Everyone all set for the "This is not a crossword" crowd? For a touch of elegance, the only regular T in the puzzle is in the revealer. !!!!! !!!!!
@Steve L It *is* a crossword. Just with a poorly executed gimmick. Nothing says fun like staring at a correctly completed puzzle and having it just stare back at you.
@Steve L This was the most fun puzzle I've done in ages, just came here to say that. IDK who is having trouble with it online, I found the theme and what you were supposed to do extremely intuitive.
This puzzle would have been 1000% better if the Ts were just normal blank clues. Then you'd get an aha moment when the un-clued answers would suddenly make sense after you hit the revealer. Showing "T" in the squares tells you something is up and makes it painfully easy to fill in the answers and ignore the "T"s entirely as if they weren't there. It kills the "revealer" entirely as the "T"s have been pre-revealed. A fine puzzle undone by this decision.
@David G If you turn off the overlays (at least on android) the "T" squares are just empty light gray squares. I'm guessing this is what the print edition will do also.
@David G Hmm you're more right than I first thought. I had thought that perhaps some non-T-marked Ts remained in a couple of words, but no, all the Ts are superfluous to the real answers, and all disappear. So what WAS the point of marking the squares with giant transparent T shapes? Shading, at most, would have been fine. Also, it still kind of bugs me that in EVERY case there are multiple Ts in a word/phrase, and yet the revealer says that Tea, singular, leaves. Not the greatest cluing, unless I've missed something....
If the NYT has to write this many instructions for a puzzle, then they consider that a litmus test for not publishing it.
Please pass on to Editor Joel Fagliano to stop with the puzzle gimmicks that aren’t universally supported by the app. Like the “combo lock” puzzle the other day: It’s awful. Not every cute idea for a puzzle should make it to publication if the app can’t clearly handle it. Just…no.
@Skip Intro I agree, Skip. The app really couldn't handle the many combinations this puzzle threw up. It left me in limbo at the end. Not satisfying.
I can see how the puzzle without the Ts pre-filled would have been harder. For example, with circles where the Ts go - i would have enjoyed that. Instead, this was kind of a Tuesday level for me. I simply ignored the filled boxes. I’m impressed by the two words in the theme entries and impressed that there are NO other Ts in the puzzle. A constructing tour de force. And I always enjoy some animation at the end.
I did it! I did it, I did it! 1000 Wooooooooooooot woooot!!!!! Now for 1001 and so on....
@Classic Hip-Hop Fan, YAY!!!!! 🎉🍾🎈 Congratulations on getting to 1000!! And what a puzzle to reach it on! Well done!!! Take that, emus!
Okay, first I came through here to say that I kind of liked the puzzle and theme, even though it took me a little bit longer than I would have liked to grok things when I was working with Alanis. But then I read the Wordplay column, and have thoughts. ;) 1. If those instructions are so vital, why aren't they included in the Info (i) section of the puzzle itself? 2. Contrary to the instructions, I entered Ts throughout in the Web version (on an Android browser) and it worked well. 3. I know how hard it is to get things working multiplatform, but isn't that also a continued argument against the fancier and more indulgent / showy constructs? Again, I happened to like this one myself, but many of them are far too much gild for the lily with little to no return on bang for the buck.... 4. At least this was one puzzle where understanding the theme really mattered in solving it. 5. I almost think those T squares should have been fixed / unwriteable on every platform. Anyhow, I enjoyed it, it was pretty modest difficulty, and I hope it doesn't stir up too much vitriol.
@B I saw those Ts and immediately went to the info section on my app and the "vital solving instructions" were there. However, I could not do a blank rebus as the info suggestion, and had to come to the column to figure it out. Anyway, I'm not sure of those instructions came later or are platform specific, but I did see the right away.
disappointed by the negativity here in the comments section. if you solved the puzzle, and enjoyed solving the puzzle, what does it matter whether or not you get credit for it? and if you're on a streak, and that's important to you, how big of a deal is it really to futz around for a few minutes to get the credit you deserve? the joy of finishing this incredibly clever thursday was, to this emu, more than worth the slight pain of acquiring a gold star. i also frankly don't get the general dislike of thursday "gimmicks" in this comment section. on one (or sometimes two) day(s) a week, we as solvers get to do something slightly different. if care is put into the twist – and it almost always is – we're just getting more puzzle bang for our buck. there are many thousands of more straightforward puzzles of every difficulty in the archives for those so single-mindedly inclined.
@Graham Louder for the people in back!
@Graham AAAAHHH! Don't you understand? My whole life pivots around my precious NYT puzzle streak! Some people are elated or freak out based on whether the DJIA rises or falls on a given day, but my mood (and that of everyone within earshot or glaring range) depends on whether my average time for the day goes up or down! If it goes down, I'm a genius! If it goes up, it's the worst puzzle ever!
Brandon’s original concept – instead of the grayed squares with the T’s, just having plain white squares – sounds fantastic to me. Cracking THAT would have felt mighty fine, and the appreciation of the skill/creativity of this construction would have been amplified by those good feelings. And there IS so much skill behind this puzzle – finding words that worked, omitting all the T’s in the grid except for those in the theme answers and revealer (Hi, @Steve L!), and piecing it all together… this is top notch construction. Plus, as I imagine it happened with Brandon, somehow running across the phrase TEA LEAVES and having the brain immediately tick tick tick, going “What can I do with this in a puzzle?” I am so grateful for brains like that, that so enrich Crosslandia. I loved [Mobile home?] for SHELL, and figured that something so good has surely shown up before in the major crossword outlets. But no! “Home” has been used a lot, but prosaically, like {Snail’s home]. High props for that. Thank you, Brandon, for an A-ONE concept, a sweet solve, and for bringing excellence to crosswords for six years now!
"I was almost going to buy you some orange pekoe but didn't." "Don't teas me!" ("But prices were steep!")
@Mike I sencha some. But it's taking toolong. Better bag it.
@Mike I’ve spent about two hours trying to think of a good rejoinder to equal your clever tea puns but I can only come up with a weak matcha.
@Mike You're really going to pot these days.
Yes! Loved this -- I finally feel like I've found the 'Thursday Brain,' after doing the xword daily since 2020! (Inner monologue: Oh, you're saying the 't' leaves? Let's do this!) Just a lot of fun all around -- being obsessed with Tarot as a teen and running through the arcana characters... Hmm, was also obsessed with ALANIS, one of my first concerts as a youth! This one left me smiling and feeling encouraged.
@Kate M Wow, sounds like someone flipped a switch! congrats, and welcome to Club Thursday.
Loved this. So clever and clean.
Enjoyable enough. I'm going to get nitpicky about going pro. Most athletes are already professionals before they play their first games in MLB, the NBA and the NHL They've already been playing for pay in the minor leagues.
@Ed Not nitpicky at all. I think that was a howler of an error. If there are "big" leagues to go to there must be minor leagues to come from. I'm waiting to hear from the rationalizers on this one.
@Al in Pittsburgh I think it’s easy to rationalize. You alluded to it yourself when you left out the NFL. Those players weren’t in the minor leagues prior to having GONE PRO. Plus, for example, plenty plenty NBA players never see a game in the minor leagues.
I figured out the theme and solved it. I had to read the article to get it to record it as finished. I am on the web, and had to go back and enter all the T's. Not what the article suggested. I enjoy tricky puzzles. I do not enjoy gimmicks, especially when they don't work properly!
Nope. Just Nope. Sometimes you can admire the cleverness and hard work of a puzzle constructor, even if the puzzle isn't your particular cup of tea, But this is just a pretty lame gimmick and not a lot more to say. I have tried going around (on my Android tablet) and opening and closing the REBUS function, but it's pretty boring and as or right now, has not achieved any closure. If you like it, well and good. As for me, I never could. See you tomorrow.
I knew there were going to be howls when Deb's column began with the "how to solve on different platforms" [Thank you for making the medium sized bucks, btw.] I am consistently in awe of what the tech team is able to do when constructors come up with a novel approach to challenging us. Managing a multi-platform, highly-visible technical delivery system used by a passionate audience is not easy. Making an update for web - ok, the js files are downloaded when the page loads. But it also needs to have a way for it to work in an app, preferably without forcing a download and update. And that takes some doing. Perhaps I am forgetting the old saw "If civil engineers built bridges the way software engineers write programs none of us would ever cross a river again." I get it. We want it to 'just work'. I'm choosing to roll with the quirkiness and the need for a little help to get to the final state for the joy of a daily challenge to start my day. Now if someone can tell me why my watch won't sync with my tv.... But I am chosing to be thank
I may be in the minority, but I really enjoyed this puzzle. I thought it was cleverly constructed, finding 12 crossing entries that make different words when you remove all the tees.... wow! My only complaint would be that having the "T" crossings already in the puzzle made it too easy for tricky Thursday... but how diabolical would it have been with no visual hints! Reading some of the double hints posters came up with in the comments was great... a little peek at what could have been. My favorite clue: "What has a big part in the Ten Commandments" for RED SEA. For what it's worth, I solved on my android phone. I left the T squares blank, and was concerned I may have to fill in something before completion, but as I entered my last letter in the regular grid I got the happy music. Easy peasy. I was surprised to see the long tutorial in Wordplay about what to enter, and knew there was going to be a flurry of furious comments. To those who are unhappy, I hope the rest of your day goes better. :)
Can I make one request to the puzzle maestros - stop with the cutesy puzzles, please. When you start creating a flowchart of possible responses based on input criteria you have changed lanes - you are now cruising down the programmer nerd lane and not the crossword nerd lane.
Loved this puzzle ... but kept thinking about divining rods for divination aids ... until the crosses gave me TEALEAVES. Then I realized what that mean: Ts must leave to get the clue's answers. Anyway, this was a fun an relatively easy (not so tricky) Thursday. Thank you, Brandon. Shall look at the wordplay article to perhaps learn more about you!
@Bonnie Yes, I was thinking of dowsing rods, perhaps with TEE-shaped handles? Nope, not a thing.
Sorry but the Android instructions in the column are wrong, at least for my device. If you try entering a blank rebus on my phone (Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra with all software updates installed), the app deletes the letter from the square preceding the rebus. What did in fact work was ignoring the prefilled squares altogether. Also, the clueing was not Thursday-level, was it? I did the puzzle after waking up for some inexplicable reason at 4 AM (CET) so I was a bit groggy, and yet I solved most of the clues after the first across and down pass, which is usually a Monday or Tuesday experience for me.
@Andrzej I saw this behavior on my Moto when I left the rebus empty. But when I entered one space, it worked as described. It's not a Samsung so my mileage may have varies.
OK - I've finished the puzzle - tried all of your "platform" suggestions - still can't get the completion music, and the clock is still ticking. Idiotic gimmick.
@Ilka I'll bet you have an error somewhere in the rest of the puzzle. Others are saying they had no trouble.
@Ilka try on the website instead of the app. I still had to "rig" (fix? really?) it to get the fill, but it worked hella better than the app. really was a bad idea. Time for a rule: if it can't be done in the paper (disappearing "t", or other funky stuff), then don't do it on the app. if ever there comes a day when print is truly dead, then have at it with the little coding clues. until then, use the KISS method for constructing these.
@Ilka, I had the whole thing filled in and seemingly correctly, but no happy music. I started going to all of the shaded T’s and pressing the backspace key to erase anything I might have accidentally put in (it didn’t skip over them on my iPad) and lo and behold, got the music on the third one. I liked the puzzle and thought it was very clever to have the extra T’s. But there will be a HUE AND CRY for its departure from the norm. ( I noticed that Deb went to extra lengths to describe just what is accepted in the “T” squares today. Maybe that will mitigate some of the usual anger)
Ok, yeah, pretty straightforward for a Thursday. But some really clever words that can drop their tees (oops hope that doesn’t get censored) especially FItNESStESt, and impressive to make it all work with no extraneous Ts except in the revealer. So style points for that. No standout clues, really, except I liked “last but not least”. I expect we will get the usual “my streak got broken because I couldn’t fill it in” and it sounds like for Android users that might be fair, looks like a bit of a rigmarole, and if that’s true it’s reasonable to question puzzles where the tech can’t support the gimmick. But for the record I had no problem on the iPhone app.
I liked this puzzle well enough, but I think it would have been better if the Ts weren't prefilled and the clues covered both words. For example: "Seductress ruler" or "90s singer in a lost city". Maybe that would have been too tricky to make good clues, I don't know. Also, I thought it clever that the only other T in the puzzle was in the revealer.
Really the worst puzzle yet. I really don't want to have to come to the instructions/explanation page to learn how to navigate this super-gimmicky pseudo puzzle, thank you. I'm off to the Post or the Guardian in the future, tyvm.
I think I'm going to skip the comment section today...
@Jesse K LOL for the first time in memory I'm limiting myself to the Reader Picks--a fair sampling of the lovers and haters.
Like My brain enjoys the little zap when the Ts make whole new words! And today I learned that ibex live in the Alps?! Off to Google and learn more.
Our constructor wrote: My original submission actually omitted the shaded squares — I was worried it would be too hand-holdy or something. Brandon, I would loved to solve your original submission. I found this version "too hand-holdy" and some online solvers clearly found it "something." .........
Who knows if this will ever post? Over the past week, Jim in France has been the one and only representative of a historically-informed poster with regard to our solmization foofaraw. I composed a reply to him that has still not managed to get through. I will try one last time… @Jim - What we performance majors sang when we went out on the town was: Dough, the thing that buys my beers, Ray, the guy who pours the beers, Me, the guy who drinks my beers, Far, a long way to the john. So, I’ll have another beer. La, la la la la la laaaa. Tea? No, thanks, I’m having beer! And that brings us back to Dough! Our favorite place was called Bannannas and served pizza fries: masses of thick cut french fries topped with pizza sauce and mozzarella. With pitchers. My musicianship teacher insisted on our being fluent in both fixed and movable-do solfège, at sight, in tempo, in all eleven clefs*. One of the best teachers I ever had. In graduate school we added twelve-tone solmization for atonal music: Oh-one-two-tree-four-five-six-sev-eight-nine-ten-lev-oh (0123456789te0) for pitch classes rising chromatically from /C/. *F on the top line sub-bass clef, F on the fourth line bass clef, F on the middle line / C on the top line baritone clef, C on the fourth line tenor clef, C on the middle line alto/viola clef, C on the second line mezzo-soprano clef, C on the bottom line / G on the middle soprano clef, G on the second line treble clef, G on the bottom, French violin clef.
Imagine finding 4 words, each containing at least two Ts, that form other words when the Ts are removed. And then 8 other word pairs with and without a T. FITNESS TESTS/FINESSES is most impressive. and I especially like the down pairs MARINE/MARTINET and LEVIES/LEVITES. There is nothing I enjoy more than a good strong cup of TEA and a tricky Thursday puzzle. This was a brilliant theme that had the potential to be an awesome challenge, but was totally watered down by the inclusion of pre-filled Ts.
@Anita Thank you for pointing out why this was a remarkable puzzle to construct. If Brandon had his way, it would have been great fun to solve. He deserves a lot of credit that he didn't get due to an editorial decision.
I (almost) always solve NYT puzzles in a desktop web browser (macOS Firefox), so I rarely have the problems others sometimes encounter on other platforms. But I do feel for those who have difficulties. FWIW, I think requiring a user to do something unintuitive like entering a blank rebus, even with instructions to do so, is a sign that you're likely to get a lot of complaints. I understand that coding special puzzles can be challenging, and even coding errors don't excuse rude comments. But it would be good if differences between how the different platforms accept answers be minimized as much as possible.
to deb and the constructor: thanks! Nice puzzle!
On my iPad the puzzle solved just as it was supposed to. The white Ts are still flashing away in their gray squares. I enjoy seeing a different looking puzzle occasionally and was delighted with this one although definitely Thursday difficult for me. It must have been very difficult to construct, so thanks for your efforts, Brandon. That was fun.
Can't help thinking that some of the harshest critics here simultaneously harbor secret admiration. Maybe their comments are just LOVE LEttERS
Gimmicks are never good. This was worse than most.
Pretty easy Thursday. Solved on iPad. Left the Ts empty and finished but got neither a complete nor an error message. Put T in all the appropriate squares and got an error message. Found my typo and done!
The RED SEA clue was my favorite in a while.
5 minutes and 37 seconds? Thanks for the Tuesday puzzle! E M U
With some tweaking of the cluing—not just revealing that the T's made other words—this could have been a powerhouse puzzle. It's Thursday. Solvers expect to strain more brain cells than this one required, and it's a shame to have let the puzzle appear this way. I would have loved some complication that just wasn't there. Brandon Koppy, you are absolved from any hint that you may have left us a bit T'ed off—the editors should have given you some cues for more clues. Thanks for the cluing you did do. That part was fun.
@dutchiris The alluring Catherine the Great of Russia Singer in the deep blue sea Aces a Nike model audition Sends back the imported drapery These are really terrible clues, but I think they'll give an idea of what I mean.
Annoying and distracting gimmick. Doesn’t work well online.
Our esteemed columnist Deb used 120 words to explain how to successfully complete this morning's puzzle. To me, that is a sign of a less than optimal user experience. I solved on the web; left the T squares blank and did not receive any notice once all of the other squares were filled in. After reading Deb's not, I inserted the letter T as indicated and received credit.
@RI guy Ain’t progress great (for technical writers)?! My new Subaru owners manual has ten pages (I counted) on how to operate the back door. And I still couldn’t figure out exactly what they were saying. Luckily, like this puzzle, it yielded to my experimentation.
Not a fan of this puzzle. Started solving (in the NYT Games iPhone app) with gray squares/no Ts but set it aside late last night. Picked it up this morning and the gray boxes (some of which I’d filled in incorrectly) now had Ts layered over whatever content I may have entered. I think this puzzle crosses the line between cleverly expanding game play and some sort of gray area (pun intended) where so many normal conventions have been ignored or contradicted that the experience of completing the puzzle is sacrificed.
@GBH It appears differently in dark mode and light mode. Maybe that was the issue?
Sooo...type in BLANK in all the squares that contain the letter T, then ignore those squares and complete the puzzle as though they weren't there? Okie Dokey.
@Mike — Uh…yeah. Totally underwhelmed by this gimmick.
Love this puzzle so much, thank you Brandon! Particularly enjoy the ones with visual surprises, and I am lucky to have picked up on the theme early into the solve. Favourite clues were NAPES and REDSEA MARVIN was my favourite Looney Tune, and ALANIS’ Jagged Little Pill is one of my top albums of all time! So cool to find those in there too!
Enjoyed the theme and the several international clues today. May have been quick but sometimes it's nice to have a Thursday be a little less punishing.
Clever, Clever. Figured out the theme pretty quickly. And it follows my golden rule, all esoteric answers have generally accessible crossings
Well, I'm just glad I solve on paper where every puzzle works every time. It was a nice puzzle, but definitely not a Thursday level trick. I did like "Moblie home?" for SHELL, "Last but not least?" for VERB, and the fact that we had real words with or without the T's.
Nancy J, This worked fine for me with a stylus on my stone tablet. I considered it a Thursday construction with a Tuesday solve. N.B. For those who wondered what it looked like in the paper: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/svc/crosswords/v2/puzzle/print/May0224.pdf?large_print=true" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/svc/crosswords/v2/puzzle/print/May0224.pdf?large_print=true</a>
That was different. I managed to fill it all in correctly and I think that it's quite impressive to have constructed this with pairs of answers that are valid either with or without the t's (though they don't both work with the clue), but must confess that I feel like there's some element that I'm just not getting. No complaints - just remain a bit puzzled. Stumbled across a couple of very different puzzles today. I'll put those in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: First puzzle was a Sunday from September 26, 1999 by Randolph Ross with the title: "SUB" TITLES A couple of sample clues/answers: "Goose Feathers of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas : DOWNFORTHECOUNT "Liberate My Sons" by Arthur Miller : FREEFORALL I can't grasp what the heck was going on with that one. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/26/1999&g=55&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/26/1999&g=55&d=D</a> And then... a Sunday puzzle from April 10, 2005 by Elizabeth C. Gorski with the title: "Scientific American." The clue answer for 67 down was: "Notable who died April 1955 :" ALBERTEINSTEIN And then, a number of other clues simply referenced "67-down" in the clue. e.g.. "Proposal by 67-down." THEORYOFRELATIVITY and... "Famed statement by 67-Down :" E=MC2 which crossed: =TO and TEAFOR2 And then... there were four answers linked to one another that were a reference to a quote by Einstein. First clue/answer was: "Start of an observation by 67-Down :" THEONLYREASON And then the other 3 clues were all of the form... "Observation part 2..." etc. And the other 3 answers were: FORTIMEISSO THATEVERYTHING DOESNTHAPPENATONCE Don't think I would have much of a chance on that puzzle. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=4/10/2005&g=43&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=4/10/2005&g=43&d=D</a> I'll shut up now. ..
A twilight zone puzzle in at least a couple of senses. By which I mean, a StERLING puzzle. Well done!
Well this was great--so fun and fresh..... ..... right up until I got to the final entries with a Martian (we obviously did not watch enough junk television) and a stand-up comedian and some kind of drone or other. Fortunately, DHubby had made it to the breakfast table and knew the blankety-blank CAR, and I could see for myself that it wasn't MARTIN the Martian. He also lived outside Philly as a youngster, or 1D would have giiven me fits; just the C was obvious from the crossing. Wordle in 2 ....which has put me in a cheerful mood. Depending on what time I have to get PhysicsDaughter to the hospital, may not get here for quite some hours tomorrow. Deep breaths. The End.
@Mean Old Lady Marvin the Martian is not junk television. He is one of my favorite Bugs Bunny foes! Have a watch. Quite entertaining. ☺️☺️☺️
Coming at it from the no tech problems point of view… I hate ten minute Thursdays. I come here for puzzles. Fill in the squares quick makes some people happy - hi, there SL - not me. I want a workout, especially on a Thursday.