In reality, agua won’t do anyone much good. Leche would be a better request.
@James A Likely do more harm than good. I've heard bread is also helpful.
@James A Agreed. Also starches, milk, or sugar. Ice cream once saved me from my first foray into spicy food at an Indian restaurant. My friend from India didn't think to request that my order be prepared as mild, so I got the full effect. Ooooh, boy. A birthday meal I'll never forget – one bite of Indian food and ice cream for the rest of the night.
@James A I filled in milk first, but deep down I knew it was wrong. Other than that, fun clue.
@James A “Habanero” is used in English, so another word in the clue should have been in Spanish to indicate that the answer would be as well. Putting MILK there initially really threw me off!
As a retired otolaryngologist, I’m obliged to point out that ear wax does not directly cause tinnitus (accent on the first syllable). Ear wax could cause a conductive hearing loss in an ear and that might make the tinnitus more noticeable, but it is not a direct cause. Tinnitus often is caused by a disorder in the inner ear and I think there is some newer research indicating that it could also be caused by problems in our central auditory processing.
@RandallP Thank you! I’m a pediatrician and have never seen a child or adolescent, at least, complain of tinnitus from impacted cerumen so I was wondering if maybe that was an adult thing. Yeah AI says it’s so but just shows you how much that’s worth!
@RandallP As a long time sufferer of tinnitus, I appreciate the information. For a brief time I was hoping that when my primary care physician found a considerable build up of ear wax, that its removal would help me. But it didn't. At the moment I can live with it. But it seems to be getting worse, and I don't know how much worse it can get before I finally have to seek dramatic remedies. Having heard that the problem may be in the brain makes it a lot worse, because it removes almost any hope it will ever go away.
@RandallP All that rings a bell. I know it's TINnitus, but why isn't the joint ache problem called ARTHritis?
@RandallP @SP Thank you for confirming my suspicion the clue wasn't quite right! I remember reading that the causes of tinnitus are not quite clear and research is ongoing.
@RandallP I think it worth noting that this crossword is appearing in the New York Times , not The Laryngoscope.
@RandallP I teach a hearing disorder lecture to pharmacy students and I have the condition, so I have checked it repeatedly: TIN-it-tus and tin-EYE-tus are both considered correct pronunciations. I prefer the former since it does not sound (incorrectly) like an inflammation.
Anyone else, like me, confidently slap down SIN for [___ City]?
@Lewis Actually, yes! (somebody ought to write a song in protesr about that 😉)
@Lewis it added a good seven minutes to my time today... With that luck, I won't be betting on anything anytime soon.
@Lewis SIM came to me first, but I would not have minded a Gram Parsons tribute.
@Lewis I already had the M, so had to trust that there was such a thing as a sim city—maybe Sim City? Where they manufacture all the sim cards?
This one had a few tough spots, but was otherwise pretty breezy for a Friday. Finished 40% under my average time. 32D, GREEN BELT, put me in mind of my late mother. In the early 1970s, we were living in a small farming and coal mining town in southeastern Ohio (population around 5,000). At one point, the coal company started strip mining, using a giant earthmover called the GEM of Egypt, and was planning to strip to the edge of town. As I recall, they planned to strip to the edge of the high school parking lot. My mother and a friend thought this was absurd. My mother got herself appointed as head of the planning commission, which was unpaid and not considered actually a significant job. My father was a doctor and I suppose the town council thought she was just a bored housewife who’d plant flowers and put up banners on Main Street. But she, along with her friend, parlayed it into something more and they started demanding meetings with the coal company and the governor’s office. People organized protests. The NYT, and other papers, sent reporters. My mother got death threats. On one morning I remember my father going out to start her car as one caller had told her to be careful when she did that. In the end, the town got a two-mile greenbelt and my mother and her friend got written in Time, which called them “redoubtable matrons.” So, thank you for bringing me that memory.
@Joe Great thing to share! Power to the People....
@Joe Redoubtable Matron wpuld make a fine epitaph.
@Joe So women like Erin Brockovich and Chrstal Lee Sutton (a.k.a."Norma Rae") are "redoubtable matrons"? Your mother was a powerful actiivist, a woman of character and resolve who had the courage and tenacity to take on the big boys and whittle them down to size. Hooray for her!
Yeah, I was wondering how you stretch your NATS out before a workout. Like they're muscles in your lower back one works on during hot pilates. Like, after a workout, you say "man, my nats are on fire! Gimme some agua!" I'm lifelong admirer of St. Francis and his BFF St. Clare, who came to Assisi as a tweener after hearing Francis preach, and became his helpmate, collaborator, and friend. He gave her a bad haircut, a bad habit and helped her commit to a life of poverty, eschewing scions and their wealth, eschewing the limelight, crab claws, and any product that said "Made in USA." She established the Order of St. Clare, the so-called Poor Clares committed to the Franciscan way. Many decades later, when Francis grew frail and sightless, who found her way to him, sans Waze, taking the green belt back to Assisi, having sworn an oath to provide such comfort to her liege and mentor, but St. Clare! When she got there, she could tell St. Francis was near the end, but still managing to hold his own in a conversation with a liger and a siamese cat on the subject of Satan, and whether it would annoy Satan more to be called "Sweetie Pie" or Doge Boy. "Let me say my piece" yelled Francis so loud that St. Clare forever after had tinnitus. "I feel great!" St. Francis told her, and, as epilogues for a life well lived, that was not a bad one to end on, for no sooner had he said those words than the Lord sent down an angel to repo Francis's soul. This is all according to AI.
@john ezra, Brilliant!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@john ezra John, it's so very nice that you have such a high opinion of me, but calling me a Saint is really quite an overstatement. Angelic, at best. And I don't remember any of that ever happening to me, so maybe my memory is failing as well. I'm frail, for sure, and I don't see as well as I used to, but "sightless" is really a bit beyond the pale.
Prime, classic Ezra. You are at the top of your game, sir. Bravo!
@je As long as we're sharing fun facts about St. Clare, she's the patron saint of . . . television! Near the end of her life, she was confined to her sick-bed, and so could not attend Mass. Afterwards, the novices rushed to her, to describe what happened. "Oh yes, I saw the whole thing--it appeared as an image on the sick-room wall," and proceeded to describe the Mass in exact detail. "But wayyy too many commercials."
Thank you all, so much, who reacted, and especially, who commented with good wishes, on my more personal post on Thursday's puzzle! I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support and understanding and humor you all provide!! Love this forum!! I did actually respond to everyone, but I imagine that most do not usually go back to the previous day, so I just wanted to say thank you and how much I appreciate you! ❤️🍸🥰🍸❤️
To all those who tried SIN City, I just went back and checked: the clue, as printed, is [___City], with no space between the underline and the "C"; the name of the game is "SimCity," one string, internal capital. And they say the clue editors don't know what they're doing!
@Bill Totally missed that. I guess I have to look at spaces after blanks now, too.
@Bill This is why I got it on first pass—noticed the lack of a space right away so I knew it had to be the game.
I enjoyed this, and my solve progressed in typical, Friday fashion - from being utterly stumped to ultimately succeeding. However, my solve time of 21 minutes, which is between my Wednesday and Thursday averages, probably indicates it was too easy for the day, especially for experienced, American solvers. My last square was the M of SIM city. I had confidently entered SIn there at the end of my first pass. The resulting cross of nATS looked a bit suspect though so I returned to it when I got my "So close" pop-up. Funnily enough, I used to play the video game 'Sim City 2000' years ago, but apparently it was buried too deep in my mind for me to remember it sooner. It's interesting how being from a certain place with its culture, diet and customs, influences one's vocabulary. We don't eat crab in Poland. I've never seen it even at specialty seafood shops, and I've only eaten it in the US and Jamaica. Thus, CRAB CLAWS came to me very late - the NW corner was the last area of the puzzle I filled. The European capital had to be in the Balkans (especially it having being both Thracian and Byzantine narrowed things down) and it started with an S. I hesitated before entering it though. I assumed SOFIA was spelled Sophia in English so I thought it didn't fit. Skopje was another possibility, but it was too long, as well. Crosses made me realize it was SOFIA after all, and the spelling was what I had been wrong about. ASSISI as clued was a huge gimme. It's nice to know some trivia!
@Andrzej Same problem with the SE corner. I’ll content though that mats don’t get stretched, so I have no idea why this is the clue.
@Andrzej very subtle, but there was no space after the underscore in the “_City” clue!
@Andrzej No way you stretch out a MAT. Stretch out *on* one, yes. We roll out a MAT and that’s that
The famous fruit vendor is in the limelight. (And the zest is yet to come!)
@Mike One pithy segment at a time, the cart wheels on.
@Mike As he said, this is Mai Tai’m to shine!
Oh dear. I had A GUn before I realised AGUA. It just seemed plausible, if a bit dark, for a friday morning.
Random thoughts: • Semordnilap pair in the box! SHOO and OOHS. • The loveliest spot in the grid, IMO, is the abutting beauties of WHEN CAN YOU START and PRIMPS. • I like the cross of SWEAT and I FEEL GREAT sharing the grid with HOT PILATES. • For the best answer review and an edifying brush with wit, please scroll down and read John Ezra’s post. • NOONES is a dook, following the same answer in the singular on Tuesday. • TIL – LIGERS are the world’s largest cat, commonly weighing over 900 pounds, and can be a dozen feet long. They are not found in the wild (bred in captivity), enjoy swimming, and can roar like a lion and make the chuffing sound of a tiger. Joe, you gave me a tough corner (the NW), some fun whooshes, plus all these bonuses – a very sweet start to the day. Thank you for making this!
How do you add seasoning to an easening? You stubbornly, ignorantly, confidently and dimly cling to TBLISI instead of ASSISI for fifteen minutes, that’s how.
No, that ringing in my ears is NOT caused by "excess ear wax" - THAT would be easily fixed, and as sufferers will tell you. that ain't so!
I have unrolled a mat, laid out a mat, unfolded a mat, and possibly even shaken out a mat before a workout. But I have never stretched out a mat. (I’ve stretched out ON a mat!) That said, I’ve never stretched out a nAT (from SIn City), nor have I been to SIl City while stretching out my lATs, so I had to go with the SIM and MAT option (despite my objection to the cluing.
@BobSolo being a child of the 80s, the first thing that came to my mind was Sun City, the horribly segregated resort town in South Africa. So glad it wasn’t that.
@BobSolo I feel you. Ended my Friday solve streak, had to auto check to get mat. Which I think is a bit of a stretch for an answer (no pun intended). Onto Saturday…
I promise I mean no offense or disrespect to the constructor, or to anyone, really. But this puzzle depressed me more than I was already depressed. Oh, it was witty enough, solid enough, and I'm sure there is a lot of elegance to the construction that swooshes right over my head, but this was just way, way too easy. Or at least I think so. Last week I was convinced that a puzzle was too easy and I was surprised when many didn't find it so. So maybe I'm wrong again. I hope so.
@Francis It was fun but yeah, pretty easy for me too
@Francis I recommend being Polish - I found this quite challenging 😄
@Francis I agree with you… except for the NE section, which had me all kinds of messed up. First of all, I had “Bikram yoga” instead of HOT PILATES and “ere” instead of TIL. I didn’t know the suffragist, I know nothing about bitcoin, and although I had SWEET, “IE PIE” just didn’t occur to me. It’s frustrating when all your insufficiencies occur in the same area rather than being spread across the puzzle, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes.
@Francis I set a new personal best that shaved a third off of my old one. I liked it, too, but was bummed it was presented as a Friday.
Very low proper noun count should minimize the "obscure trivia" and "Natick" posts. This seems like a very accessible Friday; I wonder what it would have been like with more of Joes's original clues.
@Barry Ancona I wonder that, too. "very accessible" is putting it charitably, I'm sorry to say. Once again, I'm the old man shaking his fists looking up at the crossword gods--"Please, please, please provide us with a set of constructor clues." SHOO for [Skedaddle!] and IDEA for [Inkling] and SNEER for [Villainous expression] and DOGE for [Lead-in to "coin" for a major cryptocurrency] are just embarrassing for a Friday. I can't believe it--I think I've done a complete 180 Uey on the whole puzzle difficulty problem. I tried a Friday from 2003 just before this one, and I ran into stuff like this: NASAL for [Mont Blanc feature?] REEDS for [Some winds] HEROS for [Torpedoes] (I still don't get that one) DOPESHEETS for [Handicapping aids] (or that one either) ARSENAL for [Certain depot] (Nope, or this one) There's no comparison between the difficulty levels of these two Fridays. Heaven help me, I've become a street preacher warning about The Great Easening.
@Barry Ancona you are, as Francis pointed out, being kind. I would argue that creating difficulties by obscure trivia is the sign of a frustrated setter/editor. This puzzle absolutely deserved an outing but not necessarily here.
A truly enjoyable puzzle. I was shuffling fills and struggling with the NE corner until it all clicked into place. Perfectly satisfying, and I feel great. I hope you've already cooked up another one for us, Joe. If not, when can you start?
👏👏 Clever clueing & fun long entries! I thought myself clever when I answered ‘milk’ to what one might request after eating a habanero. Agua makes the burn worse, yes? Unfortunately ‘leche’ doesn’t fit so the clever clue wouldn’t work. Agua it is!
I really wanted "Important figure on staff?" to be RUNE... guess I've been playing too many fantasy games lately!
Had SIn for __ City before SIM, but nATS made no sense so fixed it. Also had Askew for AMISS, which made that corner tricky. (Golf courses are sOWN, maybe, definitely not seWn, but k_E__G_E_T confounded me. Not enough letters for keeping, and knee-something was worse. Loved the clue for AGUA. (First I had milk, but that didn't work with the downs. )
I just happened to be listening to the Rush album Moving Pictures, so LIMELIGHT and CINEMA were nice coincidences.
@Derek Ledbetter I was thinking of a Rush themed crossword at that clue! Might be a bit too niche!
The cluing on this themeless is really nice and I feel a lot of thought was put into it. I especially liked the EPILOGUES clue for its trickiness and the WEALTH clue for its wisdom. Re: WEALTH: Can someone show that quote to the tech bros and the oligarchs, please? HOT PILATES: Doing any kind of workout in a hot and humid room strikes me as the very definition of masochism. I don't even want to sit quietly in such a room and have resisted all attempts over the course of my entire life to drag me into a sauna (dry heat!!!!!!!) or a steam bath (wet heat!!!!!!!). "Now why on earth would I want to do that?" is always my answer. I don't buy DOGE any more than I buy BIT. Coins, that is. Meaning I expect to end up with a lot more WEALTH than anyone who does. You can't be too suspicious, that's what I say. An enjoyable puzzle that I found consistently interesting but not especially hard.
@Nancy I've never done pilates, but my impression is that it's strenuous enough without turning up the heat.
My first time ever solving a Friday puzzle without a single lookup! What a wonderful way to finish out the work week.
If the only thing I have to complain about this week is that today's puzzle was a bit too easy, I've had a really good week. Happy Friday.
It's aways cool when I can get this done while seated on a plane waiting for takeoff. I agree with Barry about the low proper noun count. High quality fill.
Several years have passed since The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asked the public (and the press specifically) to use the Church’s formal name rather than “Mormon Church,” and to avoid referring to its members as “MORMONS.” This answer has appeared at least one other time since that request was made. This most recent answer coincides with national sports headlines which have highlighted hate speech directed at members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints using this nickname, most notably “F— the Mormons,” and the conflict such language has caused in NCAA sports. I’m commenting less to reprimand than to ask about the editorial reasoning behind continuing to use this word as a clue. The word itself is not offensive, and I understand that it remains common in everyday usage. What I find curious is the decision to continue using a term that a religious minority has explicitly asked the press not to use when referring to its members. I’d genuinely be interested to understand how editors think about that distinction.
@Jaclyn Herrin Personally? As someone still in recovery from being raised in the Mormon church, screw what the leadership want it to be called.
@Jaclyn Herrin in a multi-cultural, multi-faith society where we respect each other’s right to believe in any God or no God, i think the best way of getting along is to say “live and let live”. In other words, you can believe anything you like, as long as it didn’t impinge on others. So i am willing to accept an eccentric world with all kinds of believers, but I do not accept that they have a right to affect my life, including my enjoyment of the New York Times crossword. If MORMON fits the grid, so be it.
@Jaclyn Herrin As an atheist, I ask for all churches and faiths to be called superstition. Please respect my beliefs.
@Jaclyn Herrin Is the scripture still called The Book of Mormon? Will I still have to go off campus to get a cup of coffee while I'm attending a conference at BYU?
@Jaclyn Herrin MEMBEROFTHECHURCHOFJESUSCHRISTOFLATTERDAYSAINTS has too many letters. But seriously, if this were an article about Romney or Jennings, I expect the NYT would use the preferred term. But it’s a puzzle and the term MORMON is still in common usage.
@Jaclyn Herrina didn’t they produce and distribute a movie called I Am a Mormon a few years before that? No one is going to care enough to keep up what with a tiny sect wants to be called whenever a new leader is chosen. Maybe the church should use their hundreds of billions of assets to idk feed hungry children or keep water chugging data centers out of Utah.
@Jaclyn Herrin I don't follow the Church and had no idea they had asked to be called something different.
@Jaclyn Herrin. Of course you’re right, Jaclyn. Not sure what all the resistance is about. Especially when your comments are so reasonably and patiently expressed. The replies remind me of a well-meaning colleague in the 1980’s who couldn’t understand why he was corrected when he referred to someone as Oriental instead of Asian. My objection is different: imagine the reaction if the answer to a clue listing two completely unrelated people was Christian, Jewish or Muslim: Outrage? Confusion? Why is membership in the Church of Latter Day Saints still seen as something exotic?
@Jaclyn Herrin No offense, but I find all your replies in this thread to be thoughtful, empathetic and polite. (Who here doubted I actually meant 'No offense'?)
@Jaclyn Herrin What I want to know is, do their kids play with LEGO or LEGOS? (Longtime Wordplayers will understand the analogy.)
@Jaclyn Herrin The Book of Mormon is considered a sacred text by the members of this odd religion, so I don't really understand why referring to them as Mormons presents any problem.
There are plenty of words that the editors of the puzzle eschew (I won’t list any cuz I don’t want to be emued). This whole issue could be resolved by putting the names all of the “superstitions” (thanks @Andrzej) on the list. 😊
Given the ubiquity of acid-tripping in recent xwords, it's actually surprising that I can't recall an 'LDS' answer.
@Jaclyn Herrin The church may have attempted to “officially” rebrand itself; but that doesn’t compel everyone else to start using their requested terminology. I, for one, will not stop using the term “Mormon”. Not because I want to stick it to the Mormons — I just don’t buy that there is anything wrong with continuing to use a term that is firmly established in the popular lexicon, and which Mormons happily self-applied for well over a century. How publications such as the NYT should handle the church’s updated brand guidance is a fair question, I guess, and I don’t have any strong opinions there. But in the crossword puzzle? MORMON will continue being fair game for decades to come, as far as I am concerned.
We got to say I, I, I, I, I, I Ain't gonna play SIN City Oh no, no, no I, I, I, I, on I, I I gotta play SIM City Everybody say my, my, my, oh my Don't that MAT look pretty? Happy Friday! Keep stretching your grey cells!
@Whoa Nellie Na, na, na, na, na Got your head scarf on, Little Nellie?
Guess I shouldn't be surprised that everyone else found this unusually easy. Some of it came together fairly smoothly, but I got stuck in a couple of places and just couldn't work it all out. No big deal. And... puzzle find today. A Tuesday from January 25, 2000 by William S. Cotter. Three 15 letter theme answers in that one. Those clues and answers: Dad says "no." WHENYOUGETOLDER Dad says "yes." JUSTTHISONETIME Dad says "maybe." GOASKYOURMOTHER Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/25/2000&h=20a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/25/2000&h=20a</a> ...
@Rich in Atlanta And one more puzzle find. A Wednesday from July 7, 2010 by Will Nediger. One theme and aanswer in that one: "Command to a French composer at an intersection?" BIZETSIGNAL And all the other theme clues were some variety of: "Command to a _____ composer ______" Those answers: PLAYLISZT THROWBACH HAYDNGOSEEK Here's the link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/7/2010&h=29d" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/7/2010&h=29d</a> ....
Some of today's clues, made me fell, like I was a little out of my liege.
Not a hard puzzle, but I just kept entering plausible but wrong answers! sRsLY before TRULY (I know, the clue would have said "in brief") SWEEThEart before SWEETIEPIE PReenS before PRIMPS cUba before SUEZ (a few years off) death before SATAN (Sorry Dante, I was thinking of Game of Thrones) OleS before OOHS GREENzone before GREENBELT (despite where I live) SpAcingout before STARGAZING And trying to figure out how to fit HOT yoga into the HOTPILATES answer. Still finished much quicker than usual for a Friday.
@Beth in Greenbelt I had PREENS and OLES at first also.
Beth, I had Cuba, too (both incidents happened before I was born) and it tripped me up in the southeast corner for the longest time! Then remembered Cuba was in the Kennedy presidency, so that couldn’t be right, but it sure took me a while to get there.
Here's the score: Trebles 12–Basses 7 (One tenor [bassoons], one alto [violas], and one neutral [cymbals and tam-tam]). <a href="https://imgv2-1-f.scribdassets.com/img/document/203222814/original/f5a81f38a8/1?v=1" target="_blank">https://imgv2-1-f.scribdassets.com/img/document/203222814/original/f5a81f38a8/1?v=1</a> As long as we're sharing pretty pictures, Debussy insisted that his publisher, Durand, use Hokusai's "Great Wave off Kanagawa" as cover art (orientalism was big in France at the time): <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_mer_(Debussy)#/media/File:Debussy_-_La_Mer_-_The_great_wave_of_Kanaga_from_Hokusai.jpg" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_mer_(Debussy)#/media/File:Debussy_-_La_Mer_-_The_great_wave_of_Kanaga_from_Hokusai.jpg</a> Subsequent editions used a plain, boring cover. *** Commenters, especially @Andrzrej, might remember my fondness for the Polish sci-fi author Stanislaw Lem. The developer of SimCity, Will Wright, has stated that one of his inspirations for the game came from Lem's short story "The Seventh Sally" from *The Cyberiad*, a book I will never pass up an opportunity to plug. *** Great long entries, Mr. Marquez; over too quickly.
@Bill We had to drive to Laurel, MS, not long ago. I read that there was an art museum, so we made a point of driving down early to visit there before going to an appointment. First, it was a gorgeous building in a wonderful late 1800's neighborhood (obviously where the wealthy timber families lived.) It has an extensive library and engaging displays. We chose to start in "The Japanese Room," and the first thing we laid eyes on was a Hokusai...and then a series of chiseled wood panels--more than a dozen--used to create a color print. Time was limited, so we had to leave--passing a Chihuly piece on the way--and then I spotted an oil painting that made me gasp. A Cassatt??!! Turned out to be done by one of Mary's close friends... We plan to go back in November when they will feature Kimonos.
LAMPLIGHT instead of LIMELIGHT: That's on me. SIN/SIM crossing LATS/MATS: That's on you. "Member of a noble family" ending in ON and not an element? Unsure about that one since my chemistry background might have biased me...but Wordplay's title and picture say otherwise. In the end, of course, it's NO ONEs fault. (I had fun!)
@Justin I was thrown even further away with "RING LIGHT"... I thought the "public eye" meant the ring of the influencer-preferred DIY lighting method. I had some answers that fit across as well, so that was the last thing I untangled.
Fun puzzle today, tricky clues without too many proper nouns/trivia. It helped that I was able to get WHEN CAN YOU START instantly. Then the "Noble family" one tricked me for a while because when I had ----N I was thinking noble gases, but then it could be Argon, Xenon or Radon, and turned out to be SCION. Also I originally put down SIN City which made it tough to think of Yoga MATS.
Very nice Friday grid, full of interesting entries. But finished without assistance in about 18 minutes---which suggests to me that the cluing was too direct for a Friday puzzle. For example, "Question posed at the end of a successful job interview"---this instantly elicited WHENCANYOUSTART. Would like to work harder at the week's end.
@Xword Junkie Thought it was perfect Friday puzzle.
@Xword Junkie I agree. I got a personal best today. It felt like a Tuesday puzzle.
@Xword Junkie Yeah, personal best that shaved a third off my previous PB. Way too fast, even though there were some clues and answers I really liked.
Ha - I knew it. Commenters complaining about a puzzle being too easy and not a peep from anyone while I was made to feel bad for a joke yesterday. The hypocrisy is sad. I’m totally vindicated. Anyway, it was a fine puzzle. Love the inclusion of SIAMESECAT. Happy Friday.
@D Nobody can make you feel anything. You felt bad because you voiced a negative opinion in a snarky way and people didn’t like it. That’s just what commenting on the public internet is like, bud! Sometimes people don’t like what you say.
I always thought it was “Let me say my PEACE.”
@Mike <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/say-your-piece-versus-peace-usage" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/say-your-piece-versus-peace-usage</a>
@Mike That’s what I thought too, I just thought it was an expression meaning let me talk until I am at peace. But honestly piece makes more sense.
Today’s poem made from words in today’s puzzle a/ your family spends a long time in front of the mirror in your room maybe your family might like to be a noble family an important family a better family in ways your family might never be and whose fault might that be that they’re stretched out there in your room in front of that mirror and might never d/ stop historically, the ones who need…. they’re not the ones who get you live you work you live you die you might not stop or… you might be the one to stop a/ when no one can
I had to run the alphabet for AGU_ crossing SE_N, and then had to face palm when the answer was AGUA. Duh, John.
@John I threw myself for a loop because I immediately put “milk” and was so stubborn about changing it lol
One more late puzzle find. All I can say is.. Wow. A Sunday from December 8, 1991 by Betty Jorgensen. Some theme clue and answer examples: "Child and Howe, grab, L.B.J. pet" JULIASSEIZEHER (Julias seize her) "Tools, riches, accompany, expand." AWLSWEALTHATTENDSWELL (AWLS WEALTH ATTEND SWELL) "Topic, Magi gift, intone, range part, you and me." THEMEMYRRHCHANTOVENUS (THEME MYRRH CHANT OVEN US) "Relative, joy, slip." KINGLEEERR (KIN GLEE ERR) And there were more. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=12/8/1991&h=57a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=12/8/1991&h=57a</a> ...
@Rich in Atlanta If this doesn't hammer home how boring and repetitive and totally lacking in any creativity or spark or challenge whatsoever the modern puzzle is, not sure what does
Some mistakes I made: preens instead of primps, health instead of wealth, sweetheart instead of sweetie pie. It all sorted itself out in the end.
Solving a Friday is a rarity for me. Normally I go blank, the puzzle stays blank then I quickly hit reveal. Either I'm getting better at it or as some have opined today's is 'accessible' or a combo of both. Anyway, quite an enjoyable solve.
@Your Fired The glass is either half full or half empty. You decide.
As others have said, pretty easy/breezy for a Friday despite quality fill and a few hiccups along the way. People have already pointed out my nit about TINNITUS and I also had SIN before SIM (I thought you might stretch your LATS and maybe SIL CITY was Paris where they said SIL vous plait; and then maybe the Washington NATS stretched before their work out!). I was also wondering whether I might ask for A GUM after a habanero, whether ARGON was part of a noble family and most importantly, if it’s my mistake then it certainly isn’t NO ONES fault—just ask my wife! Meanwhile, as further evidence for the Great Easening Debate (AKA “In my time I had to walk five miles to finish a crossword—uphill, both ways!) check out Saturday January 9th 2016, I just finished it—whoo! Actually Friday the 8th is pretty snazzy too, not nearly as hard but extremely well constructed and clued also, with a very nifty set of related clues at the beginning and the end. I loved both but I’d be scared to see the comments about the Saturday one if it ran today.
Under 15 minutes. My best Friday ever, I think!
Bland and not challenging, as usual. And since when are MATS stretched?
@Vic When they're rolled, I suppose? My yoga mat is rolled, so that’s what came to mind.
Fantastic construction with satisfying stacks and very doable clues. Great Friday.
I have an IDEA for the world’s smallest tattoo… (And for a larger one that would depict all of the Seven Classical Noises of Media: Snap, Crackle, Pop, Plop, Plop, Fizz, and Fizz)
@JohnWM I always throw a couple crushed Alka-Seltzer atop my morning Rice Krispies. Yum!
Surely one needn't be from a noble family to be a SCION!
@RozzieGrandma But the misdirection is better this way, isn't it?