Trenton Charlson’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s write-up
NY Times crossword solution, 5 1 20, no. 0501
Well, that’s a new one: the Scowl-o-Meter (i.e., my face literally crinkling in mild disgust) was triggered by two foodstuffs I don’t care for. GOLDEN DELICIOUS apples are an inferior hybrid, and I’m not a fan of DILL, on potatoes or elsewhere. (I like EDAM, have not tried ACAI, drank a lot of RC COLA as a kid.)
I couldn’t make headway in the opening corner, and filled in the whole rest of the puzzle before getting many letters here. Is GIN SLING an actual cocktail? Doesn’t ring a bell. Didn’t know McCartney composed an ORATORIO. Went too broad for the Bactrian camels (ASIA instead of GOBI), 4d [Fretful thing to be in] could be a SNIT as well as a STEW, and I opted for explosive TNT instead of IRE. Was also reading 5d. [Turns down] with the rejects meaning rather than LOWERS. Oof!
Fave fill: BODE WELL, PRECALC, DO A JIG, full UKULELES, “NICELY DONE,” PLAY IT SAFE (wear your mask! wash your hands! stay home if you can!), JAINISM, HOLI, FIZZLES OUT, and FUZZY WUZZY the hairless bear.
Could sure do without: ESSO, LEO X.
Did not know: 33a. [Half brother of Tom Sawyer], SID. I did read Huckleberry Finn a few years ago for the first time. Also didn’t know 41a. [1968 swimming gold medalist Debbie], MEYER.
Overall vibe, 3.5 stars.
Erik Agard’s New Yorker crossword – Rachel’s writeup
True to form, Erik has given us another beautifully crafted themeless puzzle that is a tribute to a woman of color whose work and achievements more than deserve the spotlight they receive here. As is often the case with Erik’s puzzles, I had never encountered NTOZAKE SHANGE, but every crossing was perfectly gettable and fair, so my own unfamiliarity with her barely slowed me down going through the middle. Also as usual with these puzzles, I ended up down a Wikipedia rabbit hole reading about NTOZAKE SHANGE‘s work and choreopoems, and I feel like a more educated human because of it. Man I love the New Yorker.
The New Yorker crossword solution • Erik Agard • Friday, May 1, 2020
Aside from that signature central entry, we’ve got some other fun longish stuff: THREEPEAT (with an *excellent* clue), BLIZZARDS (lots of Z’s in crossworld today, eh?), TÊTE-A-TÊTE, WHAT A MESS!.
Favorite clues:
- [Win-win-win?] for THREEPEAT
- [Event that takes a friendship from URL to I.R.L., perhaps] for MEETUP
- [They might be run or passed] for TESTS
- [Big strong bag] for SACK – I don’t know why, but this one made me laugh out loud. Big strong bag!
Other notes:
- I can live with all of this fill!
- My time is a little off for this one because my cat refused to move off my lap, so typing was a bit harder than usual. (also my cat is now on instagram because what else is there to do, really, so you can follow him at @helloyesiamoliver)
- Also, my cat did not appreciate the dogcentrism of DOGSPA at 1d. Other animals have paws too, you know, so PETSPA (my initial guess) is purrfectly reasonable.
- I wasn’t familiar with the essay “The CRANE Wife” but I sure am familiar with The Decemberists album “The CRANE Wife” so here is the song “The CRANE Wife 1 & 2″ off that album
Overall I am having a hard time finding any nits to pick with this puzzle. Personally, I’m gonna give it all the stars. Happy Friday!
Jeffrey Wechsler’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up
LAT • 5/1/20 • Fri • Wechsler • solution • 20200501
The letter Y is suffixed to the first word of two-word phrases, to humorous effect.
- 18a. [Escargot gatherer’s bounty?] SLIMY PICKINGS (slim pickings).
- 21a. [Harvest worker needing a bath?] GRIMY REAPER (Grim Reaper).
- 40a. [Much ado about nothing?] ARTIFICIAL FURY (artificial fur). Great clue. The base phrase is more typically rendered fake fur or faux fur.
- 44a. [Successful gem seeker’s cry?] THERE’S THE RUBY (there’s the rub). A second Shakespeare reference.
Furthermore, Ys are absent from the rest of the grid. Elevates the theme.
Looking for a tie-in, I found a 2019 genetics paper, “Copy Number Variations of Four Y-Linked Genes in Swamp Buffaloes” but as you can imagine it’s rather technical and not too much fun for our context. But at least referencing it affords me an opportunity to share a photo of Bubalus bubalis.
- Mid-solve I was preparing to be upset by 13a [Large envelope] as MANILA—because I happen to be fond of standard-size manila envelopes—but it turned out to be MAILER.
- 58a [Kindly] PLEASE. Funny how that one word can put me in mind of a minor lyric and then get a whole song stuck in my head.
- 6d [Kisser] TRAP, 10d [Kissers] LIPS.
- 11d [It offered soldiers Hope: Abbr.] USO. Bob Hope, but maybe also hope hope.
- 22d [Big name in animation] HANNA. William HANNA, who collaborated with Joseph Barbera.
- 45d [ __-watch: continue viewing a show you no longer like] HATE. One can also HATE-solve a puzzle. Not that that applies here.
- 48d [All the __: popular] RAGE. Oh look, more Americana.
- The left-middle is a sorry-looking area, with THEO-, -INE and RIV. making appearances. The price for HAIRINESS and ENDIVE, I presume. (21d, 26d, 25d; 30a, 33a)
- 32d [“You ain’t gwyne to drink a drop— __ single drop”: Twain] NARY. That’s from Pudd’nhead Wilson. More colorful phrasing with 41d [“You have some crust!”] I NEVER.
- Okay, let’s end with some ‘higher’ culture. 28d [Verdi baritone aria] ERI TU, from Un Ballo in Maschera. You see it often in crosswords, may as well listen to it.
Teve Mossberg’s Universal crossword, “'(S)top Thief!’”—Jim P’s review
The title tells us that an S is removed from our theme answers, but it does more than that. Since the entries are all in the Down direction, it tells us that a thief took the starting Ss (esses?) from the top.
Universal crossword solution · “'(S)top Thief!’” · Steve Mossberg · Fri., 5.1.20
- 4d [Fry ingredients at a food court restaurant?] MALL POTATOES
- 9d [People who spread empathy?] CARE MONGERS. We could do with a lot more of these people in our country.
- 22d [Biennial yearning?] EVEN-YEAR ITCH. Ha! I expect those people who love to watch Olympic competitions suffer from this—and they’ll have to wait a whole extra year this time.
- 24d [Alternative to bobbing for apples?] PEAR FISHING. Ha! This I’d like to see.
Fun entries, and I love how the title supplies the motivation for the theme. A very enjoyable concept and equally entertaining execution. Well done!
In the long fill, “IT DEPENDS” and GETS AHEAD are the stars of the show, and a dejected “WE LOST” adds color. I did not know YAEL [Stone of “Orange Is the New Black”]. In fact I’ve never heard that first name before, but there is another actress with that name: YAEL Grobglas of Jane the Virgin.
Cluing felt pretty straightforward, so there’s nothing I feel is particularly noteworthy, but everything flowed smoothly and cleanly. This was an enjoyable grid. 3.8 stars.
NYT: GIN SLING was perfectly familiar to me though i don’t think i’ve ever had one.
enjoyed the puzzle – found the weird little clump of Zs charming
Gin sling is definitely a thing (says the wife of the cocktail hobbyist). Also not a fan of Golden Delicious apples, but dill is what makes my chicken soup taste like my mother’s. Mmm.
Amy’s NW corner experience was exactly mine. To a “T”.
Billy Boy’s family have cocktail contests – SINGAPORE SLING = (SLOE) GIN SLING – a rather weak clue/answer pair using GS. SS is a real thing and is notorious in US 50-70’s HS culture for its stealth.
TMI – In Difford’s – as close as there is to a Cocktail Bible, the GS recipe is a nothing, who would drink that? Plus there are about 15 variations on GS with a Bing search, so that’s not a cocktail. Variations include such disparates as nutmeg, lemon, cherry, Zevia(?), cranberry, red vermouth and on (No wonder people say they don’t like Gin), that’s not how you treat gin, lol.
Please excuse this mini-rant.
Cheers, it’s almost cocktail hour in Warsaw
oooops, this piggybacked on your post Jenny, not intended!
I have had several Singapore Slings. I wanted to put gin RICKY in, but it turns out it is RICKEY.
I enjoyed seeing REVERSI. I have played a lot of Othello.
I was not crazy about DO A JIG, but other than that, I enjoyed the fill. W was much harder than the E for me.
Steve
TNY — couldn’t agree more, Rachel, fantastic central entry and overall grid from Erik Agard as usual. Love the Decemberists reference. I’m partial to Colin Meloy’s acoustic version of all three of his Crane Wife songs in order:
oh man, this is great. Thank you for sharing it!!
Pleased with myself for getting 12 of the 13 letters of NTOZAKE SHANGE right on my first try (had first name ending with an I)! And I had only two or three of the crossings in place when I started. And I’ve never read her work, other than a couple poems just now.
More Agard clues I enjoyed:
[Unhelpful E.T.A.], TBD
[Like some winters and pieces of feedback], HARSH
[Metric for some wings], HEAT
And then what should pop up in my Facebook feed but an essay at The Root that pays homage to Shange’s choreopoem/play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf”:
https://www.theroot.com/for-white-people-who-have-considered-genocide-when-coro-1843192766
That Michael Harriot piece includes this phrase: “having to wonder if our unrestrained rage will conjure up a noose or a call to the cops.” See? NOOSE is a potent symbol, and there are many solvers for whom seeing the word in a crossword will evoke horror.
Once I had a few crossings of the name’s end, I knew whom I was looking for. Only I’d never learned either to spell or to pronounce her name. (In fact, I was off by quite a bit in my loose memory.) So it took me every last crossing. (Oops!) Still, absolutely fair crossings, and I enjoyed it a lot. Glad you did, too.
What a kind review of my Universal puzzle today! A quick shout to editor extraordinaire David Steinberg: when I sent it in, it was David’s idea to rotate the grid and and add the parentheses to my title. That sort of little thing makes a huge difference. Cheers!
NYT ne corner was tough to get a toehold
took almost twice as long as a typical friday
good puzzle!!
TNY: 57a [Certain math class, for short] = STAT
As clued, this should be STATS, no? Never heard the class referred to in that way.
Is this a reverse American/English math/maths thing?
NYT: Liked it a lot, though the NW was tough. This source says that the drink dates from the eighteenth century and is a classic. I don’t think I knew it, but I finally got it: https://www.thespruceeats.com/classic-gin-sling-cocktail-recipe-760084
nice clue for ALIEN in the NYT
For LAT, am I the only one who thought “Flavored thirst quencher”/LIMEWATER was the WORST clue/answer combination? Everything else in the puzzle was great, but that one answer just destroyed it for me. :(
Bryan the clue is certainly wrong, but it may be the editor’s, not the constructor’s.
All the clue changing makes it hard to pinpoint complaints, but in the end, the editor has the final say
I’d forgotten to double-check that one! Good catch.
The NYT was challenging and fun. I liked it all, even LEOX. 19:10 for me, a few minutes ahead of my Friday average.