Warren
Malta, NY
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Malta, NY
@Francis I don’t pay attention to the clock. But I know some people are worried that the NYT might try to make their puzzles easier to attract more $$s. Also, some really look forward to the end of the week and have trouble hiding their disappointment when the clues aren’t as fresh as in other weeks. Whether a clue seems fresh depends on how long you’ve been doing these. Luckily, there doesn’t seem to be a toxic level of Xword consumption, or the ERs would be filled with strung out nerds screaming “Stuff the Oreos, doc, I NEED a seven letter word that anagrams to Latin for forbearance!” That said, the differences in perceptions of easy vs. hard always remind me of George Carlin’s observation: “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?”
First world retiree “problems.” I’m procrastinating getting out of bed for…one…more…minute. Because, when I get up I have to take my five pills and brush the sleep off of my teeth. Then, put on my pants and be reminded that, yes, I am old and I really do wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. Then, greet the dogs greeting me and kiss my wife to thank her for getting up before me and taking care of them. But I wish she could have stayed in bed next to me, quietly reading, for one…or even two…more minutes. While I thought about the crossword I just finished. The snow, and Saturday, silenced the neighborhood so well. Especially those leaf blowers (who invented them?). The unanticipated benefit of a late fall snow.
Oh, Sam, false dichotomy. Since when have creative expression and math/logic been separate endeavors? Where would music be without rhythm? Where would physics be without creative speculation?
Deb, Congratulations! Thank you for all the fish (wrap). No, really, your page was the one I set aside, I swear. When I do other puzzles, I often think, “I wonder how Deb would describe *that* one?” Thank you for the columns, the jokes, for reading our comments, for responding helpfully and sincerely. Your subject matter may just have been daily puzzles, but your humanity shone through your writing, luminously. Great health and long, happy retirement! And think: if you ever get the urge to use an Oxford comma, now you can!
@sotto voce Prepare to be bored: There’s actually a plastic or pvc cup inside the hole on each green. When I was on a greens crew as a teenager, one of our first jobs in the early a.m. was to move each hole on each green, to keep the course interesting and shift the wear and tear around the green. First, you would use a simple tool to extract the cup from the existing hole. Then, you use another tool to cut out a new hole, like extracting a cylindrical soil core sample the exact same circumference and depth as the old hole. You drop the cylinder of soil with its turf top into the old hole, drop the cup into the new hole, and then place the flag in the center hole of the cup. Believe it our not, there is some thought into where you cut a hole. It can’t be too close to the apron or the old hole, can’t be on a ridiculously difficult slope, or in a ridiculously easy gully. Regardless of how careful you are in choosing a given day’s cup placement, there will be members who complain that the day’s configuration was too difficult, and others who will complain that it was too easy. It reminds me of something else, but I can’t quite put my finger on it…
I just wanted to take a moment to compliment Deb on her column today. You hit all the right notes, so—no notes. As Andrzej demonstrated (somewhere below), I’m sure many of our non U.S. solvers appreciated it. If anyone has questions, sure, ask here. But definitely read the column first. Sam, Deb, and Caitlin do a great job.
Hey, Deb, you do a great job. Just one tweak to today’s column, re: the Sherman Act, though. (Anyone: Feel free to ignore this post if this stuff bores you.) You might wonder, “if the Sherman Act outlaws monopolies, why do they still seem to be all around me?” The SA doesn’t outlaw all monopolies. (Common misconception.) So-called “innocent” monopolies are allowed. e.g. If you just happen to build a better mousetrap than anyone else and all consumers flock to you. In fact, we grant (temporary) monopolies all the time to encourage innovation. (Yeah, Pharma Bros play games to over-exploit this.) What’s illegal is anticompetitive monopolization—acting to *inappropriately” restrict others’ competitive behavior and opportunities. It may sound like a boring quibble, but it is an important distinction, in particular in an age of platforms like Amazon and Google.
Rushed through the Monday puzzle and didn’t get the gold star. What the heck? Then noticed I had the candy bar as SKOL, and the crossing candy as SOUL patch kids. Now I can’t shake the mental image of a group of beatniks playing bongos and eating candy bars.
Deb, thank you for sharing that with us. Your dad didn’t just get to see you doing OK and doing what you love. He got to see you doing it really, really well.
@Jeremy I don’t get how this has already gotten so many recs. Shah, Sahl, Mao, EAP, erg are all pretty standard Xword fill. (Geez, erg is making a run at emu triteness, almost half an oboe.) Aro has also made a comeback, albeit with a more contemporary definition. As BA notes elsewhere, we’ve seen arepa and arepas recently, a number of times. Sensate shows up every now and then. All pre-Fagliano as editor. Nyuorican was fresh, and discoverable from the crosses. That’s a good thing.
I like the octopus plurality singularity that we can’t escape. Reminds me of the Oxford comma drama. But you really can’t have a complete octopus plurality discussion without Ogden Nash: The Octopus' Tell me, O Octopus, I begs, Is those things arms, or is they legs? I marvel at thee, Octopus If I were thou, I'd call me Us. Ogden Nash
@Ashley FWIW, personally, I did not read Deb’s comment to be in any way dismissive or disrespectful of Hawaiian culture. I read it as poking (appropriate) fun at dense people like me who can never remember how to spell it no matter how many times I’ve seen it. Every time, afterwards, I stare at it, say “oh, I see, that’s easy. Nice repetition.” And, then, the next time, I start doubting myself and say, “is there an ‘n’ in there?” I can’t explain it, other than I have a dumb mental block. To paraphrase Richard Brautigan, it’s like a penny in my mind that’s never been minted. (It also didn’t help that I didn’t know how to say “hello” in Chinese, but that is also on me.)
“Spring has finally sprung in New York.” Oh man, Sam. Way to rub in the difference between The City and the state. I just snowblowed (snow blew?) more than a foot of the wettest, most obnoxious snow that I have ever snowblowed (snow blown?) off of our driveway. Last week I planted grass seed in a t shirt. (Don’t, do not, ask me why I put the grass seed in a t shirt.)
@archaeoprof Give it hell, Prof! There’s no shame in the occasional/piecemeal lookup to enable fun. And they’re learning more every day. Peace and best wishes to you and yours!
@Striker Oh man. Enjoy every millisecond of that. Our baby girl just turned 32. I can still feel her sleeping on my chest & shoulder. There is no feeling in the world more content and at one with existence than your child sleeping in your arms.
Nice debut, Rena! Very Thursday worthy. Thanks to Charlie Sheen for revealing the spike in lies. Definitely looking forward to your next puzzle. Enjoy your undergrad years, you’re making memories for a lifetime.
Laura and Katherine, well done! That was a fun Tuesday. (Congrats on the debut, Laura. You’ll be back.) I agree with Sam et al., SECOND-TO-NONE-NUN was great. Up-in-the-air-heir was pretty good too. The puzzle played like you had fun making it. Nice one. (Hope that wasn’t too much “toxic positivity” for the hate posse.)
So, today’s homily was about human dignity. The deacon related a story from his past. His MIL was in the hospital awaiting an important test and it was taking forever. He went to the desk to inquire about the holdup and was told, “we only have one test kit and have to save it in case it’s needed by someone important.” He told them, “ok, someone important is here and needs it, and she’s in that room right over there.” His message: no one is more important than the person you are currently looking at, whomever that might be. So, Kenneth, here’s looking at you, kid.
Sam, I really enjoyed your “girl dinner” article. Thank you for sherpa-ing this one who doesn’t Tik or Tok. Greg, Congrats on a fine debut! Got a chuckle out of you dancing around the kitchen with your kids wondering “is this what ‘it’s’ all about?” Yes, yes it is.
@Dorothy To my parents’ generation, Tojo was as infamous as Hitler.
Well done, John. I enjoyed the theme (Fox’s business model, I believe) and the clueing. Nice puzzle for my post-bbq torpor.
@Rich in Atlanta Thank you, Rich. Some of the younger solvers may not realize that Casablanca came out while WWII was still blazing, the fall of 1942. Some of the actors in that scene were French refugees, including the tearful 20 year old woman (Yvonne Lebeau) who shouts “Vive La France! Vive La democratie!” at the end. “As it turns out, Lebeau herself had fled Nazi-engulfed Europe with her Jewish husband, Marcel Dalio, who plays Emil the croupier at Rick’s Café and who was already famous in Europe for his winning performances in Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion (Grand Illusion, 1937) and La Règle du jeu (Rules of the Game, 1939). In an ugly turn, close-ups of Dalio, taken from those films, were appropriated on anti-Semitic Vichy propaganda placards. Shortly before the German invasion of Paris, Dalio and Lebeau made their way to Lisbon, that prized destination for languishing refugees in Casablanca, and from there, using forged visas, secured passage on the S.S. Quanza, a Portuguese ship carrying hundreds of émigrés to the New World. Landing in Mexico, they were able to get temporary Canadian visas and, with them in hand, crossed the border to California and eventually to the back lot at Warner Bros.” <a href="https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2017/winter/feature/in-casablanca-madeleine-lebeau-became-forever-the-face-french-resistance" target="_blank">https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2017/winter/feature/in-casablanca-madeleine-lebeau-became-forever-the-face-french-resistance</a> Thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities for the nice background. Who knows if it will survive the upcoming Vichy regime.
Garrett: as others have noted, this was a pretty impressive piece of wordplay construction. Well done. Also, I’m glad you found therapy that helps—well done on that as well—but three weeks ago is some fresh trauma, so one day at a time, as they say. My favorite crossword memories are not nearly as dramatic, but they are mine. Sitting next to my wife at our favorite latte bar doing the Sunday NYT Xword together. The bar closed during the pandemic but the ex-owner became a friend and he still roasts coffee beans. I now meet him in parking lots to buy our monthly supply of freshly-roasted beans in oversized ziplock bags. He’ll often say something funny like “here’s your kilo, dude. Be cool.” I am waiting for the day a cop rolls up to check us out. Luckily, I am an old white guy in upstate NY. I would not be so sanguine about it if I was otherwise and elsewhere. Keep up the good work, Garrett, in Xwords and life!
I thought this was a really good Saturday puzzle. I had to build it out from the SW corner. Abbas helped me get started, even though the clue is wrong—that old Xword “good thing I didn’t know enough to reject the ‘right’ answer.” (The clue specifically said “in Hebrew.” Thank you to Steve L. et al. for another TIL.) I thought puny wasn’t a great answer for “crushable” (I wanted something like “cute.” But as someone recently said, you play the crossword you’re given, not the one you want—or something to that effect.) A number of answers that I didn’t know but there usually was just enough of a hint, with crosses, that it could be figured out. That’s the essence of a good crossword, I think. (Thank you Cap’n Obvious.)
@Super8ing I, on the other hand, think this forum is the perfect place for civilly pointing out errors due to imprecisely (or not) reading what was written; errors in fact—with references that can be checked and challenged, if one wishes; errors in logic; and noting the traditional standards, usages, and quirks that have developed over the many decades of the NYT Xword. Limiting posts to two per day makes no sense to me, as there seems to be no limit to the need for the above.
Thomas, That is the best testimonial for Xwords I have ever read. Peace and here’s to your love’s continuing recovery.
@Andrzej I may be wrong, but: I think the humor is less about the joke itself, but more the thought of the unhip guy you love thinking that the dumb joke is funny.
It’s probably just me, but I got a lot of late 60s, early 70s Brit invasion flashbacks from this one: Exile on Main St’s Tumbling Dice: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j9hkUpvUMmE&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j9hkUpvUMmE&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD</a> BEGGAR’s Banquet’s RADICAL Street Fighting Man: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NHugEELD8o8" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NHugEELD8o8</a> The Kinks’ APEMAN and HOLIDAY[S]: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BBVAS8qNZZI" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BBVAS8qNZZI</a> <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao9X3fcLo3k" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao9X3fcLo3k</a> Guess I’m just [T-REX’s] 20th Century Boy: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=atmNLbycafM&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=atmNLbycafM&pp=0gcJCfwAo7VqN5tD</a>
@B <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/03/us/nancy-schuster-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pk0.1Laq.0wyNJBO0Mpwo&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/03/us/nancy-schuster-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pk0.1Laq.0wyNJBO0Mpwo&smid=url-share</a> Emus, don’t look an attempted gift link in the mouth.
@john ezra You missed TAXI BIAS. They’re always leaning to go right on red.
@Chris Rocky was from Philadelphia. “Yo” is common slang there. The beginning of one of that character’s more famous lines was “Yo, Adrian…” Back in the ‘70s, I was an undergrad at Penn State, which is roughly in the center of the state. It had plenty of kids from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. We used to say we were stuck between the “yinz” and the “yos.” Yinz was Pittsburgh slang pronunciation for “you’uns.”
@Kathy wigg At least check Webster before stating something as if it were a fact. Or many of the posts below.
I thought this was a great puzzle Ryan! Too many nice clue/answer pairs to name just one. However, I loved seeing “sunk cost fallacy.” I often tried to use poker as an analogy to explain it in a work situation. Turns out, some people aren’t good at poker either. Great debut!
@Nancy J. The savings to anyone’s taxes will be minuscule. It is all just performative cruelty by the rich and in charge.
Great (solo) debut, Julian! To be young again, when a year seems like a long time. Many constructors talk about having a puzzle in the slow cooker for quite awhile. The attention to detail shows in the quality of the clueing. I liked the appearance of some unique answers, like CORKSCREWED, TRYNOTTOLAUGH, and THREEPUTT. Well done.
@L.A. Sunshine Surely you remember the old mnemonic “righty, twisty; lefty, untwisty”? … … …
@Stew Don’t get personal? You gave your personal opinion about Mr. Lieberman’s puzzle (including giving it the imperial thumbs down) and Ms. Lovinger’s “elaborate” explanation for those who needed it, Nancy responded that the elaborate explanation was not required for her (indeed, for many, if not most, of us), thus not the indictment of the puzzle you seem to think it is. That is not an ad hominem attack, simply challenging the premise of your criticism. My experience was different from yours and similar to Nancy’s and Barry’s. And I second the emotion that it was good that the editors did not circle the rebus squares. Seeking them out was part of the fun.
Nice puzzle, Larry. Wasn’t as intimidating as it looked at first. Enjoyed many of the clues. Boa was a nice misdirect for me. Reminded me to not ASSume based on Xword overuse. Decided to do this tonight since I’m getting numbed up for an early procedure tomorrow (please, no ether). Didn’t have to squint to see the Escher allusion. Well done.
@CCNY Glad you’re on the mend. And now you have a bionic ankle. Yesterday, before they put me under, they asked “do you have any metal in your body?” All my bad brain could think of was the Sopranos. Now I know what they meant.
@Helen Wright Well, I’ve heard of tin ears and being tone deaf, but TIL the expression “cloth-eared.” And that it comes from working in the loud, textile-dusty cotton mills in northern England in the early 20th century. Maybe that will show up in a future puzzle. Thanks!
@Anita Yep. My English teacher would have circled “apter” and written “w/c awk” (word choice, awkward) in the margin.
@Kate Tani My dog is staring at me wondering why I can’t stop laughing.
T’was the night before Christmas With a house full of lushes. I needed Sarah’s puzzle, No ifs, ands, or TUSHes. “Such a horde,” I had snorted, “should bring ONE ALARM.” But she just smiled, as always, with that cruciverbal charm. “Don’t lose it, find your TAO, It’s really not too many.” THAT SAID—YES, no ESCAPE, We can do it, molto BENE. We have AMBER, and ON DRAFT, With many bar nuts to chew. On PECAN, on PEANUT, On ALMOND, on CASHEW. But how can I cook, In the midst of this HOOPLA? How’s the CANE TOAD and GATOR (EW GROSS!) Just enough salt? Too little PEPPA? When out in the white STORM, We ESPIED…what? (is it DOORDASH?) Do they take PayPal? or Visa? HMM…it’s ON ME, I’ll just PAY CASH. But the man who RAN IN Was not delivering food. Dressed in RED, the OAF said, “The name’s Saint Nicholas, dude. He kinda looked the part, The belly was most ample. But it’s the post-fact era, “Got a DNA SAMPLE?”
@Doug Agreed. I didn’t catch on as fast as Nancy, but I like crosswords because they constantly make me reconsider my assumptions and mind set. I first entered “L I N E” in 22 across, but thought it was odd that the four crosses for it could be four letter answers instead of 5. So, I looked at the title and got it. Seeing the revealer at 112 A confirmed it (although I first tried putting dashes at the end of that answer until I worked those crosses). Perfectly fine Sunday puzzle. If your initial thought seems a little off, consider that your initial thought was wrong, and think of something else. Or, I guess, you could blame the puzzle for puzzling you.
For anyone interested in an entertaining fictional treatment of the Dine’ People, Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn and Chee books do a respectable job. And AMC’s Dark Winds series has a great cast, esp. Zahn McClarnon as Joe Leaphorn. It’s set in the 1970s, one of my top three favorite decades of my life.
@Skeptical1 Bill the Cat from Bloom County, and Cathy are two that come to mind. Comic strips. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_the_Cat" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_the_Cat</a>
@john ezra Your ability to turn a crossword puzzle into an entertaining stream-of-consciousness narrative is amazing. Someday I’d like to construct a puzzle for your review, just to see what you might reveal about my inner psyche. Well done.
I really enjoyed working through the theme of this puzzle, Samuel. And there were a number of fun clues. Nicely done.