Thanks Jeff! What a brilliant piece of puzzle-making! Sometimes I'm amazed by the cleverness of the creators here and forget to say how much I appreciate the work that goes into giving us an enjoyable diversion.
Wow! Amazing construction. This went a bit quicker than usual for me thanks to the palindromic assistance, but I literally kept saying, "Wow!" A very impressive feat.
Great to have EDEN in the fill. As we all know, it is the setting for the world's first palindrome- Madam, I'm Adam
@coloradoz You mean the first palindrome wasn't some caveman's farewell: "OGG GO"?
Most stunt puzzles, this one included, wow me, take me to an “OMG, how did that constructor do that?” place. Today, the answer to that question is “hard work”, as Jeff’s notes reveal that there were “dozens of hours” of effort, including manual brain-only work and computer coding. Hard work and creative work. That, by the way, is Jeff Chen. A workhorse with a talented creative mind. But if the solve is unsatisfying, if the puzzle isn’t engaging, then the stunt puzzle falls flat, IMO. Not today. Yes, these theme answers were easier to fill in because each square was a bogo, but still I couldn’t figure out the full theme answers until I had many crosses. My brain positively loved that, loved the challenge of figuring them out with as many empty squares as possible. That’s a Puzzle. That’s a puzzle doing its job. I liked the theme echo in the palindromic answer ANA, and I liked the distant echo in the decent number of semordnilaps in the grid, including the rare sighting of a semordnilap pair (IRS and SRI). Today, a display of fresh, ridiculously long, and delicious palindromes such as we may never see again. Wow, Jeff, and thank you for this!
@Lewis "the challenge of figuring them out with as many empty squares as possible." I wish I did it that way. As soon as I noticed what was going on, I quickly filled in the other side, making it go too fast. Next time, I'll take a breath and resist that urge. The extra challenge would have been fun. I get so much from reading your comments. Thank you.
POW! Nice one, Jeff. (Either way you look at it.)
Incredible crossword construction. Jeff Chen is a master. I had such fun filling the puzzle in that I rue how easy it was.
102D "Groundbreaking vet legislation of 1944" touched my heart. After flying missions over Europe in a B-17, the US gov't gave my dad a college education. They called it the GI BILL. On that foundation, he became an accountant with GE. In the next generation, my sister was a VP at P&G, and I was a college professor and archaeologist. Maybe some people would call it "wasteful government spending." But it has never looked that way to me.
@archaeoprof Indeed, my late father availed himself of the GI BILL in the '50s, and became an electrical engineer...at GE, as it happens. I was also a beneficiary of the GI BILL, having spent four years in the Army. As to your closing comment, "student loan forgiveness" is the real wasteful spending initiative.
@archaeoprof My dad was B-17 pilot flying mission over Germany as well. His plane got shot down and he spent almost the last year of the war at Stalag Luft I. He lost about 85 pounds while he was there. He didn't go to college, but about 9 years after he got back he just stumbled into a job as a radio announcer and eventually became the manager and later the owner of the station in my home town. ..
How any times can you look at a typo and not see it? How long can you stare at a finished puzzle that refuses to be acknowledged as done? Well, sometimes it's about as long as takes to work all of the rest of the puzzle. You know the word so well that you glide right over it again and again, until finally there it is: OREIDe. ARRRRGH. Clever puzzle, Jeff Chen, and tricky, even with the potentials for gimmes when the last letters of a long fill gave us the first letters and the other way around, but even so, KLAUS was pretty kinky. Thanks for all the good times you've given us, and do keep them coming.
@dutchiris Hmm, I replied once trying to acknowledge your Klaus reference (and his daughter) but it appears to have been eaten by emus? Oh well. Still, consider yourself seen. :)
@dutchiris omg thank you SO much! I had a typo I couldn’t find and after reading your comment I went back to quadruple check OREIDA and boom! There it was… OnEIDA. I 100% glided over it again and again lol.
That. Was. Brilliant. As always, I quake a little when I see Mr Chen’s name, assuming it’s going to be a beautiful beast. It was beautiful, but ever so slightly kinder. For which I’m grateful. Held up for just a moment changing Csar to CZAR, the crossing name not helping me. Clapping coconut shells together will never not be funny.
@Helen Wright "I am Arthur, king of the Britons!!"
I don’t see the titles before I begin solving, so I had no idea what I was in for. This started out like any other Sunday crossword, some easy clues, some I didn’t know, and I just worked my way through until I noticed something interesting… the long clues had a distinct mirror quality that couldn’t be coincidental! I started filling in the mates of all the solo palindrome letters, which made the down clues much easier to solve, which quickly led to a rapid back-and-forth solving that was really quite exhilarating. I am new enough to crossword solving that I am not at all jaded by the theme. Like the broadcast networks used to say about reruns, if you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you! For me, this was clever, lots of fun, and easy peasy lemon squeezy, in the best way. (Seriously, if you haven’t played Squeezy, check it out. It’s a fun game, and I wouldn’t be mad it if it became part of the NYT umbrella.) My only regret about this puzzle is it didn’t last longer. Thanks, Jeff.
"I don’t see the titles before I begin solving, so I had no idea what I was in for." Heidi, The Sunday crossword has a title in the Magazine where it appears in print. For the last few years, the Sunday crossword has also had an editor's note. While some digital solvers *choose* to not look at the Sunday puzzle title and note, it is hardly "cheating" to do so, since every print solver sees them.
[reads title] “Don’t suppose it’s going to be palindromes?” [Halfway through] “OMG it is!” Various mutterings… “oh, CASUAL, ‘K!” “Oh, PANIC, RAN!” The best kind of solve, where the trick reveals itself just enough, but brain still required. Plus, I did not have to compose a diatribe about a CAT being a “common allergen”. I was all set to try for a John Ezra (TM), using half the words in the puzzle. Whew, I’ll save it for another occasion!
@Cat Lady Margaret I was all set for cat, too! But NUTS are nothing to sneeze at. I'm definitely allergic to emus.
So I'm already late to the party in nthing wow, what a great puzzle! I didn't immediately care for the theme clue language until it dawned on me just how carefully and painstakingly constructed everything was. True palindromes, every one. I suspect they may be easier to craft than I think? But they seem so daunting, and to meld them into an otherwise fine puzzle is like pleasant music. Essentially zero "filler" too - even the Oreo clue isn't just another wedged Oreo. Good (double) stuff.
To Dutchiris: When you started your comment with these questions: “How any times can you look at a typo and not see it? How long can you stare at a finished puzzle that refuses to be acknowledged as done?” I thought you were in the midst of composing a new verse for Bob Dylan’s classic, “Blowin’ in the Wind” for us cruciverbalists.
@Strudel Dad How many times can you stare at a clue Before it just dawns upon you? Yes’n how many times can you see what you’ve done That won’t allow you to say that you’ve won? The answer, DutchIris Is as simple as this- You’ll speck til you find what it is 🎶 🎶 🎶
"Okay, Google, how many people are talking about me today? ... Wowza, look at all these hits! Let's see ... Hmm, this one's about Jennifer Lawrence. ... Oh man, this one too. ... Crud, this one too! What the ... ?!" -Jude Law I know some people think palindromes make the puzzle too easy(And that's fine; you do you, some people!), but like Lewis, I "loved the challenge of figuring them out with as many empty squares as possible." Now they know how many cats it takes to fill the Albert Hall organ.
@ad absurdum I think it means Jude every time and am confused for several minutes. a. It's his actual name. b. He was famous long before her. c. It's kind of a stupid abbreviation for her and not one I've seen outside of puzzles.
@ad absurdum fortunately the clue works for both!
Got a tiny frisson of delight when I noticed my completion time was also a palindrome
Fantastic puzzle! My first time solving a Sunday without resorting to google to finish it! The theme was a lot of fun to figure out :)
@Naomi C Congratulations on your first Google-free Sunday!
This wasn't that hard, and yet I found myself reciting the Lord's Prayer in the middle of it. Et tu, emu.
@Lewis which version, trespassers, or debts/debtors? ( asking for a pastor).
"Master Cruciverbalist Chen, how does one become like you?" "Well, Grasshopper...it's all within one's mind...first comes creativity, then patience and resilience. With aptitude and devotion, one's brilliance finds a permanent and welcome home in the NYT. And always remember: the master is he who has turned the craft of construction into an an artform, and all his offerings are works of art." 🙌!
What a tremendously fun and creativity constructed puzzle! I have my Siri set to an Irish voice and something about it makes it more fun to use. And I always remember to thank her after each request so I am hopefully spared a violent death in the seemingly inevitable AI takeover.
@Sarah *creatively. Fat finger syndrome. My fellow emus know the pain.
@Sarah Re: the inevitable AI takeover we'll have to assume your last name is Connor then? ;)
@Sarah My Siri voice is set to a help desk accent so my expectations will be lower
Delightful. Read the themed entries what felt like a hundred times while laying poolside. Had exactly one (1) drink and it all came to me! AC/DC broke it open for me. Could say it shook me all night long!
Wow hah! Wow That was a great puzzle. As they say: sit on a potato pan, otis Loved the theme once it clicked.
Been trying to break the 20 minute barrier on a Sunday for the longest time. Today was my day, but I lost 5 minutes looking for a typo. Had to settle for 21 minutes. Dang
This was a fun puzzle. My favorite clue - "You might go for a spin in it." Where else can you enjoy all the puns while learning that luau actually means "taro leaf?" Thank you.
"I don't stream my music." "That sounds CD." ("No, it tracks.")
Too hot to hoot! Too bad I hid a boot.. No lemon, no melon! Now I see bees. I won. Ffejs knaht! Thanks Jeff!
As always, Jeff Chen created a terrific puzzle. The only drawback was that the palindromes made it go by way too fast. Small price to pay for this gem.
Amazingly creative puzzle. I don't know how the puzzle creator managed to create and put in all those palindromes and yet still find the needed fill without silly entries. A real piece of crossword art. Thank you.
This was the enjoyable culmination of a week of what for me were unexpectedly easy, but fun, solves. Even this one, which required several run-throughs before I spotted an errant letter, ended up significantly below my average time. (No PB’s, although I expected Thursday’s would be one. There must have been an easy-peasy past Thursday that I don’t remember!) Unlike Caitlin, I was impressed by how sensible these palindromes seemed. The Seuss one, in particular, could have been an actual headline! (Jeff and I were following the same story, apparently.) Okay, maybe the injunction to the uptight German was a bit out there— but even that was surprisingly apt! In any case, I thought this was a tour-de-force, albeit the conceit made solving the themers a piece of cake. Sorry that I am late with this, but I regret if I gave the impression yesterday, when criticizing the “serving dishes?” clue, that I was dissing the entire puzzle, which in fact I enjoyed as a whole. Great job, Eli! That inaccurate plural noun rankled, but in fact I did enjoy the attempted wordplay… and I don’t even know who was responsible for that particular clue— constructor or editor(s). I have enormous respect for the constructors in general, but I also respect the fact-checkers, and can appreciate the occasional nitpick. When responsibly voiced, these are what make these comments interesting! Habitual haters: y’all can take a hike!
I don't often comment here, but today's puzzle was so good that I couldn't resist adding my 2 cents! This was a lot of fun, with just the right difficulty and an amusing theme. I had to use the palindromes to fill in "backwards" more than once to solve a few clues, but it felt like an acceptable strategy given the theme. Definitely agree with other folks here who called this one of the best Sundays ever. Thanks, Mr. Chen!
Groan. So many Dad jokes. (This is a kudos not a complaint.)
I loved the long palindromes, and they certainly made solving easy because as I got some of the letters on one side of the palindrome I knew where to place the same letters on the other side of the answer. As a result it was a relatively quick Sunday for me, but I made a typo and had to squander more time searching for it than I would have liked. That part of solving is where the fun leaches away.
My favorite Sunday of the year so far. Lots of giggles.
Absolutely amazing and impressive. Left me with that really-good-magic-trick feeling of “how did he do that?” Yeah, it might have made it a little easier, but wow do i appreciate the art of it!
I can't remember which of you it was that introduced me to Bob: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUQDzj6R3p4" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUQDzj6R3p4</a> "Emus," said I, "assume!"
@Bill It might have been me. That's a long-time favorite video and I remember sharing it somewhere in the not too distant past. Not sure though. ..
@Bill I'd seen that before, but forgot about it. Thanks so much for bringing it back to me!
Not specifically related to this puzzle, but as I mentioned yesterday, I’m on vacation in Portugal right now, and I’m happy to report that ANO is indeed used (sans tilde) for “year”. !!!!!
110A ACL recalled an unusual visit to Pompeii. As my wife and I were leaving the ancient city after a long hot day of sightseeing, she spotted a nearby bar with a sign flashing "Peroni." She immediately decided to take a short cut by climbing down the ancient city wall. But she did not stick the landing. At the hospital, we learned that in Italian for "ACL" is "anteriore cruciate ligamente." Since then I have often gone back to Pompeii, but she has never come with me.
Brilliant puzzle, one of the most enjoyable Sunday crosswords in a long time. Proud to say I solved in 26:06 (with one pause of a few hours to watch the Euros final) and no lookups!
@Michael You bested me by a single second. Good work! Poor England, though.
Smooth march across and down. Clever construction...very straightforward cluing.
Palindromes. My favorite. Once I figured that out, smooth sailing. Gold stars for everyone today! Jeff is the Oprah of puzzle craft! We all get stars!! Thank you!!
Pretty cool! The best one was the ACDC one. That definitely kicked things off with a bang!
So disappointed that the clues weren’t also palindromic phrases. And also, the constructor notes. That should have been one long palindrome. All it would have taken is more hours and hours of work. But, in retrospect, this was a really fun puzzle, any way. (;
Really clever puzzle and an enjoyable solve. I just got stuck in a couple of places and couldn't quite work it all out. No big deal. Caitlin beat me to the punch with the reference to AMANAPLANACANALPANAMA, which was the first all 'A' 21 letter answer that dawned on me. Oh, and that was an answer once - in a Sunday puzzle from January 12, 2014 by Andrew Chaikin with the title "It's only 'A' game." In that one all of the theme answers had 'A' as the only vowel - e.g. CASABLANCA, FALALALALA, MAGNACARTA, etc. And then... I stumbled across one of the more amazing puzzles I've ever encountered. I'll put that in a reply. ...
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Sunday puzzle from July 3, 1994 by A.J. Santora with the title "Overcrowding." One clue/answer example: "Newsman in the Sahara?" SUDANRATHER And, some other theme answers in that one; PANAMAANDPAKETTLE HUNGARYCOOPER ARGENTINATURNER BOHEMIAFARROW BOLIVIANEWTONJOHN ETHIOPIAZADORA NORMANDYROONEY AMERICAJONG Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/3/1994&g=73&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/3/1994&g=73&d=A</a> I'm done. ..
As a lover of palindromes, this was awesome!
I haven’t laughed as hard playing a crossword as I did at IRISH SIDE DISH SIRI maybe ever. Well done Jeff 😂 this theme was fantastic
I always look forward to a Jeff Chen puzzle. Problem with palindromes is once you fill a few letters you have them in the other half as well which makes them incredibly easy to solve. So, less challenging than I would usually expect from him—but no doubt these were still fresh and fun.
@SP I came here to say the same thing, though I still enjoyed solving it and the puns were fun.
It's a great day when the puzzle is by (or with) Jeff Chen. They're always well constructed and although this one was a bit easier than some of his others, the humor in the themers made this one very enjoyable. Thanks, Jeff!
It took me 54 minutes to solve and it was very enjoyable. After I saw that the first long clue was indeed spelled the same both ways, the other long clues were easier to solve. Thank you Mr. Chen for an interesting and fun Sunday solve.
Dammit I'm mad that this puzzle's over already! Cool and Sunday thing about the construction was that I didn't nail all of the themers without some crosses, and at the same time I couldn't solve all of the crosses without the themers.