Ah, Rebecca, we meet again! My first review last year was a Goldstein
puzzle. She's quite prolific. As I went through this one, I noticed all
the Xs and thought they'd play into the theme, and they did. But I
didn't expect a whole bowl of CHEX MIX!
41D. Savory party snack, and what can be found in the answers to the starred clues?: CHEX MIX. The letters in the word CHEX are MIXed (scrambled) in all the theme answers:
3D. *Beef cut that may be braised: OX CHEEK.
OX CHEEK (or beef cheek) is
a tough, flavorful, and inexpensive cut of meat from the facial muscle of cattle that becomes tender and gelatinous when cooked slowly. 
18A. *"What did you just say?": OH EXCUSE ME. OH EXCUSE ME is a reply to a rude comment, usually drawn out as in a Steve Martin catch phrase.
36A. *Folks who may be at the point of no return?: TAX CHEATS. People who do not file a tax return may be TAX CHEATS.
56A. *Raspberry: BRONX CHEER. A BRONX CHEER is a mouth noise similar to a fart that is used to signify derision, usually at a sporting event.
I like how some of the themers ran vertically, that made the solve more interesting, as did some clever cluing. There weren't a ton of names, but I blanked on almost all of them. Perps to the rescue.
Across:
1. Self motivators?: EGOS.
5. Teeny: SMALL. Teeny seems smaller than SMALL.
10. Brand new: MINT. On Craigslist, everything is advertised to be in MINT condition.
14. Coming up: NEXT. Please stay tuned!
15. Health care cost: COPAY. A COPAY (co-payment) is a fixed fee you pay for a covered health service (like a doctor visit or prescription), while your insurance
16. Sorbet berry: ACAI.
17. Toy company acquired by Mattel in 1997: TYCO. TYCO's Tickle Me Elmo was massive holiday toy craze in 1996 which raised the price Mattel had to pay.
20. Workout wear: SHORTS.
22. For adult audiences: R RATED.
23. "That one's for you": KEEP IT.
24. Put through an X-ray: SCAN.
26. "Succession" surname: ROY. I haven't watched this so all perps. The Roy family are the focal point of Succession.
27. Juvenile retort: ARE SO. Am not. I don't like playground retorts.
28. Shearing day sound: BAA. I'm glad these sheep say BAA, never herd [sic] one say "maa."
29. Katherine Moennig's "The L Word" role: SHANE. I don't have Showtime, so this also was by perps. But I think the trope of using an word's initial is over used. There's a whole set of "The __ Word" expressions that are mostly innocuous. Here, the "L" means Lesbian...ooh.
31. Shaming syllable: TSK. Often doubled as TSK TSK.
32. Renaissance faire competitions: JOUSTS.
35. "Confirmed, captain": AYE. Often doubled as AYE AYE.
36. [theme]
38. Chaotic crowd: MOB.
40. "Begin": OKAY GO. I can't think of a common scenario where one could say these interchangeably.
41. "The Price Is Right" network: CBS. Columbia Broadcasting System, but it could've been any TV network.
44. Top medals: GOLDS.
46. Soap ingredient: LYE. LYE is a very-alkaline substance that is chemically transformed during the soap-making process so it's not present in the final product.
47. Wuhan welcome: NIHAO. NIHAO means "hello" in Mandarin Chinese, though locals often use more casual greetings.
49. Tally: ADD.
50. Golfer's pocketful: TEES. Golfer's pocketful: GLOVES.
52. Devices at a counter-service restaurant: PAGERS. The electronic version of a deli ticket to keep track of who's NEXT, without shouting.
53. Emphatic assertion: YES I AM. Are you NEXT? YES, I AM!
55. Opulent: DELUXE. This is as DELUXE as it gets at my house. "Four cheese?! What are we celebrating?" [Disclaimer #1: RightBrain is fabulous cook. Disclaimer #2: She made me write this.]
56. [theme]
59. Reddit Q&As: AMAS. We've seen Ask Me Anything before, but usually not plural.
61. Brontë sister: ANNE. The Brontë sisters were three famous 19th-century English novelists and poets: Charlotte was the oldest, followed by Emily, then ANNE.
62. Works for: EARNS.
63. Egyptian river: NILE. I recently visited Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia where Johnny Mercer is buried. "Moon river, wider than the NILE [sic]."
64. Cleaning cloths: RAGS. Clean clothes: RAGS.
65. Tickle pink: ELATE.
66. Truck bar: AXLE.
Down:
1. Tonsillectomy doc: ENT. Ear, Nose & Throat doctor, uncommonly known as a otolaryngologist, but you knew that.
2. Jumbo jets?: GEYSERS. Fun clue.
3. [theme]
4. Reaches a new low?: STOOPS. More fun!
5. Adam of "Severance": SCOTT. Bingo! I knew this one.
6. Mineral hardness eponym: MOHS. The MOHS scale ranks mineral hardness, but is not linear. Thus a diamond (10) is vastly harder than corundum (9). Speaking of diamonds, my youngest son married his brother last Saturday! Let me rephrase that. He (as a notary) officiated the wedding in a scenic park. Beautiful!
7. Mimic: APE.
8. Loose: LAX. Strict: LAX TSA.
9. Stretchy fabric: LYCRA.
10. Gordita dough: MASA. MASA is corn flour dough that may be used in gorditas, which are thicker than regular tortillas so they can be split open for fillings.
11. Freeze frame?: ICE TRAY. Good clues today.
12. "Give me a single example": NAME ONE.
13. Rainbow pattern: TIE DYE.
19. Garden fixtures: URNS.
21. Spanish wine: RIOJA. RIOJA is a prestigious wine region in northern Spain, famous for its high-quality red wines.
23. Actress Dennings: KAT. Who? I feel so out of it even though I've actually seen her in a few things.
24. Struts with style: SASHAYS.
25. Vintage sunglasses shape: CAT EYE. They tend to go in and out of fashion.
28. Seat belt fastener: BUCKLE.
30. Owns: HAS.
33. Maker of Stick & Stay plates and bowls for kids: OXO.
34. Head south?: SAG. Ha ha!
36. "More info soon": TBD. This answer is To Be Determined.
37. Like much music: TONAL.
38. Biotech firm developing cancer vaccines: MODERNA. MODERNA became a household name during the COVID-19 pandemic as one of two major companies producing vaccines.
39. Dated ditty: OLD SONG. An oldie but not goodie. Probably not from STAX.
41. [theme]
42. Leave nothing to the imagination: BARE ALL.
43. Distress call: SOS. A Morse code distress signal ( ▄ ▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄ ▄ ) that happens to form the letters SOS, but they have no meaning on their own.
44. Stonewall Inn, for one: GAY BAR. A place where you might watch "The L Word."
45. "__: Soulsville U.S.A.": HBO documentary about a record label: STAX. STAX is a Memphis institution that launched the careers of legends including Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave, The Staple Singers, Wilson Pickett, and Booker T. & the M.G.'s.
48. Invasive lizard in Florida: IGUANA. Large nasty lizards that eat our flowers!
51. "Cabaret" role for Alan Cumming: EMCEE. EMCEE is the phonetic spelling of "MC" meaning Master of Ceremonies. Perps again, I didn't know Mr. Cummings, a cisgender man in a gender-bending role.
52. Intrinsically: PER SE. At first, I found it hard to parse PER SE.
54. French model Rau: INES. My final unknown. INES Rau is a French actress, model, and writer. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for November 2017 and the first openly transgender Playmate.
55. First step, say: DENT. Making noticeable progress as in "I made a DENT in the project."
57. "2001" supercomputer: HAL.
58. Historical period: ERA.
60. "Comprende?": SEE."Comprende?": Si!
That's it for today. Be Good. RB
33 comments:
Despite the many “?”
clues, in fact, so many this puzzle seemed like a “cryptic crossword” at times,
I ended up solving the puzzle. The perps helped when I had no clue, as with “ox cheek” and “masa.”
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Just 6 "?"s isn't that many for a late-week LAT puzzle (the revealer clue doesn't count). Also, 3/6 "?" clues that I actually liked, that's better than average (STOOPS, ICE TRAY, and especially GEYSERS). SAG was just disappointing, I was expecting some mysterious Southern slang for "head" (or "toilet", why not).
Good morning!
When the neighbors made CHEX MIX back in the '50s, they called it Nuts 'n' Bolts. Tried RATED X where R RATED was supposed to go. Didn't last. Also tried ANNA until INES decided otherwise. Nicely done, Rebecca. I envisioned Lucina SASHAYing through this one. Another fine expo, Rusty. Well done.
Thank you, Rebecca and Rusty.
Rusty, I like your blogging style. Congrats on the family addition.
It seems to me that the new norm has been for Thursdays to be slightly tougher than Fridays. But today wasn't tough at all. A really quick solve for me. Oh well. Hopefully tomorrow and Saturday will be challenging.
Looking back at the grid now, in the northeast I see the name ROY stacked over the name SHANE. Didn't know either by the clues, but the perp answers were all easy. In the southwest, it was INES intersecting ANNE. But no problem there because ANNE was a gimme. As was Kat and SCOTT.
BARE ALL? Not in this weather. And then R-RATED? Hmm.
TYCO (Tickle Me Elmo) and Ty Inc (Beanie Babies) sales exploded in the 90s.
CHEX MIX is probably a little healthier than the Giardetto's Snack Mix that I buy every few years. There's a half a bag in the cupboard. It's probably stale by now. I bought it before the B1G championship game in early December.
FIR, but yes yes->YES I AM, yves->INEZ, and mhos->MOHS. I keep using the units of conductance (mhos, the reciprocal of ohms.)
We had Katherine and KAT today. Katherine's SHANE was a major character. A recurring theme was "The Chart," which was a diagram of the main characters, showing who had slept with whom. SHANE was dead center on The Chart, being a bit promiscuous. I was a big fan of the show, although I sometimes felt like a spy when watching it.
One of the two photographs I had published in National Lampoon was of the sign for "LAX Medical Clinic" (a doctor's office near Los Angeles International Airport.) (The other was a sign for" Pass Gas," a filling station off I-15 between LA and Las Vegas.)
I've always called it an ICE cube TRAY. Regional?
From STAX Records, here's the Four Tops with their hit t's The Same OLD SONG.
Thanks to Rebecca for the Thursday puzzle that I didn't hate nearly as much as I thought I would. And thanks to Rusty for another fine review. Now I'm off to get the stitches removed that came with my MOHS surgery two weeks ago.
Rebecca’s creations are always challenging for me, no matter what day of the week they are published. I FIR w/out help in 25:52, two wrong fills slowed me down in the north, eventually changing “sweats” to SHORTS and “RatedR” to RRATED. I’ve come to accept the fact that every LAT puzzle will have at LEAST one name I’ve never heard of, today there were 3, SHANE, INES, and EMCEE, and at least one word from a foreign language, today being NIHAO. DNK CAT EYE, I only knew OX CHEEK cuz I just saw it referenced a couple days ago. STAX had quite the impressive lineup of performers, much like Motown. I like CHEX MIX, but I doctor it up with cashews, pistachios, and pecans, with maybe some M&M’s and raisins tossed in for sweetness. Thanks Rebecca for your fine work, very creative theme today! And thanks to RB for your entertaining review!
FLN ~ a happy belated b/day to sumdaze, and 18th to the Corner!
FIR, but it was a workout. This was a typical Thursday hard presentation.
What it made it more difficult was the plethora of foreign words and all the question marks in the clues.
But overall it was a so-so puzzle.
Good Morning:
This was a fun solve with a cute and clever theme. Early on, I thought Cheetos might be the reveal, but those Xs said no, and Chex Mix was right on the money. Some of the clueing was A+, as was some fill, namely: Geysers, Bare All, Ox Cheek, Sashays, (Hi, Lucina!), Cat Eye, etc. There were a few unknowns, namely, Shane, Nihao, STAX, and Ines, but the perps were fair, so no complaint. My only nit is the number of conversational phrases which, in most cases, require mind-reading abilities, not thoughtful deduction or knowledge.
Thanks, Rebecca, and thanks, RB, for a humorous review. Congrats to the newlyweds. BTW, Alan Cumming is gay.
Have a great day.
Too many obscure names and ?,s
To me, Rebecca Goldstein is a crossword virtuoso. When I see her name on the masthead, I know we're in for a treat. Today she had the audacity to take one of the least-used letters of the alphabet, X, and feature it six times. And it was the heart of the theme. Which in itself was clever and satisfying--and for those of us who appreciate visual craftsmanship--nicely symmetrical.
Now regarding ox cheeks. At first blush (get it? blushing cheeks...), eating them doesn't sound particularly appetizing, braised or not. But being from eastern Pennsylvania and growing up on good old Pennsylvania Dutch scrapple, I may have to give ox cheeks the benefit of the doubt. Why? Because to find out what parts of a pig go into scrapple is a deal-ender for most people. [Note that the word "scrap" gives scrapple its name]. BUT many of us find scrapple delicious. So I may go out and find me some ox cheeks.
Back to our cruciverbalist. For a future puzzle, Rebecca, I think you should try for six Q's. Thanks for today's Thursday-appropriate treat. And thanks, RustyBrain, for another reliably entertaining and useful recap.
Sag?
The usual hardness jump from Humpday to Thursday on the Mohs scale but especially so today. I saw the X words but thought there was more to the reveal I wasn’t seeing.
Inkovers: ox steak/OXCHEEK
Liked “Jumbo Jets”…. “Freeze Frame” but we say ICEcubeTRAY (maybe regional agree Jinx)
Speaking of HBO, Yesterday watched the first episode of “The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”. A prequel to GOT…naïve Ser Dunk the Tall looks to compete in a JOUST
Not sure I’d call the spiral/swirl designs on a TIE dye a rainbow. CATEYE “sunglasses” a new one for me as is STAX. DENT clue confused me until the reveal (but that’s easy to do)
Do golfers keep those sharp pointed TEES in their front pockets? As they say in Crosswordese OWIE!!
A bit of Brit bovine sass: OXCHEEK
Mutual agreement: an ___ for an___ …AYE
Did Thailand once have another name? … YESIAM
Keep warm 🥶
DNS. (Did not start) Rebecca puzzles are too aggravating for my taste. Paraphrase ?? non-clues, uncommon foreign words and obscure A&E are not my idea of an enjoyable crossWORD puzzle.
I struggled with OX CHEEK because I originally thought it was OX TAILS. But I like it when a lot of Xs or Zs appear in a puzzle, so I liked today’s theme. The puzzle contained some good fill, like STAX, SASHAYS, GEYSERS, RIOJA, BARE ALL, and GAY BAR.
But there were too many annoyances in this puzzle. The superfluous OH before EXCUSE ME and the superfluous OKAY before GO, as well as the archaic syntax of ARE SO, are all things I’ve complained about recently. Paraphrases are awful enough intrinsically without added ickiness. And I agree with Rusty that SMALL is bigger than the nauseating “teeny.”
I thought CAT EYE should be cat’s eye (I guess that’s only for marbles), the freeze-frame clue for ICE TRAY was obtuse, and that garden fixtures was an odd clue for URNS. And I’ve never had a gordita in a corn tortilla, though I never doubted MASA was the answer.
I liked seeing NI HAO, but I needed perps to feel sure about the spelling.
Took 7:51 today to EXCHange things.
Seemed like another themeless to me, which is good.
I knew the Actress of the Day (Kat), even though she delivers all of her lines in an unnatural and annoying way. I didn't know the French model (Ines), and I wanted "ice CUBE tray" and "cat'S eye", but relented.
"Succession" is one of my favorite tv series, and "Severance" has had some great episodes (especially that last season's finale).
Congratulations, RB to you and the happy couple.
I hesitated when I saw Rebecca’s byline, but forged ahead and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. For me, it played out like a Tuesday/Wednesday hybrid, and I FIR in 8:28.
The clues for GEYSER and ICETRAY were very clever and, since I always do the across fill first, several letters were seeded before I started the downs.
My only quibble, and it’s a minor one, is that “like new” would have made more sense to me than “brand new” as a clue for MINT, given its common usage as a selling point for used items.
Overall, I give this puzzle a 9.5/10.
It is unlikely any seasoned golfer would carry tees in their pants (or skort) pocket. More likely in their golf bag pocket...
Although, many golfers today have gone cowboy, and wear them on their belts...
My late DW was from PA, but wouldn't eat scrapple. She loved chorizo until we bought some at the grocery store, and she read the number 1 ingredient was salivary glands, and she wouldn't eat that either.
I thought the theme was queer,
Oh, I almost forgot. Silly theme links:
Chex Mix Fax Chex...
but more importantly...
Wow! this link sagged... or went south fast... (or should I say North?)
Alright, I give up... this googling silly Chex mix links is getting really dumb...
Doesn't that TAX CHEAT in the Monopoly card look familiar?
Bleh
Musings
-Dr. Goldstein’s puzzles are always an adventure and this one was no eXception
-I told a very nice young lady at KFC to “KEEP IT”. She didn’t know what to do with the change as she had never gotten a tip before.
-Begin: Clint Eastwood chose this as a gentle way to start a scene. He said he had directors shout ACTION and it spooked the horses and so he adopted this as a standard practice when he directed.
-My former partner routinely used only one plastic TEE per round. He would look and look until he found it.
-Those ragged jeans ain’t cheap! As Dolly Parton always says, “It takes a lot of money to look this cheap!”
-I know I’ve seen She STOOPS To Conquer but I can’t recall much about it
-STOOP reduX: My shoes are now mostly Skechers “step ins” which mean I don’t have to STOOP to put them on. Love 'em.
-MASA and ATTA coin flip
-RIOTA is new to me and my plebian palate would not be able to judge its excellence
-Rick(y) Nelson wrote and sang Garden Party about a concert at Madison Square Garden. One lyic: Played them all the OLD SONGS, thought that's why they came. No one heard the music, We didn't look the same
-I made a DENT in the tedious job of redoing our LA Cwd map last night. It was daunting but I’ll have it up this week. I am contemplating splitting the map into West and East so I can make the names easier to read on the Blog page.
I carry a few tees (maybe 10, I don't count) in my pocket. I usually find a broken tee to use on the (usually) four par 3s, and I don't break tees every hole. That tee caddy in the picture would drive me crazy. No one would take more than 18 tees, which is hardly a pocket full. Also, I never have more than 1 glove in my pocket, and I put it there when I reach the green. (In the summertime I use three gloves, alternating them to keep them dry, but the ones I'm not using are hanging in the cart to air out.) So not a pocket full of them, either.
Yes, four days after CC asked us to keep the politics out of our comments. And to comply, I didn't call out our rusty one.
Hola! I'm glad some of you found this puzzle easy. I did not! It was quite a challenge in some places and not a SASHAY: GAYBAR, OX CHEEKS, INES, come to mind. However, I did finish and without ALEXA's help! I'll take a CHEER for that! The top section filled quite easily but it was the bottom that took me a very long time to complete.
For Alan Cummings I was looking for a specific name not EMCEE which finally emerged. DELUXE also had me stymied for a long while. But P&P paid off and it's very satisfying.
What is not satisfying is that I had to cancel my eye doctor's appt. because they require a referral which my insurance says is not required. So, who is right? i don't know and now I have to find another eye doctor. It's only because I need a periodic check because of diabetes. Who said these are the golden years? Have a great day, everyone!
Interesting Thursday puzzle, a bit tough but also entertaining--many thanks, Rebecca. And your help on a puzzle is always appreciated, so thanks for that too, Rusty.
Having a puzzle start with SMALL EGOS makes us feel pretty modest at the start, but we can figure out how to CO-PAY, and wear SHORTS while dealing with an R-RATED challenge once we get going. We don't need any TAX CHEATS, but still have to avoid any TSK, TSK criticism as we go along. And before long things start saying OKAY GO and we're carrying TEES in our pockets and confirming that we can tell ourselves YES I AM and start giving ourselves a hearty BRONX CHEER as we begin solving things here and there and slowly everywhere. That's what EARNED us to ELATE ourselves when we got to the end.
So--Cheers, and thank you, everybody!
Oops! I didn't notice until now. Thanks for pointing it out. I had trouble finding an appropriate depiction of a tax cheat, and when I finally saw the Monopoly card, I thought that it would serve. Now I see it has a political bias, so I apologize. Had I seen it, I would've blurred it or chosen something else. In fact I hate bringing more attention to it now.
The Four Tops were with Motown Records, not Stax.
Or maybe pig snouts?
I'd side with Rebecca (or Patti) on this one. In coin collecting, for instance, the highest grade--even over Uncirculated or Proof--is Mint State.
Well-played, Gary--sounds like a good idea. And I love that you can even get CanadianEh on the map.
Next time your feeling this cranky about a constructor DNC Did Not Comment would be a better action for you and all of us
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