Wednesday: A Thoroughly Clever Theme! - 28 August 2024 New York Times Crossword

[Music] hello it is Wednesday August 28th 2024 I'm Chris Remo and welcome back to the New York Times crossword daily solve it's a Wednesday crossword which means we're going to be solving a midweek mid difficulty crossword and this midweek mid difficulty edition of The Daily solve has been brought To Us by Josh Allen Mike from Vermont and as always the indomitable schm the encourageable sheer beer and the indefinable Char padet thank you so much to the five of them they're benefactors of the daily Sol patreon Campaign which means they support this channel keep it going for that I'm very grateful thanks to those five and to everybody who's a patron of the channel if you'd like to join them you can head to patreon.com daol or click the description field link you'll find there the bonus videos available to patrons and for benefactors like those five the let's check the cross's official mug uh thanks again to everybody who supports the channel at any level I really do appreciate it and um thanks as well you subscribe on YouTube which is a big help um engaging with the channel does help put it in front of other people which I really appreciate and um finally there's that daily solve Discord chat server you can join a nice friendly chat Community Linked In the description field now having said all that let's get on to today's crossword by Jesse Goldberg who's constructed a small handful of puzzles for the New York Times it's a Wednesday puzzle it will have a theme roughly midweek difficulty and it was edited as well once again by Joel f let's start solving see how we do today uh chicken parboiled in fat I assume parboiled I assume is what this no it isn't par oh chicken no there's a space between these it's not one word and boiled is too many letters anyway chicken parm chicken part I don't know I already don't know what this is it's obviously part of the theme I'm it's interesting that we're thrown right into it in one across let's look at the downs and see counselor on the Enterprise oh I'm not sure about that uh I don't know sexual attraction with the the hots you have the hots for someone that could be it oh I see how this works oh this is clever this is a sort of self- cluing answer so it's chicken part high in fat and then it makes a thigh which would be an answer to the clue that we've just fin finished assembling chicken part high and fat would be a thigh a chicken thigh which is you know one of the fattier parts of the of the chicken that's that's very clever I I assume this kind of thing must have happened before I don't remember it off hand uh but that's that's pretty good okay so we can see quite a few of these I'm looking forward to solving more let's look at the um crosses here textures qualifier in my humble opinion imh you might qualify a statement with that actress Davis Gina Davis I would think starting with a g in five letters opposite of vert vertical presumably would be horizontal this looks like Romeo yes lover boy Romeo obviously the Shakespeare character but used used sort of generically as well oh okay here's another one of these looks like other or ether ref other probably referring to the rest yes okay it's interesting that no wonder I see why I was confused when I started this the uh proper spacing is reflected up up above the grid here but it's not reflected where I usually look over on the side um you know we don't have extra spacing between the words so I think that's I was confused about that initially and I didn't quite understand why and that's why anyway so it's referring to the rest other other of course means referring to the rest and then has the stage if one has the stage one is on you're in the production so here we have counselor on the Enterprise Troy that does sound familiar now that I actually have it in the grid okay well we finished that little corner let's keep going prenatal Diagnostic and brief Amo um uh that is a a prenatal common prenatal diagnostic uh prenatal meaning pre-birth obviously uh last word at times end the end might be the last word in a story let's see if that actually works Spanish speaking neighborhood no I don't think it is end because that'll be bario pretty sure that that is what we want so let's look at the crosses there last word at times h Bronx politician with a noted 2018 upset familiarly uh AOC Al Alexandria oazo Cortez probably there's a US politician uh onetime studio with a broadcast tower in its logo oh no no I don't know what this is It's RKO uh it's the classic Radio and Film Studio RKO um which does have a broadcast tower and I think the little sort of Broast lightning bolt looking symbols okay let's see what about this half of the couple on the iconic Rolling Stone cover of uh one of January 22nd 1981 Yoko Ono look at that in an unusual fully clued variant we have the official uh female solo artist of the New York Times crossw Yoko Ono usually oops usually cludes simply as are usually entered simply as Ono but in this case uh by her full name and I think this is the cover where she and John lennin are nude lying down I'm pretty sure that's what that cover is I could be wrong um but I suspect that's what it's referring to anyway subject for Milton fredman uh Milton Friedman was an economist so econ abbreviated because subject here is abbreviated so last word at times is BU okay yep wasn't on the right track with that one you just say goodbye to someone that's your last word participants in a 140.6 M race must be uh an Iron Man race I didn't know that was the length of an Iron Man race that 6 is very funny to me I wonder what results in that is it a is it a is it a um a sort of round number of kilometers and when you translate it into miles you get that 6 I assume that would be the reason but I don't know okay make sense of to make sense of something is to interpret it possibly let's see if that works with the crosses make amends okay I need to look up here make amends for what one did I think that probably is atoned yes this is very good I like this a lot it it's not as tricky as it seems like it might be um given that you sort of need to solve it in order to know what to solve so but but it sort of does come all at once in a way I guess it helps when you have crosses zomb obviously as is always the case in a crossword when your broad mind and narrow waste begin to change places per e Joseph Cosman I don't know it's an intriguing quotation but I don't mid I don't know H middle age oh that makes sense oh I see what I see what it's getting at right so you you have a narrow waist and a broad mind and then at middle age it begins to swap to a narrower mind and a broader waist I see there we go all right per e Joseph Cosman I wonder who that is I don't think I recognize the name off hand anyway up there so to speak if you're up there you're old you're getting on in years and an animal with a bugle like maiden call would be an elk Star Trek BL C on the original series Star Trek language or something oh is it Klingon right I have to keep remembering to look up here I didn't realize this was three words not just the two uh so Star Trek lingo not heard on the original series I see okay so the klling on must have been introduced later there we go all right very good uh the Klingon being one of those alien races from not show so we've had several we've had at least two Star Trek Clues have we had three no maybe just two okay anyway going nowhere if you're going nowhere you're Idol maybe if a car is an idol it's going nowhere let's see famous failures of the 50s I think this is probably edels Ford edels this was a famous uh flop famous model car flop named it for um the son of uh Henry Ford edil Ford placed bets on both sides one hedged placed bets on both sides and the neighbor of Zambia and Namibia Angola um so what about this a venutian one lasts eight Earth Earth months a venutian day lasts eight Earth months that's fascinating absolutely fascinating so it's a long night then I guess that's a I guess that's four months of day four months of night itsy bitsy uh Teensy it looks like to me very small because because that's the case if that's the case in that's the case uh Nash who wrote a door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of that's Ogden Nash oh is this not Iron Man oh participants plural sorry about that I was just thinking of the name of the race Iron Men there we go okay so Ogden Nash is this writer of comic verse was this writer of comic verse there we go so hurdles for doctoral student yes it is doctoral students because orals oral exams orals would be the uh the hurdles so there we go hurdles for doctoral students clay figure in Jewish folklore is the [Music] gollum um which I think I think the actual that Legend doesn't date back the existence of the legend itself doesn't date back as far as the actual sort of Legends claim it's actually only a matter of centuries rather than Millennial old in terms of the stories I think I I I I obviously could be wrong about that but anyway uh units of X-ray exposure um R what is it Ronin or something like that uh yes there we go I sort of I mean to be totally honest the reason I remember this reasonably well is because it was said so many times during that uh series Chernobyl which I really enjoyed um I mean I'd seen the word before but that was the thing that I would say put it in my brain more permanently oops or more more easily accessible I suppose is what I is what I mean so what about this something that can be dominant yes you can have a dominant gene in sort of genetics or dominant or recessive gene uh here we have an outline an edge I guess of a shape would be its outline um okay so there we go so yeah I'm confident in units of X-ray exposure being uh Ronin and then uh something that terrifies thanapob death if if you're a [Music] thanatophobia that terrifies theater that's what it is okay I see all right so in the manner of would be Allah from the French and Court calls this is in tennis would be AET if you I think that's when you serve and the ball hits the net and goes over uh textur unbelievable is smh for shaking my head all right and there we have it let's keep going Broadway Auntie oh Auntie MIM is a um uh from a from a Classic Stage production I've never seen it but I've seen at least a poster I think okay is it from M anyway originally uh comfortable comfortable I'm not sure what about this cropped photo question mark not sure about that either they something stuff it looks like at the end they push is it that they push hm I'm not sure I wish I could just jump straight to it but don't seem to be able to at the moment account to account for something to sort of vouch for it or to count it or to uh register I'm not sure I guess it could be a noun as well account uh guess I guess an account as a noun could be you know a story or a tale or something like that what's your account of the situation what's your tale of it I mean you wouldn't necessarily say that but it is it is technically synonymous foods with names often ending in why pastas I guess like rotini or something like that so actually that would allow for tail and this this does look like push they push I just can't see it cropped photo oh pick I see it's cropped so cropped means um not shrunk but sort of reduced the dimensions of so if you cropped a photo you you you know sort of limited the edges you pushed in the edges but similarly if you cropped a word that means photo picture you get the word pick that's clever I've not seen that one before Ivy League City surrounded by more than 150 waterfalls uh itha is that must be it I actually don't know what school's in e offand um but I think that's there must ivy league university there but I think that must be right let's look at this comfortable oh if you're make yourself at home essentially means make yourself comfortable so that is synonymous in a particular sense Fury uh collar sort of anger does that work with this they push they push over stuff sh shs oh I right okay I guess I was thinking push was going to mean sort of sell uh as in you know drug pushers or something like that no I think it just literally means you're shuing things or people you're pushing them uh I think that's what it is this is a f a bit of an awkward one I think they push over stuff shovers they literally shove things I think that's right so what about this analyze to a fault over over par parse or over oops overread or over um overp parse Works let's see if this being and nothingness author uh s Jean Paul S so this is not whatever it was I just said over parse analyze to a fault [Music] over um I'm not sure what about this often skipped step when making rice rinsing it which I sometimes do and sometimes just don't bother so indeed it's correct the answer seems accurate to me snapb question mark not sure another word for we have that another word for a scalawag probably oh Rascal yeah very good oh that's a good one that one works very well that feels um very smooth this one is a little a little iffy it reads just a little bit awkwardly but this this is very clean another word for a scal wag is a rascal that's very good snap back all right I still not sure about that um sight of many wrecks the sea I mean you could have ocean recks lifeblood not sure Snapback H still not sure checked the IDS of if you carded someone to check their age you checked their ID for instance venerable teachers could be sages sort of wise people casual greeting could be hi there okay oh overthink is analyzed to a fault right okay I think I overthought that um this is a very simple interpretation of it and it works perfectly well lifeblood could be your essence could be your your life Blood let's so what about this snap back P oh right I was on the wrong track entirely it's the back letter the last letter of the word snap which is the letter P there it goes all right word with tail or tight tail end or tight end so tail end is the just sort of the you know conclusion of something and then tight end is some kind of I think NFL position okay will figure an air someone named as an inheritor or an heir in a will in someone's you know the state that they've left Smoothie Bar Supply could be ice you make smoothies from Ice I suppose that we go and then like many Autumn Leaves um are red yeah leaves change color in Autumn all right Street feature needed after a hair let's look up here not hair har after a hard turn or something after hard rain a drain there we go good three feature needed after a hard rain would be a drain there we go that's that that reads well as also all right they often mix up lyrics DJs um might you know uh um sort of mix two song you know they might have two turntables and they're mixing two songs all right spoil um the spoil to rot like food exclamation of Enlightenment could be aha I found it going places question mark John's yes so toilets there we go and then it's it's taken on a vampire Hunt is a steak yes okay so you know mythologically Stakes are used to uh to destroy Vampires by stabbing them through the heart all right so there we go and that and that reads nicely as well it's taken on a vampire hunted stake uh Tuscan City on the Arno River um I think it's probably Pisa but let's look at this like the proverbial milk uh oh spilled yes first thought was spoiled but now that doesn't even fit uh and the phrase goes it's no use crying over spiled milk something to that effect um pitcher position presumably in the lineup historically ninth oh that's another good one it reads very cleanly pitcher's position in the lineup historically ninth I wouldn't have known that as a fact but uh didn't really need to it solved so cleanly title rooll of 1966 and 2004 um I don't know Alfie maybe there's a film Alfie I've actually never seen either version of it but 1966 sounds about right is it Michael Kane in the original Alfie and maybe maybe Jude Law in 2004 I could be wrong about one or both of those but I think this might be the answer Grammy winner for uh best wrapup alum in 2021 is Nas I would think that certainly looks like who it would be and uh okay Tempest or Monsoon yes it's a storm that's great Tempest or Monsoon G is either one as an example of a storm and 411 4111 411 is the info the information because I think that's the number in the US you call for some kind of information um I don't think I've actually called that I don't know what information it provides but I think that's what that is energize um to stir yes yeah if you sort of stir someone to action you energize them so I think that's that's right uh beg pardon you might say to uh oops didn't realize we were done there but yes to get someone's attention all right well there we have it that was the Wednesday cross word very nice theme I like that a lot I enjoy that we were thrown right into it at the very beginning in one across and I didn't know what we were doing initially as you as you observed um but it was very fun to to get this theme and then start being able to just enter them pretty much immediately that was uh it was very good and some of these worked very well in fact most of them I think worked very well there's only one or two that I thought were a little bit less strong but in general I thought this was great uh so here we have a chicken part high in fat thigh hurdles for doctoral students are orals referring to the rest would be other uh idea that terrifies theop phobes would be death made amends for what one did is atoned they push over stuff for pushers I mean that's funny but I think it's maybe the it's maybe the only one of these I think works not quite as well just because shers as sort of people who push over stuff I've never really heard people referring to sh in general at least if I were refer to a sh I think I would probably actually be referring to someone maybe on a train platform or something who shoves to get on first or something not someone who actually pushes things over uh but anyway that's that's by the bye uh here we have Star Trek lingo uh not heard on the original series is Klingon another word for a scalawag is a rascal that one works very well I think Street feature needed after a hard rain would be a drain pitcher position in the lineup historically is nine that one I like because it's such specific knowledge I think that one's uh clever in that sense it's taken on a vampire hunt would be a stake and finally a tempest or Monsoon EG is a storm very good yeah I think I I think I really like all of those except for the one so this is and they're quite a few I mean that that's I think a good record given how many of these there are um about a or so so it's it's very well done uh nice nicely constructed to Jesse Goldberg thanks for joining me for this Wednesday Crossroad I'll be back tomorrow for an even more intricate theme we'll find out what that is on Thursday join me for that but until then please do have an excellent remainder of your Wednesday take care [Music]