Note: No BEQ, Fireball or WSJ puzzles due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Have a wonderful holiday and please eat responsibly.
Ricky J. Sirois’s New York Times crossword — Zachary David Levy’s write-up
Difficulty: Average (11m58s)
Ricky J. Sirois’s New York Times crossword, 11/28/24, 1128
Today’s theme: this puzzle is stacked
- SUB / SUB / SUB stack (Digital newsletter platform)
- SHORT / SHORT / SHORT stack (Pancake order)
- HAY / HAY / HAY stack (Place to find a needle, maybe)
- SMOKE / SMOKE / SMOKE stack (Factory chimney)
Very nice. Rebus puzzles have become de rigueur on the challenging end of the spectrum over the last ~ten years, so it’s always nice to see a grid that pulls off the curveball. It reminds me of Paolo Pasco’s “Groupthink” Fireball puzzle from 2018 (see here).
Cracking: PIED A TERRE, which is French for “Terry’s foot”
Slacking: featuring ILSE instead of Ilsa, sorry Ingrid Bergman
Sidetracking: speaking of Bogey et al — Key LARGO blew up the keys long before the Beach Boys were singing about fictional islands in the Caribbean
Brendan Emmett Quigley’s crossword, “Stay in Your Lane” — pannonica’s write-up
BEQ • 11/28/24 • Thu • “Stay in Your Lane” • Quigley • solution • 20241128
I certainly understand the theme, but the relevance of the title—and its subsequent employ in the clues—is elusive.
For each theme answer, the word TURKEY has been replaced by a string of three Xs.
- 20a. [Recep Erdogan’s country, in a certain lane] REPUBLIC OF XXX.
- 25a. [Discuss frankly, in a certain lane] TALK XXX.
- 36a. [Abrupt cessation, in a certain lane] COLD XXX.
- 45a. [Foolish person, in a certain lane] JIVE XXX.
- 50a. Song played in ice cream trucks, in a certain lane] XXX IN THE STRAW.
That makes 15 crossing entries for all those Xs! Impressive feat.
Additionally, there’s the topical and theme-related 30d [Informal appreciation] THANX.
- 7d [Oft-impersonated “king”] ELVIS. 24a [Ferdinand, e.g.] REY. 32a [Wear the crown] RULE.
- 8d [Fair-hiring org.] EEOC. 33a [Christine __ (“The Phantom of the Opera” heroine] DAAE. These both look odd in the grid, especially as their near to each other, but it isn’t as if we haven’t seen them before.
- 21d [Bike designed for tricks] BMX. 25d [Bike designed for toddlers] TRIKE.
- 26d [“The Age of Anxiety” poet] AUDEN. It’s book-length and subtitled “A Baroque Eclogue“.
- 31d [Rehab procedure] DETOX. “Procedure” seems an odd descriptor.
- 36d [Literally, “dwarf dog”] CORGI. I didn’t know this. Is it Welsh? … Indeed it is! “Welsh, from cor dwarf + ci dog”
- 54d [Aware of important issues] WOKE. First tried SAGE. Again, I’d dispute the descriptor in the clue. While the relevant issues are indeed important, I wouldn’t say that it’s their most salient feature.
- 16a [Car that’s making a comeback?] REPO. In a way, yep.
- 40a [It’s just for openers] KEY. I see the pun, but it doesn’t work 100% for me.
- 55a [Glamm band named after a dinosaur] T REX. The only X in the grid not part of a theme entry. The crossing is 48d [Mobil partner] EXXON.
- 57a [Author who coined the phrase “belling the cat”] AESOP. I vaguely knew this, but it’s good to have the memory refreshed. Incidentally, bellingcat is a very worthwhile organization.
Brent Sverdloff & Katie Hale’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary
28112024
The explaining answer, CELESTIALMUSIC feels more like a description than a real answer, so that was today’s wonky leg. The answers, FLYMETOTHEMOON, HERECOMESTHESUN, SWINGINGONASTAR, fit the bill; though even for my old-fashioned taste that’s quite an old set! All enduring popular though, it must be said.
Elsewhere, I personally haven’t heard the phrase BOOKREC anywhere, so I’m not hep anymore. There was a birth subtheme of a sort with NEWMOM and LIONCUB. Also, the CLANG clue fits the AGESAGO pop music theme…
Gareth
Jared Goudsmit’s USA Today Crossword, “Creamed Corn” — Emily’s write-up
Happy Thanksgiving. Would you like some of this?
USA Today, November 28, 2024, “Creamed Corn” by Jared Goudsmit
Theme: each themer contains “corn” that is mixed up (i.e. “creamed”)
Themers:
- 20a. [Electrical cable], EXTENSIONCORD
- 38a. [System installed in a summer house], AIRCONDITIONING
- 54a. [Seafood product aka kanikama], IMITATIONCRAB
A variety of themers today with EXTENSIONCORD, AIRCONDITIONING, and IMITATIONCRAB. The third filled in easily and the other two took me a few crossings, though they weren’t too tricky. Fun title hint too and apt for today especially!
Favorite fill: DOGPARKS, ALLIE, and RUNS stacked on KNEE
Stumpers: NEITHERDOI (need crossings), NOTTOWORRY (also needed crossings), and COEDIT (good cluing, just not a common term for me so took me a bit longer to fill)
Nice grid with a great theme, fun lengthy bonus fill, and good overall fill. I found the cluing much more challenging, though perhaps that was due to the fact that I solved this puzzle after our Thanksgiving meal.
3.5 stars
~Emily
NYT: I loved it :)
Happy Thanksgiving, y’all.
One thing I especially appreciated about the construction is that the stacks were built consistently, two words in a stack connecting in one direction and the third connecting in the opposite direction. Very elegant.
I missed that. It might have been just that it was easier to get the grid to fill that way (instead of having each rebus in a stack at the beginning or end of a word), but it is elegant looking.
I really liked it; I am not the biggest fan of rebus puzzles, but I’ve come to enjoy the ones where the rebus feels like they’re adding a new “letter” to fill, and the stacks worked quite elegantly. I didn’t figure it out till very near the end, though I became suspicious about how to fit HAYSTACK in.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I thought the theme was both clever and not obvious. It took me a while to get my first rebus square, longer to see that other potential rebus squares had something else entirely, longer to get enough to call them stacks, and longer to see that the corresponding down entries requited “stack.” Nice!
I don’t go to IHOP and had never heard of the golf term, making that key word my last to fall by far. (I also didn’t know ILSE or the rapper.) But they were all gettable. I can’t say whether to call the result a hard Thursday, since everything will be hard for me until a replacement printer drum arrives and I’m no longer struggling to read.
NYT was good except that I didn’t grasp the connection between the rebus words. And I assume there’s no connection between ‘stack’ and Thanksgiving…
(Because I managed not to look at the relevant down clues, duh)
They did a Thanksgiving theme yesterday, so I assume that’s why we didn’t get one today. I wonder what Sunday might bring though…?
Well, it did have TURKEY where we might not expect it. (There have to be better ways to satisfy a wish for Thanksgiving than a hero chain, but it’s a nice touch anyway.)
The NYT wasn’t ‘slacking’ with ILSA … the answer was ILSE, which happened to overlap ESTES. I had to guess at that square. Solid puzzle otherwise.
amended
NYT: Really liked this one. I caught on pretty quickly. Started with TUNA SUB at 19-A and WEB for 14-D (that seemed iffy, but possible). When ESTES Park proved me wrong, I realized what was going on.
Pretty impressive to find four solid “stack” entries and cross them with in-the-language words/phrases.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
There may be no BEQ review but there’s definitely a puzzle. Whether it’s new or not he doesn’t say.
Thanks!
When Monday’s puzzle went up, BEQ’s site said “New one on Monday.” I took that as a signal he was taking today off (and as you note, this may be a previously published puzzle).
I have a lot of cooking to do today, but I will try to squeeze in a review.
Help, please? I solved the Universal crossword but I can’t make sense of the theme/revealer.
Each “theme” entry has the letters of IT followed at some point by the letters of GET. So GET after IT. A possible nominee for weakest “theme” of the year.
Thank you very much! I agree.
i thought it was really good – a fun revealer phrase cleverly repurposed (and, for what it’s worth, a high degree of difficulty on finding answers to fit the pattern). snazzy grid too
thank you erik! it was a joy to work on with my good friend. very happy to see her debut today :)
Terrific fill. Really enjoyed solving this one.
Will someone please explain the BEQ?
A “turkey” is three consecutive strikes in bowling.
Thank you! Obviously I was unaware of this, but did learn that there are porn actors named Ashley Lane and Tory Lane, so uh thanks?
I missed your review totally. I see there was some early confusion and the “BEQ” link is still dead (doesn’t go to your review).
Fixed the link.
The early confusion was all my fault.
THANX, pannonica, for covering for me. The Brussels sprouts are gonna be great. Who knows — the turkey might be, too.
Another tie-in to the title: Supposedly, after grocery stores close for the evening, employees will use frozen turkeys as bowling balls.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_bowling
I used to bowl a lot but never heard that term,
The mob built an entertainment center in my Cleveland neighborhood called the Coliseum. From the internet: “The Coliseum had something for everyone. Miniature golf, martial arts room, a nursery, fifty lanes of bowling, a banquet hall that hosted birthday parties, wedding receptions, all-night after-prom parties and bar mitzvahs. A colossal game room—The Wonderland—featured everything from billiards to Skee-ball to Astroblaster. There was even an Olympic-size indoor swimming pool.”
Not a bad place for a kid to hang out.
NYT: I always enjoy a rebus and this had the special twist of stacking… Well done!! I did wonder if there was some link to the rebus words, but I see nobody else sees one so there must not be. It was elegant enough as it was, no criticism intended. :).
BEQ: Thanks for the write up pannonica! And Martin for the explanation of the “lane” thing, I never would have gotten that part. It was a fun puzzle as it was even without the little extra easter/turkey egg :P .
Happy T’giving one and all. Thanks for all of you who contribute here, that’s on my list!
Bowled for 2 years in a youth summer weekend league in the late 80s/early 90s. Got 4 turkeys in my whole time during then. So when I saw this puzzle, I thought, “Finally, the actual turkey/bowling turkey connection is getting its due.”