Caryn Robbins’s New York Times crossword, “Take the El Train” — Nate’s write-up
08.11.2024 Sunday New York Times Crossword Puzzle
23A: EXCHANGED WEDDING VOWELS [Say “O di” instead of “I do”?]
38A: PACK YOUR BAGELS AND GO [Eviction notice sent to a New York deli owner?]
50A: PEELER REVIEW [“This thing is SHARP! It handles potatoes and carrots with ease,” e.g.]
69A: WHAT’S PASTEL IS PAST [Interior decorator’s assertion that bold colors are back in style?]
87A: NOEL FLY ZONES [Santa’s routes on Christmas Eve?]
98A: DON’T GET MAD, GET ELEVEN [Advice after one’s rival scores a perfect ten?]
117A: YOUR DELAYS ARE NUMBERED [Airline’s promise to improve its timeliness?]
This week, we have a classic “add a bit to reimagine a phrase” theme that made me smile. EXCHANGED WEDDING VOWELS and DON’T GET MAD, GET ELEVEN (each with such a great clue) were the highlights of the puzzle for me. Secretary Mayor Pete Buttigieg will hopefully like YOUR DELAYS ARE NUMBERED as he continues to wrangle airlines into being more on the up-and-up with passengers/customers.
Solving the full puzzle took me a bit longer than my recent faster times. There were bits of sticky short fill here and there and EMEERS and WELBY weren’t in my wheelhouse, but I think I just wasn’t as much on the constructor’s wavelength this time. That’s okay, though – I’ll look forward to hearing from those of you who were more in sync with the puzzle!
Did anyone else initially plunk in NODS instead of NOMS at 90D?
Okay, that’s all I’ve got for now. What did you enjoy about the puzzle? I hope you didn’t take the (E)L on this one and came out victorious! Let us know your thoughts in the comments and, as always, have a great weekend!
Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post crossword, “Space Oddity” — Matt’s write-up
Evan Birnholz’s Washington Post crossword solution, “Space Oddity,” 8/11/2024
The puzzle this week is a tweaked re-run of one of Evan’s puzzles from July 2017. You can find Erin’s contemporaneous review here.
A handful of entries are only clued with [???] – SATELLITE, WEATHER BALLOON, HELICOPTER, PASSENGER PLANE, and METEOROID. A two-part revealer UNIDENTIFIED // FLYING OBJECT ties it all together, and a Liz Gorski-style set of circled letters are in the shape of a flying saucer and read in clockwise order, spell out CONSPIRACY THEORY.
Happy to revisit this one – I loved it then, and still appreciate that Evan gets at “unidentified” by using [???] as a clue. Hoping it played positively for anyone seeing it for the first time.
Be sure to click through to Erin’s 2017 review. Cheers!
Sam Koperwas & Jeff Chen’s Universal Sunday crossword, “Somehow You’ll Manage”—Amy’s recap
Universal Sunday crossword solution, 8/11/24 – “Somehow You’ll Manage”
Assorted “___ manager” job descriptions are used to clue other jobs:
- 20a. [*Bank manager?] clues AIRPLANE PILOT, since pilots bank to turn planes.
- 38a. [*Stage manager?], ROCKET SCIENTISTS. Rockets have sections referred to as stages.
- 50a. [*Case manager?], BAGGAGE HANDLER. Suitcases.
- 68a. [*Branch manager?], LANDSCAPE DESIGNER. Deciding where trees (with their branches) go.
- 90a. [*File manager?], NAIL TECHNICIAN. But a file manager is software and not a job description.
- 101a. [*Middle manager?], PERSONAL TRAINER. To manage your midsection flab.
- 125a. [*Program manager?], BROADWAY USHER. I call foul on this one. Can’t imagine there’s such a thing as a Broadway usher distinct from a theater usher anywhere else.
3.25 stars from me. The theme had some questionable bits and the fill didn’t bring as much sparkle as I’d’ve liked.
NYT Agree with all of your comments, made some of the same moves. Longer than usual!
I didn’t enjoy much but I’m not going to be a hater so I must’ve had a bad night! I’m still kicking
I found the NYT easy (and EMEER, at least in the singular, if anything overused, even with this occasional spelling). Also lots of themers and reasonably solid. That’s faint praise, but not bad at all given how awful Sundays have often been.
I was slow to fill IZZE, new to me. I read online that Pepsi has been slow to distribute it, and for all I know it’s regional in a way that doesn’t reach here. My only objection is that I’d have read the real-estate punning fill as a claim that you don’t want to go with pastel because it’s gone out of fashion, not that it’s retro chic.
I think your interpretation of the interior decorator answer is correct, but that’s what the clue says – the bold colors are back in style, not the soft pastels – they’re “past.”
I thought it was a pretty good Sunday. The themers made sense and a couple even brought a smile. Not sure why, but it required a lot of crosses for me to get most of the themers.
Thanks! Really dumb mistake on my part, equating pastels with bold colors. I was somehow thinking of someone wanting to have interior walls painted in (naturally pale but still noticeable) color. But forget it.
NYT: Delightful and amusing! Each theme answer hit for me. I don’t remember the last time I felt that way for a Sunday puzzle.
NYT: Definitely “nods” before NOMS and also “cha” before CAN.
I found the puzzle to be relatively easy, and mildly amusing. Was it amusing enough to compensate for KIL, GDS, EMEERS and SNARLUPS ? That’s a short list of no-nos for a Sunday grid, but even so, I’m ambivalent.
I knew IZZE because my wife bought some recently and I saw it in the pantry; otherwise would have had no clue. So that was a useful bit of serendipity.
I did the same thing with noms and can. I wanted KMS for that kil. I’m still not sure what that 111a give an allowance = let means
If you LET someone do something you ALLOW them to do it.
thanks! I thought that might be it, but that’s a very strange way of phrasing it… kind of a stretch to me.
WAPO – I thought it was interesting to see the edits needed to change METEORITE to METEOROID in light of the comments back in 2017.
I must confess that I didn’t know METEOROID and had METEORite until the crosses didn’t work.
NYT was OK, somewhat spoiled for me by a single-letter error (ARV/ARK), which is enough to be really irritating in a Sunday puzzle. Thought the theme entries were pretty good.
NYT: I liked the theme, especially because of the freshness of the theme entries, a lot! Took me distinctly longer than usual, in no small part due to the non-obviousness of the theme.
Which only prolongs the enjoyment of the puzzle, so — bring more of ’em on like this, NYT editors — please!
I also appreciated being reminded of Alan Abel’s series of books starting with “Don’t Get Mad, Get Even” (which I found hilarious).