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El Paso
Lovely puzzle. And no worries about 58A -- I'm sure almost everybody still calls it that.
When I was done, I looked to see if there would also be a voice inside the revealer. I assume it's unintentional, but I smiled to see DEVO. Whip it good!
It's not just the four theme entries that are odd -- the words TEN and ONE all start in boxes with odd numbers.
I smiled at the crossing of CROSS and WORD, both part of 15s, in the lower left of the grid. Good luck to everyone competing this weekend!
I loved, loved, loved this puzzle. It helps that I'd heard of all the headlines.
Nice. I wasn't familiar with the term "galaxy brain," because I'm old -- but I've googled it and I'm sure I'll run into it all the time now. As one does with new vocabulary.
Non-skier, so the signs were kind of a mystery. The puzzle was still perfectly solvable, but I needed the column to understand the theme.
@Nancy J. I wasn't annoyed by the theme for precisely the reason you mention. The grid is full of women sawing those terms in half!
What a lovely, tight theme! And I'm glad Priya had a chance to experience my home city. (An ex-in-law once looked at El Paso's mountains and said "They look like slag heaps!" I replied, a little stiffly, "We prefer the phrase 'stark beauty.'")
@JRB81 Merriam-Webster's definition of "song," 5b: "an instrumental composition suggestive of vocal music (as in quality or technique)"
@Steve L Language changes. As of 2018, the Associated Press Stylebook ruled that "chili" should be used for the stew; "chile" for the vegetable. That's also the way a lot of food magazines spell it. But I don't know what the NYT style is.
Today I learned that Uranus is visible to the naked eye under circumstances that I will never have (very dark sky plus very good eyesight). Googling, I find that a lot of people have asked about this, and a lot of those who answer, apparently, are 12 years old. Tough Tuesday!
@LJADZ Perhaps you don't know that she plays lovely classical piano, a real contrast to Lennon's style. That's not what the clue is referring to, probably. I'm old enough to know that there's no accounting for taste, and I'd never suggest that you have to love "Sisters, Oh Sisters" as much as I do. Wisdom, oh wisdom, that's what we ask for now.
Lots of times, I'll have the theme figured out by the time I reach the revealer(s). Not this time -- and it was a really nice revelation, a great aha moment. I loved this one.
(Preceding comment isn't meant to show that the puzzle was wrong; it shows that "chile" is English as well as Spanish. This is not a tamal/tamale situation.)
@Mike Goodman It's a pun because "cut the mustard" can be read two ways in the clue -- literally and as an idiom.
Very fun puzzle. Took a bit for me to grok the theme, since I've always thought "Tuesday" is pronounced with a y sound, like "cues." (Sure, I hear some people say Toosday, but they also say "libarry" instead of library and "prolly" instead of probably, and I figured it was their regionalism.) A small amount of googling has convinced me that I'm in the minority in this, so this isn't a complaint.
@Dan I wouldn't call it "jarring," exactly, but I was definitely surprised. I don't think a lot of people know the term. It'd be fine later in the week.
@Vaer I think ASMR is part of the new crosswordese that I'm going to have to memorize eventually. I've never heard anyone mention it in the wild, but it does show up regularly in some of the more free-wheeling, youth-oriented crosswords by organizations like AVCX and Puzzmo.
@SP Well, it's suggestive enough that lots of people have put lyrics to it. Some better than others (and most, admittedly not very good). A quick Google search came up with more versions than I wanted to hear.
@Steve L Fine. M-W gives chile as an acceptable variant of chili. (That includes for the stew, which I disagree with, but ...) <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chile" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chile</a>
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