Seward Parker
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Seattle
ISPEPSIOK is my favorite answer of the year so far.
The NW corner had me worried for a minute (as did last Saturday's puzzle), but I pulled through and my streak hit 1000 today. Woo-hoo!
@Gib Metcalf The app will accept the first letter of a rebus word. "O" is not the first letter of "hole" so that won't work. "M" works because it's the first letter of "mole."
Hmm. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something. I had a brief "visual migraine" last night, which involves seeing a jagged lightning bolt overlaying your field of vision for 20 minutes or so.
Not sure what all the IRENE RENEE fuss is about. I too had IRENE first, but it became clear pretty quickly that it didn't work with the crosses. Side note; I found myself standing next to Courtney Barnett in the checkout line at Powell's Books in Portland a couple of weeks ago, but since no one else was bothering her, I didn't talk to her. I didn't want to be "that guy." But I do enjoy her music.
@Jamie S The key word in the clue is "debut." Stevie and Peggy reached number 1, but didn't debut at number 1.
@Amy Same here. Then I had YSL for a minute, thinking the "bow" could be clothing. Got the music eventually though.
@Jeb Jones He's Ben Dover's cousin.
Lots of negative feedback for this one it seems, but I found it to be pretty smooth; 25% under my average Sunday time. And I learned the word RATITE.
It seems that the squeaky wheels are more likely to comment, so in an attempt to balance things out, I enjoyed the puzzle and didn't find it too hard (3 minutes slower than my Sunday PB). Nice work Lance and John!
@Everdeen The clue about lending your hand to a CANNIBAL didn't "stump" you for long? I see what you did there...
@Looking around Too Long, Didn't Read.
In case anyone is wondering (and even if you're not), the metal measuring device at shoe stores that replaced the Foot-0-Scope is called the Brannock Device. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brannock_Device" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brannock_Device</a>
@Grant If it makes you feel any better, I recently learned that I had been tying my shoelaces the wrong way my entire life: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAFcV7zuUDA&t=135s" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAFcV7zuUDA&t=135s</a>
@MFSTEVE If you want to read any of her work, you'll need to search for ANAIS Nin. But maybe not while you're not at work...
@B Gee, I dunno. "Victims" seems a little strong for a minor crossword puzzle annoyance...
@Nancy This 59-year-old also remembered CCCP.
@Francis He's completely lost control.
I guess I'm on Deb's wavelength today. I too thought about Peter Gabriel first for 61A. And I was with my 91-year-old Dad as he passed away in hospice almost three years ago. My condolences Deb.
The clue for 1A stands out as a recent favorite. And it was the last to fall for me today.
SCARF/SNARF is fast-becoming a kealoa for me. Must remember not to fill it in too quickly, or else I'll doom myself to hunting down one incorrect letter when the puzzle is finished (like I did today). I really liked the clue for 23A.
I needed to track down one wrong letter to get the music, so now I guess I'll add SZA/SIA to the kea/loa list.
@Francis You should go Francis. Rent a car and do a loop around the lower part of the country in the summer. Some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world.
@Mike I just tumbled to the fact that you wear the pun crown.
Actually, there are several brands that have shifted the meaning of their initialisms besides STP. KFC TCBY ESPN YM <a href="https://slate.com/business/2004/05/what-does-kfc-stand-for-now.html" target="_blank">https://slate.com/business/2004/05/what-does-kfc-stand-for-now.html</a> I am also reminded that I learned in a recent Wordplay column that it's an acronym if you pronounce the string of letters as if it's a word, and an initialism if you just say the letters. So for example, a TLA is not one (an acronym, that is).
I see what you did there Caitlin: John Lieb makes "an ice" Sunday debut.
@Mike If you're not onto the scam, you've been had.
Put me down in the "smooth solve" camp; about half my average Saturday time. Nice puzzle. Oh, and for future reference, the Amsterdam football team's name is pronounced EYE-axe.
Wow, a lot of negativity in the comments for some reason. I thought the construction was impressive, and found the solve to be pretty smooth (a couple of minutes over my PB time). David Kwong did an amazing magic/puzzling performance at last year's ACPT that involved constructing a 15x15 puzzle live on-stage based on audience suggestions.
For whatever reason this one was in my wheelhouse. Finished in less than half my average Saturday time.
Speaking of inventors of lighting technology... Here's an interesting video about Shuji Nakamura, the man who invented the blue LED, which made LED light bulbs possible. <a href="https://youtu.be/AF8d72mA41M?si=ubSLOH1fdEF79DLZ" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/AF8d72mA41M?si=ubSLOH1fdEF79DLZ</a>
@Mean Old Lady Not sure I get your quibble about aluminum foil. People do refer to aluminum itself by its chemical symbol AL. I wouldn't refer to just anyone named Brooks as AL, but I would refer to anyone named Albert as AL. Fun fact; Albert Brooks' real name is Albert Einstein.
(Warning: software dev minutiae ahead) I have to take exception to including "Yoda condition" in a list of anti-patterns. It's clear that the author of the linked article doesn't understand their intended purpose; to prevent the all-too-common mistake of using "=" (assignment) instead of "==" (comparison) by accident. For example, "if ( x = 20 ) then ..." will compile just fine, but will set the variable "x" to 20 rather than checking if "x" is equal to 20, which is what was intended. On the other hand, "if ( 20 = x ) then ..." won't compile (because you can't assign a value to a number) so you'll see the error right away. *steps down from soapbox*
A crossword/logic puzzle mashup? 😙🤌 (chef's kiss). Now if only the NYT would include Two Not Touch on the online Games page, I'd be in heaven.
@Mean Old Lady For me it was two wrong letters to fly-speck; 36A was not AGAPE. Also, can confirm; IRL Mean Old Lady is actually very nice!
Congratulations on the debut! I enjoyed the puzzle. I do have one cluing nit though; 54D. SATED means filled to your satisfaction, not overfilled, right?
@Matt "Flyspecking" is the act of carefully cleaning tiny imperfections from something. So yes, in crossword-land it refers to poring over your puzzle to find the one wrong letter that's keeping you from a correct solve. An actual flyspeck is a tiny dot of fly poop.
@Jimbo Mirriam-Webster begs to differ: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pore" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pore</a>%20over Unless you're pouring coffee over the puzzle?
@Renegator I assume you mean 1:28:00, otherwise I'll be expecting you to win handily at ACPT this year ;)
Oof. That NE corner nearly got me.
@Andrea Carla Michaels Don't you mean "a-peel to a Pepsi generation?" Also, congrats again on receiving the Merl Reagle MEmoRiaL Award at this year's ACPT!
After realizing that BOXCARS wasn't going to work for 38D, I was able to convince myself that RAIDERS referred to the crooks in the film Ocean's Eleven. Did I mention that I'm not a football fan?
@Wendy The other enclosed country in Italy is San Marino.
@Chet Congrats! In two months, I'll hit 4 years.
@Lynn I also emailed support about a broken streak recently (entirely my fault; I accidentally solved out-of-order), and had a similarly pleasant email exchange with the support team. Kudos to them!
@Homey16 Maybe you're new here? This happens fairly often in the NYT crossword.
@MExpat It's more US-centric than New York-centric. KO is the symbol for Coca-Cola on the New York Stock Exchange.
@GC In crossword-land, it's MAA for goats, and BAA for sheep. Make a note of it, because it'll come up again.