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Constructor: Bruce Haight
Relative issue: medium? idk, i used to be far more than three sheets to the wind and nonetheless completed in underneath 4 minutes [ETA: also apparently it’s slightly larger than usual at 15×16, which just means it’s an extra dose of “why am I slogging through this”]
THEME: VICHYSSOISE — theme entries are simply substances within the soup? and the clues are simply directions on tips on how to make this? tbh who the fuck cares? is that this what passes for a $750 puzzle within the big apple instances lately? onerous fucking move
Word of the Day: VICHYSSOISE (Soup made with this puzzle’s substances) —
Vichyssoise, also called potage Parmentier, velouté Parmentier, or crème Parmentier, is a thick soup made from boiled and puréed leeks, onions, potatoes, cream, and hen inventory. It is historically served chilly, however it may be eaten scorching.
Recipes for soup made from pureed leeks and potatoes have been frequent by the Nineteenth century in France. In Nineteenth-century cookbooks, and nonetheless at present, they’re typically named “Potage Parmentier” or “Potage à la Parmentier” after Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, the French nutritionist and scholar who popularized using potatoes in France within the 18th century. The French army cookbook of 1938 features a recipe for “Potage Parmentier for 100 males” utilizing milk as a substitute of cream however with proportions and instructions which are just like the recipe for “Vichyssoise Soup” given later by Julia Child.
The origins of the identify Vichyssoise are a topic of debate amongst culinary historians; one model of the story is that Louis XV of France was afraid of being poisoned and had so many servants style the potato leek soup that, by the point he tried it, the soup was chilly, and since he loved it that manner it turned a chilly soup. Julia Child referred to as it “an American invention”, whereas others observe that “the origin of the soup is questionable in whether or not it is genuinely French or an American creation”.
• • •
You ever open a puzzle and react like “ah shit, right here we go once more”? That was me opening at present’s puzzle. There’s a motive I do not remedy the NYT puzzle most days; generally, it is not good! And this is likely one of the constructors that I dread fixing and that, tbh, I would not remedy if I hadn’t already volunteered to weblog this puzzle.
I had some hope midway by means of this puzzle that the reveal would, you recognize, truly be a reveal, and inform me some cute and/or intelligent wordplay referring to the themers that I hadn’t but seen. In all honesty, I do not actually remedy the NYT any longer, as a result of 90+% of the puzzles aren’t price fixing; if something, they’re worse than puzzles you will get from (e.g.) the AVCX, Universal, USA Today, LA Times, and so on., and imo that is 110% associated to the editor and what they prioritize, and more and more it is clear that the NYT is (pardon the pun) behind the instances on catering to solvers who’re on-line and/or truly constructors (quite than, say, your common syndicated solver in the midst of nowhere, Upper East Side and/or flyover nation, USA).
Theme solutions:
- Two kilos, peeled and chopped [NEW POTATOES, which, WTF, has anybody ever said this in their fucking life]
- Five cups, after prolonged simmering [CHICKEN STOCK, at least this is a valid phrase]
- One cup, after cooling [HEAVY CREAM, sure, I guess rolls eyes at the clue; at least the answer’s fine]
- Four cups, cleaned and sliced [SAUTEED LEEKS, again with the green paint here, this is not a valid entry by any stretch of the imagination]
- Soup made with this puzzle’s substances [VICHYSSOISE, which, good luck spelling this correctly without crossing letters, and again let me reiterate: who the fuck cares? Why are you going to the crossword for your recipes when there’s an entire section of the website (that they charge too much for) to give you such recipes (that probably don’t rely on green paint phrases like NEW POTATOES or SAUTEED LEEKS, although I can’t be arsed to look up any actual recipes on the NYT website for this)]
Anyway, I actually don’t have anything good to say about this. Absolutely nothing. Do your self a favor for the vacation season: you could have my permission to unravel different puzzles. I listed a couple of above, however like actually, something that is made by and/or for individuals underneath forty years previous (if not youthful). At worst, they’re extra enjoyable than this; at greatest, even with references to present popular culture / issues some solvers may know, they’re nonetheless constructed in order that the solver has a enjoyable time. (And in the event you’re undecided the place to look, then let me (as soon as once more) promote the every day crossword hyperlinks e-newsletter.)
- CLIO [Mythical figure often pictured holding a book] — I truly preferred this as a result of I realized one thing right here; you often solely see CLIO clued w/r/t the promoting award, so it is good to study one thing (whereas on the identical time with the ability to determine it out from context w/ the “mythological determine” half; instructional but guessable / inferable; distinction w/ “mountain nymph” for OREAD, which is a boring-ass clue for a boring-ass reply)
- LEE [Surname derived from the Chinese word for “plum”] — COMMENT
- I…actually haven’t got anything right here? Almost each clue is obscenely brief and boring (and extremely simple—the place’s the enjoyable? the place’s the wordplay?) and once more, if I didn’t should weblog this puzzle, I would not have simply give up in the midst of it—I might not have began fixing this. It’s not a very good puzzle by any stretch of the creativeness. Like, in the event you have been making an attempt to get a pal or cherished one into fixing crosswords, would you give this puzzle to them? Absolutely not, as a result of it is not attention-grabbing in any manner, form, or kind, nor by any stretch of the creativeness. It’s virtually actively (and aggressively) anti-crosswords.
Yours in puzzling, Christopher Adams, Court Jester of CrossWorld
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