Dena R. Witkes’s New York Times crossword— Sophia’s write-up
Happy Monday folks! I’m on Thanksgiving vacation so just a quick write up today. Congrats to Dena on her NYT debut!
Theme: each theme answer begins with a word that can also be an action taken on social media.
New York Times, 11 25 2024, By Dena R. Witkes
- 17a [*Corporate investor] – SHAREHOLDER
- 27a [*Difficult to wrangle, per an idiom] – LIKE HERDING CATS
- 44a [*Advice to someone seeking happiness] – FOLLOW YOUR BLISS
- 59a [Modern networking aid, as suggested by the starts of the answers to the starred clues] – SOCIAL MEDIA
SHARE, LIKE, and FOLLOW are all classic social media related words, so much so that they almost feel quaint in the social-media saturated landscape we’re in now. I like that Dena chose phrases in SHAREHOLDER and LIKE HEARDING CATS that totally change the meaning of the social media verb. I use the HERDING CATS idiom all the time as well so that was a personal favorite answer. This puzzle played very easy for me – I solved it on my phone rather than my laptop (because vacation) and I still ended up with a faster than average time. Curious how it felt, difficulty-wise, for other people.
Clue highlights: The [Pesky insect]/[Pesky kid] clue repetition for GNAT/IMP, [Miss Piggy’s pronoun] for MOI, [Las Vegas A’s] for ACES (poor Oakland though :( )
Fill highlights: I LOVE IT, FIREMEN. And a personal highlight – I went to Crater Lake in OREGON for the first time last month, it was absolutely beautiful.
New to me: that 72 is PAR on many golf courses
Alan DerKazarian’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Lunch Time”—Jim’s review
Theme answers are familiar phrases whose outer letters spell a slang word for money. The revealer is LETTUCE WRAP (61a, [Low-carb lunch, and a hint to the answers with circles]).
Wall St Journal crossword solution · “Lunch Time” · Alan DerKazarian · Mon., 11.25.24
- 17a. [Walter White’s show] BREAKING BAD.
- 25a. [Seller of Razr phones] MOTOROLA.
- 39a. [“As if!”] “DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH.”
- 51a. [Michigan governor Whitmer] GRETCHEN.
A fine theme, but I think I would have liked it better if the slang words were more modern. “Green” might be the only one that people still use nowadays. The rest are pretty dated.
Not much to highlight in the fill, but I do like HOAGIE, ROB ROY, BIG EASY, and BY GUM. I struggled with AMAIN [With all one’s might, formerly] which seems pretty archaic for a Monday.
Clue of note: 1d. [Sailor, informally]. GOB. I went with TAR. To me,, GOB is Brit-speak for “mouth.”
A mostly smooth grid, but not a lot that makes it stand out. 3.25 stars.
NYT: Yes, very nice Monday. Smooth and peppy.
I too liked the fact that SHARE AND LIKE had a different meaning within the phrase than in the context of social media. I guess it’s harder to do the same for FOLLOW. There’s the meaning of coming after vs focusing on, but I can’t think of a great alternative phrase.
I love the HERDING CATS expression. Nothing better describes chairing an academic committee where the outcome may be consequential (money, space, positions, policy…). Sometimes, you have to let some cats go their own way.