Robert Corridan’s New York Times crossword — Sophia’s write-up
Theme: LA LA LAND – The string “LALA” is in each of the theme answers
New York Times, 09 16 2024, By Robert Corridan
- 17a [N.B.A. team with LeBron and Bronny James, for short] – LA LAKERS
- 23a [Setting for “My Cousin Vinny”] – RURAL ALABAMA
- 36a [Youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner] – MALALA YOUSAFZAI
- 46a [Sweet Starbucks order] – VANILLA LATTE
- 59a [2016 film starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling … or a hint to 17-, 23-, 36- and 46-Across] – LA LA LAND
A great puzzle for Robert’s NYT debut! I think what sets this apart is the high quality of the theme answers. LA LAKERS, VANILLA LATE, and MALALA YOUSAFZAI are all great finds. RURAL ALABAMA was the toughest for me (I have never seen “My Cousin Vinny” and for some reason I thought it was set in New York???) but it’s still legit. The puzzle overall reminded me a little of this previous Monday LA LA LAND puzzle, but I liked how this one took the same concept in an entirely new direction.
The fill is overall solid, if not particularly standout. The quantity of theme answers requires the puzzle to be somewhat segmented, but it might have been nice to have a few longer downs. I liked CIS WOMAN, OK BUT, and GYM BAG. I think of LIMPED IN as a poker term, and the clue for POMELO of [Fruit that’s a citrus, not a hybrid of a pomegranate and melon] was a clever way to get a solver to the answer through wordplay. My other fave clue was [“Sorry, I’m bad with ___” (party excuse)] for NAMES. I had not heard of a P-TRAP, but I have since been told that’s a very common thing… I also did not know that Charles de Gaulle wa born in LILLE, but the crosses there were fair.
Happy Monday all!
Dena R. Witkes & Andrea Carla Michaels’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “The First Shall Be Last”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar(ish) phrases whose last words are the last names of famous men named Adam. The revealer is MADAM, I’M ADAM (36a, [Palindromic introduction, and a hint to the ends of 18-, 20-, 53- and 57-Across]).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “The First Shall Be Last” · Dena R. Witkes & Andrea Carla Michaels · Mon., 9.16.24
- 18a. [“Heavens!”] GREAT SCOTT. Comedic actor Adam Scott. I don’t know the name and never watched Parks and Rec, but I do recognize him.
- 20a. [Historic San Francisco music venue] FILLMORE WEST. TV’s Batman Adam West. Do most people outside of SF know this venue? I grew up in the South Bay and didn’t know this.
- 53a. [Insect that tunnels through wood to nest] CARPENTER ANT. Rocker Adam Ant.
- 57a. [Someone whose work is picking up?] UBER DRIVER. Actor Adam Driver.
The title had me thinking that the order of words in certain phrases or names was going to be switched. The revealer had me thinking I should be looking for palindromes. Neither was correct.
I’m still not seeing how to interpret the title. It seems to say that the first name shall be in the last position in each phrase. But each phrase’s last word is a last name. The only place where a first name is in the last position is in the revealer. How about this as an alternative: Adam is the first man (if you go by the Bible), and his namesakes (i.e. other Adams) come last in their respective phrases. I guess that works.
The solve was relatively quick, especially up top. There are no long marquee answers to point to, but I did enjoy YOINK, OPOSSUM, and that SCRUM / MOGUL / PYGMY section (though I had a few missteps therein).
Clues of note:
- 51a. [What a little birdie told me]. TWEET. Cute clue. Do people still use this word with respect to the site formerly known as Twitter?
- 45d. [High-spirited gathering]. SEANCE. I’m really thinking this should have a question mark.
Good Monday theme and a clean grid. 3.25 stars.
Laura Dershewitz’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 9/16/24 by Laura Dershewitz
Figuring out what was going on with the theme in this puzzle took me longer than actually solving the puzzle, I think. The revealer is in the center of the grid at 38A [Involves, or a phonetic feature of the answers to the starred clues?], ENTAILS, because each theme entry consists of two words whose TAILS are the letters EN:
- 17A [*Background for a scene using CGI] is a GREEN SCREEN.
- 24A [*Meditation area with raked sand] is a ZEN GARDEN.
- 49A [*Broadway star who won a Tony for “Pippin”] is BEN VEREEN. I watched a whole lot of Zoobilee Zoo as a kid and therefore appreciated this choice!
- 60A [*Circle K competitor] is SEVEN ELEVEN. This one wasn’t my favorite, as the SEVEN isn’t spelled out in the chain’s official name.
As implied above, the grid presented no issues to a quick solve despite Lew AYRES at 47A and the eternal question “Is it EIRE or ERIN this time?” at 38D. I liked the longer nontheme entries MOUSE OVER, SET MENU, and BANNER YEAR.
Erik Agard’s New Yorker crossword—Amy’s recap
New Yorker crossword solution, 9/16/24 – Agard
COOL BEANS! A themeless from Erik that’s chock full of twisty clues and terrific fill.
Fave entries: THE “IT” GIRL, CAT PEOPLE ([Fans of tom crews?], ha), Maryland’s OLD BAY seasoning, OFF BASE, buttery PARATHA, BOTSWANA, POKE A HOLE IN, the PEABODY Awards, pool table’s SIDE POCKETS (tricky clue, [Couple sitting across from each other at a table?], though that “at” wants to be “on” for this answer), CAVE ART, ANTIGUA with an etymology clue ([Island whose name means “old”]).
FALSE IDOL also has a funny clue, [God, no!].
New to me: [Nickname for the announcer inducted into the W.W.E. Hall of Fame in 2006], MEAN GENE. Also did not know [H.I.V./AIDS activist Hydeia] BROADBENT, but the surname’s familiar from actor Jim so a few crossings pointed me in the right direction. I looked her up while writing about the puzzle. Please do click through to read her obituary in the Washington Post (gift link, no paywall) to pay your respects. She was born with HIV and lived 39 years, and did much to battle AIDS and HIV stigma during her abbreviated life.
4.25 stars from me. (I cannot at all understand the motivations of the handful of people who have slapped 1-star ratings on this puzzle. Explain yourselves!) I always appreciate Erik’s cluing when he unleashes his inner trickster in harder puzzles.
NYT: I liked this puzzle save for a technical infraction, of using STEAM to mean a mist of hot water droplets rather than its official meaning of water vapor, i.e., in standard environment water that is 212º or more, so in a gaseous.
But I suspect this gets the standard exemption for common everyday use by non-experts, like “The mirror got all steamed up”. And what else could steam it up but steam?*
—————
* Or anything that gets mirrors angry, but I can’t think of any such thing.
Lol. I think of a steamed mirror as my friend. The foggier the better.
That hits close to home. I laughed out loud
Dear Amy, OGUN. Need I say more? Okay, how about MEAN GENE? BROADBENT? I’m sure she was a wonderful person, but it’s not actually a household name.] An obscure clue for BOTSWANA. And OLD BAY? I could go on, but I won’t. A “challenging” puzzle should not be be impossible. At least, that’s the opinion of this 71-year-old who has been doing puzzles for over 60 years.
+1 (I found the puzzle uninteresting…)
NYT – not a fan of RURALALABAMA. It’s ok, but seems a little green painty.
New Yorker: I found this challenging but fun. All of the clues Amy mentioned were amusing; I would add the clues for FREE TAKE ONE [Sample text?] and T-BALL [Activity whose participants use kid gloves?].
Like Amy, I did not know of Hydeia BROADBENT, but with a few crosses, I was able to figure out the name.
In fact, much of my solving experience was like that, getting a few letters of unknown answers and then chancing an answer. I’ve never heard of MEAN GENE, but with __ANGENE in place, the ME seemed likely, and it gave me the M for HOLD’EM.
Biggest holdup: Ares before Odin before OGUN. I’m not at all familiar with Yoruba spirits.
Same holdup for the Yoruba god… ares to mars to odin oops!!
I had catlovers for the tom crews, and took a stab at the feline off caracals (I hadn’t heard of a margay). Same working for Mean Gene, it just made sense for a nickname. Didn’t know the Aids activist and glad to learn of her.
Loved all the tricksy fun clues you and Amy mention. That’s why my eyes light up when I see e.a. byline… tough but fun and ultimately fair.
I also appreciated that the Marvel clue didn’t refer to the comic universe at all :) . Anything Marvelous does produce awe.
…ares to mars to odin oops! My path exactly
New Yorker: I haven’t followed pro wrestling in decades, but Mean Gene Okerlund was one of the few gimmes in that puzzle. Guess I’ll never be sufficiently erudite to do the Monday without a lot of grief and checking.
WSJ: Jim, I think you’ve got the wrong grid image in for your write up.
Also, one of my favorite shared celebrity names is Adam Scott. There’s the comedic actor who’s so good in everything he’s in, and then the golfer, who’s got some prolific wins (including a major, the Masters) and who’s been ranked #1 in the world. A household name in Australia to be sure, but also a name any golf-watcher around the world would recognize.
Yep, wrong grid.
Thanks for the assist. It’s fixed now. In my defense the two grids looked very similar, and I must’ve just casually went by the thumbnail in the image browser.
New Yorker: I don’t have a subscription for TNY, but seeing clues like “God, no!” and “Fans of tom crews?” in the write-up (and Eric H’s mentions above) is just about the best advertisement they could have for anyone wanting fun, tricky clues out of a crossword. Erik’s cluing is on another level!
The New Yorker lets you read a small number of articles each month without a subscription. I used to do that, but found the Monday and Tuesday puzzles so much fun that I subscribed.
Sometimes I even read the articles.
And you’re right about Erik Agard’s clueing.
When I try to read New Yorker articles, I only get a very annoying pop-up ad asking me to sign up for a 7day free trial. How were you able to read a few pieces a month? Just curious. Is it different on a computer vs phone?
I’ve subscribed to the New Yorker for over a year, so I have forgotten what it was like when I didn’t have a subscription.
Sorry if I provided outdated information. But I just went to their website in a browser and in addition to the annoying pop-up ad, I got a warning that I was reading my “last free article.” So I guess they still do it?
I’m able to get the TNY puzzle every day by going to their crossword page, clicking the link for the current day’s puzzle and then using the Crossword Scraper browser add-in to download the puzzle to a PUZ file. It doesn’t look like there’s a pay wall there. I think I could solve it online there if I wanted to.
This is probably my biggest disaster of a TNY puzzle. I have the larger SE, including due S, and the smaller NW, but that’s it, apart from a guess of PEABODY. I’ve no idea who the Bears rookie or AIDS activist is, know little about Clara Bow, have never heard of the margays or caracals or the Okavango Delta, have less than no interest in WWE, and so on. The very rare clue NOT a factoid is so broad, like “Excellent,” that it could be anything.
So after 90 minutes, I’d say the odds of my breaking into the broad center are all but nil. As often with TNY, ratings lean negative while those who comment are wildly positive. I guess people that dedicated here are just on their wavelength and share their interests.
I sometimes post a “wildly positive” review to try to counteract the “wildly negative” silent raters. I appreciate seeing your commentary where you are specific about what you don’t like… that is much more meaningful than just a click on one star.
I usually tackle the Monday and Tuesday TNY puzzles, and usually finish them, but I don’t give star ratings and generally refrain from commenting because my take on them is so often at odds with Amy’s opinion.
To amplify JohnH’s remarks, the clue for BOTSWANA is a perfect example of what I don’t like about the style of these puzzles. The name in the clue sounded African, so I figured I was looking for an African country, then had to wait until I’d got a sufficient number of crosses that I could fill it in. But where’s the fun in that? No wit, no word play.
Same thing with the clue for HUEVOS. I’ve never heard of the dish mentioned in the clue, so again it was a matter of waiting for crosses and coming up with something plausible.
I knew PEABODY and THEITGIRL, and I happened to know CALEB because I watched last night’s football game for a few minutes before switching to something more interesting.
And then OGUN, for which of course I thought of ARES and ODIN (and maybe THOR). In this case, the clue was meaningless and the answer could only come from crosses.
Amy enthuses about the puzzle. I thought it was a drag. There were some clever clues, admittedly, but what I remember mostly are the mystery trivia clues.
I didn’t know whether to have HEUVOS or -vas, deficient as I am in Spanish, and definitely the meaningless OGUN didn’t help. And ditto that the factoid is no way to clue a country like BOTSWANA.
As it happens, I cheated and looked up one of the two FELINES, which got me that corner. In the NEW, I changed Band-Air to BANDAGE, with reluctance since a bandage is used more broadly than to protect skin, often stabilizing a part with internal injury. But that broke through to SHAG and then due N and the start of the long central ones. I still have THEI, BROAD, and COOLBE incomplete and nothing to the NE. (I got CAT PEOPLE after finally dropping my hope for “cat lovers.”)
I’ve been pondering the wall paintings and tried frescos in case there’s a abnormal plural in the puzzle, but that’s clearly not right. So basically I’m blank in a corner from 30D up.
While we’re listing what we may not have cared for in TNY, I don’t like cross-referenced clues and 1a referencing 28a referencing back to 1a … PITA so I did start out not liking this puzzle, especially since the flatbread was completely unknown to me and the “go steady” clue was on the trickier side of fair, with 1d being just about anything. But I moved on from that area, and got back there the other way.
I didn’t much care for the 1A/28A cross-referencing, either — not an auspicious way to begin a puzzle.
But once I got 4D NEEDN’T (a gimme despite being a conversational clue), I knew that the cross references were OPEN and SHUT.
Hi, I just completed Stan’s stumper and I wanted to give thanks for clearing up 46A. I thought Dose taken another way was med spelled backwards !!
“The clue for BOTSWANA is a perfect example of what I don’t like about the style of these puzzles. The name in the clue sounded African, so I figured I was looking for an African country, then had to wait until I’d got a sufficient number of crosses that I could fill it in. But where’s the fun in that? No wit, no word play.”
I had never heard of the Okavango Delta, either, but I was happy to learn some African geography, which I am not very good at.
I’m curious as to what clue for BOTSWANA you’d prefer. From crosswordtracker.com, it looks like most clues in other puzzles refer to Botswana’s neighbors. I wouldn’t have found any of those easier, but maybe you would have.
(There was one clue from a WSJ puzzle in 2o16 that referred to Botswana being a big “eggsporter” of diamonds. I assume that was part of the puzzle’s theme, but that kind of wordplay doesn’t strike me as particularly witty.)
I don’t mind having to piece together a few answers (such as BOTSWANA) if there are some clues in the puzzle that have “wit” and “wordplay.” And there was plenty of both in the puzzle.
While it wasn’t my comma, I don’t have a suggestion for cluing the country. Just makd the crossings halfway fair. That’s a concept just plain foreign to TNY.
The crosses for BOTSWANA seem perfectly “fair” to me. None were gimmes, though NOBLE SAVAGE is such a well-worn phrase that it was not difficult to get despite never having heard of the book mentioned in the clue.
Can you honestly say that there’s any one of those crossings that you have never heard of? (Excepting, of course, BROADBENT, which was new to most of us.) OLD BAY is the closest to pop culture in those seven answers.
Just skimming the Wikipedia entry for the Okavango Delta is educational. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has all of the “Big Five” game animals.
That’s a fair comment, Eric — although you could clue BOTSWANA as ‘country whose name anagrams to swan boat.’
What it boils down to, though (as a recent constructor commented here), is that I don’t like to see a lot of proper nouns in puzzles. They’re hard to clue except as definitions, either obvious or obscure or somewhere in between.
Unlike a lot of people, I don’t usually mind proper nouns in puzzles. They’re often the only answers that I can be sure of, making them solid footholds.
Which isn’t to say that I don’t occasionally gripe about the proper nouns that I don’t know.
I like your BOTSWANA clue.
TNY: This one beat me up pretty badly. Had to stop and come back a couple of times, but finished with no errors. Looking back over the puzzle, there are a few things I didn’t know, but overall, entirely fair, and some really good cluing. This is EXACTLY what I want in a Monday TNY – thanks, e.a.!
It beat me up, too. I finished but not without some bloodshed. Agree with EXACTLY what I want from a Monday TNY and thanks to e.a.!
That’s exactly how I felt about it, though I managed to finish in a single sitting. Just a really good (but tough) puzzle.