John Lieb’s New York Times crossword, “Drive Around the Block” — Nate’s write-up
12.01.2024 Sunday New York Times Crossword
Like last week, this Sunday’s NYT puzzle has a two-part theme, based around a pivotal answer:
– 93D: ZAMBONI [Machine waiting to enter the middle of this grid, as suggested by the answers to the starred clues]
The first set of theme answers are all ZAMBONI puns related to what it is and how it smooths ICE rinks:
– 97A: FROZEN ASSET [*Holding that’s hard to convert to cash]
– 35A: SLOW-ROLLING [*Like a weakly hit ground ball]
– 115A: SMOOTH OPERATOR [*1984 Sade hit]
– 66D: GLOSSES OVER [*Quickly moves past in conversation]
– 23A: SURFACE SCRATCH [*Blemish on a vehicle]
– 16D: CLEAN SHEETS [*Expectation at the start of a hotel stay]
– 32A: ADDED / LAYER [*With 101-Across, extra level of intricacy]
The second part of the theme is an ICE rink in the middle of the grid, just waiting to be ZAMBONI-ed:
– 54A: ICE [Decorate at a bakery]
– 61A: ICE [Clinch]
– 68A: ICE [Off, in mob slang]
– 73A: ICE [Rapper ___ Spice]
– 77A: ICE [Diamonds, informally]
– 54D: IIIII [Positive votes] – ayes = I’s
– 55D: CCCCC [“___ the day!”] – seize = C’s
– 56D: EEEEE [Comfort] – ease = E’s
And, indeed, when the puzzle is completed in the NYT app, a ZAMBONI drives up and cleans the ICE rink – a fun touch!
The ZAMBONI puns were fun enough but, as a whole, the collection felt off, perhaps because it was half descriptors of the machine and half steps of how a ZAMBONI works, and not in any kind of order. The in-grid rink was a nice touch, though I’m stuck on why the three down entries are clued normally if they’re meant to be sound-alikes made up of the same letter five times. I’m curious why this wasn’t hinted at in those clues.
You might notice my longer-than-average solve time. Perhaps because this puzzle was so theme-dense, there were some areas of the grid that felt tough to break into, mostly on the left side. BUSS / UH UH, ALDA / DUMAS, SILAGE, NENES, ONE A, ERST, and more felt on the challenging end for me.
A suitably icy puzzle for the start of December. I hope it was one that you enjoyed – let us know what you thought in the comments section below. Have a wonderful weekend and a great December!
Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post crossword, “Division of Labor” — Matt’s write-up
Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post crossword, “Division of Labor” solution, 12/1/2024
Circles jump out at us from the get-go this week. Typically when they’re in a row hopping past black squares like this we can expect some sort of bridging entries. Indeed, six themers are less so the longer entries as the words that bridge them and are clued across their respective clues:
- 23a / 25a [Surprising reversal that’s “pulled” / Worker in … // … an orchestra pit / Like a rowdy crowd] SWITCHEROO BOISTEROUS
- 44a / 48a [… Worker in a national park …] WHEREFORES TERM PAPERS
- 67a / 70a [… Worker in a parking lot …] SUNNYVALE TOTEM
- 81a / 83a [… Worker in a coffee shop …] SPACE BAR ISTANBUL
- 100a / 101a [… Worker in a vision care center …] COPTIC IAN HOLM
- 113a / 117a [… Worker in a garage …] YAMECHA NICER
The “worker” answers split across entries are an apt approach to the title, “Division of Labor,” but in typical Evan fashion, there’s another layer:
- 129a [One delivered by the labor specialist spelled out in the circled letters that touch six dividing black squares in this puzzle] INFANT
A bit wordy (though I have no suggestions to make it less so), but this points us to the letters immediately split by the labor divisions. Fittingly for “labor,” they spell OBSTETRICIAN, another “worker” to go with the six otherwise clued.
This played quite quick, with the theme serving as added support in solving a medium-difficulty themeless, but the finishing touch at INFANT was a pleasant surprise all the same.
Other highlights: a clue for IKE I hadn’t seen before – [Guitarist Willis who played in Frank Zappa’s band] // the tricky angle for ACT in the innocuous phrase ‘Part of “Chicago”’ // actually, throw in AND [“___ all that jazz”] and Richard GERE as further reminders of the excellent show // the brief [Plastic man] for KEN DOLL // that SENCHA tea and YAMECHA (the actual answer) are different lengths, such that I didn’t get held up too much
Kathy Bloomer and Jeff Chen’s Universal Sunday crossword, “Clue Me In!”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases that hide words (highlighted by the circles) that also satisfy their respective clues. The revealer is SELF-CONTAINED (110a, [Having all that’s needed within … and a hint to the circled letters]).
Universal Sunday crossword solution · “Clue Me In!” · Kathy Bloomer and Jeff Chen · 12.1.24
- 22a. [*Close at hand] WITHIN EARSHOT.
- 27a. [*Absolutely adore] DROOL OVER.
- 32a. [*Request for testimony removal] MOVE TO STRIKE.
- 50a. [*Aloe vera gel, for one] HERBAL MEDICINE.
- 64a. [*Took the plunge?] JUMPED OVERBOARD.
- 80a. [*Immodestly awesome] KIND OF A BIG DEAL.
- 92a. [*”C’mon, chase me already!”] “IT’S JUST A GAME.” This one doesn’t work quite as well. The entry phrase doesn’t really equate to the clue.
- 101a. [*No-good former spouse] JEALOUS EX. Not really an in-the-language phrase, but it still works.
Quite an impressive theme! It can’t have been easy to find phrases that hide a word where both word and phrase can satisfy the same clue, so I’m digging it, even if I picked a couple nits above.
You know, on second thought, let me look at the theme a different way. The title is “Clue Me In,” so I think the intent is that the circled word is a clue for the phrase (or vice versa). If that’s the case, then TAG does work for “IT’S JUST A GAME” (actually it works better the other way). But it’s still an outlier where the actual clue for the entry is concerned. Overall though, a really cool theme.
Fill highlights include, TORE TO BITS, “WANT SOME?,” CBS NEWS, PEA SOUP, “I PROMISE,” and FUSILLI Jerry. PROXIMO is a fun entry, even if I’ve never heard of [Jose Cuervo distributor whose name means “next” in Spanish]. I’ve also never heard the phrase TO A TURN [Perfectly, as in cooking] which seems like a strange way to mean “perfectly.”
“It’s FUSILLI Jerry!”
Clues of note:
- 71a. [“Stupid Pet Tricks” airer]. TBS. They made a whole show out of this old David Letterman bit? Huh. It’s hosted by Sarah Silverman no less with Letterman as producer.
- 118a. [Word after “chiseled” or “killer”]. ABS. I’ve heard “killer app” but not “killer ABS”.
- 36d. [Can : US :: ___ : UK]. TIN. Superb misdirection! Those first three letters look like the abbreviation for Canada.
- 46d. [Anne ___ (Monty Python character)]. ELK. She had a theory about Brontosauruses.
- 53d. [Oberlin College, as of 1837]. CO-ED. As a noun, this usually refers to a person, not an institution. I’m thinking there should be a “Like” at the beginning of the clue.
Four stars from me.
NYT review. CCCCC is “seize the day.” I’m sure it was just a typo.
Updated – thanks!
NYT: I thought the ICE rink in the center was clever. The rest of the theme didn’t do much for me.
I too liked the middle, even if I didn’t quickly identify the floating island with a rink, and its fill with repeated letters leading to puns was nice. Nate expresses my qualms about other themers.
More generally, I found too many names for my taste and too big an effort to sound current. (I myself didn’t know of “ride the pine,” say) . And also some of the puns that the setter was most proud of felt a little too clever to make sense to me. He singles out “Digits rarely given out in a bar,” but I don’t get it. When are digits of any kind given out in a bar, and what does a bar have to do with SSN (which I realize consists of digits and should not often be given out)?
Ditto “Guesses of interest in the cellphone lot.” I know that ETAS are guesses of a sort, but what’s a cellphone lot?
Many airports have a parking lot where drivers can wait for passengers to arrive on inbound flights. After landing, an inbound passenger can call or text their ride using their cellphone. Beats the heck out of circling the airport waiting on the passenger to emerge
Thanks. (I’d have just called it an airport lot or parking lot, but what do I know?)
If I remember correctly, most cell phone lots at airports are free. The catch is that you have to stay in your car until the person you’re picking up is on the ground (and possibly out of the baggage claim area).
Fun puzzle overall; the animation was great. I started straight off on the “rink” and filled in all of the ICEs; then when I saw the revealer, I put in ZAMBONI. Had similar hangups as Nate on the west side of the puzzle, and there were a bit too many names for me too.
“Ride the pine” refers to sitting on the bench in a basketball or football game, and has been slang for as long as I can remember. As for digits given out at a bar, that’s usually your phone number to someone you’ve met, but you wouldn’t give out your social security number.
I was a bit flummoxed by “DIP” being the source of distress for a bull… I had RED there for a bit before removing it.
I started with RED for DIP as well. Wound up getting it from crosses. After the fact, I decided it refers to a DIP in the stock market.
Back when I played HS basketball, I mostly rode the pine. We had an A-team, and a B-team, and my friend Deb and me. Deb and I did get some playing time, but mostly we kept the bench warm.
Ride the pine very is well established for baseball substitutes.
Digits also common for mobile numbers.
Neither is esoteric.
FWIW, I frequently give my cell phone number to servers and bartenders at Buffalo Wild Wings (my regular watering hole) because I receive and use points toward food purchases. When sitting at the bar, there’s so much background noise that it’s necessary to practically scream the number. To date, I don’t think I’ve been pranked by anyone who’s overheard my number.
Love how the NYT puzzle didn’t directly reference hockey or skating at all. As far as the theme itself went, it wasn’t difficult for me to grasp the idea once I had figured out the middle answers which helped me get ZAMBONI once I had entered ZSA ZSA.
In case someone’s interested for whom it’s not already obvious, today’s NYT (at least the Sunday print paper) has its annual puzzle section.
Eek, nooooo! It’s too early! It’s usually mid-month. Had I known, I would have zipped out early to pick one up. Oh well, no worries. It’s not like I don’t have lots to do otherwise.
Hope it’s great!
Is there another giant crossword? I remember finding a PDF of that online a few years back so I could do it … is there anyway to purchase the puzzle?
https://store.nytimes.com/products/puzzle-mania-2024?variant=42244383113286
I’m not sure they have any left.
Congrats to Boswords (co) boss John Lieb on a thoroughly enjoyable Sunday NYT. Clever, challenging in places, fun. Can’t ask for more.
Congrats to Kathy and Jeff on an outstanding Sunday puzzle in the Uni. The theme answers are all spot on, and the solving experience was fun. I know from personal experience how difficult it is t0 come up with these examples, since I once submitted a puzzle with the same theme. I had none of these – my best two were laboRAToryanimal and calLEDthetune. I’m surprised that anyone could give this puzzle a 1. I thought it was one of the best Sunday grids in months.
NYT: ADDED LAYER is pretty green-painty to me. It’s kinda there in the language, but usually part of a longer phrase like “added layer of scrutiny” or “added layer of detail” or something, and ADDED is readily swapper for “extra” or “additional”
NYT: I thought it was great. I loved the ice rink depiction and the way one had to parse the down answers. This ADDED a LAYER of wordplay to an already good puzzle.
I learned (I hope) some new-to-me names too. It was overall an enjoyable experience.