Kate Hawkins’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 8/16/24 – no. 0816
Yet another Joel-edited Friday puzzle with harder cluing overall than Fridays have traditionally had.
Fave fill: “STAY TUNED,” SPUNKIER, ZEN GARDEN, MEN’S ROOMS, EMBROIDER, PLAYED MIND GAMES, “IT DEPENDS,” ZOOLANDER (still haven’t seen the movie!), SHONDA Rhimes, “ALL KIDDING ASIDE,” and PILSENER (I had a Pulaski pilsner, the more common spelling, at my birthday dinner tonight).
I’m not familiar with Cindy SHERMAN‘s artwork (24d. [Artist Cindy known for her photographic self-portraits]), so I looked her up. Her more recent work involves digital collage of photos of her own face, with and without makeup, giving some off-putting cubist vibes. Here’s some of her earlier work.
Four stars from me.
Aidan Deshong’s Universal crossword, “PR Stunt”—Jim’s review
Theme entries are answers to the starred clues but only if you change the beginning R to a P in each clue. The revealer is DROP A LINE (58a, [Say hi to in writing … or what to do to the first letter of each starred clue?]). The line we’re dropping is the right leg of each starting R, thus changing it to a P.
Universal crossword solution · “PR Stunt” · Aidan Deshong · Fri., 8.16.24
- 17a. [*Round, like a steak] TENDERIZE. Pound.
- 24a. [*Role in a science lab, once] MARIE CURIE. Pole. I honestly didn’t know she was Polish.
- 35a. [*Rep groups in gyms] MARCHING BANDS. Pep.
- 50a. [*Rile up] ACCUMULATE. Pile.
Solved without grokking the theme, and even then I still needed a minute to figure out what was going on. At first, the revealer made me think something would be on the row below each theme answer in the grid itself. But that didn’t exactly gibe with the revealer clue. Then I considered dropping the first letter of each starred clue down into the clue below. But that made no sense either.
Finally, I considered a literal interpretation of the clue and the light bulb went off, although it was more of an oh, okay moment rather than an aha moment. I do like the title, and maybe if I had considered it earlier, I would’ve caught on quicker and enjoyed the puzzle more.
Fill highlights: IMMACULATE, SACRAMENTO, ANEMONE, CHELSEA, and RASPUTIN. I don’t think I’ve seen AAPI [___ Heritage Month (May)] in a puzzle before and needed help with the last letter (even though I’m a member of that demographic).
Clue of note: 57d. [Pin number]. TEN. Think bowling. Nice clue.
3.5 stars
Ella Dershowitz’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up
LAT • 8/16/24 • Fri • Dershowitz • solution • 20240816
Fortunately, the first long theme answer was a gimme, so—with a few crossings already in place—I was able to fill it in properly, despite the shenanigans.
- 34a/38aR [… annual compilation often shared on social media, and an apt place for four of this puzzle’s long answers?] SPOTIFY | WRAPPED. Each of the theme answers is a 16-letter entry that’s the name of a music artist; instead of starting normally in Column 1, however, they begin in the center at Column 8, and wrap back around to the front, concluding again at Column 8, because they each start and end with the same letter(!).
- 17a. [“Son of a Preacher Man” artist] INGFIEL|D|USTYSPR (Dusty Springfield). I listened to Dusty in Memphis just last night!
- 28a. [“September” artist] DANDFIR|E|ARTHWIND (Earth, Wind and Fire).
- 42a. [“Bullet With Butterfly Wings” artist] PUMPKIN|S|MASHING (Smashing Pumpkins).
- 55a. [“Crash Into Me” artist] HEWSBAN|D|AVEMATT (Dave Matthews Band).
Good job finding well-known acts that fit the criteria!
I don’t use Spotify, but I’m familiar with the Wrapped thing. Not sure I agree with the revealer clue’s reference to it as a ‘place’.
- 3d [Small skillet] EGG PAN, crossed by 14a [Seasonal drink] NOG.
- 5d [Merch table tops] TEES. Tops on a merchandise table, not /table tops/.
- 29d [Search after a metal detector beeps, perhaps] FRISKS. I was thinking of digging in sand or earth, rather than about people.
- 20a [Some online animation] POPUPS. Nobody likes these. Hardly anyone likes the AI that’s being foisted upon us from every quarter, either.
- 24a [Antidepressant, for short] SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor is one class of antidepressants.
- 33a [Jazz drummer Max] ROACH. Perhaps it would have been less intrusive to pick a non-musician framing here?
- 60a [Live feed from the San Diego Zoo] APE CAM. Is this like the Gorilla Channel?
- 65a [Wood __ mushrooms] EAR. This can refer to several species in a couple of genera.
Rafael Musa’s USA Today crossword, “But Daddy I Love Crosswords—Darby’s recap
Theme: Three of the five longest answers in this puzzle relate to (or are) Taylor Swift.
Theme Answers
Filled grid for Rafael Musa’s “But Daddy I Love Crosswords” 8/16/2024 USA Today puzzle
- 16a & 35a [With 35-Across, 2024 album that led to a new era in the Eras Tour] THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
- 55a [16- and 35-Across artist] TAYLOR SWIFT
I love TAYLOR SWIFT, so I was stoked to see this puzzle’s name pop up this morning on Daily Crossword Links. It’s a great use of how you can break up super long answers (like THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT) into shorter segments, which worked out to make TAYLOR SWIFT symmetrical with THE TORTURED. Even though the whole puzzle isn’t symmetrical in itself, it may have started that way with some some tweaks to allow for clean fill. The title is also a reference to “But Daddy I Love Him,” a song on the 2024 album. Also, as a bonus, 51a [Eras Tour venues] ARENAS and 53d [Person losing their freakin’ mind at the Eras Tour] STAN were also cute.
This puzzle isn’t necessarily themed in the way that many of the USA Today puzzles are, since it’s a related set. However, the grid also included some really great spanning fill, like KEEP ON KEEPING ON andCOPING MECHANISM. I also really liked DRINKS ON ME (especially since it aptly crosses 21a [Unit for ice cream or beer] PINT) and SNOWSTORMS.
Happy birthday, Amy!
My husband and I tried to watch ZOOLANDER years ago, but it didn’t amuse us at all and we abandoned it after 15 or 20 minutes. But with the Z from the brilliantly-clued ZEN GARDEN, I got that answer almost immediately.
Actually, I got most of the answers quickly. My biggest slowdown was 22A TIES to; not having the N made it hard to see CHURNS.
Fun puzzle that I found relatively easy.
I remember watching Zoolander years ago and thinking it was a hoot! Ah well.
I hesitated on PILSENER because I don’t recognize that spelling, but I have always liked Cindy SHERMAN’s work. I found this one a pretty easy Friday too.
Thanks, Eric!
You’re welcome.
I could live without a reminder of ZOOLANDER ever again, but no matter. I was among those who found the puzzle on the easy side. Maybe it helped that SHERMAN was a gimme for me. (She’s been hammering for decades now at the themes of photography as a part of culture, of a woman’s image in art and in popular culture, and her own self image put to its worst. The fragmentation in some recent ones is only the newest. Her Untitled Film Stills from 1977 to 1980 became an instant classic, although the nasty edge of later work suggests she’s been uncomfortable with how easy it went down.)
I didn’t know a few, of course, such as Libby. I’m not sure it has a presence closer to NYC than Philly. I associate a Zen garden more with pebbles than sand, but there are classic examples to the contrary, as well as products that use sand for a desktop version. A new exhibition at the Met has a wonderful installation amid the work of long-past centuries, by Isamu Noguchi that sets a black stone fountain on white pebbles. Invites sitting, lingering, and contemplation.
Great fill, awful clueing.
Please identify the puzzle you’re commenting on. It’s confusing for the rest of us when comments like this appear.
Thanks.
Loved this NYT! Filled with fun and varied language, no obscurities or weird acronyms. 5/5 in my book.
NYT: This was definitely harder than the average Friday — felt more like a Saturday — but it was a thoroughly enjoyable challenge.
Despite my being a tyrophile and having once lived in France for a year, I had never heard of Comté cheese before. Now I must try some!
Much of the Gruyère you find in the US is actually Comté. Strictly speaking, Gruyère is Swiss. What we label as French Gruyère, or even just Gruyère is Comté. In France, “Gruyère” either means Swiss Gruyère or a type of cheese that will specifically be Comté, Emmental (distinguished from Swiss Emmenthal by spelling) or Beaufort. France does not produce a cheese labelled “Gruyère.”
Martin, I am astounded at the range of topics on which you can provide detailed information. Do you know all of this stuff off the top of your head, or do you look some of it up?
Big library :). I double-checked the three allowed “Gruyère” sources in my ancient Androuet, the bible of French cheese.
But my wife often remarks that my brain is so stuffed with the Latin names of weeds that there’s no room to remember the names of her nephews and nieces, which is a fair critique.
Like the legendary professor of limnology who never remembered the names of his students because that would require forgetting the name of a fish.
Nice NYT. Would have been a lot easier except for HEADGAMES/MINDGAMES making one little spot frustrating for me. Otherwise rather easy.
Universal: Thanks, Jim, for the clear explanation of the theme. I figured out that the R’s needed to be replaced by P’s, but from the clue for the revealer, I didn’t understand *why* we were doing that.