Cute theme, but some frustrating crosses. TIMON and NERTS? OSRIC and ASLAN?
@Jack You've got to brush up your Shakespeare! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Zzl_HH4XQ" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Zzl_HH4XQ</a> (This is the third attempt to get this to post. Previous attempts may post eventually, but I keep thinking I'm adding enough....but maybe not. So just for length: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.)
@Jack They were frustrating for me too, but after I did finally get them and finished the puzzle, I checked my time and it was just slightly below my Tuesday average. So I guess their inclusion actually worked out for me as a typical Tuesday.
Felt too trivia/vocab forward for a Tuesday, at least for me, e.g., Aslan, nerts, Chiang, Torme, Osric, Timon, ach, Carl Jung, dirges. Yipes
@Mark DelGiudice I knew some of them, but not CHIANG, TIMON, OSRIC, and ASLAN. I don't look anything up when solving, so it took me a while to get it all. What would JUNG have thought of BIKINI-TANning emus?
@Mark DelGiudice While I agree with some of your pointed out words, I fondly remember the only song I've ever paid attention to by The Velvet Fog, Mel Torme. "Zaz Turned Blue" is on the Was (Not Was) album' "Born to Laugh at Tornadoes" from back in the '80s. It's on YouTube still, although it is probably not typical Mel Torme material. I should probably show myself out now.
@Mark DelGiudice The puzzle was impossibly hard for me with all the proper names and trivia, and unusual words. I would not have been able to complete it without lookups, and that very rarely happens on a Tuesday. Yeah, yeah, I should enjoy learning things, and these answers were used many times before, probably (I am sure somebody will post xwordinfo stats for Timon, and how he has been clued 678 times since 1942), but c'mon, it's Tuesday. There have been Saturdays with less trivia, and I enjoyed them more than this "Tuesday."
When I multiply sine by secant on the beach, I get a tan. (My friends say I look radian.)
@Mike Seems like circular reasoning. Too triggy for a Tuesday.
@Mike I will not cosine onto this degree of pun.
@Mike Warning to new arrivals from some who are already HALF BAKED: Hypotenuse.
Tripped over 22A—filled in NOVIA early for the romantic “girlfriend” thinking AMIGA would be the platonic “girl friend.”
@Miles You are right. This clue should have been written "Spanish girl friend". I'm annoyed by this clue.
@Miles I did the exact same--I thought "girlfriend" typically implied a romantic relationship, whereas "girl friend" leans platonic.
@Miles This one really tripped me up. I ended up asking a fluent friend. “Is there another word for girlfriend that I’m not aware of?” Thankfully, he’s a little quicker on his feet than I am, and went right to AMIGA after novia.
nerts? Is that a thing? Is it a Britishism?
@Asher It's a thing. It's a euphemism for "nuts". It's old-timey, from an era when saying "nuts" was taboo. It's not especially British.
Did not know there was another spelling of DRyLY. OLyGARCH felt wrong, but I figured it was the correct spelling since DRyLY seemed like it had to be correct. And so, with no gold star, I looked elsewhere. Always painful spending time in a fly speck reworking correct answers. Anyway, eventually I learned something this evening. Something only useful in Crosslandia, but something, nonetheless. Thanks for the excellent, difficult Tuesday, Robert S. Gard.
I SAW instead of Vidi? I guess it’s still Caesar’s boast, but man, did it throw me!
@Søren Thustrup Me too! My high school Latin teacher is tut-tutting from the afterlife. Maybe “vidi” will appear on a Friday or Saturday…
@Søren Thustrup Seems to me that “Veni, Vidi, Vici” is an apt call for us cruciverbalists immediately after having solved a NYT crossword puzzle. 🙂 By the way, speaking of Julius Caesar, the famous Canadian comedy duo, (Johnny) Wayne & (Frank) Shuster had a brilliant sketch — it was their first one, “Rinse the Blood of my Toga”, played in 1958 on the The Ed Sullivan Show, where they appeared a record 67 times — in which Wayne plays a “private Roman eye” tasked with solving the crime of the murder of JC. If you’re under five years old, you may never have seen it, in which case, enjoy! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR_5h8CzRcI" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR_5h8CzRcI</a> Emus, apage!
“DRILY” DRILY? Yes, but only for the purposes of the crossword puzzle. Ignore it for anything else. Ah sure, that takes a lot of rizz to use bad grammar like that. Totally rizz, dude-bro. Totes Mcgoats, totes mcgoats.
@Michael Try NGRAM'ing DRILY. Lots of books use it.
@Michael I'm a Brit, and have always seen it spelt drily. Maybe just another British/American spelling difference? Dryly looks odd to me.
@Michael I truly didn't know it was spelled any other way than drily (middle-aged American here). Good to know both spellings are used - might unstick me on a future puzzle.
This was one of the toughest Tuesdays you've published in a while! DRILY and NERTS had me tearing my hair out! Also I had 'AID' for 44D 'Chip in' for an embarassingly long time.
@Matt NERTS and DRILY are warts on this puzzle. Not a fan.
Had some problems with the clue "where it's at" because 'two turntables and a microphone' didn't fit.
@Jill from Brooklyn Best comment today! You must be a fellow Gen Xer. I thought the exact same thing. And have had the song stuck in my head since I saw the clue.
Okay, I've never done this before. For the record I probably won't solve the puzzle until morning's coffee. But I made a comment late yesterday and a few folks asked for details and I didn't see those requests until REALLY late, so here goes, hopefully in a place it will be seen. And yes it's Off Topic, but it's in reply to something which was On Topic, albeit yesterday. in the 2000s I was at the center of an NLRB action; I was the main target of a venue which didn't want my union involved. To plead our case I was asked to submit a trove of emails . At the NLRB hearing I was asked why my two bosses (not the targets of the investigation) repeatedly called me Vlad in the emails when it was clearly not my name. I had to explain to the PTB* that my middle initial is V, and I was a big fan of Buffy (the vampire slayer). I quoted the show often at work (come on, it remains eminently quotable: "could you vague that up for me?" remains in heavy rotation) and I would often say things like "well, what would Buffy do?" or "Giles would have handled that differently" or "that's exactly what Cordelia would have said". So my nickname became Vlad The Impaler--amusing in a very small group of workmates, but difficult to explain in a hearing. :\ So thanks for listening. *Powers That Be
@Bob T. I’m glad I just popped in to look at the comments so I got to read this. So—and I’m sure this is googleable but it would probably take awhile to penetrate the proper arcana—Vlad was not a bad sort of Impaler on the show? (I’m only familiar with the original article.)
@Bob T. I then felt compelled to do the puzzle so I could seem at least marginally relevant. It was a good one; my time was a bit longer than my average, but then again there was no coffee involved, so... I won't complain. I'm feeling a bit half-baked myself, so I will sign off, and check in in the morning to see if anyone noticed what I had to say. I really do appreciate this community, so thx.
I think I need some LAVA CAKE after this one. A personal natick at OSRIC and ASLAN, and another one at KRAKEN, TORME, and ANDY. Oof! Gingerly I confess, I only know DIRGES because of Don McLean's "American Pie." "And while Lennon read a book on Marx The quartet practiced in the park And we sang dirges in the dark The day the music died." The classic boast from Caesar, ISAW was a total dook for me...IS AW, huh?...until it clicked that it was in English which is not how it comes to me when I think of the phrase. Tough Tuesday but veni, vidi, vici after all. Thank you, Mr. Gard! Stand proud and take a bow -- nothing about this puzzle was HALF-BAKED!
@sotto voce Alas, I had the same natick. I had in my skull 'Alas, poor Orric' instead of Yorick
Finally got it, but "Drily"? Never too old to learn, I guess, but pretty sure I've never seen that spelling.
@Wrandy this threw me as well. And I am known for my dri humor
@Wrandy same, I couldn't solve this tough Tuesday and was behaving shily, not to be confused with wrily. Then I changed my y to an i and heard the magic chyme! (I also did a google dive into spelling anachronisms)
@Wrandy Indeed. I had OLYMPIAN for 11D, based on that Y, and patted myself on the back for my cleverness.
The Spanish major in me was tripped up with AMIGA. We put NOVIA but the crossings quickly revealed that wasn't it. NERTS/TIMON was tricky too but otherwise this was a fun solve with a clever theme. Happy solving, from the McMurdo Supply Department!
@Michael Breaking news: McMurdo Supply Dept. in the house! Wait until Newbie catches a hold of this; he'll do somersaults, I'm sure. Welcome back to all! You've been missed.
@Michael I was thinking the same about AMIGA, but then I realized that it would be accurate if the clue were referring to girlfriend in the platonic sense (as in a straight woman hanging out with her girlfriends).
I have to say it’s really frustrating when someone is complaining about struggling through an unusually high amount of trivia / proper nouns / obscure trivia in a particular crossword, to then get responses in the comments about how so-and-so has been clued 545 times since 1905. Like okay, sure, but are NYT crosswords only to be solved by people who have solved 544 other crosswords? What about us newbies, I guess tough luck with our crossword struggles then? Jeez. These comments aren’t helpful and to be honest come across a bit smug. The other day someone said they weren’t buying the (hundreds of) complaints about done unusually tough crossings because some of those words had appeared so often in previous crosswords. I guess we all conspired across the globe to complain on the same crossword then. To be clear, not saying all crosswords should be easy necessarily, I’ve certainly learned a ton over my 78-day-and-counting streak so far. But some of these complaints are legitimate as evidenced by the number of recommends many of them get, and a little empathy or kinder guidance from more experienced folks would help a ton. I mean that’s why we come here to comment anyway, right? To find others who had similar experiences, and maybe learn a thing or two as well?
@Jess I think your first sentence sums up the disconnect here. I realize that your cluing comment about being in the puzzle 545 times is rhetorical....But think about it from the perspective of the long time solver....A new solver has announced unilaterally that a clue is obscure...or hard...and yet it has been in the puzzle for 100 years. Every expert solver was a new solver at one point and through time, and practice, and education learned what those hard words are. Every single one of them had puzzles which were just too hard to solve and they put them aside...or researched them on the internet or in books/print *gasp* If newer solvers want help....They can always come here and get it.....Every single day someone will ask for an explanation of an answer and get it...OR less often....someone will ask how they could be better at solving a specific part of a puzzle...and there will be numerous suggestions. What isnt taken very well in this crowd is when new solvers come by and announce that THIS WORD or THAT WORD was too hard and that the NYT should use it. It always comes across like a student who didnt study complaining that the test was too hard.
@Jess I wholeheartedly agree, Jess. I think some folks have solved so many crosswords that they forget some of these words are actually obscure or purely crosswordese, even though they may appear in a lot of puzzles. Others just like to belittle others (under the guise of mentorship) as a way of making themselves feel accomplished. Then, of course, there are those that do both, and even sprinkle in for good measure some copy/pasted web links to show you their source material and give you a good place to start your research so you can be as cultured as they are. I find that those folks tend to solve earlier in the day, so the comments section tends to be a little friendlier as the day goes on. But those types do seem few and far between. I'm not a regular commenter, but I am a daily solver and reader of Wordplay. Most folks are very nice, helpful, funny, and positive. And smart...man, some of these people are SO smart. One puzzle at a time...each week gets a little easier. Good luck!
What do you get when you cross Hamlet with Narnia, and Shakespeare with a made up word? A blue-star Tuesday!
@Bill in Yokohama A made up word? All words are made up! And NERTS was made up almost 100 years ago. It was popular around when I was born because it was considered too vulgar to say "nuts" as an interjection. Sorry you didn't get your gold star.
@Bill in Yokohama SNARKED, perhaps? The youngs must 'verb' everything.
Way too tough for a Tuesday. The crosses NERTS/TIMON, OSRIC/ASLAN, and CHIANG/AGGRO were all potential Naticks. ⭐️
I was listening to an old song by the New Pornographers at dinner and when they sang the opening line — “When the contact high from the real-life adventures wear off” — I started thinking that CONTACT HIGH would be a nice crossword entry. Thanks for delivering so quickly, Mr. Gard!
@Eric Hougland Different song for me. BIKINI TAN ("Bodies in the sand") MAI TAI ("Tropical drink melting in your hand") WILD IDEA ("Baby why don't we go?") Tropical CONTACT HIGH .... Kokomo!
@Eric Hougland Two nights ago, I woke up as I do at 2:11am. I’m awake for hours. It’s just a thing. One thing I do is construct puzzles in my mind. I spent a quite a while working on a clue that would include both Madison Square Garden and the flavor enhancer. Like, “NYC arena to savor?” (Bad, I know, but I only had about 17 bad ideas, and zero winners.) Woke up, opened the puzzle, and there was MSG. It happens more often than seems logical. “Like when you’re thinking about a plate of shrimp…”
Shakespeare, Suetonius, Swiss Sychologists, and Kraken all in one night? A fantastic treat. . . To paraphrase Jung: Everything that irritates us about emus can lead us to our posts not showing up.
one of the worst tuesdays i've seen in a while. DRILY/MOOLA/NERTS/CHIANG/TORME again, far too many proper nouns. it's not fun.
@Charles MOOLA and NERTS are not proper nouns. You might have mentioned Carl Jung, but the. You’d have to complain that he’s not the founder of analytical psychology. Freud was. Jung was a disciple of Freud’s but developed his own school of thought on the human psyche.
Wow. I can’t believe there are so many cranky comments about this puzzle. I thought it was delightful, with just enough crunch to make it fun. I had to check the grid after getting the “keep trying” message, and quickly saw that DRyLY had to be DRILY. That didn’t really surprise me. After finishing, I did a little research and found this from WordPress.com: “In most varieties where the figures can be taken as meaningful, there is a clear preference for dryly, most markedly in US English, closely followed by Canadian.” Hope you can ignore the complaints, Robert S. Gard, and I hope to see more of your puzzles soon. This activity is one of the many ways I try to combat my fear and frustration about all the scary things happening in our world. Be well, everyone.
Too…. tough… for…. a….. Tuesday. I was literally about to call an end to my second longest ever streak when I happened “play” (as in, I won the lotto!) just the right combination of mystery letters I was stuck on, and the gold star was very (very, very, very) luckily had. Won’t bore people with the combination of letters I was stuck on in various parts of the puzzle, but a skim of the comments suggests I was not alone in my difficulties.
It turns out that everything is HALF-BAKED: Newtonian physics, Shakespearean couplets, crossword puzzles, elections, a flock of geese (fifty strong at least) lifting off one by one simply because they feel my presence approaching to fly off somewhere else. Excellent theme and puzzle. Dug the Shakespeare, the CHIANG, the CLUNG and JUNG of it.
A true Baby Boomer here —born and raised on “I Love Lucy”, I confidently entered “nertz”. Of course, crossing NISSAN, I knew the answer had to be NERTS. Lucy and Ethel are vying for the presidency of the Wednesday Afternoon Fine Arts League. Both have created mudslinging campaign signs. Lucy’s- “Nertz to Mertz” Ethel’s- “A vote for the red-head is a vote for the dead-head” Ah memories. . . And don’t get be started on SSGTS. 7 minutes above my Tuesday avg. picking apart that one. Anyone going to Norway soon? There’s a fjord in your future.
@James Morgan This Gen-Xer learned NERTS from watching M*A*S*H reruns. It was Frank Buns' minced oath of choice.
Well, Robert has range, his first two Times puzzles being a Saturday and Tuesday. Range like that makes him capable of hitting the cycle (having a puzzle published every day of the week), and even to hit it in his first seven puzzles, a feat only accomplished by Andrew Ries in 2017. So, Robert, I say – “Get KRAKEN!” A highlight for me of his first puzzle was the clue [Clipper’s bounty], seven letters.* HALF BAKED has been used a handful of times as a theme before, among the major venues, but never like this. Mainly it has played on the word HALF, whereas today it plays on BAKED – a very clever twist. When my eyes fell on BEAU and TAI in today’s finished grid, my brain shouted “Bow tie!”. And trying to guess the revealer easily satisfied my brain’s work ethic – a Tuesday gift. Thank you for that, Robert, and for a puzzle that had a different feel than usual – a very good quality in a puzzle, IMO. * COUPONS.
I like some spice in a Tuesday puzzle, and this delivered. Didn’t know all of the proper names, but the crosses were pretty generous IMO. Only problem is that I’ve done all my regular daily puzzles and will be sitting for some hours as my husband undergoes his fourth (final🙏) surgery (second new left hip) in less than a year. Too nervous to read… Any great archive recommendations would be most welcome!
@Kate Best wishes to you both. I don’t have any specific recommendations, but here's a link to all of Jeff Chen's Puzzles of the Week going back to 2013. You could scroll through and pick what looks interesting to you. <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PowList" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PowList</a>
@Kate Best wishes for a speedy recovery. My mother got her new high-tech hip in January, and bounced back quickly.
For those of you who have never heard of Mel Tormé, here's a recording of his most famous song: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiT1lZ6pkK4" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiT1lZ6pkK4</a> And here's an example of his jazz chops (music starts aroung 1:45): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBDkhlqhDPM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBDkhlqhDPM</a> His nickname was The Velvet Fog.
@Steve L And frequently referenced (and did a guest appearance or two) on the original Night Court TV show. Great show! Judge Harry Stone was a huge stan of the Velvet Fog.
@Steve L My first thought was of the old TV comedy series, Night Court. The lead was Harry Anderson who idolized Torme both in character and in real life. From the wiki: "Tormé made nine guest appearances as himself (and one as a guardian angel) on the 1980s situation comedy Night Court. The main character, Judge Harry Stone, played by Harry Anderson, was depicted as an unabashed Tormé fan, an admiration that Anderson shared in real life; he would deliver the eulogy at Tormé's funeral." <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Torme" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Torme</a>
@Steve L First performance of his that pops into my head is his cameo on Seinfeld. One of the few Seinfeld episodes that induces cringes nowadays –– due either to our greater enlightenment or over-sensitivity.
Terrible puzzle for a Tuesday. A Spanish girlfriend is NOVIA. Dumb.
@Darren I understand that not everybody has the interest, nor the free time, to read all the previous comments. But how do you think it looks to many of us (who do pay some attention to this forum) for someone to show up so late and seemingly not read ANY of the previous comments, including that from Mike from McMurdo just a couple of hours ago. Just say’n. Dumb.
Enjoyed this. Never heard of Nerts so there’s a new word for me. However, as an Aussie living in the U.K. for the past 22 years, I have never, ever heard a Brit say the word AGGRO. It is however a VERY Aussie word.
Difficult for a Tuesday in my opinion. So it goes.
I'm going to agree with the rest of the pitchfork wielders on this one, unfortunately. The clueing was a stretch on multiple entries (NERTS, really?), and some just plain wrong (Jung, SSGTS). The advent of Google has not been a friend to crossword creators and solvers alike, as I'm convinced it makes it easier for creators to find any feasible clue for whatever mess of letters may be left in a tough spot, no matter how obscure. Creators should abide by the same unwritten code of honor that solvers live by...if you used the internet to create (or solve) a crossword, it's not a true win. Some might disagree with me on this, but you know it's true ;-) Anyone can Google their way to a gold star completion. And for the "Stan" answer, I'm young enough (or old enough, depending on perspective) to remember when this song came out. I had the album, and am very familiar with the song. Still didn't get the answer, because it was a bad clue...plain and simple. The thought that it might be "Stan" crossed my mind for a split second due to the cross answers, but then I said to myself "no way they'd reference a 24-year old obscure song without any reference to Eminem, music, or even a question mark. Especially for a Tuesday.
@Bret Stan as in a very devoted fan has been in general lingo for years now.
Having read a selection of todays comments, I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty of certain clues/answers, as it’s getting a little heated. Instead, I will say that I’ve found both yesterday and today pretty tough for early week puzzles. Not complaining mind, always good to shake up the norm. 31a made me laugh like a drain. I almost spilled my tea! It took me forever to get AGGRO, I frequently use/hear it, but never see it written, so it just didn’t spring to mind despite having A and O. Doh.
@Helen Wright yesterday I came in above my average time for a Monday which I don’t think had happened in over a year so I would agree yesterday’s puzzle was very difficult for a Monday!
So interesting how different people's experiences are with the same puzzle. I am terrible at recall but great at recognition. Maybe this is why I'm terrible at Scrabble but good at crosswords. Today's I found easy because I had seen all of these words in crosswords before except for CHIANG and TIMON. I remembered Timon from lists of Shakespeare's plays and got CHIANG on crosses. The only thing that held me up for a moment was that I forgot AGGRO had two g's. But when crosswords have a lot of sports references or pop music and TV from certain of my misspent decades, I am sunk. On those, I can spend a couple of hours or more after getting the 'Something's Amiss' message trying to figure out how to cheat within my personal parameters of cheatingness. (Confession for the purists: when it gets much after the 2 hour mark with Something's Amiss still there, I have been known to Google my answers to check the spelling. Especially if it is a proper name who is a current sports figure who is not: a) an ice skater, b) a gymnast, c) a swimmer, d) a cyclist, or e) a rock climber.) But NYT, please do NOT tailor your puzzles accordingly. If I don't learn pop and sports culture here, I won't learn them anywhere.
With as tough as this Monday and Tuesday have been, I'm not looking forward to the rest of the week
Just an observation; I'm not criticizing anyone specifically or directly, but there just seems to be a lot of people lately who find certain answers, particularly personal names, obscure that it never occurred to me might be. I could give specific examples, but if you scroll down, you can find them yourselves. If I list them here, it would look like an ad hominen attack, and that's not my intention. Yesterday, there were only about five personal names, of which I thought only one was really obscure, but there were complaints upon complaints about the proper names. Today, it continues. (And yesterday was hardly the first day this happened.) Is it that we're getting a lot of new solvers who just don't have that necessary knowledge base (at least yet)? One person complained about a "cardinal sin" of three names in one corner, as if there were ever a rule about this. Is there some general misconception among new solvers that proper names do not belong in a crossword? (Because by any measure, that's just not true...and there's never been a rule limiting them, either.) Just something I've noticed in the past few weeks.
@Steve L my suspicion in all of this is that the NYT puzzle has an expanding audience because it’s great and so easy to get with apps. Sooooo it reaches less experienced solvers who haven’t put in the time to learn that “list” of words which might easily show up in a crossword puzzle. This week’s example is Osric. If you’re going to pick a writer to use in a puzzle…Shakespeare is right there at the top of the list…and Hamlet…well….um…it’s Hamlet. So yeah….maybe some people didn’t learn many characters in Hamlet…but um…for the NYT they should.
Steve, As I was solving the puzzle last night, I was wondering how many posters would say the editors flipped the Monday and Tuesday offerings. I didn't get to the column and comments until this morning. I was rather disheartened to see the most recommended post expressed frustration with two crosses I entered without a second thought. Let me add that while I have read and seen several productions of "Hamlet" (10D), I have never read or seen "TIMON of Athens" (24D), I am not a C. S. Lewis fan (16A), and I prefer "Nuts!" to NERTS (23A).
@Steve L Returning to yesterday's kerfuffle, of three proper names crossing--Uzo ADUBA, Anais NIN, and ADRIAN Fenty: So, perhaps ADUBA and NIN were Natickable unknowns, but unless Mr. Fenty spelled his praenomen in some unusual manner, once you got ADRI_ _, the A and N were pretty obvious. C'mon, people--use your brains! I expect more people have confidently written "NIN" into a crossword grid, than have ever read *Delta of Venus*.
Drily? Stan? Timon? Nerts? Tons of proper nouns? Not a fan. Hajj also has two Js - it's not Haj. Not up to snuff imo but glad to see others enjoyed and congrats to the author.
@Jon is Stan a proper noun? What happens when a proper noun becomes a pronoun or an adjective?
@Jon Agreed. I googled DRILY and was stunned that there were no suggestions. None. And that never happens. Says a lot about the prevalence of that spelling.
Wow -- 279 comments! TL/DR. Well, skimmed. I knew I should have gone to the column and comments right after doing the puzzle this a.m. Now it's a bit too much after hobbling around trying to do some chores all day. I thought the theme worked beautifully. In fact, the whole puzzle came together smoothly. With one exception: The 65 square. I had no idea what "One of Islam's Five Pillars" could be, and I completely blanked on "Rudely 'welcome' the away team." I admit it; I revealed. Of course, once I saw that J I tumbled to "cheers and jeers," but it just took my brain a long time to think of it in the first place. Good themed debut. Thanks.
@Deadline — A treat to see you back on this VENUE, m’dear!! I think of you often, but most particularly on New Years Eve, when I’m sure you and your small friend(s) are hunkered down under the comforters. Wishing you a safe & sane 2024!
TIL that Mel Tormé’s nickname is the Velvet Fog and not the Velvet Frog. I always thought it was a touch rude, but that’s what grandma called him.
Surprised no one has mentioned that "amiga" is Spanish for friend who is a girl while "novia" is Spanish for girlfriend.. a space between girl and friend would have helped!
@Jamie I noticed that also, but am used to it these days. Most constructors don't come up with these clues on their own, and often just pull them from databases like xwordinfo or wordplays that fit their fill words. I don't think much thought goes into nuances like this, especially with non-English words.
@Jamie I was thinking the same, but then "girlfriend" can be used in a platonic sense too, as in a straight woman hanging out with her girlfriends.
Jamie, Not that it was incumbent upon you to scroll through over 250 posts, but it *had* been discussed in earlier threads. I saw it when I was here earlier. With crossword clues and answers, it's always a good idea to consider less likely usage. It is, after all, a puzzle. Que lastima.
Fun theme and fun puzzle. I don’t get all the criticism. While certainly some answers were annoying (“drily” instead of “dryly”) it’s a puzzle. Congrats to Mr. Gard.
Cute theme and fun puzzle. But what the heck is NERTS? is an off brand Nerf gun?
Yes, I'd like to send this letter to the Prussian consulate in Siam by aeromail. Am I too late for the 4:30 auto-gyro? And fill it up with petroleum distillate. And re-vulcanize my tires, post haste! Nerts.
More of a Wednesday, than a Tuesday. Difficulty-wise.
Wait. Was Liz Lemon aging NERTS all that time? Not NERDS?
Eh, not fun for me. Theme is a stretch, and too many esoteric clues. Some decent but definitely not my favorite.
Quite a challenging Tuesday. Top right corner and NERTS especially. I liked the theme though- my dad always uses the phrase "half-baked" to describe ideas :)
@Anushka The NE corner was my last area to fill. I wanted a common term for cabbage and lettuce leaves. Blanks. Then I thought money - MOOLA, the rest of the corner filled in a flash. ANd there seems to be near universal agreement regarding NERTS. I'm on the verge of old, but way too young to have ever said, or even heard NERTS. I just couldn't get anything else to cross. But it was a quick fun puzzle.
Every clue is easy if you know it, hard if you don’t. This one hit my lava cake-fueled sweet spot. But then, my younger self was always nerts for Aslan. The only thing that gave me pause was “ssgt”, which at first appeared to be a random stutter, if not the beckoning call of a military snake. But what do I know, I just tried to apply cold medicine to my thigh.
@Heidi My first encounter with SSGT (Staff Sergeant) was this: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BugBwt2ESpo" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BugBwt2ESpo</a> In 1966, it was a stark counterpoint to the mostly anti-war protest songs of the era.
@Heidi I had to laugh, I had the same thought for my legs. But is Contac still being made? It's a stiff breeze when emus sneeze.