Finishing Thursday’s puzzle marked day 1700 of my crossword streak. 🎉 Definitely the longest I’ve ever stuck with a habit, especially a good one! I’ve never commented here before, but I thought this would be as good a time as any to thank all the puzzle creators, editors, and fellow fans. I’ve so appreciated everyone’s tips and insights (and sometimes shared frustrations) along the way. Happy solving!
@BD A truly mind boggling streak! Congratulations! In years, that came out to be 46.575342465753425. A life well spent. Keep up the good work! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
@BD Congrats, BD, and just remember crossword streaks are easy: they are simply solving one day at a time. Today happens to be my 66th birthday and my streak is 3191. I second your thanks to the NYTXW team, creators and community. Back at it tomorrow, BD and friends--a day at a time!
Yeesh. "Rod shaped", HET, CATDOM, ORR crossing MARLO... I mean, I finished the puzzle but I can't say that I enjoyed it.
@Gregg This was an annoying disaster, with no joy in the reveal. Just terrible cluing and no way to figure out the "PUNS".
Fun theme but the Eiffel Tower is in no way “rod-shaped”. “Notorious parasite” or “unavoidable parasite” or “parasite found near a river bank” would have been much better clues.
@Chris g “Parasite ubiquitous in the 2024 Olympics” would’ve been good, too
@Chris g Seriously. Just "parasite" alone would have been a far better clue, and also more in keeping with the two clearer clues for cloudy skies and party dub (direct mistranslations without needing to skip over clue padding). /Speaking of padding, may I present some Emus
The least satisfying themes are the ones where you fill in the answers because you know it’s a word but have no idea why until you read the explainer. This falls into that category for me; YMMV. That aside, there was some particularly sloppy clueing here: -CELEB with no clueing on “causally” or “informally” is a bit of a rule-breaker (“perhaps” clues wordplay, not truncation) -EVILEST is a word by the thinnest of margins. CATDOM isn’t a word at all but at least clues with a ?. -The quotes around “green” imply a figure of speech or turn of phrase (as correctly used in “See Ya”), not a prefix or truncation. -
@Virgil *Comments section veteran impersonation* Evilest is in the dictionary so deal with it. *End impersonation* Personally I cringed at that word, too.
@Virgil “Perhaps” doesn’t clue wordplay; it clues mere possibility. The camera may cut away from a game to show a CELEB in the audience, or just someone else who is doing something interesting, such as wearing a costume or no shirt at all at a December Vikings game. And CELEB doesn’t need a truncation clue because it’s a word in its own right, formed by truncation but now recognized on its own. Like metro, decal, decaf, etc. Recap: The clue is fine.
The [Soup or sandwich] clue (27A) reminded me of an old joke: An eighty-year-old wife says to her eighty-year-old husband, "Tonight, would you like to have super sex?" The husband replies, "I'll have the soup." Ba-da-bum!
I’m somewhat puzzled by the term rod-shaped in referring to the Eiffel Tower. I guess maybe it’s shaped like a divining rod?
@David Meyers My take on this was in relation to bacteriology. Broadly, bacteria may be divided into those that are round (cocci) and those that are rod-shaped (bacilli). The tower is more elongated than it is round, hence rod-shaped. Whatever…. — — — — — — — — — — — —
@David Meyers No, this is one of the theme clue/entry pairs, in which a spoken word ("parasite") is interpreted by a text-to-speech tool as "Paris sight." It's explained in the Wordplay column: "I can tell you, for example, and with apologies to the French, that Americans don’t think of the EIFFEL TOWER as a [Rod-shaped parasite]. We might, however, refer to it as a 'Paris sight' or 'site' (both are appropriate here)."
I find the negativity of many of the comments here rather amazing. While I was able to solve this puzzle, albeit with difficulty, I could never in my wildest dreams have constructed it. I'm just grateful there are people who can.
@HEK I never understand why some think everybody should personally enjoy something that was hard to do for somebody. Something being herd to make or construct does not have to be enjoyable to others. I appreciate that today's puzzle was hard to construct, and I would not be able to construct one like it, but I personally found it unenjoyable, because of the theme I could not figure out for the life of me, and because of some of the cluing. I bet it was hard to design the BMW X6 but I want to claw my eyes out every time I see one. Others love it. Is somebody wrong here? Should everybody feel positive (or negative) about it?
I’m sure this was difficult to construct, but sadly I found it impossible to understand the theme, so needed Deb's explanation. I never would have caught on no matter how long I tried. At least I wasn’t alone. Well done to those who figured it out.
@suejean I didn’t figure out the theme until I had the grid filled in. Then I reread the clue for BUTT DIAL and suddenly the weird “self-own” turned into “cell phone.”
Too many meh fillers. Vet? Het? Catdom? Finished it, but when coupled with theme, I didn’t enjoy this one.
Agree. And don't forget Dear Old Bobby (ex-#4 BOS, rival of NYR though) !!
As is often the case for me, the fact that the key to this one lay primarily in the clues, completely eluded me. I was able to get the themed answers without the slightest clue why they made sense. Fortunately the crosses and a little logic kept the puzzle from being frustrating, and I got a nice, if belated, aha moment thanks to Wordplay. I was helped greatly by the pangolin clue, as my grandson is infatuated with all things pangolin. His favorite t shirt, correctly warns, “may spontaneously talk about pangolins.” I tried reading him Marianne Moore’s poem, The Pangolin, but, unsurprisingly, given that he is four years old, he preferred pangolin videos on You Tube. A couple of dodgy answers (CATDOM and EVILEST) had me wincing a bit - but all’s fair, as long as I can figure it out. And finally, I’m glad to see the puzzle on a first name basis with Ms. Streisand. I’m just glad they didn’t go with Babs.
@Marshall Walthew Sometimes I wish I were four years old, with no habit of reading the newspaper. The only thing I know about pangolins is that four years ago they were accused of spreading COVID in the Huanan Seafood Market.
people are so brave with their vitriol inside of their cars or online: A "witless hack job"? (Among others.) Bruh: there are humans involved in this process, real humans. I'd ask where one gets the courage to spew such poisonous hatred, but I realize that IT TAKES NO COURAGE WHATSOEVER. Go elsewhere with your cowardly, acerbic and baseless rants!
@APNerd Mostly, the people calling this puzzle a hack job or worse are just people who were defeated by the puzzle. I (and probably you too) were not defeated by the puzzle, and therefore liked it, or at worst thought it was a puzzle like any other puzzle. It’s ok to be defeated by or not understand a puzzle. It’s another thing to think that’s the puzzle’s fault. Sorry to the “everyone is entitled to their opinion” crowd. Sure, you’re entitled to your own opinion, but I’m entitled to point out why it’s wrong.
When it comes to my Paris-themed restaurant, Eiffel it to capacity. (This pun towers over the rest.)
@Mike More of your in Seine humor, I see. If you need an ATM while you're there, be sure to go to the Right Bank. (Are service emus allowed in your restaurant?)
CATDOM? Really? I'll allow it because the theme answers were so clever but...CATDOM?
@Dan I first wrote in CATBOX, which cracked me up, but the crosses made me change to the correct answer, which bugged me a little as well. Still fun.
@Dan This is how I feel. I liked the wordplay in the theme! But catdom was a silly answer to include here.
@Dan Prepare yourself, you're about to be told how many times it has appeared in past puzzles and that it's in the dictionary. 😄
Hasbro once made a transformer in which a lovable Star Wars character morphed into a republic attack shuttle, that is, a toy Yoda convertible. Et tu, emu.
Thank you, Rat. Now go hit Stephon Pastis with a baseball bat. Actually, Lewis, I always enjoy your posts. Why not look at the good side of things?
I liked the puzzle, but I'm still trying to figure out: - how the EIFFEL TOWER is rod-shaped - whether PLASM is a suffix (Proto- is definitely a prefix; is anything after a prefix automatically a suffix?) - whether the potential confusion that PARTY SUB could mean party (food) substitute (ie, soup or sandwich) was intentional or not
@Bill Maybe because of Ectoplasm? It’s become a suffix? But I think I’ve seen clues where they say ‘suffix’ and just mean the end of the word. Also, no idea what a partysub is 😂
@Bill "-plasm" is also a suffix for cyto- and germ-
My OCD insists I Complete puzzle Go to comments (do not read) Comment Read comments Today I went crayzeeee and read before commenting. Um, seriously? The revealer was so revealing! EIFFEL TOWER pretty much filled itself in so “parasite” was pretty clearly “Paris site/sight.” I think I come here for a different reason than some others. I like to be humbled, and then thrilled with the AHA!! I think some do the puzzle to feel a bit smarter than the constructor. Like, “Thought you were clever? I knew what you were up to from the start…” And any hitch that slows that down makes them angry. I don’t get it. No, I’ve never used the word CATDOM, but it did not hinder my solve. I wouldn’t call it “rod shaped” but I still got it. I had aMEND, but crosses told me to change it. I’m going back to not reading the comments before I say anything. This was so enjoyable and crunchy for me. I loved it. Thank you Damon. Keep ‘em comin.
If this week has shown me one thing, it’s that my experience of the crossword in no way matches that of the larger community here. When I find one easy, this section is full of complaints, and if I find it hard, all the comments use the word “breezy.” I liked today. The SE corner was tough, and grade-a quality took a minute to click, but I understood the theme quickly.
When you have to explain the punchline...
First time I completed a Thursday and still had no clue what the gimmick was. Got the starred clues by the crosses only. Seems a bit of a stretch to me but who am I to say?
@Bay Area Native try reading the clues out loud. The clues, not the answers
One of the most disappointing themes in quite a while. I solved the puzzle, thought I understood the idea behind the theme answers, but still only PARTYSUB made any sense at all to me. Fortunately I could go to Rex Parker’s blog to find the explanation for what I just solved. Really clever idea that could have been an amazing theme. But alas, the actual execution of the idea was pretty awful.
@Paul Rickter Totally agree. The theme clues were a bit too abstruse to make this puzzle fun to solve. A good concept, but not ready for prime time. I don't blame the constructor; I think the editorial staff let us down.
@Paul Rickter Yes, I agree! I figured out the theme once I got SPEECH TO TEXT but only PARTY SUB made any kind of sense to me when i re-read the clues. One of the most unsatisfying reveals in ages.
I thought this was one of the worst puzzles in quite some time. It made no sense while completing, and after reading the explainer, it still made no sense. Why would the puzzle editors find it acceptable?
Because they liked it, understood it, and thought many solvers would read the revealer clue (39A) and understand it. They were right. Alas, it clearly did not pass the debbie test.
@debbie Try saying the starred clues out loud. It might help you understand how they would be interpreted by a voice-to-text application.
First of all, I'm here to say that anyone who has ever lived with a CAT knows all about CATDOM. I loved this puzzle because it gave me two for the price of one. After completing the grid, I restarted my timer and it took 25% of my solving time to figure out the theme. The fact that EIFFEL TOWER starts with an E, and I knew that E. coli was rod-shaped made me look to the answer to try to find E. coli in there somehow. Hah! Nice misdirect, Damon! Self-own to cell phone was the hardest for me to get, but now it seems so obvious. Really great theme and execution.
@Nancy J. I still haven’t figured out how the Eiffel Tower is “rod shaped.”
Aside from the lovely wordplay in the theme, I adored how Damon connected it with SPEECH TO TEXT, which I – and I’m guessing many – have found can make very funny mistakes, like the plays in the theme answers. When a theme is relatable like that, it’s a big plus for me. My brain adored the hitches caused by tricky cluing, where many answers couldn’t just be slapped down before crosses made them clear. My brain derives great satisfaction in conquering these hitches. My sense of wordplay adored “parasite” for “Paris sight”, and “gray day” for “grade-A”, not to mention [Made a bundle] for BALED. And there were little pleasures as well. LOVE crossing COVE – two words that look like they should rhyme, but don’t. CATDOM sharing the box with PEEPS, because the former is often obsessed with the latter. Lots of play today, and when the play’s the thing in a puzzle, I shimmer with delight. Thank you for a splendid outing, Damon!
The abundance of short, choppy fill (VET, HET, ERG, PCB, BOS, STP, etc.) really soured me on this one. The theme was kinda fun but got completely overshadowed by a lot of dud answers (OVIDUCT? LOUSE UP? CATDOM?) The wordplay felt contorted and cramped, giving the puzzle an overall very shrug-worthy vibe when a word was revealed on crosses. Not my personal favorite, but as always, YMMV. Leaving this here because emus SAID SO.
Because of my substantial hearing loss, this puzzle is like a typical day for me. Yesterday my wife came home about 1 PM. As she sat down, I heard her ask " jeet lunge?". After she repeated it and I still didn't understand, she asked very slowly " Did you eat lunch?"
@coloradoz. There’s a very non-PC similar joke: Jeet yet? No, jew.
@coloradoz You may indeed suffer from hearing loss, but that’s not the reason. Linguists often use the utterance “Jeet jet” (Did you eat yet?) to show us how in normal conversation, we truncate words with no loss of meaning. Your wife was speaking like a normal speaker of English.
EIFFEL TOWER came in and I repeated my mantra [TM] to myself: "When there's a mismatch between the clue and the answer, the trick is in the CLUE." But I didn't need my mantra -- and neither do you -- because the revealer clue tells us that. What great fun this was! It's always good for a constructor to put his trickiest themer first -- before anyone has figured out the trick. I had a really big "Aha Moment" when I belatedly realized that "parasite" = Paris site. Now that is really inspired! Off I went to figure out all the others on my own. "Grade A" = gray day. Wonderful!! "Self-own" = cell phone. A bit more forced, but still fun to figure out. Other than starting to write in BUTT CALL before BUTT DIAL, I had no trouble. I didn't know what the computer program was that produces such gibberish, and what I had was SPEECHsomething-or-other. AGRa instead of AGRO wasn't helping me. But now that I know it's SPEECH TO TEXT, remind me not to ever sign up for it. As you know, I have a love of puzzles that put their trickery in the clues. This was a highly entertaining example of it -- and with the perfect revealer to explain the trickery. Another candidate for my running list for Puzzle of the Year.
@Nancy thank you for pointing out the puzzle's consistency with itself. The trick was explained right in the revealer/clue pair, and wasn't even particularly hard if you tried playing around with the clues out loud (as the revealer itself says to do.) I appreciate your comments!
Interesting take-away from today’s frustration: even though the ‘solution’ clue is perfectly clear about what’s going on, it seems most folk (me included!) struggle to decipher the theme when the underlying trickery is in how the clues are worded rather than how the answers are. I repeated EIFFEL TOWER and PARTYSUp (struggled with that cross as a Brit lacking overly specific knowledge of baseball team notations!) until I was bored of hearing them and gave up achieving anything other than a laborious solve, despite SPEECHTOTEXT being clearly referred to as for use writing the clues, not the solutions. It was o my on reading the article that I understood the puzzle. Thinking back, this way around has confounded/frustrated others in recent puzzles. I wonder why. In general, I didn’t have fun with this one. Too obscure in the crosses to not have to look up, and even the wordy ones didn’t feel intuitive. Would prob have liked it if I’d cracked the theme. Will remember for next time! (Will almost certainly not remember for next time)
@Phil Yes! In spite of reading "Technology used in writing the starred clues?" I looked to the answers. Every time this happens, I swear it will be the last time I get fooled, but here we are once again. When will I learn?
Not too crazy about the clueing / theme on this one. 57D/71A could easily have been ITSMA / AMEND.
I’m surprised by the negativity, because I thought it was fun! It certainly wasn’t easy; my completion time was about 15 minutes longer than average. But I kind of like the slower ones because it makes the victory that much sweeter. Despite having SPEECHTOTEXT filled in, I didn’t figure out the theme until I made a BUTTDIAL, re-read the clue, and then: “Ohhhh”. The others still took a while to sound out, because I wasn’t sure which part of the clue to alter. EIFFELTOWER took the longest, mainly because I didn’t want to kick my Persian out of the “window”. (That’s the realm of all the cats I know!) The extra trickery involved here was unusual, but that’s why I liked it. I thought it was a solid Thursday puzzle.
I managed to solve the entire grid without figuring out the theme — I got the revealer, but I thought that there would be some distortion in the *answers*, not the *clues*. I just figured out the common phrases that made up the theme answers by using crossings. A bit unsatisfying on the whole: the nice thing on Thursday is having the "AHA" moment, not having to go read the Wordplay column to get it explained.
Doing a NY puzzle implies accepting certain constraints. The wrong spelling of colour, bizarre crosswordese, pop culture that is particularly US centric etc, etc. The benefits are in the “cleverness” of the clueing or the themes. Today sadly failed on all counts. Having to also speak with some particular accent was beyond me. Finished it without a clue why it was constructed on the first place.
@Ιασων From my vantage point, “colour” is the wrong spelling. What purpose does the U serve? After all, it’s the New York Times, and that’s how we spell “color” here. As to the US pop culture, it is of course the New York Times. And if you think the trick revolves around a certain accent, I think you’ve missed the point.
Today’s theme reminded me of TV closed captioning, from which I get almost as much amusement as improved comprehension. Some examples of bloopers, real or potential: my asthma (noxious vapor) bear astir (British lawyer) acid nation (tryst) eyeful tower (imposing Paris monument) purr dishin’ (HELL, or gossip in CATDOM)
Fidelio, Ditto to the amusement over (increasingly?) botched closed captioning. I’ve laughed over some beauts recently, but my memory cells aren’t cooperating right now, so thanks for the examples you provided. It also seems odd how they will often provide words to some background music that plays no role in the show - and that are completely inaudible (at least to me).
@Fidelio The absolute classic is the song title “The Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes” being heard as “The Girl With Colitis Goes By”!
First time commenter, this was tough. Even after figuring out the theme and completing the puzzle, grade-A quality wouldn’t click. Also had to google evilest to see if it was a word. Surprised no one mentioned emend, that was a new one for me and I had changed it to ‘hi it’s ma’ from ‘me’ to make amend work. Took me a bit to find the error and I finished 14mins over average today.
@Amanda Welcome. If you are a first time commenter, are you also fairly new to solving? EMEND is a perfectly cromulent answer for the clue and is frequently the answer for clues similar to today's. So maybe you just haven't seen it before or solved it using the crosses. Just stow it in your bag of crossword possibilities going forward.
@Amanda You may be new to EMEND, but the clue points out specifically not to use AMEND (if you know what to look for). EMEND is almost exclusively used with respect to editing text. Hold onto this for the next time. A great many of the clues for this word specifically mention text or manuscripts or editing.
I'm a little surprised at the pushback for CATDOM. Don't people realize that cats rule and dogs drool? Or dogs drool and cats rule, whichever. Damon's is one of the names I get alarmed by when I see he's the constructor, so I guess my cluelessnesd could have been worse. Full disclosure, the EIFFEL TOWER clue was the only one I understood and even that was after the fact. But the puzzle was challenging to solve, but solveable, and so I'm happy.
@Vaer Me too for both points. I am in thrall to catdom and always will be (and childless, so JDV is not a fan) (umm mutual). And yes puzzle was quite solvable on its own, but the reveal was humbling. Hit all the Thursday puzzle stages, though bafflement came after enlightenment.
I really liked this theme and puzzle. Commenting because I seem to be the odd one out and wanted to add balance. I didn’t get the revealer at 39A until about half way through the solve. The only starred clue I had solved at that point was CLOUDYSKIES. It wasn’t until BUTTDIAL that I understood "self-own" as "cellphone" and the rest fell into place. Clever and fun. Even if the Eiffel Tower is in no way rod shaped, imho lol. Thanks!
Not a great Thursday, IMO. Finished without understanding the theme, maybe because there's nothing inherently rod shaped in the pun forming the answer to the first theme answer. You can get tricksy and still have the answers make sense.
@scott Right. Why not just say "Parasite" or "Famous parasite," if an adjective is needed. Rods are straight. The Eiffel Tower is not.
My early morning brain was not flexible enough for this one. Maybe on another day I would have understood the theme without help, but I stared at the completed puzzle for quite a while before I gave in and read the wordplay column. Does this mean I think the puzzle wasn't good? Absolutely not! Being stumped is part of the fun. If you don't have any "ooooh, I see now" moments in life, you aren't learning, growing and exercising your brain.
That was a fun one. I had Ah HELL for 32 down, having never heard of FOYLE’S WAR. When I finished with no gold star, I figured that had to be where my problem was and it felt like very appropriate fill to puzzle over through a fly speck. Thanks for the great puzzle, Damon Gulczynski!
@Striker Very worthwhile series on PBS/BBC Michael Kitchens stars
I needed Deb's help with this one. Otherwise, I could never have finished it. The fills seemed impossible, and some I just had to go with and hope they were going to work. Give me a good old fashioned rebus and I can almost always figure it out. This one was, well, too far out. You got me this time, Damon Gulczynski, but next time I'll be ready for you. (Maybe.)
Scuse me, while I kiss this guy.* Where was I? Oh yeah - really tough solve for me, and probably cheated a bit too much to count it, but... I'll do no cheating tomorrow and that will end my streak. *Oh yeah - MONDEGREEN was an answer in only one puzzle and what I typed above was the part of the clue. And... a quite appropriate puzzle find today. A Sunday from January 12, 1975 by John Willig with the title: "Fancy Foods." Some theme answers in that one: BREADATORY CARROTERISTIC LADYCHEDDARLY EGGSERCISES PEASOFFICER MUSTARDOUT SYRUPTITIOUS Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=1/12/1975&g=43&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=1/12/1975&g=43&d=D</a> I'll shut up now. ..
@Rich in Atlanta How you come up with these "puzzle finds" is a mystery to me. This is another one I will print out and bury in my pile of "power failure puzzles". Thank you!
If I have to read a column to understand what was going on, then this was not a successful puzzle. I solved it in under 30 minutes, but never got the satisfaction of that “aha!” moment when I understood the theme. Disappointing.
@KitKat it was not a successful puzzle *for you*, is I'm sure what you meant to say, right?
Did it. But the theme remains a mystery. Guesses and crosses got me there in the end.
easy puzzle but shaky theme. we won't see its like again soon (thankfully)
The theme was impenetrable to me as a non-native speaker (which happens to me a lot, understandably, so this is not a complaint). Polish has some homophone words, but in general homophony is not as common as it is in English so I struggle with recognizing it, even though my pronunciation is not bad for a foreigner. Traditionally I also failed on the trivia, surprisingly not only Americana but also the French writer. Is NYY/BOS a baseball thing? Why was there no indication that CELEB would be informal or abbreviated? I had Coach there for the longest time. The cluing was not my wavelength, but that also happens quite often. When it clicks it clicks, when it doesn't it doesn't. Am I a philosopher now?
Also, if you saw an A-shaped structure, would you think: "Ah, yes, that is definitely rod-shaped"? . The dot. Rod shaped, possibly.
@Andrzej Yes, one needs a knowledge of baseball to recognize the rival teams - the Yankees from New York (NYY) and the RedSox of Boston (BOS). I had first entered NYM, for the other team in New York, the Mets. The crosses, of course, did not fit.
As someone who has experienced numerous blunders of misheard/misinterpreted clues when co-solving crosswords with my parents in the past (whether it’s one of them reading the clue aloud to me or me reading the clue aloud to them), it did not take me too long to catch on to this puzzle’s cheeky trickery. I thought it was a fun solve
Feature request: a separate complaints section. That way people who don’t want to read a bunch of grousing about a freakin’ puzzle that no one forced them to do in the first place could have a non grouchy section to enjoy.
@Erin And how would that work, exactly? Who/what controls how negative a post may be before it gets banished to the "not-happy" forum? Perhaps you were joking or.... complaining. /Emus are pretty positive people overall
@Erin Just as no one is forced to do the puzzle, no one is forced to read the comments either. I imagine the complaints and praises are both valuable feedback for the NY Times and puzzle creators as to what people like and don't like.
@B. The complainers could just direct themselves to the "Complaints Section," where they could all moan and grouse together without bringing down the mood for the rest of us.
Theme: those were a far reach, very far!
Sometimes a rod-shaped parasite is just a rod-shaped parasite. This one was fun, with some weirdish clues and healthy morning stretches.
Just. Too. Clever-ish. I don't really understand all the theme clues even after they are explained.
@Steve Demuth Same here. I was happy to manage a correct solve without being able to figure out the theme, but even after reading the column, I'm still a bit confused by some of them. Maybe there'll be a delayed "click" at some point in the future.