Theme: Rabbit? What rabbit?
18A. Second on a ticket: RUNNING MATE.
23A. "Bring it in, dude" embrace: BRO HUG.
52A. Overseas correspondent?: PEN PAL.
59A. "Booksmart" or "Dumb and Dumber": BUDDY COMEDY.
And the reveal:
38A. Childhood companion depicted five times in this puzzle, thanks to some Down clues: IMAGINARY FRIEND.
The key to the theme is that when you're solving the down entries which cross the "friend" part of the themer, you ignore the "friend letter" - they're invisible. The actual down entries are all still bona fide crossword vocabulary, but unless you ignore that one letter they don't make sense in the context of the clues.
Hi all, Steve here again pinch-hitting. Once I saw the pattern around the theme starting to emerge I thought it was brilliant. There are fully 23 down clue/answers which need to be manipulated to complete the puzzle and honestly I didn't find one that seemed to be a stretch. It also crossed my mind that it's a clever way to use two-letter fill words which usually are not allowed. Very cunning!
My theme title refers to the 1950's movie starring Jimmy Stewart, but Ella's reveal almost makes a title redundant!
Across
4. Hands down: BY FAR.
9. Syrup source: MAPLE. Not sure about this, surely "Maple Tree"? Maybe I'm being pedantic.
14. "There it is!": AHA!
15. Compact cosmetic: ROUGE. The "G" was my final fill, wasn't sure about the name crossing.
16. Build a new room, say: ADD ON.
17. "Da 5 Bloods" setting, for short: 'NAM.
20. Nutrition regimen: DIET.
22. North America's tallest peak: DENALI. 20,310 feet (or 20,320 depending on when you last looked it up). The mountain was re-measured in 2015 using improved measuring technology.
26. Hushes: SILENCES.
30. Vanity cases: EGOS.
32. Pt. of USNA: NAV. Seems an arbitrary abbreviation for "Navy", simply chopping off the last letter.
33. "Selma" director DuVernay: AVA.
34. "Selma" actor David: OYELOWO. Nice proximity of these two.
37. Small bird with a big voice: WREN.
42. Helgenberger of "CSI": MARG.
43. West Coast sch. whose application process may include an audition: CAL ARTS. A couple of friends of mine went to Cal Arts to study animation.
44. Break off: END.
45. Cynical start?: CEE. C for Cynic.
48. Epiphany trio: MAGI.
49. Finishes a gin rummy turn, e.g.: DISCARDS.
56. Aye-aye or dik-dik: ANIMAL. I knew dik-dik, but the other was new to me. I discover it is the world's largest nocturnal primate, and is a long-fingered lemur from Madagascar.
58. Flight board info: GATE.
64. No-frills bed: COT.
65. Slow tempo: LARGO.
66. Future esposa, perhaps: NOVIA. The bride, in Spanish.
67. Roxy Music name: ENO. Brian Eno, the legendary producer, ambient music component and ex glam rocker with Roxy Music. Seems like a good excuse for a music link. Eno is the guy with the long blond hair playing a very rudimentary synth.
68. 12-year-old, e.g.: TWEEN.
69. Ridley of the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy: DAISY.
70. TV room: DEN.
Down:
1. Wedding __: BAND(B). The first of the "invisible" letter down entries. BANDB parses to B AND B by the way, took me a moment to see that.
2. Hindi word for "tea": CHAI(R).
3. Showed up: CAME(O).
4. Exclamation during a polar bear plunge: BRR.
5. "__ had one job!": YOU.
6. Endow: FUND.
7. Moorehead of "Bewitched": AGNES.
8. Restrain: REIN IN.
9. Bullet train technology: MAG-LEV.
10. Server's edge, in tennis: AD(M)IN.
11. Law enforcement org.: PD(A).
12. __ and behold: LO(T).
13. Dash used in date ranges: EN(E).
19. "The Lion King" lion: NALA.
21. Option in a classic paradoxical dilemma: THE EGG.
24. Wrinkled tangelo: UGLI.
25. Jennifer Egan's "A Visit From the __ Squad": GOON.
27. Web store icon: CAR(E)T.
28. 12/24 and 12/31: EVE(N)S.
29. __ Antonio: SAN(D).
31. Budget carrier HQ'd in Dallas: SWA. Southwest Airlines. They used to be fun to fly with when I first moved to the USA, now not so much, they've got much more corporate.
34. Muscat resident: OMANI.
35. Fabric measures: YARDS.
36. Tolkien monster: ORC.
37. Twist, as a wet rag: W(I)RING.
38. Cyberchatted with, briefly: IM'ED. Could be an IM, a PM or a DM.
39. Orange tuber: YAM.
40. __ of luxury: (F)LAP.
41. Number of candles, perhaps: (R)AGE.
45. Big name in cameras: CAN(Y)ON.
46. Actor Bana: ERIC.
47. Astronomer Halley: EDMOND. I knew the ED part, but flip-flopped between EDWARD and EDMUND before the cross rescued me.
50. Batting __: CA(D)GE.
51. South Pacific island group: SAMOA.
53. Finished perfectly: (P)ACED.
54. Musical pitch: (A)TONE.
55. Historic British school: (L)ETON. You'd think it was the only school in the UK if you went by crosswordese. It is quite historic, but the school in the town where I grew up, Winchester College, was founded in 1382, whereas Eton didn't come along until 1440. The King's School in Canterbury was founded in 597, so has both beaten by a good half a millenium.
57. __ Strauss & Co.: LEVI. I'm wearing a pair of Levi 511's today.
59. USN officer: (B)LT.
60. "How cute!": (U)AW. United Auto Workers union in case you're wondering.
61. Do, __, mi: (D)RE.
62. Knock: DIS.
63. "Huzzah!": YAY!
69. Ridley of the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy: DAISY.
70. TV room: DEN.
Down:
1. Wedding __: BAND(B). The first of the "invisible" letter down entries. BANDB parses to B AND B by the way, took me a moment to see that.
2. Hindi word for "tea": CHAI(R).
3. Showed up: CAME(O).
4. Exclamation during a polar bear plunge: BRR.
5. "__ had one job!": YOU.
6. Endow: FUND.
7. Moorehead of "Bewitched": AGNES.
8. Restrain: REIN IN.
9. Bullet train technology: MAG-LEV.
10. Server's edge, in tennis: AD(M)IN.
11. Law enforcement org.: PD(A).
12. __ and behold: LO(T).
13. Dash used in date ranges: EN(E).
19. "The Lion King" lion: NALA.
21. Option in a classic paradoxical dilemma: THE EGG.
24. Wrinkled tangelo: UGLI.
25. Jennifer Egan's "A Visit From the __ Squad": GOON.
27. Web store icon: CAR(E)T.
28. 12/24 and 12/31: EVE(N)S.
29. __ Antonio: SAN(D).
31. Budget carrier HQ'd in Dallas: SWA. Southwest Airlines. They used to be fun to fly with when I first moved to the USA, now not so much, they've got much more corporate.
34. Muscat resident: OMANI.
35. Fabric measures: YARDS.
36. Tolkien monster: ORC.
37. Twist, as a wet rag: W(I)RING.
38. Cyberchatted with, briefly: IM'ED. Could be an IM, a PM or a DM.
39. Orange tuber: YAM.
40. __ of luxury: (F)LAP.
41. Number of candles, perhaps: (R)AGE.
45. Big name in cameras: CAN(Y)ON.
46. Actor Bana: ERIC.
47. Astronomer Halley: EDMOND. I knew the ED part, but flip-flopped between EDWARD and EDMUND before the cross rescued me.
50. Batting __: CA(D)GE.
51. South Pacific island group: SAMOA.
53. Finished perfectly: (P)ACED.
54. Musical pitch: (A)TONE.
55. Historic British school: (L)ETON. You'd think it was the only school in the UK if you went by crosswordese. It is quite historic, but the school in the town where I grew up, Winchester College, was founded in 1382, whereas Eton didn't come along until 1440. The King's School in Canterbury was founded in 597, so has both beaten by a good half a millenium.
57. __ Strauss & Co.: LEVI. I'm wearing a pair of Levi 511's today.
59. USN officer: (B)LT.
60. "How cute!": (U)AW. United Auto Workers union in case you're wondering.
61. Do, __, mi: (D)RE.
62. Knock: DIS.
63. "Huzzah!": YAY!
And with a final Huzzah! for finishing the puzzle, here's the grid:
69 comments:
Shazam and Zowie! WHAT a Friday toughie! I was totally lost until I solved the reveal and realized what was going on, and it was STILL tough after that! SO many obscurities, of which “Oyelowo” was a prime example, were only solved by ESP. Friends, I managed to solve this puzzle (by the skin of my teeth!) but I’m not going to say “I’m happy “ about it because this puzzle left me exhausted, with a strong feeling of dissatisfaction! So I’ll just say I’m glad to be here with you all, and “that’s all she wrote!” Subgenius out!
Ridiculous. Impossible.
Way too subtly obscure for me, sorry
I agree with Steve. Brilliant and cunning. Very reminiscent of a stumper that Evan Birnholz might create. Challenging until you get it, and then the AHA moment when it all starts to make sense, followed by the sense of satisfaction when properly completed. I'm certain this type of puzzle is not everyone's cup of CHAI, but I liked it.
Very well explained, Steve. I like how you denoted the added letters using the parens to make those answers clear in the review.
The 32A abbrv is for NAVal. US Naval Academy.
Good morning!
This would've been a good day to read the full reveal clue. D'oh. This ex-swabbie was at sea throughout. All of my gimme answers were too short. OYELOWO was just cruel. Now I can see how clever the construction was. That wasn't my thought while solving. Thanx for pinch-hitting again, Steve. Ella, your pzl was way above my pay grade today -- more proof that d-o is turning (has turned?) into an old dog.
SWA: For a few years in the '70s-'80s my assigned territory was Texas-New Mexico. Southwest was the only game in town. I remember when their pre-flight safety announcement included, "Please keep you hands and arms inside the plane at all times." There was a conversation area mid-plane where two rows of seats faced each other. The result was added legroom, so I often sat there.
"You had one JOB" -- Drove through a roadway construction area on Wednesday. At the Kingwood Drive intersection was a prominent "No Right Turn" sign. When the light turned green, the three cars in front of me all turned right. I went straight through the intersection, and watched in my rear-view mirror as the next three cars also turned right. Go figure.
Ridiculously stupid
The puzzles have gotten so bad since rich left and they keep getting worse. Today's was total garbage
Which character of 59A crafted this puzzle?
Lot and behold wiring
I've read every explanation and I still don't get it
DNF. I understood the reveal, and got everything except the band from Texarkana to San(d) Diego.
My favorite "you had ONE job" was the TV commercial on a boat. The couple were entertaining friends, and the wife had brought a number of items. She asked her husband to hand out the sandwiches. In response she got an "oh shoot!" look. YOU HAD ONE JOB! intoned the wife. (OK, it was a power boat, but other than that it was a great ad.)
Which came first? TWIX has let Limo the Emu off the hook for the most irritating TV commercial with two talking chickens discussing which came first, the cookie or the cookie dough.
When we moved to Norfolk some twenty-odd years ago, Old Dominion University engineering students had a megabucks grant to design and install a MAGLEV people mover for its campus. When the train and guideway were built, early testing showed it wasn't ready for live traffic. Millions more were spent to find and correct the problems. Or try to correct. When even Uncle Sam decided to stop throwing good money after bad, they abandoned the project. A couple of years ago, more millions were spent to remove the infrastructure to facilitate building more structures. Your tax dollars at rest.
SWA, whose NYSE is LUV for Love Field (KDAL). One of their strategies is operating in older airports vs the new replacements to hold down operating costs. It was a great airline during Herb Kelleher's tenure. I used to fly them at least a couple of times a week.
Thanks for the fine review of this one, Steve.
Good Morning:
After much discussion, Thumper and I agreed to let sleeping dogs lie.
DNF. This was not brilliant, but absurdly obtuse.
The theme I understood but the theory with the down clues was ridiculous. Not to mention all the proper names in places where perps were of no help. And Oyelowo? Really?
One theme answer eluded me; buddy. Nothing would solve this using any type of logic!
Took 13:48 for me to ... end the friendship.
Bonus points for clever thinking and a novel approach, but the execution wasn't worth it.
Too many obscure names (e.g., Oyelowo, Marg, Agnes [no offense to a certain visitor of this Corner]).
Too many obscure "words" (e.g., maglev, cadge, etc.).
Too many 3-letter words (my apologies to a certain visitor of this Corner).
Too many 2-letter words, I guess.
But hey, no circles!
Speaking of clever puzzles, yesterday's crossword in the Seattle Times (which reposts each day a NYT puzzle from 6-weeks ago) was impressive. Without revealing too much (it had a "see notepad" advisory), it had to do with code breaking. Worth your time.
What is this mess? Should be challenging and FUN. Not fun when the words make no sense.
This was annoying.
I agree with most comments.
Annoying.
No payoff.
Not worth the trouble.
I got such a chuckle out of this amusing puzzle theme, with the answers for the downs taking out the IMAGINARY FRIENDs, but having the letter left in made another unclued answer - that must have taken a lot work!
Coincidentally, I just read an article about a movie coming out next year with John Krasinski and Ryan Reynolds with an all-star cast called IMAGINARY FRIENDs. Looks to be a lot of fun
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11152168/
I like to play SPORCLE quizzes and Oyelowo is now in the club with Scarlett Johansson and Khrushchev for answers I know but don't remember how to spell! He is an amazing actor so I will plug away.
Thanks Steve for another pinch hit and Ella for a unique puzzle!
I vote with the majority. I figured out the gimmick but didn't care for it, especially combined with too much obscure fill. Thumper.
I completed yesterday's puzzle in the evening. FIR, but too late to post.
TITT. This is the kind of puzzle for someone who has all day to work on. I have too many places to go today.
Steve did a splendid job explaining this complex CW.
(This my second time posting, the first one didn’t go through.)
No, Nope, Nada!
Jinx@7:37 - West Virginia University has the first successful people mover in the United States, the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), built in 1975 and still operating today. Government paid for and many thousands over budget, it was a project of the late WV Senator Robert Byrd. It has had many ups and downs but at one time operated at 98% efficiency. Driverless, it transports 15,000 students a day connecting the 3 campuses, Since 1975 it has transported over 83,000 people. A detailed article about it on Wiki.
Thank you Steve for explaining the puzzle which did not make sense to me.
What a colossal waste of time.
Did not like the cutesy extra letter added to some down clues. Really is this the best we can do?
Yep
DNFBMS
(Did Not Finish By MySelf...)
Rabbit? What rabbit?
Some people will cry "Thumper" on this puzzle,
but I think it was absolutely this!
In this day and age, when crosswords have been constructed for over 100 years, I am absolutely in awe that this constructor has come up with something new. "And refreshing!"
I attacked this puzzle like a dog with a bone, and chewed on it relentlessly. And in the end, when I realized what was going on, I still could not find the missing letters to the puzzle without help. (Bro is what got me...)
Bravo! Well done! Kudos!
My only nit would be that in chewing on this puzzle, I think I chipped a couple of teeth like the guy in the beer commercial.
Musings
-Amen, Steve! This was brilliant on so many levels. AMIGO followed the gimmick and worked above incorrect LENTO and TWEEN.
-NOVIA and unfamiliar DAISY cluing didn’t help.
-My wife laughed at me for being outdated when I used the word ROUGE (instead of blush) asking about the amount of coloring on a news anchor’s cheeks.
-I have nothing against President McKinley, but DENALI seems more fitting
-Modern shushing (SILENCING)
-Ella supplied lots of help for OYELOWO
-Is it rude to say, “What’s the name of this game?” when you get a gin rummy?
-I had this MAG-LEV toy on my physics lab desk
-The latest available episode of The Lincoln Lawyer ended with a visit from the GOON SQUAD
-Take it from this amateur astronomer, EDMOND Halley’s last name rhymes with VALLEY not DAILY.
Friday F(r)iendzy! Thanks for the fun, Ella and Steve.
Well, this was a workout, but once I figured out the extra imaginary letter, I was almost to the Tada. But Oy(ELOWO), the inkblots.
That Selma actor required a Google search to confirm the spelling, as did ERIC BANA (I wanted Erin).
And BUDDY was the last friend to appear.
But I agree with TTP that this CW might not be everyone’s cup of CHAI(R).
Off to a slow start with Wedding Bells before BAND.
I wanted Rap before DIS.
MAG LEV perped, thankfully.
EDMOND not Edmund!
Wishing you all a great day.
Good Morning!
I thought it was time for Ella to get back on her meds…..
Thanks, Steve, for explaining it.
WEES about obscurities & unknown names. Google helped me through, but why I persevered is still a mystery.
I figured the extra letter in the downs but used a lot of Wite-Out deciding where & its position in the down. Didn't see the reveal until almost the end. *s would have helped.
This one gets a CW Golden Raspberry.
After getting over my snit at my hate for this CW because I found it impossible to solve, I must admit that it is imaginative. But still don’t see how it would be possible to solve unless the very first fill you got was the reveal IMAGINARYFRIEND. And presuming you didn’t fill INVISIBLEFRIEND, which is another possible fill with the same number of letters. But to decide between the two you needed perps, which were very difficult without the reveal. So…..How is one supposed to solve this? My boneheaded way to fill a CW is to start at 1A and try to power my way through to the finish. BCC is obvious. But 1D BANDB, 2D CHAIR, 3D CAMEO? Then 10D ADMIN, 11D PDA, 12D ENE….. And CARET, EVENS and SAND? This all made no sense. So I quit and came to the blog in confusion, and when I saw the (yes, very imaginative, but not friendly) reveal…. Ach, enough already. CW was FAR too clever for my simple mind. I try to fill with things that make sense.
I’ve seen some absurd puzzles in the 40 years I’ve been cross-wording but this takes the blue ribbon hands down-by far..
A creative and challenging puzzle. It was a work of art. Once I sussed the theme I thoroughly enjoyed it. Got stumped at “ buddy comedy “ as I’ve never heard that term but I did manage to get the surrounding fill correct. Well done Ella. Thanks for an awesome recap Steve…. kkFlorida
This was a clever puzzle and took no longer than an average Friday to solve at breakfast. Steve's explanation was excellent and caught a bad guess on my part: I had DAD HUG, as BRO HUG is not in my vocabulary, and I hadn't realized that the down answers with invisible friends also had to be real words or phrases. Huzzah!
Bagged a crossword puzzle for the first time in over 50 years of doing them. This one was not fun.
No sorry this was ridiculous. I didn't have enough time to "waste" on this mess. Rich would have never allowed such a silly CW.
No, sorry, this was ridiculous. I didn't want to waste my time figuring this mess out. Rich would have never allowed this mess to be published. GC
Gratifying for the puzzle creator? Hope so. Not so much for me. I solved this in 24:12 and figured what was happening but got no AHA just a MEH. Like trying to order coffee from a barista speaking in backwards Spanish.
I grew up with Mt Ranier. DENALI popped though . Oh, yeh, McKinley < DENALI
I had movie(COMEDY). I had sorta figured out the trick so BUDDY shouldn't have been so hard
David: OYELOWO was all perps. Is that really his name?
MAGLEV was another complete unknown
I don't DIS this creative piece of work but having solved last night alerted the J crowd. Once I had LT and of course the Y in CAN(Y)ON perhaps I'd have grok'ed BUDDY
Sets us up for tomorrow, and…
Yes, I was filling wherever until the theme appeared, figured out 90% but got lazy in SW
WC
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
Parsan, was the WVU people mover MAGLEV? (BTW, at Marshall we used to call it "University of South Pittsburgh."
I knew there was something missing when I tried to complete the NE because PD, LO, EN, and AD (or ADD) IN were solid perps. SAN, EVES, and CART confirmed it but my lack of pop culture and A&E knowledge made it a DNF. I'd never heard of OYELOWO, BRO HUG, GOON Squad, or BUDDY COMEDY. IMAGINARY FRIEND was an easy fill but it didn't help.
NW- I filled BAND, CHAI, CAME, and DIET but the bro hug, goon, Oyelowo never made it.
SW0 I guessed FARCE instead of BUDDY but made no sense wil F-AW, W-AW, R-RE, and CA-R-GE.
CAL ARTS- an unknown school for me but I got it. Western version of Julliard and Berklee.
Agree with many here, this was very annoying. On the first pass, 28D and 29D, I could tell something really screwy was up with obvious answers having an extra letter. On the second pass when I couldn't get an answer I just revealed the word. I'm not going to waste much time on something this ridiculous.
Besides the extra letter this puzzle had some annoying trends I see in these crosswords:
1) Very arbitrary abbreviation: NAV for Navy or Naval. Who uses that abbreviation?
2) Plural word awkwardly used: EVES. Use it in a sentence. "What are you doing for the EVES of Christmas and New Years?" Like I said, awkward. I was sure 58A was going to be another one, ETAS, to my surprise it wasn't.
3) OYELOWO. Need I say more?
4) NOVIA. I would prefer my crosswords to be entirely in English.
5) CEE: I really hate letters with a spelled out name. I guess it's a thing, but I don't like it.
It doesn't take too many of these to put me off crosswords for awhile.
Who is this Crossed Eyed Interloper?
(Are you Blueish? You don't look blueish...)
Get an Avatar, Go Blue!
However,
Eyelowo?
I agree, never saw it thru the perps)
Not in English? (Are you my echo?)
Cee, (Eh, I've gotten used to the crosswordese..)
It put you off?
(I highly doubt it)
(You'll be back tomorrow, I'm sure...)
Hola!
Sigh. I wish I could give up on crosswords but after solving for so many decades, I can't and so I just soldier on. I finished but it was not fun and I'm really tired after a very bad night, so that doesn't help.
After scanning the grid, I went for the low hanging fruit and sort of saw the trick but I'm too tired to be excited about it.
NOVIA was nice. I always like to see some Spanish. Sorry, Cross Eyed @12:17
I believe this puzzle will go in the DISCARD(s) pile.
Thank you, Steve. It's so nice to see you in the pilot's seat!
I hope you are all having a better day than I am. Lack of sleep for me.
Edward in LA cal: The “UCK” has an invisible “F” in front of it.
👍🤪
Engineer here: maglev was easy
In trying to solve this one, I thought the editor missed a LOT of TYPOS!
🤪🤪
First LATC I've given up on in the eight years I've been doing them regularly. Can't say I enjoyed the experience.
Nope. Just nope. TITT. Got better things to aggravate me than this asinine CW. DNF. DN even want to F.
This is my first time posting on this blog although have followed it for several years.
Today was NOT a crossword puzzle, it was a mess.
Halfway through I sensed a Stupid Gimmick Theme and bailed. In the manner of our esteemed Jinx, this constructor will be added to my “Don’t Waste My Time” list. I have no use for SGT puzzles.
I guess I'm in the minority on this one. I stumbled around for a while then saw the gimmick. I am not an expert solver so seeing the gimmick was pretty exciting.
I did not know BUDDYCOMEDY but had COMEDY so I tried to think of synonyms for "friend" and that sealed the deal.
Thank you for your creative & challenging puzzle, Ella! I agree with Steve that your use of "bona fide crossword vocabulary" for the extra-letter words that did not match the clues was impressive!
Thank you, Steve, for your explanation. When I finished the puzzle I thought, "I am glad it's not my day to explain this one." You did a terrific job! Oh, and hand up for wearing LEVIs today.
I'm with the majority. A decent editor would never have allowed this farce into print. But those days are gone.
DR: One diagonal, near to hand.
Its anagram (14 of 15) says what a young animated chap might say to bid Welcome to the current heat wave.
He might reduce it to...
"COWABUNGA, THERM!"
~ OMK
Not at all a fan of this puzzle maker
Anon @ 2:49, the only thing keeping Ella off my "don't bother" list is the esteem I have for her dad. I keep hoping that she'll show that some of his communication skills have been handed down. BTW, I disagree with her dad more often than not, but he is always well reasoned, and uses language meant to communicate, not to impress his audience of his brilliance.
It would be so refreshing to re-examine the dictionary entry for crossword so that we can eliminate the names. I'm sure if your time is spent watching TV.movies, and other pop culture time wasters, you may enjoy these. Although the idea behind today's puzzle was inane so it lost on both accounts. Sounds like some people thought this was worthwhile; for them I am glad. I find the puzzles under Varol to be lame and lazy. Times readers deserve better.
Wow…a solve (that I got) that made zero sense. None.
At this point I think the “editor” has burned all the bridges…or the LAT is trying to get out of the XWord business.
I’m not going to trash the author, as the editor should have taken cars of this mess.
What’s next? I guess blank answers.
A horrible excuse for a crossword…until the editor sends another.
Wow, Anonymous at 3:47. Way to put people down for knowing some names. The thing is, I find so regrettable the hostility of some posters who are unhappy with a puzzle.
Thank you Ella for a brilliant puzzle and to Steve for an equally brilliant review. But as the poster on the office wall of an old colleague said "Sometimes the Dragon wins!". This had what I call a "Type 2" theme, a puzzle you have to solve before you can solve the puzzle, rather than the easier "Type 1", an easily discovered pattern that helps you solve the puzzle (like the kind I review!). I came close to stumbling on all of the right fill, but because I led off with BANDS for 1D and couldn't come up with BRO HUG (ironic, because I'm a real BRO HUGGER) I could see what was going on everywhere but in Seattle. Hats off to our constructor and to our reviewer.
One fav;
34A OYELOWO. I knew David OYELOWO as Danny from the British series MI5 (aka "Spooks") and from his CAMEO appearance with his wife Jessica in one episode of my all time favorite mystery series Gil Mayo.
Cheers,
Bill
Wow. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Actually I do; I cried and laughed. Cried while trying to solve/make sense of this puzzle, and laughed (well, really more like chuckled slightly) AFTER having solved it (with a lot of looking stuff up) and looking BACK at it. A post-solve lookback is the only way to appreciate this puzzle. Clever? Sure, like a good lawyer is clever.
Anyhoo, I liked your explanation, Steve. Well done! I also liked reading all of your comments, folks. Good wishes to you all.
I'm not sure that it's fair to blame Patti for the puzzles that we don't think worthy of attempting. I think it is possible that she has been given marching orders to change the tenor of the puzzle. Who knows, Rich may have been given those orders too, and decided he'd rather switch, er retire, than fight. (My apologies to the Tareyton cigarettes people.)
This is a ridiculous example of overthinking. The answers and theme are arbitrary despite the authors claims to the contrary. I was disappointed and even though I solved it there was no joy. It was as if when faced with the constructed puzzle the author contrived a theme to fit the incorrect portions of the puzzle.
Best puzzle in a long time! Super imaginative and creative! Too bad that so many people that have commented still don't understand it. They should hone their skills in the Universal or USA Today puzzle.
It could be that the ones that got it and still didn't like it are old fuddy duddies that don't like newer style puzzles. To them I say, write to the Los Angeles Times and complain. Be sure to include your subscription account number. Be sure to tell them how you want to see more Monday level crossword puzzle because you are having a hard time thinking out of the box.
Totally agree. This is ridiculous. Boo.
I agree. One of the few challenging puzzles that doesn't rely on names.
Competitive Solver- I figured out how the puzzle was constructed- no problem with that, just don't like the pop culture and A&E clues.
But puzzles are supposed to be puzzling and it seems many didn't appreciate it today.
Anon@1:15-"Edward in LA cal: The “UCK” has an invisible “F” in front of it.
👍🤪=== absolutely hilarious. Very imaginative comment- bravo.
Cross Eyed @12:17 asks "1) Very arbitrary abbreviation: NAV for Navy or Naval. Who uses that abbreviation?"
Erm, the U.S. Navy. In teletype traffic (RTTY), it is possible to have garbled reception, so the norm is have 3-letter abbreviations in traffic. For example, any naval station is NAVSTA; naval air is NAVAIR.
As for today's puzzle, I think the belle demoiselle Irish Miss speaks for me.
Edward: that was fun!
Michael@10:22 p.m.
Thank you for illuminating us!
Glad I wasn't the only one this time. I came back this morning ater giving up on it last night.
I always feel at a disadvantage, having grown up in another culture, living with a husband that despises all spectator sports...so no help there, knowing nothing about music, especially anything newer than the 70s, and refusing to recognize modern slang. So I normally have trouble, and this Friday was impossible. As someone here put it: an absolute mess. Sorry.
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