Note: No WSJ puzzle due to the holiday.
Sala Wanetick and Emily Biegas’s New York Times crossword — Sophia’s write-up
Happy labor day to everyone in the US! And happy NYT debut to Sala and Emily!
New York Times, 09 02 2024, By Sala Wanetick and Emily Biegas
The three theme answers today are all connected by the revealer [Short distance to travel, with a hint to 17-, 27- and 49-Across] – HOP SKIP AND A JUMP. The first theme answer, PETER COTTONTAIL, comes “hopping down the bunny trail”. A BROKEN RECORD is known for skipping, and a FIGURE SKATER does jumps like the often-seen-in-crosswords axel. So each word in the revealer corresponds, in order, to what the theme answer is known for. A bit more high concept than some Mondays, I’m into it!
Other notes on the puzzle:
- Random fill I liked: EASY JOB, THE LIKE, STONER, GO ON TOUR, ORGANIST.
- The clue I had the most trouble with in the whole puzzle was the very first one: [Spinning item for a circus performer] for PLATE. Didn’t help that I didn’t know actress AISHA Hinds (with apologies to my best friend from college, who is a “9-1-1” superfan). My personal favorite clue? [Choco ___ (frozen treat with a rhyming name)] for TACO.
- I’m not a huge Bravo watcher, but Scandoval was *everywhere* last year so I enjoyed its presence in the puzzle – I love when the NYT admits that notable culture is not always highbrow. That said, they could have clued both ARIANA and TOM in regards to Vanderpump rules (there’s no way that stack is a coincidence)… but if we only get one, it has to be Tom?? He sucks!! Plus Ariana’s been hosting Love Island USA recently, so she’s actually more puzzle-worthy IMO.
Ajay Bhargava’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 9/2/24 by Ajay Bhargava
This appears to be a debut. Congratulations to the constructor!
I’m fond of progressive-style themes like this, which I fear have fallen out of fashion a little bit in an age when editors increasingly want a title or a revealer that exactly nails down what’s going on in the theme. In this case, the revealer at 59A [Welcome break in one’s routine, or the progression found at the starts of 20-, 33-, and 43-Across], CHANGE OF PACE, refers to the fact that the first word in each theme answer is a pace at which one can go on foot, getting progressively faster from top to bottom:
- 20A [Exciting end to a baseball game] is a WALK-OFF HOMER, starting off with a nice leisurely WALK.
- 33A [Review class notes, e.g.] is JOG ONE’S MEMORY, speeding up to a JOG.
- 43A [Grammatical flaw that may be fixed with a semicolon] is a RUN-ON SENTENCE, with the faster RUN.
I have a pet peeve about ONE’S phrases — IMO replacing ONE’S with YOUR leads to a more natural-sounding theme entry, so I would’ve vastly preferred JOG YOUR MEMORY to JOG ONE’S MEMORY. But I do like the progression in the theme answers!
The cluing of YANKS and NUGGETS with sports references, plus the inclusion of ESPN, makes me wonder whether the constructor is a sportsball lover. (Not to mention WALK-OFF HOMER as a theme entry!)
Rebecca Goldstein’s Universal crossword, “Sweet Talk” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 9/2/24 • Mon • “Sweet Talk” • Goldstein • solution • 20240902
- 58aR [Make more palatable, or what 17-, 25-, 36- or 48-Across “wear”] SUGAR COAT.
- 17a. [The cost of quiet, say] HUSH MONEY (honey).
- 25a. [The Who song with the lyric “it’s only teenage wasteland”] BABA O’RILEY (baby).
- 36a. [Relationship ruiner] DEALBREAKER (dear). (36d “Heavens to Betsy!”] DEARIE ME.)
- 48a. [Black brew from northern India] DARJEELING (darling). (39d [Something to steep] TEA LEAF.)
- 4d [Possible reaction to the sound of a makeup brush on a mic] ASMR, autonomous sensory meridian response.
- 18d [Pet that is a 45-Across] HAMSTER. 45a [Chinchilla or capybara] RODENT.
- 23a [Compliment the chef in China] BURP. For what it’s worth, I found no mention of that on this Wikipedia page, though I found mention of it elsewhere.
- 51a [Ripped] TORE. 27d [Shredded on guitar] ROCKED.
Kameron Austin Collins’s New Yorker crossword—Amy’s recap
New Yorker crossword solution, 9/2/24 – Collins
Not as challenging as many/most of Kameron’s themelesses, for me. There are a few crossings of proper nouns that might snag solvers who have resolved not to take an interest in pop culture, but I’m not in that group. Paula DEEN (ugh) crossing Kirsten DUNST, fine by me. GIGI Hadid and Edward GOREY, hey, I recently did a Gorey jigsaw puzzle. Didn’t know [“The English Patient” nurse] HANA, but the HONDA crossing was simple. The state of VERACRUZ and IDINA Menzel crossing a song I didn’t know, “LOCA,” was fine because the acrosses filled in the song title for me.
Fave fill: NUTLOAF (I had this once!), VERACRUZ (adjacent to Oaxaca, and I had a Oaxacan dinner this weekend), GREASE FIRES, DIG DEEP, GEFILTE fish, FREAK OUT, FUN IN THE SUN, ZONE DEFENSE, DISORIENTED, GAYDAR.
New to me: [Rank above staff sergeant, in Marine slang], GUNNY. Short for gunnery sergeant. Raise your hand if you remember Gunne Sax dresses.
Four stars from me.
Thanks for the review Sophia!
The ARIANA and TOM stack was no accident indeed hahah. I had originally clued them as an echo clue referencing Scandoval. When I got the proof from the games team, I felt lucky they at least kept one Bravo reference, so I didn’t push back – but your writeup is making me wish I did. I agree Ariana is much more puzzle worthy rn – constructors take note!!
I confidently filled LITTLEBUNNYFUFU in place of PETERCOTTONTAIL before it came crumbling down
Both AISHA and TOM were unknown to me, but easy enough to infer. And Choco Taco doesn’t rhyme, but I talk funny.
You know what else was new to me? PETERCOTTONTAIL, that’s who. The only bunnies I know are courtesy of Beatrix Potter.
Chaw-co Tah-co for me in Chicago, also not a rhyme.
Same for this Michigander.
There are always going to be regional differences in how well these pronunciation clues work. And language changes, and vowel sounds are tending to flatten over time. I get all that.
And still, when CHOCO TACO emerged, I had two immediate thoughts: “that’s a thing?” and “that doesn’t rhyme!”
But I still thought this was a well-above-average Monday puzzle, and an excellent debut for the constructors.
NYT: Love, love the theme. Clever, cute, fresh, awesome!
And a lot of great fill. Overall, a great debut.
This is by way of what I hope to be constructive feedback:
Even though I finished in standard Monday time, I thought that some of the fill was not clued for a true beginner/Monday solver. The NW corner in particular– the clue for PLATE and not knowing AISHA- had PAPA before PAPI. That’s more hesitation than usual on a Monday. Since Sophia had some of the same issues and I’m decades older, it suggests that it’s not age-specific. Other areas were much smoother or more easily inferable.
And I appreciate the editing that changed the cluing for ARIANA. I imagine the BRAVO reference would be more fun, but it would lose a chunk of the solvers.
That said, I finished the puzzle in good time and with a smile on my face. Thank you!
I also thought this was a fun Monday theme and a good puzzle overall.
I’ve only been to a circus a couple of times in my life, and I don’t associate PLATE spinning with the circus – but I’ve seen those acts plenty of times on TV variety shows in the 60’s (Ed Sullivan comes to mind).
I, too, appreciate the modified clue for ARIANA. As an indication of how far out of the mainstream (high-brow or low-brow) I am, nothing in the third bullet point of Sophia’s write-up rang even the faintest of bells in my mind!
TNY: Hell froze over! I was able to complete a KAC puzzle! Either I am getting smarter or this was on the easier side. I strongly suspect the latter 😎. Thanks Kameron for a very nice Monday puzzle.
Ugh. Too many proper names from movies and elsewhere. It was a disappointing pile of trivia.
I don’t see how anyone could like it. I’m not sure there’s a single fair crossing in the entire puzzle.
I knew GEFILTE right away, which got me the crosswordese of AFAR, and FONER and SOREL as well, both of which got me exactly nothing. And even those have more to do with my odd background than anything resembling a gimme.Again, again again: this isn’t about boomer tastes, but quite the opposite. I deplore even the minuscule reliance on those names that I had. Coming closer to starting, much less finishing, seems out of the question.
Oh, sorry. I did eventually abandon the wrong one for GOREY, with modest gains.
TNY: Of all the creators of tough Monday New Yorker puzzles, KAC is the one I always look forward to. His puzzles tend to emphasize word play and witty indirection. Tough as they often are, they are worth diving into and working at. I was shocked, therefore, to encounter today’s grid which has eleven names–most of which I didn’t know–and two name/name intersections. Not at all like most other KAC puzzles I’ve encountered. Disappointing.
The New Yorker: On the faster side for me on a KAC puzzle — much faster than his last New Yorker Monday. I quite enjoyed it.
I’m sure it helped that some of the proper nouns were gimmes (IDINA and FONER) and the ones that weren’t were readily inferrable with a few crosses (ARIANA, VERA CRUZ, GOREY). None of the long answers were immediately obvious, but again, I could get them with only a few crosses. My only real slowdown was scalES before ETUDES, but PDA quickly resolved that.
I didn’t know that “Wicked” is coming out as a movie. I loved the novel but was a bit disappointed by the musical (we saw the touring company).