No one who drove a car with a CD player would ever have called it a CD DRIVE. A CD "DRIVE" is something you'd have found in a computer--except even that would be a misnomer, because that drive would have been a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive (or later, a CD/DVD-RW drive). A CD DRIVE was never really a thing.
@Ned S it sounds like a clue that an AI might have written 😞
@Ned S I get truly annoyed with answers like this. On the first pass I put lighter which obviously didn't fit once you start working the down clues. A CD Drive is something you find on a computer but absolutely not what it is referred to on a car. This is the NYT, I expect better moderation from the puzzle editors. There are more appropriate clues that didn't necessarily have to be easy. Frankly, the clue was garbage.
@Ned S While I will agree with you about the car, I won't on the computer. "The tray on my CD drive is jammed." Yes, when one is talking about computer specs, one would be specific about the type, but when talking more generically, CD drive would be more common. "My new laptop doesn't have a CD drive, only USB ports", for another example. But yeah, the clue is about a car, so point taken. If you want to talk seriously outmoded, the earliest in-car GPS used a CD drive for map data. Pretty niche.
@Ned S I mostly agree with you. However I did have a Honda Odyssey with what I would probably call a CD Drive. I could put audio CDs in and the data would be saved to a hard drive for future use. I think you could also buy map updates that would be loaded that way, but my memory might be faulty on that part.
A clever and fun theme, I just wish it hadn’t gone by so quickly. Straightforward cluing throughout. No misdirects, although I did enter smut before SCUM. [Freeze frames?] for ICE TRAYS, [Super food?] for GOOD EATS and [One clicking with an audience] for TAP SHOE are my favorite clues. An enjoyable puzzle with a very well-suited revealer. Thanks, Rebecca. … for an aspiring ornithologist? ROBIN HOOD
Mechanic? Psychotherapist? AUTO MUFFLER FREUDIAN SLIP
@Lewis Nice one’s Lewis. How about aspiring jurist? BAR GLASSES 🤓
@Lewis, those are terrific. Fashion item for an inspirational speaker? CAPE OF GOOD HOPE ...for one who just landed a job on the farm? OVERALL ACHIEVEMENT Aargh, these are hard! Rebecca nailed it.
@Lewis …for an inheritance lawyer? WILL SHORTZ
Fun puzzle. A couple of rough spots: To me, the thing on a car panel is (was?) a CD player. A CD DRIVE is in a computer. I'd never say TERABIT as a measure of computer data. I'd say terabyte for sure.
@Elbridge Gerry TERABITS are theoretically a thing, but I agree that they’re not used. Just like centigrams and decimeters are things—things with no practical use in the real world. But “-bit” after a multiplicative prefix is often seen in crosswords, so we just fill it in an move on. The rule is, if it exists, it’s fair, not if it’s common. As long as the crosses are gentle.
@Elbridge Gerry yeah those are just bad, clunky clues.
Dear Rebecca Goldstein, don't quit your day job. Because it sounds like you're doing phenomenally important work. But I hope you'll find time to continue constructing treats like this for us. Given the revealer you used, I'm certain you understand why I've spent the last 20 years in my Spiderman costume!
@ad absurdum Funny! That's how long I've been wearing DOCOCK costume.
Apparently some contact lenses are a TORIC DUAD 🤷🏽♂️
@Andrzej I can't believe no one has responded to your comment. I do not have the wit, the imagination, the capacity for surreal humor that such a comment would require. But I see a low hanging curve ball when I see one.
@Andrzej This clue was a gimme, as every month when I put in the new contacts I remember that the left one is TORIC and the right one is not. So no DUAD for me.
If you end up in the ICU after a surgery, I'd say the surgeon goofed!
@Mike I was thinking the same thing. Patients generally go to the recovery room after surgery, also called the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) where staff monitor them as they wake up from anesthesia. Howdy from one Michiganer to another.
@Mike Depends on the surgery, I suppose. I had brain surgery a few months ago and my surgeon said 1-2 days in the ICU if all goes well. I’m here doing this puzzle, so mine went well! Two days in ICU.
Well, it doesn’t exactly fit with the double meanings of the clothing, but I would recommend, for an aspiring Cruciverbalist, a letterman jacket, preferably with down fill and cross stitching.
@SP They were letter sweaters in my day.
An aspiring flautist myself, my difficulties in the SW corner only abated when I begrudgingly gave up on 'tube socks'. for 110A
Was happy to see Jamie Foxx in the grid until it was Mr. FARR instead (also happy). Waist cinch for a… preacher- BIBLE BELT podiatrist- CORN BELT astronomer- SUN BELT
@Kate Tani Russian chef - BORSCHT BELT
I love me a Rebecca Goldstein puzzle and this one, as usual, did not disappoint. Yet again it had me wondering "How on Earth do constructors come up with these ideas and the wordplay?" It's mesmerizing to me. My downfall was LSD. Not in real life, just in the puzzle. I was today years old when I found out it comes in strips. —"Hm, I wonder how LSD is dispensed" is *not* a thought I *ever* had. The fashion theme of the puzzle made me think of Bryan Ferry whose claim to fame, aside from his discography, is as the sartorial god of the music industry. <a href="https://youtu.be/jy0NY0MhCz0?si=-hJcg3xSUp7pFlXg" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/jy0NY0MhCz0?si=-hJcg3xSUp7pFlXg</a> Rebecca, you're a LEGEND of crossword construction. Thank you for all your hard work!
@sotto voce You want to hear my deepest, darkest secret? Promise to keep it between us? I would love to try LSD. I absolutely love depictions of trips in TV and in the movies, but I've never had the guts to actually do it. I don't even know how I'd go about it. Also I am very risk averse, so I would need almost laboratory conditions to feel comfortable. Other than getting into a study of how LSD affects the "quite aged" group, I doubt that I'll ever get the chance. But, remember, mum's the word.
@sotto voce It's also a liquid and can be taken that way, sublingually. The strip (which is divided into tabs) is just paper with the liquid applied and dried.
@sotto voce Since Francis designated this a private conversation, I went to Bennington in the ‘80s. LSD was part of the curriculum. Paper tabs (squares), strips, or even gel pops (think hardened jello, thin as paper, that dissolves on the tongue). I cannot deny I had some mind-blowing trips, some euphoric, and some terrifying. I preferred shrooms. But then adulting began. Green tea, Pinot Grigio, and green smoothies are all the buzz this chickadee can handle.
@sotto voce Yes, as soon as I see her name on a puzzle, I know I'm in good hands, thank you Rebecca!
@sotto voce Ooh ooh, me too!! As I was solving, I thought "I'm going to write a post about this fun puzzle" — and the starting sentence in my head was "I love me a Rebecca Goldstein puzzle"-!! Then after I finished it, I thought, lemme just read the early comments and see if sotto or Heathie chimed in. Aahhh, I love that you wrote what was in my head! Hope you made it to the MOL IRL get-together and are having a blast!
Original, fun, witty theme, no? For me, it was also one of those lovely themes that helped the solve – and I’m guessing I’m not alone – because soon enough it was clear that the first word of the theme answer had to do with the occupation in its clue, and the second word was an article of clothing. That brought the answer closer to reach. Furthermore, whichever word of the theme answer you got first, it became an additional clue for the second word, so you could get two aha-bursts instead of the usual one, double the pleasure. The theme also tripped off for me – and others, I see – the engaging game of trying to think of more theme answers. Outside the theme, I loved uncovering the beautiful word SAUNTER. I adored seeing a backward OY OY crossing AWRY. And I think ACUNIT should become a new word meaning “a pointed barb”. So, Rebecca, your puzzle got my brain happy and my soul smiling, for which I’m eminently grateful. Thank you!
That was a fun, satisfying puzzle. I saw an 8D ORCA POD from land at Golden Gardens park in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle a couple of weeks ago! Rare and such a thrill! Today I saw about 30 sea lions basking on one of the piers and last night I saw a beaver at the same park. This is my idea of a celebrity encounter! My husband got up close and personal with a pod when he was a 17-year old camp counselor on Orcas Island in Puget Sound / the Salish Sea. He was taking about eight 8- and 9-year old boys out in a little boat. A pod of orcas surfaced a few times about 10 feet away from them! The kids thought it was great fun but it was pretty scary for my husband. The orcas surfaced about three times, just checking them out, then moved along. I can only imagine how the kids’ parents, including Brad’s, would have felt if they were witnessing that event!
@Cindy When I saw that clue, I immediately wished I was lucky enough to ever spot one. What a gift!
@Cindy NOAA describes Puget Sound as the Pacific waters south of the southern entrance to the Swinomish Channel (Slough), east of the western end of Deception Pass, and south of the northern entrance of Admiralty Inlet. "Salish Sea" is informal nomenclature. It would be more accurate, from a cartographer's point of view, to say that Orcas (which doesn't refer to the whales) Island is in the Strait of Georgia. I don't think the The Strait of Juan de Fuca is in Puget Sound in anyone's mind, so Puget Sound would have to be discontinuous for Orcas Island to be in it. However, we now have "Gulf of America," so who cares what the cartographers think, I guess. Here, north of both Seattle and Puget Sound, Anacortesans look out the window and see the Pacific Ocean, which makes most of us up here very happy.
@Cindy Wow! I’ve spent many an evening at Golden Gardens (in decades past), but I’ve definitely never seen any Orcas. Extremely jealous…
I just came here to say thanks for the Tom Lehrer shout out - he was brilliant and funny and this rendition honors him well.
@Gretchen shortly before he passed he put all of his songs in the public domain. class act to the end.
If some (most?) Sundays are going to be on the easy side, I'm delighted when they are, like this one, on the clever side, as I am happy to come to expect from Rebecca Goldstein. My only nit with the very amusing themers is that KID GLOVES, unlike the others, are an actual article of clothing.
@Barry Ancona Good point, I missed that, although I guess we can give some leeway that it is usually used idiomatically and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone actually wearing KID GLOVES.
SP, You can pick up a pair or two here: <a href="https://www.etsy.com/market/womens_kid_leather_gloves" target="_blank">https://www.etsy.com/market/womens_kid_leather_gloves</a> or buy new ones from Italy.
@Barry Ancona I agree, all the theme answers made me laugh except for kid gloves. I get the idiomatic use, but meh. My favorite was digital shorts, which I thought was pretty funny.
@Barry Ancona Yeah but the Nanny/KID correspondence compensates.
51D ["____ Dreams of Sushi"(acclaimed 2011 documentary)] (JIRO) is an interesting film about a 95-year-old sushi chef who works at his 10-seat sushi restaurant in a Tokyo subway station. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772925" target="_blank">https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772925</a>/ Yesterday I commented about the use of particles in the Japanese language. Here are some other interesting things about Japanese: Japanese doesn't have an alphabet; it has a syllabary. Each "letter" is really a syllable. For example, in English you would say (phonetically) "mah, mee, moo, may, moh". Then you have the same construction for 41 other syllables that start with other consonants: k, s, r, n, h, y, t. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKivBwHdDK0" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKivBwHdDK0</a> Japanese is a very regular language. All words consist of these syllables. Almost all syllables in a Japanese word end with a vowel sound, except for syllables that end with "n." Once you know a few rules, you can pronounce any word in Japanese. Examples: To-kyo, Yo-ko-ha-ma, Ni-shi-mu-ra, bon-sai, ga-ku-sei (student), sen-sei (teacher). Japanese also includes pictograms from Chinese, but they are pronounced differently. I took one course in Japanese a gazillion years ago. I was in a program that required me to take one semester of a language that had a different alphabet than English. I am writing this comment from memory. I hope I haven't made errors that might offend someone. I found it all fascinating, including doing Japanese brush painting.
@lucky13, thanks for your thoughts and for sharing them.
@lucky13 Interesting. That certainly sounds like a good school.
@lucky13 There is another interesting item relating to Japan in the puzzle: 80A [Japanese floor mat] TATAMI. Tatami mats traditionally designated the size of rooms in Japan. From the internet: "Usage in Japanese Homes: Used in washitsu (traditional Japanese-style rooms) as floor covering, often for sleeping on top of a shikibuton (futon). They are also used as a unit of measurement for room size (e.g., 4.5-mat room)." And from Wikipedia: "In Japan, the size of a room is usually measured in relation to the size of tatami mats (-畳, -jō), about 1.653 m2 (17.79 sq ft) for a standard Nagoya-size tatami. Alternatively, in terms of traditional Japanese area units, room area (and especially house floor area) is measured in terms of tsubo, where one tsubo is the area of two tatami mats (forming a square); formally 1 by 1 ken or about 3.306 m2 (35.59 sq ft)."
Really? I’ve owned several cars with CD players. Never had one with a CDDRIVE. That’s what goes in a computer.
Saturday evening, 7:54 EDT--just hit the half-way mark; I'll finish the puzzle tomorrow afternoon, at my Brother-in-law's in another country, to my south. So just dropping in to say: DUAD is a word which exists, but shouldn't! In English, we have several choices--our native Germanic: "twosome, foursome, eightsome" (this last spellcheck doesn't like, tho); or Latin: "duet, quartet, octet"; or Greek: "dyad, tesserad, octad." ("Oct-", like "Tri-", works in both Greek and Latin, although we say "trio" or "triplet," and not "triet," because words.) So DUAD, with its Latin head and its Greek tail, is some weird linguistic hybrid (that's the nice term), and trying to convince me otherwise is pure hubris!
@Bill That would rule out an awful lot of English hybrid words! "automobile", "claustrophobia", "television", "biodiversity", "hetero/homosexual", "petroleum", "bicycle", "biathlon", "hyperactive"... I do agree that Germanic words should be preferred in English, but we don't need to throw the "neonate" out with the bathwater!
@Bill Is it possible that DUAD stems from the same alphabetic confusion as writing hubris instead of hybris, which would be the correct transliteration? The lower case Greek letter looks more like the Latin U than like a Y after all. But it's really not upsilon in Greek, it's ypsilon, and was pronounced more like a French U as in "tu". And it's the same vowel in h[y]bris, hybrid and hysterical or even hypothesis.
@Ya'll Yes,it's a b.d. language we speak! FWIW, "hybrid" & "hubris" most likely don't share an etymology. Now, it's back to the uncleftish beholding for me!
Well my family sure doesn’t care but I just broke my record. 17:22 yay me! Fun puzzle!
@Jennifer Good for you Jennifer. I hope they come around someday!
@Jennifer sometimes you just have to go find your people. Here we are and YAY YOU!
This is the first time my astigmatism has done something good for me (because of it I know what TORIC lenses are). Thanks, wonky eyes!
Holy cow. I neglected to bring a magnifying glass OR tell DHubby I needed him to Print on 2 Pages. I put in eye drops (being SUCH a good patient!) and then of course everything was blurry....so, the hardest part of the puzzle was reading the numerals on the page. Very nice Sunday outing that took me twice the time it should have... and no one to blame but myself! Dang. Hope to report in later about the Meet-up at Cloud City Coffee!
@Mean Old Lady I'm anxious to hear the DEETS of the Meet-up. Photos would be even better! Side note: "magnifying glass" and "DHubby" in the same sentence... muy malo😛
@Mean Old Lady I hope the meetup was fun! I'd love to join y'all next time!
I was so damn close to finishing a Sunday crossword without assistance… about 80% this time… what a genuinely GREAT puzzle.
@Daniel Keep plugging away. It'll happen one day, perhaps sooner than you think.
WIND SOCKS made me laugh, but CD DRIVE made me roll my eyes.
@Grant Agree. A CD-drive is an auxiliary device for a computer. Cars had CD-players, sometimes called CD-changers. Another stretch.
Ooooh Tom LEHRER _and_ STAN Lee in one glorious grid! This was so fun!
@Sian Which reminds me—I thought I had heard of every Tom Lehrer in existence and here’s one I missed. It hysterical.
One more food item: 49A [Did some doughnuts?]. BAKED. Yes, doughnuts can be baked but traditionally they are deep-fried. Yum.
@lucky13 Baked doughnuts are like baked french fries. In other words, they aren't really doughnuts, but something else resembling them. Otherwise, it was a good clue.
@lucky13 Doughnuts again? Ugh!
@N. Totally agree with you, but I would go a step further, because there's no such thing as baked french fries. It's right there in the name. If you bake potato oieces cut in the shape of fries you're not going to end up with french fries, you're going to end up with mushy julienned potato sticks. If you buy frozen French friesintended to be baked at home by consumers, they've still been fried prior to their placement in a bag/freezer. Donuts are fried. A baked donut is an altogether different pastry.
@Ned S sorry my copy editor is on vacation
@lucky13 I happily entered fried on first pass through -- but then the downs didn't work. BAKED donuts? never heard of such a thing. I've always fried them, and my AI bot tells me that Krispy Kreme and Dunkin do too.
"Tis better to have tried a puzzle and lost, than to have never tried at all" somebody said once, I decided. But right now I'm not sure I believe it. After surviving the raging storms of Friday and Saturday, my boat sprung a leak tonight in calm waters. "Oh, so close" the puzzle chided me. Over and over. Ok, I'll submit to running the alphabet on that square. Nope. After about ten times, through, I gave up. I never really thought of FAT as a nutrient, although heaven knows what else it would be. I was laboring under the misconception that there is a family of nutrients called "folic acids", and that the answer was FAs. And that avocados, a food I loathe, is just full of those little bear cats. And FAs fit quite nicely with the cross, BUsTSIN. So I collapsed at the finish line. ("Wait, your on a boat in a storm and it sprung a leak and now you're running a race? Mix metaphors much?"). Sic transit gloria mundi.
@Francis In Brazil, there's an expression for that : I swam and swam, only to die at the beach. ;-)
@Francis I certainly raised my eyes at that too, but since I already had BUTTS in it didn’t trip me up.
@Francis Fat is a macronutrient (as are carbohydrates and protein).
The answer to the classic kid lit question "Is Your Mama A Llama?" is "No, But My Orca Pod Is An Octad".
Any research scientist who has the passion and time to construct crossword puzzles truly fascinates me. I never criticize or praise a constructor or a puzzle; I simply try to decode them. I gain knowledge, reminisce about some clues, shake my head at a few, and chuckle at others. I skim through some of the negative comments just to ensure that I’m not the only one who didn’t fully appreciate a particular grid entry. I have one of the best CD collections of anyone I know. I genuinely miss the CD player in modern cars. I still have one built into the Harmon Kardon radio in my Harley. I don’t particularly care for the 40A dashboard reference. To me, the dashboard has always been the top of the instrument panel where the defrost vents are located. I’ll admit that it further includes the instrument panel, but the CD player was below all of that, when they existed. I won’t lament the absence of “glove compartments,” cigarette lighters, or ash trays. I always knew a macaroon, not a macaron. My mom was a masterful Dutch pastry chef, and macaroon paste cookies were her opus magnum. 65D had me going in circles for ages! Speaking of name tags... Does anyone know how to to reset my name icon back to the default “J"? I don't mind running macros to shrink down photos, but I’m over it. Besides, I like the new serif letters.
@Jerry, I’m guessing that you would start by replying to a post, which opens up a way to edit your name and location. (Just keep pressing EDIT). At that point maybe you can delete the picture that got associated with your account.
@Jerry I really enjoyed reading your post. I wasn’t a huge fan of the puzzle. I guess because the themers didn’t really resonate with me. But that’s on me. Never heard of windsocks or venture cap. Digital shorts seems like green paint to me, though I know it’s a thing. Car I drive has a stock cassette player and 6 cd changer. I never use them. But it will be the saddest part eventually losing this car.
@Jerry Oh yeah, a MACARON is something I've learned from past puzzles. It is actually very different from the macaroons you and I know and love. If you search for it you'll see that it's a sandwich cookie made with egg whites instead of wheat, typically in assorted colors.
@Jerry I agree. MACARONs--yum. Macaroons--yum, yum.
@Jerry Jerry, I was able to do as NYC Traveler suggested. The "Edit " is way over on the left side from your current avatar info.
@Jerry To my comment above, I should have included that that the way I got there was first I had to open the NYT website, nytimes.com then go to the index, go to Games, once opened scroll all the way down to the link that says Wordplay, open up the column, then open the comments, and then open a reply and you will see the Edit link. If anyone else has a less convoluted way that works, feel free to chime in.
@Jerry, macaroons are coconut "haystack" style cookies. Macarons are meringue layers with ganache sandwiched in between. I love both!
@Jerry don't own, but often rent cars. they still all seem to have glove compartments, and it amazes me that we still call them by that term.
The perfect puzzle, challenging but doable. Not much jargon or pop culture. Love it. More please.
I've been doing the Sunday puzzles for a really, really long time. They used to be challenging - today's was about as hard as a Monday and took less time than a Saturday. Let's get back to exercising our brains.
@Janet I’d love to see puzzles like this one replace existing Mondays.
Time to return to my home planet again. As is often the case, was very surprised to see that most everyone else found this one unusually easy. Was just really not catching on to the clever clues for the most part. Tough one for me and had to look some things up, and even then just a ton of pondering and working the crosses. That's just me. Puzzle find today - a Sunday from November 11, 1984 by Mark Diehl with the title: "Off the Rack." Some clue/answer examples: "Aviator's attire?" WINDSOCKS "Shrinking garment?" FREUDIANSLIP "Raiment for a reunion?" FAMILYTIES "Quack's clothing?" MALPRACTICESUIT "Garb for a green thumb?" GARDENHOSE "A cinch for some factory workers?" CONVEYORBELT And there were more. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=11/11/1984&g=22&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=11/11/1984&g=22&d=A</a> See you tomorrow. ...
Rich, You had trouble with the theme, but came up with a puzzle from 42 years ago with the same theme? You're doing just fine!
@Rich in Atlanta Too hard for me! As it was the big Sunday I did not finish, which is rare.
With apologies to delightful Setter Goldstein...when I saw the them, I couldn't resist trying to make up more of them. ...for Fido's summer outfit: hot pants ...for a drummers' formal headware: high hat ...for an ENT's accessories: earrings ...for a naturist's special event: birthday suit I'm trying to quit.
@jbesen Don't apologize — these are great! IMHO, the best puzzles inspire some solvers to try their own. And then the rest of us get to appreciate them, too! Kinda like an epilogue, or movie outtakes. :)
Before checking the grid for the length of the answer, I was sure I knew what the revealer would be. DRESS FOR SUCCESS! Nope. Wrong. Too short. My second thought: DRESS FOR THE OCCASION. Nope. Wrong. There's the word JOB there. Now what is that expression??? DRESS FOR THE JOB YOU WANT. Aha. Perfect. Even though I don't think I've ever heard it. Does that mean that someone looking for a job as lifeguard goes to an air conditioned skyscraper office dressed in a Speedo? Anyway, this was the kind of enjoyable puzzle I've come to expect from Rebecca. Breezy, lighthearted, and blessedly trivia-free. I did get hung up for a while with Jamie FOXX and what awful things those two unwanted "X"s were doing to my grid. But -- big relief -- it's Jamie FARR. And so SORDID and VENTURE CAP come in after all. I really like the way Rebecca clues. "Screen writing" for EDIT is wonderful. So too is "freeze frames" for ICE TRAYS. But as far as clothing puns go, while Rebecca's are all amusing and fun, the best I ever saw -- maybe the funniest clue I've ever seen -- was from Barbara Lin. The clue was "Bottoms decorated with characters from the 'Odyssey' " and the answer was LONG STORY SHORTS. This was an enjoyable Sunday puzzle with puns that were fun to try and figure out.
Nancy, I loved [Screen writing?] for EDIT too, but only those of us who solved in The Magazine saw that clue for 1 Across. Digital solvers got a Monday-level clue. I guess that on reflection the puzzle editors thought only editors would get it.
@Nancy @Barry Ancona I had the online clue for 1 Across and thought it too obvious to just plunk in EDIT, maybe it was a tricky clue, so looked for confirmation from the Downs, which were fairly easy, so I think onliners could have handled the trickier clue, in conjuction with working those Downs. In fact, I was able to fill in that little corner right off the bat, and I almost never am able to do that in NW corner.
Finished at the very SE bottom corner, correcting my 114D "sen" when I realized 1) it couldn't be the same as 72A and 2) that it was wrong, of course. And with that, fixed "titre" and got REED. I used to dress the part for my job - hose and heels every day. Now I dress for the job I want, which is retirement. They're lucky if I'm not in sweats.
Great theme. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Completely stuck on Somerset time as I assumed Somerset in UK (Birmingham in another clue was UK). TIL Titer.
A couple notes: Surgical patients typically recover in recovery rooms, not intensive care units, and cars had cd players, not cd drives.
A charming theme, and tighter than it looks—it’s not lost on me that all the accessories had to have a double meanings, and they were all clever. But, alas, it seems like we’re back to Monday cluing on Sundays, and I have nothing remarkable to comment on except the cute clue for ICE TRAYS. And my personal reminder of my daughter in law’s mother’s dog, MAVERICK, who unfortunately is the only canine friend I know of who absolutely does not like me.
A very satisfying puzzle, just the right amount of challenge for me! I only had one Wiki, as I didn't know who 'dreams of sushi'. Thank you for the fun!
@Joan Does "one Wiki" mean you looked up the answer? Even if one doesn't know that movie, I'd think it's easily filled from the crosses...
Fun puzzle. I got the revealer clue DRESS FOR THE JOB YOU WANT immediately so it helped understanding the pattern of (Thing from job) (Article of clothing). The majority of the puzzle filled in quick but NE corner was hard as heck for me. First I don't know how they expect us to know not only what college Elena Kagan went to but that the designation for a first year student there is ONE L. And 10D wasn't that tricky but the problem is it could equally have been GABS, YAKS, or a bunch of other options, and not knowing for sure made it hard to fill in that region. Figuring out MAVERICK was the key, feels like a 2008 callback cause most recent references to the word are references to the Dallas NBA team. Once that got in the rest of it filled in. On top of that though there were like three individual squares I needed to fix. Like I don't know what EVOO means in regard to Italian cooking. DYAD felt more correct than DUAD. Then OCTET felt more correct than OCTAD and those both held me up at the end. And also not sure what a MOT is. So good puzzle overall, but a handful of clues that were either super obscure or felt like reaches or secondary spellings made the end frustrating.
@Chris EVOO is Extra Virgin Olive Oil. In addition, check the label before buying – the highest quality ones are first cold- pressed. ;-)
@Chris Just to clarify, ONEL is not related to a specific law school, but a designation for any first year law student (I only know that from crosswords, though.) So it wasn’t obvious but guessable if you know that term. And EVOO is extra virgin olive oil, which again I only know from crosswords.
@Chris The only issues I can help you with are: EEVO apparently means Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I only know this from doing crosswords. and For MOT, think of the phrase "bon MOT". MOT is the French noun for "word", and "bon" means "good", so a "bon MOT" is literally a good word, but idiomatically it means a witty remark, or quip. However, I've never seen the isolated word MOT used as meaning "quip" (or "wit") in an actual English language sentence - only in Crosswords.
@sotto voce Oh, duh! I was stumped on this one after getting it filled in from other words in the grid. Maybe I just needed more coffee, but I had lots of those in this puzzle - filled it in correctly but had no idea what it meant...
@Chris One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School is a 1977 autobiographical book by Scott Turow, and it's pretty well known. EVOO is a very common shorthand in recipes, and it's what I write on my chalkboard shopping list when I'm running low.
@Chris Thanks for asking about EVOO! I came here about a half hour ago in search of enlightenment and after having had DES explained to me as French for from, grinning at Andrzej's wonderfully surreal comment, and discussing matters better suited to bicycle day (from last week), I finally have found what I am looking for. Hey Bono! It's going on 40 years! Any progress yet?
Three Tuesdays mashed up together is just not a Sunday grid, clever though it is.
thanks Rebecca & Will this is a beauty it's absolutely ingenious what a well dressed puzzle!
I loved this puzzle, the perfect Sunday experience for me. And thanks to the link provided by Caitlin, my time solving the puzzle was eclipsed by the moments I spent enjoying the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles. If you like the Hannukah in Santa Monica song, check out Proud Mary on the sidebar. If only I were gay, lived in Los Angeles and could sing, I'd join those fellas.
@Don H As today's theme suggests, DRESSFORTHEJOBYOUWANT. Nancy has a great suggestion of the proper attire. You may just pass the interview. 🤪🏳️🌈😂
@Don H I sang in the DC gay mens chorus for a while; after a concert a woman came up to us gushing how much she had enjoyed the concert. Her husband liked to sing, and she asked if one had to be gay to join. Our conductor said "Of course not.... But it probably helps."
@Don H p.s. thanks for the Proud Mary tip. that was hysterical.
Enjoyed this greatly! Thanks, Rebecca. Happy Sunday, y’all!!
Hey now, that was just a big Monday. 15 minutes. Also: donuts are not baked.
@jes cake-style donuts are absolutely baked.
@jes it’s really incredible to me that someone could even “read” all the clues in 15 minutes while also typing more than a character per second!
Bryan, 15 minutes for a Sunday isn't that surprising, and it certainly doesn't requiring typing as fast as you suggest. Global Stats Difficulty Average Median Solve Time 17:56 Median Solver 17% faster ⚡81% of users solved faster than their Sunday average. 42% solved much faster (>20%) than their Sunday average. 🐢19% of users solved slower than their Sunday average. 6% solved much slower (>20%) than their Sunday average.
@jes. My timer said I completed in 13 quectoseconds, so I thought I’d beat you by two! Wait a minute… I gotta stop puzzling when I’m BAKED! Still time for me and Zippy the Pinhead to share a nice MACARON donut cause we were having fun doing this puzz. Yow!
@jes Slowpoke. "Dan Feyer is an American crossword puzzle solver and editor. He holds the record for the most American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT) championships, with nine wins, and the most consecutive championships, with six. He was described by The New York Times as "the wizard who is fastest of all", solving the Times's Saturday crossword in an average of 4:03 minutes each week and the Sunday crossword in an average of 5:38 minutes." <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Feyer" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Feyer</a> He heh. For the record, my fastest time is nowhere near 15 minutes, and by that I mean about twice as long. Just yanking your chain.
@Matt Caked donuts are baked, not fried.
@Matt Thank you. That was more annoying to me than cd drive! 😂
A good theme, but mediocre fill, IMHO. Too many gimmes. Too many stale entries. Too many nits. My biggest nit is CD DRIVE. What's so strange about this is that if it had been clued as "Outmoded component of a *computer*", it would have been (im)perfectly acceptable. How does this GET PAST the editors and the testers? Favorite clue: "Stick used for breaking". Simple and clever. By the way, I'm a paper solver on Sundays, and I noticed a change in the clue for 1-Across between the dead-tree edition and the DIGITAL one. (The Magazine had "Screen writing?" as its clue, which, I agree, was weak.) Does this happen often? Barry, I'm looking to you for wisdom.
The X-Phile, Not sure about wisdom, but I can share information. More than once or twice a year recently there have been Sunday clue changes after The Magazine went to bed on Wednesday. In the case of today's 1 Across, I think a really great clue in print was watered down for the digital solvers. As for your nit, I gave CD DRIVE (as clued) the side eye, but I actually found examples of it -- as clued -- online. That suggests either the clue is fine or the internet is illiterate. N.B. The CUE clue is not a debut.
@The X-Phile Agreed 100% on CD DRIVE. I KNEW that was wrong so I didn't fill it in for a while, lol. Shortz missed it somehow, or may have changed it incorrectly -- it doesn't seem like the kind of clue Rebecca Goldstein would submit, she is so consistent and precise!
The X-Phile, By the way, I had a nit about one of the themers, which I noted here early yesterday evening: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4flpkn?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4flpkn?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a>
@The X-Phile CD DRIVE bugged me too. Like, its technically correct but I've never heard it referred to as a DRIVE except in regards to computers. For cars I've only ever heard it referred to as a CD player.
@The X-Phile I wasn’t keen on CDDRIVE, but it did make the clue a bit harder. I thought of a few things that we don’t see in cars anymore and then waited for some crosses. Outmoded item on a computer would have been a total gimme. Floppy drive being too long. So then we would have complained about the clue being too easy. Plus drive is technically correct, just not in the language.
@The X-Phile - I don't think anyone in a car would say "stick that CD into the CCdrive" they would say "Stick the CD into the CDplayer." Nevertheless, the part of the CD player into which you would stick the CD is the CD drive. The clue didn't specify "how you would say it while driving."
Who called the CD player in a car a CD Drive? Poor clue/answer IMO.
@Chris Cenkner I don’t think any one ever called it a cd drive but it makes for good wordplay 🤷🏽♂️