Peter A. Collins’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Troubled Waters”—Jim’s review
Theme answers were originally two-word phrases where one of the words was (or could also be) a body of water. However, said bodies of water have been anagrammed (i.e. “troubled” per the title) to make new crossword-wacky answers.
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Troubled Waters” · Peter A. Collins · Wed., 8.30.23
- 17a. [Improved health from eating a salad?] KALE EFFECT. Lake-effect.
- 31a. [Snooty game played with mallets and Mustangs?] MOTOR POLO. Motor pool. Not sure why we need “snooty” here.
- 43a. [Pilot?] JET MASTER. Jet stream.
- 57a. [Birch bark, maybe?] CANOE LINER. Ocean liner.
A good little workout. I was going crazy with the last one trying to anagram “liner.” By that point in the solve I had forgotten that the first entry altered the first word as well. But that’s on me, and I don’t mind that two first words and two second words were altered; at least it’s balanced.
What I’m not too keen on is the fact that two of the original words were not bodies of water (pool and stream), while the other two are. With the title “Troubled Waters,” and two of the entries referring to a lake and an ocean, I would expect the other two entries to be similar.
I loved seeing MOUNTEBANK in the fill, though I needed a lot of crossings to trigger it. It’s a nice contrast to the CLASS ACTS in the next column. There’s plenty of other nice fill like AUTO LOANS, POCKET DOOR, OSCAR NOD, HOLOGRAM, DELUSION, and Bob Marley’s ONE LOVE.
I didn’t know CORDAGE [Ship’s rigging]. However, USAA [Insurance co. for military families] was a gimme, having been a member since 1992. But what say you? Is it fair game for a crossword? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen ads for the company in non-military venues (like during sports broadcasts).
Clue of note: 48d. [Kite catchers]. TREES. Just ask Charlie Brown.
Nice enough theme, though I wanted more consistency. Very nice fill. 3.75 stars.
Alex Eaton-Salners’s New York Times crossword–Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 8/30/23 – no. 0830
This puzzle is a mash-up between a classic Merl Reagle “fill in the blanks in the theme clues to flesh out a funny little story” theme and a “stunt puzzle crafted more as a constructor challenge than an entertainment for solvers.” Instead of there being theme answers fleshing out the story, every single Across entry is part of the narrative, but the story did not amuse me and bits like 25A. [and school was hardly an ___.] EDEN fell flat. (Nobody says their high school is “hardly an Eden”!) The need to make every Across answer work its way into the narrative meant that the Down fill suffered in service to the Acrosses. This one’s not for me, as I had to refuel the Scowl-o-Meter by the end of the puzzle.
There are some highlights in the fill, such as NERF BALL, YIDDISH, and NOOGIE. Then the lowlights jump out: UMIAK is an Alaskan word that’s long been crosswordese. BIRD IN HAND is less a phrase than “a bird in the hand.” POINT A, RIDABLE, NOTEDLY (not NOTABLY??), plural EDGINGS, LEO V, SER, GEST, TSARS … oof.
Two stars from me. (Not one star! Because there are some good points, and it’s not as if the theme includes HITLER and DIARRHEA. Not unpublishable, though really not a puzzle for me.)
Daniel Hrynick’s Universal crossword, “Body Temperature” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 8/30/23 • Wed • “Body Temperature” • Hrynick • solution • 20230830
- 59aR [TV news figure literally hinted at by 31-across, 40-Across, 3-Down and 12-Down?] WEATHER PERSON.
- 31a. [Sustained period of luck] HOT HAND.
- 40a. [Friendly quality] WARM HEART.
- 3d. [Sudden loss of nerve] COLD FEET.
- 12d. [Asset during a crisis] COOL HEAD.
I feel there’s a bit of a disconnect between the revealer and the theme answers, as the latter match a body part with—as the title indicates—temperature quality, rather than other kinds of weather phenomena. Not that I can think of many metaphorical phrases that invoke such phenomena—BRAIN FOG? So I guess my critique here is that the revealer is unsatisfactory.
- 22a [Worker with an important Claus in their contract?] ELF. Ow, ow ow.
- 37a [7-Eleven and Speedway, colloquially] C-STORES, which obviously indicates convenience stores, although I’ve never heard them referred to this way.
- 51a [Pitching duel?] AD WAR. Great clue!
- 6d [Say mean things about] DIS.
- 27d [NSA whistleblower Snowden] EDWARD. Oh right, the guy who’s a Russian citizen now.
- 39d [Group born from 2010–’15, informally] GEN ALPHA. I can’t keep up with the names anymore.
Will Nediger’s New Yorker crossword–Amy’s recap
New Yorker crossword solution, 8/30/23 – Nediger
Briefly:
Fave fill: PAYWALLED, ASTROPHYSICISTS, RESULTS-ORIENTED, “I LIKE YOU ALREADY,” FLEETING GLIMPSE, “PRETTY IN PINK,” and the new-to-me WINDMILL DUNK.
Meh: ROOM TO LET (the US is a “rent” country, not “let”!), DEE as a letter, REDYE. Plus SYS and about seven other abbreviations, felt like a lot.
Difficulty: Just as advertised, “lightly challenging.”
3.5 stars from me.
AV Club Classic Crossword, “Snake Charmers”–Amy’s recap
AV Club Classic Crossword solution, 8/30/23 – “Snake Charmers”
This one arrived with a 2/5 difficulty level but I’d call it a 3.5. The theme answers are made by adding a couple snaky letters (SS) into familiar phrases, producing SASSY UNCLE, the clunky GRASSY MATTER, a CLASSY PIGEON, and (my fave) a GASSY PRIDE of farting lions.
Fave fill: DAL (yum!), TESSA Thompson and Charlize THERON, BANH MI, STAND-ALONE, MIND’S EYE, “ME THREE,” SPLUTTER, and PUERTO RICO.
Four stars from me.
Rebecca Goldstein’s LA Times crossword – Gareth’s summary
LA Times
230830
I’m not sure if I was tired, or if this was clued harder than most LA Times Wednesdays. In any case, Rebecca Goldstein gives us foods that start with verbs, two associated with offense and one defense, tied together with FOODFIGHT:
- [Condiment often served with egg rolls], DUCKSAUCE
- [Budget beef cuts], CHUCKSTEAKS. They always seemed quite pricy to me? I’ll maybe buy something that fancy to cook with once every two months or so?
- [Vegetables that rank high on the Scoville scale], FIREPEPPERS. Inferrable, but never heard of these?
- Other tough spots:
[Pastry in a pink box, in Los Angeles], DONUTS. I think the rest of us are just supposed to read [Pastry…]. - [Cute nickname for a fuzzy pet], FURBALL. Wasn’t sure where this was going for a good while…
- [Reach new heights?], LEVELUP. Wanted DEVELOP here.
- [Day of the Dead symbol], SUGARSKULL. Fun answer. The initial S had me wanting something starting with SKULL.
- [Artist whose name is a homophone of a sculpture medium], KLEE. You mean it doesn’t rhyme with “pee”?
Gareth
Nate Cardin’s USA Today Crossword, “Smart Foods” — Emily’s write-up
Hope your hungry for a snack today!
USA Today, August 30 2023, “Smart Foods” by Nate Cardin
Theme: the first word of each themer is a synonym for “smart” and the second word is a food
Themers:
- 17a. [Perceptive person], SHARPCOOKIE
- 37a. [Color of some traffic cones], BRIGHTORANGE
- 60a. [Sarcastic jokester], WISECRACKER
Today, it’s the full themer that’s part of the theme! Often it’s only a portion. SHARPCOOKIE was the most familiar to me and BRIGHTORANGE was easy enough to place, however, WISECRACKER took me longer with a few crossings needed since I typically think of it as someone made a “wise crack”. Overall a great set and fun theme! Love the title hint, too.
Favorite fill:DORITO, CURBSIDECHECKIN, and ONASEPERATENOTE
Stumpers: SARA (new to me), CROC (could only think of “clog”), and DETOUR (needed crossings though excellent cluing once I filled it in)
Lately we’ve been spoiled with lots of excellent puzzles with great flow as well as amazing lengthy bonus fill, today’s included. Nicely done, Nate!
4.0 stars
~Emily
NYT: I hated this puzzle. The story wasn’t amusing, just contrived. I’m surprised that at this time, there are nine ratings of four and over out of 25. (I don’t generally rate puzzles and won’t today).
Constructor comes from a large family?
NYT: Shortz has clearly been at this too long and no longer seems to care about his job if a puzzle like this—one that is so actively unpleasant to solve—makes it through. I’d happily stick my hand in the garbage disposal if it meant never seeing another AES puzzle again.
It’s awfully rude to make your critique so personal. Would you say that to Alex’s face?
If you can’t stand the heat …
If you can’t say anything nice …
Well, I would happily tell the constructor to their face that this puzzle was bad. That Shortz approved it is also puzzling.
I do not blame Will anymore. IMO he is the in charge in name only. When the NYT bowed to the 600 signatures who complained that there was no diversity and then brought in Everdeen Mason to push the DEI agenda, the puzzles in general have gone down hill. They just want to get newbies published especially if the collaborate with Andrea or Jeff. I wonder if some of these newbs can even construct on their own. It’s an editorial team that is doing the culling and Will is the figurehead. Don’t get me wrong I love Will, but sadly the politics have moved him aside.
No this is unpublishable. You can say it. It’s OK to have standards. This was as pointless and stupid as those lottery scratch off “crosswords.” Less than that, even, cuz at least those have the chance to be a winner.
NYT: I thought this was one of those puzzles that was intriguing in theory, and it started out well with the first row, but then it quickly became clue after clue of unguessable stuff like, “Ada’s joy was her prize _____.” How in the world is anyone supposed to get OBOE from that clue?!?!? At a certain point, I said “Forget it,” and I went straight to the Downs. A clue more like, “Of all the musical instruments, Olive loved her ____” would have been less frustrating.
The constructor’s comments in Wordplay don’t touch on why he picked Ada and Dana as the names of his protagonists. Does anyone know their significance? I assume they are the names of a couple he knows or something like that
A bit of a Natick for me at the intersection at the R of RIGHTNESS and ARAT. It seemed that RIGHTNESS could just as well have been LIGHTNESS or TIGHTNESS. (I felt like I was doing Wordle here!) ARAT was clued in a way that I was thinking the answer was some Shakespeare-era obscure word, so ALAT and ATAT don’t make sense, but ARAT didn’t seem to make a lot of sense there, either.
Probably just that they’re common crossword fill without being too specific to one individual (like, say, Uma, Ute, or Anaïs).
While “Ava” is typically a girl’s given name, “Dana” is unisex. There are many pronoun and other descriptors indicating that Ava is definitely female, but there are none that give us a clue about Dana’s gender. I wonder if this is purposely ambiguous, and we are supposed to be made aware of our own assumptions about a love story or “crush” story like this.
That’s a good observation.
This puzzle was trash.
NYT: As an oboist who also makes fun of clarinets, I enjoyed this puzzle.
NYT: 42d NUISANCE
If the story was hilarious I could forgive the bad fill. If the fill was clean and clever, I could forgive the trite and absurd story (Timbuktu is in Mali, you say? Do tell me more!)
But when both aspects of a stunt puzzle are bad — what’s the point?
NYT: Ugh, that sinking feeling when I got to the fourth or fifth them entry and realized, oh no, the whole puzzle is like this. I thought about quitting there, and now wish I had.
Worst puzzle ever. Love starting my day with a gay poem. Very offensive. Never considered cancelling my subscription but the woke NYTs is making me consider it.
See dh’s comment above.
My bet is they aren’t unhappy. Getting to type “woke NYTs [sic]” made their day.
Bob, for a feel-good story, be sure to read about the 20-year-old man in Uganda who was sentenced to death for having sex with another man.
Then read about the guy who was giving a presentation to fifth graders in Georgia and who had further presentations canceled because he said the word “gay”.
They’re both in today’s NYT.
I’m sure they will brighten up your sour mood.
Bot (because I don’t think you’re a real person), that’s gotta be one of the worst comments today. Very little thought applied. I know cleverer people have commented thoughtfully but I’m not gonna waste my time here to spell things out for you. Congratulations.
No, no, he’s clearly a real person. After all, 74 million Americans who are OK with bigotry voted for Trump a few years ago.
For the record, this site supports our LGBTQIA+ friends (and strangers!), and detests homophobia and transphobia. A commenter bitching about something being gay is not welcome here, because our friends deserve better than being confronted with bigotry at a crossword blog.
So you’re pretty sure that every Trump voter is “okay with bigotry?”
I don’t know about Amy, but I’m pretty comfortable operating by that assumption.
Yes, at the least.
Obviously.
Somewhere the ghost of Pauline Kael is nodding along vigorously, still shocked in her self-imprisoning bubble that Nixon won all but one state cuz she’s never met anyone who voted for him.
Be ignorant and presumptuous regarding a vast swath of the population all you want. But my god don’t think you’re taking the moral high ground making such crude assumptions.
And no, I never voted for the guy.
jj, the man made bigotry a main plank of his platform, and of his administration’s policies when he was in power.
That perforce means that those who voted for him were at least OK with the bigotry. Please note that this says nothing about whether they were actively for it—although that’s probably true for a sizeable proportion.
This is basic reading comprehension and logic.
I just did today’s AVCX.
60A!!!!
So perfect for this exchange!
LMAO imagine being offended by this silly little story. Bob’s a snowflake
After reading Bob’s rant I questioned my reading comprehension skills. I did the puzzle, didn’t like it, but never at any point did I even consider anything about it to be gay. And to get mad about it? Wow. Just wow.
All I can think of to say about this pseudo-comment is “wow”. Please crawl back under your rock, Bob.
For the record, I did not enjoy solving this puzzle at all, but to read some kind of so-called “gay agenda” into the tortured story told by the theme is a sign of someone who’s going way out of their way to pick a fight.
NYT: the best part by far was reading the predictable trashing of the puzzle here (I am not disagreeing).
TGIF (Thank God I’ve Fiend!)
It’s hard to fathom why this puzzle struck such a nerve for so many. But with 500+ comments at Wordplay so far, and triple-digit star ratings here, it most certainly did. Count me among the many who admire it for its playful, mold-breaking freshness. Like other commenters I was amused by the inside joke of the gluey bits. I also appreciate the gender ambiguity as a feature, not a bug. Could the grid stand to have a few rough edges smoothed? Sure, but so could most. Kudos to Alex for giving us something so wonderfully upbeat and different.
This puzzle was trash.
I bought a new computer, with Windows 11, and it’s been a nightmare over a few long days now trying to set it up. I’ll spare you, but one thing does seem relevant here. Looks like my app for Random House Unabridged is no longer issued. (You can find one online to install, but with a trial version that cut off overnight.) That’s a real shame. I’d been relying on it often, in addition to the Meriam-Websters dictionary online. It also has a functionality I’m really going to miss: wild-card searchers. (They’re available online with OneLook, not a great substitute.) Darn.
NYT: All the negative comments here and on Wordplay surprise me.
The theme is unique (at least, I haven’t seen anything quite like it, and I’ve solved over 6,00o NYT puzzles).
Yes, the love story is a little cute. Yes, the Across answers are often crossword staples like OBOE, but that seems like an inside joke for regular solvers.
No, the story is not going to win any literary awards. But is it fair to ask that much of a crossword puzzle?
I wouldn’t want to see this every day, but I thought it was an amusing change of pace.
I felt the same; it seemed like the “crossword”-y fill in the story was an inside joke. It was cute enough; I needed to do a decent fraction of the downs to get the crosses. I did get tripped up at the very end with TIGHTNESS / LIGHTNESS / RIGHTNESS, so I ended a bit slower than my average. I also liked the call out to Obergefell v. Hodges.
Same. It’s sure to be a one-off gimmick, and as such, I thought it was cute and pretty funny. I enjoy seeing “outside the box” concepts that play with the format from time to time. I’ve been doing the NYTXW for decades, and don’t remember ever seeing anything quite like it, and I’m guessing it will be a VERY long time before we see such a thing again. And I’m dismayed, actually, at the level of vitriol I’m seeing on the various blogs today.
The puzzle was trash.
I agree. It was fun and different, which made it interesting despite a few of the downs being pretty rough.
I think most of the people here are mad because they couldn’t solve it quickly and that is one of the way they define their lives.
NYT – It would seem that any puzzle without junky across words could be made into a story. It would likely be as contrived as this one (bringing in MALI and GHANA out of nowhere, for example), and just as tedious. Try it yourself if you like. You will give up quickly and wonder again why the puzzle was accepted by Mr. Shortz.
LAT – BURJ? Was this necessary? Blech!
Burj as in the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building for years? What’s wrong with that?
USAT … just wondering … Was anyone else out here a little mystified by the phrases SHARP COOKIE and ON A SEPARATE NOTE in this puzzle? Though I think I’ve probably heard someone use SHARP COOKIE before, I’m much more familiar with ‘SmARt COOKIE’ and that’s what I went with for that answer at first. Actually, neither of those phrases makes much surface sense. I wonder how COOKIE came to be slang for a “person”? ON A SEPARATE NOTE isn’t at all familiar to me. FWIW, Google’s Ngram Viewer seems to support my experience with both phrases and M-W.com has a definition for ‘SmARt COOKIE’, but not SHARP COOKIE.
I actually came here to ask why the WSJ constructor used the word “snooty” in their clue for MOTOR POLO. I spent a lot of my childhood watching polo matches and meeting the people associated with them, and they were far from snooty. I was reared by a single mother on a secretary’s salary and we fit right in. Or, more accurately, they made us feel like we fit right in.
Then I read the brouhaha about the NYT and I wondered why a simple, fun little story has caused so much controversy. Yes, it was a little contrived and some of the entries were hard to guess, but that is what the down entries were for, just like any puzzle where you don’t know stuff. And who here would complain about the characters in this story? I had thought this was a safe place to be LGBTQIA+, and I assumed that the name “Dana” was purposely ambiguous in order to be inclusive to everyone.
Amen, on all counts!
NYT: Absolutely the worst crossword I’ve ever done from the Shortz era. It’s not even the fact that it’s a story, but the across “clues” were not even indicative of the answers in several cases. 62A could conceivably be RIGHTNESS, TIGHTNESS, or LIGHTNESS! 44a could be EBAY or ETSY! 36A could be YODA or YOGA!
There’s also the fact that the story is nonsensical and boring. Just not an enjoyable solve whatsoever.
The puzzle was trash.
100% Like a Madlib written by an eight year old. I’m assuming the NYT X-word editors just had a bad day.
“[T]he across ‘clues’ were not even indicative of the answers in several cases.”
So you’re criticizing for being a crossword?
FWIW, TIGHTNESS added a minute or two to my already longer than usual solving time.
Wow I thought we were talking politics or social issues but all this animus has been directed at a crossword puzzle that takes most people about 5-10 minutes to complete. Hopefully you’re not near the hurricane and can get outside, breath some fresh air, take a walk and find serenity.
Ok so you’re struggling with the fact that people would criticize a crossword puzzle on a crossword puzzle critics’ blog?
People have opinions and they share them online. If you disagree then just say that, otherwise you just look like a hypocrite for posting your opinion about… people posting opinions
+1
Just registering a thumbs-up for the NYT puzzle. It’s a theme we’ve never seen before, and I don’t think it could be executed any better.
You’ve never done one of Birnholz’s story puzzles?
You have apparently never done one of Birnholz’s many puzzles of this ilk. I don’t care for them, but they are tolerable. This one? Not.
I’ve never done an “every Across clue is a fill-in-the-blank segment of a story” theme so I have no idea which puzzles of mine you’re referring to, but hey glad my work is tolerable. Perhaps one day I will reach the grand height of “enjoyable to some cranky guy on the internet.”
For me, EB is the “best of what remains of the rest” of the greatest crossword puzzlers that have ever put pencil to paper. I’m so grateful for his wide-ranging and inclusive puzzles that allow people from all sorts of backgrounds and age groups to participate in an educational experience, and also get some humor at the same time. TY, EB!
NYT: I do the crossword from my local newspaper and they run 5 weeks later than the NYT does. For their July 25 puzzle, there is a difference between what was reviewed yesterday, and what my local paper ran on Aug 29 (but only in the NW corner and West middle).
Maybe someone can explain how a syndicated puzzle can come out with two different versions?
Here’s the link to the original (Crossword Fiend) version: https://crosswordfiend.com/2023/07/24/tuesday-july-25-2023/#ny
Here’s the link to the altered puzzle that ran in the National Post: https://nationalpost.com/nyt-puzzle/
You might be looking at the wrong dates. The puzzle in your second link ran in the NYT on July 26, 2023.
Thx Eric for the reply, and maybe I typo-ed my post, but I’m still very curious about how some syndicated outlets publish puzzles that are somewhat different from the originals. Any hints or ideas?
Sorry. I’d expect the syndicated NYT puzzle to be the same as what ran in the Times, except maybe for corrections to clues that were just wrong (which doesn’t happen often).
NYT: So, I didn’t actually solve the puzzle (I also didn’t rate it) – I quit after about six entries, and I’m glad I did. I solved the New Yorker puzzle instead, and it was pretty good. But I went over to xwordinfo so I could read through the NYT across clues/answers and get the “story.”
The puzzle combined two of my least favorite crossword characteristics: (1) a variation on the quotation/joke/riddle theme and (2) fill-in-the-blank clues. And it managed to take both of them to a new level. Every single across answer a part of the not-terribly-interesting “story,” and also a fill-in! And given the nature of the story, the vast majority of the fill-in-the-blank answers were ungettable without a few crosses.
The constructor missed a chance for the bad-crossword trifecta – could have made a bunch of the down clues cross-references.
Looking forward to tomorrow!
Snap!
What is the one-day record for number of comments on this site?
I’m curious about that also. So maybe we should name-drop the editors & reviewers names to see if they reply?
LAT: After DUCK and CHUCK in the first two theme answers, I half-expected the puzzle to going to break new ground for a mainstream puzzle when I saw that the third theme answer started with F. The real answer was a little disappointing.
NYT: I really liked the little story about the two musical goofballs. I am very surprised by the hooha in the comments. There are often things I don’t like about the NYT puzzles (too many breaches of breakfast table etiquette recently) but I don’t get my knickers in a twist about it. I work the puzzles to relax.
The puzzle was garbage.
The story was harmless and I was bit thrown by the large number of crosswordese in the puzzle but was I angered? No, not at all, I just thought I was missing out on something.
As AmyL mentioned above, the recent number of broken breakfast table ettiquette entries has bothered me more than today’s puzzle.
Let’s keep the comments going!
NYT: I saw where this was going quickly. It’s all crosswordese. It’s not about Fred & Ethel, it’s about words like oboes etc being prevalent in xwords. Will everyone lighten up. Puzzles are ephemera. You won’t remember this next week. And please stop trashing constructors & editors. They give daily enjoyment & I for one appreciate their efforts. Be kind unwind.
I forget most puzzles much more quickly than that. (I do the NYT puzzle before going to bed, and a third of the time, I forget the theme overnight.)
Two categories of puzzles stick with me much longer — years, sometimes: The puzzles I really liked and the puzzles I really disliked. If I remember this one, it will be because it’s gotten slammed by so many people.
I appreciate your remarks about not trashing the constructors and editors. I don’t know what Will Shortz, David Steinberg, or Patti Varol makes, but I know that few people are able to live off what they make constructing crossword puzzles. It’s a lot of work for little compensation — or no compensation, since the majority of puzzles get rejected.
NYT: Just wanted to add my two cents in support of the puzzle. Alex is one to push the envelope and I enjoyed this outing. I think I actually smiled when I realized what he was attempting, and I wish I had thought of it. Sure, it had some awkward fill and some stretchy bits in the story, but I expected as much, and I found the story cute and amusing. As someone who gets tired of the same old same old, I appreciated this dive into something different.
The puzzle was garbage.
I guess there’s no limit on how often you can repeat the same comment in this forum?
I was assisted in getting the NYT acrosses once I twigged to the idea that the constructor was trying to use as many hoary “crosswordese” words as possible. (It’s Not a Bug It’s a Feature Department)