Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Wednesday's New York Times crossord puzzle solved: September 16, 2020


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 7:10, not too bad.

Theme: "Negative fast-food review?" or three phrases that could be taken that way: WEAK SAUCE, NOTHINGBURGER, and NO GREAT SHAKES.  The final clue, HAPPY MEAL, is clued as "what [the themed answers] certainly don't add up to."  (The online version used the wrong clue and highlighted the wrong answer.)

A-ROD has been in the puzzle a few times, but today it's as "youngest MLB player to hit 500 homers." He did it in 2007 and had just turned 32.

Mount Carmel is a range of mountains in northern ISR.  The town of Haifa is situated there.

I didn't know that in France, the equivalent of inc. is CIE, which is not an initialism but an abbreviation of compagnie.

TACET is a musical directions indicating that the instrument does not play.  It means "it is silent." 

The clue "inbox label counterpart of new" is... READ?  No it's not.  That's not what counterpart means.  The inbox label that has the same function, or means the same, as new is unread.

The TABLA is a pair of twin hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since 18th century, tabla has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as accompaniment with other instrument and vocals, and as a part of larger ensembles.

I would not have guessed that OSLO was the answer to "city called a kommune by its inhabitants."  The word seems to mean, basically, municipality.

Pete Buttigieg's father was born and raised in MALTA.  Now that you know that, you're set.

RENO, the seat of Washoe County and home to the minor league baseball team the Aces, has been a crossword answer many times, but I believe that this is the first time it's been clued as "home of the National Automobile Museum."

The Portuguese archipelago the AZORES have come up several times before.  Sao Miguel is the largest of the islands! 

ERMA Franklin, Aretha's older sister, was featured on January 31, 2018.

Clever clues: "print sources, maybe" is PAWS.  "Rock around the Christmas tree?" is COAL.

The was a pretty difficult puzzle for a Wednesday, so I'm impressed with my middling time.  I didn't think much of the theme; it just seems like it's reaching.  Well, SEE YOU.

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