Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “In a Jamb”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar(ish) phrases with the letters in DOOR progressively getting closer together as the solver proceeds down the grid.
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “In a Jamb” · Mike Shenk · Mon., 11.11.24
- 20a. [Original name of hockey’s Red Wings] DETROIT COUGARS. How is Red Wings an improvement over Cougars? (Not that cougars have anything to do with ice however.)
- 25a. [Highest decoration for a U.S. soldier] MEDAL OF HONOR.
- 41a. [Pulsars, for example] RADIO SOURCES. Hmm. Not a very in-the-language phrase. Maybe if I actually knew what a pulsar was, that might have helped here.
- 46aR. [Refusing to consider further, and a hint to this puzzle’s circles] CLOSING THE DOOR.
A fine theme with repetition that’s suitable for a Monday. That third entry was difficult for me to parse, so the theme helped me nail it down. In that way, it did its job.
In the fill, not sure I’ve ever heard NO-ACCOUNTS used as a noun [8d. Worthless people], but it’s a quaint term. SOFT JAZZ, TURN-OFFS, and FLAMING HOT are other lively entries.
Clues of note:
- 43a. [Quarantined person]. SHUT-IN. I don’t really equate these terms. To me, a SHUT-IN is isolated on a more permanent basis than one who’s in a temporary quarantine.
- 28d. [Nacho chip variety]. FLAMING HOT. This seems like an odd clue. Is this referring specifically to Doritos, because those are called “Flamin’ Hot”? It’s the same with Cheetos. I think a simple clue of [Burning] or something similar would have sufficed.
- 37d. [Dating deal-breakers]. TURN-OFFS. I already had some crossings in place or else I would have considered RED FLAGS. Did anyone go there?
John Michael Currie’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 11/11/24 by John Michael Currie
Feel the fluff! The revealer at 57A [Trial period for a new product, and what 17-, 25-, 38-, and 46-Across all have?] is SOFT LAUNCH, because each theme answer “launches,” or begins with, something soft:
- 17A [Campy photo booth accessory] is FEATHER BOA.
- 25A [Southern California’s June Gloom, essentially] is CLOUD COVER.
- 38A [Candy treat shaped like a chick or bunny] is MARSHMALLOW PEEP.
- 46A [Sleepover hideaway] is PILLOW FORT.
Sorry I don’t have time for more commentary today!
Jake Halperin’s Universal crossword, “Heavy Heart” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 11/11/24 • Mon • “Heavy Heart” • Halperin • solution • 20241111
- 53aR [Certain point of concentration, in physics … and what each of the starred clues’ answers has?] CENTER OF MASS. The thematic words and phrases have the name of a unit of mass in their exact centers.
- 19a. [*Personalizing with one’s initials] MONOGRAMMING (gram).
- 27a. [*Not late or early] RIGHT ON TIME (ton).
- 37a. [*Lunges, as a lion] POUNCES (ounce). Incidentally, another name for the snow leopard is ounce. etymology (m-w.com): Middle English unce lynx, from Middle French, alteration (by misdivision, as if l’once the ounce) of lonce, probably from Old Italian lonza, from Middle Greek lynk-, lynx, from Greek
- 45a. [*Facial feature of many insects] COMPOUND EYE (pound).
Good that the etymologies of the units of mass and the containing entries are distinct. A well put together theme.
- 4d [Gas that lowers your voice when inhaled] XENON. Did not know this.
- Longdowns: 3d [Meeting topics] AGENDA ITEMS, 24d [Bedside tables] NIGHTSTANDS.
- 38d [Epic finale?] CEE, the letter.
- 5a [Guilty feeling] SHAME. Some people literally have none.
- 13a [Mega] HUGE. One could say … massive.
- 43a [Fish that can swim backward] EEL. 20d [Long-nosed fish] GAR. Not closely related though they exhibit some anatomical convergence.
- 66a [“Grande Dame of Southern Cooking” Lewis] EDNA. Have not seen this framing before in a crossword.
Erik Agard’s 11/11/24 New Yorker crossword — Eric’s review
Erik Agard’s New Yorker crossword 11/11/24
I never expect 1A in a “challenging” puzzle to be a gimme, so I wasn’t surprised that [Subject of a wild anecdote] didn’t immediately suggest ESCAPADE. And I’d never heard the word nerd trivia of 12A [Etymological relative of “bodega” and “apothecary”] BOUTIQUE (all three come from the Latin apothēca, meaning storehouse).
So I immediately left the NW corner for the NE. 9A [Dorm mentors, for short] RAS wasn’t much to start with, but it led to 10D [Unfriendly] ALOOF and 11D [Leave unpaid] STIFF. With those, I had enough to start dropping in answers one after another, with only a few minor missteps.
As usual, Erik Agard has built a grid around some nice stuff:
- 14A [Constant] PERPETUAL/28D [Constant] CEASELESS
- 32A [Sport originally known as hotdogging] FREESTYLE SKIING (Trust me, the original name fits)/50A [“Screw it, might as well”] YOLO
- 9D [Shanita Hubbard book that critiques the loyal-chick trope in hip-hop and its impact on Black women] RIDE OR DIE I learned that phrase from a NYT crossword about three years ago; not knowing it then held me up for such a long time that the phrase is now deeply entrenched in my brain. I’ve never heard of Ms Hubbard or her book, but I was confident of that answer.
Other answers that were new (or newish) to me:
- 22A [Marvel villain who asks a museum director, “How do you think your ancestors got these? You think they paid a fair price?”] Erik “KILLMONGER” Stevens The character is from the Black Panther franchise and was played by Michael B. Jordan in the 2018 movie, which I saw but was underwhelmed by. (I’m sure it was more impressive on a big screen.)
- 26A [Beauty influencer and co-founder of the life-style brand FORVR MOOD] JACKIE AINA I got the last six letters before figuring out the first four, and the string of four vowels looked quite wrong.
Brendan Emmett Quigley’s #1730 (themeless) — Eric’s review
Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1730 11/11/24
Having solved Erik Agard’s New Yorker puzzle in a reasonable time, I got overconfident and left the timer running for this puzzle, so I feel honor-bound to report my pitifully slow time.
Most of the grid went fairly smoothly, but the NW corner was stubborn even after I got 20A [“Only stating my opinion”] BUT THAT’S JUST ME.
14A [2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, for short] TRIBE (as in the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest) could have been just about anyone who started making music from 1950 to 1999. Running through all the vowels for the third letter didn’t suggest anything. 17A [Sport that becomes a similar sport if you add a letter to the front and back] ROQUE is a type of clue I really don’t like because the possibilities seem endless and it’s too much work to try to figure it out. But even with RO___E, I couldn’t see the answer.
3D [Event where many take stock] LIQUIDATION SALE was inexplicably hard for me to see until in the interest of completing the puzzle sometime today, I revealed a few letters. Once I had that, the rest of the NW corner quickly fell into place.
Some stuff I enjoyed:
- 20A BUT THAT’S JUST ME
- 47A [Phrase put into square brackets] INSERT JOKE HERE (I’m not sure I understand the clue (“square” in the sense of “not cool,” maybe?), but it’s a nice phrase to see in a grid.)
- 11D [“I’m flexible, propose some times”] WHAT WORKS FOR YOU
I’m less keen on 4D [Direct contact] ABUTTAL. Yes, it’s a word, but not one I can remember seeing anywhere else.
NYT already has 3 ratings! How does this happen? Did the editor, constructor, and one of their friends post their stars before the puzzle is released to the general public?
I believe that the Sunday and Monday puzzles are usually released around 3 PM Pacific, four hours earlier than the other days., I rated it around 5:30 Pacific.
Thx for the reply Art, and I’m surprised that a Monday puzzle would be released on a Sunday afternoon. Most publications have automated scripts that post their content precisely at one second after midnight, but maybe not in this case.
I’ve been solving the NYT online for almost five years. I think that in that entire time, Sunday and Monday puzzles have always been released at 6 Eastern. The others are released at 10 Eastern.
TNY: Not a crossword puzzle. Just a dive bar trivia contest. Ugh.
Did Erik’s New Yorker puzzle this morning, I think the first xword I’ve done in 11 days. It took me 21 minutes but zero errors! One tough-as-heck crossing for me but I surmised right. Yay, me!
Hoping to return to the world of puzzle blogging this week. Much gratitude to Team Fiend for keeping things going in my absence!
Reminder to everyone here: Let’s focus on community and support and being good people.
Let’s focus on encouraging constructors to create good puzzles. :-)
Agreed. And I would add that editors need to pay better attention to which puzzles they choose to run and how they phrase clues.
Thought it was a good puzzle overall.
CUPCAKKE, KILLMONGER and JACKIE AINA were all new to me, so the area where they intersected was tough for me.
Liked the clue for LUXURY TAX.
NYT – theme has been done several times. Just updated.
Agard’s New Yorker: a pleasure, as always. Interesting fill, nice cross-talk between quadrants, just the right level of difficulty for a Monday.
I’m finding it highly unpleasant and just plain impossible, the worst Monday in months, from its start with a statue and a rapper through its stacks of a Marvel character and “beauty influencer” to its end. And when in the world did anyone say MILDS in the plural?
Since it’s Veteran’s Day, it seems appropriate that I relate my Navy experience upon returning to the US after serving in an air/search rescue helicopter squadron, assigned to the USS Kearsarge in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War era. As we left the air station located in Southern California, eager to enjoy a well-deserved leave after being overseas for almost eight months, we encountered “surfers” (later labelled “hippies”), who were throwing pots and pans at us. [Why pots and pans?!?!] It was certainly not the welcome we expected.
Later, when I applied for the GI Educational benefits, I was stunned to learn that vets from WWII were awarded benefits amounting to sums larger than the average wage for that time, around $4300 per year. My benefits were less than half of that; about $1700. Why? Because I had fought in an unpopular war.
When I was looking for work, years later, my veteran’s adviser at the employment office told me to expunge any references to my military involvement with Vietnam, even though vets were supposed to receive extra consideration. I couple of years ago, while recuperating from a medical procedure in an ICU, I met a Vietnamese woman who had migrated to the US after the conflict ended. When she learned that I had served during the war, she sincerely said to me, “Thank you for your service.” That was the only time anyone had spoken those words to me. It brought me to tears.
Veteran’s Day? Bah humbug.
I’m deeply saddened to read of your experience and I sincerely thank you for your service to our country.
I’m so sorry for your experience, and I join in thanking you sincerely for your service.
I think our shameful treatment of returning Vietnam Vets has led us to a deeper sense of appreciation for the services of later war vets, unpopular though the wars may be. They/you are people who should not be treated so badly for serving our country. I hope we did learn that from your lesson.
Very well said, MarcieM.
I’m saddened by your experience, too. I know it’s of no comfort, but no one I know would have taken out our hatred of the war on those who served in it. They could very easily have been us. (I still remember my draft number, less than my age back then.)
It’s not all bad news for Vets. From Statista:
“A homeless veteran is a person who has served in the armed forces who is also experiencing homelessness, or living without access to secure accommodation. In the wealthiest country on earth, homelessness rates have been on the rise over the last few years. Despite this, homelessness within the veteran population has dramatically reduced over the last decade. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) attributes this success to the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program, rolled out in 2011. The program provides targeted housing assistance, paired with access to various services such as mental health counselling, and job training.”
BEQ: And Brendan brings us another medium for awls, canvas :D . I think he read our minds …
I enjoyed this one. I have no idea what the clue for “insert joke here” referred to but enough crossings got it filled in. I liked the long conversational phrases “what works for you” and “but thats just me”. I never heard of Troutman and the Roque clue was irritating, but crosses got it. I’d never heard of it as a sport.
Tough but mostly fair and fun for me.
The NYT Tech Guild says its members will be returning to work Tuesday, November 12.
https://tinyurl.com/y6ux93ve
I see they are advising supporters to return to using the Games and Cooking apps. Good news! The Guild has apparently not reached its goal of a fair contract, but will continue the fight from within.
Technical note (nit?) regarding the Universal puzzle, for the uninterested reader:
Pound and ounce are units of weight rather than mass. The corresponding units of mass are the slug and the snail, respectively. And I’m not even going to go into the differences between avoirdupois, troy, and apothecary’s… ;)
Ton can be a mass (1000 kg, often spelled tonne) or a weight (2000 lbs., but there are variations on that…).
I had that thought while solving. The distinction between mass and weight has been lost for a long time.
But don’t get me started on time
BEQ: Thank you, Eric, for blogging the puzzle today! I can’t tell you how pleased I am! OK, I will. After griping for years to Amy how frustrating it’s been to see “BEQ t/k” after solving Brendan’s puzzles but with questions, I was so happy to see a post! So I hope you will be a regular here.
Today’s posed no questions; it was excellent and the long fills were very doable with only a few letters in. BEQ is a masterful constructor, despite the frequent current music entries! But there is always plenty of great fill to help.
Thanks, Karen!
I’m happy to be here. The plan for now is that I will blog the two BEQ puzzles each week and fill in occasionally for other Fiend reviewers.
If you ever have a question about an answer in a puzzle I’ve reviewed, please ask in the comments. I usually come back to them a few times each day.
Thursday’s review will be a bit late, as I have an appointment in the morning. I don’t think I’ll be able to write up the puzzle before I have to leave for that.