The most irreproachable puzzle in a while, I hope, not withstanding another ARHAT. The clue for KENS is the funniest I’ve heard in a long time
@SP That's what I think as well. Elegant and classy. The Ken more than made up for the Arhat...
Will ARHAT keep reappearing in the puzzle until we are all enlightened enough to get it without lookups?
@Nat K I know it (and learned it) from Spelling Bee. Arhat, arhat, ratatat, ratatat!
Huge helping of loveliness. To wit: • Gorgeous WIDE OPEN grid with its pair of photo album corners, and rather than scattershot black squares in the middle, a calming collection of diagonals. • Also calming: No mini-puzzle islands in any corner. • Pleasing answers – FORTUNE COOKIE, MORTALS, CATCH RED HANDED, IS THIS THING ON, ENIGMAS, CHASM, WIDE OPEN, and NYT debuts BLOW IT, FELT UP TO, and MECHANICAL BULL. • Clever clues, my three favorites being those for PASSER, MECHANICAL BULL, and the world-class [Hunks of plastic?] for KENS. • Plenty of clue vagueness to satisfy my brain’s work ethic. • MESS over MOOSE. Say those two words over and over fast as you can. Then do the same with WELD and MELD. All this in a NYT debut puzzle from one who only started submitting puzzles to the Times a year ago. Evidence that the instincts and talent are there for more heaps of loveliness ahead. Lucky us! Congratulations, Jake, and thank you for a most splendid outing today!
Gautama Buddha said, “Concentrate the mind on the present moment.” Well, presently, for 2D today, I had to think about yesterday. Sorry, Buddha. cc: emu handler
To me this is an ideal Friday. Nice long fills with some twist clues, and what is there is tough but elegant. Every clue felt well done in this one. My own personal preference is that fill should resemble idiomatic usage when it comes to phrases and blank fills, and this was great in that respect. Side note: it’s interesting the fill streaks the puzzles have sometimes. In this case, arhat on consecutive days was a bit of a surprise (but made today easier).
@PC Absolutely agreed! I came here to comment much the same thing - this felt like a great 'benchmark Friday' in terms of difficulty; nothing too obscure or esoteric, and some great tricky cluing that was really fun to figure out. It's a Friday that feels like a Friday, and given that it's a debut puzzle, I'm really impressed.
Today’s FORTUNE COOKIE says: “An ARHAT will be a lingering presence in your life. Your task is to figure out what they want from you.”
@Cat Lady Margaret An ARHAT, free from greed or desire, ought want nothing from you!
Loved this tricky Friday, filled with misdirects and stuff I just plain didn't know, like GOT is short for a book by George RR Martin, Minecraft has a protagonist named Steve, the meaning of a SKULL emoji, and that much of Azerbaijan's population is SHIA. Made for a tough but fun solve. Favorite clue: Hunks of plastic. And love the video from Deb. Very impressive debut. Hope to see more from this talented constructor.
Waiting to see how STEVE reacts to seeing himself in the grid. (Didn't know he was in Minecraft.) That MESS of MOOSE made quite a DIN. Do we remember Lefty Loosie for UNTWIST? Everybody get together and love one another right now.
@Barry Ancona This STEVE had no idea about the Minecraft character, but I had --EVE and figured it probably was my namesake. But it seemed too mundane to be the protagonist of a cool video game, so I held off. And that's where I finally finished up.
@Barry Ancona. Yeah, come on people now…
This was a BUNCH of fun. Liked the misdirection—almost got caught a time or two, but managed to suss out the answers and finished in a fairly respectable time for me. Very nice debut and I certainly hope to see some more from you coming our way. Thanks, Jake, and from my angle it was certainly jake.
In response to Deb, I solve alone BUT am not opposed to help. Being in community with others is much more fun than just testing my own skills! I have a friend who loves baseball and I send him every baseball themed clue, whether I know the answer or not. His first response is always AROD, followed by the correct answer. It’s always funny! Thanks for a delightful puzzle today!
I started at the SW when I saw "Saint__," the only thing that came to me was "Saëns." I doubted that this was the answer, so I took it as a sign to just listen to Saint-Saëns while I solved. <a href="https://youtu.be/JAdj0pGFO7w?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/JAdj0pGFO7w?feature=shared</a> Good thing I did. This puzzle took a lot of thinking and deducing, so listening to this helped me calm down and UNTWIST my mistakes along the way. ARHAT was a gimme. I wonder why... Thank you for this lively and crunchy puzzle, Mr. Bunch, and congratulations on your debut! Many thanks to your test-solver as well. I'm sure you've just made her very proud!
@sotto voce I was doing an old puzzle today, you know to pass the time, and ARHAT was an answer so it was fresh in my mind. I could confidently put it in when I might need crossings. That was a big help as the NW was my weakest quadrant today.
"Arhat ... In the middle of arstreet" That word better not appear again tomorrow. I'm not up to an arhat trick.
As a Gen-Z crossword solver, I was really surprised to see SKULL for 9D! I feel that the evolution of emojis to mean things other than their face value (lol) has occurred mostly as Gen-Z grows into the internet. Usually in crosswords, I would put ROFL/ROTFL, even though in my own texts I do use the skull emoji. This is mostly just because I'm aware that most crossword constructors are older than Gen-Z. I'm excited, because I've always privately felt that the Mini was a tad slangy (even for me), and the xword a bit outdated. I remember the 02.07.24 puzzle that was musically themed, but almost all the songs were from the 1970s or older. Struggled on that one :( Keep up the good work! I'm excited to see the evolution of the crossword in my lifetime <3
@Emma Also, another meaning of the skull emoji is laughing so hard that "I'm dead", or being darkly amused.
@Emma I’m not a Gen Zer but an elder millennial who tries to stay up on the slang of my kids - and I was also thrilled to see my quick entry of “skull” was the correct answer! Of course this means the youths will probably stop using it quickly, if they haven’t already.
Truly enjoyed today. Consistently tough, but fair. I'll never forget what ARHAT means after this week. And for once, plugging in "ADO" wasn't the right solution (it was "DIN"!)
Any puzzle that gives us the opportunity to relive "I'm Just Ken" is a winner. Fun puzzle!
One more demonstration of what I’ve noted here before: ARHAT two days in a row after not being seen in years. It happens all the time! PEOPLE: all the daily NYT crosswords are composed by one guy, who comes in at 6 a.m. and submits the next day’s puzzle by 1 p.m. He gets paid in cash and then retires to his favorite watering hole to spend the afternoon with his three best friends (initials JB, JD, and sweet GR). He constructs the puzzles himself but has a staff of 3 interns who compete at dreaming up the fake bios printed here along with the hilarious ‘constructor notes’. He’s never met them. Now you know.
@Clem Please explain to me this idea of "coming in". Is it an old-time practice now lost to the ages? And will he wait until 6 a.m. after the congestion pricing goes into effect?
Well, yesterday (I think it was just yesterday) I commented on the Potato Head puzzle that I'd never encountered ARHAT, and didn't anticipate ever encountering ARHAT again. Wrong. Again. But in successive puzzles? I started out looking at multiple clues finding nothing to play until I wandered around (in a circuitous path) to 5D and ENIGMAS popped into my brain. So I laughed and played it, knowing it was destined to be erased. Then AMINO and GON crossed and the puzzle started solving itself. I really like when that happens. It was a fun Friday. Thank you Jake.
My favorite clue was the one for KENS. It was also the most helpful for me in changing my "contents of a drug shipment" from PILLS to KILOS. My least favorite and least understood answer was SKULL for the emoji that might be used in response to a funny text. I have a word for you if you're thinking of sending me a SKULL in response to my funny text: DON'T. Well, actually it won't really matter anyway. I'm visually incapable of distinguishing one teensy little emoji from another: they all look identical to me. But I never have the heart to tell anyone -- not even my own brother to whom I have never been anything but completely honest about everything else. He recently seems to have developed this strange predilection for sending one single emoji instead of actually writing something in response to many of my emails and I don't know what he's trying to say. Are they smiling or grimacing? Is it always the same emoji? Could one of them possibly have been a... SKULL??? Talk to me, Jimmy!!! Now back to the puzzle: My biggest problem was getting to Juno the SISTER when I wanted either WAVED AT or WAVED TO and never thought of WAVED HI. When I finally got that, the puzzle was finished. It was a nice Goldilocks Friday: Not too easy, not too hard, just right.
@Nancy - I’m generally negative about the medical community, unhelpful as I (and many others with auto-immune problems) have found them to be…. but maybe, a visit to the eye doctor is in order?
@Nancy Life hack- take a screenshot of the text and emoji. Blow it up with your fingers. Ta-da! Emojis for eyes over 50! That’s my trick! …
Good Friday and a better than good puzzle. Thank you
Great puzzle! Crossword experience actually hindered me a little today. I got stuck in the northeast for a bit because I didn't read the clue to 7D closely enough- I just saw I.M. and immediately filled in PEI.
I never saw the word ARHAT before yesterday; got it from the crosses. When I read the clue for 2 down today, I thought “oh, I know this one, it was in yesterday’s puzzle 😊”. But I was clearly not focused enough when I did the Thursday puzzle, because I absolutely could not recall the word (maybe some of the letters involved). Or maybe it would have sunk in if I’d had the time to read this forum yesterday (I’m sure it must have had a few mentions). At any rate, when it shows up on Saturday I will absolutely be ready for it 🤓
@Jeb Jones In the Spelling Bee game Arhat has come up frequently, as I’ve painfully learned
@Jeb Jones That was my experience exactly - and I did read some of the comments yesterday! At some point this morning, I had A_HAT, but the key letter was eluding me. Try as I might, I could not surface the full word. (As I all too often, "thanks, middle-aged brain!".) Tomorrow is another day. Now that I have committed the word to memory, Murphys Law says it won't reappear... And no I do not play the Spelling Bee. But I'm sure the emus do!
Great Friday Puzzle! So many misdirecting clues and surprising answers, but just enough (comparatively) easier ones to allow me to continue making progress without resorting to outside help. All four long answers are beautifully clued and require a lot of cross-word help in order to make a reasonable guess. And "Ones who might roast you" was a wonderful clue, too! Well-made puzzle, wonderfully clued!
...and best clue of the puzzle: "Hunks of plastic" So clever!
What I want to know is did the puzzle master have insider info on the new Cowboy Carter album? I was solving the puzzle while listening to the new album, and lo and behold, there’s the answer to “bucks at the bar” right in the lyrics! Something in the stars definitely aligned today!
@Minha Cowboy Carter and crosswords. Interesting combo
@Minha ME, TOO!!!! I couldn’t believe it Came here to post about the incredible coincidence!
@Minha I’m so hyped to hear Cowboy Carter in full. Yee haw!!! 🤠
Terrific puzzle! Entertaining clues and vibrant answers. A fine, fine grid. Thanks!
I’m not into streaks. But I realized I have a gold streak going for this month, so may as well try to gold the month. I thought I might be toast on this one. But ARHAT, my trusty repeat, literally saved me. It unlocked the top half this puzzle because it uncovered the seed entry, mechanical bull. Very nice Friday. Harder than I would have liked. And now I’m scared for Saturday. Grid looked cool as well Congrats on the debut. Jake Bunch
31A. I don’t think you untwist something to screw off. You just twist.
@L.A. Sunshine Surely you remember the old mnemonic “righty, twisty; lefty, untwisty”? … … …
@L.A. Sunshine “The cord to my hair dryer is all twisted. I’m going to untwist it”. (Admittedly, this still doesn’t have anything to do with screwing. Er…this comment took a turn…)
@L.A. Sunshine: Here's my take on the great TWIST/UNTWIST debate. If someone hands you an unopened twist-off bottle, you TWIST off the cap. You drink some of it. You then TWIST it to close it again. Ten minutes later you want another sip. Since you just TWISTED it to close it, you now have to UNTWIST it to open it. You're welcome, everyone.
This was another of those “seems impossible until it doesn’t” puzzles for me. I was looking at a lot of white space until a flash of enlightenment (does that make me an ARHAT) struck, and, presto, a joyful romp to an average Friday solve time. I was greatly helped by knowing MORDOR and GOT, because most of the rest of the general knowledge questions were outside my plastic hunk.
Despair, followed by dogged determination, followed by revelation, followed by success. Good puzzle! This one is jake by me, Jake. Well done!
"I have to do this cattle's laundry." "What a load of bull." ("I'd do his wife's laundry too, but I'm not in the mooed.")
@Mike Somebody started a stampede in a china shop. Round up the usual suspects.
A delightful and witty debut, and a pleasantly brisk Friday, especially after the last few weeks. I struggled at first, bouncing around the grid in the hopes of gaining purchase somewhere, but finally the southeast started to break for me, and it was smooth sailing after that. Bravo, Mr. Bunch!
Just wanted to say thanks for everything you do Joel.
Well, look at me on a roll. Again, whizzed through this with a brief halt in lower right corner. Maybe it’s something in the water? Or maybe ridding my body of sugar really has sharpened my mind? I’ll take it whatever it is. ARHAT was a gimme after yesterday. Loved the KENS clue, once I ‘got’ it. Was v happy with all the long across entries, it really opened up the grid for some of the trickier crosses. Nice one Mr Bunch. I look forward to more.
Can we get the ARHAT trifecta? Tune in tomorrow.
@RI guy. Is it cheating that I looked at my solved puzzle from yesterday? I knew answer was there but could not remember the word other than A- something.
Love that the crossword is practicing spaced repetition to teach us all the word ARHAT. I think we need a few days off, then hit us with it again! 😀 I really enjoyed this puzzle. It was a challenge, but had a few entry points... and I only got half of them wrong with my first guess. I had never heard the term MELDS for card games, and that top-right square was the last to fill in for me as I also wasn't 100% about ASSAM. It was great, though, to whittle everything down to that one square. Great job, Jake!
WAVEDat? WAVEDto? WAVEDHI! Those Greco-Roman gods were big on sister-wives.... I wandered through the grid, finding toeholds here and there that expanded until the puzzle was done. The K in KENS was the last to fall--like some others I had PILLS for a while, until MORTALS became irresistible. It was a delight to solve, and I was sad when I finished, in the same way I'm sad when I finish a great book. Thanks Mr. Bunch, and I look forward to more of your work!
@PuzzleDog Yep, it was WAVEDAT for me too for far too long. WAVEDHI just didn’t scan right for me, but I expect that’s a cultural/age thing. If not sisters then mothers. Eek
@PuzzleDog I was married to "spouse" at 54a for far too long. *groan* That made WAVED*P pretty puzzling. I can't remember how/where I came across it recently (tried googling, halfheartedly), but it was a whole bit about NASA's joke in sending Juno (the probe) to check up on Jupiter, whose moons are named after the lovers and progeny of mythical Jupiter/Zeus's many, many alduterous affairs. The "angry wife" trope was difficult for me to shake today.
"Hunks of plastic" is one I'll remember for a long time! I loved it and was pleased that I got it right away. Maybe I'm finally getting better at these!
What kind of hat Hath an ARHAT if An ARHAT hath a hat?
I’m apparently the only one who found this impenetrable. I had so few fills on a 12-minute first pass, and then was unable to get any crosses, I considered just letting it slide. It was so “not in my wheelhouse,” I turned to CHECK PUZZLE (which I consider less of a “cheat” than actually looking up an answer), and my pseudo-solve was still glacial. Looking for the vowel in B*LL through a, e, i and o was just embarrassing. I couldn’t even figure out what to ask Siri: “How would you characterize most Azerbaijani’s” yielded the ethnic tribe Tats as the only 4-letter possibility. Sheesh! When I finally pieced it together, everything seemed pretty straightforward. Can I chalk this up to getting a covid booster today? I think I’ll
@Jennifer You say-- Hey Siri! What's the answer to 45 Across in today's New York Times crossword puzzle? It works! !!!! So easy, even an emu can do it!
@Jennifer it could very well be vaccine fog. (You didnt finish your post either. 🙂) thought it was very easy for a Friday. I hope you are back to your normal solver self tomorrow.
A (James) *Bunch* of Friday fun! Very smooth! Top to bottom, left to right. A few months ago, I started doing Killer Sudokus. (Which are less challenging than regular, and much more entertaining, in my opinion.) I’m up to the level that has no numbers on the grid when you begin. With every number, you open up clues that open up more numbers and it all just suddenly falls into place. That’s what this puzzle felt like. With every letter I entered, suddenly more answers revealed themselves. The bottom half was like speed solving! Lovely Friday! Which I could go back and do it all again!
I laughed audibly when I finally solved “Hunks” of plastic. Great puzzle, fun clueing…I really enjoyed this one!
I had done several early-week puzzles from the archives earlier this evening. I started on this one and found myself thinking, boy, this is hard for a Wednesday. After a while I realized that today is Thursday and I was doing a Friday puzzle. Duh. I had two sections in this one where I knew I'd put in something wrong but wasn't sure what, so I had to rip out words. They were the areas around DIN (where I tried ADO first) and TALK AT (where I tried BARK AT and NONET). Those areas were just so problematic looking that it was easier to start over with a clean slate. I really liked the clue for KENS.
It’s nice when my kids can help me with the crossword puzzle. Their years of Minecraft play paid off tonight.
More like a Saturday for me, needed lots of help. I didn’t remember ARHAT from yesterday. ( and probably won’t remember it if it shows up tomorrow. ) It did help to leave it for a bit and come back to it fresh. I’ve been doing that a lot recently. I enjoyed reading Jake's notes.
Yesterday’s puzzle was impossible for me. Needed all the clues and all the googles. Today I got a Friday PR (sub 14 min) with no help. Life is funny.
Like a lot of others, I found this to be challenging but very enjoyable. I had to really work it, but as I slowly filled in the squares, more and more fell into place. For me, this was a top notch puzzle.
Good Friday challenge. Thankfully I remembered arhat from yesterday's.
So, Jake.....you're new here. In that case, what did *I* ever do to YOU? No, really....great puzzle. As in, I was really puzzled. It might have helped if DHubby had taken the hint and 22A UP! He kept reading me headlines and announcing what mail was being delivered and asking what time I was going to the produce market. SssssssssSSsssss Once I relaxed and went with my impulses, things turned around. For a while I was afraid I might 27A.....or fall into the ABYSS, or get caught in a CLEFT, or catch FLEAS, or Break down into 8D...or consider committing MORDOR. And now I know the speed of sound is MACH ONE. Who knew? I can't wait to use that helpful information, along with the best place to view Indian rhinos.... No, but seriously, nice puzzle.
17A is a reference to a dog sled, right? As in the Iditarod. My memory is shot, so I learned Arhat for the first time again today. Enlightenment is apparently a long way off for me. I liked the sad little story of PASSER, WIDE OPEN, and I MISSED. Mush!
@Jake For 1A, I could not shake the image of a bride throwing the bouquet at a wedding reception...and I watch a lot of football. Nice catch on the mini theme.
Is there a strands thread? I don’t remember to do it everyday. But today was crazy hard to me. Other than the first day I tried it, when I didn’t know the rules, never crashed so badly. Strands #26 “Pardon my French!” 💡🔵💡🔵 💡🔵💡🔵 💡🔵🟡🔵
@Weak I needed a hint to understand the theme. Even after I knew what to look for, I had trouble finding all the words.
@Weak Yes, this was one of the tougher ones, even knowing the theme (and French) I struggled. I like that Strands is more challenging than I initially thought when I played the first couple of games.
@Weak I wondered the same thing after today’s. And I speak French! At least a little… Very tricky and the spangram was awkward, too. Toughest one for me, yet. …
I spent forever trying to make ICQ work for “I.M. Innovator”.