole you ever see here! {Or if you do get another one, he'll probably be a curmudgeon.) PS Not enjoying the tiny comment box. I would expect better from the future.
We've got DEEJAY, HITSONGS, and Marvin GAYE, the prince of Motown. I've never really understood the difference between all those genres: rock and roll, soul, Motown, pop, hip-hop, rhythm and blues, country, etc. I guess there's a bit of an overlap. But here's my suggestion for a fun number, in honor of the moon peeps. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddLd0QRf7Vg" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddLd0QRf7Vg</a>
Moving along quickly, the SE brought me to a screeching halt. I was so sure of SECRET donor, and happily, so far from the days of office-speak that ACTION sTEp seemed fine. As soon as I hit the words "college football" at 55 D, my eyes must have gazed over, and I guess I stopped reading. That was too bad, because had I continued, "America's Game" would have jogged something loose and even *I* would have known it had to be ARMY or navY. That was all good news because until I hit that corner, I was ready to complain that this was a Wednesday puzzle. Untangling that mess added enough time onto my solve, that it put it into Friday territory. I liked the misdirects in the tone of the clues. Where I was expecting something formal, the answers turned out to be more casual. Caitlin mentioned GOLDEN RULE and GOT ENGAGED, and I'll add SECRET SANTA to that list.
@Nancy J. I entered just the Y and thought "hey, ARMY/navY is another kea/loa.
Fun puzzle today. Good to see the football rivalry shoe drop after Thursday's [Holy war]. The timing was a bit off for 1-D, because National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day was two days ago. You can't deny it's a classic of American cuisine, maybe even the Rodney Dangerfield of the lunch menu. Give me a PBJ and a stack of OREOs and I'm a satisfied luncher. I get that LEHANE was obscure for some, but it was definitely not a Natick: we would have needed another obscure proper noun crossing it to meet that definition. I was stumped trying to remember when The Rock or anyone named Crystal hosted the Academy Awards until I came here, but it fit even without really knowing what I was talking about. Also vacillated a bit on the Chevy Vega before I saw YUGO. I actually knew somebody who had one, although it didn't even last as long as my Le Car.
Jack, You are describing what Rex Parker first called a Natick, not the somewhat broader meaning the even he has used for years now. [Et] ALI_ can be A or I; if you don't know LEH_NE from the clue, you can't get it from the cross. Natick.
@Jack McCullough Billy Crystal, Chris Rock (not Dwayne Johnson).