Barbara Lin & Lewis Rothlein’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 12/21/24 – no. 1221
Nice variety of content within this puzzle. Fave fill: BENDY STRAW, TITO PUENTE, LOWER FORTY-EIGHT, BONSAI TREE, “IT CAN’T HURT,” BLOW A GASKET, RUN INTERFERENCE, COLLEGE GRAD, “THAT’S NOT BAD.”
Misleads:
- 42d. [Vineyard eponym], MARTHA. Anyone else spend too much time waiting for a wine brand to come to mind?
- 45d. [Form letters?], WRITE. This isn’t about form letters as a noun, it’s a verb phrase. If you’re forming letters with a pen or pencil, you’re looking at WRITE.
- 1d. [X follower, perhaps] BOT. X as in what was originally called Twitter, and not the Microsoft Xbox.
Stacey Yaruss McCullough & Matthew Stock’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 12/21/24 by Stacey Yaruss McCullough & Matthew Stock
Don’t @ me for not timing myself this time — I had no choice but to solve this one while multitasking, but I think it would’ve been pretty damn hard even if it had been my sole focus. A few notables:
- 30A [Products of deductive reasoning?] is TAXES. LOL.
- 53A [Lao Gan Ma condiment] is CHILI CRISP, which is having a moment and is very tasty. Really enjoyed seeing it here.
- 58A [Entertainment on a carousel, once] is a SLIDE SHOW. Gen X says thank you for the representation.
- 4D [Overexposed?] is INDECENT. Cute!
- 38D [First unsigned artist to record a Billboard No. 1 hit] is Lisa LOEB. Fun fact that was new to me!
Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Unexpected Presents”—Jim’s review
Jim here filling in for pannonica. I didn’t solve this puzzle, but here’s a summary of the theme.
Theme answers are phrases that originally contained a word that is a homonym of a past tense verb. These words are changed to the present tense verb (hence the title) and used either as a verb or a noun. The new phrase is clued wackily, of course.
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Unexpected Presents” · Mike Shenk · Sat., 12.21.24
- 22a. [Jargon used by Tour de France fans?] BICYCLE SPEAK. Bicycle spoke.
- 38a. [Stone’s climb from TV commercials to “Casino” fame?] RISE OF SHARON. Rose of Sharon.
- 46a. [Have the sense that you’re falling over?] FEEL TIPPED. Felt-tipped.
- 66a. [Round region surrounding a cathedral?] CIRCULAR SEE. Circular saw.
- 83a. [Heat lamp for poultry farm hatchlings?] CHICK LIGHT. Chick Lit.
- 90a. [Purina exec in charge of livestock products?] FEED CHAIRMAN. Fed chairman.
- 112a. [Ones taking sabbaticals with no game plan?] LEAVE WINGERS. Left wingers.
Nifty theme which I found opaque at first. I was floundering around focusing on vowel sound changes. Eventually I had my aha moment though. The phrases are solid, although that last one is a bit of a stretch; no one refers to someone who “wings it” as a “winger”.
At a glance, the long fill looks pleasantly satisfying: FILM STRIP, “I SAID IT,” (clued defiantly as [Forceful words after “There!”]), ITALIANO, WIDE OPEN, ANTONYMS, SKIMOBILE, and “I’M A GONER.”
NYT: The first clue made me laugh out loud, but triggered a total blank beyond that. The NW really challenged me, while other parts flowed more smoothly. The long answers were very good, but I struggled with some intersections Good Saturday work out.
Crazy day for our family today– It’s our wedding anniversary, our son’s birthday and the 25th anniversary of my mother’s passing. How can so much happen in such a short day?
Happy anniversary! And best wishes to your son on his special day.
Nine years yesterday since my Mom passed. She was 97 and had been in poor health for a couple of years, so it was time. Even so, it’s always a little sad when the anniversary comes around – but a good occasion to reflect on all the good times!
Thank you, Gary R.
Yeah, one is never really ready. But it does get easier to remember the good stuff.
NYT was tough. Slow start, slow finish, with one incorrect letter at the end. Mixed feelings, but Saturday puzzles are supposed to be tough.
I’m with you… some good stuff in there but seemed like more proper names than I expect in a Saturday.
Too many proper names.
Agree. 1A was the highlight of the puzzle for me. It got pretty sloggy after that.
Agreed. A nicely hard puzzle with some clever stuff, but also densely packed with things I just wasn’t going to recognize. NW not finished. I of course have seen straws with the bend, but my only acquaintance with “bendy” was from the Brit’s nicely named “bendy buses” as a way to increase capacity without increasing reliability or service.
One of the toughest ever for me. It took me forever to get the two long answers, across and down. And I finished without understanding the clues for BOT and ETD. I don’t see how FUND is equivalent to ‘stake.’ Noun? Verb?
How is LET a ‘returner’s call’? It’s the umpire who calls let. And, having been the recipient of a couple of sole source contracts myself, I disagree that they are NOBID. I still had to come up with a number that the contracting office would accept.
Per Merriam-Webster, def. #5 of stake [as a verb] is “to back financially.” And I think the returner in a friendly, non-pro game of tennis sans umpire would call the LET. Borderline clues both of them, but not totally unreasonable.
I’m always surprised when people don’t know that definition of “stake.” It’s such an obvious definition for me, but I guess I only hear it in poker terms: “I’ll stake you for that game of poker you’re playing” means “I’ll give you money to play in that game.” Maybe I’ve just watched “Rounders” too many times, where that particular use of the term is common, so I don’t realize that it’s not generally known out in the world.
Can someone explain the answer for vineyard eponym-Martha?
Martha’s Vineyard, the island.
[“]
No Stumper? Personally, I’d never heard of Coriolis, so that was new. I don’t do video games, etc., so had no idea Carmen Sandiego was a burglar. 54A “sea sider” seems awkward to me. I’d never heard of a telestrator, but luckily my husband had. The one I’m not understanding is “ear” for 39D — how are ears on tall stalks??
I’ve never done a stumper – as it isn’t in computer format – but I’d think that clue was referring to a corn field.
https://brainsonly.com/global/netword/cwd/#/s/241221
Have fun!
Gulp! Thanks (I think). Their reputation is intimidating.
Maybe after all today’s televised football games.
Give it a try! It’s not that awful (usually), but you do have to think through thoroughly what all the possible meanings of the clue words are.
Ah! Yes! Although we finished it, I was obviously not fully awake. :) I kept thinking of some sci-fi creature with ears on stalks.
ORTON NEBULA vs ORION NEBULA was kind of a gut punch, with CTO and CIO both being reasonable crosses. I guess there probably is no Orton Nebula, but I’m not sure how I’m supposed to know that.
I had the same experience. I hunted around the grid for a couple minutes before I looked this one up. Would it have been so hard to mention the well-known constellation or its namesake?
NYT: I don’t understand the clue for 28-A. Any help?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_bar
Stumper: I don’t think any Stumper should be called Lester Ruff ever. They’re all hard, and these “less rough” ones are often harder than the others. Like today. Don’t get me wrong, I love the challenge, but don’t pretend it’s easier.
Case in point: my first DNF in a long long time. That middle left is just so full of foreign names and terms and acronyms that are impossible to infer if you don’t know them cold. SACHER TORTE, KEIRSTARMER, REDFORT, SKOPJE, JAL, ENE could be any compass thing, never heard of a PEC deck machine…I just had no chance to finish, even with AEGEAN and OGRE in place.
Seth, exactly my experience…
Different strokes… With the exception of the easy-to-suss out 5-down, all of those were givens for me. And with softballs like 10- and 28-down laying paths through so many potential-unknowns, this one was indeed less rough.
any idea about the saturday WSJ theme?I could see adding a few e’s and an o but but doesn’t follow any order IMO. Any thoughts
I’m looking on here for the same thing. I could not figure it out. So, I just went back and looked at it again, it’s a change in past to “present” verb tenses. Bicycle “Spoke/Speak”, “Felt/Feel” Tipped, etc.
Exactly right. I just posted a summary above.
Duh, I’m from Massachusetts. Thank you.
Thx. It is always so simple when someone explains it. Mike Shenk is a genius..
Regarding the Wall Street Journal puzzle:
I had no trouble filling in the answers, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out the theme gimmick. All of the long phrases were just gobbledygook.
What threw me was the title, ‘Unexpected Presents. It being so close to Christmas, I assumed it referred to gift items…which I kept looking for in those nonsense phrases.
(Circular See-saw? Chick flashlight? Felt Tipped Pen? Bicycle? Chair?) I finally gave up…and didn’t ‘get it’ until reading this write up.
Was anyone else as thrown for a loop, and puzzled? (pun intended)