Saturday, November 7, 2020, Kameron Austin Collins and Paolo Pasco

20:13

So! My deepest apologies for the tardiness of today's (yesterday's) review. I suppose the theme of the week is better late than never, and that applies to this blog post as well.

Both of the constructors of this puzzle are among my favorites, and you can see why in the NW corner. Look at the trickiness of these clues:

1D: Guard's place (SHIN). Did not see this coming.

3D: Some travelers along the Oregon Trail (OXEN) - reminds me of the old video game.

4D: Sporting blade (OAR) - !!!

With HEXAPOD and SMOOSH, this is a great corner, leading into 15D: Punctuate a killer performance (DROPTHEMIC). Excellent work, that.

Still, while solving the puzzle, I was left a little cold. I'm not sure why, in reviewing the answers nearly a day later. I suppose PILEDITON and NOTANYMORE are not the most astonishing of long answers. But still, we should cerebrate clues like 9D: Final exam? (AUTOPSY) and 38D: What some handles are created for (CBRADIO).

ROAN

I didn't love 46D: Smoking or drinking, e.g. (AGER). And 30D: Point of view, metaphorically (LENS) seems a bit off - I would say that the lens you look through colors your worldview, rather than being the place you look at the world from. But these are mostly nitpicks.

Probably it's more SOURALE on my part than anything else - it played tough, which frankly you want on a Saturday. So I should just put on my GARANIMALS and take a load off (I don't own any Garanimals, for the record). It's Sunday, and a long week is over. Here's to passing the torch to a more competent individual.

Of course, I'm talking about Horace. See y'all soon!

- Colum

Friday, November 6, 2020, Aimee Lucido

7:05

The review's a little late because there was a new addition to the household here in Albany today. A little fluffball joined us:

ANDSO. Another reason to be happy this week, even outside of the New York Times crossword puzzle.

Today's themeless is quite smooth. I really didn't see anything that I would say went SPLAT, with the possible exception of DESC, which is an odd abbreviation. I suppose you might run out of room at the bottom of the page, and simply write in "below here, desc." Hmmmm. I'm not convinced.

I feel certain that the seed entry came at 25D: More familiar term for omphaloskeptics (NAVELGAZERS). Turns out that the Greek word skepsis means perception, or reflection. Which works out well here, but then you wonder how that turned into a term for doubting. I suppose that the person reflecting is allowing themselves to perceive the reasons why something might not be true. How very philosophical.

PHILISTINES, on the other hand, is cognate with Palestine, and simply refers to the inhabitants of that area. However, Wikipedia states that the common usage we currently come across, as in the puzzle, instead derives from an argument between two towns in Germany. I continue to be unconvinced.

Some good clues today, such as 13A: Loaded questions? (BARTRIVIA); 26A: Strip at the beach? (TANLINE), and 65A: Pickup order? (TAXI). Entries I enjoyed included YEOMAN, ARIEL, and EARCANDY.

Anyway, I enjoyed solving it, and now back to the pup.

- Colum

Thursday, November 5, 2020, Jeremy Newton

9:47 (FWTE)

Another piece of evidence to be placed in the file marked: Crossword Puzzle Constructors - Not Like the Rest of Us! Things were bopping along in today's solve. I had gotten the NW corner without difficulty, including the lovely 20A: What you're doing right now (SOLVING), and with the first 5 letters of 17A in place, I glanced at the clue. "Translation of the Latin phrase "ceteris paribus"." Well, I thunk to myself, I know that. It means "All things being equal." Only that didn't fit.

No problem! It's Thursday. Time for a rebus, and the obvious place was in the last square, so I obligingly popped in ALLTHINGSBEING=.That equal though. How could it fit into the down answer? What's the clue there? 13D: Traveling between the poles? Hmmmm. Could they be referring to an electrical current, such as AC/DC? No, that wouldn't have an equals sign. Time to work on the crossings.

ELI and LOGIN were quick answers, and I tried pHEW at 9D: "Barely made it!" (WHEW). I raised an eyebrow at the P, thinking that might have to change before the end. But now I had OHLOOK, and that made 13D clear. SK=NG! Huh? Why are the two Is sideways? Is that a commentary on skiing in general? Mr. Newton's ability at skiing? Meanwhile, I had no idea what 8D: "____careful, will you?" should be. Seeing the W, I put in an S. "So be careful, will you?" Seemed to make sense. And swELLS! Sure. Why not.

Um, because it doesn't answer the clue, that's why not. But we're getting diverted from the point here. That's just why I ended with two errors...

The rest of the puzzle went along. SEPARATEBUT= crossing good old Kristin W=G. Still don't know why the Is are sideways, but whatever. 

In fact, the revealer at 39A took some time to figure out, because I had put in GANGSTer Paradise, and when I corrected it to GANGSTAS (getting the excellent 33A: What the sun and Sunoco have in common (GAS) in the process), suddenly I saw HASHTAG.

And the other shoe dropped. I was supposed to put a pound sign in at the end of the clues, and the equal sign would cross the two Is: =II --> #! That's some next level stuff right there.

Let me just remark on some excellent C/APs here:

1A: Product that's available on tap? (APP) - not Ale or iPa.

44A: Thank you for waiting (TIP) - brilliant non-QMC. Love it!

11D: White noise? (LONGI) - for goodness's sake. How many times will I fall for this sort of thing?

45D: What takes a toll? (ONEAM) - this is the most ludicrous clue I've come across in quite some time, and I adore it.

Nice work!

- Colum

Wednesday, November 4, 2020, Jack Murtagh

5:41

I wonder what I'm doing up so early, solving the puzzle and writing the blog post. What could have happened over night that made me lose sleep? I can't think.

Well, we continue to bury our heads in the sand by doing the NYT crossword puzzle. At least here we can count on a few moments of peace and enjoyment.

It must be Wednesday, because the theme is so odd! So, you get a couple of examples of some category, and you're supposed to take the first letter of each of them, which together become a homonym for another word, which when taken with the category, creates a common phrase. Wow, that was hard to explain. An example? Sure! Why not.

See, 54A: Noon, eleven... well, those are two different times. And the first letters are N and E, which sound like "any". Thus, ANYTIME. The best is EMPTYNESTER, which is what I am for the time being. Tune in tomorrow to find out how the wife and I have dealt with it.

Meanwhile, the BEAUTY of this puzzle (outside of the peculiar concept of the theme, which on the whole, I liked) comes in the extras Mr. Murtagh has worked in. BASTILLEDAY is a nice reminder of Europe, that place we Americans can't go right now. And everybody loves a LIBRARYCARD. Do you remember when you first received one, and the worlds it opened up for you? Do kids use libraries for their original purpose any more? I hope so.

PARTYHATS and SPITITOUT are also lovely answers. I liked PAPYRI and 49D: Results of some drivers' mistakes (UTURNS) - much better than the meh answer "uie" or "uey." 

Other nice C/AP's include 13A: Jobs creation (IPAD) - although this has lost some of its surprise now from being used before; 16A: Group whose teens go through rumspringa (AMISH); and 29D: Medium strength? (ESP).

Okay then. Go about your day. We'll all feel better in either a few days or four years.

- Colum

Tuesday, November 3, 2020, Amanda Chung and Karl Ni

4:09

The happiest thing about today is that after it's over, I will no longer be receiving unsolicited texts from political campaigns asking for money. And also, the idea that soon I will no longer be obsessing about this day. Although that probably won't go away for a few more days. In any event, regardless of your political leanings, please go out and vote if you haven't already. I hear the lines are really short!

Meanwhile, in our weekly theme of puzzles having nothing to do with the day's events, Ms. Chung and Mr. Ni continue their delightful collaborations with today's offering. The revealer, at 64A, is HANDYDANDY, which is to be reparsed as "H and Y, D and Y." And the other four theme answers, pleasingly crossing over each other, are in fact phrases of two words that follow that theme: thus, HOWDYDOODY, and HUMPTYDUMPTY. Of course, HUNKYDORY is my favorite for the following reason:

The grid is set up so that only two words outside of the central answer have to cross over two theme entries. Those two are SIDLEDUP, which works just fine, and MONOGYNY, a fascinating term I had never come across before. Not too many examples of this particular mating behavior in human cultures. I wonder why. There might be a good deal less ALIMONY!

I liked the clue for 40D: Last name of two U.S. Presidents (HARRISON). Other choices would have included Adams, Johnson, Roosevelt, and Bush. I am amused by the PORKIE. Here's what they look like:

Nothing too crazy in terms of misleading clues. And any puzzle that includes STYLI is a win in my book.

IMOUT. Hope we're all here tomorrow to discuss the puzzle.

- Colum

Monday, November 2, 2020, Luke Vaughn

3:23

Happy Monday to everybody. Monday can be a great day, if you let it. It's the start of a new week, when hopes can run high, and faith in the world (unfounded though it may be) is alive and well. Let us remember this moment in days to come, and trust that good spirits and care for our neighbors will remain alive and well.

Meanwhile, we can always turn to the NYT crossword as a way to escape from reality. And why not? It's a simple enough pleasure, especially on a Monday. Today, Mr. Vaughn offers up four phrases, seemingly unrelated, only to find when comparing the four that each ends with a term related to artistic endeavors. I am fond of a GOLDENDOODLE, having had an Australian Labradoodle as a companion for eleven years. I will also highly recommend the movie LEAVENOTRACE from 2018. It was a beautiful and thought provoking film.

I like that there is no revealer here, leaving the solver to come up with the connection on her own. No CODDLED puzzlers here! Not even on a Monday.

There are some nice answers in the fill, including 9D: Made a bust? (SCULPTED) - cute clue; also CYCLONES and REEFER. Sure does seem like there's a lot of marijuana in the puzzle recently. Is it a reflection of the times, or simply that the words fit into English language grids well?

Party on!

I'm ambivalent about the staying power of OGLE. It's an ugly word, and it implies objectifying behavior. The editors and constructors try to find ways of recognizing the nastiness of it, which helps, but does not remove it. Once again, the ease of fitting into a grid will keep it around for some time, I imagine. At least EYED was clued with "Green-____ monster."

ANYhoo, best to end on a light-hearted note. Let's recall LESLIE Nielsen: 

"We need to get these people to a hospital." 

"A hospital? What is it?"

"It's a big building with patients, but that's not important right now."

- Colum

Sunday, November 1, 2020, Julian Lim

WEST-SOUTHWEST

Good morning to all, this bright November day. I hope you all enjoyed the extra hour of sleep. I did not, because my body is trained apparently to wake up at the same time, and that time is earlier now because of silly daylight savings. We also only had two doorbell rings last night on Halloween, which is frankly more than I expected. We had planned on using a drainpipe to deliver candy to people but when they were all crowded up by the door, it seemed churlish to ask them to stop back. Oh, well.

Anyway, here I am, back again for another week of blogging and forcing you to read my random thoughts. Actually, I recognize I'm hardly forcing anybody to read anything. You can always choose to click away. But you might miss something of brilliance if you do! Just saying.

Today, Mr. Lim gives us a straightforward theme: taking a standard phrase and replacing the W at the beginning of one word with SW, cluing wackily, and hilarity, as they say, ensues. Well, at least chuckling. I didn't get any laugh out loud moments. But I did like SWEPTFORJOY and SWISHLISTS the best. I also appreciated that in three of the answers, the replacing occurred with the last word rather than the first word, which added some unpredictability.

It would have been better if the rest of the puzzle could have avoided SW words. I count three, SWIPE, SWAT, and the eternal and divine SWANLAKE, which I forgive wholeheartedly, because Tchaikovsky. But I recognize that this sort of purity is hardly necessary in a large puzzle like this, and frankly, who am I to complain? It's not like I'm out there creating puzzles for y'all to delight over.

There was plenty to enjoy outside of the theme. I particularly liked PARTHENON, CARLSAGAN, and ISCARIOT. Just for the way it looks in the puzzle. Not for any religious reason, mind you. And EXQUISITE and IRIDESCE are especially lovely. We need more exquisiteness and iridescence in our lives.

I'll also note some fun clues, such as 92A: Up front? (SHORTU) - almost a cryptic crossword style clue there. I also really really liked 21A: Bottom lines? (XAXES). These two joined with TSTRAPS and AONE to make a small set of answers with standalone letters, always challenging.

On the other hand, answers like ORSER (champion in 1987, twenty-three years ago), UMIAK (boy I wanted kayAK), NORITE, and ROWEL were less enjoyable. But let's not get picky. I bet some people found these straightforward, and had more difficulty with other answers I found easy.

Looking forward to the week! Let's hope we all get exactly what we wish for.

- Colum