Benjamin McAvoy-Bickford’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Just Chilling”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are idiomatic phrases regarding the relative temperature of something. The phrases go from hot to cold as the solver goes down the grid, as hinted at by the title.
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Just Chilling” · Benjamin McAvoy-Bickford · Wed., 10.16.24
- 17a. [At least 2600 degrees Fahrenheit] HOT AS BLUE BLAZES. Why that temperature? I’m guessing that’s when a flame turns blue.
- 26a. [160 degrees Fahrenheit, give or take] WARM AS TOAST.
- 41a. [40 degrees Fahrenheit, roughly] COOL AS A CUCUMBER.
- 50a. [Below 32 degrees Fahrenheit] COLD AS ICE.
Fun theme, and I’m impressed with the two grid spanners. I’ll admit to never having heard WARM AS TOAST, but a quick online search shows that it checks out. This grid needed a little bit of serendipity in that each phrase has an odd-number of letters in it, thereby allowing our constructor to employ left-right symmetry as the next best option to the usual rotational symmetry. But overall, it’s a lovely execution of a nice theme.
Fill highlights: MODEL UN, LAB COAT, “YES IT IS“, and YAZOO [It flows into the Mississippi at Vicksburg]. Even though this last one takes me back to when I lived in Mississippi, you can’t not like the name YAZOO.
Clues of note:
- 37a. [“For real?!”]. OMG. I see this clue is trying to tie in with the next clue [“For real?!” response] (“YES IT IS”), but it doesn’t quite work. OMG isn’t usually posed as a question.
- 10d. [Ego booster?]. ANALYST. Eh? Not sure about this one. Maybe it’s using ANALYST as a shortened form of psychoanalyst?
- 31d. [What all politics is, reportedly]. LOCAL. So get out there and VOTE!!!
- 61d. [Industry embodiment]. ANT. There seemed to be lot of Thursdayish cluing today, with this one being just an example. The answer isn’t readily apparent, but give it a little thought and you’ll likely hit upon it.
Nice grid. 3.5 stars.
Hanh Nuynh’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 10/16/24 – no. 1016
Cute theme. (I say again: “cute” is praise, not an insult.”) BEGINNER SPANISH (which I might prefer to be beginning Spanish) is the [Introductory foreign language class suggested by this puzzle’s theme], and the four themers are words that can be fractured into a basic Spanish word followed by an English word.
- 17a. [Three tickets] clues TRES PASSES, because three is tres and, in English, passes are tickets to an event. TRESPASSES, of course, is also a word.
- 26a. [With money], CON TENDER. Con = with, legal tender.
- 51a. [More revered], MAS SACRED.
- 60a. [Crazy reason], LOCO MOTIVE.
Today I learned: SEVEN is the [Number of blessings at a Jewish wedding].
Not so sure about: 50d. [What to do before a marathon, perhaps], REST UP. How do you define resting up? Last Saturday, my husband did go to bed early, but he also did a “shakeout run” of a mere three miles the day before the marathon. There was also a lot of eating.
Fave fill: ATHENA, Dolly PARTON, “ANYHOO.”
Four stars from me.
Robyn Weintraub’s New Yorker crossword – Kyle’s write-up
The New Yorker solution grid – Robyn Weintraub – Wednesday 10/16/2024
Despite being presented with a tricky opener at 1A [Gymnast’s move], I ended up flying through this Robyn Weintraub grid. Robyn’s conversational style shines through in entries like “HOLD ONTO YOUR HAT”, “I CAN FEEL IT”, “IT’S BEEN REAL” and “WE HAD A DEAL!” I missed it while solving, but on re-reading the clues I like 50A: [Answer to the joke “What did the fish say when it swam into the concrete wall?”] – DAM!
Thanks Robyn!
Prasanna Keshava’s Universal crossword, “That Checks Out” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 10/16/24 • Wed • “That Checks Out” • Keshava • solution • 20241016
I’ve seen this theme before, but not in a long while.
- 58aR [Makes logical sense … what each of the answers to the starred clues does?] HOLDS WATER. The relevant clues contain the letter sequence H-H-O, or H<sub>2</sub>O, the molecular formula for water.
- 17a. [*Coiled brass instrument] FRENCH HORN.
- 30a. [*Pesach and Hanukkah] JEWISH HOLIDAYS.
- 43a. [*Place for rounds after playing a round, slangily] NINETEENTH HOLE.
Minor complaint: the title is relevant only to the metaphorical sense of the revealer but has nothing to do with the theme itself. It’s a step removed.
- 4d [Portuguese __ (jellyfish relative)] MAN OF WAR. Correct cluing.
- 10d [Creative license?] FAKE ID. Neat.
- 1a [“Same for me”] AS AM I, not DITTO (or AS DO I … 7d [They’re exchanged at the altar] I DOS).
- 35a [Sailor’s domain] SEA, crossing 28d [“Yes, captain!”] AYE-AYE.
Rebecca Goldstein’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary
LA Times
241016
Rebecca Goldstein’s puzzle theme is somewhat fuzzily defined. The seventeen-letter RECIPE/FORDISASTER is the explaining answer. Essentially, each of four other across entries consists of an adjective with a bad connotation and then a foodstuff. The answers themselves are not edible. I feel like CRUDEOIL is the weak leg of the table, as all the others feel more like idioms as opposed to just an inedible oil variety. So:
- [Fruit given to Snow White by the Evil Queen], POISONAPPLE.
- [Rabble-rouser], BADEGG
- [Youthful rebelliousness], WILDOATS
- [Unrefined petroleum], CRUDEOIL
Tricky spots:
- [Rapid transit vehicles?], RAFTS. Not buseS
- [Turkish dough], LIRAS. The dictionary suggests liralar or lira?
- [Gush with naches], KVELL. Guessing naches is pride?
- [Wrap for leftovers], FOIL. Not edible!
- [Reacted to something striking?], SAWSTARS. Striking you!
- [Drawing board?], CHESSSET. I guess you can draw a chess game, but it’s not my favourite ? clue…
- [Plant-based], VEGAN. So mushrooms aren’t vegan. Who knew?
Gareth
Kyle Dolan’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Falling Dirt”—Amy’s recap
AV Club Classic crossword solution, 10/16/24 – “Falling Dirt”
Here’s the revealer: 17a. [Question from one looking for dirt, which also hints at the answers to this puzzle’s starred clues], WHAT’S THE LOWDOWN? The four themers are all Downs that flip a phrase or compound word’s halves and clue accordingly with a gossip vibe:
- 29d. [*”You didn’t hear it from me, but Dracula has been drinking vegan blood for like four centuries now”], COUNT WORD. Flip a word count, use the “lowdown” sense of WORD.
- 25d. [*”The priest sounded like he was slurring at mass yesterday … I hear he likes his altar wine a little too much”], SERVICE TEA.
- 28d. [*”I heard from the wrench that the little ‘metal’ thing next to the nut is secretly made out of plastic”], WASHER DISH. I’d like this clue better if a T-NUT weren’t close by in the grid.
- 31d. [*”They claim to make this fondue from a family recipe, but I happen to know it’s store-bought”], DIP SKINNY.
Sassy theme!
Four stars from me.
Bruce Haight’s USA Today Crossword, “Figurehead” — Emily’s write-up
Lovely puzzle with a tricky theme.
USA Today, October 16, 2024, “Figurehead” by Bruce Haight
Theme: the last part of each themer can prepend “figure” to form a new word
Themers:
- 17a. [Spring-loaded toy], POGOSTICK
- 38a. [Facial hair grooming aid], MUSTACHEWAX
- 62a. [Try something], GIVEITAGO
This themer set has a bit of everything: POGOSTICK, MUSTACHEWAX, and GIVEITAGO. I needed some crossings for each but then they filled in easily after that. The theme was tricky for me–how did you all do? h/t to Sally for this one, as I didn’t see it myself. So with the theme, we get: STICK FIGURE, WAX FIGURE, and GO FIGURE.
Favorite fill: POPSIN, MOONBEAM, WASABI, and DOUR
Stumpers: OCALA (needed crossings), RAT (great misdirection–had me thinking about a pig), and ABODE (kept thinking “studio” or small dwelling)
I flew through this solve for the most part. Great overall fill and a fun themer set. The theme stumped me but I really enjoyed it once I got it.
4.0 stars
~Emily
NYT: I enjoyed the solve. But I have a few nits.
To clue AMEND as “Revise” isn’t wrong, but it contains no hint that AMEND means to improve — so it would appear that this word and “emend” are considered interchangeable.
Nobody ever uses BEGINNER [language]. They *might* say BEGINNER’s [language].
And the meanings of words matter! Personally, I don’t want to encounter words like MASSACRED (no matter how cute the multilingual pun) or RICIN when I am trying to forget about the troubled world and just do a !@#$%^ crossword puzzle.
Amy would prefer “beginning Spanish.” It’s hard to disagree with such a reasonable opinion. OTOH, “Nobody ever uses …” has the disadvantage of begging for rebuttal.
I kn0w Dan likes to draw expert nits, and it’s a real contribution, but honestly I can’t imagine an objection to to AMEND. It occurred to me right away, and its among the top words in the MW thesaurus entry for “revise.”
Then, too, I hate to keep repeating this, but a crossword clue is in no way expected to spell out every single usage or connotation of the answer. How could it? Besides, those tend to differ in even what we call synonyms, which is why both have entered the language. If not, they may acquire differences in use.
But then, the more I think of it, they’re even less far off. Why ever would I have made a career out of editing if not to find corrections and other improvements? Could I have done so to further my whims and to make things worse? If so, I’m lucky indeed to have (modestly) got paid.
I did die for another S to BEGINNER SPANISH and didn’t like it at all, but shrugged it off. Oh well. I’d use “intro Spanish anyway.”
There are a lot of considerations that go into my deciding whether I think a clue is a good one.
The oft-repeated refrains like “A clue is not a definition”, etc., have no bearing on when I sense that a clue is just a hair off being accurate.
Also: Merely appearing in a list of synonyms — even one compiled by a famous (but not that qualified) dictionary company — is no justification for a clue that is a bit off.
But this is my philosophy of clueing:
A good clue is like an arrow that points to the meaning of the answer. The arrow can be very far away, or very deceptively phrased, or very hard to interpret.
But no matter what, the arrow must point to the dead center of the meaning of the answer.
Didn’t the LAT do a puzzle just like today’s NYT a couple of weeks ago? Nice idea but not so straightforward for those of use whose Spanish is subminimal. I figured the themers out after the fact but it took a moment or two.
The AMEND/DACA crossing seemed like a potential trip-up, given the fondness that crosswords have for the rarely used EMEND.
You might be thinking of the September 22 LAT puzzle, which is similar. My favorite bit of that was [Number of NBA championships won by Bill Russell?] ONCE IN A LIFETIME.
There’s no write-up here for that puzzle (and thus no screenshot of the grid), and not much discussion in the comments.
https://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2024/09/sunday-september-22-2024-zhouqin.html
NYT – SPAY refers to ovariohysterectomy surgery on female dogs/cats. So the Neuter (male/castration) clue doesn’t seem correct.
“Neuter” covers both, according to the dictionaries I looked at.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/neuter
Neuter is applied to both males and females.
Maybe I need to brush up on my Spanish if this is beginners level :)
NYT – why do only two of the theme answers “make sense”, with respect to their clues? MASSACRED and LOCOMOTIVE are just two words combined – nothing to do with their respective clue.
MASSACRED = MAS (Spanish for “more”) + SACRED (revered).
LOCOMOTIVE = LOCO (Spanish for “crazy”) + MOTIVE (reason).