Thursday, May 9, 2024
Thursday, May 9, 2024, Joe DiPietro
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Tuesday, May 7, 2024, Justin Werfel
Monday, May 6, 2024
Monday, May 6, 2024, Malaika Handa
Sunday, May 5, 2024
Sunday, May 5, 2024, Daniel Bodily
FROM THE ASTRONAUT'S LOGBOOK
It's Sunday. Another big grid with a big theme. This time, it's so big it spread into outer space. ... OK, that was a lame attempt to break into this review in a cutesy way.
Hey, look over there! What are those black squares doing? Is that a spaceship in the middle of the left/right symmetry? Could be. Or it could be a little pigeon-toed guy in a space helmet holding two guns and wearing a codpiece. Well... Look at it! Am I crazy?
Today we have common expressions clued to sound as if they were written by an astronaut on a space flight. As in, "Thrilled to report that we've made it into lunar orbit!" (OVERTHEMOON), and "Ouch! Drifted too far and bonked my head on that darn window ... but wow, would you look at the view!" (SEEINGSTARS). And in addition to these expression clues, we have a reference to the ELTONJOHN song ROCKETMAN (Who's on a mission in today's puzzle?).
Into the clever clue department I put "General acknowledgments?" (SALUTES), "Olympic tracks?" (ANTHEMS), and "Burning bridges, e.g." (ARSON). It was interesting to learn that "Ventriloquist Shirley Dinsdale was the first person to win" an EMMY, and "Lea low?" (MOO) was fun.
- Horace
Saturday, May 4, 2024
Saturday, May 4, 2024, Jacob McDermott
I liked this one better once I was finished and started to review all the answers. For some reason, while I was solving it, it seemed kind of flat, but looking around now I see a lot of snark, which I like. And it starts right away with 1A "Don't flatter yourself!" (ASIF). Later, there's "Please, we don't need the details" (SPAREUS), "Words of corporate pandering" (WECARE), "That's just great," sarcastically" (GOTTALOVEIT), and after all that, you might be fooled into thinking that a "Possible cause of an icy glare" is something personal, but no, it's SLEET. That's a lovely non-QMC.
There were a couple of times that plausible but incorrect answers fit into the available space, as in weight instead of INCOME for "Figure that's not usually discussed" and grinder instead of ROASTER for "Coffee appliance." Other areas of attempted misdirection were "Grammy alternative" (NANA), "Altos might follow this" (LOS), "Make the cut?" (EDIT), and "Singles material, say" (CLAY). Think tennis for that one, but get away from sports for "Ball handler?" (PODIATRIST). Eww.
ALAS, I didn't love ABLER (Better fit), and FAY (Elfin folk) seemed off. Isn't "folk" a plural noun? Ah, maybe I should just embrace the WABISABI of it all. And besides, we do have that lovely middle crossing of WEARESODEAD ("Our parents will kill us!") and "Something to kick" (ASS). Heh.
- Horace
Friday, May 3, 2024
Friday, May 3, 2024, Eli Cotham
An interesting grid today, with the central crosshairs and double fifteens just above and below. There's nice flow through the middle, and relatively chunky corners.
First lets just admire the grid-spanners. Not a "ones" anywhere to be seen.
DEADTREEEDITION (Alternative to the online newspaper, colloquially)
ANHEIRANDASPARE (Phrase that inspired the title of Prince Harry's memoir) (Poor, poor boy)
GASSTATIONSUSHI (Shell fish?) (Great clue)
THISISANOUTRAGE (Huffy exclamation) (The least interesting of the bunch, but still quite good)
NOWLETSSEE, what are some good clues... PETPSYCHIC (Medium for animals) was unexpected. "Game with a hands-down winner?" (TWISTER) was cute. Remember TWISTER? And speaking of remember, remember ADIA (Sarah McLachlan's highest-charting U.S. single). That song was everywhere for a while. And that clue - does she have higher-charting non-U.S. singles? (The answer, of course, is yes. "Building a Mystery" was number one in her native Canada.) Me, I was always a sucker for "Angel." And wow, that's a lot of talk about a four-letter answer.
COSLEPT? (Shared a bed with one's baby). I have questions. One - is that even a word? And two, do they mean "baby" as in "baby" or "baby" as in "baby?"
I thought "Service agreement" was good for AMEN. Hah! Lots of références françaises with ILES (Seine sights), AVEC (Con : Spanish :: ____ : French), and "Saisons chaudes" (ETES). A french-adjacent answer in VALISES (Some carry-ons), and just a little Latin (MEA (Start of an apology)) for good measure.
Solid Friday.
- Horace
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Thursday, May 2, 2024, Brandon Koppy
I can't help feeling like this puzzle is almost there. It's cool that the Ts are not needed to solve the puzzle, but the fact that they were already in the grid felt strange. And TEALEAVES also seems a little odd, because they were never really used in the first place. Would it have been more interesting if the words using the Ts were clued, and the squares weren't shaded, and then they fell out? Hmmm... am I missing something? It just seems like there is a way that this could be better, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
"What has a big part in 'The Ten Commandments'?" was a cute clue for REDSEA. As was "Mobile home" for SHELL. Heh. Nice pair of "Father of ..." clues for ABU (... in Arabic) and BEN (... in Hebrew). And I was not familiar with the term RCCAR (Wirelessly operated toy vehicle, informally) (I'm guessing it's "radio-controlled car"), and I couldn't remember whether the comedian was Marc MAhON or MARON. I tried the H first, then put in all the Ts, then switched to R and got the "congrats" notification. I doubt that it was necessary to actually type in all the Ts.
Anyway... What did you think of this one?
- Horace
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Wednesday, May 1, 2024, Juliana Tringali Golden
Who doesn't enjoy flowers? Today we have eight of them around the four "walls" of the puzzle. Hence - WALLFLOWERS. And they are all given as indirect a clue as possible. My favorite is "Rainbow's end," which made me try to fit "pot of gold" into the six squares, but which turned out to be the last letter of Roy G. Biv's name, VIOLET. Another that misled me was "Subject of an annual festival in the Netherlands. I thought first of Koningsdag, which was just celebrated a few days ago, but that honors the king not the tulp, or TULIP. And speaking of the king, I did not know that the king of flowers, the PEONY, was one of Indiana's state symbols. (Interestingly, its state tree is the TULIP tree.)
Colorful clues included "Inventor who might be described as dotty or dashing?" (MORSE), "On the books?" (LITERARY), "Green party?" (NAIF), and the classic "Hollow center?" (ELS). All my favorites are QMCs today (Question Mark Clues). I suppose that makes sense on a Wednesday. The non-QMCs are often a little trickier to figure out.
LASTLY, can we count this one as having grid art today? If you squint, it looks like a four-petaled flower. I say yes, yes we can. It's lovely. Nice work, Ms. Golden.
- Horace
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Tuesday, April 30, 2024, Michèle Govier
Another interesting theme today. WIGGLEROOM (Space to maneuver, or a hint to five sets of circled letters in this puzzle) points us to the five rooms spelled out in descending wiggles of circled letters. It's quite pleasing the way all of them slip through cracks in the black squares.
With the theme being carried in circles, there are several triple-checked letters to deal with. This leads to a little more CAPN, ESAU, GMA, HGT, PSAT, ATO, YTD, TRE type fill than is maybe ideal, but the way those rooms fall through the grid is worth it. Especially as nothing is too egregious.
And with all that constraint, you'd think it might be a NOFRILLS kind of puzzle, but BREADFRUIT (Crop named for its doughy texture when cooked) is unusual and interesting, GIBRALTAR (British territory visible from Africa) is ever evocative, and a little OREGANO is always welcome. (See also: GIN.)
As I keep looking, I see things like ANISES, RETITLES, and INREM, so let's call it here, shall we?
- Horace
Monday, April 29, 2024
Monday, April 29, 2024, Tom Locke
Hah! I kinda love this theme. HUEANDCRY (Public uproar ...) is the revealer, and each theme answer is a color and a homonym for a synonym of cry. exempli gratia: BLUEWHALE (Marine creature that can weigh over 400,000 pounds). Hah! The other two are BLACKBALL (Bar from joining a private club, e.g.) and WHITEWINE (Chardonnay or pinot grigio, e.g.). Very nice.
So... is today's clue for AREOLA another sign of the times? The clues for AREOLA used to be "Colored ring," "Dark circle," or "Iris part." Today it's "Ring surrounding a nipple." I mean... they're not wrong, ...
As I've said before, I, for one, welcome our new crossword overlords. The harder Saturdays, the blunt Mondays... I love it all.
There are a few weak/tired four-letter answers today (WARE, STET, ABRA), but the threes are all solid. I particularly enjoyed the clue for BED (Unorthodox spot from which to take a meeting while working from home). Heh. You wouldn't have seen that in the Maleska era.
- Horace
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Sunday, April 28, 2024, Mike Ellison
THE SOUNDS OF MUSIC
Today, the grid is alive with the sound of music. Eight theme answers, all tied to music, and each taking a short dip at the end to leave vertical, as if on a scale, the notes of the musical scale, rising from bottom to top. It's a tiny bit of a shame that they could not rise from left to right, as one reads music, but one can't have everything, can one.
In addition to the shaded notes, extra theme material plays out in the longer answers - ADORINGFANS (Groupies, e.g.), "Like musical mixes that overly emphasize bass notes" (BOTTOMHEAVY), "Autumn colors ... or an alternative title for this puzzle?" (FALLTONES), and SCALEDOWN (Cut back ... or an alternative title for this puzzle?). Then there's "What Beethoven's next symphony would have been" (TENTH) (I can't tell if that's funny or just sad), MARACA (Percussive shaker), HALO (Grammy-winning Beyoncé hit of 2009), DOT (Staccato marking), NEAL (____ Smith, drummer for Alice Cooper), EMO, POP, SIRENS (Classical singers?), Adam ANT, references to Mr. Roboto, SEAN Lennon, Vanilla Ice, and Steely Dan, "Musical's beginning" (ACTI), "Like bossa nova or salsa" (LATIN), "Marsalis family patriarch" (ELLIS), ADELE, "Guitar cords?" (STRAPS), "Beatles hairdos" (MOPS), CRESCENDO, NINA Simone, Gladys Knight and THEPIPS, Gregorian CHANT, ITINA (1986 autobiography of the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll"), Victor BORGE, OLDIE (Throwback hit), MILES Davis, and maybe even BLARE (Trumpet). That's a heck of a lot of music-related fill! So much so, that there's really little else to talk about!
Except HINKY (Suspicious, informally). I liked HINKY.
- Horace
Saturday, April 27, 2024
Saturday, April 27, 2024, Rich Norris
What a great Turn this has been. Today's puzzle was a real challenge, appropriate for a Saturday. I definitely feel like the puzzles have gotten harder under Mr. Fagliano's editorship. I am hoping for Mr. Shortz's recovery as soon as possible of course, but bring on the challenge, say I!
That being said, I was really unsure about the answer at 11D. It's an entirely acceptable Spanish word, and that's the way it's clued, but there are a whole host of connotations which feel like maybe it shouldn't be used. What do people think?
And, now how about SQUIRCLE? I had never heard of this term before. I had a good sense where it was going when I entered SQUEE, but made a mistake and tried SQaRCLE. And yes, I know I should have stuck with SIRI. SaRa seemed highly strange. But maybe there's another one out there? Regardless, I had no idea what 41D: Ice crystal formation (CIRRUS) was going for until I corrected my earlier mistake. Ah yes, clouds.
EXTRAEXTRA is great, with those two Xs. TEXACOSTAR is also good. I really wanted TI (Texas Instruments), but that has just too many letters. I also loved NOTCRICKET.
56A: Musical group (CHORUSLINE) is really an excellent clue. The first word refers to the genre of stage performance, on Broadway. I love it!
Finally look at how excellent WALTHERPPK looks in the puzzle. I don't support the gun itself, of course, but how much fun to have all those consonants in a row.
Well, tomorrow Horace takes over. I had a fun week.
- Colum
Friday, April 26, 2024
Friday, April 26, 2024, Matthew Stock and Christina Iverson
If you're looking for fun fill and great clues, this puzzle is FULLOFIT! Oh, wait. I don't think that's what they meant by that answer.
A super smooth and pretty quick solve for a Friday themeless. But I enjoyed it all the way. Let's start with those long across answers:
11A: Alternatives to booths, perhaps (MAILINBALLOTS) - I was really uncertain where this was going, and it was the last answer I got in the puzzle. It's very of the moment, naturally.
14A: Device for an on-line conversation? (TINCANTELEPHONE) - yes! So good. I love the sneaky use of the word "device" here. Sounds so electronic.
48A: Bare-bones outfit (SKELETONCOSTUME) - one of the best clues of the year to date, in my opinion. I love the non-QMC, and it's so perfect.
51A: Many superheroes have them (ORIGINSTORIES) - they sure do.
Other fun entries include 5D: Lisbeth Salander in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," for one (ANTIHERO) - loved those books - and FONDUES.
31A: They hang around in kitchens (APRONS) is another good clue.
I'm not sure I entirely get 47A: They're OK (DOS) - is this the opposite of a NONO? Like, it's OK to do that? Is there something I'm missing here?
Great Turn so far.
- Colum
Thursday, April 25, 2024
Thursday, April 25, 2024, Hanh Huynh
Hooray! We're back on The Turn! I am fond of a straightforward themed puzzle, where it's well put together, and the theme is fun. But give me the tricksy puzzle with clever clues, and you've got a happy Colum.
Today, I had no idea what was going on. I figured out with SIMONC-O-WELL and then SC-O-WL that I needed to skip over the circled squares, but why? And also, was I to leave those circles blank? We've had puzzles in the past where there were empty squares.
I actually worked my way naturally down the east side of the grid until I got to the SE corner, where I found the revealer, slightly delayed in figuring out the answer because I had ECHOEd at first in at 42D: Like like this this clue clue clue... (ECHOEY). And then I got 61A: "Wow" ... or a phonetic hint to this puzzle's theme (HOLYCOW).
I immediately saw the pattern, and then put C-O-W in 46A: City in the Pacific Northwest with a Russian-sounding name (MOSC-O-WIDAHO). Then I looked at the crosses that contained circles, and saw 44D: Not retail - and it hit me. W[HOLE]SALE. Aha!
My favorite of the crosses is 3D: Ire (C[HOLE]R) because of how beautifully the "hole" is hidden in that word. The remaining answers are either simply "hole" or "whole," which demonstrates how hard it is to hide a 4-letter rebus in a larger word. But just a very fun theme. And I'm fine with the circles in this one.
Checkered TAXI |
I like clues that play on the ambiguity inherent in a language. Thus, 1A: Snap (PIC) and 18A: Good and hot (ENRAGED).
How about 44A: Wicked stuff? (WAX) - that's stuff on a wick. Wow.
I don't fall for clues like 6D: Leads of "La La Land"? (ELS) much any more. But this one's good.
Fun stuff!
- Colum
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Wednesday, April 24, 2024, Jeffrey Martinovic
First off, what to heck is ABYSM?
According to Professor Google, it's a "literary or poetic term for abyss." I cry foul. I mean, MAXIMUs seemed odd at 46D (and it violates the theme, covered more in the next paragraph), but ABYSs also seemed more correct.
In any case, the theme of the puzzle is revealed at 62A: Feature of this puzzle's grid and the answers to the six starred clues (LATERALSYMMETRY). Which is to say, if you fold the grid in half down the line starting at 7D and ending at 64D, all the black squares would overlap. Also, all of the letters in the starred clues are symmetrical that way, which is why the theme answers are in the downs.
It's notable that the only vowel (including Y!) without that symmetry is E, fortunate for the constructor. Otherwise, he has H, M, T, W, and X to work with. Thus we get MAMMAMIA (all Ms), or MAXIMUM (Ms and an X). I like HOITYTOITY a lot, and MAUIHAWAII is a great find as well.
Michael Keaton looks so young |
With all of this theme material, Mr. Martinovic is forced into some compromises (hello, "abysm"). WOAH is a stretch, and I don't love EWW or ELIE either. Note also ERM and UMS. When you have to clue two answers with "sound of hesitation," you know you've pushed the theme to the limit.
Once again, not much in the way of clever cluing. I'm looking forward to The Turn. But despite these little concerns, I find this puzzle interesting.
- Colum
Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Tuesday, April 23, 2024, Judy Bowers
She don't got SIGHT |
Anyway, that's a fair amount of theme material to pack in two-letter segments across the grid (58 squares). As is typical for an early week puzzle, the fill is smooth if not as sparkly. I liked SAYSPRESTO., but otherwise there's not a SLEW of interesting answers to catalog.
Monday, April 22, 2024
Monday, April 22, 2024, David J. Kahn
On a Monday morning, it's nice when the puzzle gives a little bit of an uplift. I'm uncertain whether today's puzzle does that or not...
The theme starts with 1A: Nonrenewable energy source ... and the start of an eight-step word ladder (COAL). There's a nice visual of the eight 4-letter words moving down diagonally from COOL to WOOL to WOOD to FOOD to FOND to FIND to 64A: Renewable energy source ... and the end of the word ladder (WIND).
Along the way, we get the dour GLOBALWARMING and FOSSILFUEL and the hopeful GREENPOWER. But there's also 49A: Goes extinct (DIESOUT) and 37D: Botches badly (LOUSESUP). I can't help but feel that these are related somehow.
ADAM Lambert |
The rest of the puzzle moves along smoothly enough. I took longer than necessary to answer 5D: Element whose name anagrams to GROAN (ARGON). I can't help but play the word game. If the clue had been just "Element," I would have gotten it so much faster. How about you?
I also would like to think that 19D is a shout out to our own Philbo.
- Colum
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Sunday, April 21, 2024, Michael Schlossberg
GET CRACKING
[Warning - spoiler alert below]
Hey, good folks, puzzle enthusiasts, and loyal readers (and likely all three at once)! Glad to be back with you for another week of New York Times crossword puzzling and reviewing. Thanks to Philbo for another fine week of blog posts.
Today, as we prepare for a late lunch book club (we're making two fritattas, one with fried potatos and onions and one with asparagus and goat cheese) (oh, and we read The Vulnerables, by Sigrid Nuñez), I got to spend some time with the Sunday puzzle. When the grid opened, I knew immediately I would need to look at the info box to get some clue to the seven odd circular locks symmetrically placed across the puzzle.
The blinking I button told me that, when the puzzle was completed, the letters in the locks could be rotated in only one way to create a new set of four crossword acceptable answers. When all seven locks were in the correct position, the "safe" would open to reveal a seven-letter answer appropriate to the theme. A meta-puzzle! And, otherwise, an essentially themeless Sunday.
I filled in the whole puzzle and figured out the answer, but did not get the pop-up congratulations message. So I tried to rotate the locks to see if that would correctly fill in the grid. No luck. Turns out I had incorrectly put an M in the crossing of 6A: Items on the backs of some Jeeps (GASCANS) and 11D: Former name of the electron (NEGATRON). I don't really know why I thought a "gas cam" would be a thing, but "megatron" didn't sound so wrong.
Anyway, the meta-answer (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!) is [JACKPOT], definitely appropriate. My favorite transformation was AORTA to [S]ORTA.
ELFOWLS |
How odd that CCLEF and CCLAMP both appear in the grid. When you add in GSUIT, that's a surprising number of letter-word answers. I liked the clue at 678A: Partner ship? (ARK). And POPQUIZ is a great answer. I've never heard of SOLARPUNK, but love the phrase. And that's it for ANSWERS today ("Key components" - excellent).
- Colum
Friday, April 19, 2024
Saturday, April 20 2024, Garrett Chalfin and Andrew Kingsley
Rounding out my week of blogging is this delightful gem of a Saturday puzzle, which took many minutes of steady pressure to bring to heel. Numerous juicy stacked long Across clues including a triple stack in the centre, lots of misdirection - great weekend fare, this!
Nothing was jumping out at me until the very middle, where "Sentimental feelings" had to be WARMFUZZIES, but I couldn't think of a three letter word for "Catch" with a U in the middle, so I had that erased for a while until finally RUB sprang to mind. Ordinarily I'd be off to the races with a long answer like that in place, but not today - nothing else was immediately obvious and it took a lot of forward and backward before things started revealing themselves. When "Chew the doors, e.g." in the SE corner finally revealed itself as the excellent SPOONERISM, followed right below by the "Green-tinted cocktails" APPLETINIS, I felt relief, and shortly after, I figured out that "Lacked pop" was HADNOOOMPH, which may be the first time I've seen a triplet of 'O's in a grid.
Had some uncertainty about the spelling of WOOKIEES, inspired apparently by George Lucas' dog. I liked the math-y SINE and RATIO in close proximity at the top. I think we've seen that clue for SINE recently ("1, for 90 degrees") - one of the ACPT puzzles maybe? And BOOMROASTED as a "burn" expression is about an entire generation separated from me, I think.
I have to cut this short as I am on the road all day tomorrow (it's Friday night as I write this). If you are reading this and you've done the puzzle, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Cheerio!
-philbo
Friday, April 19 2024, Kate Hawkins
Hello all! I find myself in an awkward position today, having completed (and enjoyed) the crossword and finding that I can't think of much to say about it. Not that it wasn't a perfectly good puzzle... let's see. Anchored by two long Across answers, both things that one might say to someone - IDONTHAVEALLDAY while anxiously tapping one's watch, and SOMETHINGCAMEUP after one's plans change. These both share a temporal aspect - "I'm gonna be late" and "Sorry I'm late". (The latter of which is soon going to apply to yours truly, if I don't get this blog done.)
There really weren't any hiccups while filling in the grid. I liked the indirectness of the very first clue - AHAB ("Stubbs was his second mate"). Also liked VIBRAPHONE as a "Marimba lookalike". I love the "vibes" and have great admiration for those who've mastered the instrument. Two side-by-side "Unspecified amount"s (ANY and ALOT) was a nice touch. And the two QMCs that tickled me were "Shell company?" (CREW) and "Bound for the big stage?" (JETE).
When one encounters a clue like "Bizet's 'L'amour est un oiseau rebelle,' for one", one can write in ARIA without any operatic knowledge whatsoever. Such is the curse of the experienced solver. My mission this afternoon is to find and listen to that piece!
As a sci-fi-loving teenager, I was a huge fan of OMNI magazine when it first came out. Either it changed or I grew out of it, but there were some good years at the start..
22A ("Deep-fried bite") triggered an amusing little memory from the ACPT - we went for drinks at a bar after the stress of Day 1, during which Frannie ordered a round of TATERTOTs to take the edge off...TATERTOTs might not be a thing up here in Canada, actually.
That's all for now. Have a great day everybody!
-philbo
P.S. just about hit "Publish" on this thing, but twigged to something: the answer to 44A "Dances for which girls do the asking, informally" is SADIES, which, if we disregard the awkward pluralization, is short for SADIE HAWKINS - same surname as our constructor today! Coincidence? I...think...not........
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Thursday, April 18 2024, David Kwong
Well, that was fun! I just wrapped up the Thursday crossword and then stared at it for two solid minutes before figuring out what the theme was. In doing so, I had to enter answers to the six starred clues without comprehending them. The revealer, the thrice-remade movie ASTARISBORN, finally made it all make sense. We're instructed to re-parse it as six words, which at first looks impossible - but if you read it as 'A STAR IS B OR N', then aha! It's telling us what to do with the stars on those clues. So we have:
- *Assist in a foursome = MCCARTNEY if the '*' is a 'B'.
- *Allot time = ELECTIONDAY if the '*' is a 'B'.
- *Acre on the ocean floor = MOTHEROFPEARL if the '*' is an 'N'.
- *Ascent stage for a bird = HATCHLING if the '*' is an 'N'.
- *Ice is found on it = RIVIERA if the '*' is an 'N'. <-- my favourite! So nice and terse
- *Ovid of Greek mythology = THECRETANBULL if the '*' is a 'B'.
Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Wednesday, April 17 2024, Joseph Gangi
In a nod to dromedary camels everywhere - happy "Hump Day" everybody! Let me get one thing out of the way, right up front: I did *not* like 1A in today's puzzle: FLORAS ("Groups of plants"). I really don't think FLORA is a word you can pluralize. Having gotten that nit out of the way - what an admirable piece of construction! The theme centres around THECYCLOPS, the one-eyed figures of Greek and Roman mythology, and in homage, the entire grid contains one single 'I', centred near the top where it should be. Furthermore, the puzzle's clues are entirely devoid of 'I's. This is revealed in the very last Across clue (ONEEYE) - which I missed at first, having gotten the SE corner entirely from the Down clues, and so I discovered this paucity of 'I's all by myself, which was more rewarding in a way.
All of this elaborate construction was in service of a pleasant, Wednesday-appropriate solve. I did not know that POLYPHEMUS was a Cyclops, so I needed a lot of help from the crossers in the NW corner. Over to the right, I got "farbed up", as my mother would say, trying to jam POTATOSALAD in as a "Potluck staple" (PASTASALAD, of course). Also causing trouble was "How Jenga blocks are placed, hopefully", which I thought was EVENLY but was STABLY instead.
Excellent cluing can be found the SW corner with "D.C.'s B and A" (STS). I love the reverse alphabetical order in that one. I also liked "Mental MATH". I do it all the time. Is it staving off any sort of decline? Time will tell... "Egg ___" was a weird way to clue SAC. Oh and "Wrap for a monarch?" (COCOON) was a quality QMC.
Kudos to Mr. Gangi for the the fabulous, effortful construction today!
-philbo
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Tuesday, April 16 2024, Adam Vincent
Today's theme is a clever one, to which many of us can undoubtedly relate. There are four long answers near the periphery, each with a notable man's name:
- Actor who played Oscar Wilde in "Wilde" : STEPHENFRY
- Mouseketeer peer of Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake : RYANGOSLING
- Inventor who patented the first revolver : SAMUELCOLT
- English essayist who wrote "Lawyers, I suppose, were children once" : CHARLESLAMB
Monday, April 15, 2024
Monday, April 15 2024, Amanda Winters
My mind isn't generally at its most receptive on Monday mornings - but I learned something new today - ASABOVE SOBELOW - a phrase lifted from the 9th century Emerald Tablet referring to the symmetry of earth and heaven. As dubious as this philosophy may be, it forms the theme of today's puzzle, in which the words 'AS' and 'SO' appear in six little four-letter blocks throughout the grid, with AS above and SO below (of course). An interesting concept for a Monday crossword and I imagine easier than usual to clue from a theme perspective.
No issues with the solve, though it played a tiny bit slowly for me today. I don't generally look to the theme for assistance and it probably wouldn't have made a difference anyway. One slight hiccup was entering TACK instead of NAIL for "Poster holder-upper". Who nails a poster to a wall?? I liked the references to two of my favourite things - OSSO buco (mmmm - a dish with plenty of UMAMI), and origami and its FOLDS, my go-to Zen activity. STEFFI Graf was great indeed. So classy. SQIN ("small area measurement") was a cheeky way to clue a tricky 'Q'! My family and I did hop on the SQUID Game bandwagon - did you??
ALAS, I got nothing else, so I shall CLEAVE you now..
-philbo
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Sunday, April 14 2024, John Rippe and Jeff Chen
Greetings Earthlings! Seems like forever since my last contribution to this blog. A lot of water under the bridge in the past while, including the ACPT a couple of weeks ago - which was fun, challenging, stressful, and - most of all - emotional, with a recovering Will Shortz taking the podium on all three days. We are all very much rooting for you, Will!!
Interesting puzzle today, with an unorthodox left-right symmetry and a square pattern that, if you squint, resembles a jet plane or perhaps a down-arrow, indicative of the direction in which our planet may be headed. Which brings us to the theme.. though it's not apparent at first, there are seven pairs of Down clues, adjacent vertically, with the top and bottom clues labeled 'BEFORE:' and 'AFTER:' respectively. The top "before" answers, legitimate in their own right, contain embedded (circled) letters, which spell out the names of animals; and the remaining letters are identical to the bottom "after" answers. So what's the deal? As indicated by 104A, 112A and 114A, the animals are all ENDANGERED SPECIES, and the puzzle is telling us what'll remain when they are gone.
I don't feel I've explained this very succinctly. A couple of examples: 21D "Having physical form" (CORPOREAL) is followed by 75D "Target of a facial cleanser" (PORE) - yes, CORAL is a member of the animal kingdom. 16D "Theme park chain" (SEAWORLD) is followed by 64D "Slangy 'Amen'" (WORD) (but are SEALs really endangered? Maybe some types of seal are?). I dunno. I didn't mind this, though it's a bit weird to have answers essentially repeated in the grid. And not that it's inappropriate at all, but what a gloomy theme!
What else ... I liked NACL for salt, and the excellent QMC "One on the links?" (ACE), which took me a while to twig to, even though it's Master's weekend. Another clever one was CHINASHOP ("A bull market it is not!" A TOENAIL is indeed a "tiny 'canvas' on which to paint" - nice one - and I just noticed "Scoff in Offenbach" (ACH) which is inventive indeed.
Nice cluing overall. I'm going to go and think happy thoughts for the rest of the day, and I hope you do too! See you tomorrow...
-phil
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Friday, April 12, 2024
Friday, April 12, 2024, Evan Kalish
Thursday, April 11, 2024
Thursday, April 11, 2024, Dan Caprera
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Wednesday, April 10, 2024, Bill Thompson
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Tuesday, April 9, 2024, Caroline Sommers and Freddie Cheng
Monday, April 8, 2024
Monday, April 8, 2024, Peter Gordon
Well, dear Reader, here's another review from the road. Horace and I are driving north, chasing today's TOTALECLIPSE. If we had know about it in advance, we could have benefitted from the puzzle's topical play list (MOONSHADOW, INTOTHENIGHT, STARINGATTHESUN, TOTALECLIPSE OFTHEHEART) to cheer us along. Right now, the TENOR of the mood in the car is vexation as we slog along with a million other cars on a road designed for only 10,000.
With very little in the clues to obscure the answers, the solve was smooth and easy enough (unlike this drive we are on) to have maybe allowed me to break the five minute barrier, but after a weekend of scrambling to finish seven puzzles each in a limited amount of time at the ACPT, I decided not to rush through this one and finished in 6:32. I don't usually obsess about solve times, but after the Tournament champ solved a Saturday level puzzle faster than I solved a typical Monday puzzle, it's hard not to.
In addition to a LOTTO theme material, I enjoyed "Witty reply to 'You'e the kind of person who asks too many questions" (AMI), "They may be liberal" (ARTS) and "Shown to the door" (SEENOUT) - we've all been there. :)
Fill-wise, BRISKETS, URSINE, KNISH, SIPHON, and ESCHEW were bright spots. And who doesn't like a NERD?
Fingers crossed for a good view today of the sun's RAYS as they TARRY behind the MOONSHADOW.
~Frannie.
Sunday, April 7, 2024
Sunday, April 7, 2024, Tracy Gray
DOUBLE DUTY
Greetings, all. A cute little theme of doubled letters standing in for the word they sound like. As in [UU]ITORLOSEIT (Fitness enthusiast's mantra) and AWORDTOTHE[YY] (Start of some cautionary advice). And in the Downs, the doubled letters worked individually, as in AREYO[UU]P (Still awake?) and ARCTI[CC]IRCLE (Where to see the midnight sun).
Now listen, CINC (POTUS's military title) is not an abbreviation for "commander in chief." It just isn't.
OK, ok, maybe I'm still a little bit testy after totally flunking the Puzzle Five test that was handed out yesterday. Sorry, Ms. Gray. I definitely blame Joel. :P
On the bright side we have HOTTIE (Real looker), "Hip sport for a drink?" (FLASK), "The one who got away?" (ESCAPEE), "Rubs the rite way?" (ANOINTS), and "Where the buck might stop?" (DOE). Guffaw.
I hadn't heard of a STAYMAN (Apple variety whose name sounds like part of a flower), a WAVESKI (Surfboard/kayak hybrid), or a TEACU[PP]OODLE (shudder).
OK, sorry so short, but I gotta get back over to the Marriott to see the final!
- TOMCAT
Saturday, April 6, 2024
Saturday, April 6, 2024, Byron Walden
Friday, April 5, 2024
Friday, April 5, 2024, Rebecca Goldstein
It's been a busy day. Frankly, I have very little memory of the puzzle since I did it at 5:30AM and subsequently helped a contractor rebuild part of our front porch, and then hijacked that same contractor (a friend of ours) to help me build out my new art studio, taking up the time I would have spent writing the review, and leaving me to dictate it to Frannie as we make our way through terrible traffic to Stamford for the ACPT.
Thanks to Frannie's extremely helpful review of all the clues and answers as we make our way south, I can say a few things about the puzzle. I liked the strong start with ONICE (In reserve). "It might make a cameo" was cute for ONYX. MOXIE, SWANKY, and CABOOSES are all fun words.
The straightforwardness of POINTBLANK (Direct) was amusing. We have friends who really know how to "Go all in for a gag" so I also enjoyed COMMITTOTHEBIT.
"Question for the naysayers" (ALLOPPOSED) was clever. The LIONSSHARE of the short Downs were uninteresting, with TERN being one exception, mostly due to its clue (Bird that makes the longest migration in the animal kingdom).
And speaking of tern, has anyone heard of the word SLUE for "Turn on an axis" before? Frannie sure hasn't.
That's all for now. Got to pay some attention to the road. Good luck to everyone participating in the ACPT. If you are in Stamford this weekend, be sure say hello. I'm the hippie version of George Clooney (according to Frannie), if you don't already know me.
- Horace
Thursday, April 4, 2024
Thursday, April 4, 2024, Kevin Curry
As James Thurber once said, "One MARTINI is all right. Two are too many, and three are not enough."
Today's NYTX is a celebration of that ELIXIROFQUIETUDE, the MARTINI. One part VERMOUTH, five parts GIN, and an OLIVE. Classic. And it's got lovely grid art to boot. (And as a bonus, you can see my last letter!) I stir mine, but suum cuique. Bond can have his SHAKENNOTSTIRRED.
It all makes me look forward to being in Stamford this weekend, where, hopefully, I will enjoy a MARTINI with my esteemed co-blogger Philbo. Perhaps I'll bring one into the ballroom for Puzzle Five. ... sigh... No. I'll be positive. Maybe this is the year I finish it within the time limit! :)
Not that this puzzle needs anything more than this wonderful theme, but I will just mention a few other things. MYALGIC (Having muscle pain) is a ten-cent word if I ever saw one. And the clue for RAGTIME, above that, was excellent (What Scott Joplin might yell after a spill?). LOL.
I was sidetracked briefly by guessing Brush instead of BERET for "Accessory in many Rembrandt self-portraits," but LEO Durocher fixed that fast. And I chuckled at the answer to "Alternative to an energy drink, perhaps" (NAP). Hah!
OK, is that enough? Now I guess I just have to wait around until noon...
- Horace
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
Wednesday, April 3, 2024, Alex Eaton-Salners
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Tuesday, April 2, 2024, Billy Bratton
Monday, April 1, 2024
Monday, April 1, 2024, Alan Arbesfeld
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Sunday, March 31, 2024, Spencer Leach
TURNS OF PHRASE
Classic crossword theme today, where common phrases are flipped and clued wackily. As in:
ALARMTHERAYS (Spook some creatures in an aquarium's touch tank?)
CITESTHESEE (References a Vatican Library source?)
and
SCREWSTHETITANS (Referees a Tennessee football game poorly?)
Hah! I commented yesterday that I believe there has been a slight shift in the puzzle since Mr. Fagliano took over. To wit, the "CRAPPER" entry yesterday, and the third theme answer above. Plus, the last couple (few?) weekends have been really tough. Today's big Sunday grid took me less than half the time that yesterday's took me! But I'm not complaining. I love it. But let me know - am I crazy? Do you think it's pretty much business as usual?
Some good clues today included "Vintage restaurant items?" (WINELISTS), "Economic justice catchphrase" (EATTHERICH), "Comment from someone exiting the mall on Black Friday" (ITSAZOO). There's good trivia in "World's oldest capital city, settled in the third millenium B.C. (E.) (DAMASCUS) and "City feature that's been found to improve mental health" (GREENSPACE), and speaking of green space, who doesn't love hearing "Birds known for their loud, complex songs" (WRENS)?
We just started watching "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" so Police captain HOLT was a gimme, and I am ready for YEET these days, after missing it in a Boswords tournament puzzle, but I was very worried about THNEEDVILLE ("The Lorax" setting) and AULII (Actress Cravalho who voiced Moana). As usual, though, it's good to learn things through puzzles.
I enjoy this type of theme, and I did again today. Not much in the grid to elicit a NOMEGUSTA, but then again it wasn't an all out HELLYEAH either. Still, a solid Sunday.
- Horace
Saturday, March 30, 2024
Saturday, March 30, 2024, Blake Slonecker
Happy birthday today to Horace! Who is an undisclosed amount of years old today. Congratulations! And enjoy today's jawbreaker of a puzzle.
Woof! What a tough nut to crack. The grid has a four-way symmetry, so every corner is made up of six 7-letter answers intersecting. There are four 15-letter answers making a cross through the central section, which has a diamond shape.
The grid spanning answers are all excellent, in my opinion. If I had to rank them (and apparently, I do), I would list them as follows:
4. 36A: "No need to blame yourself" (ACCIDENTSHAPPEN). It's a great phrase, and the clue is good. It just is not as good as the other three.
3. 7D: Paradoxical line of amazement (THEREARENOWORDS). Another great phrase, and I like the clue's reminder of the silliness of the sentiment.
2. 8D: When the lights go out? (CHRISTMASSEASON). What a great QMC, showing how good a QMC can be. If the clue had used "up" instead of "out" there would have been no confusion, right? So good.
1. 32A: Patient check-ins (GENTLEREMINDERS). Obviously I'm a sucker for a clue that shows us the ambiguity of the English language. I was so stuck on the possiblity of "annual checkups," for example, that I didn't see the first word of the clue as an adjective. Love it.
TIMREID as DJ Venus Flytrap |
Other great clues include:
12D: Like some schools (PISCINE) - did not see that coming.
14D: Keep in the back of one's mind, perhaps (REPRESS). Hah!
48A: Locals go to all of them (STOPS) - local trains, that is.
40D: Making out (ESPYING). So much for blue material. How many tried "neckING" first?
I enjoyed the clues for LEBANON and ECUADOR. I did not want to have 41D in my puzzle, but non-constructors can't be choosers.
Tomorrow, the one-year-older Horace takes over.
- Colum
Friday, March 29, 2024
Friday, March 29, 2024, Jake Bunch
Happy Friday morning to all of our readers! Loyal, thoughtful, intelligent puzzlers, each and every one of you, I feel certain.
How many of you, I wonder knew the reference at 9D: Emoji that might be used in response to a funny text (SKULL)? I looked it up just in case. It's to signify dying of laughing, you see. I might have to take that up myself in future texting. I barely use emojis at all, which is a sign of my advancing years, I imagine.
I had a few answers in this NW corner, but not enough to get a real foothold. That happened in the segment of the puzzle just below, where 20D: Tripping (ONLSD) as well as GOT got me going (see what I did there?). I very much enjoyed the meta reference in the clue for PASTIME, and moved over to the SW corner.
That's PELE's jersey |
Everybody likes MOOSE being both singular and plural, even though some insist on saying "meese." Heh. That's my WARPED sense of humor. I got my first long answer with ISTHISTHINGON, a great phrase. The pair of Is at 40D made ASCII obvious, and then I saw 49A: Bust (CATCHREDHANDED). Not the "bust" Auntie Mame was referring to - "That's the head, you know."
Things in the middle became clear with 23D: Those who have gone wrong? (DESERTERS), and then I got 13D: Ones who might roast you (CANNIBALS). What a great pair of symmetric answers with clever clues!
12A: Sweet message bearer (FORTUNECOOKIE) is excellent. It wasn't valentine's candy, which I thought it might be originally. Also good is 14A: Place for bucks at the bar? (MECHANICALBULL) - not a tip jar.
What a great example of a strong and smooth themeless. Thank you, Mr. Bunch.
- Colum