Dana Edwards’s New York Times crossword — Sophia’s write-up
Theme: QUADRUPLE DOUBLE – phrases with four sets of double letters
New York Times, 10 14 2024, By Dana Edwards
- 17a [*Entertainment news show since 1996] – ACCESS HOLLYWOOD
- 24a [*Winner of an annual Southern pageant] – MISS MISSISSIPPI
- 41a [*”Yeah, so what? Big deal.”] – WELL WHOOP-DEE-DOO
- 54a [Statistical feat achieved four times in N.B.A. history … or what the answers to the starred clues contain, letter-wise] – QUADRUPLE DOUBLE
For those of us not familiar with a QUADRUPLE DOUBLE in the NBA, it’s when a player gets double-digit (10 or more) stats in four out of the five main categories – points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. It’s pretty rare, as the clue states – the most recent of the four times was David Robinson, in 1994. I liked that all of the answers Dana chose were 15 letters since it kept the theme consistent. ACCESS HOLLYWOOD was my favorite, since despite seeing that name a lot, I’ve never noticed the four sets of double letters before.
Other general thoughts:
- Loved MEET CUTE, THE TUBE, CAT CAFE, ASK AWAY, and HALF–ASS (which I was happily surprised the Times let in).
- I knew WASABI but I did not know the given fun fact – [Condiment often faked with green dye in sushi restaurants]. Is that true?? What is is faked from?
- It was a nice touch to have both CAIN and ABEL in the puzzle – having both in there really elevated those pieces of fill.
- Two pieces of fill reminded me of movies coming out soon – “Saturday Night”, about the first live episode of SNL, and TOTO, for the upcoming “Wicked” movie at Thanksgiving.
- I had not heard of the term AIR POP with regard to popcorn. Is this a thing one could do in an air fryer, or is is a mass-production type thing?
- New to me – Joe WALSH of the Eagles, that Yellowstone extends all the way to IDAHO.
Happy Monday all!
Dan Caprera’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Straight Sets”—Jim’s review
We have three sets of theme answers in the grid and each set is comprised of a term that punnily describes the other entries which fill the entire row above. Does that make sense?
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Straight Sets” · Dan Caprera · Mon., 10.14.24
- 15a. [Minimal budget (or what’s formed by 12-, 13- and 14-Across)] SHOESTRING. Those three entries are WEDGE, CLOG, and PUMP, all of which are shoes though they’re not clued as such.
- 36a. [Given name of actor Harrelson (or what’s formed by 29-, 32- and 34-Across)] WOODROW. The “wood” (or trees) in the given row are PINE, SPRUCE, and ASH.
- 56a. [Essential point (or what’s formed by 50-, 51- and 53-Across)] BOTTOM LINE. The “bottoms” on the line are REAR, BOOTY, and BUM.
Nifty theme that I don’t recall seeing before. Also nifty are the fact that the longer theme entries are stacked immediately under the theme rows in question without too much drag on the fill. And then consider both TRANSONIC and INCOGNITO which cross three and four theme entries respectively. TRANSONIC isn’t a word I’m familiar with, but given the constraints here, I’ll take it. And INCOGNITO crossing four theme entries is very nearly worth the price of admission. Nicely done!
But wait there’s more…in the form of stacks of 9 in the corners: SUM TOTALS, IMPOSES ON, INA GARTEN, and NAPOLEONS (the pastries). These all cross two theme answers each, so again, an impressive set.
Given all the constraints levied by the theme answers, you’d think there’d be a host of iffy entries, but the grid is surprisingly smooth. The crossing of NEHRU and JRR is less than ideal however, especially on a Monday, but that’s about the only real snag I can see.
Clue of note: 12d. [Paper with headquarters on the Ave. of the Americas, despite what its name suggests]. WSJ. It’s never a bad idea to give a shout out to one’s benefactor, I suppose. Good bit of trivia to learn, too.
Ethan McNamara & David Karp’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 10/14/24 by Ethan McNamara & David Karp
I thought this puzzle might have been more appropriate for Tuesday than Monday, given that some trivia knowledge is helpful to interpreting the theme. (My solve time, which would be on the high side of normal for a Monday, should be interpreted as high given that the puzzle is smaller than usual, at 14×15.) The revealer at 33A [Second half of a famous tourism slogan, and what 16-, 22-, 43-, and 51-Across literally are] is STAYS IN VEGAS, because each of the theme answers is also a hotel in Las Vegas:
- 16A [Legendary sword of King Arthur] is EXCALIBUR, which basically looks like 1950s Disney animation backgrounds come to life.
- 22A [Stevenson novel with buccaneers and buried gold] is TREASURE ISLAND. I could’ve sworn there was an Amazing Race challenge where teams had to rappel down the side of the building, but Google says I’m making that up.
- 43A [The city so nice they named it twice] is NEW YORK, NEW YORK. This answer made me think of On the Town; here’s the hotel.
- 51A [U-shaped object pitched at a stake] is HORSESHOE, the only one on the list I hadn’t heard of in its hotel sense before solving the puzzle. (Makes sense, as the property was rebranded as the HORSESHOE in 2022.)
It’s not just the theme that makes the puzzle a little more Tuesday than Monday: entries like NUEVE, ELAND, OK DONE, EENSIE, and SKEETS added to the difficulty a bit.
Susan Gelfand’s Universal crossword, “Gauging the Situation” — pannonica’s précis
Universal • 10/14/24 • Mon • “Gauging the Situation” • Gelfand • solution • 20241014
Apologies to everyone for being awol recently. Some nasty non-covid bug that really laid me up. Starting to feel a bit more capable now.
Perhaps my mind’s still foggy, but the relevant elements of these theme entries only feel loosely connected to gauges or assessments.
- 20a. [Like some advanced courses] GRADUATE LEVEL.
- 35a. [Leader without clout] PUPPET RULER.
- 42a. [Exercise for a beginning piano student] C MAJOR SCALE.
- 58aR [Custom-tailored, or like the ends of 20-, 35- and 42-Across] MADE TO MEASURE.
Aha, I had not actually read the clue for 58 across and so assumed it was another entry rather than a revealer. So if we’re dealing with only level, ruler, and scale, and that they specifically measure things, it works well enough. I’m certainly not in any state to wrestle with it.
Nothing too exciting—good or bad—among the ballast fill. It’s all quite serviceable.
Natan Last’s New Yorker crossword—Amy’s recap
New Yorker crossword solution, 10/14/24 – Natan Last
I enjoyed this one, which went faster than I was expecting. It helped that the BENOIT / AANG / JENNY SLATE intersection fell easily for me; your mileage may vary. My husband ran the Chicago marathon yesterday but it’s nice to see Joan BENOIT any old time.
Boo: Crosswordese TEC. Here, it’s in the service of accommodating PEACEFUL PROTEST and PISTOL PETE Maravich, at least.
Fave fill: In addition to the long answers already mentioned, DOODLE, LITTLE BLACK BOOK, THE NATURAL, “LET’S DO IT,” LAVA PITS (I’ve never played any Mario games, but there was a marathon spectator whose poster had a Mario mushroom boost icon on it, and runners would hit the poster on their way by and get a nice boost from 15 enthusiastic people cheering them on, and it was great fun), RENAL artery (we are all about the kidney here), Google PAGE RANK.
Loved RECIPE CARD and its clue, [Piece of paper that might become stained during use]. I have more 8½×11 recipes than actual index card-sized recipe cards and yes, they all end up with buttery marks.
Four stars from me.
NYT: According to a 2014 article in the Washington Post, most restaurant “wasabi” is a “horseradish-based concoction that is injected with green food coloring, infused with various types of mustard, and, often even, a bunch of other chemicals.”
Yes, I’ve heard the same. Horseradish (native to Ukraine and/or nearby regions) roots are a goto to replace wasabi (hard to grow outside Japan?) stems – and are scurvy-preventingly high in vitamin C, and – um – it’s interesting. https://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/wasabi-vs-horseradish-the-difference-how-to-buy-and-store-article
Oh, and what a smooth puzzle! This was my fastest NYT puzzle ever. I was dreamily thinking, “this must be what it’s like for a real pro…” — which is what you want people feeling/thinking on a Monday. I have no complaints! Well done.
Wasabi is grown in Oregon, but it’s hard to grow anywhere. It only grows in clean streams with flowing water. Real wasabi is expensive and must be grated on a shark-skin grater freshly for each serving. That’s why, even in Japan, 95-99% of wasabi is dyed horseradish.
Wasabi is much more than horseradish-hot. It has fragrant overtones that remind me of vanilla. (Yes, I sometimes score a root and have the shark-skin grater.)
If you are in one of the rare sushi bars that serve hon-wasabi, you will know because it will be grated in front of you.
I love learning things like this! Thanks, Martin. :-)
Also, this is an NYT debut! Dana Edwards (a grad student) should definitely FEEL TEN FEET TALL today!!
No, I didn’t find that, btw. Jim Horne “reminds” us all how to do this kind of a search on xwordinfo today. The constructor mentions they did the search via “ChatGPT to write some code to search my word list for phrases that used four sets of double letters.”
Our local organic food co-op carries prepared real wasabi in a tube, from the American distributor of Japan’s MUSO Co. specialty foods. It has some natural additives, but no horseradish, and no added coloring. It’s definitely a distant second-best to freshly grated, but still a step up from the horseradish concoctions. I don’t know how available it is away from the west coast, but given the rarity of fresh wasabi, it’s worth looking for.
I found the MUSO paste on Amazon – $4.29 for 1.5 ounces. I plan to give it a try.
NYT: Sophia re: Air Pop… Popcorn… it is a thing, there are air poppers (I have one )… for those who eschew microwave popcorn (air poppers pre-date microwave bags) and prefer oil-free. (5% calories from fat as opposed to 45% from commercial popcorn machines, per Wiki). They do pop mostly all the kernels and do not burn any. However, the popcorn is dry and doesn’t hold salt very well.
TNY (no spoilers): another easyish one from Natan Last. It helped that I knew several of the names, which isn’t always the case with his puzzles. A few stumbling blocks but nothing that I couldn’t figure out.
It was in the easier Monday zone for me. The puzzle had a Bayou State feel to it with PISTOL PETE, LSU, and PARISH. I imagine there are quite a few folks named BENOIT in the state, starting with Tab.
I found it a bit more challenging than other recent New Yorker Mondays.
I was fine until I tried to get the NW corner. But for PJ’s giving me BENOIT, I might still be stuck. (I’m not complaining; spoilers are a risk you take when you read this blog.)
I’m chagrined by the number of crosses I needed to get the lyric from “Desolation Row.” I’ve only heard that song about 200 times. On the other hand, PISTOL PETE Maravich was the rare sports gimme for me.
And I spent too long trying to find where in the grid THE NATURAL went. (I get the emails from the New Yorker saying that the puzzle is available, and today’s featured the “Wonderboy” clue, which was another nice, longish gimme.)
Pretty fast solve for me, too. I thought the clues for PEACFUL PROTEST and LITTLE BLACK BOOK, along with the one for RECIPE CARD were the highlights.
Quite a few names/quotations/facts I didn’t know, but there seemed to be enough straightforward clues/answers on the crosses to make the answers inferable.
I liked the puzzle more than most of Last’s, but still found it very hard. I liked it more because much of the difficulty derived from ingenious or at least non-proper-name fill, so that getting the answer was learning something maybe I could use.
That includes notably the paradigm, but do bear in mind that it occurred in the same quadrant, the very first where I also was hoping for a foothold, with BENOIT and JENNY SLATE, and AANG. That a dense enough concatenation of names for you, with BIEL not far away? And of course DUI could also be DWI, so I held that letter off.
Usually Last throws me one highbrow factoid like an author. And he did include ROSA, but that’s only four letters. Fortunately, I knew PISTOL PETE or I’d never have gotten so much as a start. Just bear in mind that finding it a fair, gentle puzzle may just reflect interests shared with him and not all.
Sunday NYT (Oct. 13) spoiler alert:
pannonica, hope you feel better soon, and thnx for your service/summaries here.
Also, “aha!” – as I was mildly disappointed yesterday that no one mentioned the clueing [It will all come out in the wash] for ODOR… It’s better than [Stink], although the “all” did give it a suspect aroma, perhaps.
Pannonica — Just want to add my “get well” wishes. I enjoy your reviews of the Universal puzzles. I invariably learn something from them.
Me too on wishes. (I didn’t notice because of having working Universal puzzles.)
Is it just me or does 62A hurt your ears too?
I realize it’s a valid plural, but so is “deers”.
Ouch!
Oops – I forgot to say that I was referring to the NYT
NYT: Yup, good point (also made on xwordinfo today, based on historical/past complaints). That fill is just fine, but the clueing is perhaps better with a Monday-friendly version of, say, 62A [Group whose past members have included six U.S. presidents] = ELKS (Weintraub, Nov. 9, 2018) …by the way, I can’t figure out who the 6th one is there, beyond Ford. (Any ideas?)
I think the 6th is Eisenhower.
Harding, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Ford.
There are four elks in North America, the tule, Roosevelt, Rocky Mountain and Manitoba. I’m supportive of the “two rainbows are trout but one rainbow and one brown are trouts” school of animal pluralism. This clue wasn’t my favorite but in some contexts “elks” sounds just right.
thnx! (and, yes – my lazy AI query had missed Ike.)