Rebecca Goldstein and Ariela Perlman’s New York Times crossword, “Nothing But Blue Skies” — Nate’s write-up
11.17.2024 Sunday New York Times Crossword
This week, puzzle constructor extraordinaire Rebecca Goldstein accompanies her wife Ariela Perlman (in her NYT debut!) in an uplifting journey through an expertly/smoothly filled Sunday grid:
23A: UP UP AND AWAY [Line before takeoff]
93A: HOT AIR BALLOON [Whimsical method of transportation depicted in this puzzle’s grid]
Not only do we have the gorgeous grid art of a HOT AIR BALLOON painted with a series of black squares, we also have a subtheme of how things look from that high up:
39A: SMALL TOWN [Neighborhood seen from a 93-Across?]
65A: TINY HOUSE [Dwelling seen from a 93-Across?]
104A: WEE LASS [Girl seen from a 93-Across?]
108A: MINIVAN [Vehicle seen from a 93-Across?]
This puzzle felt like a gorgeous hybrid of a grid art puzzle + lightly themed puzzle (in terms of theme square count) + quasi-themeless puzzle (in terms of number of fantastic long entries). Overall, it worked for me, and I left the puzzle feeling lighter and more joyful than when I started – a smooth solving (and sky sailing) experience!
Edited to add: I think commenter Sheik is right: BLOWIN IN THE WIND feels thematic and TAKE THE HIGH ROAD probably does, too (especially since they occupy pride of place in those long, symmetric down spots)! Apologies for missing those before.
What did you think of the puzzle? Let us know in the comments section below – and have a wonderful weekend!
Adam Levav’s Universal Sunday crossword, “Infield Shift”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases that hide what looks like scrambles of common farm crops. The revealer is CROP ROTATIONS (122a, [Farming system … and a hint to the circled letters]).
Universal Sunday crossword solution · “Infield Shift” · Adam Levav · 11.17.24
- 23a. [Is serious] MEANS BUSINESS. Beans.
- 35a. [Sweltering occurrence] HEAT WAVE. Wheat.
- 46a. [Strip of vegetation found near a city] GREEN CORRIDOR. Corn.
- 72a. [Transitory shelter, for short] TEMP HOUSING. Hemp.
- 95a. [Singer known as the “Architect of Rock and Roll”] LITTLE RICHARD. Rice.
- 102a. [Amusement park corporation that owns Knott’s Berry Farm] SIX FLAGS. Flax.
I said “what looks like” above because at first I thought these were simple scrambles, but they’re not. In keeping with the revealer, the words have been “rotated” where they are still in the correct order, but the starting letter was moved to the end (BEANS, WHEAT, and HEMP) or the ending letter is at the beginning (CORN, RICE, FLAX). This was a subtle but elegant touch that I appreciate. Very nice! (Although I have to say that having the first two theme answers do one thing then the third one do the other really threw me off.)
I will pick a nit and say that TEMP HOUSING is not a phrase I’ve ever heard before. I’ve never heard the first word shortened in that phrase.
Moving on, let’s look at fill highlights: ART SHOW, DEAD SEA, HOT SALSA, END TO END, TWILIGHT, LEAPFROG, SUM TOTAL, “HEY SIRI,” OCEANIA, “IT’S DONE,” ZENITHS, and LYE SOAP. Plenty to enjoy in there.
(Speaking of LYE SOAP, recently I’ve been much more attentive to caring for my cast iron pans (I recommend the r/castiron sub on reddit if you’re into it). I’ve learned that it’s okay to use dish soap on your cast iron because today’s soap no longer contains lye as it did in the past which would eat away at the seasoning on your pan. So go ahead and use soap and hot water to clean your pans, just make sure you dry it right away.)
I’m surprised I’ve never heard of the TAINO people, either in real life or in crosswords. The name is very crossword-friendly, and these were the people Columbus first encountered in the Caribbean, making them a people we should all know about. Read more here or here.
Clues of note:
- 43d. [“Dude!”]. “BOY!” Those don’t seem synonymous. I know the clue is drawing a parallel with the next entry (44d, “BRUH!”). That one works fine for me, but I can’t think of an instance where “Dude” means “BOY”.
- 49d. [Assemble, as equipment]. RIG UP. The clue is missing an essential aspect of “rigging up” which is the ad hoc nature of it.
- 63d. [On the ___ (often)]. REG. New to me. Must be a “kids these days” thing.
Nice puzzle. 3.5 stars.
Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post crossword, “Eccentricities” — Matt’s write-up
Evan Birnholz’ Washington Post crossword, “Eccentricities” solution, 11/17/2024
Apologies for the delay today – it’s been a weekend full of them. It took my a while to figure out what was going on here, but themers are phrases that end in a U.S. state postal code, reparsed as if they were oddly-named municipalities in those states. Circled letters from each themer spell FUNKYTOWN, an aptly-titled-for-this-puzzle song by LIPPS INC., found as a revealer of sorts at 116a. Cheers.
Blowin in the Wind and Take the High Road seem at least theme-adjacent.
Smart! I’ve updated my post to reflect this. Thanks!
You might add UP, UP, AND AWAY in there.
indeed
Doh. Maybe I should re-read the post before commenting.
I wasn’t on the right wavelength for the NYT. As pointed out, it can seem themeless at times, which isn’t to my taste, and the degree of punning in the themers seemed to vary considerably, although the Web tells me that TINY HOUSES may really be a thing apart from the puzzle’s overhead view. And then there were things like SNL at the holidays and ERIVO / STEWIE.
Once it came together, though, the diagram’s picture looked better and better.
TINY HOUSEs are definitely a thing. I get the appeal, even though I can’t really imagine living in a place that small.
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Name That Tune: A Year in Music – Crossword Puzzles for Music Lovers is available for sale right now on Amazon for only $12.99!
Attention crossword solvers and music lovers: this is the book for you! Take a trip through time and revisit your favorite songs from 1960-2010. Each of 51 puzzles highlights a year in music, with six songs waiting to be found in each grid. The clue for each song is a lyric (hence the title, “Name That Tune”). For example, can you name the 1984 tune by the lyric “I’m never gonna dance again…guilty feet have got no rhythm”? Each grid contains much music-related fill. As an added challenge, a seventh hit song is hidden in circled letters which must be unscrambled after completing each grid.
Jeff Sinnock and Desirée Penner are award-winning constructors whose puzzles have appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The L.A. Times. These puzzles are of the highest quality, and careful thought has been given to ensure a pleasurable solving experience.
I was not blown away by the NYT. The hot air balloon depicted in the puzzle seems kind of deflated. A lot of names, and the section with JLO/JOST/BESO was tough for me. I got JLO from the LO, but I haven’t watched SNL in years, except for clips on YouTube, and ‘un abrazo’ is well beyond my minimal Spanish.
I didn’t know the Spanish for “hugs” (although “beso” is common enough) and got JLO from LO, too. No question a tough section.
I got the connection to UP UP AND AWAY only at the very end and didn’t draw one at all for BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND or TAKE THE HIGH ROAD. But I blame only myself.
NYT: ERIVO is the star of a movie that hasn’t come out yet, and the trailers don’t mention her name; crossing the E with another name (a nickname at that!) brings this dangerously close to Natick territory.
Several puzzles in the last week have crossed names. That really irks this solver, and all I can do is take away a star when I rate the puzzle, for whatever that’s worth.
Agree 100%. I like to solve crossWORD puzzles, not crossNAME trivia games. I am seriously thinking of canceling my NYT subscription, because the Fagliano era is so disappointing.
I wouldn’t blame Joel specifically. I think the problem goes to Everdeen and the NYT overthrowing Will and installing an editorial team. IMO they are trying to break new ground in a fashion similar to what Will did. They are looking for and publishing puzzles with themes and “new” theme types that are just plain weak. Big on some sort of hidden visual or meta, that really doesn’t assist in solving the theme. Many times you don’t even see the theme until after you’ve solved the puzzle. In essence, it’s a themeless puzzle. Just my opinion.
I respectfully disagree.
The’Wicked’movie(s) have been in production for years, and both Erivo and Ariana Grande have been all over the news, entertainment and otherwise.
So just because you didn’t know this doesn’t make Erivo an unfair entry.
NYT: This was my idea of a pleasant Sunday morning puzzle. Other than that unfortunate STEWIE/ERIVO cross, it seemed very smooth to me.
Yes, it’s always nice to see lofty ambitions artfully realized, so I was happy to take to the skies with Ariela and Rebecca. Another tiny puncture in the balloon is the mislocated ATLAS statue, as pointed out at xwordinfo, but overall this was a fun and engaging ride. I’m glad I took it.
This was probably the least challenging NYT Sunday puzzle for me in a long time. No doubt everyone noted the decidedly feminist/LGTBQ slant in the puzzle as I did. As a progressive, I was not at all displeased, but, as someone who has sworn off politics and culture wars for a while (and you can guess why), I was not in the mood for the reminders. Consider me a coward and a sellout if you wish, but my mental health has to take priority after 9 years of constant anxiety about politics.
Well stated.
I guess I’m just dense. I miss it when a puzzle offends because of too many male names, and I miss the feminist/LGBTQ slant here. LEAH makes it decidedly feminist? That’s all I can guess. And ILENE Chaiken is the LGBTQ slant?
Please help educate me. I’m not saying you guys are wrong, just that I’m not feeling it.
You requested education?
Amongst the artful clues and answers are the names of ten women:
Keri Russell
Rose Byrne
Jesmyn Ward
Ilene Chaiken
Jan Berenstein
Yoko Ono
J-Lo
Leah
and the apparently controversial “is it a Natick?” crossing of (Cynthia) ERIVO and (Breanna) STEWIE.
Other words in the puzzle that could be interpreted as ‘female oriented’ include
Washtub
Glam
Shecat
Liger
BOGO
Wee Lass
Bra
Teas
TYSM
Sugary
and the Rom-com ‘The Idea of You’
Whether all this makes this crossword a ‘feminist puzzle’ is in the eyes and mind of the beholder.
As for me, I don’t nit pick.
I just enjoy puzzling through them.
NYT: I love grid art, and thought this was excellent. Just for fun, I solved from the basket upward.
I had some of the same name-crossing problems as others, but it was all eventually gettable. I like how the theme answers near the bottom were all tiny things, and the wind and the high road were up top.
I think the grid art in today’s NYT is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. It looks more like the face of a four-eyed cat. The U-shape at the bottom of the grid does little to enhance the image of a hot air ballon. Mybe it’s a tiny cat toy.
The fill was typical Sunday fare.
WaPo: pretty fun puzzle! Took me a bit to get the theme; at first, I thought “St.” was an abbreviation for street, and not state, and it was hard to parse what was going on. I got the first few from the crosses, then decided to try to decode it, and it made much more sense. I clocked the FUNKY TOWN circled metas, which helped too, though I did not know the band name LIPPS INC. I grew up in the Cincinnati area, and there, LIPPS sold pools around town… I don’t know if that was a family name or something they took from the band. Anyway, a fun Sunday! Thanks Evan!