David P. Williams’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 2/15/25 – no. 0215
Pretty grid! I like the spacious center where six 11s interlock.
Fave fill: DAMASK ([Weaving technique named after a city in the Levant], with Damascus, Syria found in the Levant), VITAMIN C, “DON’T RUB IT IN.” NONCHALANCE, SCUTTLE, CONTRARIANS, PIZZA PIE, the AUGHTS.
Not keen on plural INSULATIONS. Did not know ZAC, [___ Taylor, head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals starting in 2019], nor CONTE, [Giuseppe ___, 2010s-’20s Italian P.M.].
Long day, I’m spent. Four stars from me. Good night!
Lisa Senzel & Will Nediger’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Making It Work” — pannonica’s write-up
WSJ • 2/15/25 • Sat • “Making It Work” • Senzel, Nediger • solution • 20250215
A little post-Valentine’s Day hangover, here.
- 26a. [I dated a Communist, but he __ “] RAISED SOME RED FLAGS. (122a [“The Communist Manifesto” co-author] ENGELS.)
- 38a. [I dated a baseball player, but ultimately he was __ ] OUT OF MY LEAGUE.
- 46a. [I dated an electrician, but we __ ] DIDN’T CONNECT.
- 63a. [I dated a tennis pro, but __ ] LOVE MEANT NOTHING TO HIM.
- 84a. [I dated a firefighter, but __ ] SPARKS DIDN’T FLY.
- 93a. [I dated an author, but we weren’t __ ] ON THE SAME PAGE.
- 102a. [Now I’ve started dating a watchmaker, and __ ] I’M GIVING IT SOME TIME. A glimmer of hope! (75d [Stops being aimless] SETS A GOAL.
Not so much a revealer as an Easter egg: 112d [Dated] SAW. More tie-ins: 13d [Go dateless for a while, maybe] HIT A SLUMP, 89d [Single] ONE, 119a [With nobody to turn to] LONELY, 68d [Fall head over heels?] TRIP, 102d [Couple at the altar?] I DOS.
These are without exception great puns, making for a fun theme. My only nit is that there could have been some explicit gender variation among the matches. Sure, we’re meant to understand that this is one person’s narrative, but it seems to me that among seven potential partners, one might be same-sex (or one might be opposite-sex, as the case may be).
- 11d [2021 NBA Rookie of the Year Ball] LAMELO. New to me.
- 27d [Self-care site] SPA, where others take care of you.
- 40d [Bygone M&M’s color] TAN. I’m still bitter over this. They replaced it with … blue.
- 42d [Conductor Toscanini] ARTURO. 43d [Letters once on 30 Rock] RCA.
- 60d [Sherlock’s sleuthing sister in books and movies] ENOLA. This is a more recently introduced character, not in Doyle’s canon.
- 66d [Hyphen’s longer kin] EM DASH. “No, Em Dashes Are Not a Sign of AI:
It’s just bad writing and lazier editing” I agree with the headline but not entirely with the subhed. - 77d [Eldest Haim sister] ESTE.
- 94d [VIP rosters] A-LISTS, not ELITES.
- 98d [Shout of surprise] OHO, bisecting and bisected by 101a [Shout of insight] AHA.
- 22a [Upscale] HIGH-END. 21d [Sharp, on a TV] HI-DEF.
- 34a [Split level?] BANANA. >groan<
- 43a [Donning commencement attire] ROBING. Least favorite entry.
- 72a [Box office figure] GROSS. 91a [Earns, after expenses] NETS.
- 98a [Like Hera, according to Homer] OX-EYED. In my experience, I believe the translations were typically as ‘cow-eyed’ but there’s internet support for both versions.
Enrique Henestroza Anguiano’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 2/15/25 by Enrique Henestroza Anguiano
I liked this puzzle a lot! LAT construction specs say that the Saturday puzzle should be a “gentle challenge,” and I often grouse that the puzzle errs too much on the gentle side of that phrase. This is exactly the right difficulty level to call a “gentle challenge” IMO. It was also a nice mix of of-the-moment cluing and things that are fun while being a little more timeless:
- 4A [DOMS symptoms] is ACHES. I appreciated seeing this fitness acronym in the clue: It stands for “delayed-onset muscle soreness,” and it’s something I as a middle-aged lady doing CrossFit deal with on a regular basis.
- 22A [Like art with hazy provenance, perhaps] is UNDATED. I thought this was a nice way to take an entry that could otherwise feel a little contrived, as UN- and -ER and RE- entries can, and make it fun to figure out.
- I got the “challenge” part of “gentle challenge” quite a lot from the stacked long entries A STRANGE LOOP and BAIT-AND-SWITCH: The former I didn’t know enough about to get from the clue [Pulitzer- and Tony-winning musical whose cast consists of Usher and his Thoughts], and the latter was clued with some nice deception: [Tactic that fails to deliver the goods].
- 44A I’M DEAD SERIOUS is a fun entry.
- 50A I didn’t notice the clue [Strike for an umpire?] while solving, but it is clever. The answer is BAD CALL.
- 53A [Gadgets in Yondr pouches] is PHONES. Here’s one of those of-the-moment clues I alluded to above. For those who don’t know, Yondr makes locking pouches that allow a venue to block cell phone use without actually confiscating phones. They’re used by schools to maintain order in classrooms and by performing artists who don’t want to be recorded by fans at a show.
- 62A [En __] is MASSE, but could easily be GARDE as clued, adding to a little extra difficulty in this section.
- 2D [Artistic displays at the Met] is ARIAS. Very deceptive, because the clue leads you in the direction of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when in fact the Metropolitan Opera is meant.
- 5D [Social media hashtag for nourishing one’s inner neatnik] is CLEANTOK. See above re: I am a middle-aged lady; this now doubles the number of *TOK things I know. (I learned about BookTok from LearnedLeague.)
- 28D THAT’S ON YOU is another fun multi-word phrase.
- 43D [Nice bit of cash?] is EURO, like Nice, the city in France. Cute.
Anna Stiga’s Newsday crossword, Saturday Stumper — pannonica’s write-up
Newsday • 2/15/25 • Saturday Stumper • Stiga, Newman • solution • 20250215
Not quite as tough as it seemed it was going to be!
- 1a [Projects needing sets] FILMS. 17a [Person needing sets] COMPLETIST.
- 6a [Name evoking “a fish!” in an 1982 movie] GARP. Presumably a gar? proofreading: indefinite article preceding the date should be a not an. I believe A Fish Called Wanda also came out in ’82? … Oh wow, was I off. It’s from 1988.
- 10a [Apollo 11 landed in one] MARE, an ‘ocean’ of the moon.
- 16a [Global transportation company] OTIS. Elevators.
- 29a [Clever move] GAMBIT. I would qualify that with a maybe/perhaps.
- 32d [Palm product] HULA SKIRT. Because I (strangely) had LOOP for 32d [Ring, essentially] HOOP, my incorrectly completed grid had LULA SKIRT here. Thankfully it didn’t take too long to discover the error.
- 36a [Mineral mined in the Mojave] BORAX, as in Twenty Mule Team BORAX. I was thinking of the blue gem turquoise, famous in Southwest jewelry, and my brain hopped the track to tOpAz, which would not work with the other crosses.
- 42a [Great-aunt who takes in David Copperfield] BETSEY. Didn’t know this, as I haven’t read much Dickens.
- 45a [House __ ] CAT. 40d [Place to buy bowls and beds] PET SHOP.
- 55a [Strikingly different] UNORTHODOX. Getting this after just a few crossings was a watershed moment for my solve.
- 57a [What Watt was] {a} SCOT.
- 58a [Descriptor defined by the National Institutes of Health] OBESE. Do we still have an NIH?
- 59a [Remove for checking, perhaps] DOFF. Hat-check.
- 60a [Sources of some scratches] HENS. Very recondite clue.
- 61a [Valuables in certain Manila envelopes] PESOS. Note capitalization.
- 5d [Commissions] SELECTS. Tough clue; even with most letters ion place via crossings, I was still hesitant to put it in.
- 10d [A noticeable improvement] MORE LIKE IT. 11d [Continuously] AT ALL TIMES. Both good phrases, but having them stacked side-by-side was a little tough to suss out.
- 12d [What the Lexington Minuteman statue holds] RIFLE. Perhaps the easiest clue of the crossword.
- 18d [Shipwreck divers’ mecca] ERIE, not REEF.
- 25d [Martha Stewart makes them with basil leaves and homemade mayo] BLTS. Well, that’s nice for her, I guess.
- 29d [Respected elders] GURUS. Unexpectedly hard! I also tend to miss this word (singular) in Spelling Bee.
- 42d [Badger] BAIT.
- 45d [Ice Breakers alternative] CERTS. No longer; discontinued seven years ago, as noted in today’s NYT crossword.
- 48d [A long while ago] ONCE, 49d [A short while from now] SOON.
- 50d [Role-playing game costume] ROBE, 51d [They’re formed for flattery] ODES, 52d [Extremely] SO, SO, 53d [The six single title characters of a 2010s TV Land series] EXES. This stack of short answers featured rather unhelpful clues, so relying on acrosses was the only way to finish up here.
NYT: Always happy to see my hometown in the puzzle. I have DAMASK tablecloths that I use for special occasions- some in bright colors and some silver or gold thread on white. They make everything feel more festive. It makes me want to host a dinner party. I haven’t done that since the holidays…
I learned NONCHALANCE in French first, and I think this is one of those words where the connotations are slightly different between two languages. I think of NONCHALANCE as relating to lack of energy or pressure, moving slowly, even gracefully, being indolent. The lack of concern may follow, but I think there’s a stronger association with the idea of indifference or disregard when used in English.
Loved “DON’T RUB IT IN.”
An enjoyable Saturday workout!
I got stuck on “Pirates lack, stereotypically” as “BOTHLEGS” fit nicely in the squares and confused me in the upper left for some time!
And ONEEYE didn’t fit.
Yes, a sticking point in a really hard one. Too many other things to mention. I hadn’t heard of NERD CRED and guessed other first halves, and I didn’t make sense of ACT as “unreal” until I was done, although it’s obvious now. But the NW was my last to give way hardly at all.
NYT was tough for me. Looked up a couple of names— considering that the sheer number of Italian Prime Ministers is a standing joke, I didn’t feel too bad about it. NONCHALANCE seemed a bit off, indolence seems closer to its meaning than disregard…
Oh, interesting you felt the same about NONCHALANCE. I thought it was English vs. French, but maybe it’s the cluing.
I tend to agree: “disregard” suggests deliberately ignoring something, while “nonchalance” implies only a lack of concern.
… or other emotion.
NYT: I never considered CERTS a type of candy because I was under the mistaken impression that breath mints were a separate category of confectionery.
From the classic commercial: “Certs is a breath mint.” “No, Certs is a candy mint.” “Wait, wait, you’re both right: Certs is breath mint and a candy mint.” Which inspired the classic SNL spoof commercial for Shimmer, both a floor wax and a dessert topping.
The point of the SNL skit was to poke fun at the idea that Certs could be both a breath mint and a candy. Would you put Certs in a candy bowl? No, you would not. Despite the “two mints in one” advertising, Certs was, in fact, a breath mint.
I can’t imagine that the copper gluconate bits really helped anyone’s breath, especially in the fruit-flavored Certs. It’s candy. It’s loaded with sugar.
Well, that’s the classic argument, isn’t it?
Wikipedia reports that this was argued in court:
“In 1999, the United States Customs Service classified Certs as a candy mint for tariff purposes, since candy was taxed differently from oral hygiene products. In the ensuing suit before the United States Court of International Trade, Cadbury introduced expert testimony that Certs stimulate the flow of saliva, thus flushing bad odors from the mouth, and that its flavors and oils mask bad breath. But the court ruled that, since Certs did not contain anti-bacterial ingredients, they were, indeed, simply a candy mint. This ruling was, however, overturned at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, making Certs legally a breath mint.”
exactly!
I finished the NYT in a reasonable Saturday time, but there was some strange cluing that slowed me down. The ‘pirate’ angle in the VITAMINC clue was oddly specific – scurvy afflicted sailors in general. Ditto with the clue for AGAIN. IDEAMEN seems very dated to me, and I don’t think of such people as thoughtful types (ie SAGES); rather, they are the annoying types who won’t shut up at business meetings.
I agree that the clue for NONCHALANCE is off. I think of DAMASK as a specific type of fabric, although maybe there’s a weaving technique that produces it.
And INSULATIONS is silly. It’s not a count noun, in my experience.
‘Pirate’ was oddly specific to throw you off (as BK and MattF noted). I too was thinking ‘ONEEYE’ or ‘ONELEG’ (maybe even GOOD BREATH?).
All in all, a challenging but fair puzzle!
Can’t say I like weird plurals like that, either.
But for better or worse, virtually any noun can be pluralized, despite how weird that may look for an uncountable noun, with perhaps the only exceptions being those nouns that already serve the function of their own plurals.
Stumper: basically ran the alphabet to guess at the two crossings of BETSEY/BAIT/ROSE IS ROSE. Never heard of that name (I was thinking Betsey, but it’s spelled weirdly so it could’ve been many consonants), I don’t buy the badger/bait synonyms (badger is to pester, bait is to goad into doing something, not the same imo), and never heard of Rose is Rose (I was trying to think of a person’s name, not a comic strip).
Can someone explain “Dated, for short” for OBS?
I assume OBS is an abbreviation for OBSOLETE.
I agree with you on “bait” for “badger” and pannonica for “so so.” Like pannonica, I had “hoop” for a while. I’ve heard of “Rose Is Rose,” but (for some reason) forgot that the Reubens are for comic strips, so that and I had “bumsteer” instead of “bum’s rush” made that area the hardest for me. RCook is correct regarding “obs.”
Oops! I meant “loop” instead of “hoop.”
BAIT can mean tease or annoy or pester, so it seems a fair synonym of ‘badger’ to me. MW says “to persecute or exasperate with unjust, malicious, or persistent attacks.”
I was also thrown off by ROSEISROSE, expecting the name of a cartoonist. Fortunately I’ve heard of the strip, so I got there eventually. That section was the last to fall; I had ANON before SOON and even after changing it took some time to come up with UNORTHODOX.
“Bait” makes some sense, but I’m not fond of it as an answer for that clue. Yes, I tried “anon” as well. As I mentioned, I was thrown by that section entirely, at least partly because I had “bumsteer.”
NYT was hard today!
LAT: Why is a “strike for an umpire” a BAD CALL? If s/he is correct, it’s a GOOD call, and one that the pitcher will appreciate. I guess you could view it as a bad call from the batter’s perspective, but it’s not necessarily wrong; it’s just not optimal. I thought that was a dumb clue rather than a clever one. YMMV
If the ump makes a bad call, that’s a strike against them (nothing to do with baseball strikes).
… other than the etymology.
I think it’s supposed to be interpreted the other way around – a BAD CALL is a strike (as in a bad mark or demerit) for an umpire.
I wondered about that also but Amy explained it succinctly.
While we’re at it, how about 16A- Engage in a numbers game?
Hit on?
Trying to score phone numbers.
Hmm.
Engage in a numbers game?: HIT ON – I was thinking of gambling and trying to HIT ON a number but was not all that happy with that idea. So, I asked Enrique and he said his intent was HITTING ON someone and trying to get a phone number.
I see that. I took it as trying what is probably a low success strategy until you find a winner. I think the female version would be you’ve got to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince