Saturday, July 11, 2020

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: July 11, 2020

























My time:20:09, about three minutes shorter than an average Saturday for me.

No 7-11 theme today, unfortunately, just lots of vague, challenging clues.  Check out that unusual and modern fill: MEATSPACE, CROCODILE TEARS ("hollow-eyed expression?"), PARADISE FOUND ("heaven, sweet heaven"), DATA COLLECTION, SOUL TRAIN LINE!  Wow.

So, I have never heard of Tarana Burke (more evidence of the Great Black Erasure), who started the #ME TOO MOVEMENT and who currently works to promote gender equality.

I was not expecting "geez!" to be GOD.  I just thought another euphemism would more properly fit there, like WOW.  Also, for "lacking any emotion" I put *STONE but it's STONY.  That section was the last to be completed.

I have never taken any Spanish, so "MAS o menos" was not something I knew.

We all know and love that rascally red toddler puppet monster thing ELMO, but who the hell is Mr. Noodle?  He and his family are Elmo's silent, doofus friends who mime out simple things.  According to writer and "Elmo's World" co-creator Judy Freudberg, "Mr. Noodle, who never speaks, is all about trial and error. When you throw him a hat, he acts like he's never seen one before. Kids feel empowered watching him because they can do what he can't." The characters give young viewers "the opportunity to figure it out" before the adults do.

IONA comes up in the NYT puzzle a great deal, with various clues, but it was clued as "Macbeth's burial place" on July 4, 2018.

And the Oldsmobile cars known as ALEROS were last mentioned on July 5, 2018.

And EDYS is also a mainstay.

I don't really like DICIER for "less predictable."  I'm more familiar with dicey meaning dangerous, not unpredictable.

Clever clues: "What's all the buzz about?" is HIVE (I got this immediately — my kind of pun).  "Locale for house reps?" is HOME GYM.  "Tube traveler?" is OVUM.  "Berth place" is MARINA.

Altogether a very well done puzzle.  If this was a poetry slam I'd give it a SNAP.

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