Sarah Sinclair & Rafael Musa’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
Hello! This is maybe the second crossword I’ve solved in the past three weeks (the other was Erik Agard’s New Yorker puzzle last week, and I’m pleased to report that I wrangled that CUPCAKKE/JACKIE AINA crossing right). It has been rough. Eleven days in the hospital and a bunch of exhausting days of ass-kicking migraine action thereafter. Oh, and an 11-hour treatment session last week. Still have a headache but feeling more human finally. I cannot recommend a bout of organ rejection for a kidney that’s on its way out anyway so its wiggle room is slim. Big thanks to Team Fiend for pitching in to cover for me for far longer than I’d anticipated—they are a wonderful group of people and I hope you appreciated hearing a range of viewpoints on the puzzles I usually cover.
NY Times crossword solution, 11/22/24 – no. 1122
On to the puzzle! Lots to like here.
Fave fill: OLD NORSE, my hobby of SLEPT LATE, Google’s forsaken “DON’T BE EVIL” (my god, their stupid “AI summary” trash is so broken—my mom’s BFF googled Amazon customer service phone number and the number Google pushed was for a scammer asking her SSN and bank account info), IDIOCY, BLIND DATES, ASTROLOGY, “NO, I INSIST,” “BE COOL,” OLIVIA RODRIGO, “LET IT BE,” and the KIDS’ TABLE. I think I like LOLING as well.
- Three things:
- 26a. [Bêtise], IDIOCY. It’s in Merriam-Webster. Who knew? Not I.
- 42a. [Irritation treated with a warm compress], STYE. Fact! Get yourself a microwave-heatable eyepatch like this if you get a stye or chalazion. A hot washcloth goes cold much too fast.
- 57a. [Understudy opportunities?], EASY A’S. Clever clue! You don’t have to study as much for such classes.
Four stars from me.
Joe Marangell’s Los Angeles Times crossword — pannonica’s write-up
LAT • 11/22/24 • Fri • Marangell • solution • 20241122
- 66aR [“The Jeffersons” theme song, and an apt title for this puzzle] MOVIN’ ON UP. The ON elements of the theme answers, pre-circled in the grid, spur upwards.
- 17a. [Stay vigilant] BE {ON} THE BALL.
crossing entry: 2d [Sign outside a restricted area] NO ENTRY. - 21a. [Punctual] RIGHT {ON} TIME.
crossing entry: 9d [Playing past the fourth qtr., say] IN OT. - 39a. [Comedy routine with peculiar names] WHO’S {ON} FIRST.
crossing entry: 29d [Bouquet] NOSE. - 60a. [“Pick up the pace!”] GET {ON} WITH IT.
crossing entry: 42d [Tangled] KNOTTY.
The theme answers are all excellent, and I really appreciate the care that was taken to ensure that the crossing entries produces the reversed ON a distinct way each time. As an aside, and probably not intentional from the constructor, the theme phrases all work—to varying degrees—without the “on”: BE THE BALL, RIGHT TIME, WHO’S FIRST, GET WITH IT.
So, nicely turned.
- 3d [Vrbo category] COTTAGE. I’m inferring that Vrbo is a real estate service/site.
- 5d [BOLO kin] APB. Be on the lookout, all points bulletin.
- 11d [Some sketches] SATIRES. 7d [Improv technique] AD LIB.
- 31d [Cards with pics] IDS. 9a [App with pics] INSTA.
- 48d [Process, in a way] DIGEST. 49d [Brainstorm] IDEATE. Nice pairing.
- Some entries not often seen in crosswords: DINGHY, STASES, RETINUE. (48a, 23a, 45d)
- 35a [“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” writer Anita] LOOS. I feel as if I might be the only person alive who’s read the book (excellent, by the way) but not seen the film.
Daniel Hrynick’s Universal crossword, “A Couple Quick Notes …”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases of the form X AND Y but they’re reimagined as instructions (i.e. tips or pointers) on how to do something. The revealer is TWO POINTERS (56a, [Dunks and layups … and a hint to this puzzle’s theme]). Theme adjacent entry: TIP IN [Easy basket].
Universal crossword solution · “A Couple Quick Notes …” · Daniel Hrynick · Fri., 11.22.24
- 16a. [Host’s tips at a singles event?] MIX AND MATCH.
- 22a. [Food critic’s tips for doing a batch of reviews?] RANK AND FILE.
- 33a. [Saxophonist’s tips on how to play that funky music?] TONGUE AND GROOVE.
- 46a. [Costume designer’s tips for snap pants?] WEAR AND TEAR.
Really nice! I was cruising along with this grid until I got to the revealer which threw me sideways. It seemed fine without the revealer, but then once I fully grokked what the revealer was telling me, I appreciated it all the more. Nicely conceived and executed.
As I said, I was cruising through the grid mainly due to the smooth fill and straightforward cluing. In fact, my solve time should have been a whole minute faster except I had UNITE instead of UNIFY at 25a and it took a while to find my mistake. Fill highlights include SLIP INTO, VISCERAL, and TAXATION.
Clues of note:
- 20a. [One who might say “knackered”]. BRIT. One of my favorite British words. Another is “gobsmacked.”
- 23d. [(I’m a horse!)]. NEIGH. I really doubt that’s the message the horse is trying to convey, but if that’s how it’s interpreted, so be it.
Good puzzle. 3.75 stars.
Glad you’re back, Amy! I’m so sorry it’s been rough!
Sending you good thoughts.
welcome back Amy! Sending healing thoughts your way.
I thought the Times was simply a blast. fresh and fun.
So glad you’re back, Amy! Keep feeling better and better!
Daisies? What?
The youngest group of Girl Scouts, kinder and 1st grade… Before Brownies. They form troops.
@marciem – thanks for the explanation. With the capital “D,” I knew we weren’t dealing with flowers. Best I could come up with was Daisy Duck – thought maybe TROOP was a term for a flock of female ducks. Yeah, I know – that’s a big stretch.
Amy: One more voice to the round of well-wishes. Glad to have you back. So sorry about what you’ve gone through – hope things continue to improve!
To add to what marciem said, the Daisies only date back to 1984. Despite my mother and sisters having been involved with Girl Scouts, I didn’t know that one because my younger sister was a teenager by then.
I only know because my granddaughter is one now.. and it was only the capital D that helped me along. I kept wanting to relate it to that series about Daisy Jones and the Six but that didn’t work
Made no sense to me at all, but then the whole NW raised the difficulty level in what was mostly a more than easy enough Friday. So, too, did having to work around the long central down entry, which I’d never heard of either. But then it never occurred to me to look for the vowels in “macronutrients,” and we weren’t taught to put out cookies for Santa.
Amy, hope the rest of the way goes easier and smooth.
Adding my best wishes too, Amy, coming to you all the way from Krakow, Poland!
I’ve been hoping that you’re ok, Amy, and I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a hard time. I’m very pleased to read your words again. And I enjoyed the NYT too.
LAT – Enjoyed the puzzle. Enjoyed the Hustlers Brass Band more
Sending good thoughts to Amy.
I’m so glad to see you on the mend, Amy… You’ve been missed.
I very much have appreciated and enjoyed reading the Team Fiend’s different perspectives and write ups, but again, YOU WERE MISSED. All good thoughts headed your way!!
And I enjoyed the NYT today, and all the goodies that you mentioned. Just tough enough.
To feeling 100%, Amy!
Amy: You go girl!
Welcome back Amy. I really missed you. It wasn’t the same without you. I’m so sorry to hear about your organ rejection experience. I hope you stay well for a good while. Fingers crossed.
It’s so nice to have you back, Amy! I don’t know what all is going on, but it sure sounds like it’s been a challenge. Healing thoughts are headed your way from many directions out here in this community you’ve established. Heal up and try not to over-do.
Tangential,
Please take your mean-spirited comments to some other corner of the internet.
I’m sorry that you have so much hatred to spew.
Marked all of his comments as spam. First two comments with new fake email address were innocuous, and then the C-word began.
It’s just so tedious having a misogynist, hateful POS coming after me and a few commenters. Really needs a better hobby, like whacking himself in the head with a brick.
I’m sorry to see such nasty stuff aimed at you and some of our commenters. Nobody deserves that crap.
I hope that it’s been balanced by the comments welcoming you back here.
Who are you addressing?
Papa John, whose comment are you asking about?
I don’t know
PJ:
He’s on third, right?
That’s it. I have a low threshold of humor.
PJ, there’s nothing wrong with the occasional
Abbott & Costello reference. “Who’s on first?” is a classic because it’s funny.
NYT: I thought this was an excellent Friday puzzle, that struck me as tougher than average.
With lots of very tricky clues.
(I confess that “Macronutrient grouping” felt a tad unfair for AEIOU; I would have preferred “Facetious grouping”, since at least the vowels are in their usual order. Or “Abstemious grouping”, etc.)
Dan, would you mind elaborating on your confession? I’m at a total loss at what this means. You seem to have a handle on it.
The vowels are in alpha order in facetious, but AOUIE in macronutrient.
Nice that they still appear once each, which of course I missed entirely. (After all, it’s not a short word.)
Welcome back, Amy! You amaze me!
Hi, Amy, Hope you’re doing better each day. I missed you and am glad you’re back.
Amy L
Pannonica, Thank you for your review of my first LAT puzzle! One of the constraints I put on myself when I came up with the theme was to have phrases that still made sense without the “on” but had different meanings with that word missing. I didn’t intentionally include the digest/ideate pairing (especially with them next to each other), so I’m glad they work well together. I appreciate you pointing that out!
Thanks to anyone who solved my puzzle!
Joe
Oh wow, that they were indeed intentional makes it even more impressive!
Welcome back, fearless blog leader!
Miss you Amy. Take care of yourself.