I haven’t done today’s puzzle or read the the comments. I did yesterday’s. It was fine. Our awesome columnist said as much. Unlike most of us, she actually has to write an entire column, hence she ventured to add that it could have been better, that an extra layer would have elevated it, and yes, sharing an example to make her point. Obviously she felt she was in a safe space where she could voice her opinion. This community that she helped build. Where she has kindly and graciously welcomed newcomers for years, walking them through the ropes sharing tips and warnings of what to be on the lookout for. I was one of those who learned so much from Deb. In passing out all the bits about crosswords, she also shared her heart. It was clear that she was kind and well meaning. Definitely not the type to be motivated by spite. So yesterday she wrote a column that wasn’t sufficiently koombaya by this community’s standards. Did they say ‘Oh, it’s Deb, and we know she means well’? Did they say ‘we know her heart’s in the right place’? Did they extend grace to one who unceasingly extends it? There’s always been a tendency to shut down any and all criticism of puzzles. Seeing what happened to Deb yesterday, it seems this tendency has been taken too far. So she felt a puzzle fell a little short. So what? She’s done tons of puzzles, she can tell. She’s paid to share her thoughts on the solving experience. She did. She was doing her job! Let’s respect that and cut her some slack.
@Tito Thankyou for implanting the wonderful phrase "not sufficiently koombaya" in my brain. I am now chuckling about potential scenarios in which one might use it. (And I concur with your sentiment overall.)
Thank you, @Tito. I appreciate your thoughtful response.
@Tito Amen! Deb’s the best. We wouldn’t have emus without her 😉
Waaaay too many names! Sorry but I cannot remember some obscure trivia just to put in LARA or ESSO or IVAN. Really quite absurd.
@Selective Walrus That’s okay. I can. Or at least I could figure them out from the crosses. The obscurer the better. Great puzzle!
@Selective Walrus The moment I realized that solving will be "when" rather than "if" was the moment that I realized that for every LARA, ESSO or IVAN, there are gentle crosses that make them solvable. Sure, "Croft", "Canadian gas station" and "Terrible tsar" would have been easier, but they're Monday clues.
@Selective Walrus Sylvan ESSO is a great band. This might be the silver lining for you
Pro tip #1: If a clue is "(Month) birthday celebrant", the answer is usually one of the two zodiac signs that fall within that month. So when 37A asked for "July birthday celebrant", I looked at the answer's length, three letters, and confidently plopped in LEO. Those letters didn't play well with the crosses, but then just a few clues later, at 41D, another three-letter answer was clued "Shortest of a group of 12". This time, it actually was LEO, so my maned friend had to be pulled from 37A. Pro tip #2: When you put an answer into the grid which proves to be wrong, but actually belongs elsewhere in the grid, this is, as per Andrea Carla Michaels, a malapop. Pro tip #3: Do not fear the malapop.
@Steve L As a July birthday celebrant myself I was confident of the LEO there at 37A. I thought the shortest of the group of 12 might be FEB but there was no indication of an abbreviation in the clue.
@Steve L I fell into the same trap; my highly developed MORAL CODE pulled me out of it. Don’t clues about astrological signs usually say something like “Some July birthday celebrants”?
@Steve L I confidently plopped in sam.... When nothing else was working out, I cried uncle (sam) and took it out. After that, that was the first section I sewed up. ...
To see who would get into art school, the candidates had to draw lots. (You can almost picture it.)
My favorite part of today’s puzzle was the abundance of wicked clever cluing. Erik is in my top echelon of clue makers, and seeing the clues that Mansi made (mentioned in her notes), she may climb up there in relatively short order. Man was I delightfully misdirected today! I get misdirected often because part of who I am is naïve. This, to me, is a gift when I solve crosswords, because it brings an extra powerful “Aha!” when the right answer finally hits me. And marvelous ahas came when I finally uncovered [Moved cross-country?] for RAN, [Primary directive?] for VOTE, [It’s in the neighborhood] for GUESSTIMATE, [Intricately plotted fiction] for WEB OF LIES, and not only a big aha but also a guffaw when [Petty person?] for ANIMAL LOVER emerged. Clever, clever cluing. Oh, I also loved how wide-ranging the set of answers were, and the resistance my work-loving brain encountered. And I smiled when I realized that [Go clubbing?] is a clue that works both for GOLF and GOLF backward (okay, that’s a little dark). But the wicked clever cluing – ahh, that is one of crossword’s prime gifts, IMO, and today I felt showered by it, bathed by it, and it gave me supreme pleasure. Thank you, Mansi and Erik!
@Lewis Does it make me a bad person that, "Go clubbing?" made me think of seal hunting first? So glad it turned out to be GOLF.
As a FIRST GENERATION immigrant myself, I was surprised/shocked when I had F _ _ S _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and that "FRESH OFF THE BOAT" actually fit Especially seeing the constructor and knowing how he typically approaches puzzles, I was thinking, "wow, would Erik Agard really do this? Or maybe we're taking back the term? And there was a TV show named this recently..." ...but I suspect that answer would not have been well received
@AS I did 'fresh off the boat' too because I had that same F and S.
@AS I'm married to a first gen immigrant and went through a similar thought process. I was hopeful it wasn't that... And relieved to arrive at FIRST GENERATION! ....
@AS I've always believed that FIRST GENERATION referred to the native-born children of said immigrants. That's how my Pittsburgh friends referred to themselves. Anyone else understand it that way?
I loved it. But I feel quite beaten up. Like I just had a really exhausting fight and emerged victorious… just! That southeast corner… A gripe about gripes: I’m afraid I have no sympathy for the complaints about names: as Brit I am constantly flying blind for at least two or three clues, because of holes in my Americana. What on earth is AP lit? Whoever heard of the AME? Who ever said “is so”, “am too”, “are not”? Can anyone name a single ice hockey player apart from Wayne Gretsky? (sp.?) What is IRA if not the Irish Republican Army? Deal with it!
@Petrol Well, now--really! Bobby Orr. My being American has not given me a leg up for all the TV, movie, rocker and rapper, and sports trivia (or even the famous/blockbuster FUN FACTS in those categories.) Acknowledging those gaps in my general knowledge is hardly griping.
@Petrol Whoever heard of AME? Every Black American and all the rest of us who live in a neighborhood with one of the many AME churches. Get over yourself.
Trans person here. Ashamed it took me forever to get the blue, pink, and white pin one...
I put in TRANS immediately but could only think of "rights" as what could follow (too long) until I revisited it.
@Aarglefarg Me too! “RIGHTS” was so stuck in my head that I couldn’t think of the rest of the phrase, even though I had a few crosses to work with. Well, it seemed like forever, but it finally clicked.
@Jacqueline I've found that sometimes the clues we're closest to personally or professionally are the hardest ones to get!
Yay for another tough Friday (at least for me). SE was a bear for me. I couldn’t get over HEARTBREAKER not fitting for “Petty person?” Excellent debut Mansi and it lifts my heart to see Erik back with a very Agardian puzzle. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2OFxeg4spU" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2OFxeg4spU</a>
@Puzzlemucker If "Agardian" is the adjective form of Erik's surname, does that make him Mansi's Agardian angel? !?!?! ?!?!?
@Puzzlemucker Ha! I also was thinking A REFUGEE? Then I began thinking about Richard Petty -- always a favorite in something like the Daytona 500 ... save it for another puzzle I guess!
@Puzzlemucker And I tried (and failed) to fit in AMERICAN GIRL. One square too short! HEARTBREAKER would be great!! (TBH, the very first "person" who came to mind for me -- very late last night -- was Alice in Wonderland, thanks to that video for Don't Come Around Here No More which was in heavy rotation on MTV back in the day-! << Run-on sentence for the Mad Hatter emus!)
But Deb, you can't just use any old diacritic and expect to look cool. "Wördpläy" is metal; "Wørdplãy" looks like the subtitle of a Monty Python movie. Sorry, I don't make the rules.
Hello, folks. First of all, good column, Deb! I admired your description of how mentors and veteran constructors have reached out and collaborated with many new voices, and particularly in this case Erik Agard, whose work and hairdo I know well. I do not imagine you're gonna get slagged. Wow! Who knew how jealously we guard our God-given right, here in Comments, to be the sole Solomonic judges, aye or nay, of the merits of each new puzzle? I'm kind of proud of us. You'd think we had a say in things! Anyway, what a fine puzzle. I was hoping at first that the meticulously crafted fiction would be WHODUNNIT, a mystery genre well enough known you'd think someone would have employed it by now, but nope, you go to xwordinfo and there's no record of it. It's yours for the taking! And had DOLED vs DEALT for wayyy too long. And my brain said ca va? when I asked about SA_AA (which by the way, is a beautiful echo of your BRAS cluing. But eventually Sanaa popped into my pretty little head and I said, tada! Extra Cheese, Metal Umlauts, Guesstimate -- such lively words. The puzzle is a keeper. Top of the E-Charts this week: 1. Motley Emü "Smokin in the Emü's Room" 2. Aemüsmith "Sweet Emütion" 3. Fleetwood Emüc "Gold Dust Emü"
@john ezra I too filled in WHODUNNIT without a qualm. Oops! Also FEB instead of LEO for the “shortest of 12.” They didn’t last long, however. I had long suspected you had a beautiful head, but it’s good to have it confirmed. 😜
@john ezra I’m mildly surprised that “whodunnit” has never been in a NYT puzzle. But I’m more surprised that it’s not even in their wordlist.
@john ezra it's usually spelled WHODUNIT - I'm sure I've seen it in the archives once or twice
Deb, the umlauts were added to make them look European. (Which they clearly thought was very cool, as I do.) “I can remember it like it was yesterday,” Neil told Vanity Fair in 2009. “We were drinking Löwenbräu, and when we decided to call ourselves Mötley Crüe, we put some umlauts in there because we thought it made us look European. We had no idea that it was a pronunciation thing.” They quickly found out. “When we finally went to Germany, the crowds were chanting, ‘Mutley Cruh! Mutley Cruh!’ We couldn’t figure out why they were doing that.” (I edited for the emus.) <a href="https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/why-rock-bands-love-umlaut-punctuation" target="_blank">https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/why-rock-bands-love-umlaut-punctuation</a>
Whups, Mötley Crüe added them to look European. Everybody else used them to look cool.
@Ann That’s a great article, thanks for posting. Glad to see the shout out again for Blue Öyster Cult. Seems we just had a discussion of a Christopher Walken caricature and “More Cowbell” from SNL. I saw them open for ZZ Top at the Cape Cod Coliseum in 1976, great memories. — — — — — — — —
My insta-thought when I saw "Petty Person?" was HEARTBREAKER, but alas, one letter too long. RIP Tom. And clue of the day for me was "Ring bearer?" which took me several seconds of "wha?" after the solve before the light dawned on me. Nicely done!
A fine debut by Mansi Kothari with an assist from the master, Erik Agard. This one had EXTRACHEESE and some clever clues. I hope more people will be happy to learn things from this puzzle than will decry seeing things unfamiliar to them. As for seeing people solve on the subway, see the cover of "The New Yorker" (March 25).
@Barry Ancona Agreed. As for me, I was tickled to learn the first name of the 2000 Miss Universe pageant winner and have filed it away in my brain for future use.
I do not love thee, IVAN, ESSO, LARA, RETTA, VIV. I think your names are just a heap of unknown, pointless triv. And this puzzle could have been SO good without them! Fabulous clues for ANIMAL LOVER (bet Lewis will include it this week); WEB OF LIES; GUESSTIMATE and TENSE. Lots of traps to fall into and I fell into all of them. LEO before USA for the July birthday celebrant. DOLED before DEALT for "handed out". ECRU led to RIDS instead of TINT leading to NETS at the "Light shade"/"Clears" cross. Why do constructors insist on spoiling otherwise excellent puzzles with arcane names that absolutely no one knows? Why, why, WHY????? I will never understand it.
Nancy, I understand that "arcane names that absolutely no one knows" really means *you* didn't know them. I also assume you found them all fairly crossed, since you didn't report a DNF. So what's wrong with some fresh glue? Do you miss your ETUI? Do you need another OREO? EGAD!
@Nancy Of the five names you mentioned, ESSO was my only gimme. I didn’t know any of the other four and did a short alphabet run to get RETTA. Still, I thought it was a great puzzle.
@Nancy What? You didn't know the first name of Miss Universe 2020? Why, I thought that was on the tip of everyone's tongue. /s
Was so hoping "Petty person" would be Heartbreaker!
@Rachel Totally thought of that as well, it was my first guess for that one though of course it wouldn't fit. Then I figured it'd have to do with pets, but I was trying to fit ANIMAL in the wrong SPOT in the entry... good clue.
As a trans solver, I appreciated 10D and the shout-out to it in the column. Timely as the Trans Day of Visibility is coming up on March 31!
Some other thoughts about today's puzzle: 61A: Never heard of Sylvan ESSO, but it's at least a break from the Canadian gas station. 27A: When you see a peculiar clue with two plausible answers, like this one, you try to figure out which of the two possible answers needs to be clued in an inoffensive way. But nope, this time it was MOBY. (As per a previous clue, the musician by that name was a distant relative of Melville.) And the other part of that title has never been clued to Melville--Nixon, Tracy, Philip K., but never the great white whale. 14D, 55A: Could an ANIMAL LOVER not only be a petty person, but also a CUBBY person? 43A: Your archetypal "kealoa". Just put in -ALE and wait to see if it's a D or a V. 46A: I wonder how many thought it was about batteries or minor-league baseball. 62A: The difference between roughing it and getting a hotel room? I'm past tents.
@Steve L I have two versions of a Sylvan ESSO song in my music library. That was enough to make that answer a gimme, which was helpful in getting a toehold in the bottom of the grid. It was nice to see a clue that didn’t refer to gasoline.
@Steve L Considered batteries but entered BONDS before the cup size reference became obvious with crosses.
@Steve L Good one! I thought about batteries before I landed on bras, but then I wondered, “Why isn’t there an A battery? Or a B battery? And why don’t those pill-shaped batteries have simpler names?” Be right back after some Googling.
Okay, I’m out. There’s no entertainment in these “Have your bot call my bot” puzzles. You’ve ‘perfected’ your way out of my life. Throw some letters on a grid then search the web for foreign actresses whose names they accidentally coincide with? Uh uh. Naticks everywhere. Thanks, I guess, for giving me back three hours a week. Bye.
@Clem You're entitled to your opinion of course, and I wasn't pleased with the actors and beauty queens and bands I had never heard of: but I don't think there was a true Natick anywhere. Took me 53 minutes which is a bit longer than a Thursday normally takes me but not 'rageous. I think you will probably find most of the puzzles to your liking - they are a bit uneven but I enjoy 90% of them. Have you tried the new 'Connections' puzzle? That is a lot of fun.
@Clem And I found it entertaining, fun, and a quick solve (15:38). I guess my quirks lined up with the creator’s quirks.
@Clem - Buh-bye, Clem. No need to flounce. Emus never flounce like that!
Delighted to finally see Sylvan Esso in the puzzle after a long time wishing they’d appear instead of another gas station clue!
Adored this puzzle. It was a slow one for me, but the effort felt like a great mental workout. Fantastic clueing IMO. Tried to fit LEO in the July birthday slot, and it was fun to realize it fit nearby instead. Great shoutout to TRANSPRIDE!
I was born on my mother's birthday. So... "Same to you!" has been apt for decades.
@Snowboarder same! Except my grandma’s birthday (and her firstborn grandchild at that)
As Puzzlemucker said, Very Agardian, and it took a while to get into that mindset. Congrats on the debut, Mansi. Will be interested to see your next effort. Because Erik was involved, I expected that the PPP clues and entries would not all be up my alley, and I was right. Lots of good cluing here, but the one that made me laugh was the Hunt and peck one for BEAK.
@Vaer What are PPP clues and answers? ... Thanks! ...
@Vaer (Second attempt. Last night's attempt got emued.) If "Agardian" is the adjective form of Erik's surname, can we safely say that to Mansi, Erik is Agardian angel? !?!?! ?!?!? !!!!!
The reference in 17A to umlauts made me think of Häagen-Dazs, which (per its Wikipedia page) "is an invented pseudo-Scandinavian phrase coined by the American Reuben Mattus, in a quest for a brand name that he claimed was Danish-sounding." As an amusing aside, the same web page also mentions the following: "In 1980, Häagen-Dazs unsuccessfully sued Frusen Glädjé, an American ice cream maker founded that year, for using foreign branding strategies. The phrase frusen glädje—without the acute accent—is Swedish for 'frozen joy'."
@RichardZ Dare we call those Dairy Umlauts? Frozen Ëmů
Congratulations on a nice NYT debut, Ms Kothari! Y’all had me fooled with 6A’s “Toast, say.” I was imagining raised glasses. I don’t know the “Parks and Recreation” actress, so I ended up with a mini alphabet run for the R — and immediately realized that I had misread “Toast.” Thanks, y’all!
Ice hockey (hockey is another sport), American sitcoms, miss universe and indie pop, sci fi movie, and an American church acronym in one puzzle is a little too much. Done but the clueing for LARA, IVAN, and ESSO was super esoteric. You can keep RETTA. One in a puzzle is totally ok. It wasn’t a hard puzzle, it was just awkward. Thanks anyway. And who puts extra cheese on pie … yuck
@Ιασων Are there Crossword puzzles in German publications? Perhaps they are more to your liking if you don’t enjoy learning American culture in an American publication. Maybe it’s too difficult, and that’s okay. The pie being referred to is pizza pie. For many people, EXTRACHEESE is delicious 😋.
@Ιασων Don’t knock the concept of cheese on pie until you’ve tried a piece of apple pie with a slab of sharp cheddar, although in this case the pie in question is pizza. I can’t imagine doing a crossword in something other than my native tongue so I’m impressed that you gave it a go. For what it’s worth, this puzzle had many clues that were unknown to this American as well.
Ooooo-ee! I went scratching around, seeking a toehold. Put GOODS in the margin to see if I could find some confirmation. OXEN and OCHO? OH NO Put in WANES; took it out. DALE or VALE? Put in -ALE. Went for the three-letter corners: TSO AME TIE and ?SDS? Was SDS a *peace* org? Didn't Jedgar think they were a threat and keep FBI files on members? DOLED? NUS or MUS? LOS or LAS? Intricate fiction? MYSTERIES (my faves) oh well.... This was actually quite a fun challenge...lots of little pitfalls waiting for me. Used quite a bit of EXTRA ink over-writing! Thanks, constructors! You really delivered "the GOODS!"
@Mean Old Lady "Was SDS a *peace* org? Didn't Jedgar think they were a threat and keep FBI files on members?" Well, to be fair the FBI has a history of keeping files on a LOT of peaceful orgs and people. MLK Jr had FBI files
This new puzzle author has given us a GEM(S). What a BOLD start, making a Friday puzzle. Congratulations and best of luck!
I got the snail 🐌 emoji on this one but that’s ok. I was so excited to see Erik Arsgard along with someone I’d never heard of, Mansi Kathari. When I learned Mr. Arsgard mentored her debut, what icing on the cake! Hey, RETTA made the NYT Crossword Puzzle! Is this the first time. I loved her on Parks and Rec, and then on Good Girls. She’s the kind of celeb who seems like she’d be a great friend. As a person who lets my cats “trap” me when they snooze on my lap, I’d probably qualify as a petty person (in all interpretations of the term, TBH). They guard my feet all night but when I move they “attac” the covers with a vengeance, the cute li’l devils. Oh, I have to go post cat videos on social media now. Bom dia, gente!
@Pani Korunova I didn't realize Eric had changed his name! Tee hee! (Has he become a god?) How is it you know these TV shows and actors?
This puzzle was not in my wheelhouse, but it definitely sharpened my Google skills. I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who fell into the misplaced LEO trap. Oh well, at least I learned a few things.
Great puzzle! My fave was guesstimate! Also the USA/leo combo was very clever!
(Second post) The NE corner was made for my Brother-in-Law: He will often say "On a scale of one to ten, I give it a fifteen (twenty, twenty-eight, etc.)," and, when wished Happy Birthday, he is quite likely to say " Same to you!" (and mean it, G.d bless him!) extra emus.
MAY before LEO, because LEO before USA, but otherwise a (fairly) straightforward solve. TIL about METAL UMLAUTS. Nice debut, Mansi!
As always for end of the week puzzles I needed plenty of help today, but enjoyed it a lot. A nice variety of entries with some clever clues. I always like to hear about the constructors who help new solvers so fun to read the notes today. Yet another new constructor and I look forward to more from Mansi.
Dear Mansi Kothari, Great puzzle! I, too, started doing the Times puzzles in high school, over 50 years ago. I'd take over the Sunday puzzles after my father and mother had had a shot at it, and before too long, I was finishing them. I started today's puzzle earlier than usual, because a friend shot me a 3-letter text around 6:45 AM, simply "46D". We share the belief that BRA(S) has never been clued the same way twice, although we're probably wrong. The texting friend and I actually co-authored a diagramless during our college years, in the pre-Will Shortz days, when Eugene T. Maleska was the editor. He never ran it, but his correspondence was encouraging. I still have his letter. I heard he could be quite brutal in his critiques, but his kindness made me think I should have persisted as a constructor. Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda. (insert smiley emoji with tears) Congratulations again!
Finished it, and am well pleased with myself and with the puzzle. I was annoyed during the solve by the strategic scattering of people I don't recognize (but probably should), but was able to work my way through. Some spectacular clues and answers, IMNSHO: METALUMLAUT (Umlaut I know from German, but the METAL was, well, metal.) EXTRACHEESE for "Pie preference" Lovely misdirect--I kept mucking about looking for some sort of fruit. SAMETOYOU was worth a chuckle, as clued, and the neighboring "Scale range" starting with "O" from TSO was a devilish misdirect to OCTAVE something.... WEBOFLIES, ANIMALLOVER, GUESSTIMATE... when I go back and look at the puzzle, it seems every long answer had a delightful, difficult, cryptic clue. My last fix was changing TENT (well, it can cast a light shade, right), to TINT, so the unknown EVAN became the still unknown but correct IVAN. Thanks very much to Ms. Kothari, and I should have known that Eric Agard was lurking somewhere in the background. A+, and that is not a BRA(S) size....
I can’t believe I solved Friday’s puzzle without peeking! I think I might be making some progress. Anyway, it brought a BIG smile to my face.
@RoseAnn Mulford. Congratulations! I’m sure it’s just the first of many.
@Eric Hougland Thank you, Eric, for your kind encouragement.
It may just be me, but I've found most of the recent Friday puzzles much trickier than their Saturday sequels. I'll be curious to see if the pattern holds tomorrow; this one was a good, chewy workout.
20 minutes, by far a personal best for me on a Friday, and my first Friday Gold Star. Was worried there would be a ton of "too easy for a Friday" comments like the Pi Day puzzle. Glad to see I'm getting sharper with these. Got TSO right away, which led to me being TRANSPRIDE and SAMETOYOU right away. That was all the foothold I needed
Looking over the finished grid, there's really nothing convoluted about it. And yet, the solve was a tough one, requiring lots of thinking and relying on crosses. A really great workout. Thank you Ms. Kothari and Mr. Agard! I got hung up in the NW, with WOOL for the winter coat, never having heard of DRAWLOTS, a big blank where METAL should be, and mochaCHEESE to top off the mess. Oy vey. That area took some scrapping everything and starting over after walking away for a bit. About "decide randomly." I know someone who makes every decision that way, using a randomizer app. He puts in the options, clicks to submit, and whatever the app decides is what he'll do. That goes even for a choice of dinner. And I have to tell you, he's one of the most laid back and stress-free people I've ever met! And on that note, here's MOBY with "Porcelain" to start the weekend off laid-back and stress-free: <a href="https://youtu.be/IJWlBfo5Oj0?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/IJWlBfo5Oj0?feature=shared</a>
@sotto voce Well, TIL that artisan mocha cheese (not just mocha cheesecake) is a thing. <a href="https://igourmet.com/products/belgioioso-artigiano-mocha-cheese" target="_blank">https://igourmet.com/products/belgioioso-artigiano-mocha-cheese</a> I want some!
Too many obscure 'facts' for my liking. And like others here I had never heard of the Metal Umlaut thing - I knew they were fake, like the one in Häagen-Dazs, but I didn't know they had a name. I also appreciated the Petty person? clue.
I got behind on my puzzles this week but I caught up today on a 6-hour car ride. Don't worry I wasn't the driver. I enjoyed this puzzle (Friday) and didn't have to do a single look up. That makes me glad as it doesn't often happen on Friday and Saturday puzzles. Anything I didn't know, I got from the crosses. Favorites were SAME TO YOU and PETTY LOVERS. Also, TREE for ring bearer. I already can't remember the Wednesday puzzle I did earlier this morning but I enjoyed the Thursday rebus puzzle too. I struggled with a lot of the clues, even ones that I would normally get pretty quickly like RAREST... but that's on me and not being in the right head space. I did get the rebus figured out and feel proud of that. It's only been a couple of times now that I've been able to figure out the rebus without any help. THREE'S COMPANY did it for me. Hey, did anyone see that episode of Three's Company where there was a big misunderstanding and hijinks ensued? 😉
@HeathieJ No! I must have missed that episode. Hee.
@HeathieJ I missed that episode, too. But since you brought up “classic” sitcoms, remember the episode of “I Love Lucy” where Lucy does something wacky, Ricky gets angry with her, and then he gets over it and everything is peachy-keen again?
@HeathieJ "(...)but I caught up today on a 6-hour car ride. Don't worry I wasn't the driver." ROFL! Your blasé tone is wicked funny. Thanks for this! . . . . . . Still ROFL. On and on.
Very clever misdirects in the clues today. A fun, tough puzzle for me.
That feeling when I’m fully chuffed for completing a crunchy Friday, somehow without lookups (that would be guesses), but then, after the music, looked back at the puzzle and wondered what ONE TOTEN, ONETO TEN…meant. Loved it. Just what the doctor ordered. A wiggly Friday and an ego check. Almost the weekend, all! Enjoy!
This puzzle was a challenge, because I didn’t know Aiello’s character SAL, RETTA, 2020 Miss Universe, Aunt VIV, NADU, Sylvan ESSO, or hockey player IVAN. I got them from the crosses. I echo what Deb Amlen said about 17A. I didn’t know that METAL UMLAUT was a thing. I figured the diacritical marks in the band’s name would be the answer, but I didn’t know what to make of it until I finished the answer with UMLAUT. The band isn’t my cup of tea, but I know what its music is like. METAL UMLAUT seemed like a decent fit. After getting the music, I looked it up and learned it's an established phrase. Welcome, Ms. Kothari.
Looking over the finished grid, there's really nothing convoluted about it. And yet, the solve was a tough one, requiring lots of thinking and relying on crosses. A really great workout. Thank you Ms. Kothari and Mr. Agard! I got hung up in the NW, with WOOL for the winter coat, never having heard of DRAWLOTS, a big blank where METAL should be, and mochaCHEESE to top off the mess. Oy vey. That area took some scrapping everything and starting over after walking away for a bit. About "decide randomly." I know someone who makes every decision that way, using a randomizer app. He puts in the options, clicks to submit, and whatever the app decides is what he'll do. That goes even for a choice of dinner. And I have to tell you, he's one of the most laid back and stress-free people I've ever met! And on that note, here's MOBY with "Porcelain" to start the weekend off laid-back and stress-free: <a href="https://youtu.be/IJWlBfo5Oj0?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/IJWlBfo5Oj0?feature=shared</a>
Excellent puzzle and nice,clean fill. Great job. Surprised (and happy) to see Lara Dutta show up in an NYT crossword!
@Rahul Same here! Tamil Nadu was fun to see too for a Chennai-born girl like me :)
A Mööse once bit my sister. No realii! She was carving her initials on the Mööse. Møøse trained by YUTTE HERMSGERVøRDENBRøTBøRDA
Nice to see another new constructor. Looking forward to more from Ms. Kothari. As to my solve - typical tough Friday workout for me. Did some googles early on and then just went with my best guesses here and there. Was quite surprised to find that I'd made the right guesses. Sometimes better to be lucky than good. 15 letter answer that dawned on me today was from the clue for 5d: DOTHERIGHTTHING It's been an answer in two puzzles and was part of the theme (to some extent) in both of them. ..
@Rich in Atlanta This Friday puzzle was a bit more difficult than usual, needing eighteen cheats. Wiki and Google got a work out!