This is a proper Friday puzzle. Long periods of staring at the grid followed by a breakthrough (usually a long answer) and a flurry of adjacent words - then back to staring again, etc.
@Jon Mark so glad you enjoyed it, Jon!
Liked it quite a bit. RUDDERS, BELAYS, LEIF The Lucky?! and CLERK all seemed ingenious and well written. The 4 spanning Across clues were also good. Thank you, may I have another.
Nice puzzle with fresh fill. totally devoid of stale crosswordese. Kudos to the constructors.
It was hard to start, but if you keep plugging, you will fill it. Nice long-fill, got a good hold on the bottom third and worked my way back up. First time thru the top resulted in very few answers.
It's nice to have a challenging puzzle without any gimmicks. Keep it up please.
A snapper of a grid, nicely balanced with spanners and near-spanners that resonated with each other, superheroes and antiheroes, the innocence of a long ago childhood of tin can phones, poring over comic books, dressing up in a skeleton costume, snapping turtles for pets -- a nono in our house -- fondue parties, playing plinko, bored in school, can't wait for the bell, giggling with your friends over the fun fact that the Grand Tetons were thus named by a sexually imaginative French explorer and who knew birds' names could be such a hoot? And then, adulthood, tense and full of hard work and serious things like salons and tailors, mail-in ballots, dull jobs as clerks, helpers, having to come up with stopgap measures to fix the insoluble problems handed down by the top dogs, who are so full of it that it's like having Homer Simpson as your boss. Doh! No wonder you end up in Rosa's Cantina, where the music would play and Felina would whirl, and then off to El Gordo's for tacos with crema, served by a man with gauge earrings and pearls.
A miracle of construction that didn't require any look-ups despite all those unknown names, so I had to smooth my ruffled feathers and admit that the crosses took me where I needed to go and names dropped in all by themselves. Just some outside-of-the-outside-of-the-outside-of-the-box thinking, plus SCADS of luck, and hey, easy does it — I was DONE. Matthew Stock and Christina Iverson, I suspect there was a lot of grinning, chuckling and outright laughing as you cooked up this puzzle, and this solver was delighted to join in. Thanks for the fun.
Oh, gorgeous looking grid, with its photo album corners, sash, and lack of scattershot black squares. I grow calm and happy just looking at it. Christina (28 NYT puzzles) and Matthew (26) are pros, and they love to collaborate (21 times for Christina and 17 for Matthew). It sounds like there was much sweet back-and-forth for them with this one, with not a single word in the first draft appearing in the final one. Those stacked pairs of longs on the top and bottom really shine and add pop to the grid. Those two on top are NYT debut answers, and the pair at the bottom have appeared in the Times only once each before. And they have a terrific supporting cast – nothing feels stale here. If an answer is common, it’s given a sparky riddle or wordplay clue. And so, everything in the grid adds to the experience; nothing drags it down. Ahh, I just love when a puzzle does this! With all this going for it, what do I remember most? That ridiculously simple clue/answer combo [They’re OK] for DOS. I couldn’t get the answer from the clue, and when it filled in from the crosses I STILL didn’t get it, until with a combined “Hah!” and “Wow!”, I did. I love being gotten like that. What a skillfully written clue! A splendid outing for me, Christina and Matthew, for which I’m exceedingly grateful. Oh, please, do it again!
Leave it to Matthew Stock and Christina Iverson to bring us a puzzle that's chewy, intelligent, and not at all FULL OF IT. Speeding letters into squares, then stalling and staring, speed-stall-stare-speed-stall-stare made for lots of exciting thinking, pondering, and ahas. Thank you for this perfect Friday puzzle. Loved it!
This was another of those puzzles that initially seemed impossible, but which actually came together pretty quickly. This (for me at least) happens frequently in puzzles with a lot of long acrosses. Usually once one of those falls into place the downs become obvious, and the whole puzzle opens up. All the grid spanners in this one were fun and fresh. I especially liked SKELETONCOSTUME, which only came to me after forcing myself to accept that skeleton crew was never going to fit.
@Marshall Walthew Skeleton Costume was my favourite of the long crosses too! Made me smile :)
Of all the curious means the puzzle team employs to keep us coming back, outside of providing compelling content, is any more effective than the streak notification? Not counting the 30 years prior solving daily on paper, today the online streak hit 500. Whoop-dee-doo. Is that an achievement or an indication of something other? Anyhow, thanks for the fun.
@Foster Congrats on the 500 day streak! (I myself am getting closer to a year's worth, with 334 puzzles, done by 'hook or by crook'.) (Today's puzzle needed 15 'cheats'.) And I agree, the urge for the streak keeps us going, however we can!
@Foster "Is that an achievement or an indication of something other?" It means you're about to get the Fiddlesticks! message, and not be able to find your mistake. That's what happened to me at 503. (Done in by the Japanese chicken cutlet.) At least you emerged safely from the ABYSM, now don't get cocky.
@Foster "Is that an achievement or an indication of something other?" Like most things it depends on how you look at it. I guarantee you I'll never get to 500. So for me it would be overachievement.
Will anyone be wearing a SKELETON COSTUME to the MET GALA? We'll find out in 10 days or so. Excellent job all around on a Friday puzzle, Christina and Matthew.
@Vaer Phoebe Bridgers wore a skeleton-inspired gown to the Met last year :D
@Oreoore Phoebe Bridges is a national treasure!
Can anyone help me understand 47A: They're OK = DOS? Like DOS and DONTS? Or is it something else? Thanks, as always.
@Pezhead DOs, in contrast to 23 across, NO-NO.
@Pezhead I think it means dos and don’ts, but it took me a minute to figure it out.
@Pezhead i assume oklahoma has a sports team known as the tornados, abbreviated 'dos
What a beaut! Tough but fair, and guaranteed to stymie if you're not on your game.
David, That would be Tin PAN Alley, mon ami. Tin Can Alley is much less desirable. (Do emus nibble on tin cans?)
What an excellent Friday puzzle! But I think I'm going to take my opportunity to be that guy today and pick a nit-- networks are comprised of NODES and EDGES, the latter forming the connections. Nodes are the entities being connected, not the connections themselves. I don't think it was a bad clue, you could argue that a "connection" refers to joining up with the destination node. But if I don't say something then that graph theory class I took will be wasted!
@Ross That slowed me up for a minute, too.
@Ross I enjoy elucidation like you provided specifically because you specifically pointed out that this distinction is buried fairly deep in graph theory. And I love knowing that. But I'm glad that you nevertheless respected the puzzle and the puzzle creators by not saying that they or the puzzle were "bad" or "stupid" because of that. Fact is, there is a reason crosswords are not put together by committees. There are none without quibbles. Keep up taking challenging courses.
FUN FACTS: You should never clear your plate at a Chinese dinner party, because it implies that the host didn't serve enough food. When you're ALL DONE, place your chopsticks across your plate. Crossing your chopsticks on the plate is also a NONO. Finally, never leave your chopsticks sticking up in your rice bowl, because it resembles incense sticks at a funeral. Bonus IDIOM: Zao gao! is Chinese for, "what a mess." Literal translation is "smashed cake."
Well, *my* superheroes have DRAGON STORIES. (But not emu stories.)
Excellent puzzle. Tough but fair. I was desperately convinced that "Cruise control features?" implied a movie produced by Tom Cruise. Didn't get it until the very end. Didn't help that I had sPoONS as my crossing. If I hadn't had empanadas with CREMA at dinner tonight, that likely would have eluded me too. On tougher puzzles, I often find myself at the beginning of the end starting to solve clues like I solve Wordle. Just start placing letters against each other in a way that's pronounceable until I get a real word. That was a helpful strategy today
The clue "Still working on it?" solves to ALL DONE not because that's how someone who leaves food on their plate would respond to the question, but because it's another way of *asking* the question ("All done?"). By contrast, NOT DONE doesn't work because it's not synonymous with the clue.
@John I thought of it in the sense of a disgruntled boss asking an employee the status of an assignment
@John et al, I rather thought at first it would solve to YOU DONE [?]. Can someone please explain how 32D, ‘ “The Price Is Right” game,’ solves to PLINKO?
Never heard of a "HANK of hair" in my life, but oh well. I also got tricked briefly by FULLOFIT -- I had "_ULL___IT" and I was thinking "no way this is BULLS**T"... that would've fit the clue perfectly but maybe that would have been a step too far for the NYT crossword, lol.
@WB I loved the idea of FULLOFBS, too. The Gray Lady is gradually getting less prudish.
@WB You have to go back to the 1950's and listen to Jimmie Rogers singing "Honeycomb" - " a hank of hair and a piece of bone..."
My favorite kind of puzzle -- seemingly impossible until it wasn't. Like others I confidently entered SALSA right off the bat and was consequently stymied in the NW corner; otherwise my first pass yielded only HANK, DINO and, oddly enough, SKELETONCOSTUME -- which somehow leapt from my mind fully formed, like Athena, and gave me the "bare bones" to start building from the bottom up. Nice little Friday workout. Thanks!
Great puzzle, with hardly any of those clunky words that seem to exist only in crossword-land. Loved “Bare bones outfit” for SKELETON COSTUME, hah! Well done!
Deliciously tricky wordplay. I was very grateful for the smattering of toeholds I found, ALPS for one. My last stand was in the SW, where I finally tumbled to RUDDERS, then PLUGS, confirming APRONS, and yielding the mysterious PLINKO-- along with a Gold Star. (I forgot to turn up the sound on my phone, so missed the music, which would have made me jump in surprise.) Thank you, Christina and Matthew, for a delightful Friday puzzle. Keep collaborating!
I had a smooth, quick solving experience until I got stuck in the SW. I pulled PLINKO out of some recess of my brain, only to follow it with sPoON—which I was sure was right until it wasn’t. I have heard the term PLUGS for those unappealing-to-me adornments, but “gauge earrings” meant nothing. Thanks for a proper Friday challenge, y’all!
Dear editor, a thoroughly unenjoyable puzzle with clues designed to impress the clue writer. I’m seeing a trend towards that here lately. Can we please get back to standard NYT clueing?
Solid puzzle. Only took me fifteen minutes but the top half had some tricky entries. Very enjoyable solve.
I still have absolutely no idea what HANK has to do with hair.
@Thomas If you grab a handful of hair, you're holding a hank of hair.
@Thomas. See also “got a hank of hair and a piece of bone” lyrics to the 1950’s song Honeycomb.
Thomas, Here is a citation: <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/hank" target="_blank">https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/hank</a> G L, Love the reference! Emus, Why didn't my first attempt post? .....
I always expect to be bringing up the rear here, but today I was actually quite surprised to find that most everyone else found this unusually smooth. For me - I just really couldn't get enough of a toehold anywhere to work this one out. Don't think I've ever had less filled in when I finally gave up. That's all on me. I'll defer to the majority. Oh yeah - have to do my puzzle find today. A Sunday from September 12, 2010 by Paula Gamache with the title "It's going to cost you." There was no other reveal in the puzzle other than that title, but what it featured was five rebuses of ARM on the left side of the puzzle and five rebuses of LEG on the right side. Thought that was enormously clever. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/12/2010&g=8&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/12/2010&g=8&d=D</a> I'll return now to my home planet. ..
@Rich in Atlanta I crushed the top half of the puzzle (Matthew's mostly per the notes), but Christina laid me low with the bottom half. C'est la vie.
I was SO stuck in SE corner until I realized that is wasn’t FULL OF BS! Sometimes I can’t finish a puzzle until I really all your comments! Thanks fellow puzzlers!
@Elisabeth Meyer HA! I had BS at then end of FULLOF, too. I was very sorry that wasn't the correct answer.
Being stuck on loADS and not knowing HANK left me dumbfounded with the SALONS and CLERK crossing. Spent half my overall time trying to suss that one out. Nearly double my average time. Thanks for a nice Friday challenge!
@Mark Exact same situation here! Spent way too much time wondering if I'd just never been intellectual enough to be invited to a "Lalo_s". Although I've also never been invited to a Salon so...
Once again, my lack of spelling ability nearly beat me. 2D is spelled RIC, not RIK. RIK left me with TINKER and I stuck that out until I figured that the end of 14A was TELEPHONE. I tell my wife almost every day that I'd be pretty good at crosswords if I could spoil.
I once dated an octopus but she broke it off. "You're too handsy," she said. "Don't worry, I'll grow out of this." She really made no bones about it. (I'll show myself out.) cc: emu handler
A very enjoyable outing. Tough enough for a Friday, but not impossible. Fabulous clues; love those for SKELETON COSTUMES and ORIGIN STORIES. They really helped to open up the grid for me. I fell into the salsa trap at 1A, not being big on Mexican food here in the wilds I really only know salsa or guacamole. No idea what CREMA is, ditto PLINKO. Had to Google both after the fact. Thanks for a very enjoyable Friday puzzle.
@Helen Wright Heaven may be described as a taco with [grilled protein of your choice] and cilantro-lime crema. It pairs marvelously with beef, chicken, fish. I hope you get to experience this transcendent combination at some point.
I had "caped costumes" instead of ORIGIN STORIES for 51A, it was not helpful. Though I had to laugh when I finally took it out, only to have to fill in COSTUME right above it. This is my first time using this word, but BENIN crossing BASRA was a Natick for me. Finished slightly under my average time, but I had to look up a couple of things so I don't count it as a fast solve. It was an enjoyable challenge. :)
@Janine If the clue is “Iraqi port city”, the answer is always going to be BASRA. That’s not because crossword constructors prefer it over others, like Stephen REA or Brian ENO, but because Iraq has only one port city. (Its coastline is about five miles long.) You might have heard of BASRA because it was in the news during the Bush war debacle. It has been in the puzzle 116 times, so you’d best commit it to memory.
@Janine To quote the great Edna Mode: "NO CAPES!"
Did anyone else think of NOID for 23A ? I was told for a number of years to "avoid the NOID" and was sad to see that my copious knowledge of discount pizza chain ads from the 90s was useless in this puzzle.
Gauge earrings? [Somebody] the Lucky? Sports analyst? Srsly? [snore] FULL OF BS ....that slowed me down a bit until I bowdlerized the entry...and the remainder of this devilish puzzle fell like nine-PINS. So far I've walked 2 miles, solved all the 'extras' that I indulge in (Wordle, Connections, Strands, LetterBox, Spelling Bee), and had breakfast. Now for the real life pastimes! (Dishes, cat litter, dust mop, laundry folding....the fun never stops!) DHubs has a cold; thank goodness I made chicken noodle soup yesterday--a gallon of it. Who wants my noodle recipe? (I could have used the Kitchen-Aid, but cleaning that up is more work that rolling the dough out by hand, so....) Saturday puzzle coming soon! Get ready....
@Mean Old Lady I also had FULL OF bs for a very long time, until I got so stuck in that area that I decided I needed to delete some boxes and start over
More like a Saturday than a Friday to me. But more like the Saturdays of a few months ago, rather than what we’ve been seeing in recent months, which have been more like Fridays and Saturdays on other planets.
Fast and fun. I may have been distracted a bit because we have a beautiful, tiny nest in one of our hanging baskets, and every morning there is another tiny egg in it. We’re up to four. We hardly ever see the mama. I commissioned one of the teens to figure out how to order and set up a cam, and was met with a blizzard of technical questions. “That’s all up to you! I just want some pictures of those baby birds hatching!”
So many false friends! Who else had SALSA and OPERA and some other dead ends? (I confess to going astray with a foolhardy LAPDOG, for which I alone must accept responsibility…)
@Petrol I started off with SalsA until RIC Ocasek cleared that up. Where did you have opera?
@Eric Hougland I had opera instead of CLERK, believe it or not
Today, major crucivibing. Friday PB! Did have youDONE in for a minute. Reminds me of my elegant grandmother, who taught us that the polite way to eat, if you’re going to finish your food first, is to take *very* small bites, moving the food around, so your fellow diner is not left eating alone. Subtlety is key. Really liked this puzzle, and fun column, too! Thank you!
After completing the puzzle, it was very interesting for me to read that the constructors effectively divided the puzzle vertically. That totally tracked with my experience: I had a much smoother solve in the bottom half - and I often find myself on the same wavelength as Christina Iverson’s cluing and fill. Curious if anyone else experienced the two halves differently?
Rachel, I hope you'll scroll down just a few minutes earlier to see another "two halves differently" report -- with the opposite result. both sides now (clouds, not emus)
@Rachel Same! I was totally on the same wavelength on the bottom half, and perplexed by the top half. After filling in what turned out to be Christina's clue in the top half, the rest came together.
@Rachel Same here. I had the entire bottom half done and then worked my way upwards.
Great puzzle. Fun clues. Few foreign names / places / phrases and best of all no theme and no gimmicks.
@Blang Agree. A few iffy clues, in my opinion, but placed in such a way that you could figure them out. The best puzzle in a while, IMO. Hard at first, but as you keep at it, it gradually unfolds--an ideal Friday for me.
"...and best of all no theme and no gimmicks." Blang, Right: a normal Friday puzzle. I liked it too, but...
Interesting variety of entries clever clueing, just right for a Friday. Of course I always need help, but don’t mind.
I look forward to the Easy Solve on Fridays, but it not in my email today. 😪 Without it, I'm only good for half a Friday puzzle.
This puzzle was impossible! Until it wasn't! For a while I really thought I couldn't do this one and then that beautiful grid just started filling up in fits and spurts. I had just one lookup for "Singer Ocasek." I could not believe that the answer to the Mexican condiment was salsa. I wouldn't accept it! I knew it was too easy! It had to be a trap. I got a bit obsessed for a while then decided that I'd look up that short answer RIC, since I just didn't know it (of course I know the Cars and recognized his face upon lookup but I don't think I ever knew his name). From there I got CREMA and moved in fits and spurts to complete the rest from the east going down the divider line to the southwest and back up to CREMA and down, finishing with APRONS. Lookin' good, Billy Ray! Feeling good, Louis! I haven't heard HANK before (except as a name) but once I finally gave up on poNy, I worked it out from the crosses. Really enjoyed this one and was glad I could take it easy this Friday morning working from home and focus on it without loads of interruptions (err, aka legit work things) as happens when I'm in the office with my terrific colleagues. Don't worry, I'm not a slacker, I just enjoy the flexibility I'm offered to manage my own time and workload! (That and curbside pickup being the best things that came for me from the awfulness of COVID.) Cheers to the weekend, all!!
A perfect Friday puzzle, which is no surprise given the presence of Christina Iverson and Matthew Stock. I loved the NONO (23A) and DOS (47A) clues in particular. SNAPPERS makes this a good time to remind everyone that baby turtles are crossing roads near you. If you see one in danger, please help it across in the direction it is heading. Keep a towel in your car for that purpose. If it's a large SNAPPER, hold towards the rear third so they can't bite you. I learned that many years ago. As for "Still working on it?" I must admit that is one of my pet peeves. When a waitperson says that, I envision a dog tearing at a piece of rawhide.
@Nancy J. A waitperson never asked me that. Surely that is RUDE! rude rude rude! I am sure what I would say in response. Probably nothing! Just an endless stare. TY for the laugh, Nancy!
@Bonnie When I'm asked that I say yes, I'm still ENJOYING it, thank you.
@Nancy J. I posted this and left for the gym. As soon as I drove away, I realized that I should have left "baby" out of the sentence, because in many cases you will be helping the adult turtles (often the egg carrying female). I figured by the time I got back, someone would have corrected me, but I see that hasn't happened.
A whole lot of silent staring and furrowed browing today, but then eventually… *plink* … “Oh!” I can never see or hear the name of a certain Northern European explorer of yore, without remembering Charlie Farquharson (aka Don Harron) referring to him as “Leif Yer Lucky Stiff.”