Theme: Not the person you expected.
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| "What did you expect? You met me on Match.com!" |
Notoriously challeging constructor Rebecca Goldstein returns with a true test for MERE mortals.
The theme clues suggest that we are looking for people who adhere to modern cultural movements, but the folks in question turn out to be somewhat simpler and more innocent than we imagined.
The theme answers are neatly placed in symmetrical rows Across:
17-Across. Cancel culture adherent?: CORD CUTTER. We thought we were looking for a person who calls upon others to shun someone else for their unacceptable behavior or remarks, but it turns out that this person has just cancelled some subscription television services in favor of free or low cost Internet access to programs.
25-Across. Pop culture adherent?: SODA JERK. We thought we were looking for a person who is keen on the latest music, movies, fashions, and social media trends, but it turns out that this person makes ice cream sodas and milkshakes at an old-fashioned soda fountain. "Pop" being another word for "soda," of course, and "soda jerk" being an old-fashioned way of referring to the person with that job.
35-Across. Counter culture adherent?: DELI CLERK. We thought we were looking for a person whose values and behaviors contrast sharply with those of mainstream society, but it turns out that this person serves customers at a delicatessan counter.
50-Across. Hookup culture adherent?: SYS ADMIN. We thought we were looking for a person who endorses casual sexual encounters and one-night stands, but it turns out that this person is an IT professional who hooks up computers, servers, and networks.
59-Across. Club culture adherent?: GOLF CADDIE. We thought we were looking for a person who hangs out at nightclubs, but it turns out that this person carries golf clubs for a golfer. If you're looking for exercise, skip the golfing and sign up to be a golf caddie.
Across:1. Jazz venue: UTAH. The Utah Jazz are a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. This first clue was my last fill when solving the puzzle.
5. Persian word for "king": SHAH.
9. Bejeweled Blitz icons: GEMS. Bejeweled Blitz is a video game that started out as a Facebook application. Who knew?
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| Bejeweled Blitz |
13. Sweat spot: PORE.
14. Get greasy: OIL UP. This phrase can be used from preparing your frying pan to preparing your privates, but I know it from bodybuilding, where competitors OIL UP to make their muscles look more defined under glaring stage lights.
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| This competitive bodybuilder has oiled up. |
16. Dark cloud, maybe: OMEN.
17. [Theme clue]
19. Purple pet in classic cartoons: DINO.
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| Fred Flintstone and Dino |
20. Ordeals: RIGORS.
21. Solemn pledge: VOW.
23. "That's neither here __ there": NOR.
24. Echo effect: REVERB.
25. [Theme clue]
27. Inverness veto: NAE. Inverness is a city in the north of Scotland, and "nae" means "no" in the Scots language.
28. Pinkie promises, e.g.: PACTS.
30. Samba or mambo: DANCE.
31. Trader Joe's rival: ALDI. Trader Joe's and Aldi are owned by the same parent company, but are rivals in that they both offer a limited selection of groceries, mostly private label, at relatively low prices.
33. "Geaux Tigers!" sch.: LSU. The LSU Tigers represent Louisiana State University in college football. The cheer "Geaux Tigers," pronounced "Go Tigers," is a play on French words ending in "eaux." French was the dominant language in Louisiana during the American colonial era, and affects the English spoken there today.
35. [Theme clue]
38. Rosemary cuttings: SPRIGS.
41. Joke around: KID.
42. The __: manifestation of performance anxiety: YIPS. The yips are a sudden loss of ability to execute certain skills in experienced performers such as athletes.
46. Event space: ARENA.
47. Computer clicker: MOUSE.
49. Cleverness: WIT.
50. [Theme clue]
52. Alternative milk source with a high water footprint: ALMOND. Almonds -- and almond milk -- have become controversial because almond trees consume a significant amount of water, which is in short supply in California.
54. Spicy: HOT.
55. Froot Loops mascot Toucan __: SAM.
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| Yes, the bird is Toucan Sam. |
56. Crown act: RULING. It's what the Crown does.
57. Screen time device: IPAD. It's what parents are supposed to limit time on.
59. [Theme clue]
62. __ mortals: MERE.
63. Crochet Away nail polish brand: ESSIE. Not familiar with this brand or color.
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| Essie's "Crochet Away" grayish brown polish. |
64. Inheritance portion: GENE.
65. Abbr. in some airport names: INTL. Short for International.
66. Tacks on: ADDS.
67. Thus: ERGO.
Down:
1. Product lines?: UPC. A Universal Product Code is a scannable barcode that identifies products. It is composed of parallel lines.
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| UPC symbol |
2. Brutally honest: TOO REAL.
3. Made it: ARRIVED.
4. Target of some clippers: HEDGE.
5. Candies that can cause salivation: SOUR BALLS. Hard candies with tart flavors.
6. Chart toppers: HITS.
7. Indie prefix: ALT.
8. __ rancheros: HUEVOS. Spanish for "cowboy eggs," more or less, this is a Mexican mid-morning farm breakfast of fried eggs served on tortillas with tomato salsa and refried beans. A welcome addition to our crossword menu.
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| Huevos Rancheros |
9. Deity: GOD.
10. Noteworthy: EMINENT.
11. Isla in the Balearic Sea: MENORCA. The Balearic Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea between the Balearic Islands and mainland Spain. Menorca is one of those islands. "Isla" is Spanish for "island."
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| Menorca is circled on the map. It's just above Mallorca. |
15. Nudge: PROD.
18. Small business?: CORP. Small because it's abbreviated.
22. One may be knee-deep: WADER.
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| This little wader is knee deep. |
24. Biological translation template: RNA. Translation is the process in biological cells in which proteins are produced using RNA molecules as templates. Obvs.
25. Struggling to get over, say: STUCK ON.
26. Low-quality, in slang: JANKY. Not in my vocabulary, but the Internet agrees with this definition.
29. Forensic drama franchise: CSI. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation spun off CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, and CSI: Cyber.
32. Menzel who made her Broadway debut in "Rent": IDINA. Idina Menzel is an actress and singer, nicknamed the "Queen of Broadway." She originated the role of Elphaba in the musical Wicked, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical, and she has since transitioned into film acting.
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| Idina Menzel |
34. Coats paired with bow ties?: RED SAUCES. Bow tie pasta can be served with "coats" of red sauce.
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| Bow tie pasta coated with red sauce. |
36. "Crikey!": EGADS.
37. Actor Simu: LIU. Simu Liu is a Canadian actor with a number of TV credits and the lead role in the 2021 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
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| Simu Liu as Chang-Chi |
38. Raw fish delicacy: SASHIMI.
39. Pull apart: PRY OPEN.
40. Go back to square one: RESTART.
43. "Now, let's see": I WONDER. An approximate conversational equivalent.
44. Trying to reach, in a way: PINGING. Pinging is sending a signal from one computer to another across a network for diagnostic purposes, such as to determine network speed or the status of the target computer. Most of us can leave this job to our SYS ADMIN.
45. Norm: Abbr.: STD. Standard.
47. Boozy brunch beverage: MIMOSA. Brunch is fun, and ruins the rest of the day.
48. Jazz icon Fitzgerald: ELLA.
51. Spelling expert?: MAGE. Mage is an archaic word for magician. Magicians cast spells, which in this "?" clue makes a mage a "spelling" expert.
53. Frog snack: MIDGE. Frogs eat midges, which are small flies.
56. Touch-to-pay tech: RFID. Radio Frequency IDentification uses radio waves to identify and track objects. RFID tags can be attached to products or implanted in animals and people. Your dog's microchip is an RFID tag.
58. Fenwick Island St. Park loc.: DEL. Fenwick Island State Park in Delaware offers three miles of ocean beaches along with access to the Little Assawoman Bay.
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| Fenwick Island State Park |
60. Psychedelics study subj.: LSD. Lysergic acid diethylamide, called LSD for the German Lysergsäure-diethylamid.
61. Fair-hiring initials: EEO. Equal Employment Opportunity.
20 comments:
I wasn’t familiar with
“RFID” but got it, and a few other answers, by friendly perps, in this fairly tough, certainly Thursday worthy puzzle.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
Immediately inked in CLUB at 1a. UPC set me straight. Whew. SODA JERK evokes bittersweet memories. At 14 I got a before/after school job at the local drug store. I had visions of grandeur as head jerk at the soda fountain. Alas, my assignment on my first day on the job was to dismantle the soda fountain and to replace it with product display racks. Bummer. Those stacked triple-sevens in the NE and SW are very nice. Well done, Rebecca. Enjoyed your expo, as usual, NaomiZ.
FIR, but oaths->PACTS, nails->HEDGE, and dna->RNA. Guessed @ MAGE x ESSIE.
DNK that YIPS is used outside of putting. And at my age, I'd just as soon skip the subject of performance anxiety.
SOUR BALLS? Maybe you should get your significant other to see a urologist (or maybe to bathe more frequently.)
Lots of INTL airports don't have INTL flights. Our local airport Norfolk International (ORF) finally got a scheduled international flight last month.
I felt a sense of accomplishment from finishing this one, but I can't say that I enjoyed it. But I did enjoy NaomiZ's write-up, so there's that.
Seeing Rebecca’s byline is always a little intimidating as I know what she is capable of creating, as Naomi stated, she can be “notoriously challenging”, but today’s was a very doable and likable and about right for a Thursday grid. Took some perp help as usual, and a couple of WAGs, but I managed a FIR in 17:29. DNK IDINA, or RFID (my last fill being that I) ESSIE was also unknown, the first E being a WAG. And then there’s JANKY, like Naomi I had to look it up for validation, it originated in rap music in the 90’s, (not my forte, so I’d never heard of it). DINO was black and white till the 3rd season when the Flintstones was colorized. I don’t equate “pull apart” with PRY OPEN. Anyway, thanks Rebecca for taking it easy on me today, and to NaomiZ for your well thought out and informative narrative, always enjoy your blogs!
Took 11:05 today to be a karma chameleon (adhere to the culture club?).
I knew today's actress (Idina) and actor (Liu), but didn't know the isla (Menorca), the Persian word, that Inverness was a place [let alone in Scotland], RFID, or the nail polish brand (Essie). The double abbreviations in the clue for "Del" seems odd.
Definitely a challenge, but not very enjoyable.
Being a golfer, I’m very familiar with the “YIPs”, pretty much the bane of my game, wonder if they’ve ever afflicted HG?
FIW. Sys admin just didn't appear for me. It didn't help that I stuck with preopen instead of pry open.
For a Thursday puzzle this was especially challenging. And way too many obscure names for me.
Overall not an enjoyable puzzle.
Good Morning:
This was a very clever and well-executed theme but it had too much of the too cutesy cluing for my taste, e.g., Coats paired with bow ties=Red Sauces. This, to me, is overly devious misdirection and there were others that fit the same pattern, IMO. When a puzzle engenders frustration rather than satisfaction, any positive features are greatly lessened. I got my FIR w/o help, but it wasn’t easy nor was it pleasurable. I did get a good laugh at myself, though, for misreading 5D as Candies that cause salvation and being disappointed that Life Savers didn’t fit. 😂
Thanks, Rebecca, and thanks, Naomi, for your thorough and clear explanation of the theme and the various unfamiliar entries. Loved the opening comic of the Match.com and the photo of the Huevos Rancheros.
Have a great day.
The three years I lived in Santa Fe endeared me to Huevos Rancheros
Lots of unknowns for me like YIPS, SOUR BALLS, RFID, JANKY.
The NW remained blank since I held on to get REAL and SHOP for small business.
SYS ADMIN filled with perps, but it doesn’t seem to fit the theme. None of the others are abbreviations.
So, to answer your question, NaomiZ, I was stuck on this puzzle. Thank you for your clear and complete explanations. Well appreciated.
That was Monkey above undergoing my weekly (?) anonymity.
Musings
-What a hoot! I finally saw club/caddie and my dim bulb went on
-Rebecca’s word play is fiendish (Coats with bow ties, YIKES!) but my only error involved straightforward words I did not know
-ESSIE/MAGE (singular for MAGI, duh!) yielded a bad cell. Too bad, so sad…
-My friend’s son got out of the tool RENTAL business because too many of came back broken. He now specializes in tables, chairs and other party specialties
-Putting YIPS can undo a golfer’s round or career
-MENORCA and Balearic Sea were useful learning today
-I use my Apple Watch to “PING” my iPhone to find it.
-This card can stop someone from stealing your info using RFID technology.
-Hitting a golf ball long and straight is very desirable but that 5 ft. putt counts the same and if you get the YIPS (like we all have) your score is out the window
-I don’t think I have Wordle YIPS, but I now have a very long win streak and get nervous when I start the puzzle each day.
Certainly a challenge.
Rebecca tends to make her clues overly misleading. Some kind of ego trip to relieve her insecurities.
An awesome recap Naomi.
Irish Miss at 8:35 AM, thank you for sharing the laugh. It's a great one! "I did get a good laugh at myself, though, for misreading 5D as Candies that cause salvation and being disappointed that Life Savers didn’t fit. 😂"
Almost passed on this one, but finished with the aid of red letters. Some pretty good clues, unfortunately mixed with overly obscure cutesy, and poor fits. Not to mention my pet peeve "paraphrase" non-clues. Nice recap, by NaomiZ, though!
Well, on the bright side, it wasn't as terrible as I've found so many of her previous puzzles. So there's that.
At least this time she gave us a fighting chance with enough decent cluing to counter the more absurd, overly cutesie offerings.
The clue for REDSAUCE is just absurd, and yet another example of the "look how clever I am" mindset.
FIR but with no enjoyment.
???
I just couldn't understand most of the clues...
Jazz venue=Utah?
And red coats with bow ties?
here is a TikTok video of what the British wore during the revolutionary war.. I see all sorts of neckwear, it no bow ties...
And just a small PSA:
In the my above post, I typed "but" no bow ties...
If you find that you are making a lot of typos on your iPhone or iPad,
Just be aware that it may not be your fat fingers.
Heres is proof!
Aw crap! There's a typo in my typo warning video link...
Hola! I normally enjoy puns but today' RIGORS left me wanting although I managed to finish all the way to GOLF CADDIE which didn't make it nor did RFID. Thank you, Naomi, for explaining that one.
RED SAUCES was really cruel!
I thought GENE had the best clue/fill today.
HUEVOS rancheros is one of my favorite meals, but the spelling might have been challenging to some who are unfamiliar with it.
Thanks to Rebecca and Naomi for jolting me awake today! Enjoy your day, everyone!
I meant to say, today's RIGORS.
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