Peter Gordon & Ben Zimmer’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Know Your Roots”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are made-up phrases with two words that are seemingly unrelated. Yet the revealer tells us otherwise: ETYMOLOGY (60a, [What the two words in each starred answer have in common with each other]).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Know Your Roots” · Peter Gordon & Ben Zimmer · Wed., 12.18.24
- 17a. [*Sentry for a hospital division?] WARD GUARD. These don’t seem that far apart when you consider the word warden. Both come from Germanic roots.
- 24a. [*Make a fake copy of a textile?] FORGE FABRIC. Both come from the Latin word fabrica. Makes sense when you think of the word fabricate.
- 37a. [*Ridiculous sticker?] COCKAMAMIE DECAL. This one’s crazy. Dictionary.com says in its original sense, a cockamamie was a “paper strip with an image which could be transferred to the skin when moistened.” This was an alteration of the French word decalcomania.
- 51a. [*Headdress made of cup-based flowers?] TULIP TURBAN. Both come originally from the Persian word duliband.
Some interesting stuff there. It just goes to show how language has a life of its own and how words evolve and meanings deviate and become something else entirely given enough time. I don’t know how much this theme actually helps a solver fill in the grid if they get stuck, but it was interesting to look into these fun facts.
I’m digging the long fill, too: RARE BREEDS, TAKES ISSUE, ARMY ROTC, CHILEANS, and GLAMPER. Also I got a bit stuck at the crossing of USMCA and proper name LACEY. Couldn’t remember the full initialism and I simply had no idea about the actress. Fortunately for me I live not far from LACEY, Washington, so the C seemed the obvious choice. I’m also giving the skeptical side-eye to SAWS UP [Turns into lumber].
Our new as-yet-unnamed TUXEDO cat.
Clues of note:
- 22d. [Like a stern look?]. AFT. I get what’s going on here, but would you really describe a look toward the back of the boat as AFT?
- 46d. [Two-toned type of cat]. TUXEDO. Hey, whaddya know? We just got a new dapper li’l guy a week or so ago. Alas, he is still nameless. Care to give us some suggestions?
Interesting puzzle. 3.75 stars.
Jeffrey Martinovic & Will Nediger’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 12/18/24 – no. 1218
The theme revealer is CONSIDER THE ODDS, and each theme entry is a two-pronged answer to its clue. 18a. [*Mendel studied them] clues both GREEN PEAS and, in letters 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 (THE ODDS), you get GENES. FRAZZLE and FAZE are also synonymous. ALL SORTS and A LOT are … sort of synonymous? Book designer’s FOOTNOTE and FONT choices. [Ones with good aim] are ARCHERS, but ACERS? Come on, now. ACERS? Pfft. You can have a sticky SITUATION or a sticky (eww) STAIN.
Lots of ways to clue SAN ANTONIO, but 3d. [Southwest point of the Texas Triangle] doesn’t resonate.
For future reference: 12d. [Sylvan ____ (electropop duo)], ESSO. A handy grouping of letters, that ESSO, but this is not a band that has come within sneezing distance of the Top 40 charts.
3.5 stars from me.
Amie Walker’s Universal crossword, “Winter Themeless Week, Puzzle 3” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 12/18/24 • Wed • “Winter Themeless Week, Puzzle 3” • Walker • solution • 20241218
Breezed through this one, which means it was both easy and smooth, i.e. well-crafted.
- 1a [“Let me know you’ll be there” initials] RSVP. 21a [“omw, guessing I’ll get there by …”] ETA.
- 5a [Pop-ups, sponcon, etc.] ADS. Have never seen ‘sponcon’ before, but it’s obviously sponsored content.
- 14a [“Wanna do this?] ARE YOU GAME? 19a [Response to “who’s ready to party”] I AM.
- 42a [Answer to the joke, “What did the buffalo say when his boy left for college?”] BISON. 13a [Tot’s injury] OWIE.
- 58a [Condition that EDMR can treat] PTSD. Typo here, the treatment is EMDR, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.
- 3d [Time to prioritize yourself, in slang] VILLAIN ERA. Akin to goblin mode, which was some outfit’s word of the year not long ago.
- 4d [Hit with water balloons, say] PELT. 27d [Inflated creations sometimes given out as party favors] BALLOON ART.
- 9d [Artist Denes] AGNES.
- 28d [Round fast-food side] ONION RINGS. In my mind better to say ‘circular’ because ’round’ seems more spherical.
Aimee Lucido’s AVXC Crossword “A Winter’s Tale”—Eric’s review
Aimee Lucido’s AVCX Crossword 12-18-24
The theme, not surprisingly, is books and plays with titles that suggest a wintry narrative:
- 20A [Charles Frazier book that isn’t about climbing Mount Everest?] COLD MOUNTAIN
- 27A [Don DeLillo book that isn’t about boots crunching on snow?] WHITE NOISE
- 42A [Eugene O’Neill play that isn’t about a warning of a Yeti sighting?] THE ICEMAN COMETH
- 55A [ R.L. Stine series that isn’t about chilly evenings without sufficient layers] GOOSEBUMPS
- 61A [ “What a waste of time that anecdote was”… or an appropriate thing to say in response to this puzzle’s theme?] COOL STORY BRO
I enjoyed this amusing theme, perhaps more so because even though I was tired from a day of skiing, it was not overly challenging since I recognized all the titles.
Some additional candidates for theme answers:
- [Robert Lindsey book that isn’t about a bird of prey and a frozen statue?] THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN
- [Truman Capote book that isn’t about a frigid bodily fluid?] IN COLD BLOOD
- [John le Carré novel that isn’t about a secret agent who just wants to sit by the fire?] THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD
Fiend readers: Please suggest additional theme answers in the comments.
Other highlights:
- 1A [Vulgar initialism for someone awesome] BAMF I haven’t encountered this one before, but it’s easy enough to figure out.
- 48A UTAH/ 29D OREM I got OREM from the O and the M, making UTAH a gimme. We’ll be driving through Orem in a few weeks on our way to skiing outside of Salt Lake City.
- 9D [“Absolute tragedy”] WHAT A SHAME
- 39D [Wasted, naturally] HIGH ON LIFE
- 57D [Its name means “nowhere place,” in the title of a 1516 book] UTOPIA The book was by Sir Thomas More, Lord High Chancellor under Henry VIII.
“Portrait of Sir Thomas More” by Hans Holbein the Younger (1527)
Daniel Hrynick’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary
LA Times 18 12 24
Daniel Hrynick’s puzzle today has left-right symmetry, and is built around the phrase THESKYISFALLING. I think the rest of the puzzle theme is three entries with the trigram SKY hidden within them, but lined up so that the SKY’s form a column, creating a visual effect of sorts…
- [“Take time to consider…”], ASKYOURSELF
- [1983 Tom Cruise teen comedy], RISKYBUSINESS
- [Hangout for a long-distance couple], SKYPEDATE
There were some interesting consonant mash-ups today, featuring a PTRAP and DRTEETH… New to me was [Sunday ___..,], SCARIES which sounds awfully childish.
Gareth
Mark Budovitch’s USA Today Crossword, “Scatterbrain” — Emily’s write-up
A very apt midweek puzzle amidst the hustle and bustle of holiday prep and end-of-the-year wrap-ups.
USA Today, December 18, 2024, “Scatterbrain” by Mark Budovitch
Theme: each themer contains –BRAIN– mixed up (aka “scattered”)
Themers:
- 19a. [Bestselling John Grisham legal thriller], THEPELICANBRIEF
- 38a. [NYC landmark with a footpath to Brooklyn], MANHATTANBRIDGE
- 58a. [Smoky, meatless breakfast strip], VEGETARIANBACON
A fun themer set today with THEPELICANBRIEF, MANHATTANBRIDGE, and VEGETARIANBACON. I needed a few crossings before filling them in but they were fair and were then simple enough.
Favorite fill: SERENE, GREETS, TONI, and HOSTEL
Stumpers: BALL (first had “foul”), GLAD (only “smug” came to mind), and BEATIT (needed crossings)
A nice overall flow with good fill and slightly challenging cluing to me. I enjoyed the theme, though I saw it after the puzzle was complete.
4.0 stars
~Emily
NYT: Thought this was a fun and clever theme. Pretty impressive feat of construction to find short words within longer words that both work with the clue – and have the letters of the embedded word show up at the odd-numbered letters in the longer word! But unlike some themes that are feats of construction, this one also helped with the solve (after I saw the revealer).
I was okay with ALL SORTS/A LOT – since I retired, I have ALL SORTS of time on my hands.
Amy – the answers for that “Ones with good aim” clue are ARCHERS and ACES (which seems to work in the air warfare context, at least).
It works even better if it’s ACES in the baseball context!
I liked it. But the solve felt different in the top and bottom half, as if constructed by different people. I was more on the same wavelength in the top half.
Given the Texas Triangle comprises three of the 9 largest cities in the US (Houston at #4 I believe, and San Antonio and Dallas at something like 7 and 9th place) that feels like a fair clue. oh amd Austin! not a corner of the triangle, but it’s not far behind in something like 10th or 11th place.
4 of the approx top 10 largest cities within a day’s drive counts as a significant feature i think.
LOVED the clue for WORSE (Response during an eye exam).
Ingenious NYT, and I was pleased to find that, on this occasion, the trick to the themers actually helps in solving.
A couple of objections, tho: First, a POSY is not a flower, but a small bunch of flowers; second (and very nitpicky) a RADONTEST is not usually part of a standard home inspection, but a separate thing you have to specifically ask for (maybe that varies depending where you live).
“Posy” can mean either a bunch of flowers or a single flower, cf. “pocketful of posies.”
I’ve never come across posy meaning a single flower — not all dictionaries carry that definition. “Pocketful of posies” is not dispositive, as the lawyers say. I’ve always taken it to a mean a pocketful of nosegays to ward off disease.
The clue for RADON TESTS is [Parts of many home inspections]. We had one when we bought our house in southern Colorado last summer (we also have a radon mitigation system that constantly vents the crawl space). Friends who recently bought houses in Santa Fe also had radon tests as part of their inspections.
The clue works for me.
Jim – my sister had a tuxedo cat named Maestro. I loved him.
Good one. I’d either stick with Nameless or maybe try Spats.
Congrats, Jim. There’s always room for another Oreo … in crosswords AND in cozy spots!
Ooh, I like Maestro. Trouble is, five of us have to agree. But I’ll put it to the group. Other options we’ve considered: Jeeves, Pascal, Pagliacci, Cosmo, Puck, Pippin, Poe, Pinball. (We’re leaning toward P names because we have a food bin with a big P on it left over from our dog Penny.) We used to have a rabbit named Oreo, so I don’t think we’ll go that route.
I’m thinking the cat favors Pagliacci because as I was explaining the name and I said the words “tragic clown,” he reared up on his hind legs then fell over backwards melodramatically.
erm, you could go with composer Henry Purrrcell ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Purcell
I’m afraid I don’t know much about the guy. My wife likes Percy, though. My daughter’s favorite composer is Prokofiev. I suppose we could go with Purrkofiev, but none of the rest of us are particularly keen on it.
Jim, I don’t *think* the kitty has enough white to qualify as a tuxedo cat. At least from what’s visible, there’s just that tiny patch of white on a basically solid black body.
My current tuxedo, one of five cats, is named Chinstrap. Anyone care to guess the rationale?
You may be right. First time owning a cat and I only know the basics.