Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 28, 2021

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 27, 2021

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 26, 2021

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 24, 2021

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 23, 2021

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 22, 2021

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 21, 2021

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 20, 2021

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 19, 2021

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 18, 2021

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 17, 2021

My time: 6:04, a minute slower than the record.

Theme: APES, with an additional MONKEY I/N/ T/HE/ MIDDLE.

The themed Across answers all have ape within their letters, like the apt BANANA PEEL and the much less apt AMANDA PEET ("'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip' co-star"). 

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 16, 2021

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solvd: February 15, 2021

My time: 5:23, only six seconds faster than average.

Theme: WHITE HOUSE DOGS.  The four themed answers begin with the names of presidential dogs, and these answers are clued as the definition plus the name of the president in brackets.  I suppose this is to celebrate that we have a normal human with normal human emotions like love and caring in the White House again, one who likes dogs.

For example, BUDDY COP MOVIES is clued "'Rush Hour' and '21 Jump Street' [Clinton]."  

I'm not a car guy, so the fact that CAMARO is a model of Chevrolet is not one readily available to me.

For "vittles" I initially put *EATS but it's the more earthy GRUB.

"TV deputy of Mayberry" is BARNEY FIFE.  That's Bush W., #43's dog!  He was a Scottish terrier.

"The Buddha is often depicted meditating on it" is BO TREE.  I don't think I've heard it called that, and was fairly confused.  I know it as a Bodhi tree.  The oldest plant in the world of known planting date is the bo tree called Sri Maha Bodhi planted at the temple at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, in 288 BC.  Bo was Obama's dog, a big fuzzy Portuguese water dog.

A bit of Hawaii in this puzzle: KAILUA is a location, also on Oahu, that is a big windsurfing destination.  It was home to Barack Obama’s winter White House. 

C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C is an example of a MAJOR SCALE.  Also called the Ionian mode, the major scale is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales (containing five whole steps and two half steps). Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at double its frequency so that it is called a higher octave of the same note (from Latin "octavus," the eighth).  This about as much musical notation I can understand.

I've never heard of this but I love it: "When Yuba Plays the Rhumba on His Tuba," a 1931 hit by Rudy Vallee.  He plays it in Cuba.  The Revelers also did a version.

Never heard of ISLA Verde, an area just outside of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico. 

The last presidential dog isn't found in the main themed answers, but the penultimate Down clue: "Pres with the pooch Heidi" is IKE.  She was a Weimeraner.

"Basketball players, quaintly" is CAGERS.  This baffled me today and when it came up on August 23, 2020.

The IRS form 1099-INT came up on September 8, 2018.

Waikiki Beach, located on OAHU, was last in the blog on July 9, 2018.

Elsa of Arendelle last appeared on October 27, 2020.

I thought this one was quite difficult for a Monday!  Lots of new material to me, and a few fairly vague clues, like "more than magnificent" for EPIC.

Sunday's New York Times crossword puzle solved: February 14, 2021

My time: 23:10, only about a minute faster than average, but that's still pretty good for a rebus that has four letters in each box.  Still, I'm not sure why it took even as long as it did; there wasn't a huge amount of new information in this one.

Theme: a Valentine's Day theme, titled "Sealed With a Kiss."  The rebus squares are outlined in red.  Each of these squares includes RED plus the next letter of the answer.

The first one I got was JA[RED L]ETO, because I knew he won a Supporting Actor Oscar for The Dallas Buyer's Club.  When I saw that those were the letters in the square, I figured each one probably started with red since they were outlined in red.  Once I knew that, some of the rebus answers came a bit faster.

The extra letters in the rebus squares, when read left to right and top to bottom, spell out ruby lips.

I've heard of PANsexual, but I thought the other "prefix with sexual," at four letters, might be omnisexual.  It's AMBIsexual, which seems to be an outmoded term for bisexual.

I like how the British "prats" is ARSES. 

Keeping with the British motif, "barrister's deg." is LLD, which is abbreviated for Legum Doctor, Latin for "teacher of the laws" and thus abbreviated accurately as LL.D.  The double "L" in the abbreviation indicates the plural. 

And more Brits: F[RED P]ERRY was a tennis champion who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slam tournaments and two Pro Slams single titles, as well as six Major doubles titles.  In the late 1940s, Perry was approached by Tibby Wegner, an Austrian footballer who had invented an anti-perspirant device worn around the wrist. Perry made a few changes to create the first sweatband.  His name is now a clothing brand.  Moronic right wingers have adopted one of their black and yellow shirts as a symbol, an inanity that the copy repudiates.

Never heard of soubise sauce, made by sautéeing ONIONS and adding them to a basic béchamel sauce. 

"Sea lion, for one" is EA[RED S]EAL.  They comprise 15 extant species in seven genera (another species became extinct in the 1950s) and are commonly known either as sea lions or fur seals, distinct from true seals (phocids) and the walrus (odobenids).  Well, that's sorted, then.

The BUSHTIT, a small woodland songbird, has the funniest name of all avifauna.

I had an idea that Mango Madness was a flavor of the many SNAPPLES, but I hesitated, because Go Bananas?  Really?  Don't knock it till you've tried it, I guess.

I don't know any regional capitals.  PAPEETE is the capital of French Polynesia on Tahiti.

"Debussy prelude inspired by a water sprite" is ONDINE.  The story, of course, concerns a water nymph whose deadly powers prove lethal to the mortal who betrays her love.

"West coast beer brand, in brief" is OLY, which is Olympia, as explained on July 15, 2018.

"Wheel of Fortune" freebies RSTLNE appeared on November 19, 2020, the "Wheel"-themed puzzle.

Capital of Yemen SANAA came up on June 26, 2020, but I just keep forgetting how to spell it.  This time I put *SAMAA.

Clever clues: "Opposite of a standing order?" is BE SEATED.  "Rules out?" is ANARCHY.  "Post production" is CEREAL.  "They'll be mist" is AEROSOLS.  "Place with robes and sweaters" is SAUNA.

And that wraps it up with a bow.  Happy Valentine's Day!  Lisa Bunker, who constructed this puzzle, is certainly NO SLOUCH in the crossword department.

Saturday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 13, 2021

My time: 16:25, three minutes faster than average, but ten minutes slower than my record.

I had some trouble with a few clues that gave nothing away in their generic wording.  "Chocolate or caramel," for example, turns out to be HUE.  Or "monitor" for LIZARD.

Apparently some MOTHS don't have mouths.  How do they eat?  They don't!  They live a week, mate, and die!  That's kind of sad.

For "Hajj, e.g." I put *TREK but it's RITE.

I don't like "metaphorical setting in which everything is inverted from the norm" for BIZARRO WORLD.  I mean, I understand that through popular use it's sort of an expression devoid of its original context, but it is primarily a fictional place copyrighted by DC Comics.

Arg, New York Times puzzle, don't remind me how Twitter always sorts your searches by TOP when everyone prefers sorting by most recent.

"Every fault's condemned ERE it be done" is said by Angelo to Isabella in "measure for Measure."  He's sanctimoniously explaining how he must condemn her brother Claudio (for having sex outside of marriage), even though he's open to pardoning her brother if she'll sleep with him, Angelo.  And thenhe condemns Claudio anyway!

I vaguely remembered NELLIE Bly, pioneering investigative journalist who went around the world in 72 days and also exposed cruel practices in the mental asylums of the time.

I am old enough to remember using the programs Drive and Docs, but forgot they were called G SUITE.  It's called Google Workspace now.

I have never heard of the White House Correspondents' Dinner being called NERD PROM.  Ugh.

For "part of a company" I put *PLAYERS, thinking of a touring company, but it's PLATOON.

Apparently SHO is the sister channel of Flix?  I never even heard of Flix.

Championship-winning basketball coach STEVE / KERR was in the blog on September 18, 2018, but I failed to mention that he is the head coach of the Golden State Warriors.

Clever clues: "Wait here!" is RESTAURANT.  "Holiday production?" is BLUES MUSIC.  "Many are under the influence of this at college parties" is PEER PRESSURE.  "Really impress?" is ETCH.  "They have many small teeth" is ZIPPERS — I put *NIPPERS at first!  "Main course?" is SEA ROUTE.

This was a tough Saturday for me!  Lots of punning clues and, as noted, ambiguous clues.  It was still fun, though.

Friday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 12, 2021

My time: 11:14, four minutes faster than average.

The northwest corner was my bugbear on this one, even though an answer there, ISRAELI, was one of the first I put in.  Both the devious clue "Star Bucks, say?" and the letter soup of the answer, NBA MVPS, kept me frustrated for some time.

"Major retail outlets" is EMPORIA.  Yuck.

The ambiguity of the word "let" in "let someone know if you can go" had me putting in a present tense answer — *RSVP TO — but this "let" is the past tense: RSVP'ED.

"OH, TO be in England" is the first line from Robert Frost's poem "Home Thoughts From Abroad."

PERIDOT is apparently "one of the few gemstones that naturally occurs in a single color (olive green)." The exclusively green peridot is August's birth stone.

Fourteenth-century Grand Duke of Moscow IVAN I made Moscow very wealthy by maintaining his loyalty to the Mongol Horde (hence, the nickname Kalita, or the Moneybag). He used this wealth to give loans to neighboring Russian principalities. 

I had a hard time with MANSPLAIN in the northwest corner, probably because I had the -plain part first and got fixated on that.  I put *MAKE PLAIN and then *LAYS PLAIN.

"Trick, in slang" is HOSE?  Yep.  No LIE!

U.S. Route 20 is 3,365 miles long if it's a MILE.  It's the longest road in the United States.

ED ASNER just came up as playing Captain Davies in "Roots."  Today he's clued as playing Warren Buffett, as described on May 26, 2018.

Italian dessert TORTONI has been in the blog a few times before.  Today it's clued as being "topped with crumbled macaroons."  It can also be topped with almonds or chocolate shavings.

Crossword mainstay ARI Melber was in the blog as recently as January 19.

On September 9, 2018, I wrote that "although I'm familiar with them, I guess I never knew for sure that Chevy makes the 'VETTE," and that seems to still hold true, because the answer just wasn't coming.

Clever clues: "Trap" is PIEHOLE.  "A famous one is often connected with a school" is PAINTER.  "It's always up to something" is STAIRCASE.  "Melon seeds?" is IDEAS (we've had the same answer clued as "bean sprouts?" before).

I liked this one.  Interesting fill included PEACHY KEEN, SPHINX, MANSPLAIN, THE EURO, WATCH CHAIN, XXX RATED, and DERBY HATS.

Thursday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 11, 2021

My time: 8:26, six minutes faster than average.

Today's theme plays with irregular plurals.  The four themed Across answers are created by starting with a two-word phrase that happens to contain a letter string that spells out an irregular plural.  To appear in the grid, the answers have that letter string taken out, and replaced with a doubled singular of the plural.  The doubled singular is then shown in grey squares.

So, for example, "what a pratfall may be done for" is comedic effect.  But the irregular plural hidden in that phrase, dice, is replaced with its singular twice: COMEDIE DIEFFECT.  Mentally replacing the "die"s with dice you get COME[dic e]FFECT.

Similarly, "where magazines may be laid out" is coffee table.  It's entered in the grid with the feet part replaced with two "foot"s: COFFOOT FOOTABLE.  Read that as COF[fee t]ABLE.

It's a very clever piece of construction, but I do wish there were a sort of explanatory clue or capper to bring it all together.

Actress Anne MEARA was in the puzzle on November 20, 2018, but today she is clued as having four Emmy nominations.  Two of those were Supporting Actress for "Archie Bunker's Place," one for a guest role on "Homicide," and one is for her starring role in the drama "Kate McShane."

The Hindu honorific MAHARISHI derives from Sanskrit for "great sage."

For "what a swish misses" I put *NET but it's RIM.

I had no idea the Super Bowl was held in TAMPA.  That's nice.

RHYME PAYS is the 1987 debut album by Ice-T, one of the first in the West Coast gangsta rap genre.

I know LLCS are Limited Liability Corporations, but "pass-through taxation" is new to me.  All of the profits and losses of the LLC "pass through" the business to the LLC owners (called members), who report this information on their personal tax returns. The LLC itself does not pay federal income taxes, although some states impose an annual tax on LLCs.

I know NEVIL Shute's book On the Beach, but I don't think I knew he wrote A Town Like Alice.  It's about a young Englishwoman who becomes romantically interested in a fellow prisoner of World War II in Malaya, and after liberation emigrates to Australia to be with him.

"BETCHA By Golly, Wow" is a 1972 hit by the Stylistics. 

I know the statue outside Rockefeller Center is ATLAS mainly because of the intro to "30 Rock."

Calabria, a region of Italy, is located in the TOE of Italy.

Sour fruit SLOE was in the blog on November 24, 2020.

We learned that the CDC is headquartered in Atlanta on January 21.

Movie mogul Marcus LOEW was spotlighted on September 12, 2020.

Clever clues: "Oak, in a nutshell?" is ACORN.  "Change in the Middle East, say" is DINAR.  "Razor handle?" is OCCAM.  "Got into the swing?" is SAT.

This one flummoxed me at first with its weird letter rearrangement, but outside of the theme, there wasn't much difficulty.  In fact, based on my time I'd say it was easy for a Thursday.

Wednesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 10, 2021

 

My time: 6:15, one minute slower than the record.

Theme: STOUT, the kind of beer, meant to be read as "ST" OUT.  That is, several phrases that start with st have the first two letters removed and then clued as they read.

For example, "the main characters of Brokeback Mountain" is RANGE BEDFELLOWS, a play on strange bedfellows.  And "'Strike three!' or 'Yer out!'" is UMP SPEECH, not stump speech.

I particularly like "way to catch a conger?"  My mind is like an EEL TRAP!

I had no idea that HANOI is so old!  It's "home to the Temple of Literature, built in 1070."  The temple also hosts the Imperial Academy, Vietnam's first national university. The temple was built in 1070 at the time of Emperor Lý Thánh Tông. It is one of several temples in Vietnam which is dedicated to Confucius, sages and scholars.

I've watched a Kentucky Derby or two, but couldn't have told you that it's in MAY.  Well, this year it starts on April 30, so I guess the NYT doesn't know everything.

Also in sports, Wayne Gretzky won NINE M.V.P. awards.  In the NHL this award is called the Hart Memorial Trophy, named for Cecil Hart, the longtime head coach of the Montreal Canadiens.

ASH is the tree that can come in green, black, or white varieties.  I was thinking of putting *TEA.

"Sesame Street" segment "ELMO'S World," with his buddy Mr. Noodle, was referenced on July 11, 2020.

This was another puzzle that I just clicked on.  Barely anything new, and with clues that, while somewhat ambiguous *like "appropriate" for CO-OPT), weren't particularly devious.  I liked the funny theme, and I always appreciate a helpful capper that explains the wordplay.

Tuesday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 9, 2021

My time: 5:06, two and a half minutes faster than average.

Theme: a rather simple one — three phrases in the second person involving clothing.  For example, HANG ON TO YOUR HAT ("get ready for something amazing").

Apparently in archery if you score a bullseye you get NINE points.  In the Imperial variant, it seems.  The center ring of an international target is worth 10 points.

FLORA means plants, but here is clued as the Roman goddess of flowering plants, or as the clue reads, of spring. 

GIN is "drinking game?"  Other than the fact the word means two things, I don't see the joke there.  The card game isn't done while drinking, and the drink isn't a game.

Clever clue: "Grant for a filmmaker?" is HUGH.

This was a pretty bland crossword, with a similarly uninteresting theme.  A ho-hum, but not bad, Tuesday.

Monday's New York Times crossword puzzle solved: February 8, 2021

My time: 4:27, a minute faster than average.

Theme: LET YOUR HAIR DOWN.  The three long Down answers have a hairdo embedded in them, shown by the circled squares.  For example, DISCOMBOBULATED has a bob hairdo.

"Musical key with three flats" is C MINOR, which would mean more to me if I knew what a key or a key signature is.

For "banned pollutant, in brief" I put *DDT but it's PCB, short for polychlorinated biphenyl.  Their production was banned by United States federal law in 1978, and by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001.

ASTORIA, Queens, was originally called Hallet's Cove after its first landowner William Hallet, who settled there in 1652 with his wife.  It was later renamed for John Jacob Astor, then the wealthiest man in the United States, in order to persuade him to invest in the area.  ASTORIA also boasts the oldest beer garden in New York City.

The two TAPAS given as examples in the clue are patatas bravas, spicy fried potatoes, and calamares, which is the Spanish calamari.

J'ADORE, a perfume by Dior, last came up on September 30, 2018.

St. ANN'S Bay, Jamaica, was detailed on May 12, 2018.

Lots of fun fill on this one, especially for a Monday.  I like how braid was incorporated into TOMB RAIDER.  Also, DR. RUTH, ROC-A-FELLA records, RAKED IN, and JENNA Maroney.