This is a really, really nice puzzle.
Not a brainbuster, and I apprehended the theme quickly, but honestly I don't remember the last time I had this much fun with a Thursday. This puzzle was delightful start to finish.
Did anyone else notice the math in the puzzle theme? One, two, four and eight are a series of 2 to the nth power, starting with n=0 and then 1, 2 and 3. Sorry, Deb, there WAS math. 😊
"9A. You thought that the 'Body part where a sock might go?' was a foot, didn’t you?" I must confess, it wasn't my first thought. I blame the Red Hot Chili Peppers. :D
@John Your answer would have been right above CRUDE, which is what many of the commenters would have called Joe and Joel.
@John There's a rhyming accessory that gets used at Broadway Bares...
The omelet chef majored in whisk management. (His marks were eggs-cellent, but his brain was fried.)
@Mike Omelet you worry about why it wasn't scrambled. 🥚 🥚 🥚 🍳 (Chicken, Emu, chicken!)
@Mike Always with the punny yolks!
@Mike I think you poached that from someone else. In fact, I'm shirr you did. Now I hope the emus don't bedevil me.
Re 22D: When Walter Neff introduces himself to Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944), he says his surname is spelled "with two Fs, as in Philadelphia."
@Fact Boy I just have to say, I’m continually amazed at the information that you share with us. No opinions, no snark, just the facts without added commentary. When I see your handle, I just perk up, as I know my day will be elevated. I am just amazed at the depth and breadth of your knowledge. Thank you for your service! — — — — — — — —
@Fact Boy That was so fun!! I laughed out loud. Then I had to 'splain why to my DHubby. thanks!
What a great idea for a trick. It was fairly easy to work out, but the solve was still very enjoyable. Joe Di Pietro's puzzles are always something to look forward to. I have to give a big thank you to the editors for leaving out the circles. That would have taken a lot of the fun away.
Couldn’t let this sparkling gem go without recognizing Mr DiPietro’s clever, elegant and delightful construction. IMHO it touched all the bases and delivered an afterglow that is, for me, the hallmark of a special puzzle. Refreshing to see that the general consensus is so strongly positive. Too bad Lewis is on a short hiatus, he would deliver the ode this one deserves.
Squabble about squab for all I care (squab is pigeon on a dish, so move along, nothing to see here!) but my beef is with rims being impediments to dunking. Lids are impediments. Rims make dunking possible. Without rims, the coffee would be all over the table, your lap, and your local rag. In fact, rims make everything possible. I think I've just had a profound revelation. Everything -- all of creation, all life -- is about rims. Not only is there no dunking without rims, there's no us, there's no anything. Ode to Rims Without rims, you'd be walking on raw eggs, and smell pretty beery from all the rimless mugs, your pointillist dots and dabs will be plenty banal for painting a rimless gondola in a rimless canal. Hey! Don't fall into that rimless Oahu volcano! A rimless bathtub? That's just dumb and inane-oh. My creel has no rim, my fish all fell into Loch Ness, which, rimless, left Firth after Firth quite a mess. Ian's Irish coffee spilled over his legs, Highland malts everywhere gushed from rimless kegs. But WITH rims we're all safe and sound in this here corral, which should improve Doc Holiday's and Wyatt's morale. Don't worry about it if you slosh some of your wine, but your next DWI will have a steep fine. That's all I can write with my ink from bloodroot red vine, sealed with a kiss from my ruby-rimmed lips to you, my darling, Clementine.
@john ezra Silly me, assuming rims and dunking referred to basketball.
@Esther I assumed basketball RIMS as well. Though somewhat the same conundrum exists: without RIMS, there is no hoop in which to dunk. (Though when a player misses, it’s usually because the ball grazed the rim. Hmmmm.)
Alas. I tried to think of another common phrase that contains a string forming a number, and, when the number is replaced by the Roman numeral, is fifteen letters long. Every example I tried was COMPLEXONSENSE But then I thought WASXOTWANTNOT so sharing with you anyhow. Just demonstrates again how good is Joe DiPietro!
@Cat Lady Margaret A perfect 10 on this comment!
@Cat Lady Margaret THETIMEOIVLIVES also fit in 38A, and came to me rather quickly, despite the constructor's note to the contrary. Your Xes were spot on, though.
IMHO, this puzzle is a masterpiece. No [Artist's touch-up] needed. Not even a DAB. It spun me right 'round, (<a href="https://youtu.be/PGNiXGX2nLU?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/PGNiXGX2nLU?feature=shared</a>) and jolted me into detective mode. And when the trick opened up to me, like a peony in bloom, the smile on my face was set in stone for the duration of the solve. The cherry on top was *not* having the circles giving it all away. Why make it easy on us? Leave out the circles; game on. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr. DiPietro. You are a crossword artiste!
This was according to the comments below a straightforward and easy solve. The theme was easily discernible from the straightforward cross filling. Unless it wasn’t and you are just slow and dull - like me. Depressing and not fun reading the comments as failed to make any sense to my lowly wit. Darkened room and chamomile tea for me
@William James Please don't be so hard on yourself! I doubt you're slow and dull. You just didn't get it, that's all. It happens a lot with tricky puzzles, and to many. There'll always be crosswords that aren't our cup of tea. No need for the chamomile; have some Earl Grey instead. And throw open the curtains and let the light in. Tomorrow's just around the corner, and the game starts again. Onward and upward. ;-)
@William James I've thought of posting before that there is nothing more pleasurable after spending 50 minutes struggling than seeing comments saying "Too easy"
@William James No matter how tricky, obscure, or diabolical a theme is, there will ALWAYS be a contingent who claim it was too easy, personal best, so fast, etc. Just read, roll your eyes, and move on. We all play this for our own enjoyment, which some define differently from the way I do.
A Roman legionnaire walks into a bar. He makes a peace sign and says: “I’ll have five beers.”
@Deb Amlen *BarXder keeps wiping barglasses* Roman Legionnaire ["RL"]: Hellooo? BarXder: Oop, sorry, didn't see you, still recovering from my LaVI surgery *RL repeats request* BarXder smiles: In all the years I've Xded bar, I've never heard a joke more well hId. Or HID. Wish we had serifs here but the owner's too cheap *BarXder hands RL V beers* RL: Thanks. IV* been in one bar I've been in a MM, & cheap owner or not this one's my fav. [*H/T to ?@MOL? @CLM? for iFI'VE] BarXder: Thanks. *RL sips V beers with the patient determination of a Nora Charles going thru VI martinis* BarXder ["B"]: Say, don't forget to come by for the holidays! Dec 24th we have a great Christma[VII]egroni Special! [Christmas Eve Negroni Special] Roman Courtesan ["RC"], from other bar stool: Why're your whiskey sours here always so great? B: It's because we put fresh lemoIXvery glass. RL, swaying a bit after beer #IV: Get me some more to drink, I'm very XXX. B: "XXX"?? RL: Y'know, THIRSTY. Sorry, I slur a bit when I'm drunk B: Then have this healthy glass of milk, it's XLfied w/vitamins RL & RC: "XLfied"??? B: Sorry, I can't spell RL drains last of beer #V, slides eelily off his barstool & flashes BarXder the peace sign. "Later", he gurgles BarXder: What, V MORE?! RC: I'll take those. I have a date with a gnarly Senator tonight & I need the XLfication BarXder: ??? RC: I can't spell either. C'mon I'm just a Courtesan! B: And a very fine one, I'm sure. *they clink glasses* ~ FIN ~
There she is again, just two--or should I say, II--days later than the last I (that is, one): The I, the only Miss Eartha KITT. I wonder how many people will find her obscure today. And I wonder how many conspiracy theorists will comment about how close together the two appearances are, and...blah, blah, blah... In other news, although I had no trouble getting EARP for 45A, when I read the column, I was sure the clue asked for "Suriname" in that film. I wondered what a small South American nation had to do with a movie involving Mr. EARP. And who will be the first to cite a Dean Martin parody in response to 60A? Me...When a fish bites your heel and it looks like an eel, that's a moray...
@Steve L You took the words right out of my mouth re: Eartha Kitt. As an aside, I always play music as I solve the crossword, and serendipitously, on Monday night (as I was solving Tuesday's crossword), my playlist hit Eartha Kitt's rendition of C'est Si Bon. When you're swimmin' in the creek and and eel bites your cheek...THAT'S a moray.
@Steve L Yes, I wondered at the repetition... But at least now, if one plans a 'stuffy' tea party, we know who not to invite....and if we go to somone's home, we know it's rude to ride in on your agenda and trample the hostess...
Statement. I didn't do well on this puzzle. That's an understatement. I actually did tumble to the trick with WALKEDONEGGSHELLS but somehow I just couldn't quite tumble to the other ones and I couldn't get enough down crosses to work it all out. No big deal. See you tomorrow. ..
Two responses to those complaining that Eartha Kitt is obscure: (1) You’re just too young. (2) You hear her every December singing “Santa Baby.”
For me, this was a beautiful, ugly puzzle. Part of my brain loves the thrill of the solve. The “Aha!” Another part of my brain loves to see the grid fill with words and phrases, and to gaze upon the final, tiny, masterpiece, painted with nothing but letters. I got the first one, and loved it. Beautiful. But I don’t want to hang it on my wall. WVIIIEEVI… It almost hurts my eyes. But what a brilliant, entertaining construction. Thank you!
I share screenshots of the daily puzzle in my family's Discord server when the theme is particularly delightful, or when a clue elicits a particularly strong reaction from me (good or bad.) Today was one of those particularly delightful days.
Grr! Got it, but don't get it. Still, lots of fun, even with that dang black and white puck at 47D. 13 grids included that dang black and white puck so far this year. Ugh. That doesn't include OREOOS cereal (nine times since 2019). (Compare that to four churro sightings of since 2011) Sigh - maybe I could adjust my attitude as to the attractiveness of said puck, (not that I'd ever ingest one). Perhaps a catchy ditty might distract me from the horrio of spelling oreo one more time! [Cue promo, with background dancers swaying to the music...] Ain't no cookie dry enogh Ain't no filling gross enough Ain't no constructor shy enough To keep OREO away from you... Oh well, maybe not.😉
@Whoa Nellie I am eating an OREO as I read your post (the thins, my favorite, as I'm not a fan of the icing). ......................................................... I think emus love oreos
My favorite firth is that of the Forth. I just find Firth of Forth amusing somehow.
@patk The Forth is my favorite firth also. Reminds me of the famous Scottish football score: “East Fife 4, Forfar 5”.
@patk I know the word from an old Genesis song, "Firth of Fifth". ;)
One of my favorite Thursdays in a long time! Thank you, Joe. This was a puzzle to truly enjoy and admire (sometimes it can seem to be one or the other).
So I see the "GG"s at 16A and then I see the "II"s at 30A and I'm thinking Double Letters. Which was my first mistake. I did pick up the trick, but I was slow to see it. And only when I got to WEIGH THE EVIDENCE did I guess the answer before getting any of the Roman numerals. Very clever and well-executed -- with wonderfully adroit embedding of the numerals. It produced several "Aha" moments which made it a lot of fun.
I've decided to put this into the running list I'm keeping for Puzzle of the Year.
Clever twist. Once you got it the gist, it went pretty quick.
Hats off to the constructor on this one. Clever theme. Nice puzzle. Well done!
I thought the NYT was throwing a bone to us Nintendo fans and happily typed in DAISY for 60A...
@Ian Yup, same here! In retrospect, it’s probably too obscure for a Thursday puzzle, or maybe any day of the week. DAISY has appeared 66 times and never in clued related to Mario’s brother. Often it has been clued to The Great Gatsby or Dagwood and Blondie Bumstead’s dog. — — — — — — — —
@Ian Similar for me, except I typed "Peach"
True genius. And the cluing was top notch. One of the best puzzles to come down the pike in a very long time.
An enjoyable Thursday twist with a tricky center letter! I enjoyed this one a lot - getting hung up here and there but eventually working my way out. The KEWPIE reference made me smile as I fondly remembered both a deceased friend who used to collect them, and some of the decor at Veselka restaurant in the East Village. Mmm, now I want pierogies!
@Gregg I toyed with BARBIE for the dolls, but it was nixed by previous entries...thank goodness. Would have made quite a mess even though this pen has 'erasable' ink.
I liked the clever wordplay involved in integrating the Roman numerals into the theme answers. I was doing this after midnight and it took me a bit to process how the spelling of the numerals overlapped multiple words. But what slowed me down the most was the NW corner where I made a variety of mistakes that threw me off. I had warm winter instead of MILDWINTER, low instead of DEW, and sap instead of DYE. I grow bloodroots, a gorgeous, but ephemeral, native spring flower, with white blossoms and interesting leaves, The thick rhizomes exude a reddish orange sap, when cut, that I’ve now learned can make an orange dye. At any rate, I sorted the NW out eventually and finished not too much above my Thursday average.
Thought this theme was great! Had DUI instead of DWI for the longest time and had never seen “kewpie” written out so “keupie” seemed alright to me! Other than searching for that incorrect square I loved the puzzle!
But what is WEIGH THE ESIXDENCE?
@Hector Pefo It’s WEIGH THE EVIDENCE the roman numeral is VIII or EIGHT
Hector Pefo, DONT WORRY ABOUT ONE T. ............
@Hector Pefo Yes, there were extra Roman numerals in the answers that weren't Roman numerals. Not a truly tight theme, but it mostly worked.
A wiVIIture. Joe had to plaIXarnest, staying up well into the laXight hours. I hope everyone recognized Eartha KITT.
I'm so pleased that this late in the day, the comments are still largely positive. I thought that because of the Roman numerals, by now, there would be a ton of "These are not words! ", "This puzzle is stupid!", etc. Something must be in the air today, and I like it.
@Nancy J. Me too! I usually only check out the comments here on Thursday to see how much whining is going on.
This was a brilliant puzzle! It kept me amused here in old Pompeii, while waiting for the next eruption of 5esu5ius.
This puzzle stumped me. My 12 year old genius progeny figured out the theme. Rebuses without rebuses! I've only been doing daily crosswords for a few months, but this is the cleverest trick I've seen. Love it!
I did this one clockwise from the SE and THAT WAS SO COOL. I loved how the theme revealed itself to me and I found the puzzle well clued overall. SQUAB and VERMIN and SWAK were fun entries and I’m not mad two straight days of Eartha! :)
That was very impressive construction, but sadly my solve less so. I just wasn’t getting it for the longest time. I did finally get it but not until I had it almost completely filled in and needing lots of help with auto correct. Not sure I understand why people complain about OREO in a puzzle. I’m sure the constructor doesn’t think “ I must enter Oreo somewhere, but ends up with those common letters, (could be wrong of course. )
That was fun! Love those Thursday "a-ha!" moments when the trick becomes clear. Thanks.
Some puzzles feel like they try too hard to be clever or witty. This one seemed to be both effortlessly. Fun solve. Great puzzle. Thank you
I really enjoyed this one, almost enough to make me overlook yet another helping of Oreos. :) I caught on to the theme at almost exactly the right time as I worked my way across the third or fourth row. (And this puzzle would be hell to solve without it.) Never heard of a creel (C reel?). Nixon nix was okay. Always ready to order was my absolute favorite, the best for last. And while I dutifully filled in "car" it took me a full 30 seconds after finishing the puzzle to go "oh" when I figured out why it was the right answer. Good puzzle. Thank you.
@B It is CREEL, not C REEL. It's a basket used by people fly fishing. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creel" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creel</a> I will type a little more as my sacrifice to the ratites.
@B If you see "A River Runs Through It"....the father and sons place their catch in CREELs...
Very clever, very satisfying - smile-inducing.
LOVED the "old Rome"! Really creative and fun to think it through to solve. And "Body part where a sock might go," after I realized the crossword didn't fit SHIN and completed the puzzle I was staring at that for several seconds before, uh, it hit me!
@J T mind explaining it to me, then, please?
It seems I'm in the minority here, but despite enjoying the theme, I found a lot of the clues/answers to be just a shade too oblique for my tastes. SWAK was a great example of this. Only after filling it in on crosses (then tilting my head and squinting) did "sealed with a kiss" pop out. There was no "aha!" when filling it in--only a tepid, post hoc "oh, I guess." A lot of the clues ended up that way for me: CAR for "F before E" crossing the mildly obscure SQUAB (a dish that I imagine is pretty far outside most people's culinary and linguistic wheelhouses.) Add that to the nearby CREEL crossing QUEUES, and that whole NE corner felt more like a slog than was necessary. Even some of the longer answers felt a bit... off? MILD instead of "warm" WINTER; ON IN YEARS omitting the "getting" bit; KEWPIE for a dash of extra obscurity crossing the equally likely DWI/DuI. Just not on the constructor's wavelength with this one, I suppose, but I'm glad others seem to be enjoying it more than I did.
@Edward I didn't get the SWAK acronym until reading your comment. Fortunately I got all the crosses but I've definitely never heard that one! Unlike you I didn't mind MILD and didn't think KEWPIE was any kind of stretch.
@Edward I agree with you about car. Even after seeing the explanation for this one, I still don't think it makes sense. Gas tanks go from empty to full exactly as often as they go from full to empty. And they start off empty, becauze nobody wants a full tank of gas inside a car factory.
Thought I had navigated this one perfectly, but had an accident at the KEWPIE - DWI intersection.
Alex, Dare I ask if you had been drinking? emu patrol
I thought this was an absolutely perfect Thursday puzzle! Ingenious! I am not quite finished with it because I am stuck in the NE corner with ones that are apparently not tricky for anyone else...I came to the column for a tip, but I already had all the ones in the column! Back to it; I'm sure something will occur to me eventually. What a fun puzzle to wrap one's noggin around!
I used to live at the mouth of the River Tay. Nice to see it mentioned here. Lovely part of the world.
Joe DiPietro never disappoints. Great puzzle.
Hike day today and got home late, so I just finished the puzzle. It was tricky and brilliant. Loved it.
Not super hard but definitely super fun!
I was somewhat surprised that, despite a bit of good-natured SQUABbling, the comments at the time of my posting seem to be predominantly favorable. Don’t get me wrong: I quite enjoyed this puzzle, and got the theme fairly quickly; still, the solve was above average time for me, and I kinda anticipated the familiar “too tricksy by half” responses. Maybe my brain was just sluggish at after one AM….
Did my Master's in Latin, so the theme was a delight.Ad astra per ardua!!