Thursday, June 27, 2024

Now that’s a spicy Thursday! I know there will be haters, no worries, everyone likes different toppings, I found this one delicious.

I will never understand the users who write in on a Thursday about how they hate rebuses and other deviations from crossword conventions. I’m begging you - just don’t do the Thursday puzzle. If the menu says anchovies galore, please don’t complain about how fishy your slice turns out to be. For the record, I thought this was one of the more clever and enjoyable Thursdays in a while, and after the “aha” moment the solve was straightforward. A little slower than my average, but worth it for the reveal. Thanks for a great puzzle!

I’m very surprised by all the comments about hating this puzzle. I thought it was a quintessential puzzle for a Thursday- which is traditionally “gimmicky” for those whining about how this isn’t a crossword. It’s easy enough to skip Thursdays if you don’t like this style! Personally, Thursdays are my favorite puzzle of the week. NYT crosswords follow a very set pattern. Mondays are easiest, with progressively harder puzzles on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday is “gimmicky” or “tricky”. Friday is harder than Wednesday. Saturdays are hardest. Sundays are larger grids and have a title, which is themed to the puzzle. Well done to the creators! This is extremely clever and excellently constructed!

I went right for the answers that didn't have any shaded squares and worked my way toward the crusts. It's a lovely moment when the concept suddenly clicks. And a very nice visual at the end. And now I have the late night munchies.

So, so much easier than it appears! Once you get the gimmick it comes together like lightning; all the clues are really easy. The scary part was the first 3-5 minutes where I was sure they wanted all the black squares to actually represent names of pizza toppings that would complete long megaclues. Shudder. But once you grasp and bite the rebus bullet (thank you lower middle) it's really simple and fast.

so cute! you two rock. thanks for the fresh puzzle!

Wow! A hundred comments by midnight! I wouldn’t be surprised if we break 1000 today! Most of them are from haters, and things like “this isn’t a crossword” that tell me there are a lot of newbies out there. Imagine stepping into, and then out of the batter’s box after three quick strikes, and complaining, “No fair, curve balls. I didn’t know that could happen.” Without curve balls, hitting would be too easy and the games would be five hours long and the final scores would be 48-27. Curve balls make baseball a better game. As a batter, you have to be able to figure out when to expect them, and how to hit them. Or give up and sell cars for a living. This puzzle was a masterpiece, and you do it a disservice by blaming the puzzle for the fact you weren’t ready for it. (Yeah, I know, you’re the exception: you’ve been solving for 15 years and you still hate it, blah blah, blah.) This one could be a contender for Puzzle of the Year. A perfect game is a work of art, but the opposing batters on the losing team still don’t like it.

So many people are complaining, but it feels more like 'complaining about rebuses just because they don't like rebuses' than about the puzzle itself. In my case, I found this delightful! Solving it was like eating a pizza - having to slice it up, starting from the inside, and working out towards the crust. The construction is really fantastic, and I'm impressed at how it managed to pack so much into such a small puzzle footprint. One of my favourite crosswords in a while, and unless Sat or Sun are amazing, a solid contender for puzzle of the week. I love the final look of it too, with all the colours!

The pie are squared!

What a hoot! This must be some kind of record for rebuses!

I had a feeling the drama department would weigh in on this one and sure enough they did not hold back. Sigh. As for me: Loved the puzzle, loved the column, loved the constructor notes, LOVED the photo of Paulo and Sarah, and loved the surprise ending! Maybe not the hardest Thursday but definitely one of the most fun and clever puzzles of 2024.

This is my favorite kind of Thursday puzzle! Challenging but the clues aren’t esoteric - it starts to come together and then once you understand the gambit, it gets more fun! If you don’t know about rebus solves, then this puzzle would be super annoying… BUT this is the perfect puzzle to gain mastery over them. And amazing structure and reveal, too! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

How to eat the pizza: Open the box and see the unusual shape. Frisson of wondering what’s ahead. Start in bite by bite. After three or six or eight bites, realize most things don’t fit. Realize it has to be a stuffed crust! Stop trying to make the stuffing special. Just do what needs to be done. Whoa, are those the pepperonis?! Finish off the enjoyable meal with a dessert of delicious constructor notes.

BEST PUZZLE EVER The grid art, even the mushrooms! The colors! The rebuses! The near-Weintraubian fun fun clues! The lack of junk fill! HOW could it have taken months to get accepted? I feel so… full.

I love pizza I love pie I love Thursdays And this is why 🍄‍🟫 🍕 🫑 🧀

Judging by the comments, it seems like this was a lot of folks’ first introduction to rebus puzzles. Which is surprising to me: I only started solving in January, and feel like the “Thursday is often a rebus” concept was drilled into my head a dozen times at this point. Anyway, welcome everyone! If you hate rebuses, you’re in good company on the comments thread. But aside from the volume and predictability of their locations, there’s nothing new about this puzzle from a gameplay standpoint. Don’t take it out on the constructor! Signed, Someone who was wildly confused on his first Thursday solve, and didn’t even know the word “rebus” until he read the angry comments section.

Loved, loved, loved the puzzle! Streak reached 1400 today on my 70th birthday. Didn't somebody else do this recently?

Steve L. already said it but I feel compelled to add my opinion about a crossword so hotly debated in the Comments. A vote, I suppose. This puzzle was a masterpiece. I agree it should absolutely be a contender for puzzle of the year. I've personally liked rebus puzzles since my first encounter with one. If you don't like them, you don't like them. You have every right to hate them in general. This puzzle was a masterpiece.

Loved this puzzle! Can’t imagine the additional mental gymnastics it must have taken to create it, but bravo! And I see the tired debate about whether pineapple is ok on pizza has been thoroughly eclipsed by an equally passionate disagreement on whether rebus belong there either. I say yes to both! And if not everything is to your specific taste? Welcome to life as an adult, where not everything is designed specifically for you.

I am a crossword noob, and though I’m usually not at the level of rebuses, I actually got this one!!!! Whoo! Really fun to solve. This was my favourite crossword that I’ve done so far! As someone who is younger and not from the US, I do sometimes find American-based clues tricky. Also tricky are clues about things that happened or were popular in the 50s-90s. But this one was really solvable. Looooved it!

Great puzzle, great column, great constructor notes. I had fun and cracked up at stuffed crust. Thanks!

This puzzle was BRILLIANT! And FUN FUN FUN! I absolutely loved it. I also loved the constructor notes and the transformation from black and white puzzle to colorful pizza puzzle. Absolutely brilliant!

I was sure 1/4 of the way through the puzzle that the comments section was going to be full of wailing and the gnashing of teeth. I wasn't disappointed. I drink your rebus-hating tears. Slurp, slurp, slurp.

Paolo and Sarah, This was quite tasty! Can we have a large pie some Sunday? No emu, though

This was so fun!! The most fun I've had solving the crossword in ages!

Although there have been rebus puzzles that have caused me to quit in frustration, I don't hate them- especially now that I consider myself a seasoned solver and know to look for them on Thursday. I thought this one was a nice and easy way for folks to learn how to solve them- Tuesday difficulty with Thursday construction; there are A LOT of entry points with common answers that clearly indicate there is a trick to be sussed out: Sister Act Star Jazz's James Steve of The Office King of the Faries Spanish Grandmother If you're new to this: welcome to rebuses! They can be very challenging but very rewarding, and they show up fairly regularly on Thursdays. The haters gonna hate. Whatever- I really enjoyed this one!

Wow! Once I caught on--which was basically working out from the center and then dealing with the bottom half first--it went smoothly. It was easier for me to figure out the rebuses that ended words rather than the ones that started words, so my pizza was lopsided for a while. But once I got going, it was a lot of fun. And I love the way the pizza looked when I was done. I'm hoping to have pizza for dinner tomorrow night. But it will not have green peppers on it.

I don’t know which was more fun, solving this deliciously wicked puzzle, or anticipating all the anti-rebus grousing in the comments. (Seriously, people— rebuses exist. Learn to live with them or just skip Thursdays.) My only regret is a lack of auto-updating that caused me to miss the fun surprise at the end of the puzzle, It was like making a great pizza then realizing I’m out of red wine. Still tasty, but lacking the perfect chaser.

I love a rebus, and the fact that this puzzle has 40 of them makes it that much more fun. This was a gentle one, so I hope new solvers will enjoy it and have the same "aha" moment I had the first time I came across one. As I sat there struggling to solve, I remember thinking, "Wait, the only way to do this it to put 2 letters in one box. No, they can't expect me to do that!" But they did, so I did, and now I can't get enough of them.

I caught on pretty fast and then breezed through the puzzle, but it was a good idea and there was a lot of fun solve. Thanks for keeping things fresh.

Absolutely loved this puzzle. Shaded area and obvious answers like ALPACA, ABUELA, and CARELL gave it away. Didn’t totally get the edges until DAS and SORKIN though. Personally I found it significantly easier than normal Thursday rebus puzzles where it’s harder to know where exactly the rebus will show up. Stumped me for a while on MUDSTAIN and MURALIST though so a longer time for Thursdays. Also entering rebus is pretty easy on mobile (and even easier on desktop). I don’t get what the fuss is about.

Imagine a food so great it could make even rebuses palatable to everyone. Loved the theme, the puzzle, and all the toppings. Chef hats off to the constructors.

When I do the jigsaw, the delivery person helps me find a pizza the puzzle. (I had more puns, but they were extra cheesy.)

Sometimes it's fun to predict what will be in the comments before coming here: 1. So cool! So fun! So hungry! (I'm included here) 2. Boooo! Rebus! 3. Mike from Munster pun (surely involving cheese...) 4. Pizza snobbery about double crust (my wife is from New Haven so I'm used to it)

First the article "Pizza in America is Better Than Ever" that appeared in the Times yesterday or the day before, and now this: I'm getting the idea that there is a certain, er, piety toward pizza at the Times. As if some focus group came back with, "People seem to want more disheartening polls about Biden -- and pizza related stuff." It's clear that the powers-that-be at the Times are not made men from the Sicilian mob, otherwise the grid would be square. If you get my drift. It's pretty freakin' virtuoso, not only the rebus crust but then having the two revealers AND the toppings (and what are those two green pairs - sprigs of parsley? basil?), well, è semplicemente incredibilmente sorprendente. I also like the mini Hispanic theme -- castillo, abuela, Suarez, alpacas (native, like spectacled bears, to the Andes), the Pinta -- which goes with the theme of the pizza article, that the best pizzas often mix cuisines and cultures to great effect. Or to horrible effect: I'm lookin' at you pineapple-anchovy-Canadian bacon! 'Bout time I start heading to the kitchen. I got dibs on that last slice of taro-lilac-seacrab, don't even think about it! <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/dining/pizza-america.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/dining/pizza-america.html</a>

I hate, hate, HATE rebus puzzles, so this was an epic fail for me.

For people who don’t like rebuses: why don’t you just skip Thursday?

I dislike rebuses -- and trick puzzles in general. Every Wednesday night at 10 when the Thursday puzzle drops I think "Oh dear, I'm not going to like this". But being a glutton for punishment (and for pizza), I always give it a try and often end up tearing my hair or uttering words unsuitable for polite company (and for emus). So much to my surprise, I quite enjoyed today's puzzle. For me, the pattern actually made it flow rather than hindered solving

The word FUN has appeared in very many of the comments (sadly sometimes preceded by “no”) and that was my first reaction to this really enjoyable rebus puzzle, loved it. A perfect Thursday treat, many thanks Paolo and Sarah.

I’m far from an accomplished solver, so I was thrilled when I finished without resorting to the Wordplay column. (I did have a few look-ups, though.) And I think this was a very clever puzzle!!!

Having just spent the day in Naples yesterday where I had nothing but pizza, I was very happy to see this crossword. The pizza gods have smiled upon me 🍕

Extremely impressed with this construction. The mind boggles at what must have been a challenging (and fun, I bet!) effort to architect today’s puzzle. Bravo, Paolo and Sarah! Maybe one of my favorite Thursdays since I started solving. I remember my early days when I also bitterly complained about (unannounced) rebuses. Now I’ve come to quite enjoy them and even relish the payoff of cluing in to their existence without first having to check the Wordplay column!

I normally prefer a thin crust pizza, but this STUFFEDCRUST version sated my appetite for rebuses. As one who likes to fill in the entire rebus, rather than just the first letter (for aesthetic reasons), I had to take a bit of extra time to complete this one, but it was a labor of love. The puzzle was neither half baked nor cheesy. The graphics were topping too! I particularly liked all the answers that were composed entirely of rebuses. Shout out to one of my favorite singer songwriters, TORI Amos, who thankfully has not been silent all these years.

Loved it – the unicorn of puzzles! I lucked out by starting in the SE, where Duane REA-DE and Oscar MAY-ER, followed by RE-IN-DE-ER brought it all to light, and gave me a whoosh of adrenaline. The party had just started! With so many entries scratching the rebus itch, I appreciated that the fill was quite easy, creating a wonderful balance in the puzzle. A great big toast – with pizza, of course – to the two of you, Paolo and Sarah, extensive to the graphics team. Bravo!

Fun puzzle. I jammed through it close to my personal best. I enjoy the constructor's notes because they give an insight into the mind(s) that created the puzzle. This one was interesting because the challenge, apparently, was less to fill the grid, than to find a way to trick a grid-filling program into doing something unusual. Purists may have a problem with this but as long as it's a tasty puzzle, I care how it got made.

Delicious! While rebus puzzles can be frustrating, the clues were well suited. I had a feeling that I needed more letters as I read the initial clues and when I got to the clue for PIzzatoppings (and knew Whoopi too), I was hooked. Brilliant theme for the best kind of rebus - bold, silly and not shy about it. Also adored the recipe constructor notes. My non-crossword doing spouse thinks I’m crazy but I couldn’t resist showing off the artwork at the end. Bravo!!

Ah, as a former rebus-hater and relative newcomer to crosswords, I loved this one! It was clear from the start that some sort of ‘trick’ would be involved with the edges of the puzzle, and once the nature of that trick became clear the STUFFED CRUST started to fill in quite quickly. With the clues themselves being on the more straightforward side, it was a great opportunity to flex those rebus skills (and get some practice on entering them with my iPhone keyboard!). Definitely fresh and fun, and a particularly lovely entry for anyone like me who is slowly moving from dreading Thursdays to actually enjoying them.

The puzzle actually made me gasp when I opened it, a real jumpscare lol. Once I got the rebus, it was a breeze! Good job, guys!

I also hate, hate, hate..... STUFFED CRUST pizza!! But I love, love, love this puzzle!! What fun!! I grinned from ear to ear the whole way through!! My first inkling was at ALPACA, my second inkling was at Steve from the office... but I wasn't totally sure how to spell his name or if there was another Steve from the office. Believe it or not, the Nancy Drew clue 100% clinched it for me... rebus!! My misspent youth up in a treehouse or in my cozy pink bedroom reading Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden mysteries really have paid off! Huzzah!! And once I figured out from the STUFFED CRUST that that's where all the rebuses were, I ended up sailing through at way better than average time, with a few little sticky, but manageable, spots. Even though there were a lot, I feel like this is a very accessible puzzle for newer people to get their feet wet, and I hope that they can stick to it. I'm still very much a new person at under a year, so I get if it's your first time encountering a rebus... it's very confusing. My first time encountering one, I didn't know it was a possibility or how to do it, so I do get that, but I still think it's a very approachable one because you can see where the rebuses are and the clues were all very accessible. While I'm not a fan of a STUFFED CRUST on my pizza, I am a big fan of garlic butter around the edges of the crust! Mmm!! And when I make homemade pizza, I always add garlic into the dough. Never know when those vampires are out there!

Keying it in on my cellphone was an epic pain but it was fun to see the graphic at the end. Yum.