Jon
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When the trick clicks, you just might say "Omaha!"
When the Duke's daughter caught sight of the famous rock star, it made the LADY GAGA. Kramer and George might not, but ELAINE MAY. Diana's assistant warned the stylist: "The diva likes longer hair so whatever you do, don't BOB ROSS!"
A bit of a tangent, related to the clue for 97D. The most famous speaker of the line "Bah Humbug!" is Ebenezer Scrooge, of course. But do you really know what he meant by that? One of the 19th century definitions of the slang term "humbug" was related to "insincerity," and THIS is what he was railing against (he didn't just hate Christmas, as he's often portrayed on screen). Because Scrooge had no Christmas spirit in his heart at the beginning of the story, he assumed that those displaying it (through acts of charity, generosity, merriment, etc.) were just faking it to make themselves look better. After I read that in a modern introduction to the story, it really cast his character in a whole new light and made his transformation at the end more understandable.
The Godfather fan in me just loved that (AL)FREDO intersected with DON VITO!
Those of you who don't know Simon & Garfunkel's The Boxer don't realize what great poetry you're missing out on. A beautiful paean to the grit of America's working-class poor. Paul Simon is an amazing songwriter. <a href="https://youtu.be/l3LFML_pxlY?si=nApZp8VBy5jMOXTj" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/l3LFML_pxlY?si=nApZp8VBy5jMOXTj</a>
I almost took exception to 44D being clued as a "direction" (AVAST means stop). But then I realized the clue meant a command, not a way to go. Great nautical misdirect(ion)!
At 1D, I had _I__LE, so I confidently filled in PICKLE. You wouldn't believe how hard I tried to make that work, before finally admitting it couldn't possibly be correct. Argh!!
Today I learned that CREATIVE LICENSE has the same number of letters as "artistic license." Took me a while to untangle that mess!
I got the clever trick and revealer with no problem, but I was bedevilled by 76D. After much struggle in that region, I finally worked out LOTS through the crossings. But then I had to really think about why that was correct. I finally realized that "rafts" can also refer to a great quantity. Maybe I need more coffee.....
Boy, so much griping about this one. A tough workout, yes. But I enjoyed it!
"I was about to quibble with the cluing for 11D, but then I realized the 'U.S.' part of the disambiguation makes it true," said a 37-year resident of: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_(state" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_(state</a>)
I wasted many a quarter on Q*Bert back in the day, so that one was a total gimme for me. It was in most video arcades in the early 1980s, but it never exactly set the gaming world on fire. So if you're not around the age of 58 (as I currently am), I can see how that one might have been difficult today!
I remember QBERT being in a recent puzzle. I think it was written with an asterisk after the Q (Q*bert), which might be why it didn't come up in Caitlin's search.
If the title of this crossword didn't make you think of Star Wars, then you probably didn't do Connections first. Today's puzzle included the terms DARTH, SOLO, BOBA, and CHEWY (all recognizable as names of Star Wars characters). But -- diabolically -- they were NOT in the same category!
I got the Schrödinger element in the circles just fine, but was puzzled when I filled in the last letter and was told something was amiss. For 39D [Value], I had "price" (instead of the correct "PRIZE"), which made 46A [State of confusion] come out to "hace" (instead of the correct "HAZE"). Well, HACE is an acronym for High-Altitude Cerebral Edema (swelling of the brain caused by high altitudes) and one of the main symptoms of that condition is confusion. So I inadvertently stumbled on ANOTHER Schrödinger square in this puzzle! :-)
A question for the columnist: I know next to nothing about wrestling, but isn't a Technical Knockout (TKO) from boxing? I've never encountered that term in relation to wrestling (but I have heard of a body SLAM). But maybe Sam knows more about wrestling than she realizes?
@Francis I know it can seem weird while you're solving, but I've learned that it sometimes helps to just go with it, and trust that those odd solves will make sense after you figure out the revealer (especially on a Thursday puzzle). From the crosses, I had "SOMENE_VE", so an R in that empty square was the only thing that would make some sense, even if I couldn't see the relation to the clue at first. Once I got to that "Aha!" moment with the revealer, it felt so gratifying!
Deb, I'm far from a hip-talkin' youngster these days, but I think flake and bail have slightly different meanings. Flake would be used as you described, to indicate someone who never showed up (or something that never happened). Bail, on the other hand, indicates someone who did show up, but then decided to leave early, perhaps with a hint that your company or the activity at hand wasn't worth their time. And after all the dildos I've found in Spelling Bee, my pearls will remain entirely un-clutched! :-)
Sam, I think Twain's memorable quote was referencing what a completely frustrating experience golf can be for beginners! That frustration is what ruins an otherwise lovely walk.
I don't usually put much stock in completion times -- I prefer to savor my puzzles, not race through them. So I was truly stunned that I finished today's puzzle in 7:38. I couldn't believe how much I was on Parker's wavelength! Answers to his wonderfully-clued wordplay absolutely popped into my head on my first pass. I'm genuinely sad that it was over so fast. Please keep 'em coming, Parker!
"I've heard 'bet the farm,' but never BETTHERANCH," says this grandson and nephew of Texas cattle ranchers.
I'm sure 29D was one of the more difficult entries for a lot of people, but I lucked out on this one! My favorite Mexican restaurant makes a delicious chunky soup/brothy stew (potato/po-tah-to) that is named for and served in a MOLCAJETE. It's always one of my go-to orders there! Here's someone's recipe for it, which I've never made: <a href="https://www.food.com/recipe/mexican-style-meat-and-vegetable-stew-aztecas-molcajete-114910" target="_blank">https://www.food.com/recipe/mexican-style-meat-and-vegetable-stew-aztecas-molcajete-114910</a>
@Alex This reminds me of an anecdote from early Hollywood. Two pioneers of the young film industry, Samuel Goldfish and Edgar Selwyn, co-founded a movie studio. To name it, they combined their names into the word "Goldwyn." Later, Edgar was dismayed to learn that his partner had legally changed his name to Samuel Goldwyn, which made it appear that he alone had founded the studio. Some unknown wit at the time noted that it would have been more appropriate if they used the discarded parts of the original names -- Selfish! P.S. Sam lost control of that original studio, but it survived and thrived under the Goldwyn banner. A series of mergers eventually led to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a name which lives on today. And Sam had nothing to do with it.
Sam, another one for the vowels: [Greenlights in LA?] = STUDIO AYES
Ann Miller definitely approves of today's theme! Not to mention her trio (Bob Fosse, Tommy Rall, Bobby Van) and the great Cole Porter, who wrote the music & lyrics. This is from MGM's Kiss Me Kate (1953), and it's always the first thing that springs to my mind when I hear the phrase. <a href="https://youtu.be/TEaZ5xotL_o?si=PIOk_YRpQX4rnqiB" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/TEaZ5xotL_o?si=PIOk_YRpQX4rnqiB</a>
P.S. I believe it's pronounced "mole-ka-HAY-tay."
I first learned about OCARINAs from this scene in MGM's 1936 musical Born to Dance. Three of the four members of the back-up quartet play them during the Rap Tap on Wood number, featuring star tap-dancer Eleanor Powell: <a href="https://youtu.be/d5khAJH2HYM?si=1IbDkwyuSYHg126R&t=71" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/d5khAJH2HYM?si=1IbDkwyuSYHg126R&t=71</a> P.S. The fourth member of the quartet is playing what I think is a penny whistle.
I'm a little surprised to see the confusion over NESTS IN. The word 'nest' can also be a verb, as in "The Great Horned Owl often NESTS IN a saguaro cactus."
I eventually caught on to the idea that there was some sort of math going on in the shaded boxes. But I always solve in the web browser on my Kindle Fire tablet, and the larger Sunday puzzles get squeezed into the same amount of screen space as the weekday puzzles, making the individual squares tiny. So I had no hope of seeing the miniscule X's (I only learned about them from the column, and now I can see that they're really there). I thought surely the answers would be "squared," hence the shape of the shaded clusters. While "SWEET44" gave me hope I was onto something, I was really disappointed when it quickly became apparent that wasn't going to work for the other answers. Still, I definitely tip my hat to the cleverness of the constructors!
I agree with the constructor -- her original clue for 11D was better!
I don't see any comments from @Andrzej today. I was wondering if the clue for 31A amused or confounded him? :-)
Okay, I know this a little mean. But in my initial pass at 19A, I already had the first E. I thought, "beloved...?"
@Matt When I did the Midi (just after noon Pacific time on Sunday), the clue for OLD was [Stale], which made me think of bread. Am I missing something offensive, or did they replace the clue by the time I did the puzzle?
@Billy Ray Johnson I had a similar experience, but got to be the one laughing! I was lucky enough to go on an African photo safari once, and our Kenyan driver/guide kept alternating between 'gnu' and 'wildebeest' when identifying animals for us. One of the other passengers said, "I thought they were the same animal -- is there a reason you use both names?" Without missing a beat he replied: "When they're on the left side of the van, they're wildebeests. And why do they cross the road? To get a gnu name!" :-)
@Mr Dave Some commenters noted how tough the previous puzzles seemed this week, given the days they were published. I agree that Wednesday's puzzle felt more like a Friday/Saturday-level of difficulty. And Thursday's (which I enjoyed!) nearly broke some experienced solvers, with its multiple tricks. Even Monday & Tuesday included a level of vocabulary not often seen on those days. But today's seemed just right to me!
The French comic actor/director/writer Jacques Tati has been in a couple of recent puzzles. If you've never seen it, seek out his 1953 film "Monsieur Hulot's Holiday." Though it has a soundtrack, it's essentially a silent film with minimal need for subtitles. A complete delight that I can almost guarantee will make you laugh out loud! <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046487" target="_blank">https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046487</a>
@J And in case you're not familiar: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism</a> There have been crosswords built around the theme of Spoonerisms.
I'm sure I'm missing something painfully obvious, but can anyone explain why "Barn item" solves to PAIL? The only type of pail I'm familiar with is the small bucket that is frequently used to build sand castles at the beach, which doesn't seem terribly useful in a barn setting.
@Andrzej As a recovering Texan (I grew up there, but moved away over 30 years ago), I can give you a little insight about why it was clued to the Texas city. The twin cities of Odessa and Midland (about 20 miles apart) each have a population of just over 100,000. They are in sparsely-populated west Texas, and exist primarily because they sit in the center of a huge oil-producing region. They are awash in money, and one of the ways this has manifested is through obscenely-over-funded American football teams at their high schools. They have stadiums to rival large college programs, all the newest equipment, and a large staff of coaches, trainers, etc. The football games have become the cultural focus of both communities. This has created an epic rivalry between two schools in particular -- Odessa High School and Permian Basin High School (in Midland). This rivalry was used as the model for the fictional American television series called Friday Night Lights (so named because high school games are almost always played on Friday evenings). When the TV show became a huge hit, Odessa, Texas suddenly became known on a national level here in the States. So for American solvers, the way it was clued makes total sense.
@Andrzej Regarding SLO, it's just a shortened/phonetic spelling of "slow" that is sometimes used on temporary digital road signs along US highways (aka "thruways" -- the alternate spelling of "through" also serves as a clue to the answer). These signs have limited space, so shorter alternate spelling and abbreviations are the norm. It never occurred to me before, but I can see how confusing these signs must be for drivers that aren't native English speakers! You can see some examples of these signs here: <a href="https://www.highwaysigning.com/equipment-services/digital-message-boards" target="_blank">https://www.highwaysigning.com/equipment-services/digital-message-boards</a>/
Oops, sorry for using the wrong pronoun, Gene! *His* original clue was better!
@Tony R The "Fr." in the clue indicates that the answer will be both in the French language and also abbreviated. In French, the feminine form of "saint" is abbreviated "Ste." And Bud Selig was the former Commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB), who was later inducted into their Hall of Fame (located in Cooperstown, NY). "In Cooperstown" is American shorthand for "in the Baseball Hall of Fame."
@Charlie I'm currently working my way through all of Agatha Christie's novels, and she used that phrase A LOT! The first couple times I had to look it up, as I'd never encountered it before. I'm not sure if it's more of a British phrase, or perhaps a product of the era in which she started writing (1920s/30s)?
@Barry Ancona Thanks, that's exactly the connection I was missing!
@Shabré Great minds! I did exactly the same thing, and it took me a bit to un-tangle that corner as a result.
@Vaer For me, it was the original Bad News Bears movie in 1977: <a href="https://youtu.be/LUv3PXLO0hM?si=gVuLpOolR3aBKorj&t=138" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/LUv3PXLO0hM?si=gVuLpOolR3aBKorj&t=138</a>
@SP I'm solving and commenting late in the day, so you might never see this, but the pair of clues was actually RFK and RCCAR (radio-controlled car, which some people call remote-controlled car).
@Petrol Thank goodness you haven't been de-Claude! All joking aside, I hope no one anywhere ever de-claws a cat again. So cruel!
@Al in Pittsburgh. One tiny correction (and not your mistake, but the way it's presented on the video you linked to). The song itself dates to 1932. But the version Ella & Louis recorded together is from the 1950s. I don't know the exact year, and I'm too lazy to look it up right now.
@SP And on TV's Cheers, it was no accident that Frasier's wife was given that name!