GRWM
20. "Just decide!": MAKE UP YOUR MIND.
30. Remedy known as "having a counter-beer" in German: HAIR OF THE DOG.
41. In great shape: FIT AS A FIDDLE.
55. Friend's invitation before a party, or a TikTok genre that shows off the starts of 20-, 30-, and 41-Across: GET READY WITH ME.
So makeup, hair and fit. Does fit mean outfit?
"GRWM is a slang term and acronym for Get Ready With Me
that refers to a genre of vlog-style videos in which users show
themselves doing their hair and makeup or dressing in an outfit,
sometimes while talking with their viewers. GRWM videos first became
popularized on YouTube in 2011, becoming increasingly prevalent throughout the 2010s and 2020s on video-sharing sites like TikTok."
Who knew?
Sarah and Kelsey did! Congratulations to both of you on your LA Times debuts!
Across:
1. The hundred target, in Pilates: ABS. Apparently there is also something called the 100 ABS challenge. Who knew?
4. Wander (about): GAD.
7. Bloke: LAD. I think I may have learned these words reading Andy Capp.
10. "The Search for General __": food documentary: TSO. I liked the General Tso cartoon that sumdaze posted on Monday, but FWIW, here's the trailer for the documentary:
13. Goal material: NET.
14. Pose: ASK.
15. Tussle over a 58-Down entry: EDIT WAR. - The next time you pull up a Wikipedia article on a controversial issue, explore the History and Talk tabs.
17. Avenger in armor: IRON MAN. A Marvel Comics character. Iron Man is the superhero alter ego of the billionaire genius Tony Stark.
19. Foot fashion: TOE RING. In many cultures of India, the groom puts a toe ring on the second toe of both feet of the bride. An ancient tradition. RiRi was seen sporting a toe ring with a large rock last May.
22. Stuck in one's craw: ATE AT. Bugged. Got on one's nerves.
23. Sales channel: HSN. Home Shopping Network.
24. Pokémon that evolves into Kadabra: ABRA. No clue, but the perps were fair. That's valid.
26. For fear that: LEST.
27. Rte. finder: GPS.
29. Around the clock worker?: GEAR.
35. Surfaces, e.g.: PCs. Microsoft personal computers.
38. "So that's __?": A NO.
39. Styled like: à la
40. Paramount+ partner, briefly: SHO time.
45. "That's valid": FAIR.
46. With 9-Down, traveling employee's allowance: PER.
(9D) See 46-Across: DIEM.
- "Covered business expenses typically include accommodation, food, and incidental expenses such as fees and tips for services."
47. Body part with cinco dedos: MANO.
52. Landmark civil rights law acronym: ADA. The Civil Rights Act was 1964. The Americans with Disabilities Act was 1990.
54. Try to buy from Ebay: BID ON.
59. Prep roses for "The Bachelor," say: DETHORN.
60. Spot far from the nosebleeds: VIP SEAT.
61. Tums, e.g.: ANTACID.
62. Scrape (out): EKE.
63. Like much omakase: RAW. Omakase - "the expression is used by patrons at sushi restaurants to leave the selection to the chef, as opposed to ordering à la carte."
64. Benefit that may be rolled over: Abbr.: PTO. Paid time off, or personal time off.
65. Peele's partner: KEY. Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key. So many hilarious skits.
66. Sloth in "Ice Age": SID. - Ice Age is a 2002 computer-animated movie. Sid is a talkative and positive minded ground sloth who stands and walks like a human.
67. Genre with intense lyrics: EMO. This song is more rock than emo, but it captures the feelings of angst of a young person having to make a tough life decision. In this case as the video depicts, as the teenage young woman decides to leave her family to pursue her dream of becoming a ballerina. The band is typically more grunge, but the lyrics and intense strain in the vocal are somewhat evocative of emo. To me, anyway.
This song, Sound of Madness, is more typical of the musical style of Shinedown, if you want to hear a prime example of grunge.
Down:
1. Cracker shape: ANIMAL. Muppet wild drummer: ANIMAL. And then there's George "The Animal" Steele.
2. Scold: BERATE.
3. Tends a fire: STOKES. Not sure why I thought of this song:
5. "Now!" letters: ASAP.
6. Be Delicious perfume co.: DKNY. Donna Karan, New York. "Top notes are Cucumber, Grapefruit and Magnolia; middle notes are Green Apple, Lily-of-the-Valley, Tuberose, Violet and Rose; base notes are Woodsy Notes, Sandalwood and Amber."
7. "We'll take it from here": LET US entertain you. Actually, let the regular bloggers entertain you. My blogs are lame.
8. Add sparkle, say: ADORN.
10. Places to sleep tight?: TWIN BEDS.
11. "Killing Eve" star: SANDRA OH. Perhaps better known from her Grey's Anatomy role as Dr. Cristina Yang.
12. Agcy.: ORG.
16. Priority system: TRIAGE.
18. Not o'er: 'NEATH.
21. Très: OH SO. Meaning very.
25. Best Picture winner set in Iran: ARGO. Also, Jason's Ship.
27. Torres of "9-1-1: Lone Star": GINA. Gina perped in for me.
28. TA overseer: PROF. I recall one very earnest TA that seemed to have had a mastery of the subject matter. I'm sure his delivery got better with time.
31. Wall clock inserts: AAs.
32. Taper: FADE.
33. "In short" initialism: TLDR. Too Long Didn't Read. A summary. Usually a bullet list of key takeaways gleaned from the lengthy article that follows.
34. "2001" supercomputer: HAL. HAL9000 first achieved consciousness in 1991 at the HAL laboratories in Urbana, Illinois. Hal malfunctioned and became paranoid in a deep space mission.
35. "As if!": PFFT. "Not a chance!" Or, in another sense, "Pfft, and it was gone!"
36. Role in many a spy thriller: CIA AGENT.
37. 120mm Louboutin feature: STILETTO. TY perps. I had no idea what a Louboutin was before solving this answer. I'll guess that it is a brand name for a shoe.
42. "Queen of Soul" Franklin: ARETHA. She deserves her props. That's all she's askin' in return, honey.
43. Tipping point on a counter?: IPAD. I scanned an article the other day that suggested that tipping is out of control.
44. Puts off: EMITS. I was getting nowhere thinking of defers, delays, postpones ...
48. Hold fast (to): ADHERE. In woodworking, a holdfast (one word) is a tool used to secure a work piece to the bench.
49. "Nuh-uh!": NO MAAM.
50. Punch recipe?: ONE TWO.
52. Bird of prey's nest: AERIE. An ever growing eagle aerie
53. Hunky-dory: DANDY.
54. Ostrich or emu: BIPED. The two largest living (non extinct) birds. Neither can fly, but they both can run very fast. An emu tops out at just over 30 MPH while an ostrich can reach speeds of 43 MPH. A Cassowary is also flightless, and slightly slower than an emu.
56. Giant diamond: ROCK. Slang. So many slang meanings for rock. BTW, did you link to the URL above and see the size of the rock that was mounted to the toe ring that RiRi was wearing?
57. First name in haute couture: YVES Saint Laurent. See yesterday's review by Jazzbumpa for a worthwhile brief on this answer.
58. Collaborative site: WIKI. This is not the abbreviation for Wikipedia.
59. "The Sacred Art of Giving __": Ta-Nehisi Coates essay about a friendly greeting: DAP. - An essay from 2008 in which the author comments about the co-opting of giving dap. He points out that although whites have adopted the dap, it's done primarily in sports related settings, and that it doesn't carry the same weight of a much deeper meaning that it does among African Americans. A much more recent article in Salon adds additional historical context and point of view. Both were good reads for me.
That's all for today.
Here's the grid:
Still don’t see how “fit” fits with the other two themers, but somehow pulled this one off, anyway. FIR, so I’m happy.
ReplyDeleteFLN:
Charlie Echo, I don’t even remember the meals in “Stranger in a Strange Land.” At the time, I was mesmerized by Heinlein’s astonishing feat of creating a religion that combined theology and sex. ‘Nuff said!
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteThe one was a crash-and-burn from the gecko. Didn't know about DETHORNing roses. Don't think I've heard of a PC named SURFACE. Only knew of GINA Torres from Firefly. "That's valid" -- TRUE. "So that's ___" -- ALL. "Giant diamond" -- HOPE. Saw "Tums" as "Turns." Got DA_ and _TO but had no idea what that intersecting letter might be. And has anybody, ever, said "GET READY WITH ME?" I'm not complaining; there was no chance. This one was so far out of d-o's wheelhouse it wasn't on the boat. Thanx, Sarah and Kelsey. TTP, well done. Couldn't figure out who was at the controls until the reveal. Thanx for subbing.
FIR, but erased ira for PTO, hope for ROCK, and stiletto for STILETTO (UNTIE!)
ReplyDeleteToday is:
NATIONAL DNA DAY (the discovery of DNA was made on this date in 1953)
NATIONAL TEACH CHILDREN TO SAVE DAY (add “delay gratification” to that and ya really got sumthin’)
NATIONAL TAKE OUR DAUGHTERS AND SONS TO WORK DAY (when is National Take Our Greyhounds To Work day?)
NATIONAL HUG A PLUMBER DAY (at their hourly rate, do they really feel underappreciated?)
NATIONAL TELEPHONE DAY (before cell phones, 80% of the world’s population had never talked on a phone)
NATIONAL ZUCCHINI BREAD DAY (sounds funny, but tastes great)
ATEAT could also have been clued “where milk comes from.”
I was gonna complain that IRA isn’t a benefit. Never mind.
SANDRA OH is burned in my mind from her role in Dancing at the Blue Iguana. She was OH SO SANDRA OH.
I knew that Louboutin created shoes that announce “I’m rich.” (They also make legs look great.) Their trademark is bright red soles.
I would just like to say that I enjoyed this puzzle very much. However, my mamma taught me not to lie. So, to quote Dylan, I'll just say, "Fare thee well"
I ain't a-saying you treated me unkind
You could've done better, but I don't mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don't think twice, it's all right
Thanks to TTP for the fun review of it.
Thant would be stilleto->STILETTO.
ReplyDeleteThis was a mixed solve - certain answers were a challenge but others had filled with perps and I found out what they were while reading the blog.
ReplyDeleteLike D-O, I could tell the blog wasn't written by Bill & Teri but while I was reading had eliminated Anon T and Splynter and found out it was TTP at the bottom. Thanks for subbing!! I enjoyed the link to the General Tso documentary - I'm going to look up where I can watch it. And the 2nd article on DAPping and it's origins. (couldn't get the first one as it was behind a paywall)
When I am on a medical team in Ghana the younger people are always trying to learn the Ghanaian handshake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1CEWcCnyAk
Another gimme - I used to have a SURFACE laptop for work.
Gotta get going to work - thanks TTP for the blog and congrats to Sarah & Kelsey for the debut
FIW. I struggled with this puzzle. Sandra Oh, pfft, and several others were unknowns for me.
ReplyDeleteThe crossing of dap and pto did me in. I had day for 59D.
And what has fit got to do with the theme? Even the reveal meant little to me.
On a scale of one to ten I'd give this puzzle a solid two. Not enjoyable and just yuk!
Oh and I remember GINA Torres best from being the managing partner of the law firm in "Suits"
ReplyDeleteTook 11:49 for me, like KS, to err at the crossing of dap and PTO.
ReplyDeleteI knew one of today's actresses (Sandra Oh, not Gina), and I struggled with today's Spanish lesson (mano). The lower-right corner was tricky (nuh-uh! = no maam?), and a one-two should be "punches," right?
Seemed like a lot of TLWs, as Ms. Irish Miss would say.
I've said this before, the correct term is CIA officer.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteThis took much longer to solve than a normal Thursday level of difficulty, due to the unnecessary and, IMO, too cutsie by half cluing, especially for basic fill such as Abra, PCs, ADA, Sid, Pfft, Dap, iPad, etc. The clue for iPad is particularly tortured, to my mind. Despite these diversions, I finished without help but, as mentioned, ploddingly and joylessly. On the positive side, the themers themselves were strong, solid, in the language phrases but the reveal, Get Ready With Me, on its own, is a very dark shade of green paint, at least in non-Tik Tok language. Aside from the 24 TLWs, the fill was fresh and lively, although I had miscues at IRA/PTO, Hope/Rock, and was stymied for a time at Turns vs Tums.
Thanks, Sarah and Kelsey, and thanks, TTP, for pinch hitting. Your smooth and succinct review was a pleasure to read and kept me guessing until the end as to the author. If we needed any proof that each blogger has his/her own style and voice, today was the acid test for some of us. Although I didn't know who it was, I knew who wasn't! 😉
Have a great day.
I’m with you on much of the torture and too cute by half. You can stretch some clues but even bazooka Joe couldn’t get this far - especially on a Thursday! I agree with whomever said the old one two would be punches. And I figure a millennial constructed this?! GRWM my butt. I did FIW as I forgot Sandra Ohs name and hadn’t seen the show and Pokémon is never going to happen for me. It was my mess up on ACA vs ADA , but what do pcs have to do with surfaces? Or fit have to do with getting ready? Or no ma’am as a fit for slangy Nig-uh? Or pfft for As If? I read the reveal, but you need Ben stillers elastic man to get there! In short initialism - again a millennial! How is an iPad a tipping point on a counter? I only had two squares wrong but this was a not fun slog that for my first time ever I think I would avoid this constructor. Sorry folks, had to share. Tomorrow is a new day!
DeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-I earned a “got ‘er done” but it took a little while to see I would never get the gimmick
-I looked up one of these videos and it looks like a beautiful young girl gilding the lily
-Johnny Mathis’ lovely Gina was popular when I dated a girl name Jean. Ah memories!
-The foundation of Memorial Day is “LEST we forget”
-I wonder what IBM (the preceding letters give you HAL) had to pay to get these on NFL sidelines
-Commentators had to be schooled not say IPAD instead of Surface
-PER DIEM: Eat at McDonalds but get a receipt from a 5-star restaurant
-PTO at our school was “use it or lose it” from year to year
-PTO in this part of the country is the Power Take Off on a tractor to run auxiliary equipment
-I think of STOKING a fire as stirring up the embers and adding logs is feeding the fire
-M*A*S*H doctors to patients during TRIAGE, “It’s better to be last in this line”
-What Irish said, AGAIN!
DNF Never heard of Get Ready with Me, so didn't have enough perps. I never invited anyone over to get ready with me, except for my bridesmaids.
ReplyDeleteHow does FIT fit in with the theme?
What does surfaces/PCs mean?
HOPE was wrong. Didn't get rock, but it makes sense.
PEELE/KEY, no idea
Why is PARAMOUNT+ PARTNER /SHO?
PTO paid time off was new to me. PTO, parent teacher organization
I got most of the rest. Some of the cluing was clever.
HG: I think the answer is $0.00.
ReplyDeleteSurfaces are made by Microsoft.
Shortly after they were first used by the NFL, one of the Monday Night Football announcers repeatedly referred to them as "Ipads" during a game. He was quickly given re-training.
Me again, from 8:08 a.m.
YR @9:27 AM FIT as in "does it FIT?", "is it too tight?", "is it tight enough?"
ReplyDeleteA "Surface" is a model of IBM PC. The capital at the beginning of the clue is a bit of misdirection.
YR @9:27 AM Whoops! See Anonymous @9:37 AM. I sit corrected!
ReplyDeleteMeriam Webster says stoke means both stir up or add fuel "to poke or stir up (a fire, flames, etc.) : supply with fuel"
ReplyDeleteI suppose that's where we get stoke up on food. "to eat a lot of a particular food in order to avoid feeling hungry or weak later: As it was a cold morning, she stoked up on bacon, eggs, and beans on toast."
It must be a British quote. I read many novels by British authors. They frequently mention beans on toast, Heinz tinned baked beans, heated and poured over toast.
Like many other solvers, today's puzzle left me cold. Too many unknowns and names. DNF
ReplyDeleteTehachapi Ken
ReplyDeleteCurmudgeon here. In addition to abbreviations like LI (lost interest) and TITT (threw in the towel), this puzzle induced me to think of another: LIQ (lost interest quickly).
There were 'way too many unknowns for me, including Tik Tok, fashion, The Bachelor, fashion, "celebrities," Pokemon, perfume, fashion, Pilates, toe rings, Shotime, hair, makeup, Get Ready With Me (huh?), and fashion.
There is a film genre called chick flicks. Perhaps we have here its counterpart in crosswords: chick-puzzling.
Sarah, Kelsey, and Patti: I can tell that your puzzle required hours of constructing time on your part and I can see your cleverness and ingenuity. It's just not for me.
Mea culpa!
ReplyDelete-Anonymous, thanks for the gentle correction on IBM and Microsoft. Duh!
W.E.E.S...
ReplyDeleteDNF
Torturous...
Not on their frequency...
Out of my wheelhouse...
You might say, I wasn't ready for this...
Dap/Pto? oK, if you say so...
Thanks - to all - for all the learning. Puzzles fall into two basic categories for me: 1) make me feel smart - or - 2) make me learn. Today was a bit of both. I need to learn more about social media because my (nearing middle-age) daughters send me things, and my grandkids will be using it (too?) soon. All in all, I want to keep learning, and this kind of puzzle helps - and keeps me humble. And watching my favorite old tv keeps me happy 😊. Ain’t retiring grand?
ReplyDeleteFIR and enjoyed it. Admittedly, I don't use TikTok and haven't watched GRWM videos, but I have seen videos elsewhere of young women demonstrating their MAKEUP and HAIR styling routines, and can imagine them squeezing into outfits and commenting on the FIT, so it seemed reasonable and FAIR to me. Heck, I'm not even familiar with DAP as a greeting, but I do know that when you give a bouquet of roses, you DETHORN them first, Tums is an ANTACID, and earned vacation days are PTO, so there are the perps.
ReplyDeleteI was most perplexed by 43 Across, tipping point on a counter, but TTP gave me the push I needed to remember that an IPAD is often on the counter of a casual eatery, replacing the little glass cash jar as a way to leave a tip for the staff. I would certainly prefer for staff to be compensated through salaries and give up the burden of tipping altogether!
Many thanks to Sarah, Kelsey, Patti, and TTP -- you all ROCK!
Aha - the iPad tip! Thanks for explaining, but I still don’t like it!
DeleteWell, the clues today were evidently from a universe that I do not inhabit. I lost interest pretty quickly, and gave the towel a toss. After a visit to TTPs nice review, my decision was reinforced! Definitely not my 'cuppa, today. SUBG: ...the last meal in "Stranger" was Valantine Michael Smith. Grok!
ReplyDeleteI often feel aligned with desper otto, and despite my skin-of-the-teeth FIR, this was one of those days. Thanks for blogging it, TTP, but you’re WAY too nice.
ReplyDeleteFirst, the statistics I found online indicate that two-thirds of regular TikTok users are younger than 35 and only 1.8 percent are 65 or older, an age group that composes 17.3 percent of the population, more than one-sixth. It's a very good bet that crossword solvers 65 and up are more than one-sixth. A unifier that means NOTHING to such a large segment of the population deserves more scrutiny that Patti V. gave this one.
As usual, the clue involving the wonderful “Clueless” expression “as if” wasn’t really apt – this time for PFFT -- and “surfaces” was a nebulous clue for PCS. . . . Without perps, how many of us would come up with the ADA as a civil rights act with a recognizable acronym? . . . Another unrecognizable acronym was PTO. . . . TLDR is a recognizable acronym, but “in short” was a flimsy definition for it. . . . . GINA Torres is not one of the five or six best-known people with that first name, and who watched “9-1-1 Lone Star?” . . . Worst of all: Who would say “nuh-uh” and “NO, MAAM” to the same person in the same breath?
Greetings, I had my rant about this puzzle and then came back to play nice…. The long answers were very getable, but the overall theme made no sense to me.
ReplyDeleteI relied on perps for more than a few entries.
The only Peele I know is Emma.
It seems I still can’t remember TLDR although we’ve had it a few times before.
TTP, your recap was refreshing. I learned some new stuff, and I sang along with Billy Joel – what could be better!! Thanks.
H.Gary said "PER DIEM: Eat at McDonalds but get a receipt from a 5-star restaurant." But the whole idea of PER DIEM is that you don't need no stinkin' receipts - in my early days at GTE, we got a whopping $17 per day for room and meals (IIRC) when we were on temporary duty out of town. Also, I thought like you about STOKING the fire, but then I remember that there are mechanical STOKErs that feed coal to boilers. That was a big development in railroading. I remember riding on a locomotive that didn't have that amenity. The fireman got a shovel full of coal from the tender, pressed a pedal near the boiler causing steam to open the firebox door, tossed the coal into the firebox, and released the door. Every job in that cab was hot and dirty work, but the fireman's role was the only physically demanding one.
ReplyDeleteT.Ken - "Chick-puzzling?" You've done it now! An old joke is told about a father telling his son "in some cultures, marriages are arranged and the couple might not even meet before the wedding." The son looked at his dad wide-eyed and said "you mean the man doesn't REALLY know the woman before he marries her?" Dad responded "son, that's true in ALL cultures."
I gave up early on this one, sadly. So many unknowns, I couldn’t perp my way to success. So, I just looked at the grid and TTP’s wonderful tour to at least learn some stuff. Loved Reese Witherspoon learning proper dap technique from her son. I’m way over the Tik Tok demographic limit, but I guess I’d better get on board to stay up with this crowd.
ReplyDeleteI’m trying to stay positive, but very softly I whisper - Thumper!
Hola!
ReplyDeleteLate, late, late, I'm so very late to this important date! I started the puzzle at 5:00 A.M., solved about half of it hen returned to bed and slept another few hours. The first three theme answers surrendered easily but GET READY WITH WITH ME just would not surface.
Turns as a clue for ANTACID is just cruel. The same with DAP. Fill went in, went out and now the grid looks like a shiny fence with peepholes!
I've never personally DETHORNed roses and have received many but I don't recall if they were DETHORNED. I'll have to be more observant.
EMITS as puts off is truly misleading; puts out would be more accurate, IMO. Luckily MANO saved me there although it was startling to see the clue in Spanish.
Thank you, TTP, for subbing with a sparkly recap! Have a great day, everyone!
ReplyDeleteGot the solve, but…
Puts off…EMITS?
I could understand “gives off” or “puts out”….no idea why “puts off” works here.
Lucina, I read it as "Turns," too. It was really TUMS (Tums).
ReplyDeleteJJB: I totally agree with Irish Mist. Cluing was far too cutesy. Also, far too lengthy. Once again, I seems to me that these puzzles are supposed to FUN. Isn’t that the primary purpose? The last many weeks this has not been the case. Way too many obscurities in the cluing. This type of puzzle is particularly irritating in that the constructors try to deliberately stump the solver regardless of the day of the week. There are also several errors in contex and definition along he way. “Hair of the dog” is not in German.
ReplyDeleteFinished it all but “PFFT” which is pretty much my feeling about this puzzle. Good grief - can we have more proper names and references to the arcane…
ReplyDeleteAn off topic query:
ReplyDeleteI’ve been trying to locate a site where I can watch the film The Professor and the Madman but all I find are trailers, not the full film. Have any of you " wordophiles” watched it lately and perhaps can point me to where I can find it? As I recall, Mel Gibson who played the Professor was sued by the publisher of the OED for copyright infringement, and perhaps this might account for the film’s “disappearance.” Thank you for any advice you might have.
Prof M @3:42 PM Here's a trailer for a film of that title on the Youtube channel. I was just able to bring it up on Roku. I'd think these days the OED wouldn't mind a little free advertising.
ReplyDeleteProf M @ 3:42 ~ You can rent that film on Amazon for $2.99. You only need a basic Amazon account, not a Prime account.
ReplyDeleteWaseeley and Irish Miss, thank you for that information. Much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteI confess I did not like this puzzle much. If I have enough energy and inclination, I might explain why in another posting.
ReplyDeletehere are your options professsor...
ReplyDeleteSigned,
the Madman...
We are back from three weeks of wonderful adventures in Japan. No TIPPING there at all. It was odd to leave Tokyo at 5PM and arrive in Los Angeles at 11AM the same day.
ReplyDeleteHand up this puzzle was a challenge, especially after no practice. Got it all, except for the lower left corner. No idea about ?TO/DA?. Hand up PTO is Power Take Off.
Hand up HOPE as the BIG DIAMOND. My brother and I both worked in the Smithsonian building where it is displayed, but he was actually in that department.
I only know PEEL and STEED. No idea about PEELE and KEY. No idea how an IPAD is used for TIPPING. Maybe it has a slot to stick your change in. I never plan to use an Apple product.
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone for your comments. It's always about the puzzle, and not about the blogger, but I must say that I appreciate the compliments. I strive to keep the review neutral. And of course I would add that subbing for Waseeley probably caught all of you by surprise, as he has taken to the weekly task as a fish takes to water. We look should look forward to his return.
My observation about LA Times crossword puzzles would parallel what many of you have written, although I don't necessarily have the same level of dismay that some have felt compelled to express.
It was about four years ago when I was blogging a crossword that I noted an ever-increasing frequency of pop cultural references, not only here, but also in other venues such as the Universal and the USA Today. I can not speak about the NY Times, as I don't subscribe and don't solve there.
Certainly here, as within other parts of our society, change is inevitable. I personally find no faults in inclusion, nor in a more youth-centric, and thereby more pop-cul orientation. It is a change of the landscape, of the status quo, and a paradigm shift for what many of us have known. Change is inevitable.
I solve for the challenge of the solve. For that AHA moment of getting a tough clue. For completing a grid that seemed to be impossible. For finding and getting the theme. Even when it doesn't completely register. Yes, there are going to be times that a clue seems to push the boundaries for an answer, but I accept that as part of the challenge.
Writing, "it is what is is" would be trite. Reciting the serenity prayer is just as banal. But there's an honesty there, as there are in many long held sayings.
As Dylan sang, "The times they are-a-changing." Or, to quote an unknown copy writer, as many of us would remember from the TV ad, "this is not your grandfather's Oldsmobile."
The NY Times continues to publish classic grids with excellent clues. An online subscription is quite reasonable and uncludes other daily games as well.
ReplyDeleteTTP
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying and I have noticed the creeping changes leaning toward more and more current topics and it's difficult to accept all that though, of course, change is inevitable as has often been noted. I don't see myself giving up on crossword puzzles but I hope to be able to adapt and learn the "modern lingo".
CE @ 11:00 -- "SUBG: ...the last meal in "Stranger" was Valantine Michael Smith. Grok!"
ReplyDeleteSalted, in a broth, IIRC