Jeff Brumley is the famous bass player from the band Rise Up. (Full disclosure: I happen to know him personally.) In response to Mr. Chen's write up, Mr. Brumley sent us a video link along with this comment: "You wanted more rap involving a rhinoceros? You got it."
The first theme answer I got was SWAN turning a corner to fall vertically, so I thought the theme was going to be BIRD DROPPINGS. Oh well. Excellent puzzle anyway.
Thu 7/11/2019
O
F
F
S
S
W
A
B
B
C
C
S
D
R
A
W
A
I
S
L
E
B
O
H
O
D
E
Z
I
M
O
T
S
U
C
C
R
A
P
S
E
E
M
E
H
E
R
O
D
N
T
H
C
A
B
S
T
N
E
D
U
T
S
W
H
A
T
I
F
S
O
L
A
C
E
W
H
U
P
K
O
I
T
H
O
R
N
H
E
M
D
E
G
N
E
V
A
P
B
A
O
N
A
I
R
C
S
I
L
I
O
N
I
N
T
O
T
O
P
O
L
E
A
X
G
N
I
T
S
I
X
E
L
O
T
A
R
T
S
E
T
A
T
O
S
A
K
A
D
O
I
T
R
E
T
E
P
T
N
I
A
S
O
M
E
N
S
A
U
T
E
O
M
N
I
T
E
S
T
M
P
E
G
T
E
E
S
Tue 6/25/2019
A
C
T
S
C
U
B
A
N
D
E
J
A
N
Y
E
T
A
S
I
A
N
E
V
E
L
N
A
S
L
F
E
N
C
E
L
E
T
S
E
N
T
E
R
D
D
E
P
I
N
T
O
P
O
I
N
T
I
L
L
I
S
M
A
N
I
F
O
O
L
A
T
O
N
T
S
O
L
D
T
O
C
H
E
R
I
E
T
R
O
I
R
A
I
S
E
L
E
N
D
R
A
T
E
S
I
N
E
P
O
S
E
D
O
D
S
N
F
L
S
T
A
R
O
R
Y
L
O
O
M
A
T
O
B
G
E
O
R
G
E
S
S
E
U
R
A
T
P
R
I
N
T
N
U
I
D
A
F
O
E
J
E
N
G
A
T
E
D
O
V
A
R
Y
S
W
E
E
T
S
T
E
F
O
R
T
E
Stop me if you've heard me say this before: crosswords are a deeply personal experience. Your level of joy is hugely influenced by the intersection of things in the puzzle and things you love. That Venn Diagram overlap is enormous for me today, so it's impossible to be objective.
I got to feel smug. As soon as I saw all those dots, I guessed we were heading toward a Seurat theme.
I happen to love the Art Institute of Chicago, home of the iconic painting you discover by connecting the dots.
I happen to love Sondheim, and Sunday in the Park with George is one of his masterpieces. That musical is centered on that painter and that painting. (If you prefer, you can think of the artwork as a key element in a different kind of iconic scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.)
Crossword commentators sometimes ding puzzles because they either don't know or don't care about the theme. Today I get to express the opposite viewpoint when my endorphins are gushing.
POW Wed 5/22/2019
G
R
A
M
M
O
J
O
W
A
K
E
A
U
R
A
A
V
E
C
C
A
B
I
T
U
B
E
R
K
E
T
T
O
V
E
N
S
L
E
A
T
H
E
R
W
A
L
L
E
T
H
I
S
A
N
A
I
S
B
R
O
A
D
W
A
Y
T
I
C
K
E
T
S
O
A
R
A
D
S
K
I
R
I
N
O
P
T
F
R
O
I
C
Y
A
D
A
B
A
H
A
I
O
R
A
T
A
R
S
T
O
P
D
R
O
P
A
N
D
R
O
L
L
P
E
A
C
H
T
I
E
A
L
L
W
H
E
E
L
D
R
I
V
E
K
A
U
A
I
E
L
M
O
U
N
I
X
I
N
D
U
S
R
I
I
S
N
I
N
A
M
A
I
D
S
A
T
E
S
T
E
M
Thu 4/18/2019
C
A
B
B
A
G
E
G
A
S
B
A
G
O
V
O
I
D
A
L
O
F
N
O
T
E
P
A
N
D
E
M
I
C
S
T
A
B
L
E
I
N
T
O
N
E
A
S
P
E
R
E
T
O
N
B
U
T
T
E
R
F
L
Y
S
I
N
C
O
S
E
L
L
O
E
D
P
A
Y
E
R
S
T
E
N
O
S
U
B
E
R
S
S
P
A
R
I
G
H
T
G
A
T
E
A
U
I
C
E
I
N
G
N
C
S
A
L
A
A
M
D
J
S
C
H
R
Y
S
A
L
I
S
F
R
A
T
H
A
T
H
A
E
C
L
A
I
R
A
R
G
Y
L
E
R
E
D
E
A
G
L
E
R
O
O
M
I
E
P
I
N
K
O
E
S
S
E
A
E
E
L
I
N
T
E
N
D
S
There's a technical reason why Will Shortz would choose not to shade the central CATERPILLAR as Mr. Eaton-Salners wanted, at least for digital distribution, and it has to do with software limitations.
Shaded squares aren't supported by Across Lite at all. When the NYT uses them, circles are encoded in the grid, and publishers get notified that those circles should be interpreted as shades. That breaks down when grids have both circles and shaded squares.
XWord Info has no such limitation, so we added the shaded squares here to realize the constructor's intention.
POW Tue 4/9/2019
B
A
T
M
A
P
S
S
C
A
M
A
T
A
D
A
R
A
L
T
O
I
L
E
R
I
M
E
G
I
L
A
S
P
O
T
S
E
D
I
S
O
N
O
P
R
A
H
D
E
L
I
V
E
R
S
E
R
I
F
R
A
T
E
R
A
S
S
E
T
D
E
K
E
S
P
O
O
L
T
R
A
P
A
V
E
U
S
C
A
R
E
S
E
G
A
S
T
E
E
D
S
L
O
P
R
E
C
A
P
N
A
I
V
E
L
A
G
E
R
N
A
M
E
T
A
G
D
E
C
A
L
L
A
M
I
N
A
S
E
T
I
N
D
U
A
L
S
N
A
P
S
P
R
A
T
A
B
L
E
O
G
R
E
S
T
U
N
R
E
E
D
E
T
S
Alex was curious about how this stacks up (down?) to other puzzles with low average word lengths. It just makes the top 10.
I'm so impressed with this puzzle, because of its bilingual novelty, and its relative smoothness despite significant constraints.
POW Mon 10/22/2018
H
O
M
E
E
B
B
S
C
U
B
E
S
U
N
I
T
T
R
O
N
A
S
A
N
A
M
E
R
C
U
R
I
A
L
M
E
R
C
I
O
R
A
G
A
G
S
V
E
N
I
A
L
R
O
N
A
L
D
T
O
O
E
S
S
O
M
U
D
P
I
E
S
P
L
A
T
T
E
R
E
S
A
U
C
I
T
G
O
A
D
S
M
A
R
T
I
A
L
I
M
P
P
R
I
S
M
Y
E
L
P
W
O
R
S
H
I
P
A
P
P
A
R
E
L
O
N
I
T
E
T
S
L
A
K
O
T
A
J
O
V
I
A
L
P
O
O
R
S
S
N
I
M
A
L
L
S
A
T
U
R
N
I
N
E
M
E
T
E
S
E
C
I
G
B
O
O
T
A
R
E
S
O
T
E
S
H
A
N
T
S
Wed 10/10/2018
J
O
T
A
G
E
R
P
L
A
S
T
I
C
O
N
O
B
R
A
E
R
I
H
A
N
N
A
D
O
D
O
B
I
R
D
I
N
S
P
O
T
S
I
N
O
U
Y
E
O
H
O
K
T
O
T
E
E
L
S
S
O
S
O
R
E
V
I
E
W
S
H
I
T
H
E
R
V
I
D
E
O
B
A
S
S
I
A
D
E
I
N
S
T
I
R
A
N
T
L
A
L
A
L
A
N
D
U
M
A
E
D
S
E
L
S
Y
S
L
O
K
R
A
S
R
E
H
A
B
S
A
R
O
N
G
S
O
H
E
L
P
M
E
G
O
D
O
T
I
S
A
N
A
L
A
D
E
E
S
P
A
N
A
N
A
I
L
G
U
N
A
L
P
H
A
B
E
T
D
I
L
E
M
M
A
R
O
T
O
L
E
E
P
R
E
S
S
E
S
S
X
S
W
E
R
S
Thu 9/13/2018
Q
U
I
Z
A
M
A
Z
E
C
C
S
E
T
R
E
K
E
F
I
R
H
U
T
D
E
K
E
D
C
A
R
P
I
G
A
B
O
S
O
Y
N
O
S
U
R
S
I
A
S
K
J
O
E
S
L
L
C
S
T
H
E
F
O
U
N
T
A
I
O
F
Y
O
H
M
I
M
E
A
B
O
R
T
S
V
O
Y
A
G
E
G
E
T
U
P
S
H
A
R
M
O
N
S
U
N
S
F
R
O
T
H
I
G
A
T
T
H
E
M
O
H
L
E
N
O
I
S
L
E
P
S
Y
A
H
E
M
T
E
T
Y
E
T
R
A
I
B
O
W
T
R
O
S
H
E
L
L
E
S
C
L
I
T
E
R
I
B
O
X
S
H
H
E
X
U
D
E
O
B
O
X
Jim and Jeff at the Puzzles continues through to Sunday.
We expect to get fooled on Thursdays. When we get a Thursday without gimmicks, are we, then, fooled? No need to contemplate this deep philosophy because today we get the standard ins and outs of a regular rebus.
There are hundreds of possible entries that include IN somewhere followed by OUT somewhere, but if you restrict your search to entries where IN doesn't mean "in" and OUT doesn't mean "out" (not possible with our software; you need to do this by hand, I mean eye) you end up with a much smaller set. The non-revealer theme entries today all pass that test. Ponce de León gave the trick away, so I wish it had appeared further down, but the puzzle was still fun. IN BOX and OUT BOX are solid rebus justifications.
I didn't know about KEFIR. Does the Wikipedia comment that "Fermentation of the lactose yields a sour, carbonated, slightly alcoholic beverage, with a consistency and taste similar to thin yogurt" make you more, or less, intrigued?
YOU AGAIN first appeared in 2011 with a more positive clue: "Well, look who's back." I like today's snarkier "Question to a returning pest." AFRO tip-toes around controversy by giving it a music clue. RAINBOW TROUT is delicious. I've lived in America for years, but I still find the LITER spelling jarring. LXX is a cheap entry, but IN BOX stacked over OUT BOX makes it well worthwhile.
Let's see what Jeff has to say. In my experience, if you give him three barleycorns, he'll take 1.60934 kilometres.