TAJIK crossing TAIGA on a Tuesday doesn’t seem fair.
@Dave Rosenbaum That’s a natick for me seven days a week. I had to go through the alphabet to find the T.
@Dave Rosenbaum and @Shimmer That T was my last entry. I was about to do the alphabet run in that square when my brain pulled up Taiga as a word I have missed before in Spelling Bee. That was it! Crunchy puzzle but I enjoyed it! Thanks!
@Dave Rosenbaum Agreed - I left it blank and T was my first guess, but it was most definitely a guess!
Who else for 10A started by slapping in USSR? That's why I love crosswords--they make you stop and think, even on a Tuesday!
@The Whip Me! One of my very confident early entries... until the CRO Magnon man tipped me off that something was wrong XD Such a fun puzzle! Just the right level of crunch for a Tuesday!
@The Whip I’ve seen clues like that for CCCP enough times that I thought of typing USSR for only about half a second.
@The Whip me! I never heard of CCCP and so had to google it after
Fun puzzle, but is it just me or have yesterday and today been harder than average for Monday- Tuesday?
The chemist-turned-musician plays the base. (It's litmus as usual.)
@Mike I guess he flunked the test for playing the tuba. Lacked the scope. 🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶
@Mike Is he related to baseball's Al Kaline?
I almost had to turn on autocheck to complete this puzzle - but not because of not knowing CCCP: that was a gimme. Polish people never much liked the Soviets, but their "culture," "achievements" and products were force-fed to us for decades. I learned CCCP from decals on model airplanes a battery-operated lunar lander (my parents were both historians, and they always took care to comment truthfully on the Soviet-aligned propaganda, e.g. my mom told me about the American role in the space race when I got that Soviet lander in the 80s). I am slightly surprised some solvers thought the answer would be USSR - that would be the equivalent of American rockets being labeled with the Russian США. TAJIK and TAIGA were gimmes, too. The cultural differences between me and American solvers are just fascinating - we struggle with such different things! I have no idea who Charlie Brown is (or who his friends are), I have never heard of a MOOD ring, I only vaguely know March Madness from these puzzles (and as a result its winners are a huge enigma to me), and as for sports coaches... Well, I can only name a few European ones. Oh, and I have never watched THE SOUND OF MUSIC (but have you seen any classic Polish movies of the 60s?)
@Andrzej There were a lot of pretty tough ones for Non-Americans in here, I think!
@Anne I refuse to learn anything about US colleges or college sports because of these crosswords — out of sheer spite
@Andrzej So March Madness is a *college* basketball tournament. A lot of the winners are big state schools and thus names after states like today UVA (short for University of Virginia) UConn (connecticut) Mist (michigan state) UNC (north carolina)
Let's hear it for another terrific Toughened Up Tuesday. Today I learned what a TAIGA was. I feel like we had the Moynihan quote not too long ago. And finally any puzzle mentioning MRS. POCK is okay by me.
@Vaer Re FACTS Misrembering again. Not according to xwordinfo.com. Maybe a New Yorker puzzle or not a puzzle at all.
What a beautiful puzzle: fresh, clever, just tough enough for a Tuesday, and fun to solve. (The cheekiness of dropping the cookie in the middle made me smile.) Sam Buchbinder, it's clear that you know to construct a chewy and entertaining puzzle. Do I look forward to your next one? Just ASK ME. Thank you, and don't stay away so long. (Now back to the convention!)
Wow, Sam can sure play the homophone! Et tu, emu.
@Lewis Oh, Beau! Emulate
With such a clever and fun twist on THE SOUND OF MUSIC, this puzzle struck just the right chord. Nicely done, Sam.
Ooooh… TAJIK/TAIGA Tuesday! Truly, I’ll take it! Twisty, tricky, and tougher than expected! Terrific. Tanks Sam!
This is a tight set. Yes, LIAR and LOOT are lovely instrument homophones, but I can’t come up with any common in-the-language phrases that end in either of them. And are there any other instruments whose names have English soundalikes? Maybe, but none that I can think of. So, bravo to Sam for coming up with this theme in the first place, for skillfully executing it, and for coming up with its lovely reveal. Another highlight for me were the two long downs. JELLYBEAN is a word that makes my heart beam with happiness. Every time. And while I’ve never heard the term CUBE FARMS, it’s so right on the mark and colorful. I also liked row seven, with three words, each containing a K. Plus, I liked the musical theme echoes in NOTE, CLEF, OCTET, ADELE, OASIS, and THE WHO (Hi, @Marshall Walthew!). This puzzle certainly satisfied my brain’s work ethic. Not only were there a couple of sticky areas – a treat for me, an experienced solver, on Tuesday – but when I tried to guess the revealer after leaving it blank, I was at a total loss. I tried everything – first words, last words, initials of the words, and more. Just the kind of work to leave my brain spent and content. Thus, a whirlwind of loveliness in the box today. Thank you so much for this, Sam!
@Lewis I guess the constructor COULD have had a very short theme-entry GALOOT (or BIGGALOOT/ YOUBIGGALOOT), not sure how one would clue it though, and then there's PRETTYLITTLELIARS, plural, for some TV show or other I've never seen. But yes, those might've been kinda a tough go.
Half my solve time was flyspecking for a mistake and finally had to look at Wordplay to finish: CLEF/LAYOFF vs CDEF/DAYOFF was just unfair. But otherwise, very smooth puzzle, cute theme, and some colorful fill. Thank you, Sam!
@Elly Zee Can you say more about why you thought that crossing was unfair? CLEF is the first symbol on the staff and I wouldn’t ordinarily consider a dAY OFF as an extended period of inactivity. Not that I think you were wrong to try that combo first, I just don’t think fairness plays into it.
@Steve I think there should not be an intersection where one letter change can result in two viable pairs of answers. I’m not saying CDEF/DAYOFF were perfect answers, but when looking for mistakes, I’m looking for obvious typos or one viable answer that makes its cross gibberish. I had no reasonable way of self-checking to figure out where my mistake was, which is why I said “unfair.”
Today is the 731st day of my gold-star streak, 2 years now! After so many days of doing this each morning, every morning, somehow I managed to IDLE through the day yesterday and onto an overnight flight without doing yesterday's puzzle (?!). IRKsome indeed. ANYhoo, frantic efforts to connect before pushback failed, but thanks to onboard wifi I kept the streak alive. MOOD!
@Gary Wow! Two years and one of them a leap year! Quite an achievement!
POPE got a chuckle out of me!
@Amanda Could you explain it to ignorant me? It was one of the clues/answers that I did not understand today. (Moderator tax, please ignore)
@Andrzej Think "mass" as in Catholic Mass
Seemed a bit trickier than a usual Tuesday puzzle to me. I went significantly over my average time. Plenty of misdirection and unknowns. I knew TAIGA and CCCP, but TAJIK and JELLYBEAN took me forever. I also had bawled instead of WAILED, which messed up that section even more. I know THE WHO, but not the song, so I didn't get that answer right away. I hesitated entering FRIEDA, because my aunt spells her name Freida, but I guess both spellings are used (along with Freda and Frida). I eventually got things sorted, but it was a workout! I love the quote at 53A, something that needs to be remembered more and more these days.
Those of you who put CDEF and DAY OFF don’t know the difference between a staff (which has a CLEF) and a scale (C-D-E-F). You also missed the word “extended” in the cross clue. Or else you think one DAY OFF is an extended period of inactivity.
@Steve L I thought "extended" was a day instead of a few minutes...
@Steve L A scale goes on a staff. With no sharps or flats, C Major is one of the most common scales, and CDEF is the “leader” of that scale. Yes, it is incorrect and not a perfect fit to the clue. But to say that those of us who were misled don’t know the difference between a staff and scale is not a fair criticism. And for some of us, a DAYOFF *would* be considered extended inactivity. Those were both viable answers, even if not precisely correct. I think that makes it an unfair crossing.
Eject, oases and UJA ??? Instead of EVICT, OASIS and UVA for way too long. Great puzzle!
@Kathy Welch Oops...THREE J's. Can't count this morning, apparently. What is UJA?
I twisted that OREO in the center, and out came the crème de la crème of a Tuesday puzzle, spread out over the whole grid, with unusual and beautiful entries. Not only was it delicious, it was also melodic and harmonious. I admit to falling in the USSR trap, but it was quickly corrected to CCCP since I solve by crisscrossing as I go. This led to that crossing of TAJIK with TAIGA being already in place but for the T, when Tajikistan rang a bell. So, quite by luck, I was able to solve without any hurdles. Thank you for a terrific puzzle, Mr. Buchbinder, as well as for having me dig up Oasis again and listen to "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova." But one of my favorites is still "Don't Look Back in Anger," maybe because that simple imperative sits well with me as one of the golden rules of life. <a href="https://youtu.be/oplra1FJxWI?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/oplra1FJxWI?feature=shared</a> It's also very nice to have a day devoid of anger in this forum. Thank you to all here today in this puzzledom!
Good Tuesday workout for me. Just had to work the crosses in a lot of places before something dawned on me, but that just added to the enjoyment. And must confess that I never caught on to the theme until after I was done and went back and reviewed all the answers. Just a nice 'aha' moment to end with. Answer history search today was inspired by SACHS. Just wondered about the possibility of some jokey answers with SAX. Was surprised to find quite a few. I'll put those in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta Actually I'll just keep it to one puzzle - one of the weirdest I've ever encountered. A Sunday from November 25, 2007 by Trip Payne with the title: "Two out of three." One clue/answer example: "Warning about Mel Gibson on a wrestling surface? :" MADMAXMANMAYMARMAT Some other theme answers: BIGBICBIZBIO HAGHASHAYHAT SADSAMSAWSALSAYSAX DIPDIDDIGDIN ADDADZADSADO Furrowed brow. Don't think I would have a chance in heck at that one. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/25/2007&g=106&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/25/2007&g=106&d=A</a> ..
@Rich in Atlanta thank you! I was wracking my brain trying to figure what sort of instrument a “sack” was!
Yikes - a tough Tuesday as I hunted for my error. It turns out that for 47D, I had CdEF as "staff leader" (why not - a string of musical notes?) and for 47A, dAYOFf instead LAYOFF (what if you're immediately hired by someone else?). Twenty minutes later, I finally saw my mistake.
@Henry Su Same here - and so did the column writer!
[I can't find the post I was gonna reply to, it was in a thread on the whole OXO tic-tac-toe debate. I thought it was someone named Roger, and his comments gave me an idea. Can't find the thread so I'll just post it here] "[??Roger's remarks] just spurred an idea for an April Fools Day puzzle that'd probably elicit 1000+ comments. (I hope no one actually takes up this idea) : A puzzle made (almost) entirely of those controversial bugaboos of the Wordplay Comments: nothing incorrect, nothing "wrong", just, the puzzle's entries would (almost) ALL be words like OCTOPI, and the Tic-Tac-Toe clue/answer just mentioned (OXO), no Naticks or anything controversial outside of crossword-world, just clue/answers that create such a hubbub every time they appear. So let's see, TAMALES, I'm blanking on others but there are so many of them. Strictly linguistic objections and controversy. Of course the constructor could also throw in, for the necessary short easy fill, things like OREO clued as "A black and white cookie", ONO as "Yoko ___" or "John Lennon's life/ 'Double Fantasy' partner", with no wit or inventiveness whatsoever. Hah. If it were a Sunday puzzle perhaps the title would be "Mar-teehee de Sade". Or "Marquis de HEY!!!!!" I still remember fondly an April Fool's Day puzzle where the theme answers had words from the clues, defying an actually pretty cardinal rule. Some people were mad. I found it funny. But my idea above I think would just be stirring up a wasps' nest… *snurk*
@Becca: love it! Waiting with bated breath. Or, in this puzzle of yours, baited.
@Becca Absolutely GREAT idea! Besides what you already mentioned, it could have a bunch of Steve L’s “too close” clue/answers which would incense esoteric experts in a whole host of fields. Even the new category “tilted windows” could be included. Await some clever soul/souls to start working on this one….
@Becca That would be awesome. I know you suggested excluding them, but what if there were a way to cross NATICK with NATICK?
Nice Tuesday, though I think crossing TAIGA with TAJIK was a bit cruel.
CDEF and dAYOFF has me super confused too.
@Nicole that one was the one snag for me too- after checking and rechecking the puzzle, I had to read wordplay to figure out what I was missing.
For a moment, I had CdiF for "staff leader," which is a really awful pun. I was glad to be wrong!
@Swift I googled CDEF and it said “cause of a staff infection” so thought the same!
[The mistaken assumption that someone won't be interested in you because you've only ever seen them dating people of a gender different than yours] I thought the revealer was gonna be music-to-text. For those who had trouble with 34D, just remember Taiga Woods. BI-OOPSY
A clever theme with a great revealer -- and MUCH harder than most Tuesdays, which in my book is a good thing. I solved it as a themeless -- especially since there were plenty of other things to think about other than trying to find a common thread. I wonder if I would have picked up on the homophones if I'd gone looking for a theme. So they call them CUBE FARMS now. They were merely cubicles in my day and we hated them. Of course people didn't work much of the week from home the way people do today; if you were in a cubicle, you were really IN it. I always felt that office productivity could easily be tripled just by putting everyone in an office with a door that could be closed. Rant over. For "tissue sample test" I wanted something like PERSON WITH A BAD COLD BLOWING HIS NOSE AND SNEEZING. I never thought of that kind of tissue. Can you imagine? Such a good puzzle. Sam -- but why do you have five (5!!!) pop music clues? Why would you cross two of them, OASIS and ALA when both entries can be clued in a zillion ways without using a musical reference? Yes, it's a musical-themed puzzle, I get it, but there are only so many pop music trivia clues I want to see in a puzzle. When USSR doesn't work, I doubt there's anyone under the age of 65 who will get CCCP without all the crosses. Bur once I saw that USSR wouldn't work, CCCP came back to me in a rush. An excellent Tuesday that would have been even better with less trivia.
@Nancy This 59-year-old also remembered CCCP.
@Nancy I'm 55, and I remember CCCP on rockets, and also on hockey jerseys. The Miracle on Ice? I watched the actual event on TV, and also the movie about it.
@Nancy If you ever collected stamps, you are likely to know CCCP. :)
[Ballpark fig.] sent me down the RBI-ERA rabbit hole. All in all, 5 minutes over my Tuesday average by the time I got everything fixed. Crunchy (and delicious)!
@Pezhead I still don't get it, but thankfully I got all the crosses.
My granddaughter returned last week from a trip of 2 months to Tajikistan and 1 month in Uzbekistan. My granddaughter was adopted from Ethiopia. She was in those countries with a group of 20-year-olds. She said the TAJIKS were very friendly to all but she said she was the favorite- they were fascinated with her because most had never seen a Black person
@coloradoz There were almost no Black people in Poland pre-1989, with some exceptions in college towns. As a kid I lived on Warsaw near an agricultural college that welcomed students from all Soviet-aligned countries in the world, most of them from Africa. I saw Black people on a regular basis, and yet I was always facinated by them. I had no ill intentions but they must have been freaked out by the staring... In other places, where Black people only passed through very rarely, they were always the center of attention. It was a form of racism, I now understand.
As a guitarist, I'd like to hear more about Goldman's Ax. Also, TAIGA is one of my favorite biomes in Minecraft - lots of spruce trees, rabbits, and wolves.
I always thought the Catholic Mass was capitalized. Is that misdirection kosher?
@Dr. Audio Well it certainly ain’t Paschal.
@Dr. Audio I concur. Since the answer to the clue is pope, and therefore a reference to Catholicism, 15A should read [Major in Mass communication?]
@Dr. Audio As a Catholic, I think you're right but, more importantly, I really like the way you phrased your question.
I did the exact same thing with CDEF/DAYOFF. I should have thought harder about the word “extended”…
A little tougher than the average Tuesday I thought. USSR before CRO put me right, the Britpoppers at 51D a gimme, though not a fan of the little scallywags. Knowing 34A did not help with the down clue, yet another TIL answer for me. I enjoyed the theme; tough enough to me work at it, but the aha moment with the film was delightful.
I had a couple of issues with Sam’s column today. She started off discussing how she ended up using “check puzzle” to help find an error after already completing the puzzle. Since I personally pay no attention to streaks, I have often used this technique when I’ve completed a puzzle, have just about spent all the time I want to on it, or maybe just want to avoid wasting my time “running the alphabet” just to get a gold star. I don’t know why she brought up Deb’s use of “Autocheck” right from the start…..that’s a whole different animal, as many of us have already commented on in the recent past. Also, she mentioned that with 42A a “cardinal rule of crossword construction is to not include any entry word in clues”. We’ve been through this numerous times here and any “cardinal” rule (if there is such a thing) is that an entry cannot appear in its own clue. Ok. That’s all….
@Hardroch I'm not sure I understand your issue with the mentions of puzzle check and autocheck in the column. It seemed benign? Non-judgemental? I agree with the second part though. If that was a rule, you couldn't use the word FOR, THE, or ONE in any of the clues for today's puzzle (for example)
@Hardroch "cardinal rule of crossword construction is to not include any entry word in clues” Maybe Sam is trolling us? That's the only explanation I could come up with.
@Hardroch For some of us, I think it's more about solving without assistance. The gold stars are nice, but it is a point of (silly?) pride to solve the puzzles unaided. By the way, NYT definitely knows how to hook people and reel them in...
Has anyone else noted that you can't hear tone-of-voice in a clue? Sure, [Sure, sure] cam be heard sarcastically, but it can also be heard seriously. In which case the answer is (obviously) "I see". I only saw the error of my ways when it came time to put the last letter in the puzzle, at the intersection of the two parts of [Lacking in variety]. What letter could possible go in O_E//_OEE??? Nothing fits! OK, where's my error? N was the likely fit for O_E, but ONE//NOEE? Oh, I see! ONE//NOTE. But not I SET for [Sure, sure]. Oh, I *BET* The [Roundball] clue should have tipped me off that it was the NBA, not the NsA, but I have to confess that I stopped reading after [John Tesh]. I don't know *any* of his songs, so one org. is as good as any other. My bad.
CAB IT can't be a real thing, come on now be serious lol
@Matt Do you want to CAB IT or take the subway home? SRSLY 🚕🚕🚕🚕🚕🚕🚕🚕🚕
@Matt In Phoenix, it's more likely to be UBER IT, but in New York, CAB IT is definitely a thing. Your mileage, of course, may vary. !!!!
I was a little surprised by FTW until I saw that it was a 3 letter word. Oh, *that* FTW! AHEM.... Great puzzle and theme, right down to the (almost) final NOTE. Sam may not be particularly prolific, with 12 NYT puzzles in almost exactly 10 years, but quality like this is worth waiting for.
Started with 1A, unexpectedly, and continued without pause to the midpoint, when I suddenly needed to switch to the Downs... The last thing into the grid was 36D, needed to complete 34A, 45A, and 54A. I still don't get BOSS for the video game opponent, but then I've never played one... (Well, there was that one time I tried PacMan, when I was reduced to crying, "Run!" as disaster struck.) I see 18D has a revamped clue; how do the Boaters among us like this iteration? I wanted the fighter jet to land on the AIRCRAFT CARRIER, but MR SPOCK made that impossible. What is "Wonderwall"? Best part of the puzzle: TWO J's! Don't see that often! I tried to stay up late, but Zzzzz. YouTube to the rescue. (Hope James Taylor isn't upset.) I got up at 6 in time to see the huge full moon setting in the west...it was actually cool and pleasant for my walk! All of you still in the Heat and the Aftermath of Storms, stay safe!
@Mean Old Lady Oh shoot, I wish I had remembered to get up early enough to see the blue super moon. Though we live among lots of tall evergreens, so I might not have been able to see it anyway. Maybe I’ll try for tonight.
The TAJIKS donated a beautiful building to the city of Boulder. The building is used as a restaurant. <a href="https://www.boulderteahouse.com/history-of-the-teahouse" target="_blank">https://www.boulderteahouse.com/history-of-the-teahouse</a>
@coloradoz It is indeed a beautiful building-thank you for posting that link. It is one of the places we have very much enjoyed when visiting the area. We haven’t made it back to Boulder in years but I sometimes order loose leaf tea from the Boulder Teahouse to support their business.
This puzzle was music to my eyes. In addition to the SOUNDOFMUSIC theme, three other musical acts (ADELE, THEWHO, and OASIS) plus CLEF put this one squarely in my wheelhouse. THEWHO are long time favorites ever since seeing them on the Smothers Brothers Show and I’ve come to like ADELE. I never warmed up to OASIS though. Perhaps all the ridiculous next Beatles hype doomed them to fail for me.
@Marshall Walthew THE WHO was the first band I ever saw live, in 1976, when Keith Moon was still alive. I know one OASIS song. Fortunately, it’s “Wonderwall.”
@Eric Hougland Fun fact - Liam Gallagher opened for the Who in Seattle on the last tour in 2019. My first Who show was 1976 also!
This seems to be a humbling week for me. Got caught in the Natick Circle of Hell in three areas. ONE/NOTE TAIGA/TAJIK - in fairness I guess there’s no such think as a Kajik. then the misdirections… Just remember it really doesn’t matter what “rules” once the puzzle is published no one is going to go back and edit it. Besides, they’re more like “guidelines” quotes intentional.
@Red Carpet taiga crossing tajik on a Tuesday.. Really???
This band geek will let Sam off the hook for saying a sax belongs in the horn section. Though it is brass like a horn, it's played with a reed, which makes it a woodwind. The flute, also a woodwind, is made of silver (unless you're James Galway) and does not have a reed, so figure that one out!
I am delighted by any reference to my all-time favorite movie! Heard “Maria” playing in the doctor’s office last week and could hardly contain my (almost) under-my-breath singing! I love how Sam used it as the theme revealer. Thanks, Sam, you made my day! My only lookup was 10A because I originally had USSR as many of you had. Never heard of CCCP. Do emus yodel? 🎵High on the hill was the Lonely Goatherd …🎵
@Cherry Think of the Cyrillic alphabet...
@Cherry It's on the sides of the rockets that embarrassed us into going to the moon. /Muppet Soviet Emus IN SPACE!!
Lovely idea for a theme and a fun ( if a bit tough ) puzzle for a Tuesday. Interesting to read that the columnists sometimes use the auto check. I’ve gotten to depend on it a lot, but not today. Welcome back, Sam. Don’t stay away so long this time.
So much to love in this puzzle! For starters, TIL that it's "Blue Rondo à la Turk" (and not "alla Turk"). For those who don't know, here's a classic live video of Mr. Brubeck performing it with his ensemble, which appears to include a Sax, a Bass, and a (Hi-hat) Cymbal. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rondo+a+la+turk+dave+brubeck" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rondo+a+la+turk+dave+brubeck</a> I was less lucky with Henry Purcell's "Fantasia upon ONE NOTE"--lots of performances by viols, and other instruments which use weird CLEFS (here's one from Alberta, Canada: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE47RqjRJPo" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE47RqjRJPo</a> ) But no luck with a performance for jazz ensemble--the closest I could get was this "adaption" by Brendan Breslin, for an ensemble which includes an alto *sax* and a *bass* clarinet. No cymbals, but there is a marimba, and any musician who has a marimba hanging around in his spare room, probably has a set of cymbals as well.: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajeOGsY3mB0" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajeOGsY3mB0</a>
@Bill oops--here's a direct link to the Brubeck: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9GgmGLPbWU" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9GgmGLPbWU</a> We can keep this going with a little "Wonderwall": <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUtniDt0YOQ" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUtniDt0YOQ</a> I think I'll stop now. "The taiga's alive with the sound of emus."
Very enjoyable puzzle today! Luckily had my daughter, recently in Central Asia, next to me for the TAJIK clue. No emus needed.
After reading the comments so far it seems that the most hangups were with the CLEF/LAYOFF and TAIGA/TAJIK crosses. I won’t refer to them using the N word, lest I become a victim of a pile on. My personal bugaboo was the OASIS/ALA cross. I know Dave Brubeck but not the titles of his works, and neither Oasis or Wonderwall tickle a music memory. My point is that this was sticky for a lot of reasons for different people and very enjoyable for a Tuesday for this particular person.
Loved the theme! Suffered in TAIGA/TAJIK like many other solvers. I smiled at POPE for 'major in mass communication.' (PS - I refuse to learn what March Madness is, no matter how often they clue it.)
@Sanjana Not to ruin your day, but: college basketball teams compete in an elaborate elimination tournament in which contest brackets are named things like Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, and Final Four. It goes on forever and ruins the entiire month of March for non-sport-folk. All of this comes at a cost that might otherwise fund the patching of every pot-hole in the entire country. The 'Madness' part comes in where spouses have to be sent to rest-homes or treatment facilities. And then, with the turn of a page, one reaches April Fools' Day. Need we say more?
I remember Wonderwall as a George Harrison album. It was a soundtrack to the movie of the same name.
Sam, Thank you! I really like the idea of puzzle check instead of spending 15 or 20 minutes searching the comments for clues about a mistake or a typo! And my streak resets most Sundays anyway!