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4D “Item on a fire truck” 🚒 was my *hook* into this puzzle since I spent an hour Sunday carefully unscrewing a dozen tiny screws from the bottom of a Hess toy fire truck in order to unjam its car and loading ramp (because that’s what Grandma does — she fixes broken toys).
I’m 71 and have been familiar with SHIP, shippers, and shipping since the advent of online TV show discussion boards in the 90s — although I was probably older than the average poster at the time. I also recall the use of SO AND SO and no-goodnik as euphemisms for sonofabitch. I’m never sure if I’m familiar with such slang because of my age, my ethnic background, or my parents’ placing as much importance on keeping up with current slang as they did on using proper grammar. Welcome back, Will. ❤️🌈
@Mike and @Petro et al., On behalf of my Dad who was King of the Puns, I hereby award the Dad-Pun Joke Award to this Thursday’s puzzle constructor Kevin Curry for: “When does a joke become a dad joke? When it becomes apparent!”
I've completed most of the NY Times puzzles since Mom passed in 2020, but I will never be very good at it. It's probably time for me to spend more time on the things that come naturally to me, like portrait painting. But Mondays don't take much time. Today was probably a record for me at 7:52. I recall people saying they completed a Monday in under a minute, so I have no illusions. Just clouds. In my cocoa.
Today was my first time figuring out a rebus without help. And I figured out all of them. Back on March 18, I commented that I was considering giving up on crosswords to concentrate on painting portraits: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/3tpr74?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/3tpr74?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a> But Eric Hougland of Austin TX gave me the exact encouragement I needed here in a comment when I needed it: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/3tq13h?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/3tq13h?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a> And I'm almost finished with a complex double portrait watercolor commission too. -`♡´-
I was a 17-year-old college coed drinking away my Vietnam heartbreak on the dance floor of The Brown Jug bar while the cover band regularly played the Kinks' Lola, so I confidently entered LoLoLoLoLOLA. But a "type that leans right" can only be ITALIC, so I begrudgingly changed the Kinks' refrain to LALALALALOLA. Then the fuzzy memory of the dance floor came into audial focus, and, yes, it was: LA LA LA LA LOLA
Dear @Jane Wheelaghan, While we’re complaining about word choices, “ignorance” is not a word I would associate with someone as wise and thoughtful as you. 😊
11:32 with no lookups is not too shabby for a Monday for me, especially when half asleep. Playing on the laptop helps. I appreciated being able to get the ones I didn't know or couldn't recall via the crosses.
On my first pass, for 62A, "rehearsed to perfection," I confidently entered: by heart — which does not match any of the letters for today's theme fill.
@JS Thank you for confirming my understanding. And even though these are “clues,” not definitions, it read like a definition. On the third hand, can’t some outliers be naturally occurring edge cases?
@abelsey Mom used to refer my sister and me as “the kids” when we were in our 40s with teenage kids of our own.
Either this puzzle was extra easy (even for a Monday) so that solvers could celebrate *and* complete the puzzle, or it's just that the long across fills like 20, 43, and 51 are more familiar to Baby Boomers, such as myself.
Wow. Lots of unfamiliarity with DONEZO. FWIW, I’m a 71-year old retired librarian.👵 Wasn’t DONEZO uttered a couple of times in episodes of Stargate SG1? Also: NOT ON MY WATCH. Maybe today’s puzzle constructor, Greg Snitkin, was a fan of the show?
Dear @Puzzlemucker, As I likewise mused in a Wordle comment: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/3tu049?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/3tu049?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a> “Unfortunately, social media is barely into its toddlerhood, and so is prone to self-centered tantrums.” As I am now enjoying very late in life my first grand-toddler, I try to rouse some compassion for these often ill-informed, childish ranters. And being cooped up indoors again by the late wintery weather probably didn't help either. ❄️ Just keep reading Whitman or whatever soothes your soul, I guess. ❤️
@Mark For future reference: You can solve Wordle or Connections or any game a day early by going to settings on your device and changing the time to a minute or so after midnight of the current day.
@Kathryn Also, the primary/secondary color scheme of the BOX/SQUARE/CELL hats is known to lift the mood of the viewer — something needed these days. ❤️🩵💕💛🔹♦️💜🟡💚🔸🦋
@LWat Mine too. 14 minutes ☺️
LAST ROW not Top Tier ANTS not Bees
@Ron et al., Since such goofs are atypical here, I'm guessing RSV (aka "a bad cold") is to blame. 🤒🤧😮💨😓 Hopefully all will be better soon.
Thanks to the Friday Easy Mode option… [today's is here: <a href="https://nytimes.com/crosswords/game/paid/easy-mode-52" target="_blank">https://nytimes.com/crosswords/game/paid/easy-mode-52</a>] …I can now whizz through Friday puzzles, which is a day of the week when a lot of puzzlers are pooped, so, thanks, NYT. However, this Friday's Easy Mode clued 51D as “Librarian's caution,” which is an untrue stereotype that still offends 5 years after retirement from a modestly paid career that requires a master's degree. The regular mode Friday puzzle 51D clue of “Sound in stacks” is much better, because even if non-librarian crosswordlers don't know it, at least librarian crossword players can appreciate that any shushing in the library will be done by patrons, which “sound in stacks” would describe.
@Barry Ancona But will there still be a NATO alphabet?🥺
Am I the only one who used SHINE ON in the 1970s to mean what Ghosting means in the current century? As: "He shined me on"?
@John But these are, by definition, clues, not definitions. — like the game of Password.
Aww, @TomS and @Gregg, The iconic, award-winning, usually comic-relief character of CJ Cregg played by Allison Janey on The West Wing is worth the price of admission — which is currently free on Max and $1.99/episode on Prime and Apple. Here’s a sampling: <a href="https://youtu.be/dYuv86il3Pk" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/dYuv86il3Pk</a>
On today's real Mini, I momentarily struggled to think of a 4-letter statistical T-Test word before moving on and then coming back to fill 10A via crosses with the obvious TRUE. 𓅣 𓅥 𓅠 𓅢
@NESB is Still thinking is back after the "peek at the answer key" revealed that it was TEA in the bag, not a cat — and here I am sipping my tea made with a tea bag 🙃 — which cleared up that whole NW corner. But what I *really* want to ask: Are ECARDs still a thing? I remember in the 90s when I convinced my lonely, elderly Mom to get a computer and internet (thinking she'd engage with online book clubs) she almost single-handedly supported the emerging ECARD business. But haven't ECARDs gone the way of the dinosaur?
@Stephen These clues were easier than usual for me. Could age be a factor? (early 70s)
@Max Off and on for about 60 years. More since 2015 when Dad passed and I started doing them with Mom, and more regularly after Mom passed in 2020. Now mostly just Mondays and Tuesdays; sometimes Wednesdays. Mom and Dad did the NYT Sunday puzzle together for at least 30 years.
Dear @HeathieJ, Please wish your husband a future happy next birthday after the midterms from all of us — and many, many more❣️ 👨🏻🌾👩🏾⚕️👩🏼🏭👧🏻👵🏼🇺🇸👨🏽👩🏼🦱👨🏾🍳👩🏻🦰👨🏻🦳
Felt a bit undeservedly smug for having learned NONET 🎸🎺🎷🎻🪗🎹🪇🪘 recently when it was a “Quantfiers” theme word for Wordle.
Dear @Deb Amlen, Except for Mondays and some Tuesdays, I always need to follow your advice to step away for a bit when stuck and come back later with a fresh perspective. Today I needed to switch platforms (from phone to laptop) to fill the last bit. Usually it's the other way around, since the phone allows me to see the Ds horizontally. <3
When MERCiful BeaUTiful CupS didn’t fit for 6D, I came here looking in vain for mention of rebuses.
Why is the fill for 8D’s clue: “Musician Brian who has an asteroid named after him” Not “MAY” instead of ENO, other than that it wouldn’t fit the crosses?
@Adam I supposed Marshal with one L more completely introduces himself as: Marshal with one L and Herrmann with two Rs and two eMs.
@Deadline I'll never get sports either. Or opera (a frequent Jeopardy! category). Did Mathew Perry et al. used to say DONEZO on Friends?
@Kate The distinct smell of wet wool is not "foul" to me either, even though wearing it next to my skin gives me hives, as do any skin lotions containing lanolin. Mom knitted a lot, long before acrylic yarns became available. I love the smell of linseed oil, used in oil paints.
The appreciation of a crossword's cluing is highly subjective, but for me, this one worked. It was tricky enough that I had to leave the puzzle and come back to it later (the Deb Amlen approach), but well within my sphere of familiarity to complete without lookups. In the middle of the night with insomnia (even the caffeine in one small cup of decaf tea is too much for me after 2pm) I had filled 16A with asKED. Just now I smiled when the NAKED truth of 16A was revealed to me after I completed 9D.
I had the same objection to YEAST as @Patrick Ryan, and then admitted to myself the same point made by @Bruce. It's comforting to know others reach the same conclusions as I do, even if not any single individual does.
@Marshall Walthew I used to make MIXTAPEs in the 1960s before they were called that, recording my favorite top 40s off of my transistor radio. Mine are long gone now, but maybe one of your old lovers still has a tape you made in the back of a drawer. I not only still paint portraits in this era of phone selfies, but I do it in watercolors. "The medium is the massage"
@Zach Not my area of expertise, so: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_(character" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_(character</a>) 🤷🏻♀️ Happy to learn why it's inaccurate in case it comes up while watching Jeopardy!.😉 Nevertheless, these are just "clues" rather than definitions.
About 90% of the time I cannot solve Connections, which is no big deal because then it's game over. But here I am back at a Sunday crossword after having decided to only do Mon.,Tues., and maybe Wed.… …and it's themed to Connections.😟 So I give it a first pass, and even guess 1 of the 2 words for a few of the Connections clued entries, with at least 1 of them in the correct position. Then a second (or third?) pass with some googling and cross fills. Then I come here to skim the comments for interesting tidbits, but mostly for ALL CAPS words that might be my missing fills. And… Ack! A whole bunch of random Connections words in ALL CAPS. 🙃 Never mind. Off to "take a peek at the answer key."
Dear @Steve L et al., The OED's first citation for this definition of SHIP is from 1996, but the OED's first citation from the NYT for "ship" was 2002, which might justify the cluing of "modern parlance" in today's puzzle (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3844224094" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3844224094</a>). I'm in my 70s and saw SHIP first used this way around 1999 on the fanforum message boards. I've tried using it a few times over the years, but it's not a term that ever quite made it into the general zeitgeist as far as I've noticed. Maybe it's making a comeback among the new generation? Quick Googling indicates China has its own slang based upon its own languages. "Ship" derives from the English "relationship" so it wouldn't translate directly to Mandarin or other Chinese languages.
@Chungclan Just like Will to make a soft landing on a Monday when some of us are more likely to skip the column and comments because we don’t need help. [as if I know Will]
Dear @Tim Carey, Is it Jeff Chen’s fault that this puzzle appeared on a Monday? I should probably look up the process of puzzle day placement, but I’m not.😉 Perhaps it was supposed to be a Wednesday but Monday’s puzzle author asked for a couple of extra days due to the fires or some other unexpected issue, illness, accident, etc. Or maybe there were some last minute edits by someone who was under duress. If so, hopefully Will Shortz is okay.❤️
@Austin and @JGinDC I wonder if the constructor was just teasing clue constructors? ;)
@Crab Do they use “DINGUS” in Saskatoon?
@Joya, Likewise, my parents lived in Kona Hawaii for 30 years, where the only flight home was a red eye, so it was not a choice.
For future reference: Am I correct in presuming the clue for 15A would never be solved with SUI (instead of ECO)?
I may have filled 24A “Apple gadgets” last because of having blocked out the unpleasantness of the comments when the same word was the Wordle solution on Oct. 15.
@George I too had PLEB before PEON — which I thought was sometimes used as a slur, but apparently not here, anyway? 🤷🏼♀️