Neil Padrick Wilson’s New York Times crossword — Sophia’s write-up
Happy Monday folks! Today’s theme takes us back to kindergarten art class, being all things a kid could glue to a paper plate to make a design.
New York Times, 10 21 2024, By Neil Padrick Wilson
- 17a [Disposable BBQ Dish] – PAPER PLATE
- 24a [Doctor’s office jarful] – COTTON BALLS
- 35a [Elbows in a grocery store] – MACARONI NOODLES
- 47a [Makeshift twist-tie] – PIPE CLEANER
- 58a [What a kid might use to hold 17-, 24-, 35- and 47-Across together] – ELMER’S GLUE
I don’t have kids myself, so I don’t know how “canonical” this list of items is, or if there’s a better term for the artwork going on here. I kind of wish there was a little more about the finished artwork in the theme, but I guess it being “abstract” is pretty on-brand with most children’s artwork :) I like the verb/noun misdirect on “Elbows” in the MACARONI NOODLES clue, and I like that the answer of ELMER’S GLUE is literally the “glue” holding the puzzle together.
Other quick notes: I thought the puzzle overall was very Monday-appropriate and didn’t cross any tough answers/proper nouns. I liked PLOT HOLES the best of the bonus fill, and there was a fun symmetry in the costume clues for TOP HAT and PEG LEG (that also feel very Halloween appropriate!). I had trouble right off the bat with PAPAW – I kept wanting “papaya” to fit somehow? – and CBER feels quite tricky for newcomers. There was some nice clues throughout the puzzle. I liked the modern angle of [A multitasker might keep several open on a browser] for TABS and [Family member who usually goes by one name] for PET felt clever without being too hard.
Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Press Run”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are two-word phrases or compound words whose first words cumulatively spell out (or “make”) PRINT as the solver proceeds down the grid.
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Press Run” · Mike Shenk · Mon., 10.21.24
- 17a. [Alignments in which the running backs line up behind the quarterback]
I FORMATIONS. - 24a. [Basically]
IN ESSENCE. - 37a. [Aperture in a rudimentary camera]
PINHOLE. - 50a. [Very small]
PINT-SIZED. - 58a. [Craft using inked blocks, and a hint to the circled words]
PRINTMAKING.
Pretty straightforward theme which is good for new solvers but probably less than exciting for old timers. Still, the grid feels pretty wide open with plenty of white space allowing for good flow during the solve.
Those stacks of 8 are the obvious highlights in the grid: APPENDIX/SHOWCASE and OPTIONAL/PLANNERS. But I also liked INERTIA, SIRLOIN, and NEPHEW.
Clue of note: 2d. [Something racers do at pit stops]. REFUEL. I went with the punny RE-TIRE which then ended up at 47d (with an un-punny clue).
Micah Sommersmith’s Los Angeles Times crossword — Stella’s write-up
Los Angeles Times 10/21/24 by Micah Sommersmith
The revealer at 54A [“I don’t need that back,” and what can be said about the starts of 20-, 34-, and 40-Across], YOU CAN KEEP IT, refers to the fact that each theme entry starts with something YOU CAN KEEP: HOUSE, TRACK, COMPANY.
- 20A [Precarious plan, metaphorically] is HOUSE OF CARDS.
- 34A [Events with sprints and relays] is TRACK MEETS.
- 40A [Corporate executive’s perk] is COMPANY CAR.
I could’ve done with one more theme entry, I think? When the revealer entry doesn’t contain a hint as to where in the theme entry the theme word is (the clue had to do the work on that), I think it’s nice to counterbalance that by having more thematic content.
The fill is pretty clean, and definitely clued in the Monday realm.
Adrianne Baik’s Universal crossword, “I’m Thirsty” — pannonica’s write-up
Universal • 10/21/24 • Mon • “I’m Thirsty” • Baik • solution • 20241021
I’m not fully understanding the theme here. (44a [This puzzle features one] THEME)
- 55aR [“I’ll take care of this round” … or a hint to 50-Across, 4-Down and 10-Down] DRINKS ARE ON ME.
- 4d. [LinkedIn profile picture] HEAD SHOT.
- 10d. [Emotional blow] GUT PUNCH.
- 50a. [Gesture of greeting or parting] HANDSHAKE.
Quite obviously these are all compounds featuring a body part and a type of beverage: head, gut, hand, then shot, punch, shake. But I don’t see how “on” has relevance. The title likewise doesn’t strengthen the framing or connection that’s trying to be made. In sum, I like the group of theme answers, but they need a more convincing herding mechanism.
- 1a [Shortened meeting?] SESH. This entry is taking over crosswords lately.
- 18a [Trendy “ancient” diet] PALEO. Appreciate the quotation marks because, yes, it’s mostly bunk.
- 60a [Newspaper’s slant] BIAS. Too often abused. Would be a lot nice if newspapers valued truth and real objectivity over profits-at-all-costs.
- 62a [Places for some rings] EARS. Not part of the theme.
- 8d [Prepare to pray] KNEEL. A ‘perhaps’ qualifier would be welcome here.
- 11d [Author Bandele whose first name is hidden in “zebra shark”] ASHA. For such an accomplished writer, it’s odd that she doesn’t have a Wikipedia page of her own. Plenty of profile pages from various organizations, though.
- 47d [All tied up?] IN A KNOT. Quite so.
- 56d [Foot bottom] SOLE. Also not part of the theme.
If I’ve missed something in my analysis of the theme, don’t hesitate to set things straight in the comments.
Rebecca Goldstein & Adam Wagner’s New Yorker crossword, “World Food Bank”—Amy’s recap
New Yorker crossword solution, 10/21/24 – “World Food Bank” – Goldstein & Wagner
I’m not gonna lie—I prefer themeless puzzles, especially tough ones, so much more than themed crosswords. This time, the Monday New Yorker puzzle is themed to go with the Money issue. (I look forward to getting through that issue in half the usual time, as I predict the long articles will not be of interest to me.) Anyway … the theme is foods that are {demonym} + {food that doubles as slang for “money”}. SWISS CHEESE, FRENCH BREAD, CHINESE / CABBAGE, and CANADIAN BACON. Cheese = money? That one feels much less common. “Bring home the bacon,” sure, but outside of that phrase, do people call money “bacon”? The theme clues are [Francs?], [Euros?], [With 44-Down, yuan?], and [Dollars?].
Fave fill: “SORRY I ASKED,” the YouTube show HOT ONES, YEARBOOKS.
Guitar terminology: [Place for fretting?] clues FINGERBOARD. The fingerboard is also called the fretboard, where the guitar player uses their fingers to press the strings against the frets.
Four stars from me.
Brendan Emmett Quigley’s Crossword #1724: Themeless Monday — Eric’s Review
Brendan Emmett Quigley’s 10/21/24 Crossword #1724 Themeless Monday solution
Today’s grid layout is unusual — three 15-letter Across answers, three 15-letter Down answers — spread out over the grid, leaving the NE and SW corners with two points of entry. There are also two strange-looking islands of seven contiguous blocks (which evoke interlocked tetrominoes) towards the NE and SW corners.
If the long answers are easy for you, then the puzzle might not be as “Hard” as described. Three of the 15-letter answers are pop culture trivia (17A [Order of the Phoenix founder] ALBUS DUMBLEDORE (probably a gimme for a lot of people, but I needed several crosses to get me there); 56A [Comedian with the podcast “Parenting is a Joke”] OPHIRA EISENBERG (whom I’d not heard of); and 3D [2024 Kristen Bell-Adam Brody romcom] NOBODY WANTS THIS (which sounds vaguely familiar; I’m not a big fan of romcoms).
The remaining 15-letter answers are nice but needed a bit of teasing out: 36A [Failing again and again] ON A LOSING STREAK; 7D [Stage direction when everybody freezes] TIME STANDS STILL; and my favorite, 11D [Made an incredible noise inside] SHOOK THE RAFTERS.
The grid allows for two nine-letter answers, but everything else is six letters or fewer. I stumbled through this one, making a few lucky guesses and dredging up some trivia from somewhere, such as 42A [Classic car John DeLorean was an engineer for] GTO and 8D [“The Play About the Baby” playwright] ALBEE. Other bits of trivia, like 46A [Ruhr museum city] ESSEN and 25D [“Sonatine bureaucratique” composer] SATIE came to me only with a few crosses.
The left side of the grid was much harder for me than right, probably because even once I had the beginning of the 2024 rom-com, the rest of it could have been almost anything. Was 51A [Makes a decision] ACTS or OPTS? 31D [Jack-king hand, in poker] ONE GAPPER was no help. (It makes sense now that I see it; the lack of a queen creates a one-card gap.)
It was nice to see 55D [Kind of potatoes] for ANYA, rather than the go-to of Ms Taylor-Joy (who is great in “Peaky Blinders” and “The Queen’s Gambit”).
NYT: I’m not sure I understand the theme, either. Is it that a kid can glue cotton balls, dry macaroni, and pipe cleaners to a paper plate to make some kind of design? The final theme clue, “What a kid might use to hold 17-, 24-, 35- and 47-Across together” makes it sound like they all go on the same paper plate; I’ve seen some of those things glued to a paper plate by a kid, but not all at once.
The theme doesn’t resonate with me, not working with children, but I get it. MACARONI NOODLES is not familiar usage to me.
Oh, if anyone hasn’t yet glanced at TNY, be forewarned. It is a themed puzzle, in accord with a themed issue of the magazine, on Money. As you might expect given that constraint, there is no indication of difficulty.
PAPER PLATE is the face; COTTON BALLS are the eyes and nose; MACARONI NOODLES [ugh] can be eyebrows and/or ears; and a PIPE CLEANER makes a reasonable facsimile of a smile. Pretty sure this was part of the early years “curriculum” back in the 50s.
NYT: Not a very good start to the week, IMHO.
We kick off with a variant spelling at 1-D.
Then, MACARONI NOODLES? Has anyone here ever spoken that phrase?
I remember various sorts of arts and crafts that my son brought home from school when he was a young’un, but a paper plate with cotton balls, macaroni and pipe cleaners was not among them. Maybe he was deprived?
I think “macaroni noodles,” and calling all Italian pasta “noodles” is a regional thing. After 50 years, I still cringe when my wife does it. It’s not something I heard growing up in New York, but in certain parts of the country spaghetti is noodles.
Googling “macaroni noodles” yields tons of hits.
M-W just says “and papaw,” not labeling it a variant.
It’s not clear to me what ‘papaw’ refers to. Some dictionaries list it as a variant of pawpaw, others suggest it can refer to either pawpaw or papaya. Coincidentally, the Washington Post had a feature recently on growing pawpaws commercially. The upside is that they grow well in a variety of climates; the downside is they don’t last long, once picked.
Macaroni noodle seems redundant to me too.
Funny, but when I look up PAPAW in MW online, I see “less common spelling of pawpaw.” (RHUD has simply a cross ref to pawpaw and, under pawpaw’s third definition as papaya, “also papaw.”)
I wouldn’t say at all that this makes it out of line, although it’s hard vocabulary for a Monday either way. though that is not a huge concern for me. If I’d like the puzzle more on other counts, I’d defend the answer.
I’m not offended by someone referring to Italian pasta as “noodles.” Wouldn’t be my choice of words, but no big deal.
Googling “macaroni noodles” does yield tons of hits. Very few of them actually contain the phrase “macaroni noodles.” It’s just Google trying to be helpful.
NYT: I thought that the newish use of “wicked” was tough for a Monday. You will all tell me I’m wrong. I guess it’s good to learn things, even on a Monday.
I thought that wicked=RAD was a bit off, at least for me. RAD feels very 1980s/1990s, while wicked feels more recent than that.
I first ran into RAD used by Southern California youth in the summer of 1967. So it was already in play by the late 1960s.
Growing up in the Boston area I first encountered “wicked” in that sense in the 1950’s, usually followed by “good.”
NYT: I originally had NOT SO HOT for 8D. NOT SO FUN didn’t resonate with me as an idiomatic phrase.
I would know it as NOT SO MUCH FUN or even NOT MUCH FUN. Disappointing puzzle on many levels.
NYT: The answer MACARONI NOODLES is a phrase I have never encountered before, possibly because nobody uses it thanks to its redundancy.
You need to cook more.
TNY: Blah theme and blah sandwich [assuming that was intended]. I’d like some mayo or mustard, please.
@Eric, re: BEQ: OPHIRA EISENBERG has done the color commentary at the ACPT a number of times (“a number of times” = maybe twice, maybe more? No idea). I wouldn’t know the name otherwise.
NOBODY WANTS THIS is a current Netflix series. I hear good things about it and it’s on my watch list. NOBODY WANTS to watch it with me, though!
Thanks, Amy!
I haven’t paid attention to ACPT since I saw the movie “Wordplay.” I’ll never be a speed solver (which is OK with me).
I’ve probably seen NOBODY WANTS THIS on the Netflix home screen. But this review (which I may have skimmed) probably steered me away from it:
https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/nobody-wants-this/nobody-wants-this-delivers-on-that-name
She also hosted NPR’s “Ask Me Another” quiz/puzzle/game show back in the 2010s. That’s where I know her from. It was a fun program.
Thanks!
I almost said something about how the name OPHIRA reminded me of Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR’s Africa correspondent.
This is such a lovely piece of work! The attention to detail is remarkable, and it really reflects your passion. I can see how much heart you poured into it, and that’s something special. It’s great to witness your growth and creativity. Thank you for sharing this with us! I can’t wait to see what you’ll create next!”