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Curiously Quirky Word Searches, by Trip Payne
Book rec from Amy: Trip Payne’s Curiously Quirky Word Searches, a collection of variety word searches whose extra angles ramp up the challenge level. A list of written works, and the answers to find are the authors’ names—that’s one puzzle. Find the US presidents’ surnames, given only the letter counts (two have 10 letters, eight have 5 letters, and so on). If you’re like me, you’ll find these puzzles absorbing. Order it from your favorite indie bookstore!
Ryan Judge’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 3/1/25 – no. 0301
Fun puzzle tonight. Heck, 1-Down SASHAY welcomed me most genially, as I paused Drag Race to tackle the crossword.
Fave fill: SALT-FREE seasonings, such as the handy blends from Penzey’s Spices (my favorites are Bavarian and Singapore). ATAHUALPA, with Inca in the clues for a change. STREET FAIR, the season is nigh. POT BROWNIES, RULE OF THUMB, and BACON STRIPS stacked in the middle. SIMON SAYS don’t forget your GALOSHES. BANSHEE! WHIRLPOOL and CHIN-UPS.
Two more things:
- 30A. [___ Aran, protagonist in Nintendo’s Metroid], SAMUS. This, like a zillion Mario and Zelda characters, is a name I learned from video game quizzes on Sporcle.com. I honestly have no idea what sort of game Metroid is, mind you.
- EPA is clued with the word “green,” while IRS is said to have collectors. Welp, one is getting less green by the day, while the other is currently down 7,000 employees.
Ed Sessa’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 3/1/25 by Ed Sessa
Gotta be super quick on this one and say that PAWTERNITY LEAVE and FOREVER CHEMICAL as marquee entries felt of the moment in a good way.
Kevin Christian’s Wall Street Journal Crossword, “Do It!” — pannonica’s write-up
WSJ • 3/1/25 • Sat • “Do It!” • Christian • solution • 20250301
The clues all have the same terse imperative format. And they’re phrases we would expect to see in a different context.
- 23a. [Open it!] NEW BUSINESS, not a wrapped present.
- 35a. [Try it!] CRIMINAL CASE, not some food.
- 48a. [Take it!] LONG HOT SHOWER, not some item being proffered.
- 67a. [Cool it!] DATA CENTER, not your amplified mood.
- 70a. [Zip it!] WINTER COAT, not your mouth.
- 85a. [Can it!] FRUIT COCKTAIL, not your outrageous behavior. Also? Not a big fan of canned FRUIT COCKTAIL.
- 102a. [Stop it!] RUNAWAY TRAIN, not whatever it is you know you shouldn’t be doing.
- 116a. [Hit it!] PUNCHING BAG, not a musical number.
Got it?
-
Contopus virens, the Eastern wood pewee ©John Deitsch/Macaulay Library
3d [Bird in the flycatcher family] PEWEE.
- 13d [Ballpark figures?] TALENT SCOUTS. Not the answer we usually see for this clue.
- 15a [Rest on perpendicularly, as a bed] LIE ACROSS. A big brass one?
- 29d [Filmography makeup] TITLES. 54a [Universal offering] MOVIE.
- 59d [“Now I see!”] AHA. 22a [Exclamation point?] IDEA.
- 62d [Nice way to end] ON A HAPPY NOTE. Was perplexed because ON A HIGH NOTE didn’t fit.
- 84d [Make slow progress] CRAWL, not CREEP.
- 93d [After a bit] LATER ON.
- 100a [Right away] AT ONCE.
- 15a [It falls in the fall] LEAF. Just the one.
- 30a [Citrus scent in shampoos] BERGAMOT. etymology (m-w.com): French bergamote, from Italian bergamotta, modification of Turkish bey armudu, literally, the bey’s pear
- 39a [Double duty?] STUNT. Nice little clue.
- 64a [Ground-breaking thing?] FAULT. Flummoxed me for a few beats.
- 108a [Les Claypool offering] BASSLINE. He of Primus fame.
- 119a [Spiky fish] SCAD, not SHAD.
Maybe just slightly tougher than the average WaPo Saturday 21×21?
Doug Peterson’s Newsday crossword, Saturday Stumper — pannonica’s write-up
Newsday • 3/1/25 • Saturday Stumper • Peterson • solution • 20250301
One of my fastest times ever for a Stumper.
Solving path: the usual scattered entries to start, perhaps a few more than typical. Then basically the whole bottom third, followed by 33-across [Guide for gardening] FARMERS’ ALMANAC. After that, the northwest, and finally the northeast where I took a few bold leaps to hasten the finish.
My rapid time was abetted by a few fortuitous coincidences:
- 61a [1972 “Match of the Century” loser] Boris SPASSKY. His death on 27 February was widely reported yesterday.
- 32d [Top club] ACE. There was a very similar clue in the WSJ that I just solved and wrote up. Ditto 11d [Merrie Melodies mainstay] BLANC, for which the WSJ answer was MEL. And! there was a roughly similar clue/answer to 53d [Very small opening] ITTY.
And now for the standard run-through.
- 15a [Home of the Queen Elizabeth $3 bill] BAHAMAS. Did not know this.
- 16a [Xanadu-like] IDYLLIC. One of the leaps I mentioned above. Plopped in the -IC, went with SCAT for 14d [Run off] thanks to already having 28a [Run off] SHOO; dismissed EDENIC because it didn’t fit either letter-wise, or precisely sense-wise, then quickly saw the correct answer.
- 26a [One with tablet recommendations] DOSER. Meh.
- 37a [Teacher of Beethoven and Schubert] SALIERI. I put this in, then took it out, and reinstated it after a few crossings seemed to confirm.
- 38a [Literally, “prompt answer”] RIPOSTE. Because I first had ATOP at 36d [Superior] (A-ONE), it was difficult not to see the inappropriate RIPTIDE here. More French: 35d [À couer vaillant __ d’impossible] RIEN, which sort of leads to …
- 39a [Wishful thinker’s phrase] I CAN DREAM, CAN’T I, for which I first tried out I WONDER … something.
- 43a [“In me thou __ the twilight of such day”: Shak.] SEEST. Played the odds here, with the ending first.
- 45a [Suiting] FOR, not APT.
- 55a [In type] COOL CAT. Tough clue.
57a [Cinema’s first Spider-Man] Tobey MAGUIRE. Well, the first explicitly authorized version. Because, y’know, there’s 3 Dev Adam (1973) from Turkey.- Favorite clue: 59a [Above it all, in a way] TALLEST.
- 1d [Bore] ABIDED. Tough, but I had adequate crossings.
- 3d [Starter with eggs] CHEF’S SALAD. Typically it’s an entrée, no?
- 7d [Expressed impatience, perhaps] TSKED. Could also have been ASKED, but see 56d [Sue (for)] ASK.
- 8d [He lets Louis win at roulette] RICK. A rather oblique clue referencing Casablanca (1942).
- 10d [Navigation device] GYROCOMPASS. Briefly had AUTOCOMPASS, which probably isn’t a thing.
- 24d [Organizations banned by Costa Rica and Kiribati] ARMED FORCES. I knew about the former’s status, but not the latter’s.
- 30d [Not working against] IN STEP.
- 31d [Napoleon’s place] PATISSERIE. And more French!
- 34d [Field trip?] ERROR. Tough one.
- 44d [Nitrogen-powered devices] TASERS. Did not know this, and it probably isn’t useful information for me.
- 52d [Conversacion starter] HOLA. Easy to gloss the cognate’s spelling diferencia.
- 54d [Cashier] OUST. The verb.
NYT was a very slow start, but finished in average time, somewhat to my surprise. Made a big clockwise circle ending up at 1 Across.
Not crossword related, but I’m getting tired of Spelling Bee not accepting valid words. Today it’s tarn.
agree
+1
From the beginning, they’ve said Spelling Bee is aimed at a broader audience than, say, people who’ve been doing crosswords for so long that they think TARN is a commonly known word. Ask 100 strangers what’s a four-letter word for a mountain lake and let me know if even two of them know TARN.
And yet Spelling Bee solvers are presumed to know such words as ‘callaloo’ and ‘palapa,’ to name two that I’ve seen nowhere else. As Eric aptly noted some time ago, the selection of allowed and disallowed words is capricious.
Interestingly, the rather similar “Sundial” in the London Sun takes TARN, and it was one of the words a couple of days ago.
I believe there are many options for the Bee to cater to more wordy people without in any way diminishing its appeal to the less wordy.
It’s funny how our experiences impact our notion of obscurity. I’ve stayed in a PALPA. I’ve eaten CALLALOO (Cayman, not Jamaica), I’ve relaxed in many a LANAI. At a restaurant I was in the week before last CAPELLINI and CANNELLINI were both represented on the menu.
I get to Genius every day but achieve Queen Bee status only about 8% of the time. Most of the words I don’t get are familiar to me but there are a number of words that elicit a Huh?
I could also ask 100 people near me about TENPENNY and I expect a sizable chunk of them would recognize the word
NYT: POT BROWNIES were a thing when I was in college in the 70’s – does anyone do that anymore? Regardless, SALT FREE is more relevant to my life these days.
I can’t think of POT BROWNIES without thinking of the Taxi episode, which also featured a young Tom Hanks, where Jim tries one.
Edibles? Still a thing.
I know about edibles (wife uses them from time to time – not of much interest to me), but those are generally “gummies,” not brownies (I’d guess brownies would pose a shelf-life problem).
POT BROWNIES (and other baked goods) are definitely still a thing
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I struggled somewhat in the NW corner of the NYT, not being familiar with the California cookie brand or RuPaul’s show or the names of Inca emperors (Montezuma fits — he was one too, wasn’t he?) but I got there eventually. I had HASTEN and HUSTLE before HURTLE, and SOLOIST before SOLOACT, but apart from that reasonably straightforward.
I never thought of SIMONSAYS as a means of instruction. It was just a silly game we used to play. I can’t think of anything I learned from it.
SAMUS, huh? Well, not a Star Wars name, so I guess that’s a point its favor.
I finished in the NW as well, even though I dropped SASHAY in right away. A bit annoying how both SET and NET can work for “Court division”; and I also started with HASTEN before HUSTLE then finally HURTLE. I didn’t help that I mistakenly had ANNA instead of ANYA. Good Saturday workout in the end.
Aztec
stumper: love to read pannonica’s reviews, he often chronicles my solve step by step, it is somewhat uncanny
*she!
p.s. Thanks!
Yep! You’re usually on target alright! Although I think this one was tougher than you indicate. However, with my husband, myself, and looking up the third Pillar of Islam, we did it. I, too, wasn’t fond of the clue for “cool cat.” Many people do have a chef’s salad for a lunch or dinner entree, but it isn’t usually listed as that — it’s listed in the “salads” category.
ooops, sorry, no offense intended
always a surprise to encounter a like minded solver; i suspect i am quite a bit older and the wrong sex, to boot :)
Same here but about 2.5x slower! Love the Stumper write ups.
My favorite Pannonica-ism is the fairly recent “Just what in the hell is going on here?”
The Little Richard track in today’s WSJ review is excellent!
I liked that one, too! And it perfectly expressed my feelings!
I surely don’t know what you’re talking about.
I remember some poster expressing something very like that — which was why I chimed in — but it may or may not have been you (that I don’t recall). I can’t find anything recent, so hopely mitchs will respond.
NYT: Solved in just a hair under four times Amy’s time.
How does she do it so fast? I am genuinely curious.
I found this tough but not extremely. For a while had a huge white area in the middle. Had a lot of trouble remembering things I have known, like IRWIN Shaw and UNESCO. Had not known that a PARKA is special to hunters. MCAT before LSAT. Never heard of TURF TOE or SAMUS. Did not know ORC appears in Beowulf (which I should read sometime — it should be in the public domain after a millennium). Like Dallas, I had ANnA before ANYA. Never knew PUCK can be a lowercase noun.
This was close to my ideal Saturday NYT puzzle, with a lot of cute and tricky clues I enjoyed struggling with. I was lucky that ATAHUALPA came to me right away, or this would’ve been a lot harder.
PS Also appreciated the unusual yin-yangish diagram.
I’m wondering about 26-A in the Stumper. Should DOSER be understood as a medical device? Or is it someone who drops acid and can advise about it? I think we’re meant to take it (no pun intended) as the latter.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Doser
Goodness only knows what the creator was thinking. I just took it as someone who writes a prescription.
This Saturday flew by far too quickly—I was darn close to beating my all-time Saturday record.
Also, I’ve lived in California for over a dozen years, and I have zero awareness of Lenny & LARRYS. So what are the odds most non-Californians have heard of that brand?
Re Stumper – 50A “Jacob’s second son.” In my Bible, Jacob’s second son is SIMEON. Gen. 29:33. ASHER is his eighth son (second with Zilpah). Gen. 30:12-13. Am I missing something?
Good point. Would have been more palatable (and still Stumperesque) had the clue been [Second son of Jacob].
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat agrees with you— “Ruben was the eldest of the children of Israel with Simeon and Levi the next in line…” (be glad you are spared my singing). I was confused and tried Simon at first. Asher comes in at 6 by my memory of the song.
pannonica on WSJ: “Got it?” Maybe you should have said, “Get it!”
FWIW, the puzzle was a total ordeal for me. The theme meant nothing to me, where it just happens that a clue can be phrased as an imperative, with nothing else holding the answers together. That made it an uninteresting themeless. And the rest of the fill was filled with tedium, starting with my guess of DEMOS for 1A with a resolution that came ever so much later. And lots of facts and names.
On the other hand, also in the WSJ, the weekend variety puzzle is a Rows Garden from Patrick Berry, always uniquely hard but often interesting, and this one is, too. But I’m still stuck on the single word for row A and the first two of its three “blooms.” I’ll keep staring.
Ah, got the blooms. I hadn’t known the row term for to shut (the other team) out.