NY Expat

This was a very pleasant solve! But I must object to the introduction: “Of the many desks that make up The New York Times, Games is one of the few that doesn’t cover politics in any form or fashion” I honestly don’t think anyone who regularly solves this puzzle believes this. They may be flattered that the crossword reflects their own politics, but it’s clearly not apolitical.

You don’t have to be a particle physicist to get a crossword in the New York Times, but it looks like it didn’t hurt, either! Very fun Monday, but while I completely respect not wanting to eclipse a newbie’s moment in the Sun, I think most of us noticed the byline for the editor and want to say, “Welcome back, Will!”

I was literally thinking today that Crosswords, when you get down to it, are a collection of “Dad Jokes”! I put that phrase in quotations for a reason: My mom made these jokes to me all the time growing up, and I’m a little miffed that, particularly in a time of striving for gender equity, these endearing and playful jokes got associated with fathers only. I’m looking forward to Sunday, as a father myself, but when my 5 year-old asks “Why?” and I reply “‘Y’ is a crooked letter”, that’s my Mom speaking through me.

I had a fun final fill to share: I had “Resolve” as SETTLE, the now-notorious “Cultured dessert option” as TCB_, and the cross down of “Brotherly greeting” as S_MAN “Hmm…SUPMAN (as in “‘Sup, man?” doesn’t fit. Oh, so the dessert is TCBY? I suppose. But that makes the greeting SYMAN?!? I wonder if there’s other answers than SETTLE? A, B, C…oh, METTLE!” “That means I solved it! MY MAN!”

I enjoyed this puzzle! It certainly didn’t make me want to go nuclear (ironically, given the theme, neither did the puzzle)

Loved the puzzle, hate the reification of MANSPREADING. I am a fairly large male, so usually the seat next to me is the last to be taken. I do not splay my legs, nor does just about anyone I see on the El, yet even MTA ads (thankfully they haven’t made their way to Chicago) warn about this alleged scourge of manhood. It’s not that it doesn’t happen at all, it’s making it into a symbol of “MAN”hood that must be eradicated. Get back to me when “Manages managers?” answers to KAREN, m’kay?

I have to assume that the haters of IS PEPSI OK are Millenials or younger: “No Coke, Pepsi” was a nationally known catchphrase from Saturday Night Live of the late ‘70s, and lived on for many years afterwards.

Great puzzle, and I initially filled The Kinks song with “lo”s as well! The clues were just fantastic, with 66A and 67A as highlights beyond the ones already mentioned in the article. I got stuck at the end because I solved the Warhol paintings as ICONIC instead of IRONIC :-D

When I see AS ABOVE, SO BELOW, my brain starts playing Tom Tom Club on repeat, but that might just be me.

[Condescendingly spells out] is MANSPLAIN? Please don’t tell my wife! More seriously, this clue could apply to anyone. To *force* us to write in MANSPLAIN is to make us complicit in agreement with it. I’m sure puzzle solvers of past decades have had a similar experiences with other clues (sometimes pointed out in Wordplay as retrograde). Putting aside the entire “Man” portmanteau stereotyping, a little more consideration in cluing when using them would be nice.

You know what’s worse than OLIO? “Mansplained”

Cosign that LOOPER is a very weak alternate to BLOOPER (do a Google search on both words and you’ll see). Although you could make it a baseball term by referencing pitcher Braden LOOPER! Or you could go another direction entirely: “Big Bird malapropism for local shopkeeper” It’s fine, really, as the crossings and clue make it obvious. It’s when it’s in a Saturday desert that it’s more irritating.

I was a little confused why my crossings seemed off: ALABAMASLFMMER; LID; ROUNGE; ALUMINEMFOIL, but then I realized: The constructor is using the common understanding that ACLU is still a , when I was using the contemporary understanding that it is no longer one, and that mantle has been passed to FIRE. Oh well, maybe next time!

Not the 007 movies, but I can’t resist: “How did you know she was a spy, Dad?” “She talksh in her shleep.”

I can’t help but wonder if 1A was brought in after the controversial “But No, Really: Taylor Swift Is Totally In The Closet, And Here’s Almost 5,000 Words To Explain” article from about a month ago? Almost certainly not. Who would engage in such wild speculation? Do I mean the article, my harebrained theory of 1A, or the rumors swirling about the Super Bowl? Yes. Returning back to the matter at hand, SIX INCH OR FOOTLONG, and the ensuing grid chaos that ‘X’ caused, was a true highlight!

Just curious: I got AROD with no problem, but shouldn’t the clue indicate somehow that it’s an abbreviation (or nickname)? “Third all-time in MLB homers” would need something more to go from RUTH to BABE, wouldn’t it?

I think UNCANNY VALLEY would have been better clued “…more lifelike”, rather than “…too lifelike”. The “valley” comes from better graphic not leading to greater affinity, Think Polar Express.

It’s so depressing to me that that wonderful A. O. Scott piece linked to from 2000 mentions that none of Dr. Seuss’s works were out of print, and does such a wonderful job of explaining what made his first children’s book “And To Think That It Happened On Mulberry Street” so revolutionary and special, but that now, “Issues” have caused it to cease to be published, with the chattering classes excusing it by saying the book had low sales. I’m sure Mr. Chen would have come back around to this well-worn theme had Mulberry Street (and five other titles) had not been cancelled.

While Asteroids was on the ATARI 2600, it was originally an arcade hit for Atari in 1979. I don’t recall it moving the needle as much as Space Invaders and Pac-Man did for the 2600, but the arcade game continued to be successful from 1980 on, as did its sequel, Asteroids Deluxe.

TORAH as a verb? I dunno…