Rex Parker NYT Crossword Puzzle Answer TUESDAY, June 3, 2023

Phallic object worshiped as a symbol of Shiva / SAT 6-3-23 / Enthusiastic approval in a text / Byzantine emperor known as "Rhinotmetos" ("the slit-nosed") / Part of the Tuscan Archipelago / One of the so-called eight limbs of yoga / City in northeast France home of the country's oldest church

Constructor: John Westwig

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: SOMETHING / NOTHING / ANYTHING — [shrug] it's ... something, alright

Word of the Day: LINGAM (28D: Phallic object worshiped as a symbol of Shiva) —

A lingam (Sanskrit: लिङ्ग IAST: liṅga, lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. It is typically the primary murti or devotional image in Hindu temples dedicated to Shiva, also found in smaller shrines, or as self-manifested natural objects. It is often represented within a disc-shaped platform, the yoni – its feminine counterpart,consisting of a flat element, horizontal compared to the vertical lingam, and designed to allow liquid offerings to drain away for collection. Together, they symbolize the merging of microcosmos and macrocosmos, the divine eternal process of creation and regeneration, and the union of the feminine and the masculine that recreates all of existence. (wikipedia)

Well, the best part of this is certainly the middle, and I thought that *before* I ever noticed the SOMETHING ANYTHING NOTHING ... thing. It just felt smooth, so I liked it. The one thing I noticed about that section that seemed like a bit of a cheat (i.e. a gimmick to make the Down crosses easier to manage) was the -ING stack. "Really going all in on those -INGs there, yeesh." It was only after I'd completely finished the puzzle that I noticed there was a method to the madness. The discovery was far more a disappointed "oh" than an elated "aha." Do a theme or don't do a theme! This in-between stuff is meh. But as I say, I'm not too mad, because that stack *was* the best thing in the puzzle, so ... whatever works, I guess. The NW and SE corner were fine but not terribly remarkable (SE somewhat better than NW), and the other corners just didn't work well for me, despite having those showy long answers. In fact, it's the showy long answers that fell flat. NEO NOIR FILM feels awful in my mouth. I wanted that answer to stop at NEO-NOIR, which is commonly used as a noun on its own (a substantive, or nominalized, adjective, i.e. an adjective that stands alone as a noun). NEO-NOIR FILM just feels redundant. It's not that the phrase doesn't make sense, it's just ... I'd say NEO-NOIR (alone) or NEO-NOIR MOVIE before I'd say NEO-NOIR FILM. You'd only call "The Usual Suspects" a NEO-NOIR FILM if you didn't know it was a film in the first place. Otherwise, it's a NEO-NOIR. It's the redundancy that's irking me, but I just taught a whole class on Noir (1940-80), so my ear may be way too finely tuned, I'll admit. But ARMY TRAINEE doesn't improve the section. It's fine, but it screams "my wordlist told me to do this." Plus, I already had to linger on a military answer by that point (NCO), and I'd had enough. 

As for JUSTINIAN II, LOL wow that is a deep cut (12D: Byzantine emperor known as "Rhinotmetos" ("the slit-nosed")). I didn't love it, but I was super proud of myself for remembering that that was a name and writing it in with just the -ANII in place. I felt like I was taking a wild leap there, but I immediately crossed the "J" with SAJAK and knew my guess was right. ASSUMED NAME is fine, OK. I think the real disappointment of the grid was the marquee Down answer: PUZZLING PROBLEM (8D: Stumper). Again, like NEO-NOIR FILM, something about it felt redundant and off. I had PUZZL- and was not sure where it was going. Then PUZZLING ... and still no idea. When I finally got PROBLEM, the feeling was, Again, more "oh" than "aha." Anticlimactic. A letdown. If it weren't PUZZLING, would it even be a PROBLEM? Aren't non-puzzling problems ... not problems at all? I just don't like it. I also don't believe H-WORD (35D: "Hell," euphemistically). You need to be hyperspecific about what kind of demonstratively prudish culture you're dealing with here, because the very fact that the puzzle could put "Hell" in the clue tells you that almost no one thinks "Hell" needs to be bowdlerized. I imagine cluing FWORD in such a straightforward way. You can't. H-WORD, smaitch-word. I got it easily enough, but boo. 

Easy puzzle overall, with nearly all of my struggle coming with NCO / DAX (in the NW) and LINGAM (a thing I kinda sorta knew, but couldn't spell, especially that second vowel—I wanted "U" I think). If you put a specific mil. rank in your clue I expect a specific rank as the answer, but NCO ... both corporals and sergeants are NCOs. I always thought of NCO as a category. [One below a lieut.] may be on some level accurate, but bah. With the "C" in place from EXCALIBUR, NCO was the only thing I could think of, but I was sure it was wrong. Not specific enough. But then it was right. Oh well. As for DAX Shepard, I wanted him to be SAM, and when he wasn't ... well, let's just say I was lucky "X" was the only thing that worked in DEO-IDIZE, because I kind of thought DAX was DAZ. Turns out there are no DAZzes of note, except DAZ Cameron, a former Detroit Tiger outfielder you've probably never heard of. I thought DAZ was the name of a star NFL quarterback, but turns out I was thinking of DAK Prescott (Cowboys), whose name you weirdly never see, given how good he is—a two-time Pro Bowler, and *currently* famous. Despite not caring about football any more, I think I'd rather see DAK clued as [2x N.F.L. Pro Bowl-er Prescott] than as an abbr. for DAKota, which is what the NYTXW has been relying on for its DAK clues all these years. (Thinking about this is way more fun than thinking about DAX Shepard, whom I don't really know. No wait, isn't he ... Kristen Bell's husband? Is that right? Yes. Phew. My memory still has some battery power left).

I see what the puzzle was trying to do here with the whole "mini-theme" thing, and it's not Not cute, but ... it may in fact be too cute, for me, for a Saturday, when all I want is grueling beauty, themes be damned. I think my favorite answer of the day was actually a little six-letter critter: "OMG YES!"  (25D: Enthusiastic approval in a text). It's current and (to my ear and experience) pitch perfect. I would, in fact, text that. Wish "OMG YES!" was how I felt about the puzzle as a whole, but you get what you get. This wasn't bad, by any means. See you tomorrow (unless you scorn Sundays, in which case see you whenever)

Grammy-winning singer St. / WED 5-31-23 / Rap group with the classic 1986 album Licensed to Ill / Newspaper tycoon who inspired Citizen Kane / Fifth-century conqueror / Help for mom-and-pop shops briefly / Biblical figure with an unnamed wife

Constructor: Brandon Koppy 

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: BEASTIE BOYS (37A: Rap group with the classic 1986 album "Licensed to Ill" ... or a description of 17-, 24-, 48- and 57-Across?) — DESCRIPTION

Theme answers:

WOLF BLITZER (17A: Longtime host of CNN's "The Situation Room")

TIGER WOODS (24A: 11-time P.G.A. Tour Player of the Year)

BEAR GRYLLS (48A: The man in "Man vs. Wild")

BUFFALO BILL (57A: Wild West showman who lent his name to an N.F.L. team) (that team, of course: the Miami Dolphins)

Word of the Day: WORD (CLUE) —

Beastie Boys  were an American hip hop group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar, programming). Beastie Boys were formed out of members of experimental hardcore punk band the Young Aborigines in 1978, with Diamond as vocalist, Jeremy Shatan on bass guitar, John Berry on guitar, and Kate Schellenbach on drums. When Shatan left in 1981, Yauch replaced him on bass and the band changed their name to Beastie Boys. Berry left shortly thereafter and was replaced by Horovitz.

After achieving local success with the 1983 comedy hip hop single "Cooky Puss", Beastie Boys made a full transition to hip hop, and Schellenbach left. They toured with Madonna in 1985 and a year later released their debut album, Licensed to Ill (1986), the first rap record to top the Billboard 200 chart. Their second album, Paul's Boutique (1989), composed almost entirely of samples, was a commercial failure, but later received critical acclaim. Check Your Head (1992) and Ill Communication (1994) found mainstream success, followed by Hello Nasty (1998), To the 5 Boroughs (2004), The Mix-Up (2007), and Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (2011).

Beastie Boys have sold 20 million records in the United States and had seven platinum-selling albums from 1986 to 2004. They are the biggest-selling rap group since Billboard began recording sales in 1991. In 2012, they became the third rap group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In the same year, Yauch died of cancer and Beastie Boys disbanded. The remaining members have released several retrospective works, including a book, a documentary, and a career-spanning compilation album. (wikipedia)

This is cute. Any puzzle that puts BEASTIE BOYS front and center is gonna get a lot of leeway with me, but this theme doesn't need leeway. It's simple, lively, and consistent, and the wordplay is kinda charming: a bunch of "boys" with "beastie" first names. Normally balk at calling grown men "boys" (outside of band name contexts) but for this one occasion, I'll happily allow it. The only themer I have mild qualms about here is BUFFALO BILL, and only because ... that's a stage name. And BILL is not his last name (whereas Blitzer, Woods, and Grylls—all last names). So old Bill there seems like a significant outlier. And yet only one of these guys was actually called his "Beastie" name at birth (Wolf). Tiger's name is Eldrick Tont Woods, and Bear was born Edward Michael. So liberties are being taken all around, and why not, who cares? It's fine. This is how we actually know all these guys, and all of their names follow a Beastie-first pattern. Done. Can you think of other BEASTIE BOYS. I got ... let's see, GOOSE GOSSAGE, there's one. And then there's MOOSE MALLOY, but that's only gonna resonate with hardcore Raymond Chandler fans ... I guess anyone named JAY or ROBIN might count, but that would feel like cheating. BUCK OWENS / HENRY / O'NEIL / ROGERS? Again, with so many options to choose from, BUCK feels weak. CAT STEVENS ... but you've already got a TIGER, so ... I guess he's out. It's not so easy to get a really unusual Beastie set, and to get them to come out all symmetrical like this—that takes some good luck (and probably diligence). Bit awkward to have another "Beastie Boy" lurking in the grid right over Bear's shoulder, though ... but there he is RATSO Rizzo, wondering why he didn't get the invite. "Hey, you guys having a meeting or party or somethin'? What gives?" 

missed the whole BEAR GRYLLS phenomenon, but learned his name when Obama (!?) appeared on his show back in ... looks like 2015. Here's the episode description:

President Barack Obama and Bear Grylls explore the Alaskan wilderness, where they observe evidence of climate change, sample wild salmon and catkins tea made with water from melting glaciers; Obama discusses his official duties, parenthood and faith.

But never (ever) having seen his show, I can never really remember what he does. If you asked me even yesterday what BEAR GRYLLS is famous for, I'd've said, "Uh ... grilling?" But I knew *his name*, which was all that really mattered for the purposes of this puzzle. I was more fortunate when it came to my familiarity with the other names in this grid. ALLISON Janney is well known from "West Wing." I never saw "I, Tonya," but I have seen (many, many times) Nicole Holofcener's "Walking and Talking" (1996), and Janney has a small but memorable part as a neighbor lady in that movie. I also had no problem with St. VINCENT, a name that (as clued) is going to be the biggest proper noun stumper of the day for most people, I'm guessing. I own like five of her albums and listened to her (delightful) podcast ("Mixtape Delivery Service") for a while, so, between BEASTIE BOYS and St. VINCENT, this puzzle was really talking my (musical) language. St. VINCENT (not surprisingly), like BUFFALO BILL, a stage name. Her real name is Annie Clark. Ooh, looks like she's got a new podcast about the History of Rock ("History Listen: Rock," from Audible). Definitely gonna check that out, possibly today. I'm bizarrely happy about this discovery. Woo hoo, sometimes writing this blog pays off in unexpected ways.

The middle of this grid was the most fun for me. Something about BOGEYing into BEASTIE BOYS and St. VINCENT and then GOing VIRAL really worked for me. I also had a mini-struggle in there with RAN- at 27D: Shared with for feedback (RAN BY). Was not considering two words, and one-word possibilities were ... nil. Just when I was getting frustrated, the BEASTIE BOYS gave me the "B" and I saw that it was RAN space BY, which is just fine. I mean, not as one word, of course ("What the hell's a RANBY!?"), but as a two-word phrase, mwah, great. I laughed at TORY because it's the first thing I wrote in but I was *sure* it was wrong, since TORY is my reflexive response to "Conservative" only because I solve So Many Guardian (UK) cryptic crosswords. That puzzle has retuned my brain in weird ways. "Conservative" can signal "C" or "CON" or "TORY" or ... oh god, my brain is tripping into cryptic-solving mode, gotta stop it before it runs away from me. Anyway, surprised to see TORY be the answers, since nothing in the clue screams (or even whispers) UK. SBALOANS is an ugly longer answer, and DDAYS is never welcome in the plural, but overall the grid looks nice, I think. There were two kealoas* that I noticed today, but only SHH held me up (it hasn't been SSH since 2000, but ... you never know). As for WIENERS, well, I had the WIE- spelling already sorted before I ever looked at the clue. You can spell it WEINERS, right? Right? Martin, what do you think? 

Rex Parker NYT Crossword Puzzle Answer TUESDAY, MAY 30, 2023

Hello friends, are you looking for the answers of NYT Crossword Puzzle, if yes, then you have come to the right place, in today's post, we are going to give the correct answer on our Rex Parker Crossword Blog, you bookmark Rex Parker, here you will get The answers to the Daily NYT Crossword Puzzle, so let's see the solution to today's puzzle.

Constructor: Kathryn Ladner

Relative difficulty: Pretty easy

THEME: EIGHT BIRDS (4D: With 50-Down, things centered in Across answers in this puzzle) — eight across answers in the puzzle have a type of bird centered in the answer

Theme answers:

PROBING (15A: Like some nosy questions) 

BEAGLES (16A: Dogs like Snoopy) 

FRATERNITY (23A: Brotherhood) 

MALARKEY (30A: Baloney) 

LAWRENCE (41A: Title role in the Best Picture of 1962) 

BALLOONIST (46A: Aeronaut propelled by hot air) 

REGRETS (57A: Feels remorse over) 

SCOWLED (61A: Made an angry face)

Word of the Day: IMANI (22A: ___ Perry, award-winning author of "South to America") —

Imani Perry (born September 5, 1972) is an American interdisciplinary scholar of race, law, literature, and African-American culture. She is currently the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and a columnist for The Atlantic] Perry won the 2022 National Book Award for Nonfiction for South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation. Perry is the author of six books and has published numerous articles on law, cultural studies, and African-American studies, including a book about Lorraine Hansberry. She also wrote the notes and introduction to the Barnes and Nobles Classics edition of the Narrative of Sojourner Truth. (Wiki)

I thought the puzzle was pretty cute and clean overall. The theme didn’t help with the solve at all and wasn’t something I saw until I stared at the puzzle for a little while after I finished. But, the construction of the puzzle and working those eight birds in there was impressive, and overall I enjoyed it. I especially like the theme if you think about the looking for the birds in the puzzle after you’ve finished the puzzle as a sort of bird watching, which is ultimately the theme. 

I had a fairly easy time with this puzzle (even without the help of the theme), partially because the fill was mostly quite smooth. The acrosses were fun words that you don’t often see in puzzles. I particularly liked MALARKEY, LIMEADE, BALLOONIST, and FRATERNITY, which are words that a constructor typically wouldn’t use or really be able to fit in the puzzle. There also weren’t too many typical crossword-y words, and I just generally didn’t have those moments where I groan at a puzzle because I was annoyed. 

I think the puzzle was let down slightly by the construction, which needed to be that way for the birds but which resulted in a lot of similar three-letter answers. Having ABA (10D), AMA (27A), ALA (56D), and also ALE (51A) in the puzzle is rather repetitive and clunky. Same with EWE (55D) and ENE (58D). Also, having RUED (24D: Felt remorse over) and REGRETS (57A: Feels remorse over feels off) didn’t do it for me; I’m generally not a fan of repeat clues unless they’re right next to each other, and these aren’t even close. I’m not sure about the spelling of CAGY (19D: Hard to pin down), even if Google tells me it can be spelled that way; I much prefer “cagey.” I also for whatever reason hated the clue/answer for 19A: Nickname that might drop -vin or -eb) with CAL. That’s a long way to go for a three-letter answer. My sister went to Cal (aka UC Berkeley), and I would’ve loved to see it clued relating to Berkeley! 

In general, I’ve got a positive impression of this puzzle and enjoyed the solve, though I don’t think I’ll be engaging in any more bird watching any time soon.

Misc.:

With the clue for 62A: Stupefied, my mind immediately went to Harry Potter and what happens after someone waves their wand and yells “stupefy,” and then the person on the receiving end becomes temporarily paralyzed. Anyway… IN A DAZE is much more apt for the real world. 

Yay for MENS REA (64A: Legal term meaning "guilty mind") in the puzzle! I sometimes actually fear seeing legal terms in a puzzle because it’ll feel embarrassing if I don’t get them easily. But thankfully this one popped to mind immediately. And there was another lawyer-y term in there: ABA (10A: Lawyers' grp.). I couldn’t miss that one, as they’re always sending me emails. Hmm… that reminds me that I need to go renew my bar membership. 

So I was one of the people who liked Comic SANS (38D: Comic ___ (oft-mocked typeface) before I realized it was the font that everyone loved to trash. Now there’s also the font Papyrus that people make fun of. (I’m mostly thinking of this SNL skit with Ryan Gosling about the choice to use Papyrus as the font for “Avatar,” which never fails to make me laugh.) 

Maybe it’s the fact that I’m writing this as it’s getting kind of late, but I’ve had some fun looking at the puzzle and reading the answers across, from left to right, as if they’re phrases, Like: a BEAGLES … EMBARGO or how you may have SCOWLED … IN A DAZE or you might ACHIEVE … PROBING as you analyze the puzzle. I can imagine President Biden serving MALARKEY … DILLS at a White House function. 

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