Wow, what an impressive debut! Twelve themers and not a DUD in the bunch. I laughed out loud at EYED A HOE, MINI SODA and INDIE ANNA. VERGE iN YEAH was tricky, mostly because I didn’t know YAMA (I had NAMA for awhile). Just for the HALIBUT, I tried to think of another state themer. “Horror film stars Noah and his boat” ARKINSAW Congratulations, Ginny, on creating such a clever and fun puzzle. I enjoyed your constructor notes too.
Flatfish (e.g. halibut) start out in life vertical (dorsal fin up, anal fin down, one eye on each side); as they age, they turn 90° so that one side is down, the other up. As they do so, the eye on the down side migrates to the up side. Protective coloration in most fish is dark on top, light on the bottom. In flatfish, the down side turns light, the up side dark. Most flatfish are righthanded: their right side is the up side. A minority are lefthanded: their left side is up. For some reason, lefthanded flatfish are more susceptible than righthanded flatfish to cancer and organ damage caused by pollutants. The fisheries agencies of the European Union therefore monitor lefthanded flatfish as an indicator of ocean pollution.
@Fact Boy They don’t call you Fact Boy for nothing! Absolutely fascinating!
@Fact Boy *Keanuesque "Whoa"* emu and ted's ichthyllent eyedventure
@Fact Boy The left handed halibut tends to command a higher salary in free agency.
I can't fold my US map properly: it's in a state of confusion. (Wait, yes! Finally! I've fixed it atlas.)
@Mike Your route of my league when it comes to puns.
@Mike I thought you'd be ROUTed by the challenge. Your posts are so punderous...
@Mike Gee, a graph increases with every bend in the road and it's hard to know which way to turn. 🗺️ Give it a go yourself, Emu, and try not to fly off the handle.
These were a stretch, even for me, and I’m a dad. But while we are at it: North Pole? MERRYLAND Appropriate jailhouse behavior? CONETTIQUETTE Catch an unusual deer? COLLARODDDOE Nag the nearby bishop? NOODGEYOURSEE
@SP Sometimes I miss Cincinnati, though (alas) last visit showed me that the good old neighborhoods were fairly destroyed... traffic, crowding, businesses driven out....
I really loved this Sunday puzzle. Not understanding all the negativity in the comments. So fun to suss out the state clues. A total winner!
@Sam Me too; I thought it was great. It's always odd to me when people get truly upset over a crossword puzzle, but then again I'm glad if that's the worst thing they have to deal with today.
This probably won't get past the moderators but here goes. A note on general civility. Like many I occasionally like to grouse about crosswords that in my opinion miss the mark -- too arcane, heavy handed, whatever. Not all crosswords are created equally. Inevitably there are a couple frequent posters -- you know who I mean -- who swoop in to defend the crossword. The crossword doesn't need defending, they have our money, life will go on. But these guardian angels of the grid are often irksome and condescending. It's just a different opinion, okay? Not every differing thought has to be corrected. Thank you. Please let this go through, others probably feel the same.
@David Hancock *That* was the proper way to express displeasure. Good tone, good measured thought. But sometimes the comments that some find irksome and condescending are in reply to posts that are, in turn, irksome and condescending. I don't mind criticism of the puzzle. It seems a bit silly to get so worked up about a *game*, but to each their own. But it bothers me greatly when posts seems to get personal towards the cluers or, especially, the constructors. Yeah, they're getting paid, but that's not why they're doing it. And they are humans with real feelings. When I see someone making abusive statements (and I'm not necessarily thinking about you in particular) I'm going to go to bat in defense of an collaboration that generally works pretty well, insofar a human efforts are concerned. I'll also go to bat to try to defend the tone of this column. This is literally the *last* place on the internet that seems to have a spirit of something other than hatred. And I want it to outlive me.
David, In your post, you indicated you didn't like the puzzle ... and you asked a question about the puzzle. I answered the question ... and I didn't question your dislike of the puzzle. Where's the beef? Where's the emu?
@David Hancock - I have no problem with legitimate gripes about the crosswords. I have made a few myself. I think there would be less of what you call "defending" the crossword of the majority of these gripes were legitimate. They almost always aren't. I have no problem with people saying "I didn't like this" but far too many complaints are simply people claiming "This isn't a word!" (when it is) or "nobody says that!" (which is not a requirement for a word to be included in a crossword - and often, yes, a lot of people DO say "that," whatever it is.) In about 90% of the times when a specific nit is picked, it only demonstrates the complainant's limited lexicon and experience or, sometimes misinterpretation of the clue and answer, and not anything remotely wrong about the puzzle. Those of us who "defend" the puzzle will continue to point out when criticisms are invalid. I, for one, will also continue to rebut the very loud minority who whine incessantly whenever there is a puzzling theme on, say a Thursday. Most of us like the puzzles to be, well, puzzling, at least one or two days of the week.
The author of this fine puzzle was inspired by her father's puns. It's clearly time to give dad jokes the dignity they deserve. They are not to be laughed at.
@Ed Your last sentence exemplifies the beauty and twists and turns of language. Bravo!
@Ed Adam Gopnik of The New Yorker certainly agrees with you: "Wit and puns aren't just decor in the mind; they're essential signs that the mind knows it's on, recognizes its own software, can spot the bugs in its own program." Courtesy of WaynoBlog
The misstatements were amusing enough, but I got the best guffaw over the menu typos! Perhaps that’s another puzzle waiting to happen? Ergs Benedict Greed salad Sourdough break Pence alla vodka Tickled beets Lemon butter god Crime rib Gashed potatoes Chocolate fake
@Cat Lady Margaret "Crime rib" is masterful. I wonder what would happen if someone added that, as a joke, to a menu in a vegan restaurant. I think it would get applauded.
@Cat Lady Margaret i will join the chorus of supporters who are waiting for YOU to construct a puzzle! your comments and suggestions are always so on point!
@Cat Lady Margaret "Ah, welcome to Chez Malaprop, my name is Tae Poh, I'll be your waiter tonight. We have some choice selections on the menu, may I suggest we start off with a nice Toes Salad, and we have a wide selection of dressings including Thousand Eyelids, Urban Regret and Gar-Licked Oregano. Now our Chef has prepared a wonderful array of on-trays, I highly recommend the Flayed Minion, the Chicken a la Kink is also nice or perhaps you'd prefer Buttfish if seafood is your meat. The Veal Pharma is very fresh today, however I personally favor the Veal Scale-a-Peenie. "We have many wines to complement your meal, including a nice Bordello, a slightly sweet Chableah, or perhaps a classic Sham Pain. For dessert I'm quite sure you'd enjoy our Seven Bayer Cake or maybe our specialty, Very Sore Bae. "I'll let you have a few minutes to decide, just let me know if you bleed anything."
This was delightful! What a sparkly, hilarious debut, congratulations Ginny.
In-GINNY-ous. TOO perfect. I cannot overstate how much I loved this puzzle. I especially dig EYED A HOE, which I am proud to say I got without mulch trouble. I’d also like to give a chef’s kiss to WHISK ON SON, which genuinely made me laugh out loud. (Dare I say I kneaded that?) I also appreciated the quirky entries like BOOYA and TSARS, with its novel clueing. So much fun! Please come back and play with us again soon, Ginny!
I really enjoyed this punny puzzle. It brought to mind the old song with lyrics that included: What did Mississip? - a Minnesota. What did Delaware? - a brand New Jersey. Where has Oregon? I don't know, Alaska," I think Perry Como was the singer. Here's a puzzle that made me smile and recalled a song from my youth - who could ask for anything more?
Perfect example of when puzzles cross the threshold from 'Fun' to 'Drudgery'.
OMG. Absolutely terrible, painful groaners. And they were perfect -- I loved it!! It felt like the Sunday puzzles of the 70s and 80s, in the best possible way. Sure, maybe some themers landed better than others, but the overall effect was sheer bliss, making me feel 50 years younger. I struggled some in the middle (around PLAITED and LETMEGO in particular), and it took me a while to figure out why DELL was in there. The fill was mostly fine to good but mainly there to get me to the next themer. They did get easier after the first few but all were tremendous fun. Thank you Ginny Too for one of the most wonderful Sunday puzzles I've seen in a long, long time. And a debut! More soon, please!!!
That was a terrible experience. I saw that they were state puns quickly, and I grew up trading puns with my dad in the yard while we dug and planted trees, so I was prepared to enjoy it. But these were the kinds of puns we’d at best try to get away with very late in the punning contest when everyone’s just tired of it. I hope not to see a puzzle like this any time again soon.
This is one of my favorite puzzles ever! And how lovely that it was all built on worshipped-dad jokes
When does a collection of puns that are unremittingly and excruciatingly dreadful suddenly MORPH into "Hey, not so bad at all" and become fun to figure out? Answer: When they have a raison d'etre theme that ties them all together and makes even the worst of them guessable. FLOOR IT DUH was perfectly awful in every way imaginable -- and I hate, hate, hated it when I filled it in. "You call this a pun?" I said to myself. "I mean, really." But then what looked like it was going to be a Mississippi pun started to come in. There was a fast-running "she" who was obviously (and from my crosses) a MISS. Aha, she IS something! What IS she? Hmmmm. Aha -- ZIPPY! Yippee, this is sort of fun, after all. It's going to be puns of STATES. I notice the terrifically apt title for the first time. And I'm off and running to find as many state puns as I can without crosses. Gotcha, MINI-SODA! Gotcha, WHY OMING! Gotcha, HUH WHY E! Gotcha, WHISK ON SON! I needed many, many crosses for the others -- and I had to cheat on RHYS to get TEN ASEA. But I ended up having a very good and, in its own way, challenging time with this. Perhaps the most successful puzzle I've yet seen in making a bunch of silk purses out of a bunch of sow's ears.
I hardly ever comment but I loved this crossword in so many ways! I just have to join the chorus of praise for this delightful debut. I learned the love of crosswords from my dad, and on our summer camping road trips, we loved playing the license plate game with him. I remember learning the Perry Como states pun song, and singing it in the car. But my first thought on getting FLOOR IT, DUH! was oh, these answers are So Much Better. :-D Dad has been gone for 20 years now. I still miss him all the time and this one made me so wish I could do the puzzle with him today.) I don't think I've ever laughed out loud and, yes, even snorted, over a puzzle so much. Thank you for a delightful start to my Sunday, @Ginny Too. Your father sounds delightful and I wish I could hang with your family. :) (I do agree that the Virginia pun was the must forced, but as a fellow Virginia, it had to be there! I loved it.) <3
@Ginny I love your remembrances of your father. I can only hope I'm so lucky that my son will recall me after I've been gone 20 years. Crosswords are like poetry in unearthing old memories. (Damn, there's something in my eyes, keeping me from seeing well enough to finish.)
This puzzle was a very enjoyable one. For those who feel this doesn't live up to their standards, just relax and enjoy.
What a gift Ginny Too has for witty puns and what a gift she has given to us with this delightful puzzle. When the first state emerged I knew what I would be looking for and I was looking forward to every single one. TENASEA was a killer and the fun wasn't limited to states—who wouldn't be laughing about [Rulers used to make crosswords?] and [V-six or V-twelve?] — not engines? I was disappointed that flounder was too long and lost out to HALIBUT. Many years ago we had peerless fried flounder at a McAllen,Texas, motel restaurant (of all place), fresh when the Gulf of Mexico was fresher, and just the thought of it makes my mouth water (CA suppertime here). Thank you so much, Ginny! Only one look-up, but not a breeze to work, and all those ingenious state concoctions were inspired.
@dutchiris "...when the Gulf of Mexico was fresher..." You mean before BP's Deepwater Horizon poisoned it? And then they walked away paying chump change to a few of a subset of those who were ruined by it? And no one went to jail? This is the future.
I spent last week at Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On our round trip from Ohio to Tennessee, we saw license plates from 45 states. So this puzzle was particularly appealing.
@Puzzled I live part time in Grand Marais, MN. I love in summers, especially pre-covid, looking at all the out of state license plates. I think I've seen pretty much all of them, except Hawaii, nd maybe Idaho and Mississippi. One day I saw two cars right next to each other both from Massachusetts. Could have been group travel, but I like to think not.
Welp, this one was interesting. Ish. When you have to strain to zip something up, it doesn't fit. VERGE IN is not a phrase anyone would sensibly use; sometimes you need to leave stuff on the cutting room floor. There were a couple of groaners, but one can let those pass when it's wiithin the realm of possibility. This was NOT! I am guessing I'm not alone. CrispyShot has taken care of the other piece of Dead Sea fruit. Just for fun: early spelling for the Pacific Islands in books like _Eight Cousins_ (by Louisa May Alcott, and found on my Granny's bookshelf): Owhyhee. I thought that was hilarious, but not really "out of line."
@Mean Old Lady “VERGE IN is not a phrase anyone would sensibly use; sometimes you need to leave stuff on the cutting room floor.” That’s definitely the weakest one in the bunch. Cross it with the less well-known YAMA and it’s a tricky spot.
@Mean Old Lady next time I drive across the Potomac on the highway I pledge that I SHALL ALLOW A MOTORIST TO ENTER MY LANE AND USE THE PHRASE “VERGE IN, YEAH” as I tootle through the Commonwealth. That will manifest an actual usage and I hope will make you smile :-)
In Sunday's Times did Ginny Too a stately, punny theme design With NASH, the antic poet, rapt as dad jokes muddied up the map (AKEELAH simply sighs)
@ad absurdum It was a smirky cull of rare delights, A punny pleasure-poem with states all sliced! That punny dome! those clues so 'chice'! And all who solved might giggle there, And all would cry, What flair! How rare! Her cracking wise, with Dad-Joke fare! Made us smirk all, four times thrice, And clothed our moods with happy meds For we on punny-clues hath fed, And drunk our 'fill' of her parent's prize.
I’m so pleased that so many had as much fun as I did with this delightful Sunday puzzle. Loved the puns. And also liked TSAR as clued which I thought so clever. Not much more to say, thanks for such a fun Sunday puzzle, looking forward to more, Ginny.
I dunno. Hated Saturday and now I hated Sunday too. Everyone seems to love it so I guess I'm out of synch with some of these great crosswords. Words like vergeinyeah are just gibberish to me. Aren't they supposed to mean something on their own even if there's a double meaning?
David, VERGEINYEAH is Virginia, MISSTATED (the puzzle title). All of the theme answers are responsive to their clues and are wacky ways of saying the names of states. That's what it is. You don't have to like it.
@David Hancock The three words do make sense on their own. THat one was my least favorite but it does still work: VERGE IN YEAH. But I find that sometimes they just don't resonate, even if everyone else loved them. I appreciate you voicing your dislike respectfully and without personal attacks on the constructors, etc.
@David Hancock The so-very-principled emus ate my original response, probably because I criticized attitudes in New York City about the rest of the country, especially the midwest. Still NYC is a city I love. So I'll tone it down to maybe get by. As you didn't mention state names, I suspect you never really caught on.
Not the strongest fill, but overall enjoyable if you don’t mind the fun groaners - I thought they were great. FLOORITDUH and WHISKONSON were the standouts for me… they make you want to roll your eyes and laugh at the same time.
I'm sorry, but this is the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I will not be posting again, nor renewing my sub. I am very disappointed by lack of quality in several of these recent puzzles. The theme itself was not an issue, but I had no motivation slogging through this mess. No fulfilling aha moments nor pleasant groans when solving the puns. I decided to end my 150+ streak by checking my answers to reveal 2 incorrect letters. 102A should win the prize - Overstretched and nonsensical phrasing which created 2 Naticks with 105D & 72D. What a beaut! Another Natick with the J at 107A/109D. I'm sure every solver knew this one except me. I would have had a better time if I skipped this and spent 35 minutes vacuuming instead.
@Mike You say "I had no motivation slogging through this mess". Regardless of what the puzzle throws at me, I am always motivated to try and puzzle it out to completion. Occasionally I am confronted with a puzzle where I think "I may not be able to get this one done", but usually I do, and if I don't, I accept it and move on, because it supposed to be fun. If the streak is getting in the way of your enjoyment, then don't be a slave to it. It's nice to have a streak, just don't live and die by it.
@Mike Hand up for Not Knowing the 107A/109D combo...but the crosses provided enough clues to hang a guess on. I agree (see below) about the VERGE entry...but some flaws are not sufficient to deter me from doing puzzles (even as my memory betrays me and my powers wane, apparently.) It's too bad that you're giving up (which of course is your perfect right) because we do need fun in our lives. Some days the fun is in the puzzle, and some days most of the fun is to be found in the comments, eh? Hope to see you back while you run out the subscription... I mean, isn't it bad enough that you have to live in Philly? WAIT, don't go! I just said that to torment DHubby (b. LockHaven, lived in Bristol, touts all of the Big City amenities he enjoyed...long list!) BTW, vacuuming isn't on the List.
I dunno if I recall ever actually laughing out loud several times throughout a crossword puzzle before this one. Oh, I remember puzzles that delighted me and probably inspired exclamations of delight (I think at least one Jeremy Newton puzzle, among other puzzles), but in this one the Dad jokes were so perfectly wonderfully awfully silly, I loved 'em. Guffaws were had. Just a really fun, playful, silly and witty puzzle that reveled in punnery. Excellent. I felt just a little Naticked for a while by 7D ERDOS crossing 27A COS (never took Trig in school but figured it was probably COS), then discovered the snag was a simple overlooked wrong letter at 57A/57D, just didn't notice I had an typo'd O there instead of an I(NLAY), fixed it and got the congrats! Loved 120A, what a wonderful winky and fresh take on this oh-so-common crossword clue. Tsaright. Silly, playful, smart and fun puzzle. OK letsee: "Aw gee, Baryshnikov left the theatre before I could get his autograph? ' _ MISHAGONE 😝🤓🤔🙄 My attempt maybe highlights how well-done the entries in the puzzle were. Kudos to Ginny Too. __ A SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS "Hey! Anyone here witness which extra has been snatching all the pastries from our Craft Services table here on the "Wait Until Dark" set??" ___ Hepburn: "ARKINSAW" See? 102A ain't so bad after all. Wildebeest uniform? GNUJERSEY
@Becca GNUJERSEY really made me laugh!!
I've been to 39 states on the USMAP, but still need to visit MISSISZIPPY and HUHWHYE in my mission to get to all fifty. As a kid, I wanted to shout "FLOORITDUH" to my parents on the long drive to Disney World from INDIEANNA, instead of wasting precious time staying the night in TENASEA. One of my best friends lives in VERGEINYEAH, and when I visited her last year I took the Acela ([Express method used to make many crosswords?]) to DELLAWARE to check that one off the list. When I lived in Montana for a summer internship, I took the slow train over to EYEDAHOE and OREAGAIN as well; I learned my lesson after getting a speeding ticket in MINISODA on my way out there. Absolutely loved this puzzle and theme!! Can't wait to see someone try to say it's too NYC-centric...
@Josh and how could I forget WHISKONSON? I was just there a couple months ago. WHYOMING's Black Hills are also quite scenic. Highly recommend!
I’ve done the crossword for years, and this might be the puzzle I’ve enjoyed the most. What a fantastic debut!
I loved this! What a fun theme with interesting cluing. Banger of a Sunday. Thank you for your good work!
@Sarah Just noticed your "location". God, I love the wit I find here.
My worst Sunday time ever, I was not even close to being on the same wavelength. Ginny and I are just synonymically incompatible I guess. WHISKONSON finally got me going, loved WHYOMING. A clever puzzle that deserved a better solver than me.
@Snorting Elk I've been there. Sounds as though it might be time for some chocolate. (All for you, none for the emus.)
Once I figured out the theme, I had such fun trying to come up with the misstatements on my own that I stopped answering clues to make it more challenging to sound them out. The Virginia misstatement seemed a bit of a stretch and was the last to fall for me. Otherwise, this was an enjoyable bit of Sunday eye-rolling humor.
Fun and hilarious! I love this constructor's fresh, sharp sense of humor. Can't wait to see more!
Great debut! Thanks Ginny! Loved the theme (even though I didn't catch on right away)! Once I did, lots of fun sounding out the states! Loved the clue for TYPOS! Great Sunday puzzle!
I love love LOVED this. The theme was so perfectly dorky, and so many laugh-out-loud clues. Some of my favorite NYT clueing ever. A delightful debut, and on a Sunday! This girl is going places (and probably hiking there!).
Dad jokes. Should have been right up my alley but couldn't quite work everything out. No big deal. Had to go see if this had been done before and... yep - a couple of times. One quite notable puzzle - a Sunday from September 9, 1984 by Richard Silvestri with the title: "Altered States." Some clue/answer examples: "The Moslem State? :" CALIPHORNIA "The Motion State? :" KINETICUT "The Writer's State? :" PENCILVANIA "The Clerical State? :" COLLARADO "The Highway State? :" ROADISLAND "The Broom State? :" WHISKONSIN Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=9/9/1984&g=99&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=9/9/1984&g=99&d=A</a> ..
@Rich in Atlanta Oh... and my usual answer history search. For no discernible reason late last night I thought about LAOS and TAOS. Both are pretty common pieces of fill: LAOS - 305 times. TAOS - 246 times. But I couldn't help but wonder about... AOS. Couldn't really think of very many other words with that string of letters so went and did a search. The only other common word I could find was CHAOS (60 appearances). And each of those has been part of a longer answer occasionally. Beyond that.... CACAOS - 11 times. FAOSCHARZ - twice. CIAOS - 14 times. NAOS - evidently a Greek shrine - 71 times but only once in the Shortz era. And then several other completely unfamiliar terms - most of them only in pre-Shortz puzzles. e.g. LIAOSI, MANAOS, PRAOS, DAOS, ARAROAS, YAOS - and quite a few others. I'm done. ..
I have not read the comments yet to get everyone's take on it but I loved it!! EYED A HOE was the first themer that I figured out. Loved it immediately and pretty quickly filled out the rest of the them, except the Kendrick one. I wasn't immediately familiar with her name, though I know I have heard it before. The only thing of her's that I think I've watched is The Accountant.... and some of the crossings there took me a little longer but once I had the NA on the end, I was able to puzzle it out! Some of the state puns were stronger than others but they were all fun! My favorite was the state I was born and lived in half my life --WHISK ON SON! I thought that one was hilarious! (Although very soon I will have lived in another state represented in today's puzzle *more* than half of my life, which kind of feels weird but also good because I jive more with MINI SODA!) MISS IS ZIPPY was another favorite! I enjoyed a lot of the other clues too, especially the rulers that make a lot of crosswords for TSARS. I thought the BFF one at 1D was a little weird and I originally had Bros there. So very many spouses/partners consider the other their best friend. My husband and I don't (in a good way) but I know a lot of people who do. 'Twas fine, just seemed a little odd to me. Got it in good time, better than average, no lookups, and no errors! Huzzah!! What a fun last crosswording week! Fun, fun! Mega rebuses and mega punniness--love it! 💃🥳🕺 Cheers to a new week, all! 🍸
@HeathieJ Funny--INDIE ANNA was the first one I got, and it opened the floodgates for me. ORE AGAIN was the only one I didn't like, as it's not a perfect pun (I've tried saying it out loud in several accents but can't get the last syllable to sound like "gone"). Then again, WHISK ON, SON is borderline as well. A really fun puzzle!
@Michael As far as I know, you can rhyme Oregon with either "pagan" or "polygon"
Not VERGEINhEAH? Thought that it was appropriately southern. Had to run the alphabet after flyspecking everything else two times over. Aargh.
@Al in Pittsburgh Me too! It took me 10 minutes to find that H was the problem.
@Al in Pittsburgh That one got me, too. I’ve heard of RAMA, but I don’t think I knew about YAMA. And of all the theme answers, that’s probably the weakest pun, since VERGE IN is not really colloquial English.
I thought this was a really cute and clever puzzle - thank you for some laugh-out-loud fills!
This stately puzzle made me laugh. I do love a good groaner, and this one had some doozies. It took me longer than it should have to catch on to the state theme (I neglected to check the title before solving), but I finally had enough crosses to get MINISODA for coke-ette. I felt like a cartoon character with the light bulb winking on above my head and raced to fill in the rest of the holes in my map. This nicely capped off a good late week run of puzzles. More please.
Brilliant! I knew by the title this had something to do with US states (not that much of a challenge to us Canadians, me thought). But the phonetic twists had my synapses in a tizzy. But I got 'em all!
That was such a fun puzzle - a delightful debut! Enjoyed all the state clues, and TSARS was brilliant. I’ll be looking out for more from you, Ginny, congratulations!
Great debut, Ginny! Challenging, but worth the laughs and groans. Total Dad Jokes vibe. Your Dad must be hilarious.
What a lot to love, great constructor comments, too. And looking at the rest of the states there's not a lot of other choices: can't do much with Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, heck just about all of them! The campus of that Ivy League school in Philly is so verdant, right? PENN'S SYLVAN, YEAH. (Trying to use "pencil" for a part of [Pennsylvania] is nearly impossible, it's above my PA grade.) Clue for Tsar was hilarious. Glad it was the puzzlemaker's and not the eds'. What did you say when you bumped into that great baller for the Yomiuri Giants at that ramen stand? OH, HI OH! You forgot to watch the talkshow even though the guest was a famous spoon bending illusionist. MISS URI Movie star De Armas fantasizes about redoing into Spanish a classic American movie, with her playing the "Thelma" character. LOUISE Y ANA Sheesh! Ginny, I hope we see many more from you, this one deserves, as someone who lives in Chicago might say, DA CODA.
@john ezra “Let your father and me know you arrived safely.” TEXT US WHEN GET THERE I got TSARS from the crosses. I remember being puzzled by the clue, but I missed out on the humor until I read the comments. It’s a clue worthy of a spot on Lewis Rothlein’s list.
I will almost certainly be diagnosed with Too Close Syndrome™️, but this a hill I will die on: the “h” in “hat” is absolutely not a glottal. It is an aspirate onset. “The ‘h’ in ‘hat’” is actually the classic example of an aspirate onset. I will also contend that if you know what a glottal is, you know that the “h” in “hat” is not one.
@CrispyShot Should have mentioned the clue: 4A. Also should have mentioned that except for that and the VERGEINYEAH/YAMA crossing, for which I had to run the alphabet, I really liked this one!
@CrispyShot ABsolutely! It drives me nuts when people think they know stuff and throw words around to demonstrate it....only to expose the opposite. (I once had a guy tell me he knew about special ed kids because his dad was a psychiatrist! Guess knowledge is genetic...)
CrispyShot, Before anyone dies anywhere, might it be possible that the "h" in "hat" is both an aspirate and a glottal consonant? <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_consonant" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_consonant</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/aspirate" target="_blank">https://www.britannica.com/topic/aspirate</a> Stand back, emus!
The most fun I’ve had in a long time. Thank you! Plain, clever, and funny will always beat out the overly complex, tiresome, and condescending. Kudos!
This was great fun once I figured the theme. Unfortunately my first themer was MISS IS ZIPPY, and I decided that, because of “misstated”, they would all have something to do with MIS or MISS (instead of picking up on the “state” aspect). Once I realized there were states involved I was off to the races.