Saturday, May 4, 2024

Jacob McDermott’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap

NY Times crossword solution, 5/4/24 – no. 0504

Not too hard at all, compared to the Saturday NYTs of a few weeks ago.

Fave fill: “LUCY, I’M HOME,” BIOTECH, “GOTTA LOVE IT,” lexicographer WEBSTER, RISKS IT ALL, WABI-SABI, FAMILY TREE, PODIATRIST, and “MOMALA” Harris, stepmom to First Gentleman Doug’s kids. Could’ve done without “SPARE US,” whose second person plural feels off to me (but now that I’m thinking about it more, it sounds like something someone in the public eye might say about someone not present. I also hate BANANA CHIP, but not as fill, just as food.

• Three clues:
• 60a. [Singles material, say], CLAY. This perplexed me for a bit till I realized it was about tennis tournaments. Rafael Nadal is called “the King of Clay” for his dominance at the French Open with its clay playing surface.
• 4d. [Elfin folk], FAY. Can also be spelled fae and fey, so I hope you had no trouble with the crossings.
• 12d. [Question from a dealer], “IN OR OUT?” A dealer in a card game, I presume, and not a drug dealer or car dealer.

3.75 stars from me.

Amie Walker’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up

Los Angeles Times 5/4/24 by Amie Walker

The difficulty on this one was pretty correct for a “gentle challenge.” The highs and lows:

• 10A [Annie Lennox, e.g.] is SCOT, and I am always here for an Annie reference. I have a poster of her on my office wall, and I have Diva 100% memorized.
• 22A [Time for scare tactics?] is SPOOKY SEASON, which is a fine entry and a fine clue, but why in May? Not saying puzzles always need to be seasonally appropriate, but given that this is the time of year when the bite of winter is finally behind us, I’m not ready to be thinking about fall yet.
• 25A [Sweeney of “Euphoria”] is SYDNEY. I had never heard of this actress until a few months ago, and suddenly she’s everywhere and the youths are all over how she went to Fashion Week sans pants.
• 37A [Caesar dressing?] is a great clue for the ubiquitous TOGA.
• 55A [Tool for turning over a new leaf?] is also a great clue, this time for SALAD TONGS.
• I cook a lot, so 2D and 45D, both clued as [Allium cultivar] did not take me long to figure out as LEEK and CHIVE, respectively.
• 6D [Flood with negative replies on social media] is RATIO. I had a little trouble in the NW area, not least because of this new usage. #old
• 11D [“You gouda brie kidding me,” for one?] is CHEESY JOKE. IDK…this feels a little too stretchy for me, at least in this puzzle. I would’ve loved it as a theme entry in a themed puzzle, I think.
• 27D [“Feel free to contact me privately on social”] is DMS ARE OPEN, another instance of this puzzle being very online (but more inferable than RATIO, at least for me).
• 36D [HTML data] is META TAGS, and did I mention that this puzzle is very online?

Joseph Gangi’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Infiltrated” — pannonica’s write-up

WSJ • 5/4/24 • Sat • “Infiltrated” • Gangi • solution • 20240504

The phrases in the theme entries are a bit weird because they’ve got spy agencies hanging about.

• 25a. [Pro bono agreement?] NONCOMPENSATE CLAUSE (noncompete clause).
• 35a. [Saloon run by a Brady Bunch daughter?] MARCIA‘S BAR (Mars bar).
• 46a. [Certain detergent purchase?] GAIN TRANSACTION (gain traction).
• 64a. [Items on Aristotle’s résumé?] LOGICIAN CREDENTIALS (login credentials).
• 87a. [Puts on a tight-fitting coat?] STRAINS AT JACKET (straitjacket).
• 95a. [Comment when crossing the Peace Bridge?] CIAO CANADA (O Canada).
• 104a. [Operative with a penchant for puzzles?] THE SPY WHO LOVED MENSA (The Spy Who Loved Me).

So it’s just the two organizations—NSA and CIA—alternating appearances. Feels too minimalistic? Maybe this would have been better as a 15×15 grid with four or five (or even three) different agencies? I’m also somewhat underwhelmed by the phrase changes often don’t feel radical enough.

• 33d [Nice round figure?] PAR. Site of the final square I needed to hunt up for a correct solve. I’d guessed at NATS for 33a [Gillette Stadium squad, familiarly] PATS.
• 47d [“Hey! May I have some hay?] NEIGH. Sure, why not.
• 65d [Armed and dangerous swimmers?] OCTOPI. Argue in the comments, if you like. (For the record, I’m on Team Octopodes.)
• 85d [Happy cry at a Greek wedding] OPA. Somehow I knew this, and I have not seen the ‘big fat Greek wedding” movies, or Mamma Mia! for that matter.
• 102d [From now until midnight] TODAY.
  
• 29a [Nonflowering plant] ALGA. Ehhhh, not really plants, which is probably why I was relatively confident in initially filling this with FERN.
• 30a [Anna who’s name-checked in Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes”] STEN. That’s a new/old way to clue this useful letter sequence.
• 61a [Revealed to all] LAID BARE. Brief pause while I confirmed whether the fourth letter was D or N via 62d [Woebegone] DISMAL.

SN’s Newsday crossword, Saturday Stumper — pannonica’s write-up

Newsday • 5/4/24 • Saturday Stumper • SN, Newman • solution • 20240504

Surprisingly quick solve time for me, thanks to a few fortunate breakthroughs and some risks that broke my way.

• 17a [Longevity Economy Outlook co-publisher] AARP. I wasn’t going to know that. Kind of boring framing.
• 18a [It runs Farmhouse Fixer] HGTV. I had the H from 5d [Impermanent] AD HOC, but a B from 8d [Goes wild] REBELS; HGTV popped into my head and I saw that REVELS was a much better answer.
• 21a [Yamaha Duet+ product] OBOE. Saw that this would contain a B because the —OUND that I’d garnered from crossings strongly suggested 6d [Unable to sail, say] would be something-BOUND (I thought perhaps BAY-BOUND, but of course it turned out to be FOGBOUND.
• 23a [The nation’s largest power station] GRAND COULEE DAM. This was one of the breakthrough entries, as I had the tail end —GAME from 1d [Beat the Parents, e.g.] (TEAM GAME) and a couple of useful letters near the end including at least the D or the M.
• 28a [Nietzsche’s “cruelest animal”] MAN. He’s not wrong.
• 29a [Ocean liner] SAND. <head-waggle> I’ll allow it.
• 31a [Number lines] LYRIC. Number, as in song.
• 42a [Expression of elation] AHA. Not the primary interpretation, right?
• 43a [The Ebro flows through it] ARAGÓN.
  
• 47a [Fed people] CENTRAL BANKERS. Nice misdirection, but perhaps I was primed by all the NSAs and CIAs in the WSJ?
• 52a [Beethoven trio] DREI. Here’s a place I took a risk, after dismissing the three Es of his surname. 55a [Small part of 52-Across] EINS. Okay, but ⅓ isn’t that small here.
• 4d [Belly up] SUPINE. Remember: supine is lying on your spine, and prone is the other way.
• 9d [What Kramer saves catalogs from] POTTERY BARN. Didn’t know this but successfully guessed (risked) it from just the PO—.
• 11d [Overnight delivery specialist] SANTA. 44d [Name associated with 11-Down’s time] GASPAR, one of the three wise men.
• 24d [Carrier of cookies] DESSERT TRAY. There were quite a bunch of these two-part answers where I was able to get the second part and needed to wait on the first. A lot of times when solving crosswords such entries can be very frustrating, but in this instance they either resolved more quickly via crossings or I had the right kind of inspiration to make a good guess.
• 33d [Togetherness?] COHERENCY. I suppose the question mark is there because coherence is the more common inflection? It served to distract me.
• 46d [Clash-prevention expression] OK DEAR. Depends entirely on delivery. 30d [Clashing] AT WAR.
• 48d [Down clue answer, often] EIDER. Tricky twist on a venerable crossword pun, and my favorite clue in the puzzle.
• 49d [Imply] AIM AT.
  
• 50d [Inspiration] GASP. Neatly tying together my stated inspiration for DESSERT TRAY, the GASPAR of 44d, and my reaction upon completing the crossword so quickly!