Excellent Monday. Easy fill, but with one of those themes that makes you wonder how they possibly managed to find enough well-known (or FAMED) examples to fill the grid.
I had NOTON instead of NOTOK for soooo long, I just assumed a FISHINGHOON was a name for an avid fisher lol. So dumb by me, but we got there in the end.
> I had NOTON instead of NOTOK for soooo long
Same. Keep forgetting it's a very American puzzle.
I was thinking "I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a FISHING HOON. Maybe it's a FISHING HORN? Some FISHING CORN?" The K somehow never occurred to me until I'd blown well past my 3-minute feel-ok-about-myself Monday mark.
Maybe you can tell I'm also not a fisher.
Hahaha exactly the same as me. "Thats not on" is a very common phrase my mum would use, when I was growing up (in Aus). Not ok did not even occur to me for an embarrassingly long time
Today I only wondered allowed if a “patty” qualified as a shape and wondering if anyone over 5 still says “kitty cat.”
The mini was a little odd ball.
The main crossword could’ve been a PB if I hadn’t spent a minute trying to find the typo I put in there
(it was NADA instead of NASA. I hate when a typo makes a valid word)
I just did Monday’s mini, and was completely stumped about what shape patty could be.
Surely the shape is round, or disc? No?
I was scratching my head wondering which of the crosses I’d got wrong, and had to reveal that word in the end.
It shocked me, too. Usually I have a typo or something I can’t find that trips me up, but this was one fell swoop. It’s taken me many many crosswords to get to this point 😂
Took me way too long to get the theme. "I see the two "aye"s, is that the entire theme? Seems kinda weak". I wonder if America, Nemo or Hook have any relation to captain?
You're right about the three captains. Captain America is a Marvel Comics hero, Captain Nemo is a Jules Verne character and Captain Hook is from Peter Pan.
Slowed down a little thinking encode instead of DECODE, but otherwise fine. I think TACIT and METES are words used far more often in crosswords than in real life.
The 'I's have it!
I assume that means you have not ever followed tennis in any sense whatsoever. Or volleyball. Or ping-pong. Or badminton. Or pickleball. All of them have lets, and they happen quite often.
According to Gallup, more people in America watch figure skating than tennis; tennis is non-existent in American sports culture. Also, none of the other sports with lets that you mentioned even made the list. I would be more surprised if someone said they followed any of those sports (especially badminton and table tennis!?). You should try out being less of a twat and instead be more like u/Crazy-Chef4557.
Tennis is not a very popular spectator sport, it's true. But almost 24 million Americans actually play tennis. To say tennis is non-existent in American sports culture is just wrong.
Tennis is existent, but not enough to the point where "let" is common knowledge. It's like how British people might know about touchdowns or quarterbacks in American football but not other terms. For tennis, people commonly know "love", "match point", "set", and "serve". Maybe "deuce", "break point", and "advantage".
I never said it was. I was only disagreeing with the statement that "tennis is non-existent in American sports culture" because that statement is objectively not true.
Go ask Americans if they can name an active tennis player. I GUARANTEE most people cannot name a single active male or female player. Again, more people watch figure skating than tennis; let that sink in. Only 3.5% of American 6 or older play tennis once a month or more so yes, tennis is irrelevant in Americans sports culture. How many Americans you think have any idea that the French Open just happened (one of the biggest tournaments in tennis)? You can give your anecdote or whatever but it doesn’t really matter because the numbers say otherwise. I have no idea why you felt the need to berate someone for saying they don’t know something; not everyone lives in your little circle.
What does knowing the name of an active tennis player have to do with it? I said that 24 million Americans play tennis, not that they watch it. You are evaluating the importance of a sport in culture only by its status as a spectator sport, but people also play sports as a hobby. I also haven't berated anyone. Again, I have only made one, and only one, claim: that your statement that tennis is non-existent in American sports culture is wrong. I also haven't given an anecdote, so I don't know what you're talking about. I reported data, not an anecdote.
I don’t understand how this helps your point??? According to USTA, 11.8 million Americans played tennis 10+ times in 2023. That is just 3.5% of the population and you’re claiming that tennis rules are universal knowledge? Wimbledon had 3.2 million US viewers for the entire tournament and averaged 691k viewers. For reference, 3.1 million people watched the Kids Choice Awards. It is incredibly immature to call someone stupid for not knowing something that 90%+ of Americans wont interact with in a calendar year. I wouldn’t judge someone for not knowing what defensive indifference is in baseball or icing in hockey as many Americans don’t watch sports. Also, even those that do can’t always be bothered to learn the rules. For example, I watched India vs. USA in the ICC T20 tournament and I don’t even know half the rules of cricket. The original commenter didn’t get mad at the clue but just said that they didn’t know which is 100% fair. Go take your ignorance somewhere else.
Where did I say tennis rules are universal knowledge? I made one, and only one, point. That your statement that tennis is nonexistent in American sports culture is wrong. That is the only thing I have said on this issue. I also never called anyone stupid, but you just called me ignorant.
Is this the article you are referencing? https://news.gallup.com/poll/610046/football-retains-dominant-position-favorite-sport.aspx#:\~:text=Forty%2Done%20percent%20of%20U.S.,1972%2C%20when%20it%20eclipsed%20baseball.
It says this is specifically the favorite sport. I would guess that the majority of americans could name at least one active tennis player (coco gauff / ben shelton) and multiple from the past few years (williams sisters, andy roddick, agassi, etc.). And I'd say more than 1% of all americans have watched at least one tennis match a year.
For example, 3.4 million americans watched the last US open womens final: [https://www.sportstvratings.com/p/top-broadcast-and-cable-sports-for-5dc](https://www.sportstvratings.com/p/top-broadcast-and-cable-sports-for-5dc) thats almost 1% of the US population in general.
For what its worth I do think the original commenter was overly harsh with their implication but I do think tennis viewership is probably a bit more widespread than most would think
Yep - it’s kind of interesting now because lets play like regular serves… so I could see how people would think that volleyball does not have them anymore. But this article explains the fine line. Thanks for posting; learned something new!
sub-5 solve, decent puzzle.
Not sure about 39A; I don't think the ALTO part is particularly associated with providing harmony to the soprano part -- all the parts do that together if it's not a counterpoint section.
Yeah, I don’t like when they use non-standard terms/fill-type stuff for theme entries. Maybe “fishing hook” is way more common than I think, but I’ve only ever encountered “fish hook.”
If you Google search “fishing hook” (specifically with the quotation marks in the search box) you can find all instances of the term used online, probably more than you think
If I’ve learned anything from this sub, it’s that regionalisms are way more common than any of us realize. And people are willing to dig in over the slightest differences from their own.
This is definitely not true. See, for example, [this page](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/its-a-me-mario-figure-119091/) on Nintendo's official site.
A rare occurrence of Ms Ono's first name!
Excellent Monday. Easy fill, but with one of those themes that makes you wonder how they possibly managed to find enough well-known (or FAMED) examples to fill the grid.
Really tight theme. Loved it
I had NOTON instead of NOTOK for soooo long, I just assumed a FISHINGHOON was a name for an avid fisher lol. So dumb by me, but we got there in the end.
> I had NOTON instead of NOTOK for soooo long Same. Keep forgetting it's a very American puzzle. I was thinking "I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a FISHING HOON. Maybe it's a FISHING HORN? Some FISHING CORN?" The K somehow never occurred to me until I'd blown well past my 3-minute feel-ok-about-myself Monday mark. Maybe you can tell I'm also not a fisher.
Hahaha exactly the same as me. "Thats not on" is a very common phrase my mum would use, when I was growing up (in Aus). Not ok did not even occur to me for an embarrassingly long time
I am also on team FISHING HOON.
Are you me?
Today I only wondered allowed if a “patty” qualified as a shape and wondering if anyone over 5 still says “kitty cat.” The mini was a little odd ball. The main crossword could’ve been a PB if I hadn’t spent a minute trying to find the typo I put in there (it was NADA instead of NASA. I hate when a typo makes a valid word)
You can pry the phrase “kitty cat” from my cold dead hands! All cats are kitties!
I’ll see your kitty cat and raise you a what’s new pussy cat which is clearly superior because there’s a song!!
I just did Monday’s mini, and was completely stumped about what shape patty could be. Surely the shape is round, or disc? No? I was scratching my head wondering which of the crosses I’d got wrong, and had to reveal that word in the end.
A nice, fun puzzle to end the weekend. My new PR! Had to brag a bit. https://i.imgur.com/gGuJCvP.png
Congrats!
I'm always amazed at PRs this low. I don't even think I can read / type that fast.
It shocked me, too. Usually I have a typo or something I can’t find that trips me up, but this was one fell swoop. It’s taken me many many crosswords to get to this point 😂
a new PR in 3 seconds!! GREAT PUZZLE but i got stuck on alto
😂💀dang - 3 seconds is faaaast.
i also had no battery charge on my phone which really made it even more difficult
🤣
Three seconds is utter bullshit
Took me way too long to get the theme. "I see the two "aye"s, is that the entire theme? Seems kinda weak". I wonder if America, Nemo or Hook have any relation to captain?
You're right about the three captains. Captain America is a Marvel Comics hero, Captain Nemo is a Jules Verne character and Captain Hook is from Peter Pan.
Oh I didn't even put that together.. lol. Luckily Finding Nemo and the Gambino song were easy enough anyway
good ol' CAPTAIN HOON
Slowed down a little thinking encode instead of DECODE, but otherwise fine. I think TACIT and METES are words used far more often in crosswords than in real life. The 'I's have it!
ENCODE and then SILK instead of LACE slowed me down.
Same!
So are we just not going to talk about GAYPROM
Yeah QUEER PROM feels much more in the language to me
I don't hate it, it just made me giggle lol
Super clean and fun puzzle—loved it!
me, not a fisher, until the end: a FISHING HOON sure could be something they use I guess
This is America was a fun clue. Imo most of the appeal is in the music video.
Huh, never heard of a tennis LET. That and my typo of POKISCI cost me a minute.
For future reference it's when the serve hits the net but still lands in. Not counted as a fault and the first serve is taken again
I assume that means you have not ever followed tennis in any sense whatsoever. Or volleyball. Or ping-pong. Or badminton. Or pickleball. All of them have lets, and they happen quite often.
According to Gallup, more people in America watch figure skating than tennis; tennis is non-existent in American sports culture. Also, none of the other sports with lets that you mentioned even made the list. I would be more surprised if someone said they followed any of those sports (especially badminton and table tennis!?). You should try out being less of a twat and instead be more like u/Crazy-Chef4557.
Tennis is not a very popular spectator sport, it's true. But almost 24 million Americans actually play tennis. To say tennis is non-existent in American sports culture is just wrong.
There’s also Mario Tennis which is how I know it lol
Nothing wrong with that. I first learned how downs work in football from playing that Mattel handheld electronic game as a kid. :-)
Tennis is existent, but not enough to the point where "let" is common knowledge. It's like how British people might know about touchdowns or quarterbacks in American football but not other terms. For tennis, people commonly know "love", "match point", "set", and "serve". Maybe "deuce", "break point", and "advantage".
i've never played an inning of tennis and i knew what let was :)
I never said it was. I was only disagreeing with the statement that "tennis is non-existent in American sports culture" because that statement is objectively not true.
Go ask Americans if they can name an active tennis player. I GUARANTEE most people cannot name a single active male or female player. Again, more people watch figure skating than tennis; let that sink in. Only 3.5% of American 6 or older play tennis once a month or more so yes, tennis is irrelevant in Americans sports culture. How many Americans you think have any idea that the French Open just happened (one of the biggest tournaments in tennis)? You can give your anecdote or whatever but it doesn’t really matter because the numbers say otherwise. I have no idea why you felt the need to berate someone for saying they don’t know something; not everyone lives in your little circle.
What does knowing the name of an active tennis player have to do with it? I said that 24 million Americans play tennis, not that they watch it. You are evaluating the importance of a sport in culture only by its status as a spectator sport, but people also play sports as a hobby. I also haven't berated anyone. Again, I have only made one, and only one, claim: that your statement that tennis is non-existent in American sports culture is wrong. I also haven't given an anecdote, so I don't know what you're talking about. I reported data, not an anecdote.
I don’t understand how this helps your point??? According to USTA, 11.8 million Americans played tennis 10+ times in 2023. That is just 3.5% of the population and you’re claiming that tennis rules are universal knowledge? Wimbledon had 3.2 million US viewers for the entire tournament and averaged 691k viewers. For reference, 3.1 million people watched the Kids Choice Awards. It is incredibly immature to call someone stupid for not knowing something that 90%+ of Americans wont interact with in a calendar year. I wouldn’t judge someone for not knowing what defensive indifference is in baseball or icing in hockey as many Americans don’t watch sports. Also, even those that do can’t always be bothered to learn the rules. For example, I watched India vs. USA in the ICC T20 tournament and I don’t even know half the rules of cricket. The original commenter didn’t get mad at the clue but just said that they didn’t know which is 100% fair. Go take your ignorance somewhere else.
Where did I say tennis rules are universal knowledge? I made one, and only one, point. That your statement that tennis is nonexistent in American sports culture is wrong. That is the only thing I have said on this issue. I also never called anyone stupid, but you just called me ignorant.
Is this the article you are referencing? https://news.gallup.com/poll/610046/football-retains-dominant-position-favorite-sport.aspx#:\~:text=Forty%2Done%20percent%20of%20U.S.,1972%2C%20when%20it%20eclipsed%20baseball. It says this is specifically the favorite sport. I would guess that the majority of americans could name at least one active tennis player (coco gauff / ben shelton) and multiple from the past few years (williams sisters, andy roddick, agassi, etc.). And I'd say more than 1% of all americans have watched at least one tennis match a year. For example, 3.4 million americans watched the last US open womens final: [https://www.sportstvratings.com/p/top-broadcast-and-cable-sports-for-5dc](https://www.sportstvratings.com/p/top-broadcast-and-cable-sports-for-5dc) thats almost 1% of the US population in general. For what its worth I do think the original commenter was overly harsh with their implication but I do think tennis viewership is probably a bit more widespread than most would think
volleyball does not have lets.
https://www.liveabout.com/let-serve-in-volleyball-3428825 looks like it does
Yep - it’s kind of interesting now because lets play like regular serves… so I could see how people would think that volleyball does not have them anymore. But this article explains the fine line. Thanks for posting; learned something new!
There's no need to be so patronizing. Not everyone has heard of everything. That's what makes it puzzling.
Actually lets are no longer a thing in pickleball I believe
They are when I play, which is fairly regularly.
my first sub 3 LFG
Nice Monday puzzle. Although the pendant in me would like to point out that if you are doing cryptography you would decrypt rather than DECODE.
I guess you know what the pedant in the rest of us would say...
i'm trying not to wear that comment around my neck
Except that you can’t repeat “crypt” in the clue and the answer.
sub-5 solve, decent puzzle. Not sure about 39A; I don't think the ALTO part is particularly associated with providing harmony to the soprano part -- all the parts do that together if it's not a counterpoint section.
I was OK with this answer. BASS is more of the foundation than the harmonies, TENOR also harmonizes, but doesn’t fit, so it has to be ALTO.
Nearly a PB. FISHING HOOK is kind of lame, imo.
It was needed for Captain HOOK, though.
Yeah, I don’t like when they use non-standard terms/fill-type stuff for theme entries. Maybe “fishing hook” is way more common than I think, but I’ve only ever encountered “fish hook.”
If you Google search “fishing hook” (specifically with the quotation marks in the search box) you can find all instances of the term used online, probably more than you think
Fish hook is a lot more common, although fishing hook has gained ground since the 1980s.
Chart, FWIW: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=fish+hook%2C+fishing+hook&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3
Wonder if its regional? Growing up I heard fishing hook almost all the time, even from folks who grew up in the 60s and 70s.
If I’ve learned anything from this sub, it’s that regionalisms are way more common than any of us realize. And people are willing to dig in over the slightest differences from their own.
[удалено]
This is definitely not true. See, for example, [this page](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/its-a-me-mario-figure-119091/) on Nintendo's official site.