Hi! I’ve been doing crosswords for about four-five months, and I know it’s a cliche, and I’ve never commented before, but this crossword was special enough to me. ASL is very close to my heart (I use it w/ multiple family members), and this was a great representation and mini-lesson of it. This was also day 100 on my streak, and I got my best Wednesday time! This along with lively fill like EASTBERLIN and ONTOAST with nary a rough patch made this my favorite puzzle yet! Bravo, Alex!
@Coffee please Come back and comment again soon! We have fun here :)
CODA here 👋 So delighted to see my 1st / native language in my favorite word game. Flew through the puzzle with the greatest of ease, smiling the whole time knowing I would finally beat my husband’s expert solving skills. And I beat my average Wednesday time by a lot. I’m still waiting for him to wake up so I can talk* about it with him. 🤟 *gloat
My first Wednesday solve with absolutely no assists, and it’s only 6:45 am. I have a job interview later today. Can I ride this high through till then? I feel unstoppable now, hehe :D
@Jess Congrats! And best wishes to for your job interview!! ☺️
@Jess Heck yes, look at you go! And good luck on your job interview!
@Sam Corbin @HeathieJ Thank you both! 😊
"ASL" is so frequently the answer to puzzle clues. How wonderful to see it become an integral part of the solution. Loved this and loved learning these signs.
At first, I thought this puzzle seemed like it would be very difficult for me. But then I jumped in and just started bopping around, not very methodically, and just like that, I had solved the revealer without any of the theme answers being completed and then, just like that, I had it completed in record time. I'm not really this way, but there's a part of me that wants to attribute it to my aunt, who died very unexpectedly in March, and who I was very close with, and who I continue to deeply feel her loss every day.... she was a teacher for the deaf and hard of hearing for more than three decades. She was passionate about her work and the kids she taught... and even after she was long retired, she would sometimes start signing while she was speaking to us, and I don't think she realized she did it. Even though I don't really believe in that sort of thing, aunts helping us complete crosswords from the beyond, that is, but it still made me think of her and want to nail this thing for her! And I am appreciative! I always like when there's a few or more jokes in the puzzles but I enjoyed it, nonetheless. Kind of crazy factoid about MOOSE.
@HeathieJ I’m sorry to hear about your aunt. Do you think you might’ve subconsciously picked up some of the signs that she used? I agree about the MOOSE factoid. I needed a few crosses to get that answer.
@HeathieJ I guessed MOUSE. And the down there... I had EAST GERMAN. Surprising how well that worked, but obviously AUG was not a company, and PSA was not a greek letter, so, it healed up pretty quick.
Great puzzle (would have been here sooner, but had PYRE for burning man -- a rather gruesome image and one I thought not very kitchen table -- and that meant ENTOAST, something I never heard of, but I'm not a diner guy and I thought, carryover from the French or sumpn...HAH, as if!), and before you Grumpy Gusses start on your broken record -- "In my day we had words and only words not like this highfalutin hyphenated upstart, why Maleska must be spinning in his grave, I hate the puzzle, its creator and all mankind, other languages, ideas and anything too hard! Or easy! Oreos." -- before you get up on your hind legs, look at what I'm doing with my hands.... That's right, boys, I'm flippin' you the emu. As mama would say, watch your language, literally!
@john ezra Oh, gosh, I also had PYRe and eNTOAST, and was thinking, "My, what a Parisian way of saying the good ol' ON TOAST, and at a diner nonetheless. Surely it's a diner with garçons, not waiters, and burgers au jus, alongside des pommes frites. A très chic diner. Someone, please, take me there!" As for PYRe for [burning man?], ah, never mind, just a really grotesque mistake. I'm still shaking my head about it!
@john ezra I also had "entoast" and "pyre". I had to google diner slang. My last entry and there it was, the chime reward! I'm laughing with you and your excellent expression of indignation at those perceived critics out there in the ether. I think your sign is universally understood. I'm with you in this, it's a game and it's fun, and the constructors are having fun too, and so do I and so do you. And so for every emu. And I loved it! Cheers from Texas!
What a delightful puzzle! My daughter is learning ASL and I hurried over to her once I saw the first sign illustration clue. Thanks for a wonderful moment shared with my teenager tonight.
I don't know how to sign, but I do know a memorable puzzle when I see one, in this case one perfectly executed by Mr. Eaton-Salners and beautifully illustrated by Mr. Savage. I think this puzzle will be remembered for a long time to come. Kudos to both for bringing the vision to life, and a shout-out to Joel Fagliano and the editorial team for giving it a well-deserved place in the crossworld.
Well, yes, this puzzle triggered some delightful responses from my crossnerd side, to wit: • Three palindromes (HAH, LOL, NON). • Amazement that this is the first time YOU’RE WELCOME has appeared in the 80-year history of the Times puzzle. • PuzzPair© of DORY and a backward NEMO. • With its 16-wide grid, this is a lovely complement to yesterday’s 16-tall grid. • Skilled construction – clean smooth grid, despite a very high 62 theme squares. • Some sweet cluing, such as [They often take bows] for SHOELACES, [Major undertaking?] for COLLEGE, and [It might thicken or be full of holes] for PLOT. But more than any of that, this brought me back to thinking about sign language, which has fascinated and charmed me for many reasons, for as long as I can remember. Learning to sign has been on my bucket list, though I haven’t thought about it in a while. Well, now you've got me thinking about it again, Alex, and thank you so much for that. Thank you also for all those little things that delighted me about your puzzle today!
Another wonderful Wednesday puzzle! Thank you so much for this lovely rebus. Decades ago local TV stations here would run local kid shows very early on week end mornings. I was a Girl Scout leader at the time and my Brownie troop and I were guests on a Texas guitar playing couple's Sunday morning kids show. For the life of me I cannot remember their names. Anyway. The Brownies and I sang and signed a song for the TV audience. The song was "Let there be peace on Earth and let it begin with me" We all learned to sign it as a troop project at the time. I had completely forgotten about it until solving this puzzle brought back the memory. So with a smile and wet eyes, I wanted to share the joy your puzzle brought me tonight. Kudos to Alex Eaton-Salders and NYTs staff. Cheers from Texas! We have emus here, too.
Just FYI link is broken on the app to take you this page. Fun puzzle
@Brooke just seconding this for more visibility.
@Brooke This page's URL should be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2024-07-17.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2024-07-17.html</a> -- i.e., 7-17 instead of 7-16.
@Brooke It's still broken. I reported it, but, unlike a similar problem recently, the URL seemed to be correct; don't know enough HTML to debug it. Doing this in the dark: had a thunderstorm and a nearby lightning strike brought down the overhead power line. A big gust of wind knocked over a neighbor's tree two doors down onto my next-door neighbor's house. She was asleep and didn't know about it until we called her. Not much apparent damage, and Thank Goodness everybody's OK! Anyway, after a slow start, and tripping over [Burning man?] as many others have reported, I still finished with an exact match to my previous Personal Best Wednesday time. Strange night!
Once I worked out what was going on with the pictures; they got me at HELLO, I was excited to work out the rest. What a lovely idea for a theme. Nothing too tricky here. Having LSAT as a gimme reminds me how much I’ve learned from doing the NYT Xword. I’ve picked up a smattering of Spanish, a handful of sports terms and names, even a few US centric companies and products. It all helps to keep the synapses firing. Long may it continue.
Learned ASL decades ago, because my wife's grandparents were deaf. Being fluent in sign had all kinds of positive uses, including that my wife could let me know very discreetly when my fly was open...
I have been learning ASL for just over 6 months and am using it extensively at a conference this week where there are a lot of d/Deaf people (and I wear a mask, making lip reading near impossible). Imagine my delight when I realized the theme! I spent 3 minutes slowly doing the beginning and once I realized it was ASL, finished the rest in 4 minutes—one minute longer than my record. All of the research into how ASL makes you think spatially is fascinating.
What a neat theme! The cute drawings captured a feature I enjoy when watching people sign: their animated faces. [moves flat hand from lips out towards Alex and Daniel] [while smiling!]
Awesome, awesome, awesome! I think it’s often more motivating to post comments when I have a nit to pick, but I really should school myself to post with accolades more often. This was a clever puzzle with special clues that I could easily translate and identify, and it solved smoothly. Bravo e brava to everyone involved, and to raising our awareness.
What perfect timing for this puzzle, finishing just before I head off to an event to celebrate the 34th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)! A very fun puzzle, well constructed with fun ASL clues.
Back in 1982 I went to Minneapolis for the first time, for a convention unrelated to pride but during pride month. A young artist named Prince was on stage in the park, and he was unforgettable. There were two rich cultures in Mpls Minn that registered with me: a vibrant gay club culture where a place I believe was called The Brass Rail had a pianist who knew every great show tune, hit tune, sing along song, and kept us going all night with belting together; and a vibrant community theater culture (there were at least a dozen performances to choose from on a weekend night). Maybe some Minneapolitan will remind me of the name of that street, Minnesota’s Broadway? There was an intersectionality, decades before that was a thing: I went to a production by a gay deaf community theater troupe, a production that was absolutely phenomenal. (In those days, my ASL was at its best, having just signed for my cousins the gist of the funeral homily for our grandmother.) O for the lost days, before now, before the overwhelming backlash. O for freedom.
@David Connell Maybe you're thinking of Hennepin Avenue? It has a lot of theaters and hip places. Also, I believe First Avenue was the place that Prince got his start.
@David Connell P. S. I, too, mourn the "overwhelming backlash". And I'm not gay. Horrible that for some freedom is just another way of saying "you're free to do exactly as I say".
It’s been a long time since I actually read ALL the comments. I suppose I just don’t often have that much time. But I’m glad I did today, as there were very few Grumpy Gus comments—maybe only two complainers. I saw that just about everyone thought today’s puzzle was terrific. I’m so grateful for this community—for the sense of humor so often displayed, and helpful advice I sometimes get, and book and movie and tv show recommendations. There are so many things to worry about and be afraid of in today’s world and this forum is a wonderful refuge.
@Shari Coats Could not agree more, especially your last sentence. -- -- -- emus--I'll play your game, but I don't like it.
@Shari Coats Pretty quiet het here, but if the picture clues didn't work on the ipad/iphone there would be a tidal wave of complaints!
This crossword puzzle made me smile. The fill was wonderful and the theme clues were a delight. Thank you, thank you! 🤟🏻🤟🏻🤟🏻
just call me 'Leftie'.... puzz wd not print fully no matter what version or command, so i did it online.... arduously hydrocodone rocks, as does my world Alex rocks all y'all have a good day stay out of trouble
Came in the back door. Hope the front door opens soon. Thanks for the Wednesday rebuses, Alex! In the clues, emus.
@Barry Ancona Front door is still broken. Maybe others will come in through the back door, or the bathroom window... <a href="https://youtu.be/TedvuER50Lk?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/TedvuER50Lk?feature=shared</a> (Joe ******'s version) . . . . . (Really? Did the emus just nix this great musician's surname?)
Delightful puzzle today! Fun way to teach useful words and phrases.
Great puzzle, and a fun way to learn some sign language! Thank you, Alex!
I was quite slow to figure out what the pictures were but one of the best ever AHA moments when I caught on. Very impressive theme. A terrific Wednesday puzzle. Well done, Alex.
Loved the theme, loved the illustrations. Thank you, Alex and Daniel, for a delightful puzzle.
I smiled when I saw the pictorial clues. My daughter taught my grandson some ASL before he learned how to speak, and so I picked a little bit up myself and knew what was going on with this one. That helped greatly to achieve a decent time. I was happy to see LEON Bridges get some recognition in the puzzle. He’s one of the most soulful young singers around. His beautiful song, River, was used to good effect in Big Little Lies. In addition to his excellent solo albums, Bridges’ collaborations with the Texas trio, Khruangbin (very interesting, musically diverse band in their own right), are delightful as well. Also for those that haven’t read it, ATUL Gawande’s Being Mortal is very thought provoking.
Really loved today's theme. My first solve of a Wednesday puzzle without help. Was stuck at NW for a while though. "Oh No, I don't know any nail polish brands". Next up, Thursday...
Yes, the NE corner was a bit of a struggle, not knowing nail polish or athletes.
@Harri Congratulations! OPI comes up pretty often, so save it for later. APOLO OHNO--whose names both make useful fill--was more common in decades past, but still makes an occasional appearance.
Loved this puzzle! I was excited to read in the constructor notes that Alex was inspired by the ASL/English Music Man production - I saw that and it was fantastic! I'm keeping a close eye out for what James Caverly will do in the future. Here's a video about the show for the curious. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T0edrGckoA" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T0edrGckoA</a>
Love love love the illustrated clues. I might even be able to convince my teenage ASL-learner to try the puzzle!
Excellent crossword ! FYI, lovely Robyn Weintraub New Yorker puzzle today; “Preamble to an ill-conceived impromptu stunt”, LOL.
Congratulations to Alex on his 50th NYT daily puzzle, including the one with the 3/13/20 grid design that always melts my heart when I come across it: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/13/2020" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/13/2020</a> . Et tu, emu.
@Lewis Sweet! I haven't solved this one yet. I shall now. :) Here's a link to the puzzle if anyone else wants to try it. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/daily/2020/03/13" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/daily/2020/03/13</a>
I got excited when I saw the ASL drawings. LOVE these puzzles, and I filled in about half the puzzle fairly quickly...for a Wednesday. That was last night. Then I went to sleep and finished it this morning. There was enough chewy stuff to challenge me, and yet not keep me frustrated when I knew I had to get moving but I wanted to finish my puzzle first. More of this level would suit me just fine! Happy Wednesday, everyone! Stay cool!
If you haven’t been to St. Lucia, you will find it to be one of the most dramatic Caribbean islands. Les Pitons, soaring remnants of a volcano are spectacular.
Amazing and very enjoyable puzzle. Quite a challenge for me early on but just had a great time tumbling to all of the theme answers. I knew some ASL at one point in time some years ago, but don't really recall much of it any more. Was really surprised to see that YOUREWELCOME and SIGNLANGUAGE were both debut answers. But... who knows. Stumbled across another very remarkable puzzle today. I'll put that in a reply. ...
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Sunday from May 9, 1982 by Tap Osborn with the title: "A Mother's Day." Some clue/answer examples: "6 A.M. :" THEDAWNPATROL "6:30-7:30 A.M. :" HELLSKITCHEN "7:30-8:30 A.M. :" THEBLACKBOARDJUNGLE And some other theme answers: BEDKNOBSANDBROOMSTICKS THESHOPAROUNDTHECORNER HANDSACROSSTHETABLE And then the last theme clue and answer: "11 P.M. :" SEVENTHHEAVEN Just thought that was enormously clever. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=5/9/1982&g=31&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=5/9/1982&g=31&d=A</a> ..
Like many, I, too, tried PYRe/eNTOAST at first, probably influenced by the fact that my Partner and I recently watched the 1973 movie The Wicker Man*. But as someone who has had a lifetime career in the biz, I generally consider "diner slang" to be an urban myth. About the only slang term I've ever heard used regularly is "eighty-six"(v.). Now some of you who know me might argue, "yes, but you work in a fine-quality hotel, not a greasy-spoon." Well, not always, Honey. And in any case, the similarities in kitchen culture between the two are greater than the differences. A couple days ago, my friend Vera was telling me that her friend Jessie, in Hamburg, was getting his diploma in German Sign Language. Which made us wonder what the similarities and differences between ASL and other languages' systems were, or even the differences between sign languages in other English-speaking countries--British, Canadian, etc. Of course, I could google this, but I'd rather have one of my fellow Wordplayers explain. *As I described it to my Partner, "simultaneously one of the best horror movies ever made, and one of the worst." But Britt Ekland's naked wall-dance! Christopher Lee in a kilt!
@Bill There are a fair number of classicists here, so this will be old news to many, but the names of the Greek vowels epsilon and upsilon--"e psilon," "u psilon"--translate to "simple e," and "simple u." As opposed to the common digraphs/diphthongs "ei" and "ou." "O micron" and "O mega" are "little o" and "big O" respectively. "Psilon" would, of course, be spelled with a psi.
@Bill as you surmised sign languages differ around the world. But you might find it interesting to learn that there are regional dialects in ASL as well. So my Texas & Oklahoma upbringing gave me an “accent” in ASL that differs from my NYC and California friends.
What a cool puzzle, It went smoothly, which is a testament to ASL, as I found the signs made sense. I haven’t seen Apolo Ohno’s name for some time, but I always notice the spelling of his name before anything else. I’m sure that before he was famous he was always correcting people.
This was really fun, esp bc I learned a tiny bit of ASL years ago!! The drawings were excellent. My first completed Wednesday puzzle, but I did have to use Check Puzzle. A year ago I could only finish Monday🎉
@Taking a break Congratulations! You’re on your way to the weekend puzzles!
@Taking a break 👏👏👏👏 awesome! i started a couple years ago and it was pretty sad at first but i’m so much better now 😀
In the spirit of the puzzle, I’d just like to say: 👍👍👏👏 🫶 🐦
Wow, just wow! A fantastic puzzle, with a very clever theme! Broke my record for a Wednesday puzzle quite handily with this one, though some thorns in my side included SHOELACES and HEP, though it all pieced together nicely in the end! Thanks, Alex!
Loved this one! The illustrations were awesome. Thanks, Alex!
I will NOT forget the name of that darn nail polish...I have repeated it to myself and committed it to memory, THIS time. It seems to always escape my attention because that clue usually gets filled in on crosses. Mr. Ohno's first name eluded me though I very much do remember watching him skate in the Olympics many times, an amazing talent. I thought the ASL clues were super...the pictures showed up on my phone, no problem there. Am I ready for the Thursday? Yes, yes I am.
@Lar Yeah, I have a poor memory so unless I create a mnemonic I probably won't remember a new word. So for Opi nail polish I associate it with Opie Taylor of The Andy Griffith Show.
If interested in learning more about sign language, try these (titles my best guess): "Where everyone spoke sign language" (when Martha's Vineyard had a large deaf population) and Bickerson's "Bastard Tongues" (a linguistics professor writing about pidgins and creoles generally but with a chapter on how Nicaraguan deaf children created Nicaraguan ASL when the country found the resources to build a boarding school for them so they attained critical mass.) My sister is an ASL interpreter and got me interested.
Oh, dear God, squiggles! That's what I thought as I glimpsed the puzzle on the table, a fair distance from my eyes which were not encased in reading glasses yet. And then I thought that I am really not in the mood for squiggles this morning! When I put on my glasses and brought the paper as close to my face as I could without smothering myself, I thought: they still look like squiggles, but if I focus really, really hard... Yes!!! I see it now!!! There are faces and hands and arrows doing I'm not exactly sure what, but the squiggles definitely have a story to tell... I found out what the squiggles were telling me by filling in everything else and coming up with phrases like PLEASE and YOU'RE WELCOME and I LOVE YOU via the crosses. I did guess, btw, that we were dealing with AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE. Perhaps we should all learn the basic phrases of ASL, but this isn't a good place to do so. 27A looks to me like I HAVE HEARTBURN; 52A looks to me like either I HAVE A SECRET or DON'T TELL ANYONE; and 23D looks to me like AYE AYE SIR.
Just over 50 comments? I guess the picture clues worked across all platforms. Kudos to the GEEK squad. I enjoyed the puzzle, despite not knowing any ASL. At ;east they were all common phrases. Update: just added ASL to the list of languages in which I can order a beer. (Essential survival skill.) Forget what I said...comments are glitchy.
Thank you Miss Rachel for teaching my son AND me basic ASL! Made communicating with a 10 month old and this puzzle all the easier! 🤣🥰
@Kaitlyn Wood My niece has a son who will be three this fall. When my husband and I first met Colin, he was about 18 months old. I'd forgotten until I read your comment that he was communicating with his parents using ASL.
This link was broken for hours when I was so excited to come here. I was so upset when I started the puzzle after a gimme 1A (SPAN). My heart sank when I saw the ASL clues — though I was happy for people who sign! While I know the ASL alphabet, that’s pretty much the extent of my knowledge. However, Alex masterfully guided us through this process with crossings. The pictures started making sense and I finished so many minutes ahead of my usual time!!! Yay 🙌🏾🏆🎖️! I thought I was going to hate this puzzle but I loved it! PS Daniel Savage’s pictures really helped, too!
I REALLY struggled with the northwest corner but overall really enjoyed the puzzle :) I had to look up countries of the Caribbean and didn’t realize how many there are but I learned something new!
That was a great puzzle, to showcase ASL is important. Thank you!