Kevin Curry’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Hot Potatoes”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases whose starting or ending letters (positioned at the sides of the grid) spell out words that are somewhat synonymous with “potato”. The revealer is SIDE OF FRIES (37a, [Order at a fast-food restaurant, and a hint to parts of the starred answers]).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Hot Potatoes” · Kevin Curry · Wed., 8.28.24
- 17a. [*Won’t stop chattering] YAMMERS ON.
- 21a. [*PewDiePie, for one] YOUTUBER.
- 55a. [*Shortest player to win the NBA’s Slam Dunk Contest] SPUD WEBB.
- 61a. [*Indecisive sort] HESITATER.
Works for me. I liked the reference to PewDiePie though I admit it made me nervous; it’s a name I’ve seen on Reddit, but I don’t really know who he is. I was relieved when the answer turned out to be the straightforward YOUTUBER. For the last entry, I personally would’ve preferred something more in-the-language. BAY STATER [Resident of Massachusetts, informally] fits and is more interesting than HESITATER.
Some lovely long fill today, especially “WE’RE DONE HERE,” UNDERSTUDIES, SALES TAX, POMPEII, JOB HOP, LAST LAP, and “I SAID IT.” I needed nearly every crossing for TEMPERAS, but TALENTI came to me after a while.
Clues of note:
- 16a. [One of the “four c’s” of diamond grading]. CARAT. The other three being cut, color, and clarity.
- 7d. [Paris’s home]. TROY. My solving path for this entry was “Texas, France, … TROY!”
- 45d. [Room with a secret passage to the Conservatory]. LOUNGE. From the board game Clue in case you were wondering.
- 57d. [Newborn in Nicaragua]. BEBE. One of our long-running family jokes stems from a trip to Venice (not Nicaragua, as in the clue). At a restaurant trying to place an order, my then 13-year-old son (not a newborn, as in the clue) chose something that was on the spicy side. The waitress in her Italian-accented English declared it to be “Too hot for BEBE”. It wasn’t, but we had a good laugh and the words stuck. Now, whenever anything is a bit too spicy, those are the words we use.
Solid theme. Fun fill. 3.75 stars.
Jesse Goldberg’s New York Times crossword—Amy’s recap
NY Times crossword solution, 8/28/24 – no. 0828
The letters in the theme entries go into the blanks in their clues to complete the clue words:
- 1a. [Chicken par_ _ _ _ _ in fat], THIGH. Clue reads “chicken part high in fat.”
- 9a. [Hurdles for doct_ _ _ _ _tudents], ORALS. Doctoral students.
- 17a. [Referring t_ _ _ _ _est], OTHER. To the rest.
- 19a. [I_ _ _ _ _at terrifies thanatophobes], DEATH. Idea that.
- 32a. [Made amends for wh_ _ _ _ _ _id], ATONED. What one did.
- 39a. [They pu_ _ _ _ _ _ _tuff], SHOVERS. Push over stuff. Okay, but “shovers” feels like a bit of a roll-your-own word.
- 41a. [“Star Tre_” _ _ _ _ _ _ot heard on the original series], KLINGON. Didn’t know nobody spoke Klingon on the original Trek series.
- 48a. [Another word fo_ _ _ _ _ _awag], RASCAL. I like this one.
- 61a. [Street feature needed after a har_ _ _ _ _], DRAIN.
- 65a. [Pitcher’s positio_ _ _ _ _e lineup, historically], NINTH. Might be 10th when there’s a designated hitter? Or zeroth?
- 69a. [It’_ _ _ _ _n on a vampire hunt], STAKE.
- 71a. [Tempe_ _ _ _ _onsoon, e.g.], STORM.
Twelve short themers in a puzzle that’s not so hard that you actually have to make sense of the theme clues along the way? It wasn’t particularly fun for me, just working the crossings and filling the squares.
Fave fill: MIDDLE AGE (represent!) and OVERTHINK (represent!).
52d. [Often-skipped step when making rice], RINSE. Rinse your white rice, people! In addition to the starch-related reasons given here, there’s also often arsenic contamination that’s good to rinse off.
3.25 stars from me.
Aimee Lucido’s AV Club Classic crossword, “Bowl Game”—Amy’s recap
AV Club Classic crossword solution, 8/28/24, “Bowl Game”
The name of the puzzle is “Bowl Game,” a bowl of cereal to be specific. CAP’N CRUNCH is the revealer, clued 59a. [Cereal mascot who pilots a ship called the Guppy… and a hint to four squares in this puzzle], and the four rebus squares “crunch” the names of other famous captains. JULIAN{NE MO}ORE crosses O{NE MO}RE for Captain Nemo. FATA {MORGAN}A crosses a STEA{M ORGAN}, for Captain Morgan rum (or perhaps a pirate the rum is named after, I forget). OM{AHA B}EACH crosses MAKE {A HAB}IT OF, and the spot that broke the theme open for me is where {HOOK}AHS meets S{HOOK} UP.
I enjoyed the theme and the challenge it provided.
Fave fill: PEE WEE Herman, QUAKES, SNAPPLE, FEISTY, UPCYCLE, and CHEWBACCA.
Four stars from me.
Quiara Vasquez and Paul Coulter’s Universal crossword, “Cal Zone” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 8/28/24 • Wed • “Cal Zone” • Vasquez, Coulter • solution • 20240828
Nothing to do with baked turnovers, despite the title. Instead, we’re dealing with three-letter abbrevs. for months of the calendar. Words and phrases beginning with those letters have been ‘decapitated’ to form wacky phrases.
- 17a. [Golden shamrock necklace on St. Patrick’s Day, e.g.?] MAR BLING (marbling).
- 21a. [Kid’s racer on Father’s Day, e.g.?] JUN KART (junk art).
- 35a. [Circle dance on Labor Day, e.g.?] SEP HORA (Sephora).
- 37a. [Musical work on Halloween, e.g.?] OCT OPUS (octopus).
- 53a. [Chilled treats on Thanksgiving, e.g.?] NOV ICES (novices).
- 58a. [“A Visit From St. Nicholas” on Christmas, e.g.?] DEC LINES (declines). (13d [St. Nicholas] SANTA.)
March, June, September, October, November, December. All in calendrical order, too. It feels as if this could have been a 21×21 grid with all the months, no?
Aside from the cross-pollination of 13-down (see above), I was very distracted by the gratuitous letter repetition in 62-across [Plan with Roth and SEP varieties] IRA; the clue could easily have done without the SEP part, which strongly echoes the entry at 35-across. Less noticeable is 16-across [Mason of “The Goodbye Girl”] MARSHA, which directly precedes MAR BLING (17a).
- 5d [Animals in a crash] RHINOCERI. Crash is the collective noun. In light of OCTOPUS also in the grid—and its contentious pluralizations—is there similar passion for this plural? Do some insist on rhinoceroses or even rhinocerata? How about rhinokerata?
- 9d [Red building on a farm] BARN.
- 28d [The Little Engine That Could’s motto] I THINK I CAN. 32d [Pulls along] TOWS.
- 34d [Safari pic, perhaps?] SCREEN CAPture. Safari of course being a web browser.
- 50d [Full of energy (after too much coffee?] PERKY. Cute. Symmetrical to 8d [Energize, as a crowd] AMP UP.
- 29a [No longer hot] COOL. 64a [Hot] TRENDY.
- 46a [Tube for washing a car] HOSE. Kind of weird word choice, but it’s accurate.
- 52a [Grand finale, for a fireworks show] END. Gratuitous framing, but nothing wrong with it.
Andy Kravis’s New Yorker crossword – Kyle’s write-up
Another short write-up today.
The New Yorker solution grid – Andy Kravis – Wednesday 08/28/2024
In a change-up from the usual Wednesday constructor slate, today’s puzzle was constructed by Andy Kravis, one of the New Yorker’s associate puzzle editors. It’s been a while since I have seen Andy’s byline on a puzzle I’ve solved so I was interested to see what would be in store. It’s a solid puzzle, good fills and clues, albeit a little bit bland in parts, namely the stack of TWO-THIRDS/LAUREATES/CHRYSLER. Sometimes I wish the New Yorker’s easy crosswords were a bit more like the easy themelesses of the Universal series, which emphasize lively fill in as many long slots as possible, typically without sacrificing cleanliness needed for a beginner-friendly solving experience.
Rebecca Goldstein & Rafael Musa’s LA Times crossword, – Gareth’s theme summary
LA Times
28 08 24
It is always a pleasant surprise to have a midweek puzzle with a non-standard theme. This puzzle by Rebecca Goldstein & Rafael Musa features the letters VIBE concealed in four tick-shapes. This is explained at VIBECHECK, a phrase I’m not sure I know, but is explained as [“How’s everybody feeling?,” e.g.,…].
Other favourite clues & answers:
- [Takes a nosedive], CRATERS
- [Jockey item with straps?], BRAS
- [Make less powerful, in gamer slang], NERF
Gareth
Beth Rubin’s USA Today Crossword, “Found Art” — Emily’s write-up
Take a moment and enjoy the view!
USA Today, August 28, 2024, “Found Art” by Beth Rubin
Theme: each themer contains —ART— somewhere in each themer phrase
Themers:
- 20a. [“Please repeat what you said”], IDIDNTHEARTHAT
- 38a. [Sci-fi series with Captain Kathryn Janeway], STARTREKVOYAGER
- 52a. [Muppet with a pet worm named Slimey], OSCARTHEGROUCH
Such a mix of themers in today’s set. Took me many crossings before I could get IDIDNTHEARTHAT, which seems fitting. STARTREKVOYAGER filled in easily and is an excellent series. Rounded out with OSCARTHEGROUCH, what’s not to love? If you haven’t seen Sesame Street in a while, the Grouch University episode is great.
Favorite fill: SUSHIBOAT, WITHLOVE, and VWBETTLE
Stumpers: WEPT (only “cried” came to mind), BATBOY (needed a couple of crossings), and ENID (needed crossings)
Lovely grid and wonderful fill with so much delightful lengthy bonus fill! A bit trickier for me, as some of the cluing was a bit tougher. All of the crossing were fair and some I could break into areas and complete entires fairly easily. Nice puzzle!
4.0 stars
~Emily
NYT: THIGH stymied me, but by ORALS I had figured out more or less what was going on. Still, I solved a lot of the puzzle by pattern recognition, and had to go back at the end to see how each theme answer fit its clue.
Fun puzzle with a trick that I don’t think I have seen before.
I dug it too; ended up being faster than my average. I got THIGH from the crossings but didn’t get what was happening, then I got ORALS and it made much more sense. Most I needed the crossings to get, but a very nice puzzle all the same. I think it would’ve been too easy as a Thursday.
Aside: I would’ve *sworn* the Ogden Nash quote was about cats, not dogs… we have both at home and it *definitely* applies more to our cats than our dog.
EDIT: just checked… Nash said it about dogs, and Eliot said it about cats… fun :-)
AVXC: A clever idea for a rebus puzzle, but the center of the east side did me in. I knew the 44 square had to be the final rebus, but MR T instead of IRS at 34D kept me from seeing CHI, HAH and the end of [HOOK]AHS. I finally had to reveal IRS to finish the puzzle. (I pay as little attention to pro wrestling as possible, and while I think I have come across Irwin R. Schyster in previous puzzles, I would have been infinitely happier with an Internal Revenue Service clue.)
It didn’t help that the movie “May December” sounds only vaguely familiar, even though I’m a fan of both JULIA[NE MO]ORE and Todd Haynes. I would have spotted the rebus quicker if the Julianne Moore role had been a gimme.
NYT: Enjoyed it, but wonder whether less-experienced solvers could be spooked by the complexity on a Wednesday.
Aside to Amy: There are only nine players in a baseball line-up. There is either the pitcher (usually ninth) or (in today’s MLB) the Designated Hitter. Never both.
Yeah, it definitely had more of a Thursday vibe. And some elements of yesterday’s puzzle had a Wednesday vibe. But I agree that it was original.
NYT: Unpleasant, tedious experience. I would have discarded it as a curious but impractical theme idea.
Glad I’m not the only one who felt that way. Attempting to solve it late at night after a couple glasses of wine didn’t help.
I think it would have been a cute idea for one of the Sunday variety puzzles.
I do agree. After the first two (“oh clever”) themers it became an unpleasant slog to interpret.
Count me in the unpleasant camp. I didn’t have an aha moment with either the clues (requiring just patience to see what emerges) or the theme itself (trivial to spot). Well, surprised in a good way to find that LINGO appears in KLINGON.
I do want to give it lots of points for originality. I’d swear I’d never seen the theme in any puzzle any day of the week, unless one counts hidden word clues in cryptics, which to my mind are altogether different (and great).
Univ: Seeing OCT OPUS parsed that way makes me wonder if the constructor took some inspiration from Gentle Giant.
Wow, great mention! It’s been five decades since I listened to their one album that I have.
NYT wasn’t fun for me either. It did have a Thursday feel but even then I’d have given it 2 stars. Most Thursday puzzles are fun and I feel good once I figure out the gimmick. Too much of a slog to figire out what went into the dashes here
NYT: I had “Pea” for 44A but had to change the last letter so that 45D made sense. It took a while for me to realize that “Back” meant the last letter of the word; If that’s really the case I think it was a pretty weak trick and could have been clued better.
I think that type of clue is fairly common (maybe not so much in early-week NYT puzzles). Saw ZEE clued as “Middle of Arizona” someplace recently. And I suppose NYT “breakfast test” rules preclude a clue like “I have to hang up. I really gotta ___.” (Though in the era of cell phones, it seems most people don’t bother to hang up.)
“Though in the era of cell phones, it seems most people don’t bother to hang up.” … amen, Gary … Hearing and seeing people talk on their phones in a public rest room makes me shake me head every time. I refuse to answer my phone or make a call when I’m in any bathroom, public or private. Believe it or not, I once walked into a public rest room where someone was doing a video call while standing at the urinal. Come on!
Monday’s New Yorker, 35A ZEE [Feature of central Arizona?]
That was it – thanks!
I’ve noticed with Joel as the NYT editor, that there’s on average one clue per puzzle that has a cryptic crossword feel to it, like that one.
NYT: I didn’t bother with the theme while solving, but it managed at the same time to be both ingenious yet tedious.
“… ingenious yet tedious.”
Well put.
WSJ – “It. neighbor” is supposed to be ‘AUS.’ No, Austria is AUT. AUS is Australia .
Shortening of country names to three letters – USA, CAN, BEL (Belgium not Belarus) is done to an international standard followed by the Olympics, UN, etc.
Great catch! (Mike Shenk makes very good puzzles, but his editing needs polishing.)
It’s good the clue wasn’t “ITA neighbor.”
Unlike most of the other commenters, I thought this was brilliant. It was great fun figuring out how the clues needed to be completed and how they then made the completed answers make sense.
One of the most enjoyable puzzles I’ve done in a long time. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️from me.