I have to give a big congratulations on the “Shell fish?” clue and answer of GASSTATIONSUSHI. Loved it.
When I shred my cheese, I have grate expectations. (This pun's not the best. But it's gouda-nough.)
@Mike At any rate, it's a fetacompli. That's how the Cookie crumbles.
@Mike You can always crumble some into a salad for a feta compli. 🍀 🍀 🌿 🌿 🍀 🍎🥑🥣
@Mike You're a regular fontina wit. I cheddar to think what the emus will do with this.
@John Lemme I came here to say the same thing! Really liked Eli Cotham’s debut as well, great Friday.
@John Lemme I wondered if it was a late April Fool's joke! 😆 ......................................................
@John Lemme I set a new personal best on the Mini without ever reading the Down clues. Fun but kind of silly.
BIG D DEAD TREE EDITION: AN HEIR AND A SPARE COSLEPT AVEC ESTRELLA ACLU: AOL OOZES LIES ALSO, NOW LET'S SEE ... ELITIST ACTS - "GAS STATION SUSHI? THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!" NITE, MADAM
@Adam Mellis I would give this 10 upvotes if I could. As clever and as amusing as today’s crossword. Thanks much to Eli and Adam! PS SERVICE AGREEMENT won for me without contest. A new clue on an old and well used puzzle word
@Adam Mellis Agree: ten upvotes Adam! !!!!
Funniest wrong answer for me was the animal medium being a WET PSYCHIC. “I see… a vernal pool for you salamanders” “I see… a bathtub tap left dripping for you kitties” “I see… a nice muddy puddle for you doggies” Enjoyed the rest of the puzzle too; I just always like a bonus wrong answer laugh!
@Cat Lady Margaret I had it as a vETPSYCHIC, like a veterinarian who you could bring your dog to for a check-up and a reading. I’d never heard of 9A, so it sat there for a long time and I thought I was oh so clever….NOT! — — — — — — — — — — — —
@Hardroch I only know T-PAIN from the Lonely Island video of I'm On A Boat. ;)
@Hardroch P.S. heads up On A Boat is NSFW
Ahh, the ooze of raw flesh slowly slithering over each other (gas station sushi & tartare). Giant Eagle, the local grocery chain, has their own gas stations, too, called Get-Gos. Their "food stations" have semi-fresh sushi and I'm still alive to tell you about it, and say, yeah, it's not a bad lunch. Especially the ahi & asparagus with ethanol. Most selections come either regular or unleaded and the diesel wasabi is super hot -- and the more you buy the more "fuel perks" you get, which, while of no help to our world, can earn you a free tank of gas once in a blue moon. Having just read in Politico that Kristi Noem's chances at VP -- or anything, really -- nosedived after she wrote about her puppy, Cricket, the cute downward dog photo in the Worldplay column, plus "pet psychic" started me musing about how, sometime in the not too distant future, one nite Kristi will hear "the yips" again in her sleep, there in her dacha in the Urals that Putin gifted her. Cricket! Nite after nite she hears him, baying and yipping joyously. Desperately, she journeys to Vladivostok where the notorious pet psychic Madam Big D. resides. D. shakes her head sadly. "Madam, no matter how much you beg, your pleas will not be answered. There are no avenues for you to take; you can race, you can --" she snaps her fingers -- "vamoose even...but you will never escape the yips, not even if you gave everything you had to the ACLU..." She stares at Noem. "Really Madam. This is an outrage."
@john ezra thanks for this! Our doggos are safe here from their guv, the now notorious KGnome. I hear her foot is now referred to as Cricket
@john ezra Okay, so I *may* have had to skip entirely over your first paragraph after reading the all-too graphic (and accurate!) first line. But that only proves your descriptive prowess, IMHO. As for Ms. Noem, I have no words. Actually, I have a lot of words! But none I can type here without invoking the immediate wrath of the emus -- they who would be better served silencing the pen of that woman-! Wait, I take that last bit back: it was only the hubris of her text which brought her horrors to light. SMH.
Well, my Libra yen for balance liked the big plus sign in the middle, corner-flanked by two minus signs. My predilection for pop in a puzzle loved the six terrific NYT answer debuts: CO-SLEPT, NOW LET’S SEE, PET PSYCHIC, THE YIPS, and the spanners AN HEIR AND A SPARE and GAS STATION SUSHI. Marvelous cross of PET PSYCHIC and THE YIPS – as I imagine former grokking the latter. Adding to the pop are the other two terrific spanners, each of which have appeared in the Times puzzle but once before: DEAD TREE EDITION and THIS IS AN OURAGE. Spanner heaven. Then throw in four scintillating clues – [Shell fish?], [Game with a hands-down winner?], [Play things], and [Service agreement] – and wow, what a fun tour through the box today! Plus, a five-letter palindrome (MADAM), memories of past Twister tangles, the lovely VALISES, and the sweetest of all – memories evoked by COSLEPT (the sounds, warmth, and marvelous perfume of a sleeping baby). And all this in a NYT puzzle debut? Can this be the start of a run, Eli? Can it please? This was out of the park for me. Congratulations, and thank you so much!
Half my average Friday time with no lookups/recourse to this blog for hints. Probably helped to get the Prince Harry clue first time through. Shell fish made me laugh out loud Also excited by the number of French clues given that I did the whole puzzle in the queue waiting for the Louvre to open. Greetings from Paris!
@Beth funny, I went *over* my Friday average by nearly 50% :) Great puzzle, though — and I also got a good kick out of the shell fish clue when that answer came together for me.
Can we take a second to talk about today's Mini... I loved it. It's not often that a crossword makes me laugh, much less a mini. Well done, Mr. Fagliano.
@LeCheffre I thought it was a little silly. On the other hand, I came as close to having a single-digit time as I likely ever will.
@LeCheffre I actually lol'ed when I realized what was going on.
And, I should add, a very clever and fun puzzle! Congratulations on the debut. Great job!
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Mr. Cotham! I enjoyed the many fresh entries.
Either that was super easy, or I surfed the same wavelength as the constructor. I think the former . . . .
@Rodzu I finished in less than half my average time for a Friday puzzle. I have to guess it was easy.
@Rodzu I would agree. Was two seconds off my best Friday time, and was doing it on my phone, which slows me down (fat fingers=a few typos).
@Rodzu It was easy for me, too — my third fastest Friday.
Wow, this was a debut? This was a great Friday puzzle! The Fridays recently have been knocking it out of the park, but something this smooth in a debut is always impressive. I could see the NW corner being pretty rough with the clustering of proper nouns (particularly for non-Americans), but MVP was enough to get me started. Fridays live or die on the long fill, though, and these were well constructed, amusing (for the sushi one), and fresh. I was not familiar with the former prince’s memoir, so it was fun puzzling that out from crosses. Puzzles like this are why Friday is my favorite day of the solving week.
I'll just join the chorus of people singing the praises of this puzzle. GASSTATIONSUSHI, ANHEIRANDASPARE, DEADTREEEDITION, and THISISANOUTRAGE may be the best collection of spanners that I've seen.
I second guessed a lot of answers because my brain was on Friday and the puzzle was a bit Wednesdayish but I absolutely cracked up at GASSTATIONSUSHI. :). Today's mini was a fun one!
I finished under my average time without a single look-up, woo! It did get stuck a bit in the NE corner. Finally TWISTER came to me (love that clue!) and gave me a foothold. I'm a huge Sarah McLachlan fan but I don't know why ADIA was her highest charting song in the US, I wouldn't even put it in the top 10. WEDGE issue was an unknown phrase to me, so after I finished the puzzle I looked it up.... oh, so they have a name for that kind of thing. "Hands-down" favorite clue- 57A "Service agreement" for AMEN.
Oops, I meant to say that Adia wouldn't be in my top ten Sarah McLachlan songs, not that it didn't deserve to be on the charts! ..........................................................
How do you want your steak? Must be TAd rARE, because of course level means the score is TIEd. oH OK! Now I’m excited to learn about a new exotic dish called GoSSTArION SUSHI! Wait, could it… AH.
@Marks Gosstarion sushi. From the planet Gosstar, where the fish are intelligent and have wings, hands and other appendages, so that succulent but horrifying delicacy is even more reviled and controversial there than pâté de foie gras is here on Earth. KLAZA SHAZBOT!!! (that's THISISANOUTRAGE in Gosstarion) 👽🍴 ✌🐠👡👡 🖐😲🖑
"Shell fish" made me giggle when it finally fell... but I'll be laughing about "Service agreement" all day! Thank you for the fun puzzle, Mr. Cotham - I'll be looking forward to your next. A happy Friday to all :-)
@Regine Yeah, I also liked "Service agreement". "Shell fish", when I figured it out, left me in awe. Because I don't eat that stuff, even in a fine restaurant. In that venue? Yiiiikes.......
I'm absolutely embarrassed to admit that the clue that gave me the toughest time was "Ends with a K, perhaps" . . . . and here I am having signed up to race a 10K on Sunday . . . . .
@BAuskern That one had me thinking for a long time too!
@BAuskern LOL this happens to me, too, and I'm sure others, struggling sometimes to see answers in what should be our personal wheelhouses of hobbies and interests. You can be too close to the answer to be able to pull back and see it from above. Good luck on Sunday!
Very nice to see my mother's name, with its rightful spelling – an E and double L –, in the puzzle. Soon I shall be with VALISES in hand to go be AVEC her for her birthday. I pray our celebration won't involve eating GASSTATIONSUSHI! (AMEN.) I loved this puzzle. It was breezy and lively, and a great way to ease into the weekend. Congratulations on your debut puzzle, Mr. Cotham. You clearly have what it takes, and I look forward to your next one.
I'll have trouble sleeping thinking about GAS STATION SUSHI (''The horror!... The horror!''), but axiomatically speaking, that Mini was a tour de force! I would never take a dim view of an emu for fear of seeming to challenge its pecking order.
Very nice debut, Eli; really liked the "Shell fish" clue—glad it made it through the editing process. Was glad that my minimal knowledge of French was sufficient for the puzzle, and that things I wasn't sure of were mostly helped with the crosses. A pleasant Friday puzzle for a change (a bit on the easy side for me, for a change). Thanks, Eli.
@Jon Mark Yes! I loved it too!
@Jon Mark Thank you for saying that! I don’t usually do the mini, and I’m so glad this made me look today. Brought a smile to my face. Happy Friday!
Oh, *that* kind of medium. I feel T-Pain. And not from that sushi, which I wouldn't touch. Great debut, Eli Cotham! Now in "let's play editor" mode, is this a fine example of an easier than usual but quite pleasant Friday ... or a clarion call to expand Wednesday offerings to include easier themelesses?
This fell into place very quickly for me -- not quite a Friday PB, but barely half my average Friday time. I would have enjoyed "Two princes?" as a clue, but that would have slowed me down. I had the good fortune to be in the live audience last year when Prince Harry was on Late Night with Stephen Colbert; Harry was promoting his memoir. (We were all surprised; it was taped the day before it aired, right after we saw a full show taped with Tom Hanks.)
There was something undeniably apodictic about the Mini today. But I take it that's self-evident, and clearly understood, when you put Joel Fagliano and Sam E. together to create a puzzle. Well-played, gentlemen.
Fantastic Friday! Fluid, fun, and full of French frivolity! Fanks for the fresh fill! 👍👍
Unlike most of the commenters so far, I did not find this puzzle easy, although it was great fun. Perhaps my problems stemmed from the fact that I started the puzzle around midnight after watching the 76ers bow out of the playoffs in excruciating fashion, by coming up just a little short in the final minute of the game. Props to the Knicks and their trio of former Villanovans, especially Jalen Brunson. So perhaps the lateness of the hour and my disappointment affected my focus. It helped that I knew Syd BARRETT, ADIA, and that I knew of TPAIN and could spot him with a couple of crosses. But the spanners came to me very slowly, and I struggled in the SE corner, perhaps becauseI tried yips for 60A, instead of LIES (clever misdirection that). Because I did so, I hesitated to try it for 25A (perhaps I had the puzzle yips).
@Marshall Walthew I agree, not easy, as I needed twelve cheats. I 'knew' BARRETT, but was tripped up by having "PRY" for "BEG". TPAIN was among the twelve 'look-ups'. Aida, I did remember that one. Well worth the effort, though! I hope we see more puzzles from Eli!
GAS STATION SUSHI. R.I.P Breakfast Test Loved the freshness. Loved the symmetrical placement of ASAMI and ASAHI. TIL there's an animal called Virginia Moose.
@ad absurdum That moose was only recently recognized. They're very hard to spot in the wild. At any sign of predators they get the heck out of there! Thanks for pointing out the symmetry. I hadn't noticed and am one who appreciates that level of attention to detail.
@ad absurdum Thank goodness! I thought - for a brief moment - only the creator and I were aware of the slang meaning of GSS. It definitely fails the Breakfast Test, but stacking it on top of "What an Outrage" did provide a good chuckle. Nice debut!
A brilliant, really cracking debut! While the northeast corner was tough (the clue for 3D might have specified beer rather than beverage, but I get it, Jake, it's Fridaytown), as the long entries DEADTREEEDDITION and ANHEIRANDASPARE took shape, both 2D and 3D could be worked out with the other crossings. PETPSYCHIC was fabulous. And Syd BARRETT has been on my mind lately because I'm somewhere around episode 157 of Andrew Hickey's marathon podcast A History of Rock in 500 songs, which just covered the birth of Pink Floyd, and the particular sadness of Barrett's disapperance from public life at age 26 after leaving the band. Indications are that he was quite a bit along the Asperger's-Autistic spectrum, and the self-medication and heavy experimentation with psychedelics certainly wasn't helpful in his case. And the double stacked GASSTATIONSUSHI, combined with THISISANOUTRAGE, was just genius. Eli Cotham, I think you have a bright future. You're a natural, not to detract from the hard work that goes into these efforts. Proper respect to you sir!
Might be time for me to return to my home planet. Really surprised to see that so many found this one unusually easy for a Friday. For me - quite a struggle and besides my usual googles, I actually flat-out cheated on a couple of answers (looked up the NYT answer), notably GASSTATIONSUSHI. Never, ever heard of that and was surprised to see that it was familiar to most everyone else. Was still surprised to finish successfully. Really shouldn't count this one, but no big deal. I'm sure I'll bomb on tomorrow's puzzle. Quite remarkable puzzle find today. I'll put that in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Thursday puzzle from December 26, 2001 by Cathy Allis. The 'theme' answers: THREEEGGOMELETS SEEEYETOEYE SLIMEEELS FREEEMAIL PEWEEERWIN DEADTREEEDITION And then the 'reveal' (or title) was actually a set of circled individual letters spread across the puzzle from top to bottom. Those spelled out: TRIPOLI Just thought that was quite clever. ..
After a week in Kauai I don't recall seeing even one NENE. Lots of sea turtles though. And a few humhumunukunukuāpua'a - the Reef Triggerfish, Hawaii's official state fish. Work that into a puzzle!
@Brad Despite living on Oahu for two years way back in the 50's (and vacationing on The Big Island) we never saw one... nor a sea turtle, for that matter, despite hours on the beaches. Ah, well. It's nice that the NENE escaped extinction.
I agree with others here that it felt like an easy-ish Friday, but was so smooth and stylish I’m not complaining. I’ll take French over Spanish any day as I can parlez in one but bit the other. I’d never heard 49A before but it spoke volumes (ick). Also, the less said about the subject of 20A the better. He should have taken a lead from his Grandmother: ‘never explain, never complain’.
@Helen Wright I am reminded that King George VI was the SPARE, and a good thing too, as the HEIR was a hot mess. Monarchy? Yeah, you can keep it.
@Helen Wright A late edit: bit, should be not, of course. Blimmin autocorrect.
What a fun puzzle, the best cluing I can recall in the last few months! NE corner was the last for me but none of it took a frustratingly long time, consistent with my Friday times as I continue to get better at the crossword. One of these days I'll commit the answer to "Russian county house" and the like to mind; same with whatever the Swiss equivalent is that I know I've seen before and not known.
Hmmm... a Tuesday yesterday, and a pretty enjoyable Wednesday for today. I think I see a pattern here. How about that mini! One of the funnest, most axiomatically cool minis ever! Thank you to whoever prodded me to start solving the mini -- if I hadn't checked the mini out about a year ago, in response to someone's suggestion, I would have missed this one.
TIL a bit about Sarah McLachlan after going down a rabbit hole when ADIA emerged through crossings. A MEA culpa to Canadians. Perhaps I can Buy U ADrank? Loved (and was grossed out by) GASSTATIONSUSHI. THISISANOUTRAGE was fun and a statement that could be printed on Karens’ t-shirts. After entering PETPSYCHIC, I fell asleep. I dreamed that I could understand one of my cats! It was a riot! She was as snarky as I thought she would be. I woke up to my cats that are usually silent until feeding time. Also, @Deb Amlen, I agree that the Sharpie Solution was the best comment I’ve seen on the Cooking App 🤣!
Not an overly difficult Friday puzzle, but enjoyable nonetheless. BIG D summons the emergency blow scene of The Hunt for Red October for me. Congrats on the debut.
@Vaer Love to have that movie on while I am concentrating on free-motion quilting. I know it by heart, so I never need to look up, but it keeps part of my brain busy while another part guides the quilting....
Hey NYT. With the new games format, if i want to look at a completed puzzle, it takes three clicks. And the music replays so i had to turn it off. Could that be fixed so it’s only one click and no music? Just a suggestion.
@SusanEM I hope you email the Times as well as posting here! Excellent points, and it's unclear (at best) if anyone from the product team ever reads the comments... Emu padding would be another thing it'd be great to change...
Wow, Eli! What a tremendous debut and so enjoyable on a wet Friday night. Congratulations.
Coolest Mini ever today! If that was said already, it bears repeating 🤣
As an oldster I am increasingly tripped up by the names of pop stars, rappers, and their songs and albums. Had to look up Sara McLachlan and figured TPAIN had to be wrong (but couldn't see how) until I checked the answer grid. The longer I continue this lifelong hobby, the better I get at it--except for the references above, which have been causing my confidence to erode. Dickens in 42A? No problemo. Otherwise I thought this puzzle was terrific and original. Gas station sushi made me LOL.
Ii just started the puzzle, but I have to stop and regroup. I’m not looking for anything by posting this early except to say that anyone not familiar with the history and family background of 2D should take a moment to look her up. Storrs was my childhood hometown, so I have long been moved by her incredible story. If anyone doesn’t know what I’m referring to, just spend a moment and look it up. Back to the puzzle….
@Hardroch Not only that but once you hear her name and its utter musicality, you know she's gonna be great. I hope to see her play live sometime. I look forward to taking you up on your invitation to find out more about her background.
I think I was on the same wavelength as the constructor also, pretty fast solve. I was skeptical of GASSTATIONSUSHI but guess it’s really a thing and certainly a brilliant clue. I think the Prince Harry clue was a bit of a giveaway, I like the constructor’s original idea better. My only hitch was guessing that “Buy U a Drank” sounded more country than rap and going for Shania TWAIN, which gave me a WETPSYCHIC. I do think most of them are all wet lol. Anyway I’m always impressed by a debut themeless and this was a great one.
@SP Agreed on everything, including GASSTATIONSUSHI. Never heard of it in my life. I also liked the "two princes" clue better than the one the editors chose! I'll add my usual nit: why did ICEAGES and TWISTER get the ? for wordplay and AMEN not? Its use has become so inconsistent as to render it pointless. Apart from the editing complaints (which are minor), great puzzle with some great entries, especially DEADTREEEDITION, VALISES and VAMOOSE, the latter two of which I haven't even thought of in ages. Good job and a fun puzzle.
I have to say this was far too easy for a Friday, I actually beat my average Tuesday time and was not far off from a Monday. The fill was great, so I just think that cluing could've been a little bit trickier. Maybe I'm in the minority but I look forward to a real challenge on Fridays and Saturdays and this really didn't provide one...
Great puzzle. A few commenters thought it was too easy for a Friday, but I disagree. I'm a fairly reliable Friday solver, but I needed a quirkier mind than mine to help with this one. Fortunately my son helped out with GASSTATIONSUSHI.
I'm hee-ere... because PhysDau's check-in time is 10:30 a.m. CDST...for maximum discomfort and time-wasting. Someone screwed up and she never got a call, but fortunately she ran the scheduler down. And this hospital hasn't yet accepted the newer protocols that allow clear fluids up to 2 hours before a surgery. No one will Buy [her] a Drank. Maximum discomfort! We lived in BIG D 1981-83... Mid-century Modern--the neighborhood even had alleys. Got well-acquainted with Dallas Children's and Easter Seals and the orthotist out in Arlington near the stadium. Looong time ago! Syd who? Not Shania TWAIN, I take it. EAR BOBS or CLIP-ONS. EAR CLIP.....srsly? NOW LET ME SEoops Later, Gators!
@Mean Old Lady After while, crocodile. East is east and west is west and never.... I'm done emus. ..
@Mean Old Lady I lived in Dallas from 1973–1977, in the area northeast of Marsh Lane and Royal Lane. Was that anywhere close to where you lived? My brother (who was out of the house by ‘73) later moved to Dallas, after our parents had moved back to Pennsylvania. He and his wife ended up buying a house only a mile or so from where the rest of us had lived. His widow still lives there.
I flew through this…but came to a grinding halt at the song and pet medium cross. Never saw PET PSYCHIC coming, even though I once had a pet reiki practitioner sent by a thoughtful friend after suddenly, unexpectedly losing one of a bonded pair of dogs. She told us that our surviving pup thought we should place her brother’s ashes under his favorite shade tree and taught us a soothing spinal massage for our old gal. Whether real or not, we felt some comfort from it. Got a good laugh from GAS STATION SUSHI 🤢! I don’t think one needs to be a PSYCHIC to predict the complications possible from its consumption. I once wisely shunned a plateful of uniced slimy-looking shrimp at a book club evening…Others were not so astute… Great debut, Mr. Cotham! (And loved the column photo, Deb!)
Happy day! I completed my 124th daily solve, my 17th Friday puzzle (not counting some archive practice) with ZERO lookups! And 20mins faster than my average, so the usually-infernal app statistics inform me. I can manage Mondays, many Tuesdays, and some Wednesdays and Thursdays, without the assistance of Sir Google of Instantaneous Information, but it's never happened before on the "hard" days. I feel that if I scroll through comments, I'll confirm my suspicion that today's was a softer, friendlier Friday, so I shan't let it go to my head. But still, I started off with only a couple gimmes (for the French clues) and a couple seemingly okay guesses (same as Deb with _AI for half a rum drink); my fill was pretty sparse after my first across and down passes. Seemed like I was in store for another taxing Friday... Yet I did not succumb to the siren call of the search engine to seek the WNBA star, the rapper, or the morning sunshine drink! I bounced around the grid for a bit and slowly (or I guess not that slowly?) things came together. GAS STATION SUSHI was a big breakthrough (it helps that my husband's truly unfortunate choice of roadtrip snacks is a long-cherished source of teasing). And while, initially, I couldn't remember Pip's love interest or Syd's surname or how the Risk map labels that part of Russia, they bubbled up with a couple letters. ELENA was the best name that fit E__NA, some part of my brain recognized T-PAIN, and ASAHI came from the crosses.
(ran out of characters!) I must thank Eli, Joel et al, for my milestone experience today. Even better than achieving a no-lookup Friday, it was super fun and engaging the whole way through! P.S. Having actually typed out the word "shan't," looking at it askance, and then spell-checking it... shouldn't it be "sha'n't"?