Sunday, January 7, 2024, Michael Schlossberg

GIMME A SECOND! 

Happy New Year, Dear Reader. May 2024 be a good one for you.

Kind of a low-key theme today of the same clue being used for consecutive Across answers on the same row. As in "It might be pressed before work" being answered by POWERSUIT and SNOOZEALARM, or "They're home to spinners" giving SPIDERWEBS and PRAGENCIES. And each second answer contains a highlighted emotion ("zeal" and "rage" above), which is explained by the revealer ONCEMOREWITHFEELING. Hah. Not bad.

Interesting to learn that the pleasant AROMA of rainfall on dry soil is called "Petrichor." It is apparently true that rain releases an oil from the dirt (petra = stone + ichor = blood of the gods), and that oil carries the scent. It is believed that camels use petrichor to find oases, and it is posited that humans enjoy the smell because water has always been essential to our existence. Cool.

Also interesting to learn that the GNU was so named because of the sound it makes. And that there was a tribe called the ARIKARA (Dakota tribe). So much in here I didn't know!

Furthermore, I don't remember hearing the term UPPISH (Snooty) before (I would have said "uppity"), and SWIMSHIRT (Certain beach top) isn't something I'm all that familiar with. And speaking of uncommon, it was nice to give Ann Landers (DEARANN) some love instead of the more popular "Dear Abby." Or do I just think she was more popular because I know the John Prine song?

I like when I learn things from a puzzle, so let's give this a thumbs up.

- Horace

Saturday, January 6, 2024, Ben Tolkin and Julian Xiao

I think that perhaps our crossword editing teams mixed up their Friday and Saturday puzzles this week! Yesterday I was 3 times as long as my typical time, today I was under my average by a full minute. It's a delightful and smooth themeless, and very enjoyable.

I broke in with ANNA, replaced the initial "Adept" guess with AGILE (call-back to yesterday!) when I put in Citizen KANE. See, that's a clue that is way too easy for a Saturday. I second-guessed myself into thinking for a hot second that it would be the later movie Citizen Ruth with Laura Dern.

I've never heard of BOKEH (example below), but all of the crosses were straightforward. At this point I had NATIONANTHEM (I was thinking of "openiNganthem," but it was one letter short), and HUMANPYRAMID. Great clue there! I guess the next number up would be 15, but that's getting a bit crazy with the numbers of humans involved.

The central crossing long answers, PAGINGDRFREUD and THATDOGDONTHUNT are so wonderful and evocative. And look at the excellent NW corner with HAZYIPA, NORUSH, WRYEST, and OWLET. 

The lower half zipped by. DAYSOFOURLIVES went in off the first two letters and the clue. YEARENDBONUS followed quickly after. Once you have a long answer in place, it's much more straightforward to grasp the short answers.

17A: It's a big deal (ACE) is just slightly off as a clue. To get an ace in a deal can be really important, of course, but it is not itself a deal, IMO. Likewise 25A: Long division? (AISLE) is a bit odd.

OTOH, I love the clue at 44A for WAR. What a great description by Steinbeck. And 38D: Twist of a screwdriver? (RIND) is an excellent example of a QMC. 

Well, that's one week of 2024 done. Tomorrow, Horace will take over once more. Enjoy!

- Colum

Friday, January 5, 2024, David P. Williams

A very tough Friday themeless for us today, with a classic pinwheel shape. I took a good deal longer than my typical time, as every portion of the puzzle put up a good fight.

On my first run through the clues, I had a few answers entered, but never enough to gain a major foothold. I was glad for my Gilbert and Sullivan knowledge for 24D: ____ far niente (pleasant idleness) (DOLCE); see Iolanthe, first act finale, where W.S. rhymes a fair number of Italian phrases. I thought that I would get going here because of my cerebrovascular anatomy knowledge with 27A: The brachiocephalic trunk branches from it (AORTA). But no.

My first long answer was 32A: They beep when tested (SMOKEALARMS). Our modern versions yell "Fire! Fire!" Very scary when they accidentally go off at 4 AM...

The SW corner gave me some purchase, finally. POL and GOSOLO led to ENSLER and PELE, and I had more of a chunk of squares filled in. 32D: Deceive, especially to avoid responsibility for something (SHINEON) was unknown to me. It makes me think of Pink Floyd more than anything else. 31D: One clever enough to win every argument ... but not clever enough not to (SMARTASS) is a great clue.

JONAS Brothers

As is 31A: Innovation of the 1920s that's still spoken of with wonder today (SLICEDBREAD). As in "The greatest thing since..." Hah! I had ILLBEDAmNED first, but quickly changed the M to an R to allow CREME.

The SE corner was attacked with brute force. Without much to go on, I felt that SPEEDY was likely to be correct, and was convinced with CRANE. I know of Alan THICKE but couldn't pick his face out of a lineup. YOINKED is a great word, and everybody loves SRIRACHA.

The NW corner was my final area, and here I had nothing to go on. Finally, the ____EAD led me to think of EASYREAD, and the Y in the middle of 4D gave me STYLE. I have to watch my tendency to immediately latch on to possible answers, and then my brain stops being AGILE, and I'm stuck with American "cheese" rather than LEAGUE.

- Colum

Thursday, January 4, 2024, Chase Dittrich and Christina Iverson

Today I am writing my first crossword review from our new apartment in New York City! Change is coming, and coming fast. I've got a great view out my window on a sunny day, and enjoying the new scenery.

What I didn't enjoy was not getting today's theme at all, and the reason why is that there is an element of the theme which is not displayed on the iPad app. Nor is there a message in the information button about it. This seems like a rare fail on the part of the NYT crossword gang. Turns out that certain letters in each theme clue (which are presented in all caps) are meant to be underlined, which explains the answers.

Thus, 17A: CAROL BRADY should have the letters C O L and A underlined. This explains why the answer is MOMANDPOP - "Mom" for the famous Brady Bunch mother, and "pop" for "cola." The other four are as follows:

26A: MOOSE ANTLERS (RACKANDRUIN) have M A and R underlined.

40A: ACTING ROLE (PARTANDPARCEL) have A C R and E underlined.

51A: SACRAMENTO KINGS (PROSANDCONS) have S C A M and S underlined.

64A: TOP ROUND STEAK (CUTANDRUN) have T R O and T underlined.

RABAT

So that's a bit disappointing. The puzzle put up little fight otherwise. Answers I enjoyed include ORISIT, STRESSBALL, and DOCKS, in its verb form. 

31A: Something broken after regulation, say (TIE) is a fun clue. I also chuckled at 55D: Go from 0 to 60, say (COUNT). Indeed, that is correct.

Here's looking forward to the rest of the Turn.

- Colum

Wednesday, January 3, 2024, Jared Goudsmit

I'll admit to being a little ATSEA when it came to the NE corner today. It didn't help that I had misspelled OASIS! That fiasco made me take over a minute longer than average for a Wednesday puzzle.

Fun theme, right? The revealer is right in the middle at 36A: Said no ... or, interpreted differently, a hint to entering the answers to 16-, 26-, 46- and 61-Across (REFUSED). The reparsing of the answer leads to the idea that the letter string RERE will be replaced with the "fused" RE. Thus, 16A: Was worth another mention (BOREPEATING) is really "bore repeating." The same trick occurs in the other three theme answers, FAREDUCTION, FIRESISTANT, and NATURESERVE. When I first entered the answers before getting to the revealer, I wondered whether the second word of the phrase was indicative of the trick, as in "Please reserve the extra RE," or some such.

Some fun clues today include 29A: International intelligence organization? (MENSA), 14D: Sort of poem not usually pluralized by adding an -s (HAIKU) - nice ROI there (and see glossary in sidebar for definition of ROI - it's really there now!), and 51D: Leader of Argos? (ALPHA). I was just talking with Frannie over the New Year's about how I don't get fooled by these sorts of clues for letters. But this one took it a step further into the Greek alphabet! Nice.

Bach Ma Temple in HANOI

I'll put in a plug for EZRA Klein here. His podcasts have really helped me educate myself on the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and given me insight into each side's viewpoint. 

Finally, I'd like to nominate ICARE for the answer that most needs to be removed from the crossword lexicon. I just don't think anybody would ever say this in a non-ironic way. I'm ready to be done with caring in this excellent New Year! Just kidding. I would be happy to call any one of you AMI.

- Colum

Tuesday, January 2, 2024, Jeffrey Marinovic

Hello one and all. Or maybe just one. Hard to tell when you're sending blog posts out into the ether...

Things have quieted in Albany, with the departure of all guests after the various holiday celebrations. I'm in the start of a two week vacation prior to starting a new job in New Jersey. So things feel a little unsettled at the moment. Moving is one of the greatest stressors in a life, they say. I'm trying to do this a bit at a time to make things less stressful. Hard to say if it's working.

Meanwhile, the Tuesday puzzle provides a bit of stress relief. Today's theme are pairs of two-word phrases composed of two pairs of antonyms. Thus STANDDOWN and SITUP are paired, likewise HITME and MISSYOU. It's a fun concept, with the 15-letter grid-spanner revealer at 38A: Some grammatical no-nos ... or a description of four pairs of answers in this puzzle? (DOUBLENEGATIVES). Although I'm not averse to using a double negative, myself.

What do you think of a clue like 34A: Place to find gold ... that's not yours? (MINE)? I'm amused by the concept. In a Tuesday grid, the second part is not necessary by any means. But it's a very clever secondary definition which could be taken as a declamatory statement, as in "That's not yours! It's mine!" The question mark is only necessary to alert the solver that it is a secondary definition.

Otherwise it's a pretty straightforward Tuesday. RIGAMAROLE is an excellent long down answer (longer than any of the theme answers!). 

- Colum

Monday, January 1, 2024, Harry Zheng

Happy New Year! Colum, Horace, and Frances are gathered here together to bring you the first blog post of the year. We had a very enjoyable NYE gathering, with games, libations, and friends. One of our games was to put two resolutions on paper strips, which were then picked from a bowl. I am to keep a dream journal for the year, which is a really great idea, and one I would otherwise never have thought to do.

I will briefly comment on the puzzle: our theme is phrases of the form XXY. My favorite of the four is DUCKDUCKGOOSE for fond childhood memories. THERETHERENOW reminds me of the Radiohead song "There, There." Otherwise, it's a smooth and enjoyable solve for a Monday. I will now turn the blog over to my esteemed co-bloggers for further commentary.

HIPHIPHOORAY for a new year! Horace here. I look forward to better things in 2024. I know there's ALOT to worry about (the WOE of the upcoming election ... SOS!), but there will also be another ACPT (see you in April!), and there's always that personal REFORM to work on. For me, anyway, that seems to be a never-ending chore. Heh. One of the resolutions I received last night was to "Listen more lovingly; focus on the speaker; enter their world!" So what are your resolutions? What will you work on this year? 

This puzzle was fun. I liked the theme, and the fill had some interesting elements. STROP (Barber's razor sharpener) is a good word. I never really understood how that STRIP of leather could work, but hey, there must be something to it. COPYTHAT (Relative of "Roger," in radio transmissions) is crisp, BOARDWALK (Property next to Go in Monopoly) brings back old board game memories, and who doesn't enjoy HERESY?

Frannie here. I guess it is now up TOI to write something. I could strike the familiar TUNE that the New Year is the time UHAUL your lifestyle into focus and see how it has AGED, but I could also check my crossword reviewer contract to see if there isn't a CLAWS about not working on federal holidays...

And there you have it. Another year started, another year of blog posts. Philbo, we're thinking of you!

- Colum, Horace, and Frances