Mark Axel commented on his last crossword here (a challenging Saturday grid in January) that his next puzzle would be "themed and much easier." Well, here we are, and he's delivered on his promise. Has the pendulum swung too far?
Starting with the reveal:
56. Wildly successful, or what three black squares in this puzzle literally are: GANGBUSTERS. Each of the following pairs contains a "hidden" synonym for GANG, busted apart by a black square:
17. "I want all the juicy details!": SPILL THE TEA + 19. Was introduced to: MET = TEAM.
27. Features of some old socks: HOLES + 29. Figure skating jump that has only been landed in competition by Ilia Malinin: QUAD AXEL = SQUAD.
43. Makes a clutch putt, perhaps: SAVES PAR + 46. Key mistakes?: TYPOS = PARTY.
As Mark alluded to earlier, this is about as straightforward as it gets. A very easy puzzle for a Thursday made even easier by circles. As I worked my way down, I saw TEAM and SQUAD (and REF) and thought "sports". Then PARTY struck rather jarringly, as I was expecting something like CLUB to keep the sports theme going.
Let's see the rest of the line-up:
17. "I want all the juicy details!": SPILL THE TEA + 19. Was introduced to: MET = TEAM.
27. Features of some old socks: HOLES + 29. Figure skating jump that has only been landed in competition by Ilia Malinin: QUAD AXEL = SQUAD.
43. Makes a clutch putt, perhaps: SAVES PAR + 46. Key mistakes?: TYPOS = PARTY.
As Mark alluded to earlier, this is about as straightforward as it gets. A very easy puzzle for a Thursday made even easier by circles. As I worked my way down, I saw TEAM and SQUAD (and REF) and thought "sports". Then PARTY struck rather jarringly, as I was expecting something like CLUB to keep the sports theme going.
Let's see the rest of the line-up:
Across:
1. "To __ their own": EACH. ð
5. One with a supporting role?: PILLAR. ð
11. Giggle syllable: HEE. ðĪ
14. Potatoes, in Indian dishes: ALOO. ðĨ
15. Nutty Italian cheese: ASIAGO. ð§
16. Verbal fillers: UMS. ðĪ
17. [theme]
19. [theme]
20. Tightens (up): TENSES. ðĨĻ
21. "If I had to bet ... ": ODDS ARE. ðē
23. "Use your umbrella!": STAY DRY. ☔
26. "Aladdin" figure: GENIE. ð§♂️
27. [theme]
29. [theme]
31. Feature of some old socks: ODOR. ðĪĒ
32. Replay reviewer: REF. Referee. ðĶ
33. First aid pro: EMT. Emergency Medical Technician.ð
34. With 37-Across, place for a pawdicure: PET. A PET SPA. ðū
35. Emoji from one who's down: SAD FACE. It's "Emoji Day" at the Corner! I remember when it was just :( Now it's fancy: ðĒ What an age we live in!
37. See 34-Across: SPA. ⬆️
40. Fitting: APT. ð§Đ
41. "Gross!": ICK. ðĪŪ
42. Inner workings: GUTS. ðĢðĢ
43. [theme]
46. [theme]
47. Heart chambers: ATRIA. ðŦ
48. "Want to play again?": ONE MORE. ☝️
50. Global spirits giant that began as a rum maker in Cuba: BACARDI. BACARDI USA built two iconic office buildings for their headquarters in Miami: a tower (1963) and an adjoining annex (1973). The annex is covered with hammered-glass mosaics.
 |
| The landmark Bacardi "Jewel Box" |
52. Oscars, e.g.: AWARDS. Because GROUCHS didn't fit.
55. Pretend: ACT. ð
56. [theme]
59. __ lodge: SKI. ⛷️
60. Like loose laces: UNTIED. ð
61. Pulitzer-winning novelist Jennifer: EGAN. Her novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad, won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. I haven't read it, but judging a book by it's cover, it looks award-winning to me!
62. "Exit full screen" key: ESC. Escape. ⌨️
63. Get cozy: NESTLE. ð§ļ
64. Cries noisily: SOBS. ð
Down:
1. Direction that plays first in mahjong: EAST. East is a player, not a compass position.ð
2. Mont Blanc, par exemple: ALPE. As Splynter would say, "From the Frawnche" (apologies for copying from your paper). ð
3. Place that welcomes change?: COIN SLOT. Winner: Best Clue. ð
4. Wild West costume accessory: HOLSTER. ðŦ
5. Easy mark: PATSY. ð
6. Kinda sorta: ISH. ≈
7. Falsehood: LIE. ðĪĨ
8. "Stay the Night" singer Jackson: LA TOYA. This 1980 single from La Toya's poorly received second album peaked at #31, and was soon forgotten. Why we should know about it 46 years later is anyone's guess.
9. Like 15-Across: AGED. ⌛
10. Occasion to wear away uniforms: ROAD GAME. ð―
11. Compassionate: HUMANE. ðŦķ
12. Celebrity chef with a flagship restaurant in New Orleans: EMERIL. In 2022, EMERIL Lagasse was named as the Chief Culinary Officer for Carnival Cruise Lines. So, now he's made a mess on a new flagship!
13. Cosmetician Lauder: ESTEE. ð
18. Grassy expanses: LEAS. ðž️
22. Message one may wish to open in private: SEXT. ðŦĢ
24. Kicked out of a competition, briefly: DQED. Disqualified, because they liked Carvel better.
25. Scoundrel: RUFFIAN. ðĶđðŧ♂️
27. Word with bell or bar: HOP. ðĶ
28. Lines of praise: ODE. ðŠķ
30. Dealer's handful: DECK. ð
32. "Aw, shoot!": RATS. ð
35. Free diver's weapon: SPEAR GUN. ðĶŊ(this is a blind man's cane, but it kinda looks right)
36. Unit of farmland: ACRE. ð
37. Id counterpart: SUPEREGO. For more, talk to you therapist. I'd tell you, but then Id have to charge by the hour.
38. Vacation hrs.: PTO. Paid Time Off. As a small business owner, I've never had this. ð️
39. Pack animal: ASS. ðŦ
40. Nike rival: AVIA. ð
42. Takes turns?: GYRATES. ðŦ
43. Library area: STACKS. ð
44. Powerfully cold: ARCTIC. ðĨķ
45. Score units: POINTS. ðŊ
46. AAA offerings: TOWS. American Automobile Association.ðŠ
47. Take down a peg: ABASE. ð
49. Apatow of "Euphoria": MAUDE. MAUDE struggled to find roles until she remembered that she has famous showbiz parents.
51. Copenhagen native: DANE.
53. Lacking pizzazz: DRAB. ðŦ
54. Form W-2 digits: SSNS. Social Security Numbers. ðļ
57. "Scram!": GIT. ð
58. __ canto: BEL. Italian for "beautiful singing." ð⃝ð
Be good. RB ð
It wasn’t until after I
ReplyDeletesolved the puzzle that I looked back and saw all the “gangs” but I eventually did.
And in spite of all the “?” clues. I didn’t think the puzzle was too bad.
FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteTwo side-by-side errors really slowed me down in the SE: The AAA offered me RTES and "Take Turns" was ROTATES. TYPOS set me straight. I noticed that Mark managed to sneak in an SO to himself with QUAD AXEL, and part of a themer, to boot. Cute. Thanx, Mark and Rusty. (Nice emojis.)
Kinda dumb, in my opinion. Easy. But uneventful.
ReplyDeleteFIR, but dull->DRAB. Waited for ump/REF. DNK MAUDE, except for the sitcom starring yesterday's fill Bea Arthur. Also my grandmother's first name.
ReplyDeleteMaybe an Easter egg at EGAN, since her award-winning book was Goon Squad.
Thanks to Mark for the fun puzzle, and to Rusty Brain for the :-) review.
I was going GANGBUSTERS until somebody named Axel managed to put his own name in the puzzle. I wanted QUADRUPLE but it wouldn't fit. The perps helped for QUAD AXEL.
ReplyDelete"Emoji Day" at the Corner. I've never used one yet. They aren't on the Microsoft keyboard.
EAST was just a guess for a game I've never played.
"Stay The Night" is a song I've never heard but I knew it had to be LATOYA because Michael, Jermaine, Janet, or even Alan were the wrong number of letters.
EMERIL's son is now the head of Emeril's restaurant, with its vastly overpriced prix fixe menu.
Speaking of nepotism, MAUDE was an unknown filled by perps.
PTO- Rusty, as an owner you just TTO=take time off.
I've only run across SPILL THE TEA, instead of BEANS, in crosswords.
As is normal, I paid no attention to the circles, so no theme was noticed.
Actually there is a “World Emoji Day”, which happens to be July 17th, which is why the calendar page emoji depicts that date by default. (I first thought that it was my phone personalized). Coincidentally it also happens to be my birthday which I happily share with Monday blogger NaomiZ. ð
DeleteIt's Windows function, not characters on the keyboard that you select.
DeletePress and hold the Windows key, and then press the Period key
YooperPhil at 8:30 AM, thanks for letting me know that World Emoji Day celebrates the two of us! News to me! TTP at 8:34 AM, thanks for the tip on typing emojis on the PC! Fab! ðð
DeleteFIR. As usual I ignored the circles. In the end they added nothing to the solve. Fortunately the number of proper names was at a minimum.
ReplyDeleteI saw the "gangs" before the reveal. I do however question "party" as a gang. But maybe that's just me.
Overall an OK puzzle.
My only hiccup was running into DQED, but it had to be. I needed the reveal to find the BUSTED GANGS. Yes, pretty easy puzzle, thank goodness very few names. I needed RB’s explanation to get PTO.
ReplyDeleteð Rusty Brain.
Thank you, Mark and RustyBrain
ReplyDeleteVery novel, RB. I'd guess that it took you more time to find and select the emojis at each answer than if you had added text, links,images and videos.
It wasn't too bad. Some, like REF, surprisingly had no emoji, so I had to be creative with a zebra. Or olives for DRAB. Then I noticed some display differently on a phone vs. computer. Like the 2 gears for GUTS may look like squares instead. All good fun!
DeleteTough puzzle
ReplyDeleteWithout the circles the difficulty level would have been more Thursday-ish, IMO, but, as it was, the solve was on the easy side, as was the theme itself. I thought there were too many vague phrases, i.e., not Odds Are, Stay Dry, Sad Face, Saves Par, and One More, on top of more two-word entries, to wit, Coin Slot, Road Game, Spear Gun, and Super Ego. Overall, though, the grid was clean and free from dreck and obscurities.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mark, and thanks, RB. Kudos for the fun and fitting Emoji marathon. I can’t imagine how much time and effort that project required. Sending tummy rubs to Buster!
Have a great day.
The not before odds is a typo.
DeleteMusings
ReplyDelete-Me too, PARTY broke up the idea of an athletic gimmick
-My first pawdicure was at a VET
-We usually play ONE MORE 9 after golf league but Tuesday’s very chilly weather convinced us to go home
-I remember putting a penny in a COIN SLOT for a piece of gum. Not only are the penny gumball machines gone, the penny will soon be also.
-The “tie down” holsters in the Old West were mostly an invention of 20th century film makers
-A trip to Omaha took nearly an hour when I was growing up. Now with many ACRES of farm ground being turned to developments, it’s a 20-minute drive and getting shorter every year.
-PTO will always be power takeoff here in farm country
-Nice emojis, RB!
Many thanks to Mark for delivering on his promise of an easy themed puzzle. Yay, circles! Would anyone really have seen the busted gangs without them?
ReplyDeleteRusty, I was so impressed with your illustrations today, I became quite emojional about it.
Har!
DeleteI'm getting emojional knowing you got emojional!
DeleteTook 5:53 today to boB AND weave my way through this one.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know the Actress of the Day (Maude) - I didn't think there were any Maudes under the age of 75. Finally, I remembered "aloo" for potato.
The top-right corner's chef and cosmetician being crossed by "verbal fillers" and "giggle syllable" left a bad taste in my mouth.
Emoji-whiz, RB!
Oh joy, circles!
Learning moment about WEAR AWAY UNIFORMS. At first I thought it had to do with ERODE. I never knew that teams changed UNIFORMS when they were on the ROAD. New for anyone else?
ReplyDeleteUnderstanding the theme is half the puzzle for me. Not sure why someone would ignore half the puzzle. Why solve it at all?
Fun Fill❣️
ReplyDeleteGreat recapðð
yay, comments ðŧ
Many thx for xword community ð
ðķðð
DeleteGeez, such an easy CW (in retrospect) that took me 21 minutes to finally FIR. Only 9 names, only 3 DNKs. What took me so long? I saw the theme but only after the reveal.
ReplyDeleteWhy did this CW take me so long? Well, I first entered ANOTHER for ONEMORE, which made a huge mess there, as I do ink-on-paper. That slowed me down. Also DNK PTO, and it took me forever to think of HOP for 27D. Also DNK BEL at 58D.
This was a difficult CW, as Anon@9:48 said, while I was working on it. Once I finally finished, I looked it over and thought, "Jeez, that's not all that difficult for a Thursday".
Thanx MA for the mental exercise. Lots of good, fun clues. Clever theme.
Thanx too to RB for the terrific write-up, and the emoji-fest. I agree with your "Best clue" selection.
And thanx to TTP@8:34 for the emoji tip.
Terrific Thursday. Thanks for the fun, Mark (great AXEL CSO) and RB (great emoji fest).
ReplyDeleteI almost FIRed, but I debated between an A or an I when an O was needed for LATOYA. I could not parse either ADD SARE or ID DSARE properly to see ODDS ARE SAD FACE emoji!
My brain must be tired today, because I missed the circles and was trying to figure out which three black squares were the GANG BUSTERS. RB pointed them out and I groaned that they were so easy to find. Another SAD FACE emoji!
Hand up for umps before REFS perped.
I waited for perps to decide between ers or UMS.
I learned ALOO doing CWs.
BEL Canto is the title of a wonderful novel by Ann Patchett.
Wishing you all a great day.
Yup, I’d say Mark delivered as promised— but I don’t mind an easy cruise every now and then, so I enjoyed blasting through this one. I thought the two-word fills were kinda fun, actually; I mean, how often does one see SPEARGUN in a CW? RUFFIAN is also unique, so I give Mssr Axel an A for effort (especially amusing thst he slotted his own name into the grid!). The circles were merely an added feature, but I “got” the gag pretty early on. On a couple of spots I goofed (like Jinx, had Dull before DRAB) but perps fixed ‘em easily.
ReplyDeleteHusker G., you had a pawdicure?? Next time just go to a nail salon — it’ll be a lot cheaper…
I see you also had some fun with your review, R.B. — ya went ðs with the emoji entries, had me ðing my ðŦ off! I loved your olive to follow DRAB. Good work! And yeah, that’s def a Fender; now I’m curious what Jennifer EGAN’s book is all about…guitar goons??
====> Darren / L.A.
You're a sports guy. Remember the wonderful thoroughbred filly RUFFIAN? She gave her life trying to beat the boys in a special race between the best filly ever and that year's three Triple Crown race winners. Until that final race, she led all the way in winning every race she ran. She was the female Secretariat. I still tear up remembering that fatal race.
DeleteNot that much of a sports guy ð but now you’ve piqued my curiosity and I’ll have to look her up. Sounds like a great tale, thanks Anon
Delete====> Darren
I FIR, but was so sure the “One with a supporting role?” was pillow, that I stuck with it way too long, but finally changed to pillar and everything fell into place. Thanks Mark and RB!
ReplyDeletefun puzzle, except the Italian tripped me up for one error. Guessed, and guessed wrong.
ReplyDeleteStupidest puzzle ever
ReplyDeleteStupidest comment ever
DeleteWhen I was a youngen and played cowboys, my holster tied around my ankles.
ReplyDeleteYou guys have coined a new word: emojifest! I've created a monster ð
ReplyDeleteThank you, everyone, for solving/ commenting, and RB for the writeup! See you all again soon (happy face)
ReplyDeleteð
DeleteThanks for checkin’ in, Mark!
Delete====> Darren
Ojai Guy. I'm a member of the pretty doable Thursday club. A smooth sail for the solve.
ReplyDelete