I liked the inclusion of ENIGMA, as a close family member of mine worked tirelessly to remind the world of the invaluable involvement of Polish cryptologists in cracking its code. You have heard of Alan Turing, but have you heard of Rejewski? For the whole story, click the link to the Polish Intelligence Agency website: <a href="https://aw.gov.pl/en/history/enigma-decryption/183,Enigma-decryption.html" target="_blank">https://aw.gov.pl/en/history/enigma-decryption/183,Enigma-decryption.html</a>
@Andrzej Wow! The Poles deserve WAY more credit than they usually get.
@Andrzej Fascinating article - Thank you for sharing
@Andrzej I once ran across a Scotsman who mentioned his wife Jadwiga...and I commented that it wasn't your everyday Scottish moniker. He told me he had married the daughter of a Polish flyer who had bravely flown to England when Hitler's troops crossed the border, and who had participated in WWII as an ally. Great story!
I’m Impressed that the constructors found phrases using SOPRANO, ALTO, TENOR and BASS in a non-musical way. Well done. For me, Matthew Macfadyen will always be Mr. Darcy. I'm looking forward to the upcoming Olympics and watching Simone Biles and the rest of the squad. Go TEAM USA. A very harmonious collaboration from Sarah and Amie.
@Anita The first time I saw Matthew Macfadyen was in a PBS miniseries years ago, called "Any Human Heart." I thought, Wow, who's this? He's a great actor, but for me, Colin Firth will always be Mr. Darcy. If you belong to PBS you may be able to find "Any Human Heart" in their archives. It had everything from sly and funny to utterly heartbreaking. The story is about a writer, starting out in the 1920's and following him into the 1950s.
@Anita "For me, Matthew Macfadyen will always be Mr. Darcy." For me, too! Also MI5/Spooks, but that show for me was all about Rupert Penry-Jones! Like Vaer, I came to know a number of British actors through that show. As dutchiris so aptly said in the adjacent thread, sometimes you need that video you turn to even though you've seen it a million times -- and that was that version of Pride and Prejudice for as long as I had cable television. (It was always on somewhere!) Loved Donald Sutherland as the dad, too.
I know about choral groups alto well. (I've always been the tenor of attention.)
@Mike What do you bass that on? Then there's that old joke about a male singing group. The punchline is "one of whom is a tenor".
@Mike For puns like that you should be in Sing-Sing
you young whippersnappers who only know Alec Guinness as Obi Wan Kenobi might enjoy some of his other roles, notably Kind Hearts and Coronets. where he plays 8 different roles ( that's one for your GUINNESS book of records), Tunes of Glory which my dad watched every time it came on tv, and Bridge on the River Kwai which has a criminally catchy whistled theme
@Tomchak I was going to note the same thing. An outstanding actor, both comedic and dramatic. By his own confession he did Star Wars for the pay packet, as he thought the whole concept was ridiculous.
@Tomchak Sir ALEC is also a favorite of mine. Discovering his comedic films as a kid in the late 60s was a big part of my film education. I had first known him from The Bridge On The River Kwai, which my family saw at a drive in theater.It’s nice that he’s become a crossword standby, even if he tends to be clued as Obi Wan Kenobi.
@Tomchak Love "Kind Hearts and Coronets" !-- the 1951 caper comedy "The Lavender Hill Mob" is also among my favorite Alec Guinness movies, and "The Man in the White Suit" from the same period. Brilliant and versatile actor. Unlike you, big bird.
Even on the page CATSPA looks like what happened to a cat at the spa who may have gotten a too severe mani-pedi treatment. If I picked up my cat (fittingly named Tony) at the spa, I'd take one look at Tony and say "What happened to your paw? You're missing a 'w'." And Tony would go to his cat psychiatrist ("Catshrink") and say, "Dr. Melfi, I had a terrifying dream that all my paws got their w's cut off and I could never get a TOE HOLD: what does it mean?" Anyway, back to earth: a really slickly put forth theme. Nice to see PRO BONO. I'm pro Sonny Bono, and will tolerate Bono (although I won't ever forgive U2 for irreversibly loading their stupid album "Songs of Innocence" onto my old 2014 Mac, it was so jerky and desperate). I am at peace with the cluing of ACROBAT because I don't think of them as bending out of shape, but simply bending into new shapes. But I figure that whatever original shape acrobats are, once they start doing their thing, they have bent themselves out of that shape. Still, the clue may be a little TOO CUTE. Also "BOHO PRAIRIE" may well be the fashion trend you'd spot in Palo Alto. Remember Jeff Bezos in his asinine cowboy hat after he flew around space in his silly phallic fantasy? That's prime Boho Prairie. What real men wear. Men with space ships. All praise for Levine & Mason filling in for the missing 3 amigas. Stunned that Everdeen blanked on Alec - he's an xword staple as Obi Wan! Loved the dig at criminal families. Keep 'em on TV, not DC.
@john ezra I kept “Songs of Innocence” in my iTunes library, despite never having been a big U2 fan. It’s got one good song on it. What’s a little disc space? But it amused me that so many people got so angry with Apple for that. Don’t want the album? Delete it! I miss the free downloads I used to get from iTunes. Some of them were good and introduced me to artists I might not have otherwise known about.
Random thoughts: • Any day that starts with GHERKIN and ENIGMA is promising. • Interesting fact about ARM SPAN: It is usually close to a person’s height. • TOE HOLDs in Crosslandia are precious on Saturdays, aplenty on Tuesdays. • Lovely that OOP is up and DAN is down. • I have a PENPAL, a student I taught in in fourth grade, who is now a journalist in her 30s, and we simply share our thoughts, concerns, and discoveries in a space of trust and honesty. I highly recommend having one! • What a lovely phrase, EVEN TENOR, a little brushstroke of beauty inserted into our language. Amie Walker, your last NYT puzzle (made with Jess Shulman) charmed me, with its theme answers of NUDGE NUDGE, WINK WINK, HINT HINT, and COUGH COUGH. Sarah Sinclair, you have four NYT puzzles – a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday – and have a chance to hit the cycle (a puzzle for every day of the week) in your first seven puzzles, a feat accomplished only once in NYT history, by Andrew Reis. Go for it! Thank you both for taking me on a splendid outing today!
@Lewis As you may know, the idea that ARM SPAN and height are roughly equivalent is a central part of Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man." <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man</a>
@Lewis Does that mean my ARM SPAN is shrinking, too? Because I'm losing 1/4" per year and now stand at 5'4" when at one time I was 'the national average of 5'5" '--just as if I've ever been Average!! LOL
Delighted to see Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi's kingdom debuted!
Stopping by quickly with the sad news (shared by Deb on FB) that Johanna Fenimore, a talented constructor and positive member of this community, has passed. Wishing her family and friends my sincere condolences.
@Kate Thanks for sharing the news, sad as it is. I remember reading Johanna Fenimore's many upbeat comments about the puzzles. My condolences to her friends and family.
@Kate Very sad news. Johanna's comments were always high-caliber. She'll be missed in this forum. Heartfelt condolecences.
Kate, Thanks for sharing the sad news. <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Thumbs?author=Johanna+Fenimore" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Thumbs?author=Johanna+Fenimore</a> ##########
Interesting that a word can be spelled incorrectly enough to eventually be accepted as a modern spelling. I know it’s silly, but woah drives me crazy
@Loufus It doesn’t make much sense to me, either, but that’s how language changes, and we can’t do anything about it. So I don’t put much emotion into my reaction to this or anything similar.
@Loufus The old descriptive/prescriptive problem. Although I agree with you, I increasingly recognize that I am just a dinosaur who will soon die out, making room for the next generation. We all know that languages change over time, but, in the era of social media, they just change too darn quickly! And, while I'm at it: "Hey, you kids! Get off of my lawn!!!"
Googled ROCK BASS...sure enough, not a species we have encountered... Interesting that they have not populated the warmer waterways. Multiple names for those fishies. Lived in PALO ALTO for a while--luckily found The Friends' Nursery School (run by Quakers) for then-two -and-a-half year old PhysicsDaughter--all play and no academics! You wouldn't believe how many I had to visit to find that one good match. P.A. was Not Affordable even back in '83; we bought a home in Sunnyvale... before Silicon Valley was 'a thing'. (It last sold for 2.6 million.) Very nice little Tuesday puzzle...MPG saved me. We 'Mericans say GHERKIN for a certain kind of pickle. I wouldn't clue it as just British. WOAH is not just 'modern spelling.' It's a typo -or just plain dumb. Yes, inactivity and itching is making me crabby...plus I am spending time cleaning up voluminious piles of files in WPerfect on my computer--long, complicated letters appealing health insurance denials, billing errors by giant medical centers, battles for accommodations (even after the ADA passed,) and other mostly-forgotten battles I'd forgotten, now dredged up and surprisingly upsetting. Afraiid to delete until I check them for info that might be needed down the road.... Thank goodness for WordPlay and puzzles!
Mean Old Lady, Wow, I did not realize WordPerfect still (sort-of) exists. I have not thought of it in many years. Just checking now, I was also able to get a little nostalgia buzz reading about Quattro Pro, which I only grudgingly abandoned for Excel, but never looked back.
As someone who lived in PALO ALTO and then moved to Hillsboro and just saw the HOPS play last week, I felt like this puzzle was made just for me!
@Gabe Reed If you'll be at this Friday's game, read this (more recent) comment: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/40ked7?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/40ked7?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a> You'd get to see another NYTXD-er in the flesh! ...hopefully no emus will streak across the field...
Strands #142 “You're the best!” 🔵🔵🔵🔵 🔵🟡 Anyone else think that the word highlighted as the Spangram is the wrong one?
@Eric Hougland Well, I would have chosen the first word I entered, which I thought was best.
@Eric Hougland Yes! Definitely. I came here to see if anyone wondered the same lol.
I’m asking from the bottom of my heart. Please stop using 64A School fund-raising grp as a crossword clue. Yes, this group fundraises, but only to further its mission, which is: to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children. At its core, PTA is a child advocacy organization. Thank you.
@S.H. Patterson I'm asking this because I'm genuinely curious and a little confused about your concern. I work in fundraising and feel that all fundraisers are advocating for their mission. And I think that's a beautiful thing. Again, not being argumentative just genuinely curious about your perspective.
@S.H. Patterson On paper, yes. In my experience, the PTA creates favoritism amongst the children (athletes, performers, etc.) whose parents are active members. And it often excludes families of a lower income bracket, as meetings are often held during work or early evening hours, which favors a stay-at-home lifestyle. Not saying it's a rule, but PTAs are generally a privileged group.
I cackled at the thought of my cats, past or present, ever submitting to the ministrations of a CATSPA technician 😹. My cats have always been far too naughty! We do take them to a cat hotel when we vacation, but — despite the bucolic location— there are no spa services offered 🤣. I feel both sad for and envious of people who have never watched top tier shows like The Sopranos. I wish I could watch it anew and see TONYSOPRANO on screen for the first time. RIP James Gandolfini. The Wire and Game of Thrones are in that category, also, Quick one with very few struggles for me.
@Pani Korunova Ha ha, I got a kick out of the CAT SPA idea too. When we moved to NH with the best cat ever (R.I.P little Stripes) we went from vet to vet looking for someone to take her on. One place said they would take her, but they would have to knock her out for her annual physical. We finally found a wonderful vet and the two of them came to an agreement with each other. She just told him, "I will hiss and howl and lash out, but if you're careful, you won't get hurt." He was so gentle, talked to her in his sing song voice and never seemed ruffled. I can still see her, with her ears flattened, gripping the sides of the table, wishing death on the poor guy.
@Pani Korunova And the Garden State Parkway in NJ has a rest area named for Gandolfini.
This was a neat puzzle, though there were some odd clues for me in this one. No matter how long I took, I would never have got HOV (?!) or GENOVIA; it was with some lucky guesswork that I got it in the end. Can't say I knew SEAM or SNARL in their respective contexts either, but it's always good to learn something new. Besides the top-left quadrant, it was pretty easy for me. There were some excellent links - I particularly liked PALOALTO and EVENTENOR. HOPS and MAIL were nicely clued as well. It also gave me a chuckle as a Brit to see TORIES directly above CON, which is the abbreviated term for the Conservative Party in this country, present in the election not long ago. Thanks, Sarah and Amie!
@Connor If you're curious, HOV stands for high-occupancy vehicle. The HOV lane in North America is reserved at peak travel times for multi-occupant vehicles, including carpools and buses. I'm not sure about elsewhere, but in Canada you only need two people in a vehicle to qualify as "multi-occupant."
@Connor I didn't know 'Genovia', either, and had 'Henovia', because I had MPH instead of 'MPG'. I guess this counts as one cheat. Very fun puzzle, with a variety of interesting clues. I enjoyed the theme, having sung in a few choirs, low alto.
For ALEC Guinness of “Star Wars," would "Smiley's People" have helped you, or is that one too old, too? 🔎 🔎 🔎 🔎 🔎 (We're watching you, Emu)
@dutchiris Not sure that got much play in North America, sadly. I had to order those dvds from England, and then I had to order a multi-zone dvd player. I'm a huge le Carré fan, adored them all.
@dutchiris. Or for us oldies, “Kind Hearts and Coronets” perhaps Emus in ermine
There are two types of constructors: Those who will always look for a pop culture trivia way to clue a word that absolutely doesn't need to be clued that way and those who will do the exact opposite. We know TONY SOPRANO was needed for the theme. And perhaps the grid couldn't have worked without GENOVIA, that all-important country that's been in the news so much lately. But surely there are MATTHEWs who have done more for the world than starred in a TV series. And surely there's an important ADA who existed somewhere other than a kid's book. And a million ways to clue CASA without a reference to "Barbie". But the absolute worst clue/answer -- so bad that it's actually hilarious -- is cluing HOPS with that minor league baseball team that I'm sure no one's ever heard of unless their son is its star pitcher. It's all about choices, isn't it? And with a few different choices, this could have been a perfectly swell Tuesday puzzle. There were even some very nice un-Tuesdayish clues for UMPIRE, ARMSPAN, PENPAL and SUB.
Nancy, I also was not previously acquainted with Hillsboro's minor-league baseball team, but after the 56A gimme gave me the first letter, the mascot named Barley was a fine and amusing Tuesday-level clue to HOPS. Your UMPIRE may have a different point of view.
@Nancy I know that you love to hate puzzles that include anything you haven't heard of, but I am singing the national anthems this Friday when the Vancouver Canadians visit the Hillsboro 57-Downs. I'll give Barley a fist bump for you. Son of the pitcher? It's minor league baseball. The pitchers are all 20-24 years old. (Last night's post became an emu snack.)
Fun puzzle. I burned through it in about 9 mins. Only 22h42 til the next one!
Great theme, which helped me to get some of the entries that I’d been struggling with. I knew ALEC even though I’ve never seen Star Wars, probably my favorite actor. Just right for Tuesday, and I look forward to more from Sarah and Amie. I enjoyed their notes as well as the puzzle.
@suejean I took you to see Star Wars on December 30, 1977 in London. It’s only been 47 years. Surely you remember.
You know how sometimes you fill in a word even if it doesn't seem right? For some reason, once I had _R_S at 13A I put in eRoS. Odd outfit for a god of love I suppose, but I try not to judge. Luckily, I always give it a once over before calling it done, so when I saw MeTTHEW, I figured that was probably wrong. I certainly wouldn't have known GENOVIA.
@Nancy J. I had exactly the same experience. Are there emus in Genovia?
@Nancy J. In some versions of the myth, Eros is the child of Aphrodite and ARES. So, maybe not such an odd outfit? He could be wearing his father's hand-me-downs.
Nice puzzle and a fairly smooth solve, working the crosses here and there. Probably could have made it a bit quicker if I'd paused to catch on to theme, but as usual I was overly focused and didn't really get it until I was completely done. That just made for a really nice 'oh of course!' moment. And... of course I have a couple of puzzle finds today. I'll put those in a reply. ...
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened - One of the oddest I've ever come across. Don't recall seeing anything like this before. A Wednesday from July 9, 2008 by Tim Wescott. The 'reveal' clue and answer in that one was: "The first word of the answer to each of the six starred clues describes the number of that clue," e.g. : HINT And some clue/answer examples (they were all down answers); 4 - "*Balance in personality :" EVENTENOR 6 - "*Pitcher's dream :" PERFECTGAME 25 - "*Basic Scout ties :" SQUAREKNOTS 33 - "*It's no fake :" REALMCCOY I used to be a math guy but can't say that I would have been terribly fond of that one. And, the other puzzle - a Monday from May 29, 2017 by Jeff Chen and Seth Geltman. The reveal clue and answer in that one: "When TV viewership peaks ... or a hint to 17-, 24-, 36- and 53-Across :" PRIMETIME And the referenced theme answers: GOLDENAGE BANNERYEAR REDLETTERDAY FINESTHOUR Thought that was pretty cute. Here's the link for that one: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/29/2017&g=63&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/29/2017&g=63&d=A</a> I'm done. ..
Simple theme, handled well. Didn't know GENOVIA, but the crosses kindly supplied it. Not too many six-letter words that end in MA. Today we have both ENIGMA and ASTHMA. "One getting bent out of shape at work?" seems a fine clue for "contortionist". ACROBAT hails from the Greek for "walking on tiptoe", and suggests (to me) tightrope walking or aerial performance. When I looked back at the top center of my finished grid, I saw CATSPA, and my brain immediately jumped to one of the weirder episodes of the original Star Trek series: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catspaw_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catspaw_(Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series</a>)
@Xword Junkie -- ... and not too many puzzles that have four answers that start and end with the letter A. Today we have ASTHMA, ADA, ARIA, ALPHA. Et tu, emu.
@Xword Junkie 6-letter words that end in MA? Well - 81 that have appeared in puzzles at least once, but must admit that a LOT of those are quite unfamiliar terms, e.g.: MAZUMA MELEMA NATOMA OEDEMA And a bunch of others. But at least there's one of my favorites: YOMAMA ..
Terrific puzzle, quick and fun. I loved the delightful and novel clues for HOPS and CASA, and the excellent pic of the grumpy kitty, all of which made me laugh. Thanks to the constructors for a quick uplift this morning! (And thanks for nothing cuz now I have "mojo dojo casa house" on repeat in my brain...) ;)
5D: While a lot of people will get this clue without issue, it’s worth pointing out that it’s based on discredited science and was disavowed by the researcher who originally coined the term. Wolves aren’t led by an “alpha” male who out-competes their peers; they’re generally led by a mother/father pair, who are in charge by virtue of being the parents of (and thus older than) the rest of the pack.
@MRR Just another example of "everything you know is wrong". Other examples: The sun is yellow. (It's white). The sun rises in the east and sets in the west (Only approximately so, and then only really two days a years). Days get longer in the summer, shorter in the winter. (The day length get shorter every single day of summer, and longer every single day of winter.) Astronauts going to the moon are "beyond earth's gravity". (Earth's gravity is very much still influencing the space craft's trajectory.) Christopher Columbus discovered America. (Yeah, "discovered" an America with millions of inhabitants.) People named "Frank" in movies and books are likely to be slobs, morons, perverts, monsters and generally of ill-repute. (Ok, that one is absolutely true).
Felt like a perfect Tuesday crossword to me, with a lovely musical theme, and some surprising clue/answer combos—like the unusual clue for the fairly common HOPS. Thanks to the two constructors and the whole team, and to Everdeen Mason for the hilarious grumpy cat photo! 😂
I'm sorry but ALEC Guinness is decidedly not a tricky clue worth revealing. Even if you're not familiar with the actor, surely you've come across his name multiple times in the NYT crosswords.
@Andy I agree that ALEC Guinness is not particularly tricky. But keep in mind that Everdeen Mason doesn’t usually write the Wordplay column. She has less experience than the regular columnists in identifying clues that might trip people up.
This was a tricky Tuesday for me. Alongside the gimmes of GHERKIN (yum), TORIES (yuk) and Messrs (Sir) Guinness, Macfadyen and SOPRANO, were some complete unknowns. The crossing of a road sign? with a fictional country stumped me completely. Despite having a daughter, the Princess Diaries totally passed us by. She was all about the horses. An interesting fill. I like the musical theme without it being a musical grid; very clever.
@Helen Wright Not so much a road sign as an advertizing bit--Miles Per Gallon (usually more on highway driving versus the stop-and-go city sort) ...for a country with only spotty local transit, people care about gas-guzzlers vs cars that 'get good mileage.'
I seem to recall significant modern spelling *woes* being expressed hereabouts by some would-be umpires not that long ago. We shall see… Today’s case of a crossword typo making me wonder briefly if I was about to learn some obscure “modern” Americanism: ATM SPAN (how long it takes to enter your PIN number, based on digit selection and the 3 x 3 grid and not having to move your hand, only your index finger ?? … I dunno, the whole wrong idea only lasted in my brain for like a half second, so was not fully formed when I saw the duh.)
Many years ago in NY I ran with a group of guys almost daily in a local park. One of the runners was a NY State engineer already developing plans for what became the HOV lanes we are so familiar with today. This puzzle brought back some very nice memories.
@Once a Marine HOV lanes are not nice when you're stuck in traffic and the cars in the HOV lanes are whizzing by with only one person in them - and the cops don't care. They've had to make big changes to them here in Vegas. Emus run faster... And faster.
@Once a Marine During a visit to Fort Lauderdale, tried taking the two lane HOV lanes. An accident blocked both lanes. Lost an hour taking the HOV lanes. Rarely tried it again anywhere.
Cute cross of TACO and PITAS. Both delicious and convenient.
Loved this puzzle for many reasons. I sing in a chorus so of course loved the theme. Plus I matched my best time! Thanks to Sarah and Amie.
Hey, I'm singing the national anthems on Friday when the Vancouver Canadians visit the Hillsboro 57-Downs! 🇨🇦🇺🇸
@C-64 Congratulations! I admire anyone brave enough to take on the bizarre and brutal US national anthem. The first three notes spanning a fifth, the next three getting an octave, and then next note getting a third beyond the octave. Almost criminal for a national anthem. I've long wished that America the Beautiful was our anthem. Something about spacious skies and purple mountain majesty, rather than bombs bursting in air. And the words? Don't get me started. Gibberish sprinkled with question marks. Now the Canadian national anthem I could tolerate.
We've moved away from Pride and Prejudice (the 2005 version with Keira Knightly) too quickly as a society. That said, MATTHEW MacFadyen more than deserves his Emmy awards for Succession.
@Anna Grace Have you not watched the BBC's North and South? A perfect Matthew MacFadyen series.
One more late answer history search, inspired by CATSPA: Wondered about - CATSPAJAMAS Well... it's been answer in 7 puzzles. In one of those it was one of four theme answers, the others being: DOGSCHANCE LIONSSHARE and HORNETSNEST And a continued search for other puzzles with some of those answers led to a nice assortment, including.... CATSCRADLE MONKEYSUNCLE DOGSAGE and a number of others. ..
I had no idea GHERKIN was a Britishism. I seem to have known that term my whole life, and there is nothing British about me or my family. Oh there was the great-uncle-by-marriage Meyer, but he was from Glasgow and none of us ever understood a word he said. And now I'm in a pickle. Half sour, or even full. So where's my pastrami sandwich? I guess the emu ate it.
Fun solve. Had a good beat and was easy to dance to. (H/T Bandstand). Regarding solving style, I work block by block and try to cram as many clues into the noggin at once and fill multiple answers at once. Very satisfying when it works. Many thanks.
@John Great reminder of those "American Bandstand" days. Being enormously uncoordinated, I never found anything "easy to dance to".
This is one of my favorites!! I finished this twice as fast as a normal Tuesday puzzle—I guess I just VIBE with these constructors. Loved the reference to GENOVIA, and really loved how clever 34A [Word after G or e] was. More from this duo please!!
As a new crossword solver, this was fun. The theme was very apparent from the beginning, and I got it immediately. This was a fun solve and many of the clues I didn't have to google lol 15A- After googling 4D, I managed to get FLAW??. then I figured out it was FLAWED. 16A- I kept thinking it was Alley-Hop or Alley-Top. I'm not very knowledgeable in basketball lol. 40A- I didn't expect to be correct by placing ATARI as my starting guess 68A- Everything was coming together for this clue. I thought the formation was nice. 22D- By getting PHD, I knew it had to be Prairie. I'm just glad I was correct lol 28D- This was clever. This was a fun intersection between math and another language. 47D- I was thinking ARMSWAY because of the route from tip to tip. I had to think outside the box for this one and I liked it. Getting better every day :>
HOV? For a non-American who has never seen the movie set in GENOVIA, this obliged me to take the off ramp to the cheat sheet. TIL one more worthless nugget of Americana…
@Petrol 1! Still no idea what “HOV” is, clicking through the alphabet on one square never a fun way to finish a puzzle…
@Petrol I am American but never saw the movie... Don't know a single thing about it. I also didn't know the Succession actor. I got it all on the crosses. HOV equals high occupancy vehicle, as in the carpool lane
@Ant HOV stands for High Occupancy Vehicle(s), which can be variously defined, but is designed to encourage carpooling or bus transportation in urban areas.
Alphas aren’t the head of a wolf pack. The alpha-beta-omega structure has been repeatedly debunked and the man who originally posited it spent his entire life trying to convince people that he had bed. wrong. Wolf packs are family units and are led by a mother and father. The members of a pack are the children until they grow up and find mates and form their own packs.
@Lakshmi If it helps assuage the pain...I wanted AKELA because that's the Cub Scout 'leader.' But no.
A puzzle designed to appeal to me, as those who know me might expect. With about a bazillion YouTube videos by CHORAL GROUPS out there, how to pick just one? Here's one by a favorite gherkin-eating octet--wow! what a blend! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKgUxqXoc9M" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKgUxqXoc9M</a> (Extra credit if you can guess why I chose this particular cut).
@Bill: V8 one of my faves too. Did you choose the Elgar to mark the passing of our Johanna?
Thank you. Well constructed and fun puzzle!
As a Mexican, I came to say that a taco does not have a shell. Even with just 1 letter missing I had to look at the answer key for that one!!
Yesterday’s puzzle seemed more like a Tuesday, so I guess it makes sense that today’s puzzle seems more like a Monday.
I feel like there was far too much glue in this one. HTTP, HOV, PHD, PTA, to name a few. It was hard for me to enjoy the rest of the puzzle. I guess your MPG may vary.
No HOV's here in rural Wisconsin!
@Phil But you do have Cheese Days!!! 🧀🧀
@Phil - I doubt there are any HOV lanes in any rural area. They're more of a city thang. I don't think there is a single HOV lane anywhere here in Maine, even the "urban" areas. (Portland is our largest "urban" area, at about 68,000 people. I live a bit north of one of our other major cities -- Bangor, population about 30,000.)
There were two spanagrams today. I assume it was inadvertent.
@Ettagale - There are often two entries that cross the entire grid either horizontally or vertically. As someone has already pointed out in an earlier comment, in today's situation, the "other" Spangram would actually be a better choice for the theme Spangram, and I'm inclined to agree.
@CaptainQuahog Absolutely. It covers more territory. I’m one of those people who try to do the spanagram first, as an extra challenge. In this puzzle you would be confused if you got the “other” one first and it didn’t come up yellow.
I'm with you, Everdeen. Never watch TV shows that romanticize bad guys.
Not specific to this puzzle, but how do you all keep track of clues, answers, crosses, etc. when composing your comments? I do the puzzle in the NYT app on my phone, and it's 4 clicks away from the puzzle before I can start typing a thought. If I need to reference the grid to refresh (or check) my memory, it's 4 clicks back before I can do that, then 4 clicks again to continue typing... a painful and error-prone rigamarole! Do you all have multiple screens running the app? Puzzle in the app and column comments in a browser? Or maybe even an actual cellulose newspaper open on the table? Whatever you're doing, it seems it isn't going to work for me. Which is too bad, I guess, because no matter whether - or how much - I loved it or hated it, it'll be an extremely rare event when I bother to actually say anything about a puzzle.
@Grumpy If you can deal with switching between browser tabs, you can go to the page for the puzzle at xwordinfo.com. It’s got a filled-in grid and a list of clues and answers.
@Grumpy I was always in awe of other developers who found ways to size and position their tabs and windows to minimize navigational clicks. If you have a big enough screen, or multiple screens, then it's much easier.
@Grumpy It's two taps to switch between tabs in my mobile browser. Not hard. You don't even need your password to log in.