"Bacon bits" and "Northern hemisphere" have to be up there among my favorite NYT clues so far!
@Adam Until I read the column and saw that it was supposed to reference Bacon the philosopher, I was convinced that ESSAYS was some kind of slang for the food bacon, which I don’t eat. I was getting ready to impress my sister and brother in law, who do eat it, with my nifty new term lol.
@Rachel That’s a great story. Had you not seen the column and showed off your new vocabulary, you would never have heard the end of it!
@Adam Both clever clues, but you won't find either on Lewis's list on Monday, as neither one is a debut. In fact, the IGLOO clue has appeared four times, and once more in the plural. The ESSAYS clue has appeared three times, with one other in the singular. The fact that at least 26 people agree with you is proof that people forget, new people pick up the habit, and that a good clue is a good clue, even if not an original one.
You can use this scale of mine or the one on the roof! It's my weigh or the high weigh! (And if you use the one on the roof, that measures up.)
@Mike Holy Toledo! You really can pound them out. I centigram cracker to the emus as a bribe.
@Mike Ounce upon a time I thought these puns too heavy, now I bow to the incredible lightness of being Mike, up pound my word, I do. 🏆
Oh, bright, bright grid. Here we have a box bursting with winners. Look at them!: SPAMALOT over WE’RE RICH. OH BOO HOO over NICE WORK, over SOUR NOTE. The eights FOOD COMA and *MESSY BUN. The longs INNER DEMONS, *HIGHWAY HYPNOSIS, and DON’T TEMPT ME Plus, VOODOO and *HBCU. (Asterisks on NYT answer debuts.) No stale, staid puzzle, this. Punctuated by an OCTOthon of double-O’s (8), worthy of a “Woo Hoo!”. Punctuated by a staccato of “Hah!”-producing clues, like those for TROUPE, UNITS, NO-SHOW, THUD, and TROUPE. Conclusion: WHEE! – from top to bottom. On a NYT puzzle debut! A debut on a Friday! Leaving me hungry for more! Congratulations, Colin, on this. You have landed on a shining talent that I hope you pursue. And thank you so much for a sterling ride today!
Oh, BOOHOO. I spilled my YOOHOO in my IGLOO while doing VOODOO. NICE WORK, Colin A fun ride, with no HIGHWAY HYPNOSIS.
@Vaer Makes me wanna hear some Hoodoo Gurus: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K2vjGGEnE6U" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K2vjGGEnE6U</a> (Drove 5 hours last night and I did experience a bit of the HH)
This one took me almost exactly half the time the Thursday puzzle did. Combination of Thursday's being tougher than the average Thursday, and this one being easier than the average Friday. !!!!
Similar experience, similar reasons. same old emus
@Steve L It took me a few minutes more than Thursday, but yesterday was one of my fastest Thursdays ever. I did think this was on the easy side for Friday, but I got a little hung up with a typo in OCTO that left me wondering who the oft-recorded jazz bassist RiN Carter was.
@Steve L PB Friday for me; actually a fair bit less than half Thursday’s time. But Thursday was well above my average time for a number of reasons.
With apologies to Frank Sinatra You do something to me Sometimes this puzzle mystified me Tell me, why should it be you highway-hypnotize me Let me live o'er your messybun Yoohoo and voodoo you make them so fun I cried boohoo in my igloo and got bluer Drank milk from the old ewe straight from the ewer Let me live 'neath your spell Nile to Iberia, east to Styx & straight to hell For you do something to me That voodoo food-comatized me that nobody else could do that nobody else could do OK, Blue Eyes, take it away! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEC-45rinas&ab_channel=JanAdamec" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEC-45rinas&ab_channel=JanAdamec</a> Love this puzzle, the cluing was first rate and there's nary a sour note to be found (I'd have preferred teas to be tea, but maybe there were several kinds, including Pekoes, Billed as "black tea from China). TIL about the Nene Goose, and you can too, for two minutes (ignore the first 30 secs of TV garbage): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hMiO7LnpNs&ab_channel=CBSTEXAS" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hMiO7LnpNs&ab_channel=CBSTEXAS</a>
@john ezra Apologies to Cole Porter, you mean. He had a way with a lyric. But yours was excellent!
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Mr. Adams! I wish you well in whatever comes after college, and I hope we’ll see you back here again someday.
That one felt breezy after yesterday’s beat down. Loved it - with all the OOs. I think the crossword gods sometimes know when we’ve been dealt a tough one so they’ll throw us a bit of a softball the following day. (Sometimes, certainly not all the time!) And, I say softball without a hint of disrespect for this really interesting and well clued puzzle. Friday-worthy, to be sure. I actually think it’s a sign of tremendous skill when a constructor can make a challenging puzzle have that easy flow. A Weintraubian talent. Crosslandia will be a better place if you stick with it, Colin Adams. Congrats on your debut and thanks for a great puzzle!
As one who puts way too much time on comment boards, especially in the NYT and WaPo, I have to say this is my favorite one. It's so nice to be able to write something without being called an anti-Semite, or a libtard, or a dippy hippy. I love all of you guys. Well, maybe not love, but you're all ok.
I blazed through this one but it felt fun, plenty of things I didn't know off the top of my head but no quarrelsome corners where I couldn't crack the code. Good job!
Colin Adams created a Friday puzzle during his last semester in college. (I couldn’t even FINISH a Friday puzzle when I was in college!) Congratulations, Colin, on the NYT debut AND the upcoming graduation! Happy Friday, everyone!
I’ve no complaints about this one being too easy after my struggles with yesterday’s. Given the proliferation of double Os as noted below, it seems like oolong ought to have been in the puzzle too (perhaps as Boston Harbor detritus). ‘Twas nice to see a reference to the master of quirky crime fiction, ELMORE Leonard. Leonard’s books contain dozens of unforgettable characters, some bad, some good, and most somewhere in between, but all interesting, and all of them conversing in some of the best dialogue ever written. My favorite of his many titles is Get Shorty, a clever send up of Hollywood, which was also made into a decent movie (the book is much better though) which features a small role for James Gandolfini as muscle for a mobster, years before he became Tony Soprano.
@Marshall Walthew “Get Shorty” is probably the only ELMORE Leonard novel I have read. I enjoyed it and I don’t know why I haven’t read more of his stuff. That said, I wouldn’t have minded seeing ELMORE James in the puzzle. He was a fantastic blues guitarist who should be as well known as B.B. King or Muddy Waters.
@Marshall Walthew I met him once when he spoke at the Tucson Festival of Books. I was a volunteer there. A very kind, gracious, and thoughtful man.
Loved the 'Bacon bits' clue. Otherwise quickish.
A very fast Friday for me too. I love seeing the profusion of OO's, with no Oreo O's in sight. EAGLE may be tied to Boston but it works with APOLLO too. I wonder if VOODOO can be used to exorcise one's INNER DEMONS. Congrats on your debut and your impending graduation, Colin.
@Henry Su, I'm also a bit weary of OREOs. I wouldn't mind seeing a Hydrox or two.
Excellent job, Colin, and we are here to assure you that adulting isn't as hard as it's made out to be (except when it is). Looking forward to more puzzles from you. Go Eagles! PS I thought stand-up person was NOSHER, which is an example of pure projection. Heading to fridge . . .
Finished Friday’s puzzle with NO peeking!!! Haven’t done that in a LONG time. Feels great!
This was a great Friday puzzle - fun clues, interesting answers, but not too much of a struggle. The stuff I've never heard of before, like HIGHWAY HYPNOSIS or MESSY BUN, was very fairly clued with nice crosses. A wonderful debut! Colin Adams, it sounds like you're graduating from Boston College, Spelman, or Howard. I'm guessing Boston College because there's a second Boston clue in the puzzle - am I right?
I'm reasonably sure Colin is not at Spelman... historically emu
There were clever clues that made laugh and some that made me slow down and think, but altogether, a smooth ride through a satisfying puzzle. (Anyone else have Sad Truth for SOURNOTE?—my only stumble in this relaxing puzzle). Congratulations on graduating from college, Colin Adams, but I think a New York Times Crossword debut is right up there in difficulty. We're looking forward to seeing more puzzles from you.
My goodness! I don't want to sound a SOUR NOTE, but this was easier than yesterday's by a substantial factor...though I finished both handily. This must have hit me on a good day... even things I didn't know but put down anyway turned out to be correct. Plus, my new fave cheese! Re PECOS Bill: at some point I was quite ill and confined to bed for a week during our time in Ft. Smith, but despite our weekly pilgrimmages to the library, I had run out of reading material. My mother went to the library and picked out the two fattest books she could find--The Wizard of Oz (reading about the Flying Monkeys while running a high fever: bad idea!) and The Legends of PECOS Bill.....or, More Than You Wanted to Know about A Minor Texas Icon. Even this bookworm couldn't take that much foolishness.
Such a funny SPAMALOT clue! It makes me cry OH BOO HOO that I never saw the show. If I had seen the show, I'm sure I would have shouted YOO HOO. (I can't fit VOODOO and IGLOO into my narrative, but the puzzle-maker did.) An odd sort of theme/no theme Friday. Some colorful fill: I liked INNER DEMONS, FOOD COMA, and especially HIGHWAY HYPNOSIS which was new to me. But then I don't drive. I loved the clue for NO SHOW (64A). But there's a really b-a-a-a-a-d POC. I mean TEAS is unfortunate enough, but to clue it that way...Yikes. I imagine the rebels standing in Boston Harbor. "I'll toss in a Lipton," says one. "I've got an Earl Grey," says another. "Here goes the Tetley's" says a third. SPLAT SPLAT. SPLAT. Ah, yes, the many TEAS that ended up in Boston Harbor. (You know I'm only TEASing you, Colin.)
@Nancy Please consider spelling out POC. I know you don’t mean “person of color,’ and so too do many of the regular Wordplay readers. But other folks might be wondering what you mean.
@Eric Hougland Thank you, I still have no idea what Nancy meant by POC, as I'm only familiar with the acronym for Person Of Colour/Color.
Enjoyable Friday, easier than most but I am not complaining. Got stuck on makeup artist. I knew it wouldn’t be cosmetics but got stuck on the idea that it was someone making up, apologizing, etc. I walked away from the puzzle to pour some coffee when liar popped into my mind. I love the way crossword puzzles make the brain work, sometimes subliminally.
Congratulations on a lovely debut, Mr. Adams. I’m sure we will be seeing more from you in future. There was a lot to like, and although it was quite a smooth solve, it was nice to have a Friday puzzle that didn’t frustrate me and require “research” on my part. The clue for SPAMALOT was one of my favorites. Best of luck to you post-college.
A very nice puzzle that solved quickly and smoothly. I didn't know that about STYX, but I always have trouble keeping the really old mythological characters straight.
@Liz B I figured the noble gas was either argON or XENON, and STYX seemed likely for the mythological daughter, but I held off until I had some cross that confirmed one of them.
@Liz B I have recently read the first six volumes of the Percy Jackson series and it makes an excellent mythology refresher, which helps very often in crosswords. I can recommend it.
Congratulations, Colin! Wonderful puzzle. I solved it very quickly and it made me feel super smart. All kidding aside, IGLOO and ESSAYS were memorable answers. And as others have said, the long entries were fresh but gettable.
I was surprised by the clue for NENE since it seems to be quite common in crossword puzzles
When I was just a little girl I asked my mother, "What will I be?" "Will I be hearty? Will I be hale?" Here's what she said to me "Que SERA, SERA Whatever disease, will free" cc: emu handler
Wonderful debut - so much fun, evocative fill and great clueing. “Northern hemisphere” for IGLOO was a particular favourite for me.
Oo! Oo! This was a great debut! As a former road warrior my measures to counter HIGHWAY HYPNOSIS was to roll the window down and loudly scan the AM dial. Best way to avoid being a NOSHOW. NICEWORK!
The clue "First, and so far only, chimpanzee chimp to orbit Earth" should be amended to read, "First, and so far only KNOWN chimp to orbit Earth." There may be many others. As written, the clue smuggles in the speciesist assertion that chimpanzees are incapable of doing this without humans assisting.
@Jeff Z Yes, and what about apes? A whole planet full of those. Did you honestly think that was really Roddy McDowell? Hybrid from a cat and a bird? An emeow.
@Jeff Z Make that First, and so far only known to humans anyway… Let’s not assume what other species know or don’t know. Sorry to nitpick. Oh, there I go with a monkey slur of my own…
That was my fastest time for a Friday puzzle! Fun, though.
@DQ Same here, by a lot! It surprised me to whip through so quickly on a Friday, and no need for wild guesses or lookups. As soon as I got a few crosses it all fell into place.
Oh, this was fun! 😊 It felt fresh and sparkly, and just a joy to work my way through. Congratulations Colin, and we hope to see you back soon!
Nice puzzle and glad to see our new constructor. Not terribly easy for me, of course. Had to do a couple of googles but then it was just working the crosses and it all fell together. Did come in under my Friday average. At least I was able to pick up STYX just from the clue. One answer history search today was inspired by HBCU. Looked up MOREHOUSE. Somewhat surprised that it's appeared only twice. Seems like a friendly string of letters. And... on that note, don't know how many will get this: More than a couple of times in conversations when something about Atlanta's colleges has come up, I always enjoy saying: "Oh, my wife went to Morehouse." That always leads to furrowed brows until it finally dawns on them. Fun puzzle find today too - I'll put that in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened. Roundabout search today inspired by TINA; started out by wondering about IKEANDTINA - nope - nothing like that has ever been in a puzzle. But then did some other searches for variations on TINA or TINATURNER and came across a really amazing Sunday puzzle from July 3, 1994 by A.J. Santora with the title "Overcrowding." Theme clue/answer in that one: "Singer on a South American gig?" ARGENTINATURNER Some other theme answers: SUDANRATHER PANAMAANDPAKETTLE HUNGARYCOOPER BOHEMIAFARROW ETHIOPIAZADORA and... BOLIVIANEWTONJOHN Eleven theme answers in total in that one. Amazing. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/3/1994&g=73&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/3/1994&g=73&d=A</a> ..
@Rich in Atlanta Well, you got me. At first, I thought you meant that your wife was Black, which might be puzzling to some good ol' boys down below the Mason-Dixon, but then it occurred to me that Morehouse is a men's college. So, care to elaborate?
Rich, Re: Morehouse Newbies may not know your wife is a doctor... MD, not DVM, emus
Like some others I found this a fast Friday. For me, 41% faster than average. My time was closer to Wednesday's average than any other day of the week. Have to admit, I appreciated a faster finish after being slower than average for the previous three days. VOODOO, YOOHOO, and BOOHOO. Nice!
@Jim You didn't even say TOOdle-OO! POOh! Emu Or EE-MOO?
@Jim My time was exactly the same as my Wednesday average. >>>
Congrats on an easy-breezy debut! Loved the fresh and fun fill, esp. the "yoohoo" crossing "boohoo" and "voodoo" over those nasty "inner demons". I'm still trying to guess what college our dear constructor is graduating from (there are 3 in the puzzle), but other than that, a quick solve on a snowy Friday.
@Chungclan Snowing up there? One day earlier this week, it snowed but by 5 PM the sun was out and all snow melted the next day. TG! I do hate dragging a snowy car into the garage ... Anyway, have a wonderful day!
In addition to Apollo, there is another Greek deity going to the Moon: Artemis. The Artemis I mission in 2023 was a smashing success. Artemis II will take astronauts around the Moon, and Artemis III will be a landing on the South Pole, where there is liquid water. This is far, far more than "flags and feet" missions. NASA is establishing a lunar base and future colony.
@Alan Parker Wow. I guess I need to disappear down a rabbit hole. TY for the info, Alan!
For some weird reason I began with down clues at first and took wild stabs. Post thanksgiving drowsiness? I was convinced MEATCOMA was the answer and it worked quite well.. until it didn't Fun Friday for sure.
Congratulations, Colin for both the puzzle and for your upcoming graduation. I enjoyed this puzzle a lot and hope to work on more of your puzzles. I wish you much luck after college.
Whoosh! Flew through it with almost a Tuesday time! Figured y’all would hastily prove it was, as suspected, simply a breezy Friday. But I liked it. Solid, and some fun phrasing peppered about. God on a mission. 👍 Congratulations Colin! Keep ‘em coming. And take a nap here and there…
Thanks, Colin, good puzzle. I think my INNER DEMONS infested the northeast corner, there's no other credible reason why that took so long for me to fill. My initial mistake was to 7D "Compete in a freestyle" poetry SLAM. Oops. HIGHWAY HYPNOSIS is a real problem for me, I could never be a truck driver. Blasting music helps. Better yet, get off the boring interstates and drive the local roads where there are things to see and places to stop. Shun-piking, as my parents called it. Maybe stop at an emu farm.
@Linda Jo There is a "Shunpike Road" nearby and I never gave its meaning a thought so thanks for that mention. From the wiki: "Shunpiking is the act of deliberately avoiding roads that require payment of a fee or toll to travel on them, usually by traveling on alternative "free" roads which bypass the toll road. The term comes from the word shun, meaning "to avoid", and pike, a term referring to turnpikes, which is another name for toll roads. People who often avoid toll roads sometimes call themselves shunpikers. Historically, certain paths around tollbooths came to be so well known they were called "shun-pikes". " <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunpiking" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shunpiking</a>
What a delightful -- and promising! -- debut. We'll be looking for more puzzles from this very bright young man. I loved the cluing, and the ones that delighted me the most have already been mentioned by previous posters. I had a whole lot of difficulty remembering the space chimp's name. My mind kept going to Leika (sp?), but that was a dog, and American, not Soviet. Happy weekend all.
@Deadline Laika was a Soviet space dog.
@Deadline I wanted to put HAMM, because a monkey named Ham was also sent into space, by the US. But it was a suborbital flight, so congrats to whoever wrote this terrific clue.
OH BOO HOO, what a struggle in the NE! SlaM (as in poetry) before SWIM with loliRICH (Yeah, I know) before WERERICH and ARm before ARK. Also argON with airbus before IBERIA, lena instead of STYX, and baSES instead of RISES. Key to unraveling it was grokking ITINA followed shorty with IBERIA and UNITS. YOO HOO! Love all the Os! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
@Ron Me too! I didn’t have UNITS, IBERIA, STYX or the TI of ARENTI. At first I thought XENON but then thought a mythical character’s name would end in A so wrote Argo. Sometimes it’s first thought, best thought! I flew Iberia last fall, too so you got me! Very good one and congrads!
I cranked thru this one very quickly. Very few hesitations and no corrections needed. A little too smooth for a Friday. Some clever answers though.
Great debut, Colin! Looking forward to seeing more puzzles from you. Best wishes with all the adulting stuff. Go Bisons!
Deb, well look at you, nitpicking a clue. Hopefully it will preempt a slew of nits on this subject, but I fear folks will still want to assault the deceased equine. And I get your point on "make up" vs "make-up" or ("make up"), but I think the clue was fine as is, since I think some leeway should be allowed on clever misdirects like this. Wasn't the first or last time we'll see the invocation of crossword license, and I am OK with that.
Nice and choppy today. Was able to instinctively fill in most of the long across entries due to the on point cluing and fresh phrases. Great job constructor and NYT team!
This was an enjoyable solve, and much faster than yesterday. I had to do a few lookups (college stuff) but most was solvable with crosses. Some clever clues that made me laugh, and fresh words and phrases I hadn't seen before in puzzles. Great debut!
I thought it was too easy for a Friday.
"Bacon bits" is a cute clue for ESSAYS, but it's not a debut. This is its third appearance, and singular ESSAY has been clued as "Bacon bit" twice, most recently less than a year ago. Fri May 26, 2023 35A Bacon bit? (2) Hemant Mehta
@Barry Ancona Thanks for pointing that out, I had no idea! I went back to look at that crossword (which I had solved at the time) and felt like Gandalf in Moria: "I have no memory of this place..."
@Barry Ancona Oops. I made much the same comment because I hadn’t seen yours. Sorry.