Billy
Sheffield, England
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Sheffield, England
Don’t usually mind puzzles that are more of a challenge, but I think there were too many proper nouns and names in this one. CASS, IOWAN, CAINE, TCBY, CAPE ANN, NIGER, FIDO, CCCP, AER, SUE, UCLA, FEY, ARI, TBS, OWEN, THE DUDE, LECTER, EDYS, GINNIE. While I did know most of these (and enjoyed quite a few), there were a couple that I’d never heard of (I was stuck on CASS, CCCP, TBS and TCBY in the end), and it’s always less satisfying when you have to guess answers to get the star.
Loved the theme of this one, and therefore I’m extra disappointed that it’s let down by some of the filler words and clues here: - don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone refer to a winning party as the INS. I understand the logic but it’s beyond clunky. - I’m struggling to think of an OBTUSER way to describe PSAs than “spot for charity, say, in brief”. That’s just inanely vague. - a HD TV SET is not a thing. It’s either a HD TV or a TV SET. - never heard of “snow jobs” in my life. Sounds horribly suggestive. - KEEN is not a word I would ever use to replace “Neato!”. Who even says “Neato!” anymore? - RIESEN and not REESES is just cruel at this point. I’m now expected to know niche German chocolate brands? - “u slay me” and ROFL are generationally disparate phrases. The only way someone could think these are synonymous is if they’ve never been online. - PARI-mutuel betting? What do you take me for? An encyclopaedia? - “so-called” and “Civilised” for CHOCTAW are just outdated colonial BS. - AH ME sounds biblically old. - URBS reads like an infant trying to spell herbs. Never heard of her either. I understand that it’s insanely difficult trying to construct a grid with a theme as complex as this but, imo, if the cost of said theme is losing the joy of the solve, it’s not worth it.
@DIVAS IVLIVS it’s now common for style guides to allow alumni to refer to all groups. Alumnae is still correct and more specific, but alumni isn’t incorrect.
Fun theme but too much trivia and particularly names in this one for my liking: I’d never heard of NADIA Comaneci, Yasser ARAFAT, OLGA from Three Sisters, Caitlin Clark, Zing ZANG, RHEA Perlman, ERNIE Els, or LEV Grossman. ELI Mannings and LOEW’s are now burned into my brain due their overuse, and while I did know REGAN from King Lear I thought this was a tad esoteric for a Monday. And this is on top of people I did know like RIAN Johnson, ELLA Fitzgerald, Idris ELBA, ARETHA Franklin, Robert Frost, Van Gogh and ESTEE Lauder. I’m surprised BALE wasn’t clued as “Dark Knight actor.”
I already know this puzzle is gonna make solvers wrestle house-pets, in Valleyspeak (FIGHT LIKE CATS AND DOGS).
@Deborah Gordon it’s actually the opposite. Alumni is the general plural term, not the male-specific one - it still applies even when there is a group of mixed genders, whereas alumnae is women only. By allowing alumni to refer to all groups regardless of gender, it signifies that gender is irrelevant. What’s important in the context is their achievement/affiliation, not their gender.
I grew up thinking Bart Simpson’s catchphrase was AY CARuMBA, and as SUP made a plausible synonym for “deplete” to me, (depleting via drinking/eating, like RAPACIOUS LEMURS), I thought this looked fine under OCCAM’S RAZOR. Picture me half an hour later about to GO LOCO, poised like a SAMURAI brandishing GINSU knives, and shouting “UNFAIR!” at my seemingly perfect fill. In such a conundrum, one usually SNIFFS OUT the problem eventually (with a few OMS), but after coming up BARREN for the UMPTEENTH time, I accepted my NORMIE solver status and used my web-browsing APP to relieve the metaphorical ITCH. To ERR is human, but I MEAN COME ON.
Started out quite liking this one but became disappointed in the end. Positives first. Personal favourites were PHONES HOME, DEBATE CONTESTS, RIVER SEINE (Sunday Afternoon is one of my favourite art pieces) and IN FOREVER. I also loved being able to use my esoteric knowledge of world capitals for NUUK, and while I had to get all the crosses for ZARFS, I revel in coming across new words. That being said, there were too many clunky clues and entries for me to enjoy this one. LITTLE OL ME is fine I guess, but it seems odd to shorten one adjective and not the other. I've always used second string rather than SECOND STRINGER, and perhaps it's because I'm British but I don't understand the EVEN STEVEN cluing at all, even after googling. If a game is "7 up", I'd assume it means one team is 7 ahead. If both teams have 7 points, to me, that'd be "7 all". The clue for IN TWO ACTS also vexed me, as I don't see how the two are interchangable. Imagine asking "how is this play divided?" and receiving the answer "getting a break". Huh? I also fail to see how ROLLS is akin to "Triumphs smoothly"; I've never heard it used in this way, and after checking a few dictionaries, neither have they. Some more EPT clues would have been appreciated, or should I say apt, considering that's the word people actually use in this century, and Merriam Webster only defines EPT as "excess-profits tax". In sum, a potentially fun solve that has sadly been bogged down with inaccurate and inept cluing.
@Heidi there’s also “Maple Leaf RAG” by Scott Joplin, “Like a G SIX” by Far East Movement, “BITE ME” is the name of Renee Rapp’s newest album, “I SAW Her Standing There” by the Beatles, ORSON (a British one-hit-wonder with “No Tomorrow”), AFRObeats (the genre) and EURope (the band).
Found this slightly more difficult than recent Fridays, but it did end in a more satisfying finish (once I finally got there). Loved most of the long answers in this: LIVE WIRES, LET ME AT EM, NEEDLE DROP, BANANA SEAT and APE COSTUME were all very fun (I particularly enjoyed entering BANANA above APE). Wish I could say the same for SEA GRAPES ("green caviar" is slightly out of my tax bracket, so I've never heard of the variety). The SE corner in general was, for me, the bane of this solve. I began with BEGOT, not BEGAT, and was unfamiliar with TELUGU. For "magician's accessory" I trial and errored CANE, CAGE and even HARE (when one runs out of white rabbits, naturally) before finally landing on CAPE and picturing Liberacci and Dracula magic shows. MODEL T had me thinking MODEST and FOREST before realising it was a split answer. I also didn't see DOES until I had OES, and was imagining something a tad less pedestrian for "pulls off". VACANT LOT and NIT were my final entries. I am blissfully unaware when it comes to basketball competitions, and I couldn't get VACAY out of my head for "here goes nothing!", but I had no idea how that would pair with LOT. I think my reasoning was blanking out a calendar for personal days? Mostly enjoyable, however, and I always feel more accomplished solving grids with an above-average count of long entries. Bravo Maddy!
@Petrol, I think OP means that they’d have rather seen more wordplay than trivia (regardless of where it’s from), and I have to agree as it’s laden with it today.
Water puzzle! Loved it, despite making so many mistakes: - I had H TWO O instead of WATER for far too long - I didn't realise that the H's were also rebuses for WATER until I got RAINH and thought about it for a second - I also thought DRACO might be PLATO (despite never hearing of him pass laws or being particularly ruthless) until I thought of the term "Draconian". Despite being a fairly big HP fan I never put that term and Malfoy's name together - if there's anything JKR loves more than TERFing, it's on-the-nose names. - I had INDIE for ODDER for a while as I assumed the "relatively" was simply nodding to a regular adjective, not a comparative form. - I also had HOLLY for ERICA (which went disastrously with the H TWO O right under it), and didn't get this one until close to the end as I assumed it was from the Italian Eroica (as in Beethoven's symphonies, meaning "heroic"). My mistake. Other thoughts: - Never heard of SHARENTING before but I instantly hate it. Thanks. - My only critique is that I didn't love the cluing for DIRE. In my book, if something is DIRE, it's already disastrous. The inclusion of "presaging" made me think of omens and foreboding right up until I got three letters, and then I had to go through the alphabet for the fourth. Overall though, a fun solve. Finishing this was like quaffing a tall glass of caret-shaped compounds after a long walk through the desert.
Very tidy and enjoyable Tuesday puzzle. I never realised how many metaphors there are for an easy task/decision. I personally don’t see a problem with the clue for FAKE NEWS. “Misinformation” is a synonym for fake, and “media” is a form of news circulation. Whilst I get that people are saying the term has taken on a new meaning due to its misuse by right wingers, it’s literal definition has not changed. We can’t start changing language simply because some of us are too stupid to use it correctly. I hold more umbrage for how much NEATO is appearing lately, however. Makes me feel like I’m living in a 50s sitcom. Can we please give this one a breather for a bit? Would be much appreciated.
Was on track for a fastest time today until I got to the end and the dreaded “So Close!” message appeared. Being British and thoroughly uninterested in sport, I’ve never heard of RICE CHEX or David Ortiz, so I had RaCECHEX and PAPa, and it took me at least an extra minute to realise that a cereal brand probably wouldn’t focus on the ethnicity of their pretzels.
@Charles perhaps you could argue that AODAI and LANAI are quite obscure (I would agree with the former tbh but on its own it’s innocuous). The rest though are fine imo. CLIO is used so regularly it’s basically “crosswordese”, the first five letters of LISBOA are pretty well known, ‘Maggie MAE’ is similarly quite famous, more so when you consider Rod Stewart’s hit with the same pronunciation (although I’m aware they are different songs), and Chat GPT is almost universally known as an A.I. model.
Did anyone else have MAN for “Nick, e.g.”? It was only when I got NETRIAL via all crosses that I realised my mistake (never heard the term “legal mulligan”).
Quite cool to have both AXLE as an answer in the same grid as a Guns n' Roses clue. Very clever theme and enjoyable solve. The only parts I struggled with were the NW corner as I had LYFT for a while instead of TAXI and couldn't figure out anything else. I also couldn't get HES for "Bucks and bulls" until I got ABASE (I kept thinking HEN? HEW? HEM? until I realised I should've been conferring personhood to said animals). Otherwise, a fun puzzle.
Odd combination of some of the most straightforward clues I’ve ever seen in a Thursday puzzle, alongside one of the most obscure words I’ve ever come across (AODAI?). Finished this in record time, and had about 80% done in half of that, so it was eerily breezy for a “tricky” crossword.
@Horsefeathers “Not for kids” - TEN RATED “Horizontal position” - TEN COORDINATE “Je ne sais quoi “ - TEN FACTOR “Skeleton key” - TEN-RAY PHOTO “Reese Witherspoon’s legal persona” - FIFTY WOODS “Land of Volcanoes” - FIFTY SALVADOR “Chicago transit line” - FIFTY TRAIN “Long break” - THOUSAND DASH “80s-defining music channel” - THOUSAND TV “Samuel L. Jackson’s favourite swear” - THOUSAND-WORD
NADER crossing with NEW ERA was far too much American trivia for my British Rolodex of crossword knowledge.
New PB! I didn’t mind 66A being technically wrong for MOONLIGHT SONATA. As much as I hate when people refer to classical pieces as songs, I also appreciate that the only other accurate term for them all would be “music” and that was already included in 56A.
@Heidi it is lazier to fill your grid with trivia rather than wordplay and language-based answers. It’s harder to make a grid with just words, so by including trivia answers it makes the construction easier, and therefore lazier.
@Jim Ahhhhhh. Knowing American slang is so invaluable for these larger puzzles. Being British I would never use canned other than for laughter, but point taken.
@Dave Munger I didn’t actually mind CAPE ANN and ALASKAN as much as IOWAN due to the former two having geographical clues. As an overseas solver, I always expect to come across some US pop culture references that are too insular to travel over the pond, but today seemed like a few too many for non-Americans to be able to solve.
@jennie I’m disappointed I didn’t remember CASS, but I would never have gotten CCCP without checking every letter. Being English also limits my knowledge about American brands and channels (hence the TBS and TCBY crossing struggle) but that’s a small price to pay for enjoying puzzles as consistently great as these.
@Chris I think it would’ve been fine if they’d just put a question mark at the end and made it a tricky clue. It is technically a musical progression, just not in the music theory sense.
Really enjoyed this one! Was going for a record time as I solved about 75% of this fairly quickly, but the SW corner really slowed me down. I had RETURN for “good market news” and ERST for “Ex”, so trying to figure out “satisfactory” and “epic beginning” took its toll. It didn’t help that I assumed “needing no script” wouldn’t be an abbreviation considering there isn’t one in the clue, but I guess I just have to learn that this is not a hard and fast rule.
@SP It’s both. It’s an acronym because each letter stands for one of the lakes and you say it as a word, and it’s a mnemonic because the acronym works as a memory aid.
@Mean Old Lady it stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, and it’s the tingling, goosebump inducing sensation received from certain types of audio (this can be anything from whispering to eating pickles). There are content creators and YouTubers whose whole channels are dedicated to this producing this kind of audio for their followers.
@Billy P.S. and I have an MA in law (granted, in the UK).
@Billy my mistake, I always assumed ORSON were British but they’re actually Californian.
@Edward Goldberg The theme of the puzzle was taking a phrase that can be split into two words and then cluing each of those words with a synonym, which in turn make a new phrase when paired together. To “fire” someone from a job is to CAN them in the US, and “starter” is a synonym for OPENER. As for the two phrases, yes I think most people know what they mean. A “fire starter” is another term for an arsonist (seen in pop culture with the Prodigy’s #1 hit in the 90s), and a CAN OPENER is a kitchen device that, you guessed it, opens cans. Although again here in the UK we would call that a tin OPENER.
@Pamela You’re very welcome! Maybe I should have prefaced this with a spoiler alert haha.
@John CLIO has been used more with other clues though, and its vowel count just makes it one of those words that are perfect for crosswords which is why I consider it “crosswordese”, similar to ARLO, OREO, OGEE, EPEE, etc etc. I’ve only been solving on and off for a couple years and it’s already been burned into my brain. LLM and CAMEL is a plausible cross, easy to see why that would’ve slowed you down. I originally had COBRA but realised something was amiss once I got ADD and MAE.
@Jennene the Latin itself is not evolving, like I said this would be incorrect if you were translating English into Latin. However our use of Latin phrases is what’s evolving into a more gender neutral form.
@Josh couldn't have put it better myself. I've always used dire to refer to currently abysmal circumstances rather than future ones.
@Barry Ancona While I understand the 7 up being synonymous with a tie, I'm pointing out that it makes no sense. In any other context being 7 up when indicate a lead. Rolls to victory is not snyonmous with just rolls. If somebody said to me that they rolled, my mind would never take that as "rolled to victory". Thank you for defining what an intermission is haha, but I stand that you cannot use IN TWO ACTS and "getting a break" interchangeably. A better clue would've been something like "how most Broadway stars get their breaks".
@Steve L Yeah that's specifically where I would use "seconds string", as opposed to "first string" etc.; different strokes I guess.
Loved the theme but I'm failing to see how "fire" = CAN?
@Xword Junkie TEAmCHAIRUMpire?
What’s William Tell’s bedtime? Ten to ten, ten to ten, ten to ten ten ten …
@SP they haven’t made a mistake. If you look at the Cambridge Dictionary it lists alumni as the general plural term and that it can be used to refer to all groups regardless of gender.
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