A puzzle is pleasing to me when i pass through the clues the first time and get only a small handful of "maybe" answers, and then it fills up inexorably on repeated passes through. Bonus if some of the first answers were wrong and require repair. Top marks if all this is still completed in reasonable time. This one gets top marks. A pleasant journey.
@Dave S "The bottom half was very loath to spill its secrets, especially the SW." @Rodzu "Northwest stymied me at first." @Steven M. "Got tripped up with the Northeast section. Love seeing all four corners called out. It says to me it was a perfect Saturday puzzle through and through.
@Pezhead I'll finish it out. For me, the SE was the last to fall.
@Pezhead SW for me but I thought overall it was evenly difficult. I hope we can put to bed for a night the complaint that the puzzles have gotten too easy?
@Pezhead I totally sailed through this one, on track for a PB , until I ran up against the six central stacks: STRUDELS, PILEON,URUGUAY,JAMPACK,BANGER,HAYFORKS. I had to hit reveal puzzle and lost my gold star……🤗 — — — — — — — —
Four quadrants of cleverness. Well done and a worthy Saturday. Especially liked the intersection of DO NOT WANT and YES THANKS.
my fiance and i hit our 1000 day streak today! happy pride month to all my fellow gays and girlies and weirdies and wackos out there in crossword land <3
@cal Happy Pride Month to you and your fiancé! And congratulations on your triple-digit streak! Though we used to solve crossword puzzles together, my husband is really not very interested in them — I can’t even get him to try to solve the few I’ve had published. But otherwise, he’s a great guy.
DO NOT WANT FREEZER BURN. HAY FORKS AT THE HALF. STRUDELS, SEAWEED and CROUTON: MEZE? UNEARTH TIN MINE. PILE ON DANGER. TOPLESS SPACE CADETS. Thanks, Eric. RAH.
@Barry Ancona What a sexy board this is today! Between Gregg's braless woman pulling her top down to be a skirt, and your TOPLESS SPACE CADETS. I sure wish I still had testosterone.
My compliments to all who say this puzzle easy, and I hope that sentiment wasn't aimed AT THE HALFwits like me. It was almost impenetrable, even after the HAYFORKS epiphany and the FREEZERBURN inspiration. Finished now, but at what cost to my BEAN? I found it JAM PACKED with head BANGERs. I could not UNEARTH URUGUAY and just had to guess. (All done ranting? YES, THANKS ALLOT.) Eric Warren, next time a cry of too easy RISES, I'll think about the HAVOC this one caused and be grateful. (You crafted a great puzzle and I'm just having a bad night.)
My favorite kind of Saturday puzzle. Had hardly any fill on the first pass, then started slowly working my way through another pass, tried this, tried that, tried something else, eventually it came together without having to look anything up. Not too difficult, but not too easy either. A nice slow steady solve that required some creative thinking to get the fills. Lovely puzzle.
@Floridaworder I had the identical experience!
@Floridaworder That's a great description of my experience with it, too. I had to back out of a couple of dead ends to find my way, and it was terrific when I finally saw light ahead.
I don't think I got more than four or five words the first pass through and thought, "That's it for me." Then I got a solid half and thought the same thing. And then three quarters, etc. In other words, it was a perfect Saturday puzzle.
@Jeff Z I often think that if I can find just *one* cross, somewhere, that I'm confident about. Kind of like the foundation of a house.
TIL that a river does, indeed, flow *through* a lake. I'd never thought of it that way, that the Lake is actually just a large open part of a river or of several rivers. Proves to me that I'm still capable of learning, which is really important to me.
I found this a nice twisty puzzle with lots of clever misdirections. I was pleased as punch to remember the Turtles hit Eleanor. I was chagrined not to remember that the title woman’s name was spelt ELENORE, which caused some confusion in the NE. I tried buyer and payor before PAYEE and spent more time than I should have trying to think of kitchen related business with freezr in its name. On the plus side I knew URUGUAY had won a World Cup (and knew how to spell it) and have been to JAZZFEST. On balance it all made for delightful experience: fun, sufficiently challenging, but not frustrating.
Easier than it looked like it was going to be for me, although I did spell ELENORE wrong the first and second times I tried. I knew it had an odd spelling, but couldn't remember what that odd spelling was. I got HAY FORKS immediately, but then tried to cross it with BUYER instead of PAYEE. HALFTIME wouldn't fit in 48A. Lots of little interesting tidbits in this one, like SERTA and URUGUAY and ERNIE. Will I remember them? Probably not.
That was going swimmingly, the top half just clicked into place, and I was feeling quite smug. I should know better. The bottom half was very loath to spill its secrets, especially the SW and I'll call it MW. I actually had to take a clue from the blog before I could put this one to bed. Nice puzzle, hope to see more like this.
Nice puzzle. Another tough one for me and had to do some googles but managed to work it all out. Back on a one day streak. Puzzle find today - a Tuesday from July 12, 1994 by Charles Arnold. Just thought it was kind of clever. Theme answers in that one: ZEROMOSTEL DREADNOUGHT SHOOTBLANKS VACUUMTUBE And... YES was a fill in answer and the clue for that was: "___we have no bananas." Thought that was a nice touch. I'm done. ..
Managed to scupper myself in all 4 corners but got there in the end Chaos for HAVOC Pretzels for STRUDELS Open top for TOPLESS and one I still think is right (!) Postnup for BACKPAY
@Steve I confidently put POSTNUP in there immediately as well, but of course nothing made sense on the crosses. But I’d never heard of an open top beach.
@Steve On the flip side, I got those three and one or two other ambiguous answers on the first try resulting in a much faster than average solve. Since I am always reluctant to take out an answer, my solving times balloon when I put in chaos instead of HAVOC or some other 50/50 answer. Your comment reminded me how much luck can affect my success.
CODE RED! Somebody get a new ER nurse, stat! Why? Dr. yelled "CLEAR" but nurse handed over a CLAMP! Puzzle was on life support, just pulled through. And how is your grid doing this morning? Are we hearing the happy music?
"Gah! My beautiful rock! You runed it!" "Sorry. I was just etching to do it." Perfect Saturday difficulty level IMHO. And fun. "Dear R. Howard, Are you really asking me to be a space cadet in "Apollo 13"? YES! -T. HANKS"
Oh, I am so bummed with myself! Enjoyed doing the puzzle, lots of fun and misleading clues, which I love.... I was happily plugging along, ala slow and steady wins the race, but no lookups, no check puzzle, etc. Determination abounded! But I was having a dickens of a time bringing the NE home... So I said to myself, "Self, you know that opera ROCK is absolutely correct, so go ahead and just give it a Goog to confirm it so you can stop worrying and figure out the rest of these tricky clues up here!" D'oh!! Well, I did 99% of the puzzle correctly without any help. As soon as I plugged in ARENA, everything else fell into place within about 90 seconds and the happy music, which felt a little bittersweet today, came on! I did enjoy it but, alas, I'm still on my quest to conquer Saturdays without any help whatsoever. I swear on the soul of my father, Domingo Montoya, I will one day reach the top alive! Or some such!
@HeathieJ I also was sure that Opera Rock was a thing and the Queen did it. That darn E and ending A was diabolical. Good luck in your quest, Inigo.
one of the best puzzles of the year. KUDOS
Seems to me the best puzzles challenge the solvers enough to feel like we really accomplished something (and yes, make us feel clever with you). That's a fine line, and you did it very well. Thanks so much.
Great Saturday! Not a fast or slow solve, just steady progress. The northeast, the second to last area to fall, was on the edge of chaos for quite a while. Generally, one clue lead to another in a very pleasing way for me. And, as far as I can reckon, ODES is the only piece of crosswordese in the whole thing - maybe RHONE as well, although not as much lately. Made for a very fresh feel. Can't wait for more from this constructor.
My misplaced confidence that pAniC was assuredly right led to me being stymied in the NW for a long time. A long, long time. I nearly called it quits on my decent (by my standards) 19 day streak. The aha(!) moment came when I realized, in spite of being sure an “I” was the fourth letter in 19A, that AUTOS was nonetheless the correct fill and therefore pAniC was not the sure thing I assumed it to be. HAVOC immediately followed and the NW rapidly fell into place. My middling streak lives on at 20.
Northwest stymied me at first. JAZZFEST was the key that unlocked the southeast. Had PANIC before HAVOC. Tough for me at first, but finally got it. Nice puzzle.
For the story behind 34a, point your search engine at Maracanazo. You'll find a tale of hubris and tragedy worthy of the Greeks.
@Al in Pittsburgh What a great story! Thanks so much! You see, this is why I like this comment board. A lot of smart people and myself just having a virtual Algonquin Table..
I loved that we had "Ticket issuer" yesterday in almost the identical placement as " One getting caught in a trap" today!! My brain registered that as soon as I started filling in 56A -- like one of Lewis' PuzzPairs®, but across grids... The rest of the puzzle had so much fun wordplay! As I've said before, I kind of grit my teeth before starting a Saturday puzzle; I often find them more of a chore than a joy. Today's was fun, and filled with interesting tidbits! Last to fall for me was the SE. Loved "Edible wrapper" once I got it, but it was tough to see at first: I kept wanting sEED when I had only the end, even though it makes zero sense. Similarly, my brain couldn't UNSEE the adjacency of "coordinated" and "fashion" to move away from attire... ("Matchy-matchy", maybe?) That M was the very last for me today. Lots of fun, thanks!!
LOL! The first concert I saw was The Turtles! It was embarrassing how entranced I was by them. We were standing near the stage maybe 4 or 5 rows back(no seats) but my date had to grab hold of me to keep me from getting on the stage!! EL..... GEE . ..... .... .....
@PDWilliams I still can't think of adorable 16-year-old Linda V. B. without thinking of the the Turtles' "Happy Together". The chorus of "I can't see me loving loving nobody but you..." just exploded into my mind whenever I thought of her. They did some really great soft rock.
I liked JAM PACKed JAZZ FEST, which could be read either way. Pretty smooth solve except for a slight hold up when, with just the G and the Y in place, I put in Hungary instead of URUGUAY. What I don't know about soccer could fill a book. And yes, just before posting, I double-checked to see if FIFA was related to soccer.
@Nancy J. Fun fact - Uruguay was the host country and the winner of the first world cup. That fact came back to me when I had the -AY (why does it exist in the recesses of my brain? I don’t know.).
@Nancy J. I knew that the Big Easy was famous for JAZZ, of course, but I did not know the name of the event held there. I was convinced that the fact that they avoided any mention of the city’s actual name in the clue was evidence that it would somehow be in the answer. So at first I had JAZZnola.
Thanks Eric. Good Saturday workout. Loved 27A and 32A being neighbours. Visions of lots of whipped cream.
Great Saturday. Daunting at first, with maybe four completed words in my first time through the Across clues, and not that many more with the Downs, but I eventually brought it in at seven minutes below my average. Loved seeing SPACECADET. It reminds me of one of my favorite video games from 40 or so years ago, Gorf, in which you would start at the rank of Space Cadet and, if successful, you could advance all the way to Space Avenger. High adrenaline, high tension game. <a href="https://youtu.be/5Io4eJ2fF3A?si=Rrz37sxkUJf58WxV" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/5Io4eJ2fF3A?si=Rrz37sxkUJf58WxV</a> Thanks!
The initial sense of feeling dazed by the hooks, but then humming along with the catchiness. If they’re going to continue to be like this one, then 32A!
Nice puzzle Eric. I had to engage in a bit of NEUROPLASTICITY to complete it!
"For Whom the Bell TOLLS." I remember that. Now what the heck is the title of his other major novel set during wartime? I could not think of "The Sun Also RISES" for the life of me. In went the very wrong TOLLS into 46D, sort of confirmed by the final "S". And therein hangs a tale... Because of a bad case of Senioritis, I had to cheat in the SE corner. (On coach ERNIE, as it turns out.) If I'd just had RISES, I might not have had to cheat at all. Well, of course I had Senioritis this morning. I'm a whole year older today than I was yesterday. My other big hiccup was the exclamation in hospital dramas. "CLAMP!" went in immediately. I was so sure. Back in the day, surgeons shouted "CLAMP!" No one shouted "CLEAR". I haven't watched any hospital dramas in decades and I don't even know what CLEAR means. CLEAR the hallways? CLEAR those arteries? CLEAR those sinuses? Anyway, I finished with one cheat. There was a vagueness to some of the cluing that I had trouble with. The UNSEE clue (45D) captures that vagueness perfectly. It's CLEAR enough once you've gotten it, but before you get it, it could be just about anything.
@Nancy Happy birthday! From watching medical shows on TV, I gather that CLEAR is said right before they defibrillate a patient whose heart has stopped. They need to be sure that none of the medical personnel are touching the patient. (Medical folks, please correct me if I’m wrong.) The UNSEE clue was a gimme for me. I don’t think I have ever used the phrase, but I have certainly had that feeling.
@Nancy It means, "Stand CLEAR of the patient, I'm about to shock him with the defibrillator!"
@Nancy Happy birthday! CLEAR is called when CPR is in progress and an electrical shock is going to be administered to the patient. If someone is touching the patient (or frame of the cart or bed) there is chance that that person may get a shock as well. So CLEAR is said loudly so that people can back away and stay safe. Applies whether using a defibrillator or an AED—one should NOT be touching the patient when they're being shocked.
Started, as always, in the NW, and raced through the top half. Started muttering to myself "Self, another way-too-easy Saturday..." Then I got to the bottom... Nicely done!
@CaptainQuahog my experience exactly. SE fell last, right after SW, which required correcting RHiNE to RHÔNE L
Very enjoyable once I got past being certain the china shop would be in chaos. And an interesting note about usage - On every farm I was on, along with farm auctions, that tool was always called a hay fork. In general usage among non-farmers it was always a pitchfork. Maybe the movies with angry townsfolk imprinted everyone?
This was one of those puzzles that I had to put aside because the synapses just weren't firing. An hour or two later I resumed and as usual things I hadn't seen before became apparent and I completed it in anout ten minutes. To paraphrase one of the clues, I wish I could patent whatever that is!
I think maybe the difference between an easy and hard crossword is even subtler than I originally believed. I used to think it was a few key words or phrases that unlock the puzzle made all the difference. A word you did know or did not know. I now realize that the possibility of very similar answers, one of course wrong, is a huge part of it. Heathie and I were both absolutely sure Queen was OPERA rock. Likewise, I was sure that BAR was what made Mars different from Queen. Those two mistakes were deadly in the Northeast corner, and I paid a price in time and self-esteem. On the other hand, if you *don't* fall into a trap like that, don't poison the grid, then it could seem easy. Or a lot easier.
@Francis I agree. It is both. But the first one in my experience is more deadly, or perhaps more frequent. And funny that you bring it up now. I just recently picked up on how just one or two unknown words/concepts could have such an impact.
@Francis I just realized that I'm conflating two puzzles with my examples, but I hope you get the idea.
Francis, Any crossword will be difficult if you are so sure of an entry that you don't look at the crosses. That's on the solver, not on the puzzle. (And I'm familiar with the concept of rock opera; opera rock not so much.) And forgive me, but where in the NE did you want "bar" instead of the correct _ _ _?
Seemed daunting at first but in the end was a fun puzzle!
@Caitlin Thanks for filling in some of my blanks in an interesting & informative way. Finished the puzzle a bit faster than average due to your help & some of the comments here.
Got tripped up with the Northeast section. Probably took me as long as the rest of the puzzle combined. I agree with the consensus that the past few Fridays and Saturdays have felt easier. 25 minutes, no mistakes
Pretty good. Pretty hard. Felt about right for a Saturday. The entire lower left was troublesome for me, but fair and ultimately doable. The rest filled in pretty quickly really.
It took me way too long to come up with RISES — I must have been about 12 when I read that novel. (It was one of many good books my older brother gave me over the years.) The rest of the puzzle went smoothly for me, despite the only Turtles song that I remember is “Happy Together.” I owe MEZE to my computer Scrabble game. Thanks for the fun, Mr. Warren.
@Eric Hougland it took me forever to give up on a very lonely "tollS" in that spot
@Eric Hougland I flipped a coin on tolls versus RISES and luckily it came up RISES, so i avoided that pitfall.
"We went from the Space Age to the Bronze Age in 10 rows of puzzle today. It’s amazing how fast that can happen."-- --Hi Caitlin! Anyone unfamiliar with Bill Wurtz' brilliant "History of the Entire World, I Guess" should definitely check it out. It goes from the Big Bang to the Space Age in 19'25". One of my favorite lines: Bronze! Made from special ingredient tin from the far lands of Tin Land . . . I don't know, my dealer won't tell me where he gets it. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuCn8ux2gbs" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuCn8ux2gbs</a>
@Bill ...and we had to UNEARTH a RUNESTONE along the way. is that NEOlithic? I swear this puzzle was constructed specifically for the Archaeoprof.
Well now I am remembering (ear worm) Flo and Eddy (Turtles singers) when they sang Happy Together with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. What about a Kaiser Roll... except it did not fit. I think I will start calling ko my little STRUDEL... guess not she just BEANED me. Nice one Eric, thank you
@dk Wow, that’s a lot of water under the bridge! Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan as Phlorescent Leech and Eddie with F.Z. And The Mothers of Invention, Live at the Fillmore East circa 1971. You’re absolutely correct, talk about an ear worm. Thanks for that! — — — — — — — —
@dk Be glad you are far, far from the madding crowd... Back here in Ole Mississip, the party in power has come out EN MASSE with statements that indicate they DO NOT WANT the rule of law. Stay in Maine as long as possible! Congrats on getting the puzzle!
@dk The Mothers, "Fillmore East June - 1971". One of my favorite albums, actual LP now long gone two moves ago. There is another clip online with the preceding track, but it doesn't pass the breakfast test. This is just a short version of the song, and there's nothing but applause for over a minute after Frank Zappa says goodnight to the crowd around the 1:50 mark. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ztmHcQTYHo" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ztmHcQTYHo</a>
If I had one tiny gripe to make (and it's hard to gripe these days, what with my faith in the jury system being restored), it's that some of the clues (The Turtles; Cheers) were based more on triva that skews toward older Boomers. Otherwise, this was pretty easy as far as Saturdays go.
@BAuskern - Indeed, very hard to gripe. Trivia-wise, I'm not sure that it matters what demographic it's aimed at. It's trivia(l).
@BAuskern I'm an Older Boomer (circa 1947) and NO, this was not skewed in my direction whatsoever. If anyone was to form a mob, I bet someone would bring the HAYFORK....
@BAuskern This younger Boomer (circa 1958) did not find this easy. Too many of the clues were worded so oddly. I racked up fourteen cheats, and yes, I know I've sometimes needed double that on a Saturday. I survived it, and my streak continues, on day 370. So there's that.
Welp, if Eric Warren wanted another head on his trophy wall, mine is right there. The NW corner just totally stumped me, what with the 1968 "hit" (as in, hit in the head)... I must have entered and removed CELTS ten times; couldn't make it work. Turtles made me think MUTANT. No clue what style of ROCK the band Queen 'invented' or whatever. I did see 'Bohemian Rhapsody' but nobody went around claiming ARENA ROCK was their big deal. New thing for me: RUNE STONE. Pure HAVOC. Oh, well. I'm still rather tickled that I cottoned onto the identity of Liz Truss yesterday, and in a bit of quilty synchrony I had just finished a quilt block with a panda and a bamboo-print fabric.... I'll have to move on from the Saturday MASSacre.
@Mean Old Lady ...aaand once again, left/right error. NE corner, of course. Tsk. EMU editors Do not exist Or they would edit Themselves Out
@Mean Old Lady Well, ARENA ROCK isn't just a Queen thing, it's a term applied to any rock band that can draw enough attendees to fill a stadium or arena; and would certainly include all the major groups from ABBA to ZZ Top in their prime.
@Mean Old Lady I can’t think of a song more “arena rock” than We Will Rock You
Tough but good. Everything finally fell into place except one letter. If only I knew how to spell Uraguay.
@Renegator haha that spelling tripped me up too, but when I completed the fill and didn’t get the music I knew that’s where my error had to be. I didn’t know what the inscribed Viking monument was so I assumed I messed up there. I changed the shared letter and voila! For once I was able to find a one letter error without turning on the auto check (I don’t usually have the patience to find it otherwise).
Renegator, Are you a RaNESTONE cowboy? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P7Sx2L0fVU" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P7Sx2L0fVU</a> Glen emu
Good Saturday. Felt intimidating after the first pass yielded very little, but then I found my foothold and it filled in nicely from there.
I had an uncle who once told me, “Rae-Rae, if there was a space cadet hall of fame, you’d be the first inductee!” No surprise that 22A was a breeze for me. Thanks Unk!
@Rae I used to describe myself as a space cadet before I found out I just had ADHD.
Until now, every time I think I’ve found a mistake in a NYT crossword clue, it’s always turned out to be a deliberate part of the clue. But in 27 Across, “Hapsburg” really should be “Habsburg”! Thank you, Mr. Olson—I still remember a lot from your AP European History class 17 years ago. :) Also, I did not know STRUDEL was so historical!
@Susan Rodriguez I think the spelling in the puzzle is an anglicized version,of the German. A German would pronounce the “b” much harder — close to a “p” — than a speaker of English. Take my comment with a grain of salt. I’m not fluent in German, but my parents were born there.
@Susan Rodriguez IMHO - as a native German - you are right, Habsburg it should be. There may be very rare medieval spelling alternatives, but a quick search im WWW reveals they are neglectible today.
@Susan Rodriguez In Germany, it's definitely always Habsburg, but the anglicised Hapsburg is quite common in the English-speaking world.
Are we going off population size? Because last I remember England is a smaller country than Uruguay by land area...
Uh oh. Let's go to VAR to see that post again. Ally, YES THANKS, we are talking population. ARENA ROCK and all that. England has 10 Down, not 34 Across. ole ole
I also enjoyed the puzzle, but found it pretty easy for a Saturday.