Monday, January 1, 2024
Very quick, but with fresh clues that made it fun to work, and a perfect puzzle for a Monday. Congratulations, Harry Zheng, on your debut, in the debut puzzle of 2024, and thank you. Happy New Year to all the stalwart, lively, brainy, informative commenters who enrich these daily crosswords with their insights and humor, and to any new solvers who are just joining the comments column. The puzzles are my most valuable resource for escaping whatever might be bothering me on any given day. They take me on a separate, absorbing journey that has nothing to do with anything but the island of the puzzle. What a relief it is, especially knowing that I can come here afterward, to share the experience with people who have taken the same journey, Thanks to all of you as well.
Happy New Year to the constructors, editors, IT support and solvers that make this one of the nicest places to spend a few moments each day. May 2024 bring us some more incredible puzzles!! Cheers!
HIP HIP HOORAY. I made it through another year to give my annual thank you to all who inhabit this kingdom. Happy New Year as I celebrate my 5 year anniversary of reading and commenting in Wordplay. I remember the day because it was New Year's Day evening, and for some reason, I had never noticed the column prior to that day. I appreciate the wit and knowledge of all of the commenters. And look forward to reading the columns by Deb, Caitlin,Sam, et al. Also, I learn some very interesting and important things in the comments and in the puzzle itself. This week I learned that Harry Potter has a friend WEASLEY, Japanese fried cutlet is KATSU, and there are WELSH dialects called Gwyndodeg and Powyseg. I will be able to astound my friends with such knowledge, if I can figure out how to work the info into conversations. I read Wordplay everyday, even though I don't comment often. Wishing all a safe and healthy 2024.
@coloradoz How about, "What a thing to say! That's as weasley as Harry Potter's friend." And, "Oh, is this weiner schnitzel? I thought it might be Katsu." And, "Good grief, I can't understand a word he's saying. He might as well be speaking in Gwyndodeg or Powyseg. Is he Welsh?"
@coloradoz My husband and friends probably all wish that I could stop working all things Harry Potter into everyday conversations... Maybe in 2025. 😆
Congratulations on your debut, Harry Zheng, and thanks for evoking memories of my late father and a favourite high school French teacher in a single clue (3-Down) on this New Year's Eve. During a conversation practice class, Mr. Glover asked each student to say what their father did for a living. I didn't know the word for my dad's job title, so on my turn, I employed the "when in doubt, French up the English" technique and said, "Mon père est un conducteur." A classical music fan, he excitedly sought clarification by asking, "Un conducteur?" while miming leading an orchestra and humming. When his performance was complete, I replied, "Non. Woo woo!" while miming operating a freight train whistle. Happy New Year, everyone!
🥳 May your language inform you, Tough rebuses reform you, Autocheck protect you, And gold stars accept you. A healthy and happy solving year to all!
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. What one might say when the coast is clear? (4)(2) 2. It's usually taken outside (5) 3. Signal for a change in direction? (3) 4. Device placed under a tongue (4)(4) 5. Star sign? (9) LAND HO STROLL BUT SHOE TREE AUTOGRAPH
@Lewis Thanks for your weekly lists of memorable clues and answers. I always enjoy reading them, and it makes a fun way to review the week. Even though I agree it is an excellent clue, “device placed under a tongue” immediately makes me think of a dry wooden tongue suppressor stuck under my tongue and I shiver (even though I have never had a dry wooden tongue suppressor stuck under my tongue.) I remember the days of glass thermometers, though. I was wary of biting down and breaking those.
@Lewis My favorite clue of the week, and perhaps of the years, was from Robin Weintraub's puzzle last Friday--I didn't get a chance to recognize that day: [Cold war aggressions] (8,6) SNOWBALL FIGHTS It's also perhaps the saddest. I have never been a climate-change denier, but in recent years, I've been surprised how dramatically it has started to manifest itself. A middle-aged man who still loves to play in the snow, facing the warmest, least-snowy winter on record--even warmer than the last five warmest, least snowy years--I fear that snowball fights will soon exist only in childhood memories and Hallmark channel Christmas movies. Sorry for the New Year's Day downer. Health and Happinness, Peace and Prosperity to you and yours, and to all my fellow Wordplayers in 2024.
There I was, playing putt putt golf, in the wild wild west, making goo goo eyes at a tse tse fly in a paw paw tree; it responded with an aye aye sir, and a knock knock joke… Ahh. A new year, a new constructor, and a three-beat theme that got me copycatting. Augers well for the year ahead. Lovely serendipities. STRIP over STROP, seven double O’s, and a rare-in-crosswords semordnilap (STROP). Plus the sweet PuzzPair© of MERYL STRIP. And a constructor with promise – a teen with a NYT puzzle after but a half year of constructing experience. That is a feel-good story, and thank you for that, Harry, and for a puzzle that brought warm smiles!
@Lewis You mean it "augurs" well for the year ahead.
@Lewis -- That should be "rare-in-crosswords five-letter semordnilap..." - - - - - - - Oops!
Correction #2 -- Should be "augurs", not "augers". Someone pointed this out to me elsewhere, and I had no idea. A great thing to learn the first day of the year!
Sam, I'm wishing you, Deb, and Caitlyn a happy, healthy, and contented year. I started doing the New York Times Crossword early in 2023, after getting hooked on the Spelling Bee. I read all of the helpful columns about how to play the NYT crossword, and always read Wordplay, even the times when I've solved the puzzle first. I understood rebuses right away, though it took me awhile at times to figure out how the particular ones worked. Besides the dailies, I've worked the archives, too. So far, I've completed 1,042 crosswords with a 99.4% solve rate. Although the timer runs, that hasn't been my personal measure of success. That would be how often I have to look something up. The fewer times I have to consult iMDB, Google, or Wordplay, I know I'm getting better. The hardest thing for a long time was themes. I had the hardest time grasping just what a theme was, and how they worked. I would complete a puzzle and still not know the theme. I'm getting a lot better at identifying themes, often early in the puzzle. And I've found that sometimes I have all of the theme entries done, and the blank spaces in the grid are simple, short words. All of this is to say "Thank you" to all of you for your Wordplay columns, and to the Games crew, especially Deb Amlen, for the wonderful, helpful columns on how to negotiate the Times Crossword. I'm still working my way through the "Ten ____s You Should Know" columns as I find them. I think I'm addicted.
A swell debut, congratulations Mr. Zheng! I liked the themes and also the sense we could build our own such phrases from other words in the puzzle: HULU HULA UHAUL, for example, or KOI PLOY TOI, or URDU GURU IGLOO, or STRIP STROP HIP, ROLE POLE RILE, WOE HOE PHO, OK that's quite enough! Wordplay-specific new year's resolutions: 1) Donate $100 to a charity of my choice each time I bring up either politics, Israel, Ukraine or DJT and his cronies.* 2) Try for some longish solving streaks. 3) Brag about the streak once I've achieved some milestone. 4) Get Newbie to read War & Peace, Ulysses, and Remembrance of Things Past 5) Bring the joy. *Let's hope this doesn't happen A LOT, otherwise I'll INCUR a big IOU to one of my KIN, with promises to REFORM!
I'd be interested in joining yours and Newbie's book club. Would it help me solve Thurs - Sunday crosswords? 😉
@john ezra 4) …and the books must be read in their original language, just to make it more fun. I read Proust’s epic work about 40 years ago, and I read Don Quixote at about the same time. I decided I would learn French and Spanish well enough to read those books in the original language. I was already fluent in Spanish, but over the years I have become less so. I can read a bit in French, but mostly tourist French. So much for that resolution. Ah, well, I’m not dead yet.
When my clock stops working, I get ticked. (Better tock to someone.)
Mike, This is an alarming start to the new year. If you're not electric, I hope you'll wind up fine. (plugging in an emu)
@Mike You'll just have to watch the time, and hope your warranty is grandfathered in. If emus are robots, can we unplug them this year?
Short and sweet: Health and Happiness, Peace and Prosperity to you, Sam, to Deb and Caitlyn, and to all my fellow Wordplayers in 2024.
Sometime after I completed this puzzle, I was fussing around in the kitchen and started saying "Bye bye plane" over and over to myself and eventually out loud, in a childish sing-songy way. Both my wife and my dog barked at me to "pipe down in there!" and I complied. Turns out that it was July 12, 2007 when a woman with a toddler boarded a plane. The toddler said "bye bye plane" over and over, even as the plane was taxiing to the runway. A flight attendant came over and demanded that the mother make her child stop saying "bye bye plane" and the conversation grew heated. The woman and her toddler were eventually kicked off the plane. Bye bye plane! Bye bye plane... My sister read me the story back then and once in a while just for the heck of it, one of us might break out into a bye bye plane rhapsody: it was a surefire way of annoying everyone except Those in the Know. After a while (and it took longer than it should have: I'm not proud) we stopped saying it. But here I am again, murmuring it to myself... Here's full reportage of the story: <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3371901&page=1" target="_blank">https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3371901&page=1</a>
@john ezra That's one of the craziest stories ever!! Also, I might start saying it now too! It's a new year, it's a good time to find new ways to annoy people, after all!
@john ezra Just amazing. I tried searching for updates. Did you ever find out if there were any consequences for this outrageous exercise arbitrary power?
This is a little late for those in NY and parts East, but to each and everyone here a sincerely intended verse of Burns: And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere! And gie’s a hand o’ thine! And we’ll tak a right guid willy waught, For auld lang syne. Wishing you a happy and prosperous 2024.
I haven’t been around much lately. Just wanted to drop in and wish everyone a happy new year. I wrote earlier but the emus got it. All the best from Tel Aviv, Julia
Happy new year, all! Here’s to another great year of puzzling ahead! Sanity in the mayhem.
To Harry Zheng, I raise a glass and say, “Hear, hear!” A puzzle that failed to dupe me. ….. !!!!! Emus, begone!
I can no longer remain silent. I never thought I’d see the day when HERESY was promulgated in The NY Times Crossword. Duck Duck Goose? Duck Duck GOOSE? I live in Minnesota, the land of Duck Duck Gray Duck. That GOOSE at the end of the other one lands with all the grace of a lead balloon. Duck Duck Gray Duck, on the other hand, has a delightful assonance, and gracefully trips off the tongue and comes in for a gentle landing. REFORM! Henry Zhang, them’s fightin’ words around here. I’ll give you a pass this time because it’s your first puzzle and I enjoyed solving it.
Both games appear to be from Sweden, but some parts of Sweden used “goose” and some parts “gray duck.” It’s not omnipresent in Minnesota, though. The Arrowhead region (from Duluth to the NE along Lake Superior) uses “goose.” Parts of Wisconsin adjacent to Minnesota use “gray duck.” There are some funny maps showing which usage is prevalent where. This is a tongue-in-cheek case made by a sports writer for “Duck Duck Gray Duck.” <a href="https://deadspin.com/duck-duck-gray-duck-isnt-just-a-stupid-regionalism-1819317297" target="_blank">https://deadspin.com/duck-duck-gray-duck-isnt-just-a-stupid-regionalism-1819317297</a>
@Kris T. I was waiting for this. I moved to Minnesota 27 years ago, after living all over the country. Only in Minnesota is it Duck Duck Gray Duck. It’s wrong, of course. There is much ado about it here when young kids get weird looks from non minnesotans when they utter duck duck gray duck instead of duck duck goose. The NYT will surely get an earful on this one.
@Kris T Wow, in 50 years this is the first time I've heard Gray Duck. I feel that "Goose" has the sudden change sound to it that warrants getting up to run.
took way too long to figure out PLOY not PLOT was my problem!
@Megan Well, not if you got it!
Fun puzzle and my best time ever by about 19 minutes! I call that a good start to the new year!! HUZZAH!! (Sorry for the all caps, it's not a puzzle answer but it sort of requires caps. Hey, has it ever been a puzzle answer?) My favorite was the crossing of HULA and HULU, especially because I accidentally put HULu for the dance clue and didn't realize it until I got to a Netflix competitor clue. Guess I think about Hulu more than I do about hula. Speaking of, I also enjoyed seeing Meryl Streep. She, as always, was absolutely fantastic in Only Murders in the Building season 3, a fabulous Hulu show. My least favorite was BOARDWALK only because it brings back such a terrible memories of the near loss of lifelong friendships. That game is the ultimate test of a relationship's strength! The only thing worse was only time my husband and I played checkers. He's s a good, honest, and exceedingly lovely human but we play by entirely different rules when it comes to checkers. My rule is that you follow the rules and don't cheat. His rule seems to be that anything goes. We'd only been married a few years at that point and, honestly, it's a wonder we've made it here to nearly 19 married years after that night. I credit getting rid of the game immediately. Like do not pass go, do not collect $200, go directly to the dumpster--and bring some matches! Thank you to all the NYT people involved in these puzzles and this great community! So happy to be here!! Cheers to a wonderful new year!!
@HeathieJ HUZZAH has appeared once during Will Shortz's reign, and it was recently: April 20th 2023.
@HeathieJ How on earth could Monopoly nearly destry lifelong friendships? Do you care to tell us? Anyway, if you tossed the checkers board, I'm surprised hubby continued to talk to you. hehe emu food more emu food
@HeathieJ In our family, the Risk game is quite incendiary! Don’t even think about taking over my territories, emus!
Great start to the New Year with yet another fine debut puzzle. I was not familiar with the first 2 theme entries which slowed me down a bit, not a bad thing on a Monday. I keep forgetting what dates the various Gens are, I think I’m before they existed(1937). Looking forward to more from Harry and another year with everyone enjoying the puzzles and comments.
@suejean Happy New Year! We always called my parents (1927) and their contemporaries Children of the Depression, which now that I think about it is a terrible name. However, a search reveals that the generation born between 1925 and 1945 is often called The Silent Generation, which is almost as bad. The interesting thing to me is that so much of our modern technology, including the internet, was begun by people born during that era. Your generation was also largely responsible for the modern civil rights and women’s rights movements (MLK - 1929, Gloria Steinem -1934). Not so silent!
Nice debut, Harry Zbheng! Happy New Year to the NYT crossword team for making every day an adventure.
Nice to see a new constructor starting us out on a new year of puzzling. Lots of fun and quickly done, so appropriate for a Monday. Congrats on the debut, Harry, and thanks.
Congratulations on this great debut, Mr. Zheng. If this puzzle were an omen for the year ahead, it would mean that it's going to be a fine one, bright, breezy, and fun. On top of that, 2024 should bring us many reasons to be deliciously wowed by life's possibilities, given that the constructor is nineteen and has been at it for only six months(!!!) This puzzle has really put me in a twinkling mood. So here's one more toast to the beginning of 366 days of new beginnings every day of the year. Happy 2024 to all!
@sotto voce <a href="https://youtu.be/GE_wyEZUJU4?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/GE_wyEZUJU4?feature=shared</a>
So glad you're here, Sam! This was an auspicious debut from young Harry Zheng. But this being a Monday puzzle, the fun was just way way short. So I turn to the kettle in the column photo. Not to worry, Sam, the only thing I ever let steep too too long is tea. And when my kettle whistles, I think it sounds like a choo choo train. Party safe tonight!
Twenty-years-old?! Half a year constructing? NYT debut! Wow, just wow, young Me. Zheng! Here’s to what will surely be a long and bountiful constructing career! TIL, there’s a Disney prince named ERIC; doesn’t seem like a very Disney-ISH name, but what do I know? Our sons never really asked for much Disney, and neither did we advertise it 😉. (As I said to a friend who complained she was so sick of listening to Barby songs in the car, “how did your two-year-old acquire this music?!”) I’m hoping that the puzzle’s three HIPs are some kind of good omen. (*blatant-sympathy-grab alert*—again😉) My husband had three hip surgeries in 2023 (two replacements and one replacement removal), and we await the second new left hip replacement possibly later this month. With any luck, sometime soon in 2024, I’ll finally have my dog-walking companion back 🙏🥳. Also hoping that 2024 brings good health and much happiness to all my Wordplay friends!
@Kate That’s Barney songs, not Barby songs. Don’t think Barby songs are a thing (or maybe they are now?), emus.
I started 2024 with an accomplishment that I learned about from these comments: solving a Monday puzzle from only the Across clues! I’ve tried it before but have never been able to successfully complete the puzzle all the way. Today was my first time! Bring on a new year of puzzles!
Great job, Harry Zheng! You've hit all the CrossWord Requirements! Theme--check! OREO clue--check! TV show character--check! Movie actor--check! Streaming reference--check! One or more anatomical terms--check! And don't call me Shirley.
@Mean Old Lady scary! hope ChatGPT isn't reading this...
My, my! Congratulations on a sweet puzzle, Harry, and best birthday wishes when it occurs. I loved the radio reply, as it defines the repetitions elsewhere in the puzzle — I’d like to think that’s intentional, or a happy slip of the subconscious. Good wishes to all crossword puzzlers and their families far and wide! In the spirit of resolutions and book clubs, it would be fun to know what everyone’s reading today. Mine: The Song of Achilles. Emu, emu
@Mary Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead Highly recommended! A Happy New Year to emus everywhere.
@Mary Barbara Kingsolver's _Unsheltered_ Published in 2019 but just now catching up with her after our move, etc.
@Mary An oldie, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Speaking of repetitions of a word, for those who have never seen this, try to explain how the following sentence is both syntactically and semantically valid: "BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO BUFFALO." Hints: 1) Buffalo, New York; 2) the name of several species of oxen; 3) to overpower, overawe, or constrain by superior force or influence.
@Neil Bellinson I haven’t had anything to drink and my head still hurts. I can get through about four BUFFALOes before I lose my train of thought. I’m going to give it another go in the light of day. Thanks for the word puzzle!
@Neil Bellinson We’ve had this on here before and I thought I could parse it out this time, but alas I was buffaloed by my foolish self-pride. Many sites explain it, but the best explanation I could find was here: <a href="https://writingcenter.mcdaniel.edu/buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo" target="_blank">https://writingcenter.mcdaniel.edu/buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo-buffalo</a>/ Totally off topic (well, not totally), I have a good friend who loved in Buffalo in the 1970s. After the blizzard of ‘77, Mayor Jankowski tried to alleviate strain on the snow-jammed city streets by getting folks to carpool with at least “three to a car.” However, he pronounced it, “tree to a car.” So, of course, the good people of Buffalo tied their discarded Xmas trees to their cars and drove around.
@Neil Bellinson Glad to see I'm not the only one befuddled by all the buffalo! 😄 .........................................
Congratulations, Harry Zheng, on your NYT debut. It's good to see young constructors stepping up to feed the need of cruciverbalists everywhere.
Fun puzzle and what an appropriate day for another debut constructor. TICKTICKBOOM was completely unfamiliar to me and yet I still came in just a tad above my Monday record time. One answer history search today - inspired by 3d: ALLABOARD Been an answer in 11 puzzles. And... today's date inspired my other answer history search and led to a New Year's day puzzle from 1995. Answer that got me there: SHOULDAULDACQUAINTANCE A couple of other theme answers: COUNTDOWNATTIMESSQUARE RINGSOUTHTEOLD Here's the link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/1/1995&g=126&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/1/1995&g=126&d=A</a> I'm done. ..
@Rich in Atlanta And... one more answer history search - inspired by an upcoming date (quite important around here). First - with a bit of counting I realized that: MARTINLUTHERKING -is the unfortunate14 letters. Add - JR - and it's 16 letters. Add JUNIOR and it's... 20 letters. Figured somebody must have worked around that at some point in time, but... The only appearance of the string of letters MARTINLUTHER was in a Monday puzzle from January 20, 1986 by Joy L. Wouk. Other answers in that one: CORETTASCOTT IHAVEADREAM CIVILRIGHTS Just a bit surprised by that. ..
"Ring the bells that still can ring...." (Leonard Cohen) Happy New Year, and happy puzzling in 2024.
Great debut! Keep ‘em coming! Happy New Year!!🎆
A fun solve, but I have to say PAR is far from "average" for a golfer. Less than 1% of all golfers will ever shoot a round of par or better in their lives.
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Mr. Zheng! Nicely done!
Congrats on a great debut, Harry Zheng! Lovely way to start the New Year. Hope to see more from your young mind. Happy New Year to all.
Kudos, Harry! What a way to start the year! Fun fun puzzle
Surprised to see HIPHIP and HIPS in the grid, especially when the latter could have been HOPS with no reworking at all. Beyond that one nit, a simple theme and some nice fill for a Monday. Especially liked three verticals starting with C: CONDUCTOR, COPYTHAT and COUNCIL. Congrats on the debut!
Just a heads up... On Wednesday, I'll be posting my favorite original clues of 2023, and it was a very good year on that front! Emu fodder.
Gotta watch that early partying, Sam! Dec. 31, 2023, 7:32 p.m. ET emu drop
Congratulations, Harry. Thank you for a delightful start to the year and week. Happy new year, all.
A pleasant diversion from cleaning up after last night's FESTivities. Congrats on your NYT debut. Happy New Year everyone.
Congratulations, Mr. Zheng! A pleasing start to '24, in which I promise to do more. The root of incur comes from the French verb "courire", to run, and has a number of forms which at times have carried mostly negative connotations, including "recur" and "occur", as if to suggest that nothing good can come of running. So I'll cross "running" off my list of resolutions right now.
@LordBottletop Impressive job of rationalizing (with extra points for self-defeating efforts against your own best interests)!! Is that how you got your nickname? Welcome to WordPlay Comments Please come back often!!
I thought that I had posted that this was a fun Monday puzzle, but I guess not... Fun Monday puzzle! DUCKDUCKGOOSE was the first themer to fall although I never heard of this game... got it via crosses. Shall have to look it up. Anyway, thank you dear constructor for your debut puzzle!
@Bonnie I know about DUCK DUCK GOOSE only from crossword puzzles. >>>
@Bonnie I'll admit to actually having played DUCKDUCKGOOSE, in kindergarten and primary school circa 1970. EMU EMU OSTRICH!
I was happy with the puzzle until I learned our constructor was 19. Nice work Harry.
I got 52D first, then saw 56A and thought, "How clever! Crossing HULU with HULU." Then I couldn't figure out why, when I completed in record time, I did not get a "Congratulations" message. I scanned and scanned for spelling errors and overt mistakes and saw none. Had to check. Interesting how that resonance in my brain--HULU and HULU--led to such a blind spot. Plus: I hear a lot more about HULU than the HULA, and maybe I have come to think of HULU itself as a Hawaiian dance.
Happy New Year! I broke my streak yesterday; just didn't get the theme and couldn't find my error. Disappointing way to close out the year. But today, I got a PB for a Monday puzzle, so 2024 is off to a great start, puzzle-wise! Fun puzzle, Harry Zheng, thank you! And check out Tick Tick Boom if you haven't seen it.
I know the term STROP only because of the opening song of my favorite musical, Sweeney Todd: His needs were few, his room was bare A lavabo and a fancy chair A mug of suds and a leather STROP An apron, a towel, a pail and a mop "Lavabo" might be another good crossword term that I would only know from those lyrics, though I guess it might be more familiar to Catholics for its religious context. Happy New Year everyone!
@Pax Ahimsa Gethen About 30 years ago, my husband decided he’d start shaving with a straight razor. That didn’t last long, but we kept the strop long after he stopped using it. At least it didn’t take up much space.
I have a monthly calendar reminder on the 1st to check out the bonus puzzle. I rarely solve in the app, and I was surprised recently to learn that the bonus puzzle is apparently only available through the website. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/bonus/2024/01" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/bonus/2024/01</a> In the past they have usually been roughly Mon-Tues level of difficulty. Today's is by Sam Ezersky; it's titled "2023 in Review" and it seems far harder than last year's bonus puzzles. There were several proper nouns with which I was unfamiliar, and thus I was well and truly Naticked. Wondering if anyone else out there solves the bonuses? It's always struck me as odd that they are never discussed here. Happy New Year to all, and congrats to Mr. Zheng on his debut.
@Bob T. Thanks for the reminder. I always forget about the bonus puzzle because it’s not available in the app. A more challenging bonus puzzle sounds good to me.
@Bob T. I did it because you posted about it. I wouldn't have known it existed otherwise, so thank you! I flew through about half of it then really struggled with some complete unknowns to me. Was fun to see 19A - Phenomenon that sparked debates on which movie to see first! Happy New Year!
@Bob T. Happy New Year! Thanks for the link. I was naticked at the corps of 57A and 50D. Had to alpha run. Seemed a bit stickier overall than a M-T puzzle.