This felt tough! I'd never encountered HUNDO at all, and hesitated on it. BARB before BURN, TSK before TUT (I usually choose wrong on that one) and a bunch of other things that I had to fill in from the crosses. But it was a good challenge.
@Liz B Right? I am surprised how many people say this was easy. I suppose the perception of difficulty had most to do with knowning answers to the (multiple) trivia clues. I knew few of them so the puzzle seemed hard.
I enjoyed this puzzle, but Deb's comments make it sound like she thought that this was easier than most Fridays, and I did not find that to be the case.
@Jim Seemed easy to me, not my fastest Friday, but well under half the average. But maybe I was just on the right wavelength for this one. Sometimes Fridays seem like they might break me, but on this one I started making progress right away. Very enjoyable.
@J-J Cote I think accessible isn’t necessarily easy (and she even said it wasn’t easy). I think she means there wasn’t a ton of obscure terms or trivia or proper names and I agree with that (a few but generally gettable with crosses) it took me a bit to get a good handle (CABINFEVER did that) and the it gradually came together, a fairly fast time for me but never easy.
The link in the column about Paul Sorvino's description of Saturday crosswords should not be skipped over. It was to an essay written by Will Shortz in 2001 about how to solve a crossword puzzle. In addition to the explanation of the weekly progression, it includes some of the basic rules, and is a great guide for newcomers. It also mentions that the hints about how many words an entry contains disappeared in the 1950s, and mentions that the answer BANDB, as an example, should be parsed as (his words, not mine) "three words". Got that, folks? B is a word. (So is N.) It also includes the well-known line about what constitutes cheating, ''It's your puzzle. Solve it any way you want,'' which is properly attributed to Will Weng, an earlier NYT crossword editor. The quote first appeared in an article written by Weng upon his retirement. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/27/archives/will-wengs-farewell-puzzle.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/1977/02/27/archives/will-wengs-farewell-puzzle.html</a> (Many people think Shortz originally said it, and one commenter thought the other day that it's a Deb Amlem saying.) Quaintly, the paragraph about cheating mentions the Times's 900 number for free clues. Remember that?
@Steve L The link in the Wordplay column for the Paul Sorvino article is only available to full subscribers to NYT. Sadly, I'm just a lowly subscriber to Games. Anybody have a link to the article for the less-affluent solvers?
@Steve L: Interesting comment about multiple-word answers being clued as such disappearing in the 1950s. I started doing the puzzle as a child in the 1960s and I seem to remember that. I also remember the 900 number but would never have called it because it cost money, but mostly because I wouldn't have dreamed of just being given the answer. Tut tut! And who remembers the dreaded "alternate spelling" (thankfully not seen in decades)? That seemed like a cop-out to me long before alternate facts came along.
9 down is wrong. Lund isn't the oldest university in Sweden, that would be Uppsala, founded in 1477. LU was founded in 1666. <a href="https://www.lu.se/om-universitetet/universitetet-i-korthet" target="_blank">https://www.lu.se/om-universitetet/universitetet-i-korthet</a>
@Eric Yes! That’s what I thought. I was so sure I was convinced it was a rebus. Took me forever to work it out.
@Eric Right? I was certain Uppsala should be the answer so I was confused there.
@Eric According to Wikipedia (so it must be true, haha), "It traces its roots back to 1425, when a Franciscan studium generale was founded in Lund." It then goes on to say that the university was officially founded in 1666, so I'd say you are right.
Interesting the constructor’s name hinted at two clues Kate (KATY) and SADIE(S) Hawkins. I thought this was a well constructed puzzle, not much to nitpick about.
Good puzzle. Made me work for it. Just keep plugging and you can get it. Scattered answers thru out, finally put it all together.
I love Deb’s neverending encouragement to get people to try Fridays!
Any puzzle with TATERTOTs in it is OK by me. Terrific job Katie Hawkins. And I'm glad you got to keep the DOGMA clue, though it took an alarmingly long time for that to come back to the surface. I miss Alan Rickman.
I'll cook these potatoes sooner or tater. (No ifs, ands, or spuds about it!)
@Mike These puns are half-baked...maybe your brain got fried?
I am a licensed doctor of naturopathic medicine. We don’t use AURAs, we use evidence-based medicine.
@Elder Millennial The clue wasn’t “naturopathic medicine”, and there are several forms of “holistic” medicine.
@Elder Millennial To echo MRR, my understanding of both the terms “holistic medicine” and “auras” would support the clue as being entirely accurate. It says nothing about your personal beliefs and “medical” practice. As for being “licensed” in that field, you can not get such a license in my adopted State of SC. There is a South Carolina Association of Naturopathic Physicians. Their website offers that, “Our practitioners are frequent expert guests on the Dr. Oz show.” See: <a href="https://www.scanp.org" target="_blank">https://www.scanp.org</a>/
Fits and spurts for me today. An answer would come, followed by a mini begat-fest, then stuckness, tumbleweeds, and “Hello?” echoing in a large empty room. Then suddenly another answer would come, followed by same. If this solve was a car, my tires would be worn out by the end, from all the starts and stops. Oh, when those answers filled in, it FELT mighty GOOD. And so many were pleasurable. RHUBARB is a gorgeous word to me, and elicits images of the vegetable and of old-timey film fights. TATERTOT brings that heavenly crunch feel to my mouth, followed by its explosion of taste. VIBRAPHONE fills my head with its velvety sound. GATTACA just sounds cool; it will be an earworm today. ARIA may guest puzzles to a fault, but when I think of the word, my imagination becomes an opera house, and a clear, sublime voice rings out in it. To bring me back to earth were the relatable colloquial I DON’T HAVE ALL DAY and SOMETHING CAME UP (with its maybe-that-something-is-this DUE DATE cross). And to satisfy my wordplay fix was the big make-me-smile clue in [Bound for the big stage?] for JETÉ. ALOT of roses to smell today, Kate, to complement the satisfaction of ALOT of the riddle-cracking work my brain loves. Thank you for this splendid outing!
@Lewis The VIBRAPHONE is actually pretty loud compared to the marimba. (It usually has a damper pedal because the metal bars make for greater volume....not all that velvety...)
Lund being Scandinavias oldest university is simply wrong, and really confused me for a second. Lund University was founded in 1666, and although there was an academy there since 1438 thats not the same thing as being a university, and they themselves aknowledge that they’re the second oldest in Sweden. The actual oldest university is in Uppsala, Sweden (founded in 1477), and then the second oldest in Scandinavia is in Copenhagen, Denmark (founded in 1479), making Lund the third oldest in the region.
Scandinavia’s oldest university is in Uppsala, founded 1477. Lund university was founded 1666, as per their own history <a href="https://www.lu.se/om-universitetet/universitetet-i-korthet/lunds-universitets-historia" target="_blank">https://www.lu.se/om-universitetet/universitetet-i-korthet/lunds-universitets-historia</a> I have seen arguments that the university in Lund was founded earlier, eg in the English language Wikipedia article, referring to a dead link. Outside of Wikipedia I have not seen anyone seriously arguing in earnest that Lund university was founded any other year than 1666. Furthermore, if Lund University should be considered founded in 1425 it was not located in Sweden at that time, but in Denmark! Lund did not become a Swedish town until the treaty of Roskilde 1658.
I wouldn't have known HUNDO P, but I have heard HUNDO without the P for many years in reference to a $100 bill. So thumbs up for the cluing choice from me.
@UCCF Agreed. That feels like nonsense.
Oh,to answer the constructor’s questiion, I think hundo is pretty obscure but at least gettable in context. “Hundo p” would be have been completely incomprehensible and yes I would have been annoyed. I’m also glad the editors turned down “cylindrical side piece” for TATERTOT. “Side” could be short for “side dish” but “side piece” seems unnecessarily obfuscating. Maybe “Piece of a cylindrical side?” might work but still clunky. It’s like the dozens of clues I’ve submitted which seemed clever to me at the time but were edited, and in retrospect, for the better.
@SP ha, I was gonna comment that I wished "cylindrical side piece" had made the cut - I love it!
Our constructor’s name is embedded in 11D and 44A.
good puzzle, but i do wish you would return to the more intellectual puzzles of yesteryear with fewer names of actors and films, and more challenging words to ferret out.
So much to love in this puzzle! Now a days, I thicken all my fruit pies--including rhubarb, which I know isn't botanically a fruit--with tapioca flour: Bob's Red Mill, from Whole Foods, $5.49/lb.; Goya, from La Colmena Bodega, half that. And, like Jay in Mass., no strawberries! Now I'm hungry. But most wondrously, [marimbas] and VIBRAPHONES led me to this: *Mallet Quartet* by Steve Reich, one of my favorite composers--a work which I was unfamiliar with! Here it is performed by the So Percussion Ensemble, who commissioned it. I've heard So a couple times live, and they played Reich, but I don't think this piece had been written yet. Two of each: can you tell which are which? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHvFptGVUnA" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHvFptGVUnA</a> Two fun movies as well--*Dogma* and *Gattaca*; the latter has a soundtrack by another favorite composer, Michael Nyman. Also, that movie's title is spelled using only ACGT, just like the rungs of our genetic code.
@Bill I like Michael Nyoman’s movie scores, too, though I prefer the one for “Drowning By Numbers” to “GATTACA.”
In my world, a perfect Friday puzzle feels *almost* doable…with lookups…but then- you grit your teeth, take your time, go with your gut (boba, cadet, tsk) ignore your gut (boba, cadet, tsk) consider just *one* lookup, don’t give in to the urge! and hack away at it, until suddenly you’re looking at a full grid that seems breezy! But it wasn’t! Such a great feeling. Beautiful Friday.
Here's a coincidence: I live in Canada and have been a NY Times puzzle solver for decades. I am in Sweden on a brief visit to see friends and relatives and yesterday, Thursday, I happened to make a train connection in the southern city of Lund to return to Stockholm. The answer to clue 9 Down came very easily.
A fine Friday challenge, which meant that when SOMETHING CAME UP, I could DEBUG my fill and that FELT GOOD. Clues were tough, but I didn't have to SWEAT it, so no RHUBARBs likely, and although I don't have a DUE DATE, I still DON'T HAVE ALL DAY. What can I say about this, Kate Hawkins, except that I liked it A LOT, even though the mention of a FAULT LINE made me a little nervous because today, right now, is April 18, the anniversary of the 1906 magnitude 7.9, San Francisco earthquake. Talk about an UPSET!
TIG (today I guessed) which journalist came a little after which old, Swedish university town. Sofa felt good.
I liked absolute UNIT and HUNDO - made things feel fresh. On every x-hundreth episode of the podcast Comedy Bang Bang, the host refers to "lopping off another HUNDO" which I think is pretty funny. OMNI magazine, that mysteriously inappropriate magazine I read and loved in my teen years - a strange mix of science reporting, pseudoscience, sci-fi, drugs and sex that got me rather excited about my approaching adulthood. And, finally, my favorite pie, RHUBARB. My grandmother and I loved it - most of the other family members didn't - and she'd make one for the major get-togethers from either fresh or frozen stalks from her garden. No strawberries please - that's for people who don't like rhubarb 😁
This was a painful trivia-fest. I'm hoping that Mr. Shortz is able to come back soon--I think that Mr. Fagliano is letting through puzzles that just aren't ready yet, and NYTXW quality has really been hurt this past month. There was some stuff to like here, but a corner with a random Swedish city near a random TV journalist, with some modern slang thrown in? I don't google things I don't know when I solve, and this just took me hours. And in the end, there wasn't any cleverness to appreciate. It was just...trivia. Not fun.
At the gym last week? Me and my bros saw this one totally swole dude in the locker room & I was all, “look at that absolute UNIT”. …said no one ever.
@Josh I believe that we use units to refer to hefty chonks of cats, like "that cat is an absolute unit, but doesn't have the brain cell today" Also... we can have avatars?
@Jill from Brooklyn Well heck, I’d allow it for a chonky cat, but then there’s not much I can deny a pudgy feline. And yeah, avatars, but they only show up when they feel like it.
@Josh Had "boss" for a while, but when I got UNIT from crosses I remembered Bear 747, aka Bear Force One, aka "The Unit" (even perhaps "The Absolute Unit") of Katmai's Fat Bear fame. UNIT floofers of the feline variety are also much to be admired! We tend to call ours a brick, though; she is so very rectangular when loafing.
Breezy except for the NE. I haven’t watched TV news in many years, and I don’t think I have ever heard of 11d KATY Tur. FLAp for 8A “blowback” made a little sense, but that left me trying to come up with a name that fit PA_Y. (18A Absolute UNIT is new to me, and while the T made sense, PAtY did not.) But I enjoyed 19A I DON’T HAVE ALL DAY and 51A SOMETHING CAME UP. And if I have to have an operatic earworm, I could do far worse than "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle.” Thank, Ms. Hawkins!
@Eric Hougland FLAp made perfect sense to me, as in, "There was a big FLAp in the newsroom after the interview with that world leader." Pitcher Randy Johnson was called the Big UNIT, so I stretched for that one. Never heard the clued usage, though. Does KATY Tur work with Hoda Kotb?
I found this just about right for a Friday, in other words quite difficult for me. I was pleased with getting the 2 spanners with not very many letters . Nice variety of entries with some clever clueing.
We have VIBRAPHONE and PUENTE without a clue that connects the two? Lost opportunity. My dad was a big jazz (ans crossword) fan, and took me to see Tito Puente in the 90s. He had incredible talent and showmanship.
Very nice puzzle! As a percussionist, though, I must object to the idea that marimba and VIBRAPHONE are lookalikes. Closely related, yes, but they look quite different. At least the modern ones do - if you’re a classic jazz fan or otherwise see a lot of vintage instruments it would make more sense to think they look the same. Picky point I know, but we all have our peeves. (Mine comes from decades of people calling every instrument I play a xylophone.)
To SUM it up, Kate creates the BEST crossword puzzles! AH ME, it sure FELT GOOD doing this one. Filled with A LOT of clever clues and phrases, it’s got one great IDEA after another. Even though it’s a Friday, ANY puzzler will love it. More please Kate!
I liked this puzzle. The J in the SOJU/JETE crossing was the last to fall and I ran a few before finally getting it (I had myself convinced there was some theater actor named Pete Bound that I had never heard of!). HUNDO was my first guess but then I thought it was possibly too modern of a slang term (my teen says it more than I do!) and almost filled in the more ubiquitous crossword fill of CNOTE (neither of us says that). But the delightful inclusion of absolute UNIT pushed me back to it. Had Aleve and Barb instead of ADVIL and BURN which delayed the NW a bit until the long clue fell into place. Overall a speedy and fresh Friday that I very much enjoyed.
Even though I solved this fairly quickly (for me), there were so many proper nouns (names of SNL folk; TV people; Swedish cities; Othello character; Korean drinks) that it felt more like a test of trivia. Which is a shame, because I really liked the long crosses. And once I figured out CREW, I thought that that was Saturday-level clever. Speaking of RHUBARB, our three rhubarb plants survive each winter and they have just exploded over the past three days.
@BAuskern I didn't know any of those really (except SOJU) but was able to get all of them on crosses.
This is the quickest I’ve solved a puzzle of any day of the week since Fagliano became editor. Maybe it’s just me, but I have found every puzzle harder. Not a bad thing, I guess. But I have a certain expectation for hard a puzzle will be (how long it should take) for a given day, that has been formed over the years. Joel is killing my confidence. I thought I was a Friday level solver, but lately feel like I’m a Wednesday. I literally solved this faster than Tuesday. Solved bottom up. GATTACA may be dystopian. But I feel like that movie and handmaids tale are closer than we think. But before that, any dystopian movie about how water will be the ultimate natural resource. Cause that’s playing out right now in many parts of Latin America.
@Weak, I also find the puzzles harder since Fagliano took over but I'm glad. I come here for a challenge! And the endless entertainment clues, car brands and slang I've never heard, which make the puzzle simply impossible rather than a fun challenge, seem to have receded.
I got off to a rough start but EDEN BEST EASE opened things up for me. I went clockwise from there which worked out well but I still didn't get the music when I finished. Then I realized I had a typo or maybe even a freudian slip with AdVIL instead of ANVIL. LOLOLOLOL!!!! I laughed loud enough to wake the neighbors LOL! @Kate LOL I love GATTACA TOO!
SOJU crossed with JETE got me in the end... but other than that a really fun and enjoyable puzzle!
@Amy That was my last letter to fill in as well, but I finally got it (by doing the alphabet song in my head). "Bound"!?!
This was my first Friday gotten without looking at the column, and only one lookup (NW corner). I was definitely on the same wavelength as the constructor. I haven't even done a Thursday with this much ease. Just goes to show that everyone's different.
@Elina Congratulations on your first solo Friday! I’m sure it’s just the first of many. Thursday puzzles can in a way, be harder than \ Friday puzzles. Sometimes, you really need to make sense of the Thursday trickery to get through it. On Friday, there’s no overriding trick, but each clue is a potential mystery.
I struggled with this one. Several proper names that were completely out of my wheelhouse, and some tough clues.
Very easy, and very lively entries. My only gripes are the crossing of soju and jete, and the crossing of plebe, eden and best, all of which I think could have been clued in a kinder way.
@Vincent Agreed, and with no fewer than five TV/entertainment clues to boot.
@Vincent soju and jete were OK for me, but the eden/plebe/best combo was definitely tough.
@Vincent Me too. I started slowly but getting SOMETHINGCAMEUP with nothing but the C opened up the whole bottom half of the solve for me and I filled the puzzle in way under average. No happy music though, so I wound up flyspecking for ten minutes before having to run the alphabet to get the SOJU/JETE cross and the star. All in all, a good Friday challenge, I think.
ABOAT instead ABBOT, as something that you’d find on (Lake) Superior. Made sense to me!
@Miriam Of course, if you were on the Canadian side of the lake, it would be A BOOT! I like your logic, but you don't see that much careless usage of "A" in entries unless they're part of a set phrase (such as 62A).
@Steve L Yup, that hanging “A” should have been a give away, but I was stuck! Adrift, casting for answers, a lonely ship on choppy waters… as it were.
@Miriam I hesitated over ABBOT, thinking of a Mother Superior, but just because a word is capitalized in the clue...what do we call that, veiled lower case?
It is a rare Friday puzzle when I don't have to Google anything, and I even managed to finish under my average time. However, the clever and tricky cluing still made it feel like a challenge, so my easy finish came as a complete surprise...... my favorite kind of crossword! 😊
Would the "HUNDO P" clue have annoyed me? Add another yes vote to the pile, but the clue in the final puzzle was great. In fact, the whole puzzle suggests to me that Fagliano is hitting his stride. A really nice balance of older- and younger-skewing trivia, and overall a pleasurable solving experience. For my money, the best puzzle since January.
@Mike Same! Even seeing the whole thing written out here made no sense to me until I went back and read it in the column. I’m glad it wasn’t the final clue and I hope I never ever ever hear someone say it in real life.
nice misdirection. instead of palace I had castle. the Alhambra really is more of a fortified castle than a palace, and instead of sofa I had safe, and a few others. There were some ungettable clues such as Gattaca, I had never heard of it. neither had I ever heard of hundo but I managed to finish though it was a bit of a slog.
@Asher Yeah my first thought was 'fortress' as it's biggest feature is that it's very secure, not so much that it's luxurious. I am not sure if it has all the features you'd typically define a palace as having
@Asher Gattaca is a fun scifi classic, highly recommend!
Fast but nice Friday. I knew KATY Tur from the relentless attacks on her by a horrid individual. To answer Kate's question, HUNDO in either context was an unknown, but easily gotten from the crosses. I'll file those away for future reference.
Hi! This was a great Friday puzzle. For me that means I think I can’t do it but keep at it until light bulbs shine and luck strikes. Then, viola, I hear the music 🎶! Katy, sorry but ____ p would have annoyed the heck out of me 🤭. I was already annoyed before I read your next sentence asking if the clue would have been annoying. I don’t know anyone who says HUNDO percent. Then again, most people I know say “hunnit” and call $100 bills “Benjamins.” I always put bio instead of LIT for 3-lettered AP classes. I also put rayguns for PHASERS despite Star Trek: The Next Generation being my comfort show. I’ve never read Othello (gasp!) or don’t remember reading it but it’s such a part of our culture that the characters like CASSIO are an easy fill. I think I’ll remedy that omission today! Thanks for the chinwag (I learned about these CHATS today)!
@Pani Korunova I read “Othello” for the first time a few years ago. (I’d never seen it, either.) Some of it stuck, and while I have a vague memory of CASSIO’s role in the story, I needed a few crosses to get that answer.
Ah... another Katie Hawkins day*. Enjoyable puzzle but quite a long workout for me (of course). Still just a lot of nice 'aha' moments when I'd finally have enough crosses for something to dawn on me. *This has already come up in the comments, but first 15 letter answer to dawn on me this morning was: SADIEHAWKINSDAY Been an answer in 3 puzzles, but all of them pre-Shortz. And then... 21 letter answer that dawned on me today was: TWENTYONELETTERANSWER Never been in a puzzle, but that did lead me down a different path to a couple of rather amazing puzzles. As usual, I'll put those in replies. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: First puzzle was a Sunday from April 13, 2003 by Charles M. Deber with the title: "What am I?" Some theme clues and answers from that one: "If I have ___ :" SEVENTYTWODARKSQUARES (21 letters) "... and I am ___ :" TWENTYONEBYTWENTYONE (20 letters) "... and I am ___ :" MODERATELYCHALLENGING (21 letters) "... and I have ___ :" ONEHUNDREDFORTYWORDS (20 letters) "... then I must be ___ :" TODAYSCROSSWORDPUZZLE (21 letters) That's just... jaw-dropping. I'll put the other puzzle in another reply. ..
Really enjoyed it! I have not heard “Hundo P” before, but I think it would have been fair and I would have liked it. I had to put this one away and come back to it several times, but it slowly came together. Rhubarb, tater tot and absolute unit were my favorites! Thanks for a great puzzle
One could do worse than to pour yourself a little Jinro Soju and put on "Golden Vibes" (1959) where Lionel Hampton proves once and for all the legitimacy of the vibraphone as a solo instrument. A little plate of tater tots wouldn't hurt either. Everything in moderation--including moderation, as my old friend Paul used to say. Lionel: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIbvWnZHfCw&ab_channel=JazzTimewithJarvisX" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIbvWnZHfCw&ab_channel=JazzTimewithJarvisX</a> A good sweat, this puzzle, right? I had SPUR OF THE MOMENT rather than SOMETHING CAME UP -- and it felt good until it didn't. Ah well. I've only seen "absolute unit" to describe some physically large specimens. As in this sheep. <a href="https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/361/701/3b6.jpg" target="_blank">https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/361/701/3b6.jpg</a> And hotelier David Morgan-Hewitt, a tweet of him and the Queen being the 2017 origin of the term according to the next tab over on my laptop: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AbsoluteUnits/comments/mzr4d4/david_morganhewitt_the_manager_of_the_goring/#lightbox" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/r/AbsoluteUnits/comments/mzr4d4/david_morganhewitt_the_manager_of_the_goring/#lightbox</a> But I prefer the puzzle's more GENEROUS definition of a "big and strong person."
@john ezra I chased the first link for some time. Then burst out laughing when I clicked on the second. Btw, my Shakespeare play for March was Antony and Cleopatra. April brought Timon of Athens. The thread containing my original reply about them has been removed. Were you able to see it?
A record Friday time for me, and by quite a bit! This was one where the proper names and slang terms just clicked for me. I was able to race through the grid, which was a nice feeling for a Friday. It was fun seeing a bit of my generation’s meme vernacular in 18A, even if the clue kind of misses the mark on how it’s used. Anyway, I enjoyed this puzzle. It was nice having a breezy, open puzzle after yesterday’s choppy, gluey affair.
@PC Yeah, calling someone a UNIT isn’t a good thing 🤣
Much more engaging than yesterday's! This felt like it was just the right level of challenge and cleverness for a Friday, and was really enjoyable to work through. Loved some of the long fills as well, I HAVEN'T GOT ALL DAY was tremendously fun to figure out.