Oliver Goodridge and Juan Garavito’s New York Times crossword—Eric’s write-up
Oliver Goodridge & Juan Gravito’s New York Times Crossword 11/30/24
Congratulations to Oliver Goodridge and Juan Garavito, both making their New York Times crossword debuts with this breezy puzzle.
The grid has a novel pattern, with a 13-letter answer next to a 15-letter answer near the top, bottom and either side of the grid. A long stair-step of black squares through the middle provides slots of varying length.
Last night, solving the Friday NYT puzzle, I was feeling the effects of more wine than I usually have and a later bedtime than I’m accustomed to. I ended up with my slowest Friday time in months.
Saturday’s puzzle, in contrast, was a smooth, uninterrupted solving experience. It’s not often that 1A in a late-week puzzle is a gimme, but [Handle of a knife] had to be HAFT. 2A [“And …?”] could have been many things, but I plunked SO WHAT into the grid and quickly confirmed it with 7D [Request to be impressed] WOW ME.
I don’t often get longer answers off just a few letters unless they’re a proper name that can only be one thing. But for some reason, I quickly got all the long answers here. Those eight answers include seven that have never before been in a NYT crossword, which makes this grid feel quite fresh:
- 11A [“Say …”] HERE’S A THOUGHT
- 14A [Haughty self-important question] DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM You can hear that arrogant tone, can’t you?
- 44A [Fateful encounter] DATE WITH DESTINY
- 47A [Where cold cases are frequently opened] DELICATESSENS (I saw right through this one.)
- 1D [At-home distraction?] HERE BATTER BATTER Cute clue; this answer has only been in one previous NYT puzzle.
- 10D [Breakup line] THIS ISN’T WORKING
- 11 D [End result of a starter] HOME-MADE BREAD For many years, my husband has baked virtually all the bread we eat (including bagels and pizza dough).
- 13D [Assumes control] TAKES THE REINS
Some of the shorter stuff is nice, too:
- 18A [Export from Jamaica] SKA My bread-baking husband is fond of Meyers’s RUM, which was my first guess here. But 15A [Hard to navigate] MAZY made it obvious that was wrong.
- 33A [Painting technique in which the artist applies new paint atop a just-painted layer] WET-ON-WET Per Wikipedia, Bob Ross used this technique because it allowed him to complete a painting within a single episode.
- 48A [Nearly every third baseman and shortstop in M.L.B. history] RIGHTY I didn’t know this; I’m not sure if it’s coincidence or whether it has something to do with the catching and throwing responsibilities of those positions.
- 12D [The so-called “heart of the scorpion” in the night sky] ANTARES I’m not sure how I knew this.
- 26D [Styles of singing] HARRY Styles, formerly of the band One Direction; in recent years, he’s made a name as an actor in movies like Dunkirk.
- 39D [Nova preceder] BOSSA
Kyle Dolan’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 11/30/24 by Kyle Dolan
Although this puzzle was on the whole too easy, there were (to use a RuPaul-ism) several many clues that made me think “nice!” as I passed by them:
- 1A/46A [With 46-Across, noncarbonated drink with bubbles] is BOBA TEA. As an Asian-American, I am embarrassed that I needed crossings to figure this out.
- 22A [Dirt found in cubes?] is OFFICE GOSSIP. Awesome!
- 29A [Place for a seasonal recital?] is SANTA’S LAP, which would feel a bit GREEN PAINT to me as an entry if not for the great clue.
- 41A [Marriage bureau?] is another banger: It’s a HOPE CHEST.
- 47A [Children’s tune interpreted in Mahler’s Symphony No. 1] is FRÈRE JACQUES. I’m enough of a classical music listener that this is a very evocative clue for me.
- 5D [Arabic invocation heard in Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”] is also an evocative clue, this time for BISMILLAH. (Oh dear. That song turns 50 next year. I feel old.)
- 37D [Hard to dismiss, in a way] is TENURED. Very good, and more deceptive than it would be had a question mark been used in place of “in a way.”
- 44D [Disappearing mode of releasing an album?] is EJECT. Snerk. Thanks for the Gen-X memories!
- 57D [Drag queen Bianca Del __] is RIO. Always here for a reference to Miss Bianca, whose “Dead Inside” show at Carnegie Hall is one of the last things I saw live before COVID lockdowns.
Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “You’ll See Double” — pannonica’s write-up
WSJ • 11/30/24 • Sat • “You’ll See Double” • Shenk • solution • 20241130
Here we have the letter C prefixed to both elements of two-word phrases.
- 23a. [Pivot made by a scammer?] CHANGING CON (hanging on).
- 25a. [Spring that’s part of a shop gripper?] CLAMP COIL (lamp oil).
- 39a. [Series of castanet sounds?] CLACK CLUSTER (lackluster). Correction: some entries were not originally two-word phrases, such as this compound word.
- 62a. [Lid in a brewery?] CASK COVER (ask over).
- 69a. [Removing the detritus from a fissure?] CLEFT CLEANING (left-leaning).
- 76a. [Is hopelessly tense?] CAN’T CHILL (anthill).
- 95a. [Videos kept to a specific duration?] CLOCKED CLIPS (locked lips).
- 113a. [Radio show about salad greens?] CHARD CHAT (hard hat).
- 117a. [Witticisms among witches?] COVEN CRACKS (oven racks). Nice alliteration in the clue.
trigger warning: gun violence (pun not intended)
- 1d [Sir Paul, familiarly] MACCA. McCartney.
- 5d [It was once called Sextilis] AUGUST. The Julian-Gregorian calendrical shift.
- 8d [Guitarist’s collection] PICKS. 12d [Cobbler’s collection] AWLS.
- 11d [Byproduct of heavy lifting] BACKACHE. Maybe a qualifier in the clue?
- 37d [Karel apek play] RUR. Looks to be a translation goof in both the web and .puz versions, as the Czech playwright’s surname is Kapek. The pdf file has it correct.
- 41d [Centermost of a Rome septet] PALATINE. Is it the seven hills of the city? Yes.
- 48d [Pitch activity] SOCCER. 16a [Lasso with a whistle] TED.
- 50d [Social fairness, quaintly] EGALITY. Not just the word but the concept is now quaint.
- 90d [Austrian lang.] GER. 74a [Austrian article] EIN.
- 110d [Lady Grantham’s first name on “Downton Abbey”] CORA. I only remember this because I know that this character has replaced the standby of the boss’ wife’s name in the Blondie comic.
- 30a [Swedish jazz singer Lindfors] LILL. New to me.
- 44a [“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” girl] TOPSY.
- 58a [Cabinet member?] HINGE. The question mark effectively eliminates misdirection.
Good distraction.
Ann Stiga’s Newsday crossword, Saturday Stumper — pannonica’s write-up
Newsday • 11/30/24 • Saturday Stumper • Stiga, Newman • solution • 20241130
All right. This week’s Stumper had a definite solving route that I followed. After finding a few amenable entries here and there, when I started in earnest the entire top section, including the dip on the left, came along rather easily. Then the right flank bend, then the bottom section.
After that, I struggled quite a bit with the left-hand section, but eventually the ranks closed and all that was left was the crossing of 31d [Whom Du Bois called “scholar and a knight”] SPINGARN and 44a [Catalyst, compactly] AGT.
- 1a [Candidates to choose from] JOB APPLICANTS. Nothing to do with voting or slates, which is where a lot of our minds probably went.
14a [The stripes of its American flag represent the Medicines of Life] ARAPAHO NATION.- 18a [You’ll see it before long] ERE. The clue is a bit meta.
- 20a [French jet] NOIR. A little tricky, especially as it’s crossed by some other foreign vocabulary: 15d [Spanish sorrow] PENA. However, realizing that jet in the clue refers to black and not an airplane simplifies matters.
- 23a [Mob members] MOLLS, not GULLS. 36a [Mob member] RIOTER.
- 29a [Stuffed street food] CALZONE. Maybe a smaller one? For me a CALZONE is more of a sit-down, knife-and-fork proposition.
- 34a [What John Appleseed promoted early on] IPHONE. I certainly misread the clue as referencing Johnny Appleseed. No idea whether this John Appleseed is a mascot or a designer/executive at Apple.
- 37a [What comes after four (not five!)] -TEEN. Fun clue, but: 21a [Preteen troublemaker] BART. 51d [Fire starter] BON-.
- 41a [Byron’s “laughing Devil” look] SNEER. Taking a gamble on this entry was crucial to my making headway in the left-hand section and thus completing the crossword.
- 43a [Soil or schmo] CLOD. Good, tough clue.
- 47a [“May I have more?”] CARE TO ELABORATE. Am now picturing Oliver Twist saying this.
- 6d [Broth with tai lan] PHO. I mean, what else could it be, in a crossword?
- 7d [Unlikely celebrants] LONERS, not LOSERS.
- 21d [Surname derived from oven operators[ BAXTER. I didn’t know this. Derives from the same root as Baker.
- 23d [Surname of the Montreal Canadiens owners since ’09] MOLSON. Feeling pretty proud that I successfully guessed this from just the MO-.
- 27d [Wheelless, motorless transportation] CANOES. Was first considering something terrestrial, such as a sled or a TROIKA.
- 28d [Whom Burns had talk about battles] FOOTE. Ken Burns, Shelby FOOTE. That Civil War documentary. The clue only made sense after the answer was nearly complete.
- 32d [Cedar shape saver] SHOE TREE. I got the TREE part early on, for the wrong reason. Thanks?
- 39d [Lister’s creation] TOP TEN. Nothing to do with tipping over.
- 43d [Evidence of fairness?] CIRRI. Fair skies, unfair clue.
- 45d [Dance from the Greek for “dance”] HORA. Another ventured guess that paid off.
- 46d [Expression of displeasure] POUT, not MOUE.
- 50d [What a black belt must be] ACE. This seems a clash of terms?
Whew!
NYT: I agree, lovely puzzle, interesting grid and an impressive debut. I had some trouble getting going, but the long answers really helped once the penny would drop and I finished in very good Saturday time.
DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? cracked me up and triggered a memory of an old joke from Lebanon (Doesn’t translate well, so I’ll spare you). But it really is an obnoxious thing to say!.
I especially liked that right under it was : I’M BAD!
Good stuff.
It came together pretty well; HARRY and ABBRS took me the longest. I’m a bit sick still so I didn’t quite clock that IT IS ISN’T WORKING wasn’t right, then I realized my error. Pretty good Saturday, just about average time.
I completely agree with “lovely puzzle, interesting grid and an impressive debut.”
But I also thought it was (sadly) misplaced as a Saturday puzzle. I found it easier than yesterday’s, and thought it would have been on the easy side for any Friday. But that is an editorial call, and doesn’t affect the quality of the grid at all.
NYT: I don’t think it was just the wine. This Saturday crossword was notably easier than yesterday’s offering.
Thanks!
Of course, I’ll never know how hard the Friday puzzle would have been if my brain had been functioning better.
I’m firmly convinced that you get one shot at a crossword puzzle. If you try to solve it again, even years later, some little bit of your brain is affected by your previous experience.
I guess this is a case of YMMV – I nearly gave up on this puzzle.
Did not know DIWALI or SHOGI – bad on me. Stuck with RUM instead of SKA for way too long. Had RIP TIDE for quite a while before LEE TIDE. Don’t like the spelling on STOREY – Brits just have too many vowels lying around looking for a home (and isn’t Big Ben the bell, not the tower?).
CREATES before IDEATES. I HAVE AN IDEA before HERE’S AN IDEA. I’m sure MAZY is legit, but it’s not in my vocabulary.
But I seem to be the outlier here – so congrats to the constructors!
You aren’t the only outlier, Gary. I had trouble getting a foothold with some wrong steps along the way (rum for ska, hazy for mazy). I never did understand the Harry Styles clue/answer until I got here :D… I just keep forgetting that guy. One of the last to fall was the abbrs. for etc. etc…. groan! They got me :D .
But I like having to work for a puzzle, so I’m glad it was a tougher one for me..
I never got in sync with this puzzle either and posted a Medium-Challenging Saturday solve time. For some reason, I really struggle with what I refer to as conversational clue/answer combinations. It seems to me that they’re becoming more and more frequent in the five or six dailies I do.
MAZY x DIEZ was pretty awful/ugly/hard to look at. (Could have been MARY x DIER.) Otherwise fun puzzle. I didn’t find it particularly easy or particularly challenging. Nice average Saturday.
Sorry, DIER would be 100 times worse than the Spanish. (Not that there’s anything wrong with the Spanish.)
Maybe you’re thinking of DIRE?
For what it’s worth, I wasn’t crazy about MAZY.
MAZY was the problem. I’m fine with DIEZ, but not paired with MAZY. IMO one weird or hard to spell entry is fine if the cross is kind of a gimme, but in this case, you’ve got something that isn’t a word crossed with a foreign word that could be spelled in a number of ways (DIAS, DIES, etc. for those of us who only speak Spanish and never spell it). At least with MARY you’ve got a gimme (based on clueing) crossed with a regrettable proper noun (Dier is evidently a semi-famous English footballer). So, DIER is so much better than MAZY that it’s ok given the gettable cross.
First Stumper I was able to solve without any cheating in a while, although it took 27+ minutes. Bottom much harder than top. CARETOELABORATE finally broke it open.
I second the “whew!”
NYT: Loved the long fill in this debut! And some fun cluing, too. Kudos to our constructors!
I’ll be the guy who points out that Big Ben is the bell. The building is the Elizabeth Tower. Over at Wordplay some people are arguing the clue as written still works, but I disagree. The bell has no STOREYs.
NYT: You want every infielder aside from the first baseman to be a RIGHTY because they’re usually throwing the ball to first, which is easier and quicker to do across your body in one motion than having to pivot and reposition your arm.
Thanks, Christopher. That makes perfect sense and is more or less what I thought.
NYT: A very pleasant Saturday puzzle.
Like Dallas et al., my last entries were the Y of HARRY and most of ABBRS. .
PS I’m quite sure that shortstops and 2nd basement
Quite a feat of construction with the frame of four 15/13 pairs.
I appreciate the paucity of pop culture, which seems to be one goal of Joel Fagliano.
But I would love to see more English words that are closer to the fringes of most people’s vocabularies. Not obscurities, but maybe some answers that will expand our knowledge of and appreciation for words.
PS I’m quite sure that shortstops and 3rd basemen are usually righties because they have to often throw to 1st base, which would typically be harder for a lefty.
NYT: Easier than yesterday’s, which I didn’t finish because I had a plane to catch. I don’t altogether understand the clue for HOMEMADEBREAD. I know that people who make sourdough have ‘starters’ that can live for years, but other types of bread don’t need them, AFAIK.
Stumper was a struggle all the way but I finished eventually. I had LOSERS before LONERS and GULLS before MOLLS. Like pannonica, I don’t think of a CALZONE as street food, and the clue for IPHONES baffled me. I don’t know what the ‘despotic homonym’ of EDIE is.
I think that EDIE clue/answer is a reference to Idi Amin.
Ugh.
I figured it was best to ignore it in the write-up.
Oh, that’s not a homonym for me.
Most decent breads need a starter, whether it be a poolish, a biga, levain, or some other pre-ferment. Typically they go anywhere from overnight to 48 hours before starting the bread proper. Sourdough is different because you keep the ‘mother’ going indefinitely.
Seeing as I’ve never heard of any of those funny things you mention, I plead ignorance.
Stumper – I call foul on 38D. El Paso is not “on I-25.” I-25 ends in Las Cruces, NM where it meets I-10. To get to El Paso, you have to continue on I-10.
Stumper: Like usual, pannonica is on target. Re: John Appleseed, the very first Apple Computer logo featured Johnny Appleseed sitting under a tree. It just threw me because it referred to him as “John.” Our solving pattern (I usually work these with my husband) was almost the reverse of pannonica’s — began in the lower left, then lower right. Helped that I’d heard of Spingarn (early — possibly the first — president of the NAACP for those who don’t know of him) and we had seen the Ken Burns documentary — my husband came up with the connection and I came up with the name. I was not fond of “owe” for 19A “attribute.”
“John Appleseed” was a name used in iPhone demos:
https://www.mactrast.com/2017/05/who-exactly-is-john-appleseed/
I agree about Edie and IDI. Grotesque.
Re: “John Appleseed” — interesting. I hadn’t heard that and, when I Googled the original image, it turns out that it was Isaac Newton under that tree! :)
What do you attribute your success to?
What do you owe your success to?
My first thought on seeing the NYT was that the grid can only divide it into two puzzles, and isolated segments are often taken here for a negative. In practice, they were large segments and both interesting.
I”ll agree that DIEZ / MAZY felt a little unfair. My hardest spot, though, was that ABBR, HARRY bit, not least because I just couldn’t make sense of HEY BATTER BATTER. (Do hecklers really say that?) That especially because I had to get back into the Michael Jackson image to get that it had to be I’m BAD and not MAD. But still, an unusually interesting Saturday.
Oh, I can’t continue on my adventures with the WSJ contest, because rules are rules, but thanks to everyone yesterday for commentary. I’ll pick it up Monday. Suffice it to day I won’t have got it.
Eric, I’d be happy to volunteer to help out with you, Margaret and maybe a couple others on Tito’s NYT POY roundup. Not sure what all is involved and I’m still working full time, but would be happy to pitch in. — John Ezra
Thanks Stella!
The seed for this puzzle was the FRERE JACQUES clue/entry pairing. Here is the piece: https://youtu.be/U5A5tFyXQio?si=ZQjDccjAdKnVmBA7