"Thanks for watering my lawn!" "Glad to dew it!" ("Well, it's mulch appreciated!")
@Mike I'm sure you're mower than welcome. Now we're all green—Gracias! ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️ It's your lucky day, Emu.
@Mike That's sod -- I thought it rained last night. Weed better check the forecast for tonight. (Chance of emus.)
I will admit to Googling 22D after completing the puzzle. I had almost nothing in my first pass. Got a toehold in the SW corner and it fell gradually from there. That's my kind of puzzle. Excellent debut. More please.
I meant to say excellent Saturday debut. And it was a perfect Saturday puzzle.
@JBW I did too! I think I've seen it before but it was funny to see it again. 😄 ..........................................
I enjoy trying the puzzle each day but - genuine question - is it only puzzles from Americans that are accepted? I understand that this is based in the US but it is an international publication. The sheer volume of clues that can only be answered if you’ve lived in America is depressing for me. I feel like I’ll never be able to complete one on my own, as there is always questions about college sports, sayings, words, tv stations, celebrations, occasions, celebrities, brands that are only known of in the US. And I’ve lived in two continents, travelled the world and spent a lot of time in the States.
@Kerri Can I upvote this five times? I’m a Brit slowly absorbing US cultural references through the NYT crossword. Shortcuts: If the clue involves comedy, it’s SNL, for cookies it’s OREO, for berries it’s ACAI, for a Manning brother it’s ELI, for tennis it’s ASHE, etc etc
Some good wordplay, I especially like “Dog park?” for FOOTREST. Fun clues for ASKEW and BEDHEAD. Personally, I would be more apt to say more apt than APTER. Finished in about 1/3 the time of Friday's puzzle. Congratulations on your Saturday debut, Carly.
@Anita Yep. My English teacher would have circled “apter” and written “w/c awk” (word choice, awkward) in the margin.
@Anita Agreed. I've never seen a merer word than APTER. . . .
Such a euphonious strophelicious puzzle, a joy to solve -- for me I started with the ever-hangdog Nicholas Cage and worked my way outward in a spiral. Took the lead --> ERASED was a total winner as was Small bit of mint --> DIME; those two alone were worth the price of admission! And yes the musicality: anger solder geiger aster mochas copa coa shel amble amoral disposal eco boo pronto oluo Speaking of Shel, if you only saw the back cover of this book: --> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shel_Silverstein#/media/File:Portrait_of_Shel_Silverstein_in_c._1964_by_Jerry_Yulsman.jpg" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shel_Silverstein#/media/File:Portrait_of_Shel_Silverstein_in_c._1964_by_Jerry_Yulsman.jpg</a> would you suspect it was "The Giving Tree" -- one of the most singsong soulful of children's books? I would have thought it might be a book of revolutionary raging poetry, a cross between Amiri Baraka and Gil Scott-Heron. Well even an old pirate like Shel Silverstein (Ar, matey!) can have a soft side. Speaking of which, the pomeranian in that picture kinda gives me the creeps! I skipped yesterday but noticed as has everyone that this one is edited by Joel Fagliano, too. Has there been further word on Mr. Shortz's recovery? I know that Mr. Fagliano is doing a fine job, but not seeing the Shortz name editing the puzzle is rattling me, I gotta tell you and it didn't help any to be beset with platelets, doses, shooting your shot, if you haven't ran low. I'm not puzz-shaming, this puzzle is a delight! - just worrying my pretty little head. Will, get well!
@john ezra This is from a post in the Game Play feed. Eric posted it the other day, also. Editor’s Note: Joel Fagliano Edits the Daily Crossword Starting with the March 14 puzzle, Joel’s byline will accompany the daily crossword. By Everdeen Mason March 14, 2024 Many of you have heard by now that our head puzzle editor, Will Shortz, had a stroke last month. He is taking time to recover, and in the meantime Joel Fagliano will be filling Will’s role. Starting with the March 14 puzzle, you will see Joel’s byline on top of your daily crossword. Joel worked as Will’s intern for three summers before joining him as a full-time puzzle editor in 2014. Since then, he has grown into an impressive editor in his own right. He also has the support of a strong editing team of editors, who will take on some of Joel’s regular work while he edits the daily crossword and variety puzzles. Together, we will continue to deliver best-in-class puzzles as Will recovers. As always, thank you to our community of puzzlers for your patience, support and well wishes.
@john ezra But I so wanted the small bit of mint to be HINT.
Instead of BOO I typed in BAE. Had REI, not KOA. US MAP? No, I had GLOBE. And, yes, I tried to SHOOT my LOAD.
@Justin You might want to google that last thing, or maybe not. . . . Emu map.
@Justin Hand up for BAE Put REI in the margin, as I already had 22D on a whimsical guess Wanted GLOBE, but had S in there already. 18 was last into the grid, and I grimaced because it's TAKE YOUR SHOT. What Andrzej said.
Not being American complicated things yet again for me in what otherwise was a fun Saturday puzzle with witty clueing. I had "atlas" for geography classroom staple - it worked with CAGE, which in turn meant it could not be a globe (my first intuitive association). As I kept solving it became increasingly obvious atlas was wrong though. However, I just could not come up with US MAP on my own, which is slightly disturbing. I mean, all my geography classrooms had a map of Poland on the wall, so I should have been able to extrapolate US MAP out of that... KOA does not ring a bell, and misreading the clue ("... In campaigns") meant I had PAC there for a long time. I did not understand the clue "Flag carrier of Panama" (am I being asked for the Spanish word for flag pole, I thought), and I've never heard of COPA airlines. PLATELET looks like random letters to me, and I have never hear of OLUO, so the SE corner of the puzzle required two lookups. TAOS was new to me, too. I have heard of hundreds of American towns and cities, and I visited dozens myself, but the name TAOS I have either never encountered or I forgot I had. Polish, and European sinks in general, don't have trash disposal - we collect our food waste to be composted or used for energy production, so I was very late to come up with DISPOSAL. Why was the clue for STEEDS "Ren faire rides," rather than Renaissance? It mislead me into thinking the answer would be an abbreviation. Why is dog park (?) a FOOTREST?
@Andrzej regarding garbage disposals, I understand your concern. I remember when we still lived in the US, my Slovak uncle-in-law used to stare in amazement as I used our garbage disposal. In the 1.5 years I’ve lived in Europe, I have already forgotten about them. The biggest surprise of all is that I don’t miss clothes dryers 😳. FOOTREST is actually very clever because Americans sometimes call feet “dogs.” How and why that started is a mystery, but it’s pretty common. Rozumiem?
@Andrzej Dogs used to be a slang term for feet. Nobody would ever use it in conversation, it’s really only useful to know if you’re answering crosswords
I think "askew" will be trending on Google today.
FOOTREST for Dog park? Is my favorite clue in weeks. Hilarious.
This one was easier (for me) than yesterday's. How was your comparative mileage? what's the over/under on emus?
@Barry Ancona Easier than Friday’s but still a Saturday puzzle.
@Dave Rosenbaum same for me! Friday I got some of the spanners right away but struggled with many entries and had to sleep on it and come back a few times. Today pretty much all the long entries only came after several crosses but the overall puzzle was more my wave length. Both days were a good challenge!
@Barry Ancona I was about 10% faster today. I wouldn’t consider either one particularly difficult.
This felt REALLY good to solve! Played it with my partner, and we loved the (hidden?) dog-theme combo of POM (fluffy toy), STATE (chihuahua) and ADOPTDONTSHOP. The clues were really good, too - nothing too obscure fills wise besides OLOU for me, but the rest fell into place nicely, with great long and short ones. My favourite clue was probably 'Took the lead?' for ERASED, though - got a real aha moment for solving that!
This was not as challenging as yesterday, but it still felt like a good, solid Saturday. I know there's a new sheriff in town as far as editing goes, but I was still a little surprised as I entered SHOOT YOUR load. It worked with cOCoAS, making it hard to give up, so it didn't help me in the NE. BRIOCHE BUN sorted that out, and when I gave up Bae for BOO, the rest of it fell into place. Carly clearly has the gift for making excellent end of week puzzles, so I hope she does that more often.
Perfect misdirection. It leads you down the wrong path and you have to evaluate the ambiguity of each step as you retrace them. I got tripped up a number of times, but it never lost it’s allure. Great puzzle.
I've been thinking about BRIe CHEese and how so many people thought that was the answer where BRIOCHE BUN went, and I wondered why that was. For one thing, I've seen and been served, and even have served others burgers on BRIOCHE BUNS, but I've never given much thought to putting brie on a burger. For one thing, I don't see it as a particularly good choice for a burger cheese. Sure, it melts well, but I don't think the flavor pairs well with beef. Still, if you Google "brie cheeseburger", you do find a lot of recipes for it, and even a few restaurants that serve one. So I guess it comes down to this: just as some cheeses don't pair well with meat, some words don't pair well with each other. We say "Swiss cheese", "cheddar cheese", "American cheese", but you're not as likely to say "Brie cheese". You'd more commonly just say "Brie." (As in "baked Brie".) Much like you might say "tuna fish" or "codfish", but not "salmon fish" or "mackerel fish". I mean, you COULD say "Brie cheese", but generally you don't. It's just one of those oddities of language. And that just might be why "Brie cheese" did not come to mind for me when I got to 10D.
@Steve L When you get to some of the more artsy burger places they tend to add a broader spectrum of ingredients which modify the sandwich/burger and brie can often be one of them. My understanding of building a sandwich is that the toppings are supposed to add something…texture, sweet, salt, smoky…tang…etc….and that’s why you pick the ingredient….and that leads to odd combinations which make an interesting taste and texture palette. So although brie by itself isn’t that interesting…combined with other toppings for effect it holds it own.
Steve, Or perhaps it's that, as I recall, your burger experience is more Mickey D's and less artisanal? emu burgers?
@Steve L Maybe you need a little more sleep, eh? And don't sign any legal documents today, either. Or use dangerous tools like a SOLDERing iron....
The hardest thing was giving up 'bae' on 38A. Its also hard for me (being an old guy) to think of Shel Silverstein as a kid's author.
@R.J. Smith For me it was thinking that pirates greet each other with YAR rather than ARR.
@R.J. Smith I only know SHEL as a children's author (poems, a couple of books, I think) but I never got those books for our children. There is so much good poetry out there.... I got it via the crosses. I was trying to come up with a character from kid lit....
What a delightful Saturday puzzle. Only a few lookups, to my surprise. My brain was similar to Deb’s today because I desperately wanted to make briecheese and welder happen. No way I’d miss 61A because I’ve got HOTSAUCE in my bag swag, which any crossword-solving Beyoncé fan knows was a perfect combination with the 43D clue! Brava! It only missed a cowboy reference (if you know, you know 🤣). I was floored when I saw TOR books, the home of the Binti series and George R.R. Martin. And not LOTR, too! *faints in sci-fi nerd* Ms. Schuna is so talented! Did y’all see her video? Wow, she is not mediocre by any measure! My BOO is making breakfast so I’ll be going downstairs, PRONTO. Adeus!
Quick but fun puzzle. The NW was a little sticky, but my “what if?” technique worked. Example: What if “Fluffy toy” is POM? Then ‘Wallop” could be PASTE. And “Euphonious” could be MELODIC. I especially liked seeing BEDHEAD in the grid — it’s a perennial problem for me, as well as the title of a very funny short film by Robert Rodriguez, the guy behind the “Spy Kids” movies. It’s been over 40 years since I saw it, but I remember it clearly. Thanks, Ms. Schuna!
No, you're not dreaming, Ms. Schuna -- you really did create a Saturday-worthy puzzle. Thank you! I started out thinking "ohhh-kay, Joel is not kidding around here," but it turned out to be easier than yesterday's grid. My one embarrassing moment was putting in COcA instead of COPA, with "flag carrier" going right over my head, and my brain somehow registering "crop" -- in which case, think about it, Panama does share a border with Colombia... Luckily SPONGE set it all aright. And, yes, I did Google ASKEW! Curiosity might have killed the cat, but had me laughing out loud. Bravo, Ms. Schuna for this delicious and charming puzzle, with just enough crunch to make me feel victorious on completion.
“Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America.” And this is why in November 2024, liberals will be wondering why we got Trump again. When this stuff is mainstream enough to be a crossword clue when a similar title for any other demographic group would be branded as hate speech (yes yes it’s different for white men), you can only hope that most white men will take part in the self-abasement for a very limited amount of time before they say “forget this” and join the side that’s not intent on casting them as a perpetual villain. I know who I’m voting for
@Chris From one white American male to another, get over yourself you poor little snowflake. ❄️ ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️ If you think Trump is on anyone’s side but his own you deserve what you get.
@Chris Why are you so angry when you’ve been holding the winning cards from birth? Just play the hand without whining because NOONECARES.
I’m still very new to the NYT crosswords so the trickier clues with double meanings sometimes stump me, but the joy when I organically got the dog park clue was awesome.
I liked the puzzle. Got hung up on BRIeCHeesE and GLADTOhelp. 3 years of gold stars.
Whew. Typical tough Saturday workout for me, and then got really stuck in one place - all around 10d. Had no idea what an Artisanal hamburger is and the crosses I had there took me down the wrong path. In short - I had BRI and CHE filled in from the across answers and the only thing I could think of was BRIECHEESE. Spent forever pondering possibilities in the crosses and ended up violating my 'no google' plan for today and looked up 'Artisanal hamburger.' That's all on me. Good puzzle. Shouldn't be surprised that so many found this one quite easy. Answer history search today: Wondering if I might have this one before. From many years ago when the Braves were still in Milwaukee - one common joking reference to that city (in wintertime) was: LANDOFTHEFREEZE (and) HOMEOFTHEBRAVES Dawned on me that both of those are 15 letters. And...both of them were answers in a Saturday puzzle from July 4, 1987, though they referenced Washington D.C. and Atlanta in the clues. I'm done. ...
The best part of this puzzle was that it caused me to look up Ijeoma Oluo. Now I’m buying her book. Thank you Carly!
Can’t help but roll my eyes at the title of Ijeoma Oluo’s book - It’s just intentionally antagonistic. I don’t understand the left’s strategy of intentionally trying to alienate 30%+ of the US voter base. Even as someone who has never voted Republican (and never will), it’s not mind-boggling to me why so many can get turned off by the far left of the Democratic Party.
@Cody tangent over - loved the puzzle today. A bit easier than most Saturdays but I found the cluing clever and accessible.
@Cody We've tried compromise. We've tried working together. We've tried appeasement. We've tried playing nice. We've tried having a civil conversation. There's really nothing else left.
@Francis Why is the response always something hysterically exaggerated like this. What exactly is the grievance you personally have that you have tried these things for, and had to resort to disparaging all white men because you didn’t have it addressed?
Thanks, Carly S., for a terrific puzzle. I liked learning a new phrase, SHOOT YOUR SHOT, and also really enjoyed watched your solo circus video. It’s been a few years now since we lost our last rescue dog, and I think the universe has been sending me messages lately. Maybe it’s time?
Fun puzzle, and (as has often been the case for me of late), a much quicker solve than the Friday puzzle that preceded it. One cavil? "The Lord of the Rings" isn't actually a trilogy; it's one book. It was originally published in three volumes only because of paper shortages and attendant pricing issues in the postwar United Kingdom. The practice stuck, but Tolkien always considered his most famous work to be a single literary entity.
@John Deal, the movie series is actually a trilogy.
@John Deal As Robert said, the clue could just as easily be considered the movie. However, Tolkien actually numbers 6 books within the one tome of "Lord of the Rings", so there are many ways to parse it
Really fun. My first word, STATE, for Chihuahua, e.g. Then EWE, then RANLOW, which I got with nothing but a W. Built around that. Got it pretty quickly for me for a Saturday. Couldn’t get much of a foothold yesterday, this one made up for it.
Really great puzzle with some sneaky good clueing. Solved far faster than yesterday, too. Also, TIL the combination of my race and gender are mediocre.
I'm not the speediest of solvers around here, but when this one almost filled itself for me, I came here looking for the "it's so easy, it should have been a Tuesday puzzle" comments to burst my bubble. Egad! Turns out it was challenging. (That's a set-up for a Sunday puzzle with an obvious theme that will somehow elude me and push me into the ignominy of google land. Oh well.)
Congratulations Carly Schuna on a great Saturday puzzle. It was challenging but with patience I finally solved it. The puzzle was notable for the lack of bad fill, such as strained words (like MERER from the other day) and no off the wall clues. Clever, tough clues, yes, but with a letter here and there the answers all fell into place. I really enjoyed the puzzle!
@Roberto You mentioned MERER from yesterday; you must have missed APTER from today. ;-) (50D) Maybe you got it from the crosses? . . . . . . A toast to Spain. Salud!
Before I ordered the BRIOCHE BUN for my artisanal hamburger I seriously considered BRIe CHEese. Where's the beef?
I had barely anything after my first pass, but ended up finishing it in one sitting in a little over half the time of yesterday's toughie. Quite enjoyable.
Not a fan, I’m afraid. From my experience of solving cryptic puzzles, I would say mark of a good crossword clue is that when you get the answer you can immediately see why it’s right. You have a kind of “aha, that’s good, well played” reaction. Today’s crossword left me befuddled. I finished it but I felt some of the answers were forced, or the clues were not quite right. FOOTREST? PASTED? ALSO?
@Petrol "Dog" is old-fashioned humorous slang for feet. So it's a place to park your dogs.
@Petrol FOOTREST was one of my favorites! Where else are you going to park your dogs when they are barking? 😄 (Dogs are slang for feet, barking is slang for hurting, park is slang for rest) ...............................................
@Petrol @Janine-- FOOTREST was one of my favorites as well. If you're not from the USA I can see how it would be unfamiliar, but in my circles we say "My dogs are barking" often.
Really hard and really fair! I started off with my nerd roots in LOTR, TOR, and PLATELETS, and RACISM, and ended up with a POM I think having grown up in the US is the only way I could do this.
Was anyone else looking for the meat part of that fancy hamburger? I was thinking bison, beefalo, grass-fed cattle, even (gasp!) emu.
Not a straightforward clue. Rare gimmes - LOTR, Chihuahua STATE and the AMASS/AMBLE pair which let me into the NE. But I had to think for almost every clue. And I hope we have all been to Google for 22D - it is so worth it.
@Andrew Oh, LOL....it took me a couple of seconds to 'see' it. I wanted each letter to be a sort-of Comic Sans entry...
@Andrew Hands up for googling ASKEW.... and then giggling. Do emus dream of electric ewes?
Great puzzle and I enjoyed the circus video. A lot of my initial wrong answers made for a challenging puzzle. My artisanal hamburger option was BRIE on a BUN. I wanted the power-saving mode (33A) to be OFF, but then that didn't fit with BRIEonaBUN. My first answer for 23A was MEC, but that's too Canadian so I changed it to REI. And then finally remembered KOA.
Just dropped in to say I'm a big fan of the Mini. It's a great way to ease into the day. Thanks NYT.
A very fun and clever puzzle. Thank you!
Here's the entry for the *interjection* "ar" in the Oxford English Dictionary, with historical examples: Used to express a range of emotions or responses, esp. affirmations, assent, or agreement. Frequently in representations of *rural* speech [emphasis added]. The buyer says: “That’s a fine pig you have there, Mr. —“ (giving seller’s name). “Ar, powerful fine pig.” — H. Belloc, in Independent Review, p. 208 (1905) “Ar,” Launce said contemptuously. “You got a gut-ache or you’re coming out in boils.” — K. Tennant, Lost Haven, vol. 89 (1946) City Gent: “Ah, lovely isn’t it?” Rustic: “Ar, ‘tis that.” — G. Chapman et al. Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1989) vol 1. ii. 15 “Ooh, big houses them,” Dolly cooed. “Decent size, ar,” agreed Pop. — K. Aldridge, Pop, p. 210 (2001) It seems that “ar” is more typical of the English countryside than the Spanish Main. I believe that the notion of "ar" as piratical began with Robert Newton's portrayal of Long John Silver in the Disney film of Treasure Island (1950). RLS didn't provide Silver with a back story, but rural boys going off to sea when their elder brothers inherited the farm were part of the picture back when.
After some wild guesses and a few look-ups, I managed to get it done, and that will surely start the day (tomorrow) off right. Congratulations on your Saturday debut, Carly Schuna, and congratulations on finding homes in the puzzle for all the HOTSAUCE.
Got a slow start and came in right under my average but am a little worried because my breakthrough was getting ANGER off the clue and getting NOONECARES from only three letters.
Another tough solve. It’s been a week of wandering in the crossword wilderness desperately searching for a toe hold. Todays’s was the crossing of ANGER/ASKEW. Haven’t googled the word, but it seemed the most likely. I see I’m in good company, not being familiar with either 18 or 53a. Having to eke out both long spans from equally difficult crosses made this something of a slog. Still, it’s Saturday so shouldn’t expect an easy ride. Although I found quite a few of the clues difficult to parse, the dog park made me laugh out loud when I finally got it. Worth the price of admission, as they say.
"and then I hit the wall in the southeast corner" My wall was the NW corner. It wasn't until I solved 20A that the rest of that quadrant fell into place for me. Great Saturday puzzle.
@Leila Disposals break easily. That's why they are also known as PUT THE PLUMBERS KIDS THROUGH COLLEGE. Compost all the way! TIL that some places even ban them.
@RozzieGrandma I am 54 years old, and every home I have ever lived in had one. Only one time did I have a problem, which was an old model that needed to be replaced. It wasn’t super expensive. The tl;dr is that I’ve never, ever encountered the idea that they’re some kind of boon for plumbers.
The puzzles often introduce words (for me) that cause me to learn something new. Today's word was STROPHE
@Pat, I knew the word, but only in French, where it means "stanza". I've never seen it used in English, so I learned something today too!
Enjoyed This Puzzle immensely. My favorite of the week. Perhaps because I've had dogs all my life and although themeless this puzzles references to animals boosted my joy. I can't wait for Carly Schuna's next grid ... Perhaps a Ren Faire theme?
Chihuahua being in Mexico, a more correct return for the clue would be "estado", especially for a weekend puzzle. But, of course, that doesn't fit. Perhaps a better clue would have been "Washington but not Trump"
Bobby, STATE was an *excellent* Saturday answer for the clue "Chihuahua, e.g." You were misdirected to think the answer would be in Spanish. This is a puzzle, so that's a good thing, not a bad thing. More correct returns would be a good thing for the IRS, not the XWP.
Shortly before quitting the PCT because of plantar fasciitis, I earned the trailname "Footrest" because of how often I had to stop to park my dogs for a while. Lots of big grins and fun "aha!"s in this puzzle!