She's back! And this time, Rebecca Goldstein has given us a puzzle that won't tear your hair out.
37. "Why must you overcomplicate everything?," or what can be said about 16-, 24-, 49-, and 58-Across: IT'S NOT THAT HARD. Each of the following themed answers are not "hard" in one way or another.
16. Christ the Redeemer veneer material: SOAPSTONE. SOAPSTONE ranks very low on the Mohs hardness scale. Made mostly of talc, it is a very soft rock that is easy to carve.
24. Hoppy brew with a low ABV: SESSION IPA. A SESSION IPA is a lighter beer with only a 3% to 5% Alcohol By Volume. Definitely not a hard drink, so you can enjoy a longer SESSION without getting drunk.
49. Contents of a cheese pull, often: MOZZARELLA. MOZZARELLA is a semi-soft, unaged Italian cheese with a high moisture content versus a hard cheese like parmesan.
58. Genre originally known as the West Coast sound: YACHT ROCK. YACHT ROCK features clean vocals, sophisticated studio production, and mellow melodies, as opposed to hard rock.
IT'S NOT THAT HARD is an apt title for this puzzle. Rebecca's puzzles can be challenging, but not today. I like that the themers utilized a different kind of "hard" in each. That plus a low proper name count made for smooth yachting. The grid is a bit unique as it is narrower than usual with only 14 squares across.
16. Christ the Redeemer veneer material: SOAPSTONE. SOAPSTONE ranks very low on the Mohs hardness scale. Made mostly of talc, it is a very soft rock that is easy to carve.
24. Hoppy brew with a low ABV: SESSION IPA. A SESSION IPA is a lighter beer with only a 3% to 5% Alcohol By Volume. Definitely not a hard drink, so you can enjoy a longer SESSION without getting drunk.
49. Contents of a cheese pull, often: MOZZARELLA. MOZZARELLA is a semi-soft, unaged Italian cheese with a high moisture content versus a hard cheese like parmesan.
58. Genre originally known as the West Coast sound: YACHT ROCK. YACHT ROCK features clean vocals, sophisticated studio production, and mellow melodies, as opposed to hard rock.
IT'S NOT THAT HARD is an apt title for this puzzle. Rebecca's puzzles can be challenging, but not today. I like that the themers utilized a different kind of "hard" in each. That plus a low proper name count made for smooth yachting. The grid is a bit unique as it is narrower than usual with only 14 squares across.
I did have one hang-up though. I wrote DUH at 55A and never went back to check where it crossed 47D BAHT, so I had BADT instead. Bzzzzt! But in my defense, I've never bought anything in Thailand.
The rest isn't so hard either:
Across:
22. Verbal finger wag: TSK.
24. [theme]
27. Cut with an axe: HEW.
28. Tree in the name of a Bay Area city: OAK. As in Oakland, California on the San Francisco Bay.
29. Palindromic family member: DAD. Coulda been MOM.
30. Line of symmetry: AXIS.
32. Palindromic family member: SIS. A clecho of 29A. There are several palindromic family members including a TOT.
34. Part of a routine: STEP.
37. [theme]
41. Perceived: SEEN. This answer may be SEEN as correct.
42. Instrument in a "Baker Street" riff: SAX. Gerry Rafferty's single was a huge hit in 1978 with it's repeating earworm SAX riff. Unfortunately, none of the other songs on the album sounded like it.
43. Body image?: X-RAY. An X-RAY of a brain can reveal everything except if it is rusty.
44. Brain scan letters: EEG. An ElectroEncephaloGram records the electrical activity of the brain. I'll have to try it and see if I have any.
46. Spider's spinning: WEB.
48. 5G predecessor: LTE. 5G is the fifth generation of cellular technology, offering significantly faster speeds, lower latency, and higher capacity than 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution). It's 1 better!
49. [theme]
53. "You know it!": YES.
54. Surf shop?: ETAILER. Winner: Best Clue.
55. "Well, whaddaya know!": HUH. I though DUH would fit.
57. __ Whip: frozen pineapple treat: DOLE. DOLE Whip is a line of frozen soft-serve deserts with flavors that include pineapple, mango and orange. Now in stores, it was first available only at Disneyland.
58. [theme]
63. College town in Iowa: AMES. Home of Iowa State University.
64. Figs. that may be delayed by weather: ETAS. Estimated time of...oh, you know this.
65. Territory "where America's day begins": GUAM. GUAM is west of the International Date line and has it's own time zone (Chamorro Standard Time). Residents wake up 14 or 15 hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone, depending on Daylight Saving Time.
66. Lean to one side: LIST.
67. Glum: DOWN.
68. Blows it: ERRS. Blows it: AIRS.
Down:
1. Cards at a casino?: IDS. You must be 21 years old to gamble at most casinos, so they may check your Identification card.
2. Also: TOO.
3. Act the class clown: CRACK WISE. I've never heard this phrase reversed like this (it's usually wisecracking) but it makes sense.
4. Prefix with -dermic or -thermic: HYPO. Hypodermic (under the skin) and Hypothermic (low body temperature). The prefix HYPO- comes from Ancient Greek meaning under or below, and is the opposite of Hyper- (over or excessive).
5. Little one: TOT. A little palindromic family member.
6. Spanish one: UNO. When playing UNO, you shout this to indicate you only have one card left.
7. Bluefin, yellowfin, and blackfin: TUNAS. With canned TUNAS, I prefer skipjack. Skipjack is a smaller, faster-growing species, meaning it naturally accumulates far less mercury than larger species like albacore or bluefin, making it safer for frequent consumption.
8. Password preceder: USER ID. You must be 18 to use a computer, so it checks your USER ID. Wait, that's not right.
9. Texting etiquette?: PLS AND THX. Textspeak for Please and Thanks.
10. Riyadh resident: SAUDI. Riyadh is the capital and largest city of SAUDI Arabia.
11. Pricey: STEEP.
12. Thompson of "Hedda": TESSA. TESSA starred in the film based on Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler about a woman trapped in a marriage she doesn't want.
17. Not great, not terrible: SO SO. This answer is meh.
21. Take the path of least resistance, say: COAST.
22. Pad see ew cuisine: THAI. I saw "pad" and knew it was THAI. Pad simply means "stir-fry," so it applies to many dishes.
23. Suggestive messages: SEXTS. These seem to always come back around and bite the senders.
25. Only cardinal direction not in a state name: EAST. There was an EAST Florida from 1763-1821. It split from West Florida after the Seven Years' War in Europe when Spain ceded it to Great Britain in exchange for the release of Havana.
26. Funny sketches: SKITS.
31. Most susceptible to collecting dust?: SNEEZIEST. This is another word that I'm sure exists but I've never heard uttered. Gesundheit.
33. Prayer __: SHAWL.
35. Four or five, maybe: EARLY HOUR. It's also EARLY BIRD HOUR!
36. Ramble on: PRATE.
38. Lakers legend Shaquille: ONEAL. Before LeBron James brought his talents to South Beach, Shaq teamed up with Dwayne Wade to win Miami Heat's first national championship.
39. Rink leap: AXEL.
40. Lends color: DYES. If one washes a new red t-shirt with whites, it DYES them pink. If only it lends color, it would be fine, but usually its permanent.
45. Lost colour: GREYED. In England, they spell "gray" with an E (and "color" with a U). Those crazy Brits!
47. 22-Down currency: BAHT. I got this one wrong because of the aforementioned cross. DUH! I mean HUH!
49. Wearable prize: MEDAL.
50. Some indigenous Mexicans: OTOMI. Unlike the Mayans and the Aztecs, the OTOMI people still inhabit central Mexico.
51. Diamond chain: ZALES. "Every kiss begins with Kaye" is a much better slogan than "Zales starts with Zzzz."
52. Muse of poetry: ERATO.
56. Spur to action: URGE.
59. Murder-ous cry: CAW. The call from a murder of crows. I'm fascinated by the odd names ascribed to various groups of animals. Recently, China gifted us an embarrassment of pandas.
60. Sales channel: HSN. With so many online options now available, the Home Shopping Network (and sister QVC) faced financial challenges leading to Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
61. Vehicle that may be self-driving: CAR.
62. Tour de France distances, informally: KMS. Kilometers.
Be good. RB
The rest isn't so hard either:
Across:
1. Hydrocortisone target: ITCH.
5. Glissade garb: TUTU. In mountaineering, a glissade is a technique used to descend a steep ice or snow field quickly. HUH? Oh, it's also a sideways glide in ballet. That makes more sense.
9. "Wanna hear a secret?": PSST. Present Some Secret Things?
13. Animated blue tang of film: DORY. DORY's friend in the Pixar movie wasHunky Nemo.
14. Heavy burden: ONUS.
15. Behind schedule: LATE.
16. [theme]
18. Gets lawyers involved: SUES. Lawyers seem to get involved way too often.
19. Sound heard around a crib: COO. If your crib is full of doves.
20. Places that are all fun and games: ARCADES. My company installed the data cabling for the Blockbuster Golf & Games entertainment complex in Sunrise, FL back in the '90s. It had multi-story all-digital ARCADE that featured a virtual reality flight simulator.
5. Glissade garb: TUTU. In mountaineering, a glissade is a technique used to descend a steep ice or snow field quickly. HUH? Oh, it's also a sideways glide in ballet. That makes more sense.
9. "Wanna hear a secret?": PSST. Present Some Secret Things?
13. Animated blue tang of film: DORY. DORY's friend in the Pixar movie was
 |
| Nemo is a Clownfish and Dory is a Regal Blue Tang. |
14. Heavy burden: ONUS.
15. Behind schedule: LATE.
16. [theme]
18. Gets lawyers involved: SUES. Lawyers seem to get involved way too often.
19. Sound heard around a crib: COO. If your crib is full of doves.
20. Places that are all fun and games: ARCADES. My company installed the data cabling for the Blockbuster Golf & Games entertainment complex in Sunrise, FL back in the '90s. It had multi-story all-digital ARCADE that featured a virtual reality flight simulator.
 |
| The future 30 years ago. |
22. Verbal finger wag: TSK.
24. [theme]
27. Cut with an axe: HEW.
28. Tree in the name of a Bay Area city: OAK. As in Oakland, California on the San Francisco Bay.
29. Palindromic family member: DAD. Coulda been MOM.
30. Line of symmetry: AXIS.
32. Palindromic family member: SIS. A clecho of 29A. There are several palindromic family members including a TOT.
34. Part of a routine: STEP.
37. [theme]
41. Perceived: SEEN. This answer may be SEEN as correct.
42. Instrument in a "Baker Street" riff: SAX. Gerry Rafferty's single was a huge hit in 1978 with it's repeating earworm SAX riff. Unfortunately, none of the other songs on the album sounded like it.
43. Body image?: X-RAY. An X-RAY of a brain can reveal everything except if it is rusty.
44. Brain scan letters: EEG. An ElectroEncephaloGram records the electrical activity of the brain. I'll have to try it and see if I have any.
46. Spider's spinning: WEB.
48. 5G predecessor: LTE. 5G is the fifth generation of cellular technology, offering significantly faster speeds, lower latency, and higher capacity than 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution). It's 1 better!
49. [theme]
53. "You know it!": YES.
54. Surf shop?: ETAILER. Winner: Best Clue.
 |
| The famous Ron Jon Surf Shop is also online. |
55. "Well, whaddaya know!": HUH. I though DUH would fit.
57. __ Whip: frozen pineapple treat: DOLE. DOLE Whip is a line of frozen soft-serve deserts with flavors that include pineapple, mango and orange. Now in stores, it was first available only at Disneyland.
58. [theme]
63. College town in Iowa: AMES. Home of Iowa State University.
64. Figs. that may be delayed by weather: ETAS. Estimated time of...oh, you know this.
65. Territory "where America's day begins": GUAM. GUAM is west of the International Date line and has it's own time zone (Chamorro Standard Time). Residents wake up 14 or 15 hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone, depending on Daylight Saving Time.
66. Lean to one side: LIST.
67. Glum: DOWN.
68. Blows it: ERRS. Blows it: AIRS.
Down:
1. Cards at a casino?: IDS. You must be 21 years old to gamble at most casinos, so they may check your Identification card.
2. Also: TOO.
3. Act the class clown: CRACK WISE. I've never heard this phrase reversed like this (it's usually wisecracking) but it makes sense.
4. Prefix with -dermic or -thermic: HYPO. Hypodermic (under the skin) and Hypothermic (low body temperature). The prefix HYPO- comes from Ancient Greek meaning under or below, and is the opposite of Hyper- (over or excessive).
5. Little one: TOT. A little palindromic family member.
6. Spanish one: UNO. When playing UNO, you shout this to indicate you only have one card left.
7. Bluefin, yellowfin, and blackfin: TUNAS. With canned TUNAS, I prefer skipjack. Skipjack is a smaller, faster-growing species, meaning it naturally accumulates far less mercury than larger species like albacore or bluefin, making it safer for frequent consumption.
8. Password preceder: USER ID. You must be 18 to use a computer, so it checks your USER ID. Wait, that's not right.
9. Texting etiquette?: PLS AND THX. Textspeak for Please and Thanks.
10. Riyadh resident: SAUDI. Riyadh is the capital and largest city of SAUDI Arabia.
11. Pricey: STEEP.
12. Thompson of "Hedda": TESSA. TESSA starred in the film based on Henrik Ibsen's play Hedda Gabler about a woman trapped in a marriage she doesn't want.
17. Not great, not terrible: SO SO. This answer is meh.
21. Take the path of least resistance, say: COAST.
22. Pad see ew cuisine: THAI. I saw "pad" and knew it was THAI. Pad simply means "stir-fry," so it applies to many dishes.
23. Suggestive messages: SEXTS. These seem to always come back around and bite the senders.
25. Only cardinal direction not in a state name: EAST. There was an EAST Florida from 1763-1821. It split from West Florida after the Seven Years' War in Europe when Spain ceded it to Great Britain in exchange for the release of Havana.
26. Funny sketches: SKITS.
31. Most susceptible to collecting dust?: SNEEZIEST. This is another word that I'm sure exists but I've never heard uttered. Gesundheit.
33. Prayer __: SHAWL.
35. Four or five, maybe: EARLY HOUR. It's also EARLY BIRD HOUR!
36. Ramble on: PRATE.
38. Lakers legend Shaquille: ONEAL. Before LeBron James brought his talents to South Beach, Shaq teamed up with Dwayne Wade to win Miami Heat's first national championship.
 |
| 2006 NBA Champs |
39. Rink leap: AXEL.
40. Lends color: DYES. If one washes a new red t-shirt with whites, it DYES them pink. If only it lends color, it would be fine, but usually its permanent.
45. Lost colour: GREYED. In England, they spell "gray" with an E (and "color" with a U). Those crazy Brits!
47. 22-Down currency: BAHT. I got this one wrong because of the aforementioned cross. DUH! I mean HUH!
49. Wearable prize: MEDAL.
50. Some indigenous Mexicans: OTOMI. Unlike the Mayans and the Aztecs, the OTOMI people still inhabit central Mexico.
 |
| Costumed OTOMI performing a traditional folk dance |
51. Diamond chain: ZALES. "Every kiss begins with Kaye" is a much better slogan than "Zales starts with Zzzz."
52. Muse of poetry: ERATO.
56. Spur to action: URGE.
59. Murder-ous cry: CAW. The call from a murder of crows. I'm fascinated by the odd names ascribed to various groups of animals. Recently, China gifted us an embarrassment of pandas.
60. Sales channel: HSN. With so many online options now available, the Home Shopping Network (and sister QVC) faced financial challenges leading to Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
61. Vehicle that may be self-driving: CAR.
62. Tour de France distances, informally: KMS. Kilometers.
Be good. RB
Notes from C.C.:
Happy 85th birthday to dear Jayce (John)! Your warmth, kindness, and steady presence make our little crossword family a better place. Wishing you a wonderful day filled with good memories and plenty of love. Sheng Ri Kuai Le, John!
Didn’t know the
ReplyDeleteMexicans, and never heard of the beer, so it was a little tougher than the past few days, but then, it IS later in the week, so that’s to be expected.
Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
C-Moe, in reference to your comment about Astro (14 across), did you mean George and JANE, his wife, or Judy, his daughter?
ReplyDeleteFIR, getting my WAG @ DOLE x OTOMI, Also, pizzarella->MOZZARELLA, taira->MEDAL, incas->OTOMI, and erete->ERATO.
ReplyDeleteMy go-to radio station plays oldies rock, and my standby is our YACHT ROCK station, WTWV (The Wave.) I spend about 30% of my listening time there. Like most stations, it offers live streaming.
Thanks to Rebecca for the challenge. And thanks to Rusty Brain for the tour.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteMaya, Olmec, Aztec, yes. OTOMI, that's a new one. Perps to the rescue. GREYED reminds me that Rebecca resides across the pond and probably thinks that's the correct spelling. Thanx, Rebecca and Rusty.
LTE: I finally retired my Iphone 7 this week in favor of an already obsolete 16e. I'm still trying to figure out how to operate it. I only use the phone for calls, texts, and reading books. Really.
When I first arrived on GUAM, I was greeted by a large "Guam is good" sign. I spent a couple years there courtesy of Uncle Sam. Loved it. Record low there was 56 during a tropical storm. Record high is 95. It's close to the equator, so temps don't vary much throughout the year. You can pretty much tell the temp by looking at your watch.
FIR. This was as hard as a Thursday is supposed to be. Otomi was a complete mystery to me. That and the spelling of mozzarella escaped me for a bit since I wasn't sure about it's second letter. This slowed me down a lot.
ReplyDeleteI thought the theme, except for soapstone, was somewhat lame.
Overall a so-so puzzle.
Good Morning:
ReplyDeleteSorry, but this theme seems a little weak for a Thursday and some of the entries seem forced rather than smooth, e.g. Session IPA, Otomi, Prate, and the questionable Sneeziest and Pls and Thx. Solving was more of a chore than a pleasure, IMO.
Thanks, Rebecca, for your efforts and thanks, RB, for the detailed review and explanation. Tummy rubs to Buster.
Happy Birthday, Jayce, enjoy in style! 🎂🎉🎊🎈
Belated feel better wishes to Uncle Fred.
Boo, hiss, to those Damn Yankees!
Have a great day.
We get many puzzles with extra spaces (15x16, 16x15) but not many smaller grids. This was not a hard Thursday with OTOMI my only complete unknown. The wide rice noodles (sen yai) that are in Pad see ew, a Thai dish my chef wife makes, are generally freshly made in good restaurants and street markets. SNEEZIEST is not only a ridiculous word, but what does it have to do with collecting dust? RB, why are your TOTS family members, or do you mean the human family? Thank you RG and RB
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to have a puzzle commenter also live in South Florida, making many remarks very relatable. My boys were 8 and 6 when Blockbuster Golf and Games opened in 1994 and we went a few times. Very big and tiring for me but they had fun. It closed in in 2000 and the space is now an IKEA.
Oops, happy birthday and many more Jayce
ReplyDeleteA Rebecca Goldstein offering that didn’t have me wrinkling my nose or rolling my eyes.
ReplyDeleteYacht Rock seems to be the latest catch phrase. It was even the featured theme night music on Dancing With The Stars a couple weeks ago.
Sneeziest … plsandthx… wtf
Thanks RB for the thorough recap.
This was HARD for me. I DNF. I didn’t have too much trouble with the North though I didn’t know about SESSION IPA, and I’m an IPA drinker, well used to be, and the name didnt make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteThe South was my downfall. I had some mistakes like ONEiL and tilt for LIST, but DOLE Whip, GREYED, YACHT, ZALES, cheese pull, OTOMI, all unknowns quantities to me.
Thank you RB for a very useful review. And Happy Birthday to Jayce.🎂🎉🎊🎁
And a CSO to CanadianEh!. Your compatriot Anne Carson was awarded the Nobel prize in literature.
Oops. didn’t and unknown should be singular.
ReplyDeleteSaw the constructors name, and figured I’d be a did not finish. Somehow, I plowed on and actually finished it, but finishing it wrong. My downfall was “surf shop”. I figured it related to etail, but for some reason could just not put the correct word together. I got Dora, but the “tang” clue wasn’t very helpful. At first, I too put in “doh”. Never heard Yacht radio refer to a West Coast genre. I have the station on sirius, and assumed it had something to do with Florida. In the end, I’m actually happy to finish a Rebecca Goldstein puzzle, as usually I quit about three quarters of the way through.
ReplyDeleteIf I was the coach of a crossword constructing team, I would make the entire squad run laps after practice for offering up SNEEZIEST as fill.
ReplyDeleteMediocre puzzle, summarized best by Irish Miss' "more of a chore than a pleasure."
I see lots of unhappiness with this CW in the comments, but I enjoyed it. Only 10 names, DNK 3. FIR in 15, which for me is good Thursday time.
ReplyDeleteI nominate 59D as the best clue, referring to a bunch of crows, which for some goofy reason is called a murder.
I had a few other comments I wanted to make, but don't remember them now. I usually take note but forgot that too.
Thanx RG, I liked your CW, and had fun doing it.
RB, great write-up, thanx. I DNK the bit about East Florida. And I have more than once ended up with pink tighty-whiteys, and you're right, they STAY pink unless you soak them in bleached water.
HBD Jayce/John!
Now, back to bed. Oy.