Shaun Phillips’s New York Times crossword — Sophia’s write-up
Theme: MYTHS – cryptids and other imaginary creatures
New York Times, 08 12 2024, By Shaun Phillips
- 17a [*One leaving money under a pillow ] – TOOTH FAIRY
- 22a [*Hobbes, vis-à-vis Calvin] – IMAGINARY FRIEND
- 46a [*Cryptid in the Scottish Highlands] – LOCH NESS MONSTER
- 53a [*”Ho, ho, ho!” hollerer] – SANTA CLAUS
- 32a [“Seriously?!” … or what one might ask of the answers to starred clues in this puzzle?] – ARE YOU FOR REAL?
Cute puzzle with a solid revealer! I like the selection of imaginary creatures here (or perhaps real ones, as the clue for MYTHS states: [The answers to the starred clues in this puzzle … or are they?] ). IMAGINARY FRIEND is a great answer but a little bit of the odd one out, as it’s not a specific person/animal (although the Calvin and Hobbes clue does mitigate that some). Given how many creatures could be part of this theme, I wish it was a little tighter, but that’s a very minor critique. It’s fun to imagine all of these characters hanging out together, so the puzzle made me smile.
There’s a lot of fun fill today, particularly in the midlength slots. I liked I VOTED, HEYDAY, NEW MOM, LET’S GO, ENSHRINE. PEPSI ONE was new to me even though it was discontinued in 2015. I liked the clue of [Bluey or Snoopy] for CANINE, although I thought the IKEA clue of [Company name aptly found in “The bookcase came together like a charm!”] was a little bit of overkill. But my favorite thing was noticing that SHAUN the constructor was able to put his own name in the puzzle :)
Happy Monday all!
Jay Silverman’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Three Times a Charm”—Jim’s recap
I’m still taking some time off, so I didn’t solve this puzzle, but I’ll post a quick re-cap here. Theme answers are all synonymous phrases of the word “well” used differently in each case. The revealer is “WELL, WELL, WELL” (54a, [Comment upon a revealing discovery, and a description of the starred answers]).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Three Times a Charm” · Jay Silverman · Mon., 8.12.24
- 20a. [*Fit as a fiddle] IN GOOD HEALTH.
- 32a. [*You might dip a bucket in one] WATER SOURCE.
- 41a. [*Like a tough piece of meat] FULLY-COOKED.
Good wordplay and I like that each entry is colloquial for the most part. How did the rest of the solve treat you?
Zhouqin Burnikel’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 8/12/24 by Zhouqin Burnikel
I don’t know about you, but I’ve pushed out nearly all of my other TV watching, plus reading, for the last two weeks to make room for binge-watching the Olympics. Even though the games are over, Zhouqin Burnikel keeps the spirit going a little longer with this puzzle, which honors an event that is possibly unique to the 2024 Olympics (it’s not on the list for the 2028 games at the moment). The revealer at 57A [Debut sport at the Paris Olympics, or what 16-, 22-, 36-, and 46-Across do to their circled letters] is BREAKDANCE (called “breaking” officially), because each theme entry contains a dance (seen in the circled letters) that is “broken” by the other letters in the theme entry:
- 16A [Brass player’s recital piece] is a HORN SONATA, with HORA broken at the beginning and end of the entry.
- 22A [Port on the Strait of Gibraltar] is TANGIER, MOROCCO, with TANGO as the dance.
- 36A [Anise-flavored Italian liqueur] is SAMBUCA, “breaking” SAMBA.
- 46A [Classic Chaney horror film] is HOUSE OF DRACULA, and the dance is HULA.
I wasn’t crazy about the puzzle’s theme entries (with the exception of SAMBUCA): Entries of the form CITY, COUNTRY always feel a little green-painty to me, and the Chaney reference is pretty old. On the other hand, there’s some fun stuff in the fill, especially since the unusual-for-a-Monday pattern includes several 9-letter Downs. CARBONARA (I can always trust Zhouqin to have some tasty food in every puzzle), MUSIC CITY, and ART SCHOOL are all really fun.
Joe Marquez’s Universal crossword, “Joyriding” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 8/12/24 • Mon • “Joyriding” • Marquez • solution • 20240812
- 57aR [Criminal who stole from the starred clues’ answers?] CAR THIEF. “Car” has been removed from the clued answers, but the new entries are still legitimate.
- 17a. [*Interior designer’s stop] PET STORE (carpet store).
- 19a. [*Embodied in human form] INNATE (incarnate).
- 26a. [*Orange foods] ROTS (carrots).
- 27a. [*Relative of funnel] AWAY (caraway).
- 29a. [*Certain drink trolleys] TEATS (tea carts).
- 44a. [*Reference for a speaker] NOTED (notecard).
- 45a. [*Wristbones] PALS (carpals).
- 46a. [*Writer of “O frabjous day!”] ROLL (Carroll).
- 56a. [*Red or pink flower] NATION (carnation).
For whatever reason, the theme entries fill complete rows. That’s an interesting but nonconsequential aspect.
- 5d [Like a basset hound] FLOP-EARED. Long-eared as well.
- 10d [Tree whose berries flavor gin] JUNIPER. I’ve seen more JUNIPER shrubs than trees.
- 13d [Ready for a drive?] TEED. Unrelated to the theme.
- 24d [Left or Right candy bar] TWIX. I believe this was part of an advertising campaign.
- 5a [Most-liked, informally] FAV. I wonder which is more common, FAV or FAVE.
- 35a [Submit, as an exam] TURN IN, 31d [Like a prompt payment] TIMELY.
Elizabeth Gorski’s New Yorker crossword–Amy’s recap
New Yorker crossword solution, 8/12/24 – Gorski
Fave fill in this 68-worder: MASS CONSUMPTION, STALLIONS, WINE BAR, BASEBALL BAT, STUDENT DEBT (though I wasn’t wild about the clue playing at this being a good thing: [Outstanding academic outcome?]; and yes, I get it that debt is “outstanding”), METEOROLOGY.
Three things:
- Very old thing that’s new to me: 58d. [Roman historian Cassius], DIO. This University of Chicago page elucidates, “Cassius Dio Cocceianus was a near relative, probably a grandson, of the famous orator, Dio Chrysostom, after whom he took the names Dio and Cocceianus, and like him was a native of Bithynia. His father was Cassius Apronianus, a Roman senator, who served as governor of Cilicia and of Dalmatia.” Well, Dalmatia rings a bell, but the rest of that? So not my wheelhouse!
- 30a. [Laid-back sorts], TYPE B’S. I feel like I encounter type B in crosswords more than in real life. Is it just me?
- Felt like a lot of three-letter abbreviations and fragments here. PRE-, TSA, OMB, LAH-, RNC, -IAL, ___ LOC, STL, EEO, SSN?
2.75 stars from me.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
I inadvertently rated the Universal for Monday as a 3. Hit the send too soon. Could you zap me?
NYT: I recall discussing it several years ago for a different puzzle but the clue for IMAGINARY FRIEND is interesting. Even though it’s not unreasonable for a reader to think of Hobbes as being Calvin’s imaginary friend, Bill Watterson didn’t see him that way. Here’s what he said about that in his tenth anniversary collection:
“The so-called ‘gimmick’ of my strip — the two versions of Hobbes — is sometimes misunderstood. I don’t think of Hobbes as a doll that miraculously comes to life when Calvin’s around. Neither do I think of Hobbes as the product of Calvin’s imagination. Calvin sees Hobbes one way, and everyone else sees Hobbes another way. I show two versions of reality, and each makes complete sense to the participant who sees it. I think that’s how life works. None of us sees the world exactly the same way, and I just draw that literally in the strip. Hobbes is more about the subjective nature of reality than about dolls coming to life.”
Isn’t that how imaginary friends work?
Probably. I don’t think the clue is outright wrong. Like I said, it makes sense that readers would see Hobbes as an imaginary friend, but it’s still interesting how the author himself said that isn’t the case.
Maybe that’s in keeping with the spirit of what Watterson intended: Bill sees Hobbes one way, the NYT sees Hobbes another way.
I like this exchange :)
It seems to me that the puzzle addresses this question with the clue for 49D.
Although the clue/answer doesn’t bother me, I tend to think of “imaginary friends” as totally imaginary (Harvey the Rabbit). If the friend has a physical existence, but two people perceive them differently, I think that’s a bit different. I had not seen Watterson’s explanation before – I like it.
I would agree that Hobbes isn’t an imaginary friend in the way that I usually think of them as being. It’s certainly not “wrong” to characterize Hobbes in that way, it just feels a little bit like a splash of cold water on the whimsical world of a great comic strip.
I came within about 10 seconds of my personal best. It’s the first time I can remember that I knew all the theme answers immediately, without needing any crosses. That’s what Mondays are for!
USAT: Unless I’m missing something, the clue for MATCH {8A: Part of a tennis set} is wrong. A tennis set is part of a MATCH, not vice versa. A game is “part of a tennis set”. Does anyone have an alternate interpretation of this clue that I’m not getting?
I’m stumped about that as well.
TNY was harder for me than Ms Gorsky’s puzzles usually are, but not too challenging nonetheless.
Re Amy’s comments about TYPEB: the Type A/Type B thing was introduced in the 1950s by a pair of cardiologists, on the grounds that stress and overwork increased your risk of a heart attack. I don’t know whether that is still taken to be true, but I feel like the distinction is well past its sell-by date anyway.
I found it a harder TNY than I expected, and it earned way too much of its difficulty the bad way, as TNY so often does. Still, there was some clever stuff, and I enjoyed puzzling it out.
I entered UNDER-COOKED for tough (meat) in the WSJ. (I hadn’t got the revealer or other themeers yet, but I still think the clue has things backward.
I agree with your assessment.