Looking up answers isn’t cheating, it’s learning. But I try to avoid learning until it’s absolutely necessary. Today, I did a lot of learning.
@Heidi. I was tempted to learn quite a bit today, but after a terribly long slog, was able to avoid it. (And I mean long). Odd to be proud of not learning at all.
When the miner's clothes get dirty, he does a lode of laundry. (It's such an ore deal.)
@Mike He should use an adit-tive to get the tough stains out. Especially ones that come from a blood vein.
Tough for me (6:41 over my Friday average) but very enjoyable and I completed it with no lookups. This also marks day 1000 of my current streak. I may take a little break now 😊 Mark
@Mark Cousins Congratulations!! Thats my goal as well. Hit 1000 and purposefully skip a day so the madness will end. Today was 775 for me so almost there haha.
@Mark Cousins &@george. Exactly a year ago, my streak reached 1003, and I celebrated by hiking a two-night backpacking loop. A wonderful experience, despite both camp-sites being beset by raccoons 🦝 🦝 🦝. Ironically, I took my cellphone, and had reception at some point all three days. Perhaps the raccoon could have helped. I have never gone back and solved that puzzle. Persian flaw. My iPad has a raccoon emoji! Who knew? Does it have an emu one as well?
Congratulations, @Mark Cousins!
Was this a capital-P Puzzle for me? Oh, heck yes. Did I scratch, claw, and hack my way through this? I DID INDEED. Was this a pleasure? Oh, heck yes. Loveliness appearing throughout – SOAP BOX PREACHER, DOFFS, SURFEIT, IN A GOOD WAY, ACT OF LOVE, even SIDE DOOR. Clues that brought a popped-the-piñata feeling when finally cracked, my favorite being [Green party figure] for ST PAT. Commonly-known phrases amazingly never before seen in the 80 years of the NYT puzzle: BAR GAME, MINE CART, WNE GRAPE. The overall lack of same-old same-old. And afterward, perusing the filled in grid – a 68-worder with fewer black squares than a typical Saturday – bereft of junk, vibrating with loveliness. That is, a capital-P puzzle imbued with capital-B beauty. I liked seeing the SEED/NEED/DEED triad in the NE. I liked how DEMI reminded me of “hemi” and “semi”, and then, out of nowhere, my brain roared “Hemi demi semi quaver!” – something it hasn’t recalled in many a decade since I learned in musical training that it was a fancy term for a 64th note. Ah, a feast, a full plate, the surfeit of pleasure only found in Crosslandia. Christina and Alice, you know what? You two click, and how about some more? Thank you for a splendid outing!
@Lewis I began my comment (above) comparing the puzzle to a feast! But I got side-tracked, and was so excited about completing this gem, I just spewed thoughts randomly, instead. As I was writing, I thought- “I bet Lewis is writing his comment right now…” We nearly always appear right around the same time. I hit submit. Waited a moment, refreshed and came back to read all the comments. And there you were! I love your take, every day, and I savor it. Today, I feel a wee bit chuffed that I *almost* shared a metaphor with you as we both were writing. I do hope this means I am learning and absorbing some Lewis-ness.
As opposed to many other recent late-week puzzles, I did not whip through this one filling in answers without much pause between entries. This one made me stop and think. To further embellish on Deb's suggestions for solving tough puzzles, some of the "rules" I go with on a harder day include: 1. Answer the ones you know first, regardless of where you need to start. 2. Don't guess until absolutely necessary. 3. When you do guess, be flexible enough to yank a word that doesn't seem to play well with the crosses. I thought for sure that 1A had to be TUNA. Of course, it wasn't. (Just like 7D wasn't A TAD, and 46D wasn't SHORE.) In my opinion, looking up answers is cheating like training wheels is cheating. Do it if you need to, but try to build up to where you don't as quickly as possible. It's fine for anyone to solve at whatever level they're at, but it's much more rewarding to get to the point where you're not looking things up. And if it doesn't bother you to look things up, it doesn't really matter what I think.
@Steve L To me, looking things up is cheating (myself). Today, I cheated.
@Steve L Unfortunately reading the Wordplay column itself constitutes a HUGE cheat. So I have never even glanced at it before starting the puzzle. By the time I'm done the column has become mostly moot and just a step towards the comment section. Kind of unfortunate since the writers put work into it. I kind of wish they'd use "spoiler free" language and merely talk around the puzzle rather than giving so many (or any) answers.
This one seemed really tough at the start--I had very little early on and really thought that I wasn't going to get anywhere with it--and then it slowly filled in. I got a tiny boost when I got OLIN college, which I only knew because they started to build it when I was still living next door in Wellesley, Mass. I keep looking at BIASCUT in the finished puzzle and thinking that I've massively misspelled BISCUIT. Overall, I think this was an excellent puzzle. Like Deb, if I had paid more attention to the clue, I might have figured out AMONRA a whole lot faster than I actually did.
I got the hemi-demi-Semiramide blues! Three kinds of food love: an omelette, deep dish, & cooking for a partner, maybe a Crawfish Étouffée, oui madames? Also, not least among this puzzle's surfeit of great moves, there's the soap box preacher soundly denounced by some rude passer by: Oh h*ll no! And there you have it, let's breathe in, for the Great Ado is about to begin! Amon Ra in one corner, the subject of much vaguely satanist album art in the 70s, his skin a glowing coco de mer, padre of the finite universe, sire of you and you and ewe! In the other corner: Indiana Jones, Joe Namath, Audre Lorde and Robin Hood, all from blended people, and wouldn't you know it, they're drunk! Triple sec, sweet muscat wine, and waiter, more of that Tito! They think this is just some amusing bar game, and the winner will pick up the tab. You want another pint of St. Pat's finest green beer? Uh, yes? Robin Hood doffs his cap, Audre recites an amusing poem about people you can't stand (in a good way), Joe Namath passes...out, and Indiana Jones is down to his last two quarters...but then, in an act of love, Tito Capobianco rushes in to direct the final scene! He pours every ounce he had into it, and in the end, all that was left of him were a few precious crumbs. Oh, blessed Tito -- Act of love. Really great puzzle, jolly and enjoyable throughout, it really gave as good as it got, in a good way. A very good way.
@john ezra Hemidemisemiquaver. You sent me down a Rossini opera overture rabbit hole. There are worse places to be.
Woot-woot!! A flipping fabulous Friday! So much to love! Plopped femiNISM in for Rosemary’s Baby. Slowed me down, but then bam! Audre Lorde was waiting for me! And didn’t know the football player. but the crosses made me stare…wondering…? Could it be..? It was! And I only know AMON-RA from puzzling! So satisfying. I squinted. I squirmed. I squealed when the happy music played. *So* much I didn’t know. So many devious clues, I couldn’t trust myself. So many crosses, dropped like crumbs on a path in a deep wood leading to a sun-filled clearing. IN A GOOD WAY? Puh-leeze. In the best way! Thank you!! Happy Friday, all!
Nice puzzle with some nice clues. Well done to the constructors.
Ah, anecdotes… the CLASSIC is one that fails to be CONCISE because the teller stuffs in too many irrelevant details. That kind should be ILLEGAL. Another POPULAR but AWKWARD type is the MEDICAL saga. They invented “TMI” for those. Anecdotes that are STRANGE, UNUSUAL or CURIOUS are WELCOME - we see some of those offerings here at wordplay. But yes, at the very least we hope they are AMUSING.
Even more interesting that AMON-RA St. Brown's first name is his brother, Equanimious St. Brown's name. Both are excellent professional American football players who play the same position, and often compete against each other since they have played in the same conference. They have a younger brother, Osirus who also plays. More cool trivia, the father of Amon-Ra, Equanimious, and Osirus is John Brown, who is a body builder who won Mr. Universe and Mr. World competitions.
@Rob I found interesting the fact that the St. Brown brothers' name has an add-on component to it (the St.) compared to their parents' name, which is just Brown. My guess is that the parents wanted to incorporate the mother's name (she was born Miriam Steyer) into their kids' last name, so they took the ST and it became "saint". As a Jew, I can't ever help wondering if, given their mother's maiden name, the brothers might be halachically (according to religious law) Jewish!
Just the right level of difficulty for a Friday
The minecart chase scene made me think of Short Round who was played by Ke Huy Quan who was wonderful in Everything Everywhere all at once. That might be an example of an unamusing anecdote. Fantastically fun and challenging puzzle. Not a complaint, but to me semi seems like partly and demi seems like moore.
@ad absurdum G, I janeuinely laughed at your parting pun there, good golly Miss Molly it ghosta show ya how much fun the comments can be sometimes! (You: "Ditto") unchained emulody
@ad absurdum "Big mistake, Indy!" Short Round was such a good character, good to know he grew up to have a decent career. It's always hit-or-miss with child actors.
I cruised through the upper third without too much trouble. But then things slowed down in the lower two thirds and for a while I thought OHHELLNO. But I chiseled away and it began to come together. It was hard but INAGOODWAY. I particularly liked SOAPBOXPREACHER, which put me in mind of Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park
@Marshall Walthew. Those were my faves too, plus IDIDINDEED For smug affirmation.
@Skeptical1 I’m a bit abashed. I liked IDIDINDEED too, perhaps because I’ve been known to say it on occasion. Never realized I was being smug.
A hyper-super-duper Friday puzzle! Uh, yes, they can flip an omelette, cook a filet to a perfect medium rare without using a probe, and make hollandaise without breaking; but let’s see them clean a cantaloupe quickly and neatly! That is a true litmus test of skill, or so sayeth my boss. (I pass.) Go Lions! One Pride!
Really enjoyable puzzle to solve, Alice and Christina, even though it gave me fits in some places. Looking at you in particular northwest corner. May you continue to collaborate.
Really great puzzle. I struggled quite a bit in several places, but came out alive in the end, enjoyed it immensely. Thank you!
This one felt tough but fair! I thought it was a great Friday - took a long while to work through it, but it wasn't overly referential and besides TITO (which I had filled in as SKOL initially) I wouldn't say any single answer really stumped me. Lots of good 'oh, that's what it is!' aha moments too, which is always satisfying. I particularly loved SOAP BOX PREACHER as the answer for 'Figure of speech?' - that was a fantastic clue and a lovely chunky answer.
@Evan Fortunately for me, I asked for a Moscow Mule type of drink this evening and the server mentioned Tito's by name.
A tough one with lots of competing possibilities, I hesitated between secant and cosine for 2D, and then saw it was neither. I had lodging for Quarters, omit for DOFF, Elon for OLIN, and SABre for SABER. Got NEED-based admission through the crosses, and had to look up after to see what it meant. I thought the admission referred to bars, not universities. All in all, a very satisfying puzzle.
D.C. DOES have a representative - just note a vote! Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, serving as congresswoman for the District of Columbia since 1991, is the Chair of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.
@Patrick Fillmore And DC of course has votes in the Electoral College.
@Patrick Fillmore No. We in DC have taxation without representation. And Congress can veto any legislation our city council passes. Stinks!
Thank you Alice and Christina for making my 1000 streak milestone such a fun puzzle! It was tough but elegant and I had to jump around the grid a lot but I managed to paint it in from the edges. This morning’s Connections helped with CRUMBS to start. I’m never sure of SABER/SABRE but I should be having spent most of my life on this side of the pond. Getting to 1000 has been a quest. First it was just get to 365. 730 didn’t have a ring to it so I kept going with my morning ritual in the hopes of hitting this. There were a few technical glitches and an occasional oversight on my behalf. Mostly caused by travel across the Date Line or being off the grid for days and then solving in the wrong order. Occasionally my iPad stats didn’t sync with my iPhone stats but every time the NYT puzzle team answered my email pleas in a prompt and friendly manner and sorted it all out. Thank you!
@Roger Congratulations! And number 1000 was a proper Friday fight. Well done.
@Roger Wow, you also today! Congratulations!!
@Roger Wow, congratulations!! I never seem to get to 365. I've been close! But for whatever reason, even when my streak breaks due to a technical glitch, I let it be and don't reach out to the NYT team to resolve it. But I have been known to advise others to do so -- so I'm glad to hear their assistance has worked out so well for you! It did seem an especially good Friday for such a milestone. Congrats again!
Alexa, play Alicia Keys No One. Alexa, what's playing? This No One from As I Am by Alicia Keys. I didn't look it up!
Overall I had to look up three proper noun answers (3D, 5D, 35D) and the southeast corner was the last to be filled in but I was so pleasantly surprised at the yellow grid icon and music at the end. I’m so proud of myself for this progress! I’ve been solving regularly for maybe three years or so? This much progress was unthinkable when I started. Not to get too corny but crossword encourages me to stick to day-to-day efforts, however small it may be, in life in general. Thank you NYTXW for showing me this world.
@Intermediate level this was a helpful perspective. I’ve been feeling proud lately T hat I’ve been able to get through so many late-week puzzles without lookups, so this one had me feeling down, but I like your positive take!
Tough but fair for a Friday. Made me do quite a lot of head scratching, which is a sign that my brain is working hard. Stuck as usual on the sports names, no change there. But as I knew RAMI as an excellent actor (his portrayal of Freddie Mercury is second to none), I took a guess at AMON-RA. Woohoo, I got a sports name without having to Google. Our cultural differences caught me out with the spelling of SABre/SABER. As I don’t know the drink from Adam it was the last to fall once I worked out that SEC could only be prefaced by TRIPLE. A hard solve IN A GOOD WAY.
@Helen Wright I don't follow the NFL, but I knew AMON RA from his college days at USC. His brother, Osiris, played for Stanford. As for SABER/SABre, it's usually the former, unless there's hint to British-ness, or the Buffalo hockey team.
maybe it was the two hits of blotter acid several hours earlier but I found this to be a challenging and lively Friday. brava to the creators!
A quick scan down the comments reveals that this appears to have been about right for a Friday. The key ratios here are: easies : crunchy / chewy / challenging : google / look up / reveal : hated every second and cried Using some advanced GenAI technology - my brain - have deduced it was bang in the middle of Friday day midday. For me a few lookups on the basis that I is British. But chuffed to actually know NAMATH.
@William James You and me both there, William!
@William James Your comment made me snort laugh 😆 As someone who never knows sport names, I was also pleased when NAMATH came to me almost immediately. He must have had a big impact on popular culture to be so widely known even now.
Loved it. Challenging and counterintuitive. Lots of unfamiliar terrain with a handful of reliable supporting clues to give us amateurs a chance. IN A GOOD WAY above an OUNCE of regret works well. COAL CART was tough to let go of, as well as OMITS for DOFFS. Cheers.
I haven't had much to say of late (I agreed that many of the recent late-week puzzles seemed a bit easy, but didn't feel like I had anything to add to that discussion), but I had to drop by and say this was a lovely, somewhat stiff puzzle. Last fill was the 'M" in AMONRA/RAMI, with a bit of a grin and the thought, "well of course." Thanks much to Ms. Liang and Ms. Iverson!
I'm late to the party... plus some of the clue/entry pairs struck at my weakest areas (TV shows, BAR GAMEs, rocker songs, engineering schools that aren't MIT or the one our son graduated from, eponymous vodkas that aren't STOLI, and feminist literature)....which is to say, most of the puzzle. I'm kinda proud I worked it out! Chicago specialty is DEEP DISH? PIZZA goes without saying? What? Great vocab! DOFFS SURFEIT SNARL SABER and the wonderful BIAS CUT... (as for quilt binding when the border is scalloped, of course. We don't need no stinkin' haut couture!) Last thing into the grid...the OUNCE of regret.
@Mean Old Lady I'll be the requisite Chicago native who points out that real Chicagoans go for thin-crust party cut. Not to say I don't enjoy deep-dish, especially if it's from Gino's East.
@Mean Old Lady - pizza goes without saying because “deep dish” is tomato soup en croute and has nothing at all to do with pizza. Chicago specialty? ruining pizza!
Great puzzle! The Eastern half came together pretty easily, but except for the excellent RAMI Malek, the entire Western Hemisphere remained a howling wilderness until I guessed it must have been Broadway Joe who wore #12. The H of NAMATH somehow gave me the toehold I needed to figure that the homophonic career could only belong to ROBINHOOD, and then everything started clicking into place. Very satisfying Friday!
I play under a handicap (knowingly and williingly)feel and have to look up quite a lot usually, but I was really pleased today because I knew a gridiron football answer without help! At least, I was able to make an educated guess. So even though it wasn't my fastest finish, I feel entitled to be pleased with myself today, in the circumstances.
I have never hear Obamania stand in for another term I don't recall being used much -- Obamamania -- but I mean that in a good way.
This was a little tougher for me than the typical Friday puzzle. I hated “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (despite having loved “Raiders of the Lost Arks”), so I needed to get CART to prod my memory of that scene. I’d never heard of 3D AMON-RA St. Brown, and missed the “sun” reference in the clue. (Think I’ll be ready if Mr. St. Brown’s brother, a wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints, is ever a crossword answer? Even if I remember “Equanimeous,” I probably won’t know how to spell it.) The central section near the bottom also slowed me down, where I needed a lot of crossings to get the “Backpedaling qualifier’) (50A). Thanks for the fun, Ms Liang and Ms Iverson!
@Eric Hougland -- I too think it actually was tougher than the typical Friday, and so does XwordInfo, which graded it as having a Saturday difficulty level. Et tu, emu.
@Eric Hougland Oddly, this Friday seemed about average 'Friday hard' to me. I required nine and a half 'cheats', (I knew the word, but spelled 'FINITE' as 'finate'), which is less cheats than I needed for Thursday's puzzle. Overall, the clues were very fresh, and I was so pleased when I sussed a few out on my own, like 'soapbox preacher'.
@Eric Hougland One of Equanameous St. John’s middle names is Imhotep.
Count me in among those who found this tough and fun. I had a remarkably hard time with one of the easiest entries, 32 down, because my brain insisted on interpreting “theme” to mean musical theme, and so I racked it trying to recall what song is to “Rosemary’s Baby” as “Tubular Bells” is to “The Exorcist”.
@Paul Turner OT: I am a Mike Oldfield ("Tubular Bells") fan and have two stories to tell. 1) When I was a kid, our small independent baptist church was doing a Christmas cantata. I had to fill in for one of the singers who'd been called away for a couple weeks. One part of the cantata needed a song with strong timpani to accompany it. I was able to get "Tubular Bells" (Part 1, I believe) into the mix for that. Had our choir director known it was from the album that spawned the theme for "The Exorcist", he'd have nixed it, even though the music was perfect. I file that in my list of small victories in subversion. 2) Not knowing anything about Mike Oldfield besides "Tubular Bells" and "Hergest Ridge", I went to a music festival in Augsburg, Germany -- I was stationed there -- in 1983. On the bill were Van Morrison, Crosby Stills & Nash, Robert Palmer, John McLaughlin, Blue Oyster Cult (who cancelled last minute dammit!), Peter Tosh, and ... Mike Oldfield. I was intrigued about what he'd do at a festival. Little did I know that Oldfield's more recent (at the time) work was a bit more lyrically inspired, and, interestingly to me, the huge crowd of Germans in attendance sang along with all the lyrical songs. I became a huge fan after that great show. Fwiw, Crosby Stills & Nash were good not great and Van Morrison stumbled -- apparently drunk -- onto the stage 10 minutes after his band had started his opening song, "Moondance", barely did a couple tunes, and that was that...
@Steve Sadly, that’s not an uncommon performance from Van Morrison. He’s the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of musicians. If you happen to catch him on a good night though it can be luminous.
Excellent Friday! Just the right amount of resistance; it was a well-spent 7 minutes….hahaha, kidding! 😁 (In my quick skim of comments, I saw a lot of speedy specs, so couldn’t resist 😉.) As I’ve been less able than usual to visit here, I’m wondering if anyone has seen some old timers around these parts? To name a few: Puzzlemucker? Sam Lyons? The old Newbie? I know there was distress about increasing negativity in the comments a while back… Anyway, hope all are well!
@Kate All three have been gone for a while. I think since pretty much sometime very early in the new year. Reasons? Probably a combo of the negativity and life getting in the way. I still hold out a little hope that one day they (in particular Puzzlemucker) might drop back in.
@Kate I have missed all three of those erstwhile regulars. Puzzlemucker previously took a leave of absence for several months when the negativity of some of the comments got too much for him. I’m hoping that is what is going on now and that eventually he’ll be back. Guys, if you’re out there, speak up! Some of us miss hearing from you!
So cool to see Amon-Ra St. Brown get his NYT debut, not too long after Dan Campbell. Keep 'em coming.
WINCE before OUNCE. For some reason I thought they wanted JERSEY and not NAMATH which really messed up the SW since I had ALBUMART and other correct crosses very early and removed them all. Arghh.
This puzzle made me thirsty.
Relieved to see that for once I'm not the only who struggled with this one. Nice puzzle - just quite a workout for me, and I cheated a bit to get there. I think I'm going to allow it. Some misleading but really clever clues; I enjoyed the 'aha' moments when I finally had enough crosses to catch on to them. Puzzle find today was a VERY unusual one. I'll put that in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: Inspire by ADO in today's puzzle I did a search for MUCHADOABOUTNOTHING. And that led to a Sunday puzzle from February 5, 1995 by Frank A. Longo with the title "Peruse the clues." The theme in that one was ALL in the clues. Here are some clue/answer examples: "SNILTIR" MUCHADOABOUTNOTHING "CHALTUPID" STOPINTHENAMEOFLOVE "VISSADAGE" BLUEINTHEFACE "JASOWB" PIGINAPOKE and... "SPORETAFF" READBETWEENTHELINES Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/5/1995&g=64&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/5/1995&g=64&d=A</a> ..
Overall that was a tough puzzle, but IN A GOOD WAY. After getting stuck I came to Wordplay initially to get clues, but was inspired by Deb’s encouragement and advice on how to tackle the puzzle. Ultimately, I looked up “Lorde wrier,” “Aristotle universe,” and “Long Island iced tea” to get AUDRE, FINITE, and TRIPLESEC, and was able to get the rest of the puzzle from there! Thanks for the great puzzle, Alice and Christina, and thanks for the advice, Deb!
I DID INDEED never claim to be a SOAP BOX PREACHER, but TGIF! -- with a special shoutout to PADRE and ANONRA, haha. And even SATANISM was AMUSING ... IN A GOOD WAY. Well done, ladies.
Definitely a tough one for me, with sports figures, colleges, and alcohol, oh my! I've had my share of Long Island iced teas and vodka is my go to drink, but I could not remember triple sec and never heard of Tito. Oh well, I expect to have a few look ups on a Friday.... it just took more than usual to finish today. C'est la vie
@Janine TITO Beveridge (yes, that's his real name) distills his vodka in Texas, so it might not be widely available in Canada yet. It's quite good. I'm not a fan of the Long Island "iced tea" but I put TRIPLE SEC in Margaritas.
I mentioned this in a reply to a comment far down below, but . The newly-restored Michigan Central Train Station re-opened last night with great fanfare. That the opening gala, in addition to performances by Diana Ross, Jack Black, and Eminem, Detroit Lion Amon-Ra St. Brown made a speech.
Thoroughly enjoyed this one, thank you Alice and Christina. So many possibilities that seemed to fit, but you have to go back and make it work. It was an exercise in persistence and patience. Favorite clues : OMELETTE, BIAS CUT, SURFEIT Enjoyed OH HELL NO, IN A GOOD WAY plus many others I echo all the tips from Deb, this is exactly how I approached this new hobby. I would also add reading Wordplay regularly, and periodically using the Check function when wading into the later week puzzles. It helps build the required logic in the brain, and eventually you gain confidence to not have to use them. Only then could I claim to have legitimate streaks lol. Previous ones were just practice! :)
I thought I was clever and had La Brea for 43-D. I was wrong. And 23-A brought back some fond but hazy memories.
@John H. Yea, I was sure of La Brea, only know of it through crosswords , not to be. Knew a bunch of 23A’s, but not this one. Nice puzzle. 50A has only been used once before, about three and a half years ago. Hope the column will continue to function properly. That was a bit annoying. — — — — — — — —
@John H. The clue (They're the pits) calls for a plural answer. So I assumed they had something to do with fruit pits or armpits (axillae or axillas didn't fit) or the like. !!! !!!
All the comments bar mine a very positive on this puzzle. I didn't like it at all i am british (welsh actually) living in the uk although i fid live in california fir 26 years im telling you the above to point out how frustating puzzles like this with so many quiz question are for people like me who dont watch US tv or sport.
@Keith p … I’m in U.S., and I found it incredibly vague and not fun at all.
@Keith p oddly I live in the U.S., but watch snooker, and not any baseball or basketball. How about some snooker clues, huh? or,(going out on a limb here,) cut out the weirdly-spelled personal names all together...?)
A most enjoyable Friday that caused me to pause and think in a number of places. As soon as I saw NFL in the clue for 3D, my eyes glazed over, and I stopped reading. That was unfortunate because had I continued, the NW would have been a lot easier. When it came down to RA_I and BA_GAME, I read the "Sun God" part and was able to finish. Good cluing overall, and I liked WINE GRAPE crossing AERATES.
By coincidence, when I woke up this morning, I was thinking about the letters of the Greek alphabet and how a street character in Ann Arbor named Dr. Diag used to write them on the pavement in chalk and declaim them, along with many other things, at top volume on the University of Michigan campus when I was there for law school from 1976-79. His real name, as he would call out, was Richard Robinson, and he no doubt would have ascribed some meaning to the fact that my first thought on waking this morning connected him, today's Strands game in the Times, and 32A in today's Times crossword. He would often attract a small crowd, but this is the only person I ever heard of having an actual conversation with him: <a href="https://aadl.org/node/248540" target="_blank">https://aadl.org/node/248540</a> Fun puzzle. Sorry if this is a Strands spoiler, but it was an easy one today anyway.
@Jack McCullough Wow, I can't believe I don't recall Dr Diag, I went to U-M (Residential College in LS&A) '74 to '79 and I don't remember a Dr Diag! I knew of Shakey Jake (Woods) of course, and had interactions with him, and I remember the fun painted faces on some sidewalks around town (painted by a former WCBN-er) that were placed so the parking meter shadows would look like Mickey Mouse when the sun was right, but... I walked through the Diag a lot, how do I not remember Dr Diag! Maybe he was a morning person.
@Jack McCullough That may have been the quickest I’ve ever solved Strands, including some of the earliest ones (which I thought were very easy).
Well constructed and pretty tough. I though for a while that I wasn't going to complete it but it all came together in the end.