Doing Front Flips: New York Times, Sunday, July 30, 2023
This post doesn’t contain spoilers- it is spoilers. If you have not done the July 30th Sunday crossword and do not want any hints- please find the back button!
Fast Stats
Author: A big congrats to John Kugelman who published his first puzzle in the Times!
Editor: Will Shortz
Rows: 21
Columns: 21
Words: 140
Missing: Z
Total Time to Complete: 1:10:33
Words Completed Without Assistance: 30/140
Unofficial Stats
How many words did I get wrong after I madly Googled? 2, which is really a record for me.
IMHO Cleverest Clue: 112A: A story that goes over your head. As I writer, I had a list of funny answers, but the answer was… an attic!
IMHO Dumbest Clue: 82A: Boyo. The answer was “lad”, so I guess it works but… meh.
69D’s clue was “Big name in chicken” and all I could think about was chicken nuggets. Like, I actually got in my car and went through a drive-thru and ate a box in the parking lot, by myself, like the garbage person I am. The answer was actually “Perdue” which is way less sexy than secretly eating tiny bits of fried chicken in your vehicle.
Puzzle Theme
John Kugelman came in hard with the wordplay, using spoonerisms as the spine for his grid. While it has been a while since the Times has had spoonerisms as a theme, the concept is a well-worn mainstay in crossword play outside of the Times.
Spoonerism: a verbal error in which a speaker accidentally transposes the initial sounds or letters of two or more words, often to humorous effect, as in the sentence you have hissed the mystery lectures, accidentally spoken instead of the intended sentence you have missed the history lectures.
I do want to gently say that the theme seemed pretty loose across the board. For example, 23A: Hugh Hefner was quite the media mogul. They called him… Mister Bunny Mags.
Beyond the fact that Mr. Bunny Mags is a super gross nickname, with no fault attributed to Mr. Kugelman, the answer is actually just a saying and not a true spoonerism. Another weak example is 56A: Do you really trust these Bitcoiners? Beware… Geeks Bearing Grifts.
I actually find this particular clue timely and hilarious but again, not a very strong spoonerism.
However, with such an overdone wordplay tool, a flip in common phrases was actually a bright and interesting take on an old theme.
Quick Links for Those in a Hurry
I am not sure if it was on purpose, but this puzzle pulled an Barbenheimer with clue 10A: Rae of “Vengeance” and 22A: Christopher ____, director of “Oppenheimer” 2023. Issa Rae has recently graced us with her presence as President Barbie and here’s a clip of the iconic dance scene because we all need a little more Barbie in our lives.
46-Across: De Armas who name-checked the New York Times crossword on S.N.L.
Answer: Ana
Here’s the skit where she name drops. It’s actually very sweet.
49A: One of a record 2,297 for Hank Aaron
Answer: RBI
For those who are also baseball ignorant, RBI stands for “runs batted in” and they are counted when a hitter makes a base hit, allowing someone from 3rd to make it home. Hank Aaron is actually a fascinating athlete. Here’s a video of his historic 715th home run.
33 D: A whale with two blowholes
Answer: Baleen
Just in case you are wondering, whales can fart underwater. Here’s a video of a whale fart with an exciting sound effect which I am sure is 100% accurate.
A Deeper Dive
For this week, I actually wanted to dive a little bit deeper into clue 19A: Social movement that Teddy Roosevelt proclaimed “the most American thing in America. The answer is “Chautauqua” and I want to be clear that there was no way in hell that I would have solved this clue without looking it up. Even if I had miraculously put all the letters together, I still would have thought I was wrong. I had never heard of a Chautauqua community before this puzzle. It looks like a made-up word.
But it isn’t.
At first blush, I thought Chautauqua was a cult.
To be honest, I am still not convinced that it isn’t a cult.
I listen to too many true crime podcasts to not consider the possibility. So… enter the doors of Chautauqua at your own peril.
However, let’s pretend that they aren’t going to serve you spiked punch. Chautauqua assemblies started as an adult education and social movement in the United States and reached their height of popularity in the early 20th century.
The very first Chautauqua, aptly named after the shores of Chautauqua Lake where the assembly was founded, was organized in 1874 by a Methodist minister named John Heyl Vincent. It was created to be an adult Sunday school training center in the style of an outdoor summer camp.
The adult summer camp was a hit, only in small part to the adult beverages that they were serving to under-appreciated teachers floating aimlessly in the lake. (I joke but just a reminder that back-to-school shopping is on the horizon and your child’s teacher needs libations for their bottom drawer.)
The Chautauqua Institution truly reflected a new and wide-spread interest in professional teaching and the fine arts.
As the original Chautauqua sought out teachers and entertainers in many disciplines to aid and enrich the education of their participants, other Chautauqua assemblies, or Chautauquas, started to spring up across the United States. A newly formed Chautauqua would seek to bring a variety of entertainment and education opportunities to the whole community. These assemblies were particularly popular in rural communities up through the mid-1920’s, where a center for social life and education enriched the lives of everyone, regardless of their income or social status.
Unfortunately, the Chautauqua movement has since passed but the original Chautauqua Institution in New York lives on and continues to offer its community fine arts lessons, religious lectures, and summer camp opportunities.
You can check it all out right here.
Please note that they have a whistleblower policy at the bottom of the page- again, I am not convinced that this is not a cult.
However, here’s a nice film to chase down this puzzle with-
Until next time- keep your pencils sharp and your pen at the ready,
Kasey
P.S. Special thank you to Griffin for gently asking me how this project was going… I guess. :) You can find him here.
Sources
Sunday, July 30, 2023 NYT crossword by John Kugelman, №0730 (xwordinfo.com)
Chautauqua — Wikipedia (don’t yell at me about this one, I sourced checked against several websites)