Caitlin, your interpretation of the NAPA clue is absolutely correct! I can't count how many times I've submitted [The cabs are here!] as a clue for NAPA. I'm so glad it finally survived into a NYT puzzle, and even more glad that you caught the reference!
@Rebecca Goldstein That’s a great clue for NAPA. I’m glad you persisted with it.
Things I’m grateful for: Home from the hospital! Pain is manageable! Puppies are respecting my metal-filled ankle! Grocery delivery! And this beauty of a Saturday puzzle. It felt like a gift. The cabs here Sound of a flute (or something) Fly catcher Thank you, thank you!
@CCNY Glad you’re on the mend. And now you have a bionic ankle. Yesterday, before they put me under, they asked “do you have any metal in your body?” All my bad brain could think of was the Sopranos. Now I know what they meant.
I hate to ask but have you seen my Diary of Anais Nin? I've looked all over, even in the compost bin. (I did find "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" which compared to Nin was rather a bore.) And I hate to ask but was Borg really the best? Many an open season he played with hardly a rest, then took off his shoes, said simply, "I'm set" and went with a Yeti wearing 5-inch stiletti off to Tibet. And I hate to ask but will Lara replace Ronna the Rhino? Or will it be the ex-mayor, currently wino? (Some advice: if you replace those cabs with some boba eventually you'll get reasonably soba.) I hate to ask but what happened to Nero after Rome burned: did he do a big ReLo? I heard he's playing violin in that production of Tosca set in Jamaica with an infusion of ska. If "Oh God, yes!" is among your retorts to whether Borg was the best on the courts, that the RNC head will never be Mitt that no sexier a diary has ever been writ, that pluots and tigons are really a thing, that Nero plays fiddle but would much rather sing, that Tosca is best when set in Rome where the tenants may rent strike but still call it home, that in Napa Valley you won't find syrah, I'll nod very slowly and simply say, "Aah."
@john ezra If the fans of Taylor are Swifties, would the fans of Anais be Ninnies?
In "The Case of the Missing Eggs," the hard-boiled detective's mind is scrambled. (And if he doesn't crack it, his career is over, easy.)
@Mike Omelette it go at that. 🪺 (Have a seat, Emu. Make yourself useful.)
@Mike 1)! Those who eggnore egg pun history are doomed to rebeat it. 2) There is eggsistential despair in realizing the universe is an egg, and the yolk is on you.
@Mike. Or as the hens sing at Christmas “Gloria in eggshells each day oh.” (Not mine, borrowed from Pigorian Chant”j
Tough, sly misdirects, nicely chewy, and surprisingly quick after all the blanks I had at the first pass through. Satisfying Saturday.
Saturday puzzle cluing often is often heavy on vagueness and esoterica, but light on wordplay. What a treat, then, for wordplay clues to shine today, among the vague and esoteric. How lovely to have such cluing spark in addition to plenty of bite – riddles galore – so what R&R came up with, for me, was a rich, rich Saturday. Speaking of rich, 14 bigs (answers of eight letters or more), which are always fun to try to get with as few crosses as possible. Lovely NYT answer debuts as well – CLINKED, GOLDEN HOUR, MARKET RATE, and RUNS POINT. Sweet down-to-earths in OH GOD YES and I HATE TO ASK. I lit up when I saw the names atop this puzzle, founts of cleverness and zing. This is Rafael’s fourth puzzle in three months – a wow these days – and Rebecca, you are a Friday short of the cycle (a NYT puzzle for every day of the week), and how can that be? You are made for Fridays – get on it! A sea of white in my initial pass, but then STILLETOS broke open the southeast, and answers bled out from there, until, when the last square was filled in, I felt like standing and bowing to the makers of such a pleasurable outing for my brain and my love of beautiful words, love of spark, and love of witty thinking. Thank you greatly, Rebecca and Rafael. This was prime!
I'm totally thrilled for all the people who sailed through this puzzle. My first pass had two tiny fills, but nothing that would steer me in any direction, and personally, I thought it was a killer. Little by little, I managed to start chipping away, finally remembering words that had been hiding out in the back of my brain, sometimes in frustration grabbing the grid by the throat and threatening to strangle it if it didn't cough up at least something else that would help me even a little, and by some miracle it did start to fill up. In the end, I had two look-ups—John's last name and yes, Mr. Horrible, Nero—and chagrin was what I felt when I saw that all the beautiful, clever clues resolved into a fresh (maybe even easy for some) richly rewarding construction. Did I like your puzzle, Rebecca and Rafael? OH GOD YES!!!!
I felt so confident and smart when I immediately thought 52A was about Captain Cook and Easter Island, YETI was way off.
@Bill in Yokohama lol I thought the same thing! Discoverer or explorer didn’t fit!
@Bill in Yokohama Same here. This was my last place to fill. Could Captain Cook have been a HARDBODY? I’m pretty sure he was a HARDBOSS. Walked away for a while, then *lightbulb* oh, it’s a bit simpler than that. Doh!
What a smooth solve. I rode Rebecca’s and Rafael’s brainwaves like a NENE riding a lava-heated air current. Wait. “NE…WAT?” Also, I got 12D from the crosses but it still confused me. So I went to Wikipedia afterwards and looked up “concern,” and I see that it is comprised of a controlling enterprise and one or more controlled enterprises. “Okay,” I SAY, “But which one of them RENTS TRIKES?” (“And what do TEN ANTS have to do with it all?”) In other news, it was good to see our usual odes to skylarks switched up a bit. “TO A DETTE” sounds like a lovely tribute, whoever the young lass may be. “TOSCA, LAMA, and SOBA walk into a bar—“ Okay! Fine! Fine. I’ll stop now. GEEz, no need to get excited. Let’s let TIGONS be TIGONS already.
Deb: What are you drawing? Napoleon Dynamite: A liger. Deb: What's a liger? Napoleon Dynamite: It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic.
@Striker yeah this threw me too. I’ve always called it a Liger.
Que SYRAH, SYRAH. Any puzzle with TOSCA in it is okay by me. Can't deny that this wasn't a struggle, but I ultimately got there, perhaps because I didn't find the puzzle clued as vaguely as many a Saturday puzzle. TOADETTE came from somewhere. I have no idea where. Did not know Ms Mitchell, but will hopefully remember her. Never saw Hadestown, but always enjoyed the promos.
@Vaer Do you have a favorite tenor singing Mario? For me, it's Giuseppe Di Stefano. Do emus know Puccini's music?
Lots of paired answers (as well as paired clues) in this collab between Rafa and Rebecca. BORG and TENNIS SYRAH and NAPA RACE BIBS and LEGS SATE and I'M SET A breezy Saturday, and a nice way to relax after a long teaching week.
@Henry Su Nice finds, as usual. Add NANCY and RUNS POINT. Nancy Lieberman is probably the best point guard in women’s basketball history. The NCAA award for the best point guard of the year is named after her.
@Henry Su, Maybe too obvious to mention, but I would add the hybrids PLUOT and LIGON to that list. And RUNS POINT could be paired with both NANCY (as @Puzzlemucker points out) and AND ONE. But the best pairing of all in this one was clearly Rebecca and Rafa!
I thought this one had me! Fortunately I stuck with it, trusted my gut and had some luck! I never would’ve guessed TOADETTE, so that was a look-up, which helped with northeast corner. The answer to the specific hybrid fruit and dark grape varieties existed only in a dusty old corner of my mind, and required all but one letter! Do you love a good analogy? I tried to solve 48D through logic but instead learned about a RHINO collective being called a crash through crossings. Makes sense when you think about it. My girl Rihanna made the puzzle with her nickname. I love RIRI but she’s woefully behind schedule with a new album. I mean, it’s been since 2016! I get that she’s in her mogul era with cosmetics, lingerie, fashion and— yes — a perfume, but dang! The GOLDENHOUR here in Portugal is truly something to behold. Some photos I have taken seem surreal. I love it here.
@Pani Korunova And babies… I’ve heard they take up a lot of time. ;-)
I just realized that this comment section is heavily biased toward those who can solve the crosswords within a day, or reasonably expect to solve the crosswords within a day, or are willing to call it quits within a day. I wonder if there are still those out there who like to spend a week or two chewing over a chewy NYT Sunday puzzle, the way I did when I first started a couple of decades ago. There was no online puzzle page back then, and I was not aware of any online community of solvers, though there may have been. Just wondering if there is a place for a gentler onramp. In the other direction, now that my average Sunday solve has gone from two weeks to about 20 minutes (and my average Saturday solve has gone from 'never' to about the same as Sunday), wondering whether there is a place other than the archive for stiffer puzzles. Don't suggest cryptic crosswords. My average for them is still approximately 'never'.
@Lynn Like others here I work on The New Yorker puzzles of which a typical Monday could take me a couple of days of on and off effort. I still have this past Monday's laying around here somewhere. I too remember chipping away at a NYT Sunday in the magazine for the better part of a week.
Lynn, "Biased?" Sure, most of us solve the puzzle on a daily basis and come to Wordplay and the comments right after solving (or for help while solving). But you can read the column and the comments days, weeks, or months later; you just can't post. I'll let other multi-source solvers recommend other puzzles; I only also do The New Yorker.
@Lynn Boswords.org runs an online solving league a couple times a year, and also a couple of tournaments. There's a league starting this coming Monday. I've found the puzzles a little more challenging than the weekend NYT.
I can always do a Rebecca puzzle or a Rafa puzzle individually, but put them together and boy-oh-boy. It was 48 minutes of stop and go, advances, backtracks, lookups, deducing, staring, ahas, woo-hoos and, at long last, ta-daaaa! The cab's here! Let's toast! Thank you, you two, for a crazy and mighty fine workout. And now, salud, skål, cheers, and excuse me while I search for something to gulp down and celebrate my painstakingly achieved ta-da!
Such a fun Saturday — the rare combination of crunchy and smooth. I got NAPA right away and felt all the cleverer for it. My comeuppance came with CLINKED, which had me kvetching about the constructors misrepresenting the sound of a flute until it finally dawned on me. (What is the sound of a forehead slap?) And while the whole puzzle was wonderful, something about that NW corner strikes me as particularly harmonious. Perhaps that is because that hour before sunset is among my favorite times of the day, and such an evocative phrase. I am lucky enough to have a view of the northern part of Central Park, and, to my mind, there is nothing so lovely (at least in urban settings) as seeing the pink glow of Fifth Avenue across the park during the GOLDEN HOUR of a June evening. Thanks Rebecca and Rafa for a terrific puzzle.
Seeing "Rebecca Goldstein and Rafael Musa" at the top of my puzzle this morning made me smile. They're both terrific solo, and I vaguely remembered enjoying their previous collaboration. I immediately caught the NAPA misdirect, but had to stare a CLINKED for a good long while before I got that one. Nice! I had to make 2 erasures before calling it done. TOADEvTE clearly did not look right, and rERO was probably not the husband in question.
As usual - surprised to see that so many found this one easy. Another tough one for me, of course. Some googles, but mostly pondering and working the crosses. Ended up with one wrong square but managed to find it. One odd answer history search today - vaguely inspired by YETI. Somehow that led me to think of the quote: ANDYETITMOVES (wonder how many are familiar with that). But... nope - never been in a puzzle and not even the word lists. But the YETI based search did take me to a very unusual puzzle, which I still don't really get. A Sunday from September 10, 1989 by Bert H. Kruse with the title: "Weekly tabloid editor's dreams." Some sample theme answers: YETITOSENATE DENVERSOLD GEESEBEATSST YALEGRADATTWO LOUVRESTOLEN I've pondered and pondered and I confess that I still don't get what's happening there. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=9/10/1989&g=87&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=9/10/1989&g=87&d=A</a> ..
@Rich in Atlanta I always thought the Galileo quote was "but still it moves" - not sure if that was me or my dad paraphrasing. The internet says you're right. (It also says it's probably apocryphal anyway, so maybe I won't spend much time trying to get my aging brain to relearn the phrase.) I've heard of Xword info before but hadn't seen it in action. Thanks for the link to a rabbit hole where I can see myself spending countless hours poring over ONETONORANGEs and the like. Whee!
@Shan Galileo, of course, did not speak English—what he is apocryphally supposed to have said in his version of Italian is “eppur si muove,” for which arguably either “and yet it moves” or “but still it moves” is a perfectly fine translation.
As always I need plenty of help for a Saturday puzzle, but fun to have 3 wine grape entries, so I’ll clink glasses to that.
Relatively easy Saturday except that PLUOT TOADETTE cross killed me.
Wonderful! Really smart and well-clued puzzle made for a smooth and enjoyable Saturday ride. I did chuckle at 21 Down being a person who is “left”. Good one! :)
Aargh that was tough. I was completely in the dark re all the fruit/feline mashups. Hybrid fruit just isn’t a thing in the UK (feel free to correct me fellow Europeans) so the whole PLUOT thing eluded me. I have heard of Ligor but not TIGOR; thanks guys for the explanation in some of the comments. I’ll try and remember for future use. Still, it makes for a very satisfying solve when it all comes together. It’s nice to whizz through the early week without breaking too much of a sweat; though this week is definitely an exception in the toughness stakes, but it feels good to know you’ve worked for it.
@Helen Wright TIGOR? Isn't the answer TIGON? emu food more emu food
A non-Nin Anais! Wow! Should we remember her for the future, fellow solvers? OH GOD, YES! Only I won't, of course. There's a clue for YETI that has nothing to do with the Abominable Snowman? Should we remember it for the future, fellow solvers? OH GOD, YES! Only I won't of course. There's a pop star named RIRI? Poor thing! How can parents be so cruel? Will I remember her perfume? Don't hold your breath. I resisted CLINKED as "made a sound with a flute", thinking why would you let that flautist anywhere near an orchestra? But EVENTUALLY my own name in the grid forced me to write it in. Now I'm thinking: "Oh THAT kind of flute!!!" Best clue in the puzzle. "So exciting!" is AAH??? Do you say that when you're excited? I sure don't. Worst clue in the puzzle. This puzzle had some nice moments, but not all of it was part of a GOLDEN HOUR for me. Can we please lose all the Mario game references? Please? RUNS POINT sounds, I don't know, slightly illiterate. And I'M SET seems like such a rude response to someone offering you more food. Nothing at all like the quite polite response of "I couldn't eat another bite."
@Nancy This is at least the third time YETI has been clued to the cooler brand. It’s a gimme for me; I ride my bike past YETI’s flagship store three times a week. Their coolers are supposed to be very good, but they are quite expensive.
@Nancy I second all of Nancy's thoughts here and would only add that "I'm set" doesn't seem as emphatic as "couldn't eat another bite."
RELO, TIGONS, SEGO, RIRI, TOSCA. I'm just repeating these to myself so I know them for next time.
I laugh when the app tells me “Well done! You solved the clues with no hints.” after I scrolled through comments to get some hints. Thank you all - I really needed you today!
@Laura W that's just one of the things I hate about the app design.
@Laura W I am right there with you !!! I can EVENTUALLY get most clues, but Thursday-Saturday there’s inevitably something I just totally don’t get 😂😂 I’m still learning, maybe.
Got thru this one in decent time for a Saturday. As a super mario and basketball person, love the clues.
Really fun long entries. I flew through this one. It never fails that when I can get the NW first, the rest usually falls quickly. Sub 20, which is really quick Saturday, for me. I am especially pleased with myself because I think I generally struggle with the constructors past creations. It’s nice to see TOADETTE get some love. I’ve heard of Ligers, but not TIGONS. Thanks for the fun constructors.
@Newbie The Ligers play in the Major League Footbase and share a stadium in Detroit with the TIGONS, who play in the National Basefoot League. The franchises may not last long, though, because neither of them can reproduce.
@Newbie When we saw the movie “Napoleon Dynamite” about 20 years ago, I was certain that the “ligers” that Napoleon was frequently sketching were fantasy creatures. It wasn’t until several years later that I learned that ligers and TIGONs actually exist.
Do tigons eat pluots? Do ligers eat apriums?
22A There's also Napa CABbage! Clue pun intended?
I had the exact same experience as Caitlin . . cold sweat “I don’t know any of these” feeling, followed by a long, challenging solve with enough “a-ha moments” to not feel @ all like a slog. Great puzzle! p.s. “Hadestown” is an EXCELLENT show; go see it if you have the chance!
@Patrick I second the Hadestown recommendation, especially now with (sometimes featured in the puzzle) Ani DiFranco.
Interesting to have an actual left-wing action, RENT STRIKE next to a mislabeled centrist party DEM, which opposes rent strikes. Its a pet peeve of mine, and many outside the United States, how parochial and factually incorrect your understanding of politics is.
Misk, 1. How "parochial and factually incorrect" to think we in the U.S. don't understand DEM is centrist by world standards (if not also by our own standards). 2. I know plenty of DEM who support RENT STRIKEs. Peace. And justice.
@Misk I am sure our politics are a mystery to you, just as yours surely are to us, but that doesn’t mean that either one of us is “incorrect”
As a (very long ago) former flute player and not knowing TIGONS are a thing or who Lady Magic is, CLINKED was one the last to drop for me. *feverishly searches back to high school brain to remember if the keys might have plinked a little? If I blinked while playing?* Big face palm when I got it. Great puzzle!
This puzzle was quite frustrating, to the point I have to post my first comment to one. There’s some types of clues that I tolerate but never enjoy (sports clues, outdated slang) but very few types of clues I actually find totally irritating: the absurdly specific stretch. This puzzle included too much of all that. BORG, TENNIS, ANDONE, RACEBIBS, IM SET (come on, it’s "I’m all set"), NANCY, NENE, RPI… and the worst of all: DEMS. Although it isn’t surprising that an NYT publication would call a clearly centrist party left. That’s just straight up wrong.
Good puzzle, kept me interested and concentrating. Wrapped it up pretty quickly. NE slowed me a little.
not a favorite. too many oddities like pluot, riri, awgee, and what is "runs point"? And pink headed mushrooms? What? It was not on my wavelength. I'm sure many others enjoyed it.
@Asher Happens sometimes I suppose. I liked it. Runs point is an awfully common phrase as is Aw gee. I think pluot is pretty common, certainly more common than Syrah for me. I pulled Riri out only because my kids tease me for always mispronouncing the H in RiHanna which apparently is silent. And as for Toadette that’s new to me, but I guessed it eventually thinking of TOADstool and ETTE since a pink mushroom character is probably female?
@Asher same here. Just so many words I didn’t know or hadn’t heard of. Plus with differences in sayings, according to my crossword the symbol of life is an ANKY and NERM was the well known husband of Claudia Octavia. 😂
@Asher just wanted to applaud you for how you expressed your reaction to the puzzle. I you gave specifics about what didn’t work for you, and didn’t accuse the constructors of anything. I found it refreshing, and I hope others follow your example. Thank you!
Fun puzzle, Mr. Musa and Ms Goldstein! The clue for NAPA amused me: I didn’t know the basketball player’s cry, so I was trying to make something work with TA-TA in that slot. Then I finally figured it out. OPEN SEASON gave me an earworm of a favorite song written by the brilliant Rodney Crowell. A title like “OPEN SEASON On My Heart” really shouldn’t work, but Mr. Crowell pulls it off admirably. This is the original recording, by Tim McGraw: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/28b7tcbb" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/28b7tcbb</a> Thanks, y’all!
@Eric Hougland How could I miss AND ONE when I was listening to the Warriors game while I was working the puzzle? A slam dunk for me. 🏀 🏀 🏀 🏀
This was a toughie. I EVENTUALLY gave up in the SE because there were two words there I did not know: and I had COMPOST TIP instead of BIN and the noodle and lava could have been SOTA and NEPE for all I knew. Otherwise the puzzle was fair. Other unknowns (RIRI? ANAIS?? even TOADETTE) were gettable from the crosses. And I was glad that my first guess for the Univ. on the Hudson, RPI, survived. I got the cabs = NAPA and the SYRAH grape quickly which may say something about how I occupy my time now that I am retired. But the basketball clue completely eluded me which is probably against some local law here in Louisville. I still don't know why a flute might CLINK unless you tap someone on the head with it.
@Andrew They mean clinking champagne flutes not the musical instrument
@Andrew I too missed the significance of the CLINKED clue while I was solving, but Caitlin Lovinger has our backs: The “flute” in question is the kind you drink champagne from. Cheers!
@Andrew. Flute is used as a name for Champagne glasses. ( The tall slender ones, also described as tulips) Emus are also tall but not necessarily slender.
How come rhinoceros can be shortened to RHINO when the clue doesn’t indicate an abbreviation?
@Browncoat possibly because rhino is used so commonly, but I do see your point. I didn't have that thought. I think on a Saturday some rules are a bit more optional.
@Browncoat Because RHINO is not an abbreviation. It does not require a period, and is not pronounced "rhinoceros" like "etc." is pronounced "et cetera". Rather, it is a new word derived from a longer one. Many words (hippo, recap, decaf, intro, decal) were formed from longer words, but now are words unto themselves. Often, the shorter word becomes the usual word, and connection to the longer word is lost. How many people know what "recap" or "decal" is short for?
Browncoat, Because RHINO is its own word (by shortening). <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhino" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhino</a> If we say it and write it enough, it becomes a word. emu (neither short nor short for anything)
You know it’s going to be tough when you go through all the clues and you only filled in two answers and one of those is iffy. But picking away at it I finally got it done. I had to correct rEM to DEM. My time was only slightly longer than average which is OK because I am just happy to have finished.
Fun grid and I was able to get everything from crosses. toastED before CLINKED but I was on the right track. "Oversupply" for SATE didn't smell right; yes if you oversupply someone with food they are SATEd, but you can also SATE them by providing the right amount. I know clues aren't definitions, but that one felt off. Loved the clues for NAPA, MITT, TENNIS and SIMON. And I hope the NENE waited for the lava to cool.
Bob, Clues certainly need not be definitions, but you might want to look again at the definition of SATE with respect to the clue of "Oversupply." <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sate" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sate</a> Oversupply of emus
I was doing ok on this one but a number of little miscues on the upper tiers, like: Ihavetoask instead of IHATETOASK, aver before AVOW Spot instead of SLOT ligers before TIGONS threw me off briefly. EVENTUALLY, however I finished in a reasonable time. Lots of clever misdirections in this one. Anais Mitchell’s Bright Star is a lovely song, and her work with Bonny Light Horsemen is good too. I’ve not seen or heard Hadestown, but the puzzle has inspired me to give it a listen. I read somewhere that her father named her after Anais Nin, which seems a bit cheeky to me.
Pluot season here in the SF area lasts lots longer than the pure apricot one. So that was easy for me. But I hate sports , am too old for Mario, never heard of the book or author of 1A, and had no idea about Riri. Still, I’m stubborn and finally finished correctly. Interesting challenge. Got the flute indirection quickly and suspected the cab one, but took awhile to realize the very familiar Napa.Enjoyed the slog.
EVENTUALLY realized that PLUOT is the obverse of aprium, but only after guessing TOADETTE to finish that infernal NE. Similarly, CLINKED didn't click until Caitlin shed a light. What can I SAY -- we share a surname, but Rebecca is clearly one step ahead of me. AAH .... but still managed to finish 10 minutes better than average.
The constructor notes made up for the pain of solving this puzzle. Whined Tom, woefully. Thank you both.
Literally SAILed through this clockwise until I got to the SW block and then, crickets. Got a bit dejected, but YET I persisted. Resorted to looking up "Fast X" (never hoid of it) which broke open the dam for the win. Gullible me clicked on the "crashing waves" link - that's 20 seconds I won't get back. See there are 4 debuts, CLINKED my favorite mis. Many thanks.
I was so focused on this satisfying solve that I completely forgot the time and was shocked to see I got a new personal best ! I really ran through this one, everything just clicked for me! Oh, how I love a tough themeless puzzle... Thank you for this excellent Saturday! More please!
TIGONS? PLUOTS? RELO? COME NOW, that was some bumpy fill. I completed the puzzle, but I can't say I enjoyed all of the combo words and multiple conversational phrases. Just not my cup of tea.
@Gregg I really thought it would have fit better with C'MON NOW as it makes more grammatical sense with the hint.
Rebecca and Rafael thank you for this beauty of a Saturday solve. Not only did it transport me away from all my troubles, it immersed me in your magical mix of unexpected answers and clues that just kept on giving me more and more to love. I so look forward to your next!
Well, I came pretty damn close, but I think it's safe to say I wouldn't have been able to complete it in 100 years.
@Jeff Z I wouldn't have been able to complete the puzzle without cheating, 'cheating' thirteen times in fact. (Wordplay and google are our friends.) But despite that, the puzzle didn't feel like a slog.