Did they swap this week’s Friday and Saturday puzzles? - Tom
Exactly my thought. Yesterday was a joyless slog for me, which isn't my normal experience on a Friday. This morning I steadied myself for an hour-long Saturday grind, but after 10 minutes said out loud to my partner "this is going to be my fastest Saturday solve ever." Indeed it was—in fact it ended up being far less than half my average for a Saturday. I'll take it, but today's was much more of a Thursday/Friday difficulty. Cheers to the constructors for clever yet fair clues throughout, and some very entertaining ones as well. "Saturday difficulty" gripes aside (that part's on Will) this was a great puzzle.
Julian is a former student of mine. We often compared solve times. I knew he would make an impressive debut.
Craziest coincidence ever, I hope someone enjoys this as much as I did. This morning I'm hanging with my friend Satoshi. We're discussing this story: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/26/dining/japanese-american-new-years-recipes.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/26/dining/japanese-american-new-years-recipes.html</a> I point out that words like "datemaki" and "kurikinton" have English explanations, but "dashi" doesn't, and maybe it has entered the lexicon like manga and anime have, and he says, "Recently in my online photography discussions I see many non-Japanese using the word BOKEH, do you know it?" And I'm like, no, and he explains it, and then later in the day I start the puzzle...
@Bill in Yokohama I’m often surprised by little cosmic coincidences when I do the puzzle. It can be my husband chatting, saying the word I happen to be typing in, a reference to the song that’s playing on the classical station I listen to as I solve, or a downright bizarre coincidence like the one you mentioned. I find it fun, every time!
@Bill in Yokohama Funny how those work out. On Thursday I was talking with a friend who takes jujitsu about what -do and -jitsu mean. I had forgotten what ju meant, quasi remembering that it had to do with throwing or wrestling. When we looked it up, the friend laughed at "gentle art", as, I guess, she has experienced less-than-gentle treatment at lessons and matches. I remarked that it's probably gentler than kicks and punches. And then judo, clued with gentle, was in yesterday's puzzle. I probably would have gotten it without the prior day's lookup (unlike today's BOKEH, which needed the crosses) but still quite a coincidence.
@Bill in Yokohama Yes. I have never mentione (and hardly heard mentioned) the Jonas Brothers in my entire life...and yet, yesterday they arose in two independent situations for me, APART from also appearing in yesterday's puzzle.
An exciting and particularly challenging Saturday-level puzzle on Friday, and a pleasant and not difficult Friday-level on Saturday. Two fine weekend crosswords, with the added puzzle of their days of publication. Thanks for this one, Ben and Julian. N.B. It's January. Was the editors' YEARENDBONUS late?
I was just thinking fondly of the '96 Clinton-Dole debate, because Clinton deployed the "dog won't hunt line" to such effect that it was possibly the moment he put away Dole for good. Even a transcript captures the smoothness Clinton oozed with: "When Senator Dole made that remark about all the elitists, young elitists in the administration, one of the young men who works for me who grew up in a house trailer looked at me and said, Mr. President, I know how you grew up. Who is he talking about? And you know this liberal charge, that's what their party always drags out when they get in a tight race. It's sort of their golden oldie, you know. It's a record they think they can play that everybody loves to hear. And I just don't think that dog will hunt this time." I misremembered it as the more succinct, flavorful "That dog don't hunt," but I'm informed by very smart people it's actually "That dog WON'T hunt." It is the considered choice of the dog to hunt, not its pacifist nature or inability to hunt, that is the crux; there's a crucial difference between a dog that don't hunt and one that won't hunt. Fondly, because of the real engagement in that debate, in contrast to current political discourse. Plus, Dole kept it close enough to give us J. Farrell's 11-5-96 masterpiece puzzle (you could fill in either BOB DOLE or CLINTON - ELECTED correctly). Joe Biden & Don Trump...8 letters each. Hmm. <a href="https://www.alaricstephen.com/main-featured/2017/7/3/the-clintonbobdole-crossword" target="_blank">https://www.alaricstephen.com/main-featured/2017/7/3/the-clintonbobdole-crossword</a>
@john ezra I agree -- let's recognize that dogs have some agency here. Under either administration.
@john ezra The Bob Dole/Clinton puzzle is my most memorable ever, partly because of the solve, and partly because it’s easy to figure out the date. Like magic.
@john ezra And why was Clinton's dog named Buddy? Because Bill and Hill couldn't bear to say ...... , well, you know what.
DAYS OF OUR LIVES brought back bad memories. As a kid who woke up early and watched a lot of TV (only 7 channels), on weekdays with no school, I'd be up waiting for the test pattern to end (with the star spangled banner) and watch the kids' shows, then the game shows. After the game shows was the dreaded period of soap operas, starting with the above. When I saw the opening screen and heard "like sands through the hourglass..." a feeling of sadness would fall over me and I knew I'd have to find something else to do for the next three hours until the afternoon cartoons came on. It was a hard life.
I had the same experience with one called "The Edge of Night." It didn't help that the opening showed blackness sweeping across a cityscape from left to right on our black-and-white TV, and it also didn't help that my mom was usually depressed, and that show was one of several that she watched as a form of emotional novacaine.
@Jay agree! Why anyone ever watched that dross is beyond me.
I too would switch channels (to game shows perhaps, which were only slightly less bad) or switch off the TV when the dull, drab and awful soaps would come on, and can recall the pizzicato theme opener for Days of our Lives precisely despite not hearing it for over 40 years.
This is very pedantic, and I'm not sure it would prevent anyone from getting the answer if they were otherwise going to, but: a WAFER in chip manufacturing is a much larger flat slice of silicon, often up to 12" in diameter, onto which many copies of a circuit are etched at the same time. The bit of silicon inside an individual integrated circuit is called a DIE, having been cut out from the wafer and enclosed in a package (usually plastic or metal) to form the chip as a whole.
@Rick, Thanks for the comment. This sort of pedantry is one of the reasons I enjoy this comments section, especially since you’ve phrased it in the spirit of “to be precise, the meaning of X …” rather than “the constructor/editors are idiots for not fully reflecting the nuances only known to specialized practitioners like myself…” And of course the error you point out is admittedly a bit of a whopper (even if, as you say, likely not an obstacle to solving). If a WAFER were at the “heart” of an *individual* circuit, as the clue implies, we would never have realized the enormous gains in computing power made possible by miniaturization, and I would be composing this post with punch cards on a room-sized computer.
This Saturday puzzle definitely solved faster than yesterday's, although I'll say that what makes the spanners a bit more challenging to make out from a few crosses are the run of consonants. Here's what I mean: HUMA (NPYR) AMID PAGI (NGDRFR) EUD THA (TD) O (GD) O (NTH) UNT YEARE (NDB) ONUS If you're trying to make out constituent words with a few crossings, the consonant runs can create a blurring effect. (I just learned it's called BOKEH (var. spelling BOKE).) Not that I'm complaining. I'm just hypothesizing what may be going on here. For me, there's NO RUSH in trying to complete a puzzle. I'd rather make the fun last a little longer. Ben and Julian's puzzle SLAYED. Thanks.
@Henry Su Edit: "... to make out from a few crosses is the run of consonants." Baby emus (emulets?) are also covered in soft, fluffy down and stripes.
@Henry Su And if one wrote THAT DOG WON’T HUNT, as I did, NGDRFR becomes the even more incomprehensible NGWRFR. It wasn’t until I got farther down the grid that FREUD became obvious.
Aaaaaaahhhh, grouse all you want about “too easy”. Meanwhile, I’m going to get a shirt printed up that says “I finished a Saturday NYT crossword puzzle in under 15 minutes!” Certain chicks will definitely dig it. And it’ll definitely get my **s kicked in certain bars. 🙂
When seconds count the police are only minu… No wait. Wrong tagline. When seconds count to get a record solving time, eating salsa in bed straight out of the jar with the use of awkward implements called chips while fending off sorties by The Dog’s mouth? [“No. NO. There’s no Fiesta-Size Strips amendment to your canine constitution. N-O. Stop!”] Yeah. THAT DOG DON’T HUNT. (Heh, see what I did there?) Which, by the way, is an expression which I had adopted when I lived in Texas and that I continue to use liberally here in the PNW. [“No, Señor Gato, my HAZY IPA is decidedly *not* the same as drinking from the bathroom tap. Or from that other place in there. Stoooop! GoodLord, you two have no manners. Now you’re making me drop crumbs all over your dad’s side of the bed. I’ll have to fake sleep or being shocked—shocked!—at the mess when he gets back.”) So a couple of years ago I had a Saturday that filled in like a DMV form, with my solve time basically being limited by how fast I could type. I’ve been trying to relive that glory night ever since. Today would have come close, if not faster. But the salsa was so good, and I’d skipped breakfast and those other silly mealtimes, and then there was the zoo parked on my blankets. Oh yeah, and I may have filled in my last square without reading the intersecting clues, feeling satisfied with gAYS OF OUR LIVES just long enough to miss getting to the finish line in time for a new record. Onward to the next Saturday.
@Sam Lyons I'm afraid I'll never get a PB on a Saturday. Due to some glitch in the NYT stats it says my best Saturday is 5:31. Ha! Since my average is 38:25 there is no way I ever did a Saturday that fast. But, they can't just reset that number --- I asked. They can only wipe all my stats, and I don't want to do that. This was an easy Saturday. First time through I had 3/4 of the puzzle. Yesterday I had about 2 words....
Best part of the puzzle to me was its freshness, with four NYT debut longs, each of which gave gifts: PAGING DR. FREUD – Brought a genuine “Hah!” THAT DOG DON’T HUNT – Never heard this before, so my brain got to do the labor it loves by uncovering it. HUMAN PYRAMID – Pat-on-my-back boost at figuring this out with, I think, one cross. YEAR END BONUS – The vague-to-me clue yielded more brain-loving labor. I also liked: • The cross of NO RUSH and OOZES. • The echoes from yesterday’s puzzle with AGILE and ANTS. • The fuzziness of BOKEH and HAZY IPA. • The rare-in-crosswords five-letter semordnilap (DECAL). More footholds than usual for me for Saturday, so lots of bounce, and I left the grid bubbling with verve. What a lovely way to start the day! Congratulations on your NYT debut Julian and on number two, Ben, and thank you both for this spry Saturday!
@Lewis Typically "That dog won't hunt." And I think of that as an idiomatic expression rather than slang.
After yesterday's display, normal service has been resumed. A very quick Saturday for me - maybe the days were reversed by the editors?
@Andrew Yup. Yesterday took me 2-3x my Friday average; today about 40% of my Saturday average. This was fun; I liked the long answers. Just not as "difficult" as a typical Saturday. After yesterday's slog, I'm not complaining.
@Andrew Yep, me too. A few tricky ones today, but easy to fill in.
"I have a great idea for mass-producing tetrahedra!" "Sounds like a pyramid scheme." ("Really?" "Yeah. Could land you in prism.")
@Mike's Egyptian punditry seems to be mostly in deNile Ya think? Now I asp you. Tut, tut
@Mike Oh Mike, that’s a good one! Where did you learn about tetrahedra?
I happen to know that a screwdriver is usually garnished with an orange slice rather than a rind (it even shows that in the recipe linked in the commentary), so now I can get all huffy and entitled to indulge in self-righteous solver indignation.
@Bruce LOL--That's the funniest self-righteous solver indignation I've seen on these threads in a long time. We need more solvers who can add just a touch of honest humor to their huffiness and indignation. It might start a wave and then even the subtle score braggers might want to get involved. Thanks, Bruce!
@Bruce But doesn't that orange slice have a rind? I've never seen bartenders peel the slices they use. But then i don't drink alcohol, so seldom watch bartenders. :o)
Was having contractions this morning: That dog can't hunt. That dog won't hunt. THAT DOG DON'T HUNT. The frustration of being OOF by a letter or two, har har.
This fun puzzle got me thinking of the joys of watching my babies grow up. As puppies they chase squirrels madly, with no method in't. But somehow they learn to stalk. How? I didn't teach them. Of course I don't want them to catch the squirrels, but unfortunately people feed the squirrels in some parks, dulling their survival instincts. I walk my friends' dog these days. She's quite fit-burly-but thankfully not agile enough to catch them. Nicky(pictured) was agile enough though. A skilled hunter. I'll spare you the details of some of the treats he brought me on hikes. Because I didn't want him to catch a squirrel, I'd stand behind my nearly motionless Nicky frantically waving my arms to frighten them, who just stared stupidly thinking I was throwing them peanuts. So instead I resorted to shouting "Let's get 'em!" and charging loudly to frighten them. Oh, the look Nicky gave me! Pity and disappointment. Thinking to himself "That human don't hunt."
Charming, droll post, @ad absurdum . Quite delightful in its reverse-anthropomorphism. But WHERE is Nicky pictured?? I'd love to see him.
@ad absurdum A huge smile on my face after reading this. There’s an ever-foiled squirrel hunter in my avatar, too. She’s definitely fit enough—still does 5 miles to each one of mine—but we run in places where people not only don’t feed squirrels, but there are barely any people at all. The critters are savvy. Also, The Dog’s method consists of trying to climb the tree the squirrel is sitting on, accompanied by ear-splitting barking. Not a great approach — for her, or any human in the vicinity who’s not hearing-challenged. I’m so sorry you don’t have your Nicky anymore. I know it’s been awhile, but the missing never really goes away, does it.
Today was a Saturday PB for me, at one-fourth the time of yesterday’s puzzle, which might well have been a Friday PW. Interesting pair of puzzles.
Maybe I should return to my home planet. Quite surprised to see that everyone else found this unusually easy. It was a tough one for me with a significant number of factual unknowns, and I had to resort to google a few times. No big deal - that's just me. At least I knew Citizen KANE. One side note - I recall mentioning the rarity of 12, 13 and 14 letter answers in a comment a couple of days ago. Kind of an interesting coincidence* on that note. *And that led to a VERY surprising answer history search result: Specifically - the string of letters COINCIDENCE has appeared exactly - once: the answer being... ITSACOINCIDENCE (15 letters) in a 2006 Saturday puzzle. Furrowed brow. I'll put my usual puzzle find in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened - my answer history searches this morning were inspired (for no explainable reason) by thinking about answers that repeated words or strings of letters. Went down a few paths on that, but the one kind of interesting result: One 15 letter answer that occurred to me was: WOODYWOODPECKER Well... that was an answer 5 times - once in a 2013 Saturday puzzle. But... the other four appearances were all over a 14 month period between October 1982 and December 1983. And... two of those puzzles were by 'Whitten' (yeah - that's the extent of his name in credits) and the other two by Eli Wesoff. And... each of those four puzzles had exactly two 15 letter answers. In the first two appearances (just 6 months apart) that answer was paired with DENNISTHEMENACE in both puzzles. The two later puzzles went with CHRISTOPHERWREN and DAGWOODBUMSTEAD. Something just seems a bit odd there. ...
@Rich in Atlanta , I was surprised that everyone found it so easy, guess I should be used to it by now.
@Rich in Atlanta and suejean I don't think the majority are saying it was EASY, just EASIER than yesterday's brutal slog. I felt this put me through my paces (and running the alphabet twice is rare) and I was relieved that I hadn't totally lost my mojo! Plus even after revisiting "Thirteen ways.." and pondering Way III....I was no wiser. bu I did not care anymore!.
My shoulders were sore from patting myself on the back of late. Until yesterday. It was like I had never done a crossword. Today a redemptive solve, a birdee to yesterdays snowman.
Glad it wasn't just me. From an unsolved Friday to a Saturday PR here. Someone jiggled the difficulty dial.
I enjoyed the mix of Shakespeare, southern dialect, and things soapy.
Quick for a Saturday but a lot of fun—and I agree with other comments, yesterday was a bear so it was nice to have this one to kick off the weekend. Lots of smiles.
Also, I just checked and indeed, this tied my previous Saturday record. With a little more coffee in me I might’ve beaten it!
Welcome back, Mr. Tolkin, and welcome aboard, Mr. Xiao. Congratulations and thank you for giving us a great puzzle! I agree with all the commenters here, that it seems misplaced by the editors as a Saturday puzzle. But I'd also rather think that it was kind of them to throw us a bone, hence I'm not complaining. Anything that gives me the momentary illusion of my IQ shooting up overnight is fine by me. The puzzle was very well thought out and did offer just enough gentle resistance to make it a pleasure to solve. For the record, I'd also like to thank ACUVUE for sponsoring my eyesight. I've waited for decades for my myopia to someday have an upside and that day has finally come! Once again, congratulations, Messieurs. Well done!
I thought I was struggling with this one but ended up with a PB of 22 minutes… some of the more American clues stumped me for a bit but other clues filled those in, or logic did.
Just here early to share the joy of a Saturday PB… before I read too many other comments invalidating my sub-10 minute finish by suggesting something AMISS with this puzzle’s placement. I choose to believe it was a classic Saturday and my dog just happened to be on its hunting game tonight!
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Mr. Xiao! I enjoyed the puzzle and was sorry it was over so quickly. Thanks, gents!
Hard enough to be consistently interesting and entertaining, but not really "Saturday-hard". Also eminently fair in its cluing -- which makes a nice contrast to yesterday's bear. And full of colorful phrases like PAGING DR FREUD and THAT DOG DON'T HUNT. I'm not familiar with the former. I've never said it to anyone and no one has ever said it to me. But I like it a lot and perhaps, if the circumstance ever presents itself, will try to work it into a conversation sometime. As for the latter, I knew it (sort of) immediately and filled in: THis DOG -ONT HUNT. (I knew it was either DON'T or WON'T but didn't realize it was THAT.) Let's add LUTE/LYRE to our kealoa list. I immediately got the sly "twist" of the 38D clue, and wrote in LIME immediately. Then I thought: "What an awful-tasting screwdriver!" What a great clue for NATIONAL ANTHEM! Is it original, Lewis? Unknowns: BOKEH, ACUVUE, CLINT and WAFER, as clued. All fairly crossed. But basically a pretty easy Saturday, and a nice one.
@Nancy -- Indeed it is! Another clue that has been made for it that I liked is [Country tune]. - - - - - - - - Et tu, emu.
I figured most comments would read this Saturday had zero bite. I guess it’s comforting to know that I’m part of the mob. Found NW difficult yesterday. And today, Wednesday-like. Far be it from me to question our editors, at least on things not related to clue rendering (underscores you say?), but there is no way the editors didn’t know this was crazy easy. Does that 13 part crow series have contract with Fridays? So the editors toss us a bone for Saturdays? Well that dog won’t hunt. Any puzzle can be made so much harder by more obscure clueing. This one needed some harder rewrites. That said. Loved the long entries! And the fun grid design. Loved “Olympic bars”. Only glue was maybe OOF. I know in being arrogant, but this grid deserved better than to be panned as “too easy.” January isn’t starting it too well for the editors, in my (nobody cares) opinion.
@Newbie, I’m with you — would have loved a bit of Saturday-level clueing today.
@Newbie Yes: The editors ran what was a Saturday-level-hard puzzle on Friday because it was part of the 13 crow series, fully expected a hue and cry, and so they planned an easier Saturday so soothe bruised egos. The two results they don’t seem to care about—because it’s hard to imagine they didn’t foresee—are that (a) some solvers, though a smaller cohort than yesterday’s hue-and-criers, are genuinely disappointed with an easy Saturday puzzle and (b) it’s unfair to the constructors of what is a very good, interesting puzzle to have any appreciation of their brainchild dwarfed by the “It’s so eaaasy!” outcry. That was a very syntactically Victorian way of saying that I agree with you. (And I’m one of the many who do care what you think — we miss it when you don’t post.)
Fun to do, but it just felt wrong that I finished in about one-third of my Friday time. I enjoyed seeing THAT DOG DON'T HUNT and HAZY IPA and PAGING DR FREUD--good stuff here, maybe just slotted into the wrong day.
@Liz B One-third the time that Friday’s puzzle required — exactly my experience as well.
@Liz B I wasn’t sure if it was LAZY IPS (because the brewers were too lazy to filter it properly), or HAZY IPA. Can you guess I’m not much of a beer connoisseur?
Please help me dry my tears. The Friday puzzle was really hard and I assumed it would be easier to finish if I waited until this morning to wind it up. Mistake. My hard-won, restart streak was over (again), this time at 536 because when I finished tomorrow's puzzle today, I forgot that I hadn't finished the Friday puzzle when I put it to bed last night, so It's back to square one. In the bigger scheme of things, I don't really care, but in the realm of small victories, it was a minor triumph. Now that I've got the petty whining over with, I send my greetings and thanks to Ben Tolkin and Julian Xiao for making this new number 1 a pleasure to solve. It was inventive and fun, and full of clever clue twists. Thank you for constructing such an engaging puzzle, one that this dog was happy to hunt.
@dutchiris Oh no! So, if I understand, even though it’s still Friday, because you solved the Saturday out of order, the streak is broken? I didn’t know that was a thing! I can relate to your pain, on a much smaller level. I had a 98 day streak going (so close to 100!) until I ran into the December 12th puzzle. It’s strangely crushing seeing a streak come to an end. (Also, a bit liberating!)
@dutchiris Glad to know you enjoyed the puzzle! Have you tried finishing the Friday? I believe that would rescue your previous streak. I remember solving some Mondays before the Sunday before it, and the streak continued as normal. You have 48 hours after the Friday puzzle released to complete it for the streak, so there is still time!
@dutchiris You can also send an email to <a href="mailto:nytgames@nytimes.com">nytgames@nytimes.com</a> and ask them to restore your streak.
This puzzle had great flow, with evocative and funny long answers that appeared like magic after just a few crosses. Easier than the usual Saturday, but in a totally enjoyable way. Congratulations to the constructors!
Rarely do I get to use my favorite method of solving without ever moving the cursor (iPad) on a Saturday. Not only was I able, but not because it was easy, just solvable! Much I did not now (BOKEH, CLINT, LUIS…) but glancing at crosses gave me all I need to plug in, left to right, top to bottom. Took long enough for my tea to get cold, but not long for a Saturday! Really enjoyed HUMANPYRAMID (and I did need to use my finger to air draw each little pyramid before plopping it in, making me feel much less proud when it worked) and PAGINGDRFREUD was just fun. Lastly, toss Alan Watts in and you automatically get my thumbs-up. “ Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.”
@CC Yep, tabs and arrow keys all the way for me too, apart from changing the center W to D. UNMUTES for "Prepares to speak..." got a chuckle. Finished just a tick over my Wednesday average.
I don't care what DR. FREUD says: THAT DOG WON'T HUNT! PS: I would never have known 10D had my grand nephew not named his excessively adorable Bernese mountain-doodle HAZY Fun too solve, reams easier than yesterpuzz, from my POV BOKEH Tov, Chaverim!
@Leapfinger adds: As to whether that hound WON'T or DON'T HUNT, it seems clear to me that the DOG DON'T HUNT if the discussion is about something in existence that DON'T work right, while the DOG WON'T HUNT if talking about something that's planned but has a high Doubtful Index. Thanks also for a Steinbeck quote with pithy currency. [SIGH]
When is that ACPT tournament? Sign me up! What’s that? The “T” stands for tournament? So writing “ACPT Tournament” is like writing “ATM Machine”? And, what’s that, a truly competitive solver would have finished this puzzle in under 5 minutes? None of that matters. Gosh darn it, I felt like an Xword pro as I flew (well, flew may be stretching it) through this puzzle. Plus, it was an enjoyable ride. Can’t wait for POY voting, which will start after Tito posts the finalists in each category in the Sunday puzzle comments forum. Look for it. Yes, it’s for 2023, which already feels so last year. But it will be fun. I promise!
@Puzzlemucker I went to an ACPT once as a fan-girl for a friend who was competing. You pay a lower fee and get to try the puzzles but not enter. So Friday night I'm doing pretty well, halfway done in about 6 minutes; take a break and look up.. 98% of the contestants are GONE
this one was mostly easy except for the parts that weren't. No idea what hazy ipa was for a long time and never ever heard of the word bokeh. all in all happy to finish in 32 minutes and astounded that some people finished in under six minutes. Is that even possible? Who are these aliens?
@Asher I share your amazement at some people's times. Someone in the Crosscord reported a time under four minutes. Assuming they knew each answer immediately, how can they even TYPE that fast? I was happy with four cheats and nineteen minutes. (I knew bokeh, having visited lots of photography sites through out the years. I rarely know the sports people, however.)
@Chris Not that fast for me, but I did tie my Saturday PB.
@Chris I can’t even type that fast! Or rather, I can, but the quality of the spelling suffers drastically. Anyway, color me impressed!
@Chris Is that Brisbane on Mars? — — — — — — — — — — — —
Well, I’m not going to complain about a Saturday that was seconds from a PB; I needed the ego boost after Friday’s workout… which took me over twice as long. I enjoyed the humor and originality of the grid-spanners!
I have lived in the South for nearly 40 years, and I've never heard "that dog don't hunt." It's always "that dog WON'T hunt." My wife, who is a Mississippi native, agrees. To those who may roll their eyes at the many posts on this, I refer you to the great Zabar's deli debate a few months back.
@Eric I'm not a Southerner, but I can do research. Keep in mind that a crossword entry's acceptability, according to accepted norms, is never based on what the most common version of something is. If it exists at all, even if not the most common iteration, it is kosher, unlike Zabar's. The following Google Ngram shows that while less popular by a margin of about 3-1, the "don't" version has appeared in print, and has maintained a fairly steady level of usage since about 2005. <a href="http://tinyurl.com/yaf7pj2u" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/yaf7pj2u</a> Note that the "don't" version only came into existence after 1980. Since you have lived in the South for nearly 40 years, it's possible that it's people younger than you who use the "don't" version, and you miss it because you tend to talk to older people more frequently. Also, note that the Ngrams document written usage, which usually follows oral usage by a decade or two. If you Google the "don't" version, you'll find some examples of it among the far greater number of examples of the "won't" version. Clearly, the "won't" version is the normal one, but if there's evidence that the other one exists, it's a valid crossword answer. Yes, the bar is that low. And unless you think that 11D is about WR. FREUD, there shouldn't be any issue figuring out what goes there.
@Eric I got very confused for a minute about the Zabar’s deli debate being a few months ago, and thought, “surely you mean yesterday?!”, before remembering that been finishing off some older puzzles and it probably was October :)
This was tons easier than the Friday Massacre! I did have to run the alphabet a couple of times in order to achieve The "Oh, duh" Moment. The "sands through the hourglass" was always the signal to change the channel quickly! I wonder if anyone doing the NYT puzzle was a regular viewer? I only saw daytime TV over the Summer break, and most of that was the Watergate hearings... Nice try on 29A, but it's "THAT DAWG DON'T HUNT." Which doesn't fit. NAPOLI or NAPLES? LIME before RIND. ACUVUE was very hard to come up with; I don't think it was a brand back when I could wear contacts! Those were some wild guesses for the phrase DOLCE FAR NIENTE making an appearance. I was 9 in 1956-7, folks; most of the proposed works were far into the future! In the volume I speak of, Amy is studying art in Europe, accompanied by her wealthy aunt. Any guesses before I furnish more clues?
@Mean Old Lady Agreed, it felt like Friday and Saturday were switched!
@Mean Old Lady We too found this easy and was done about the same time we finished our coffee. The volume you reference would be the one penned by Louisa May Alcott? Having never read it but seen several theatrical versions I have sometimes wondered how she came up with the title.
@Mean Old Lady I think you must be referring to L.M. Alcott’s Little Women. I think I had better add a few more line’s about Amy’s trip to Europe with her aunt or else this will surely be embargoed by the flightless ratites who lay green eggs. There is a farm in Minnesota (? Michigan) that will ship you fresh emu eggs, I’ll have to go look it up.
Terrific puzzle, but I actually found yesterday more challenging. “Your mileage may vary” 🙂
That was easy peasy lemon rind squeezy after last night’s slog.
I questioned if I should start a Saturday at almost 10pm. Boom - Lights out. Loved this puzzle. Sure, it was “easy” for a Saturday, but it had great, long, interesting fill. We all got whooped yesterday so enjoy the ride, people. If you need a two hour puzzle, the archives have ya covered. Thanks and congrats, Julian Xiao and Ben Tolkin!
Another impossible Friday followed by an easy Saturday.
Easy compared to yesterday's puzzle. Really liked it, and a new personal best on a Saturday! :)
@MeggieKitty same my Friday took twice as long as my Saturday. Not quite my PB today but close!
@MeggieKitty This was my personal best Saturday time as well. It looked so difficult to me, at first, that I wasn’t thinking at all about time and just played with it casually. I even took time to read about BOKEH, a word new to me, after getting it from unassailable crosses. Then everything started falling into place and before I knew it I was finished. It helped that I had no stupid typos to track down. My only serious wrong turn was figuring that the museum near Annapolis must belong to the USN rather than the NSA.
@MeggieKitty totally agree. I gave up on Friday's. Today was 22 minutes with an uncooperative computer.
So perhaps Friday and Saturday should have been swapped. Friday: twice my normal time, Saturday: one third my normal time. Felt like a Tuesday or Wednesday really….
After flying through the top half, I was convinced the bottom half would be a killer. And here I am, still alive. Fun, fun, fun.
Delightful! Felt like I was on the same wavelength as the constructors! Got the hourglass clue immediately - love my soaps!
Nice puzzle with a number of great long answers. So long that I'm too lazy to cite examples, but you know what I mean. This took less than one-third of the time it took me to complete Friday's puzzle. While my time was close to a Saturday best, the fill was so fresh and fun, I'm not going to complain. I was unfamiliar with the Steinbeck quote, but he sure hit the nail on the head. At first, I thought the answer would be "his refusal to deal with climate change", but that didn't fit.
Back in the day one got the BOKEH effect with a little Vaseline on the lens..... but I never knew the word BOKEH. RIND was the kicker. My local (Sully's) lights the orange zest before placing said RIND in the glass. Very impressive. Thank you Ben and Julian a fine Saturday solve.
dk, I didn't need the technique for photojournalism, but when you and I were doing photography, BOKEH had not yet entered the English language. First Known Use 1997, in the meaning defined above
Great puzzle! Perfectly built and balanced. "Twist of a screwdriver" was my favorite clue.
Heh, what a difference a day makes. A nice, rainy Saturday morning solve over a few cups of coffee and slices of toasted panettone. But, I must agree with others on here that it might have been a little too easy for a Saturday, esp when compared to the buzz saw that was yesterday (still unfinished, btw). Not complaining either way - time to forge a new streak.