Tarun Krishnamurthy’s New York Times crossword — Sophia’s write-up
Theme: Phrases with the letters C N M N E in that order, which sounds like SEA ANEMONE when you say it aloud (try it!)
New York Times, 07 15 2024, By Tarun Krishnamurthy
- 17a [“Don’t you worry about me!”] – I CAN MANAGE
- 23a [Fixture that may hold gumballs] – CANDY MACHINE
- 35a [Supposed sighting in the Scottish Highlands] – LOCH NESS MONSTER
- 48a [Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor with bananas and walnuts] – CHUNKY MONKEY
- 57a [Colorful marine creature … or a phonetic hint to the circled letters in 17-, 23-, 35- and 48-Across] – SEA ANEMONE
This is a very cute theme that is helped out even more by the strength of its stand-alone answers. For some research, I plugged the CNMNE string into my own construction software to see how common this letter pattern is. There are more possibilities than I had initially imagined, but I think Tarun picked a lot of the best ones here. I like how they are all multi-word phrases, LOCH NESS MONSTER is a grid-spanning standout.
While solving I noticed that the same letters were circled each time but I didn’t catch onto the full theme until I reached the revealer and said them aloud. I think this is a great beginner-friendly theme because folks will be able to get some letters directly from figuring out the theme, not only from the crosses themselves.
The rest of the GRID (some crossword-specific knowledge there at 1d!) is very solid. I kind of wish the NW and SE corners were a little less separated from the rest of the puzzle, but the other two corners make up for it. BOCA BURGER was new to me – it’s a Kraft Heinz meat alternative. I liked ANTOINETTE, BOBA TEA, and having both HOLI and HOLEY in the puzzle. I also think the two “ome”s of OMEN and BIOME stacked on top of each other look pretty cool together.
Happy Monday all, and happy NYT debut to Tarun (a fellow Seattleite, love to see it!)
Kevin Christian & Andrea Carla Michaels’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Self-Centered”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases that hide the word EGO in their exact centers. The revealer is EGOS (52d, [They may clash, and what you’ll find in the centers of 20-, 31-, 39- and 50-Across]).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Self-Centered” · Kevin Christian & Andrea Carla Michaels · Mon., 7.15.24
- 20a. [Alliteratively-named image recognition app] GOOGLE GOGGLES.
- 31a. [“Well done!” (said straight or ironically)] “NICE GOING!”
- 39a. [Bucket list items] LIFE GOALS.
- 50a. [Knows where the bodies are buried] HAS THE GOODS ON.
A repetitive theme like this isn’t exactly my favorite, but it’s plenty solid and I enjoyed the theme answers.
But even more I enjoyed the fill entries like DRAG RACES, HANG-DOG, CLOSE CALL, HEADED OUT, LAST LAP, and “I’M WITH YOU!”
Clue of note: 14a. [Look from Groucho]. LEER. I didn’t know this was a Groucho thing, but it seems this comes up in crossword clues on occasion.
Solid theme, but even funner fill. 3.75 stars.
John Beck & Doug Peterson’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 7/15/24 by John Beck & Doug Peterson
Another Monday, another 1:55. The revealer at 57A [“You’re not alone,” and what the first word in the answer to each starred clue can do”] is JOIN THE CLUB, meaning that the first word in each theme entry can be paired with CLUB to form a new word or phrase:
- 17A [Alternative sentencing option] is HOUSE ARREST, leading to CLUBHOUSE.
- 25A [Love for hot rods and drive-in movies] is CAR CULTURE, leading to CLUB CAR. Having traveled by train a fair amount in several European countries and Japan, and also a lot by Amtrak for work, lemme just say: Our CLUB CARs suck. The best one I ever experienced was on Deutsche Bahn from Berlin to Vienna, where the dining car had options like meat cooked with wild mushrooms. Amtrak has basically the same breakfast sandwiches you buy in the freezer case at the supermarket, or a “fruit and cheese plate” that has like three grapes, an apple slice that’s turning brown, and some crappy plastic-wrapped cheese. No thanks.
- 38A [Former name of 30-Down] 30D HAWAII makes this answer SANDWICH ISLANDS, which leads to CLUB SANDWICH.
- 46A [Wayyy past irate] is HOPPING MAD, leading to CLUB HOPPING. This was my favorite theme entry because both the base phrase and the CLUB phrase are fun, and also the usage of “Wayyy” that you don’t typically see in mainstream outlets but that adds a little extra evocativeness and fun to the clue.
The only real pain point in this puzzle was the NE corner, where 11A [Stat for Shohei Ohtani] caused me to doubt and remove my correct AEIOU for the crossing at 11D [Phonics lesson quintet]. AVG is a less-commonly-seen baseball abbreviation in puzzles than ERA, and I still think of Shohei as a pitcher even though he’s not doing that this year.
Evan Kalish’s Universal crossword, “Hit Back” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 7/15/24 • Mon • “Hit Back” • Kalish • solution • 20240715
A pugnacious theme here. Each of the relevant entries ends in a synonym for ‘strike’.
- 17a. [*Cockpit] FLIGHT DECK.
- 40a. [*Region that includes Phoenix and Miami] SUN BELT.
- 64a. [*Slimy nuisance in a flower bed] GARDEN SLUG.
- 11d. [*Device set to 24 seconds in the NBA] SHOT CLOCK.
- 35d. [*Short item of footwear] ANKLE SOCK.
Pow.
The grid is well-constructed, flows well, easy to solve.
- 31d [Succulent that’s da balm?] ALOE. The PUN (39d) here is on “da bomb”, for whatever reason.
- 55d [Not flat, as a landscape] HILLY.
- 56d [Like at least two angles in every triangle] ACUTE. Only on a planar surface!
- 57d [Bear whose porridge was too cold] MAMA. And what was the point of her waiting on it? Was it going to magically get warm again?
- 24a [Chocolatey coffee order] MOCHA. I recently baked some “Mexican mocha biscotti” (with chocolate, cinnamon, and espresso powder) to bring to a gathering this week. Stuff’s good, if I do say so myself. 62d [Inflated self-images] EGOS.
- 27a [Pacific Island nation that created the first shark sanctuary] PALAU. Yesterday was International Shark and Ray Awareness Day.
Liz Gorski’s New Yorker crossword—Amy’s recap
New Yorker crossword solution, 7/15/24 – Gorski
I don’t usually encounter so many names I don’t know in a crossword.
- 48d. [___ Raw (denim brand)], G-STAR. They style it G-Star RAW, apparently. Not wild about a partial brand name as an entry.
- 9d. [Zelda Fitzgerald, née ___], SAYRE. My grandparents lived on a Sayre Avenue for a while.
- 56d. [“Walk Through Fire” singer who played Sister Rosetta Tharpe in “Elvis”], YOLA. I haven’t seen any of the musical biopics in recent years–Judy Garland, Freddie Mercury, Elton John, Elvis … At any rate, Yola is British but has been raking in Grammy nominations for music in the Americana genre. (Some describe Americana/roots as the genre for country music whose artists’ identities and themes make country radio unlikely to air their songs.) Make a note of the name, because she’s got useful letters for crosswords.
Fave fill: HATE MAIL, AT ETERNITY’S GATE, ESCAPE VALVE, SPLURGE, TIMELESS. Surprised to see crosswordese RIANT here; not keen on FER, NAE, A RAT, DEPTS, ENDO-, ERTES, -ENE.
62d. [Burst of radiation that might damage devices: Abbr.], EMP feels like terrible fill, but I recently read a New Yorker article about solar storms and their risks to all of Earth’s technology. An electromagnetic pulse is similar to what solar storms can do. The article’s a good read.
3.25 stars from me.
NYT: I don’t recall seeing a theme of this sort before (I’m sure there’s something out there), and I thought it made for a better than usual Monday. I didn’t know what was up until getting to the revealer.
Those NW and SE corners are a little isolated, but the 5-letter answers in those spots are pretty straightforward – so no problems.
At the moment, the Wall Street Journal .puz download on the Today’s Puzzles appears to just be garbage.
Go to the paper’s site and solve there or use Crossword Scraper.
Fixed.
Nice Monday puzzle.
I think the NYT is going for some sort of frequency record with ‘odor clued as bad smell’ occurrences.
LOL, I noticed that and was thinking constructors are reading here and purposely going for the foul-smelliest clues they can think for odor :D, just to peeve those who get peeved.
{muffled cursing}
I point out that no one puts Odor-Eaters in their shoes to eliminate the smell of roses. :)
nor uses de-ODOR-ant to get rid of the fragrance of lilacs … just sayin’ :D body odor is body odor and is funky…
malodor (noun) : an offensive odor
I’ll agree to be peeved when you agree to ask for demalodorant at CVS. Two :)s.
hee
NYT: I’m feeling a strange compulsion to point out once again that oval tracks (to quote Wikipedia), “despite the name, are not precisely oval…”
Contrary to the clue, “geometrically” the most common track layout is two parallel lines (straightaways) connected at the ends by semicircles (the turns).
I’LL SHUT UP now.
“Broadly eliptical”, like — ahem — “a racetrack in the shape of a rectangle with rounded corners.”
Note that “mathematically elliptical” is not a definition of “oval” in the M-W. “Broadly elliptical” is.
Yes, obviously the term “oval” is used to describe the shape of racetracks in common parlance, and thus the M-W definition.
My objection is with the clue’s qualifier “geometrically.” (And please note that I made no reference to ellipticity.)
Geometrically, a racetrack is “a rectangle with rounded corners.”
“Oval” is a term that in geometry, has a quite precise definition:
“In a projective plane a set Ω of points is called an oval, if:
Any line l meets Ω in at most two points, and
For any point P ∈ Ω there exists exactly one tangent line t through P, i.e., t ∩ Ω = {P}.” (Wikipedia again.)
When you include the specification “geometrically” you are no longer in the realm of common usage.
I guess the clue would be better without “geometrically,” which puts this in the “no good deed goes unpunished” file. But since we call the racetrack an “oval” it’s hard for me to get too worked up over this one. I’d have to say I mind ODOR more.
I can’t get worked up either. After all, I made it through an awful lot of math courses on my way to a physics degree without once hearing a definition of “oval.” And then, in ordinary life, as a recreational runner, I’d always thought of tracks as ovals. So if MW has such a definition, hard to feel shocked.
Web sits are divided, perhaps because there IS no agreed-upon term or mathematical usage of “oval” apart, perhaps, from certain disciplines (projective geometry). Indeed, Wolfram’s Mathworld starts right in with “unlike the ellipse, without a precise mathematical definition,” while Wiki speaks of the term as “not very specific.” Interactive Math goes for a definition including symmetry, but not the stipulation ruling out straight segments, which some other sites do have.
I’d agree that the reference to geometry in the clue is redundant, although it’s only trying to help, and it’s at least defensible. After all, an oval is a shape, so if it’s not geometry, what is?
I do computational simulations of materials for work, and when we had a region that we needed to specify as rectangle with two semicircles on each end… we called it a “racetrack geometry” rather than an oval or ellipse for precisely this reason… I’ll just toss that on the pile of minor errors in scientific or mathematical terms I encounter in crosswords regularly.
New Yorker: I thought for a bit that I wasn’t going to be able to finish the SW corner, as Queen RANIA could just as well have been RoNIA and I have no memory of ever hearing of GSTAR Raw or YOLA. But I suddenly realized that I was misinterpreting “command” and MASTERY made sense.
Those names were new to me, too. I also had trouble at the top, in part because I just don’t remember Schnabel as having had such a film. I really should.
Seems like I’ve come across GSTAR Raw somewhere, but RANIA and YOLA were new. I came up with MASTERY fairly quickly. My downfall was in the SE. I didn’t know the French for “nothing” and didn’t know the McCourt memoir. Although it had crossed my mind at one point that “sub” in the clue for 64-A might refer to a sandwich, I wound up going with Data MENU – thinking about a drop-down menu in a spreadsheet program. In retrospect, I like the clue/answer.
BEQ: One of my unknowns was 2D, “Lindsey Stirling’s instrument.” Today, I got an email from the local classical music station saying that Ms Stirling and her VIOLIN will be in Austin in a week or so.