Sunday, October 4, 2020

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: October 4, 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My time: 20:39, five minutes faster than average.

Theme: "You're Telling Me!"  The themed answers are punning phrases you would say to the given person, starting with "you're..."

For example, "to a cosmetician, you're" MAKING ME BLUSH.  And "to a bad free throw shooter, you're" MISSING THE POINT.  Those ones are good.

Less good is (you're) OUT OF YOUR GOURD to "a produce vendor near closing time."  I feel kike this one lands wrong.  Maybe if gourds was plural?  Also, "to a temp worker, you're" IN FOR IT NOW.  I don't really get this one at all.  I get that the temp worker is "in" the job "now" and not in it for the long haul or something, but it just doesn't fly right to me.

It's an okay theme.  Could it be better?  (You're) DARN TOOTIN'.  It's not all THAT, but it does the job.  TRUE DAT!

The Old English called OCTOBER winterfylleth?  That's so metal.  Actually that would make a great metal band name.  And it is.

Never heard of Antilia, the world's most valuable private residence.  It is in MUMBAI.  It is the residence of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his family, It is over 400,000 square feet and 27 stories, and has amenities such as three helipads, air traffic control, a 168-car garage, a ballroom, nine high speed elevators, 50-seat theater, terrace gardens, swimming pool, spa, health center, a temple, a snow room that spits out snowflakes from the walls.

"Kind of clef" is ALTO.  An ALTO clef is one of many "C clefs" and is named as such because its center indicates middle C. The alto clef's center is placed on directly in the middle of the staff, designating the third line from the bottom to middle C.

The dove's-foot crane's-bill, or dovesfoot geranium, or geranium molle, is a small hairy-leaved FLOWER. 

Taylor Swift's first #1 country song was OUR SONG, in 2007.  Ugh, but I like some of her new bops, and I love her politics.

Also don't know Adele's song "Million years AGO," but it's easy enough to guess.   It's off her third album, 25.

I was stumped at "native speakers of Chiwere."  I am familiar with the OTOE tribe but haven't heard of the language.

An ISOMORPH is an organism that resembles another organism, or an organism that stays the same shape during the growth stage.

STARR County is a county in Texas on the Mexican border.  Its population is 60,000 and its county seat is Rio Grande City.  It is named for James Harper Starr, who served as Secretary of the Treasury of the Republic of Texas.

"Italian painter known for his frescoes" is GIOTTO di Bondone.  He is described as making a decisive break with the prevalent Byzantine style and as initiating "the great art of painting as we know it today, introducing the technique of drawing accurately from life, which had been neglected for more than two hundred years."  GIOTTO's masterwork is the decoration of the Scrovegni Chapel, in Padua, also known as the Arena Chapel, which was completed around 1305. 

I am not a fan of the outdated Wade-Giles transliteration system.  We don't call the first Chiense dynasty the HSIA Dynasty, we call it the Xia

Speaking of China, the villain is Mulan is SHAN YU, the brutal leader of the Huns. 

COSTA Brava, meaning "wild coast," is an area in the northwest of Spain, next to France, that is a popular tourist area.

Architect Frank GEHRY last came up on October 1, 2018, and I nearly have his name down now.

Utah ski resort ALTA last came up on July 12.

"Brat pack" author TAMA Janowitz appeared on December 6, 2017, when I said "I felt far from sure that TAMA Janowitz is famous enough to be a clue in the New York Times puzzle, let alone her memoir Scream: A Memoir of Glamour and Dysfunction."

Japanese tennis pro Naomi OSAKA was in the puzzle on July 29.

Clever clues: "Laughing matter?" is GAS.  "Things stuck in clogs" is TOES.  "Clicking sound?' is AHA.  "Something to do with your buds?' is TASTE.  "Good-looking guy?" is MARKSMAN.

I think the reason this has a longish time for me was that catching on to the theme ended up being not OF HELP, since the themed answers didn't follow a specific pattern.  Well, on to SOMETHING ELSE now.

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