John
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Super easy for a Sunday. Finished in about 12 seconds with my eyes closed. Kinda difficult to tap Reveal Puzzle with one's eyes closed, but I did not give up! Pure muscle memory.
@Sean Ok, figured out the midi. The title of the puzzle is Slanted Views. The clues are in italics, so "Slanted". The answers are Tip, Lean, List. All mean slanted, in a way.
Maybe after a few years of crosswording I'll actually think this is fun.
@Andrzej Good work! I too fell for the SILENT DONOR trap with the N from the most obvious clue. Doesn't help that there are two Winans CeCe and BeBe, so the E at the end was nowhere near helpful. Very devious.
@Hannah go back to the year 1978 when enthusiasts installed CB radios in their cars and called "Over and out good buddy" to truckers. Maybe not exactly. Watch Smokey and the Bandit to get the idea.
A fun way to start the puzzling week! A few mildly tricky ones. I was cross when I whispered TSST to my roommate to come check the spelling (to my horror and chagrin) of AGAST.
@David One that I do know, which is rare. Digestif is a liquor or cocktail served after a meal to "aid with digestion".
Rocker to Brian Eno is like slugger to Phil Rizzutto.
Arrg! Almost finished the Thursday except I ignored the clue for 68D was plural. Didn't know the answer to its cross at 75A, so guessed. So, umm... Nope, ums.
@Weak I don't know the official-ness of noodlebowls, but it's something my spouse and I started making at home when we don't know what else to eat. The broth is always Asian inspired. Dashi, ginger, soy. But the accoutrements are whatever is in the fridge. So it is a very fusion dish.
Still new at this and so far my favorite Thursday. I figured out the ME part before the DOWN part, so took a while to recognize the top and bottom connections. Great job with the cross cluing. I can't wait for the holiday season when I'll use my new word SOT on certain relatives.
Loved this one! Very thoughtful cluing.
@HeathieJ I love how some are surprised that others think Lehane is obscure. I don't know that name from Adam. I know very little of modern fiction. It just doesn't interest me. But CeCe and BeBe Winans I know very well, and others seem to be unaware of the famous R&B family. I knew mica immediately. We know what we know, right? Our own esteemed crossword columnist herself admitted she didn't know Dragnet. I was very surprised about that. There's a 1987 film. A TV show that is in constant reruns. And it was a ground breaking, trend setting radio show. The whole franchise along with spinoffs is still an influence on procedurals and hospital dramas. Jack Webb's voice and mannerisms are still recycled in comedy and cartoons. Yet she had to look up Dragnet. We know what we know and shouldn't be surprised at what others don't.
Often want to know what is going on in a constructor's mind. Delis sell chops? As in salads? Hopefully not chops as in pork chops. Delis do vary wildly by geography and ethnicity, but I don't recall raw meat as an option.
So, less tounge in cheek, I had to research why fie and egad are mild oaths. I have never been taught that meaning of oath. Oaths are like promising not to lie in court or allegiance to a group or the law. Now I learn they are also mild explitives. As I kid, I wondered why what I always called cursing others called swearing. This makes sense when cursing is also thought of as swearing an oath. The connection is still a little hazy to me. Seems to be tied to culture of centuries ago when a phrase that used the name of God was by nature considered an oath, while at the same time being sinful. By only alluding to God by changing the pronunciation a bit, the oath was acceptable. The culture of NYT crossword solving will take many years of study.
@Fredegunde I am no rules expert, but why include French in a clue for an answer in English? Just to be misleading?
@Asher can someone please explain the meaning of "ad out"? Not a tennis fan.
@Sean The next time I say C-store will be the first.
Pretty clever after the fact! I think I would have solved 15% faster if I could have removed the circles and shading. Those are just distractions in this puzzle. Enjoyable though. Appropriate difficulty.
@Al in Pittsburgh LEHANE is a new name to me. I don't read many new novels, don't check the NYT for reading suggestions, and don't pay attention to who wrote the book the movie was based on. But heck, puzzle solving requires a lot of trivial knowledge, which is why I never solve late week puzzles without help from these forums. I've forgotten 80% of everything I've learned.
@ThatPeterG Don't know if it is the intent, but I immediately thought of lop earred bunnies!
@Dfitz But I feel so smart when I know the football clue. Then they have to throw a tennis clue in there and I lose my mind...
@Barry Ancona Sorry, bogus clue. Brian Eno was in Roxy Music. Rocker does not describe Brian Eno. Did The Scooter hit a few home runs? Sure.
@Sharon Yeah. By definition, not a Natick, but same issue. I think the editors should have recognized that cross had two possible solves.
@Barry Ancona Still, chops? Maybe where you live. Boars Head "Chops" not a thing. Chicken cutlets, pasta salad. Not chops. Not a big deal, but regional differences make some clues head scratchers.
@Eric Hougland Thanks! Added it to my queue.
In 112 across, can someone explain the hyphen in the clue mega-? Is mega-uber an actual term? Also, I've complained about this before, but why give foreign language clues for English answers? I see Verboten and think it's asking for a German answer. Is nono German?
@HeathieJ Absolutely! I really wasn't directing my comments at you. I was just generally commenting on what's common for some is uncommon for others and we should all keep that in mind when posting in the forum here. Plus, wanted to support my fellow homies that didn't know the name of that author whose name I won't mention again ;)
@Renegator Well, the sitcom, soap opera, police procedural, variety show, and other common TV show types are all based on radio show formats. And radio shows took their inspiration from Vaudeville and other live art forms. So yeah, seems irrelevant now, but that's only if you like to ignore history. Glad I could inspire a chuckle!
@Sean Agreed. Does anyone wish to explain the midi theme in those clues?
@Joe Turducken is a mail order item for me. No store in my area sells them.
Friday. Supposed to be tricky. I guess my trouble with clues is they should be clues. When you solve a clue by solving the crosses and then finally see the trick, it's not so much a clue as a 'gotcha'.
Got hung up on 6A 8D. Although familiar with gibe, I don't recall ever seeing it spelled. Would have thought it started with a J. Even after the solve, I kept seeing two words "Bon Samis". I'm well aware of Paris-Brest as a pastry, and not at all aware of Brest as a city. Paris-Brest is a sandwich, being sliced and filled. Thus, Bon Samis. Good sandwich. And that double dash in the clue for 6A kept pushing my mind to fill in the blank. Sure, quotation marks and e.g., but still the brain wants what he brain wants.
I guess "Half a candy bar" would have been too easy. I hate to be that guy, but I don't consider a creme filled wafer cookie covered in chocolate a "chocolate bar". In my mind, that's a candy bar. And, am I the only person that didn't know the abbreviation OTOH?
@Paul Still trying to learn this craft. What did new solvers do before we had a forum? I see the point of the hypen now. Thanks to you and Barry. Still don't like the foreign language misdirection. Verboten is not common English in my world. I struggle to understand when a foreign word indicates a non-English answer.
@Barry Ancona clearly you are not referring to me whose solve times are measured in hours. I did not see the see the cleverness until after the grid was mostly filled. Clearly I'm not one of the clever people here, but I'm enjoying learning to be one.
@Deb K Same. I just figured Sen was an abbreviation for some currency or an obscure reference to percent or the number one. Thanks to the forum for clearing this up. I'm learning that puzzling effectively requires learning common "industry" terms.
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