Very easy Saturday, 16 minutes. Didn't love the HUNTERHAYES/HEDER crossing though
@Steven M. Amen. If it hadn't been for that H I would have enjoyed an even quicker solve than my 12:16 time today.
@Steven M. So crazy. Seems like lots of people found this puzzle easy. I struggled big time with this one.
Ha! It took almost an hour of combined efforts of me and my wife but we managed to complete the puzzle unaided. That does not often happen on a Saturday. Now when I scroll down I will probably find multiple comments along the lines of: "Why did we get a Monday puzzle on a Saturday? I am cancelling my subscription" 🤣
@Andrzej since you went there…I did just get a new Saturday PB (and came in just 1.5 minutes over my Tuesday average). But no, I’m not going to complain or threaten canceling my subscription :) For one thing, there are hundreds of Saturdays in the archives that are new to me, which can provide a serious challenge anytime I want one. (And in many cases, by “serious challenge”, I mean that I’ll spend an hour or two getting half the grid filled in, eventually say f* it and click “check puzzle”, only to find that half my answers are wrong). But also, there have been so many days where a puzzle beat me over the head and took me well over my daily average…and then I’ve come here to find everyone congratulating each other on new PBs. The crossword gods giveth and taketh in equal measure 🤷♂️
@Andrzej Unaided? Wow!!! I had some lookups and one check puzzle. Good for you both! I thought Thursday was easy and Friday was fun….Saturdays used to be much harder five years ago? Interesting.
Claudius started life as a FOSTER KITTEN. He didn’t know he would end up with a person TYPECAST as a childless cat lady. He might secretly think it’s all a bit SHTICKY, but he tries not to be CATTY about it.
@Cat Lady Margaret having fostered a number of older cats, I appreciate forever homes. I used to grade them by how long they stayed "under the bed". Worst was Tigger, who was 2 months. She was a calico, completely feral, and named for her temperament. Eventually I just kept her.
Those who have never heard of the names that cross at square 39 could never fill it in. That includes me. To my mind that is a fatal flaw and the editors should not allow it. Otherwise rather nice.
@me in nj I've been there often enough so I say this respectfully, I'd never heard of either and got them through the crosses. Once I had HUNTER?AYES from crossings, the H seemed very likely. It's not a case of never or editors shouldn't allow it. Sometimes it just clicks and sometimes it doesn't. Not the editors' or puzzles fault. As for the emus, jury's out.
@me in nj To be fair, H was the most obvious choice, I went for it and it worked. .
@me in nj That “H” at 39A was my last letter to fill in the grid, as I too was not sure of either person— but it was my first guess. I think it would be fair to dub this a Natick, but to call it impossible is quite a stretch; really, what other letter is likely? And country music is so far from my genre that I would hesitate to deem any country singer “obscure” on the basis of my lack of familiarity! I found this puzzle enjoyable, and a very quick Saturday for me. I did raise an eyebrow at YUCA; I’ve had yucca fries, and found them tasty, but have only seen a two “c” spelling.
Some things are clear before you even start a McCarty Saturday. There will be plenty of white in the grid, seas of it. The answer set will have mostly familiar words, but between you and these will be a barrier of clever clues, all fair, and often figured out with pings of delight. The answer set will be immaculate despite the seas of white. Above all, there will be a profusion of NYT answer debuts – twelve today, twelve! The new answers and clues will make this not just another box to fill, but rather, a brain exciter. And if you’re like me, you’ll leave the puzzle grateful that you were in the hands of a master constructor. Highlights for me today: • SHTICKY. OMG! Word of the day! So fun to see and say! (Hi, @Katie!) • A very-rare-in-crosswords 6-letter semordnilap (REWARD). • All the adjective-noun answers (TURKEY JERKEY, PINKY SWEARS, TARGET DATES, WINTER TIRES, SOFT SIDE, FOSTER KITTEN, BARLEY WATER, GAY MEN, BIG AIR, CD RACKS, SAD DAY). By the way, the first eight are NYT debuts. • Noticing that the term “abc’s” can be drawn from the letters in BASICS. • [Strong, as a bond] for AAA, and [They often roll around in the snow] for WINTER TIRES. Ryan, your puzzles are plunges into quality and filled with treasures. Thank you for your talent, and for another splendid outing today!
@Lewis There are 8 Ys in the puzzle. That seemed like a lot. Do you know if it is? Or maybe it's just that the words that they created stood out.
The reward of suffering for me were the many experiences of my all weather tires rolling around in the snow ... and not getting any traction. And then there was that one February going up the Donner Pass... I like the weird vibe this puzzle gives off, like he might OVERDO the CATTY a bit with A*S, OAF and WACKO, but then there's pinky swears, couples walking arm in arm across the bridge over the river Kwai and gay men on Grindr seeking to canoodle, so it all works out. Oh, and the beauty of yuca fries, turkey jerkey and pinky swears in the middle there, great sounds when said together, with barley water to wash it down -- not to everyone's taste, but works for me! Plus FOSTER KITTEN shows Mr. McCarty's SOFT SIDE -- he's more kitty than catty! Shticky is a little icky, and Hunter Hayes x director Heder is def a little Naticky but it didn't make me panicky so I shan't complain. Glad to see something other than Olé for Spanish cheers but now Viva Las Vegas is stuck in my head, and it's driving me a little WACKO. There's a thousand pretty women waitin' out there And they're all livin' the devil may care And I'm just the devil with love to spare, so Viva Las Vegas, Viva Las Vegas!
@john ezra Barley water tastes best when distilled over a smoky peat fire. Inspiring bold John Barleycorn! What dangers thou canst make us scorn! Wi'tippeny, we Fear nae evil; Wi'usquabae, we'll face the devil! Slàinte Mhath
@john ezra Dinner Pass in the snow is no fun, up or down. Especially without snow tires.
I caused myself some trouble by mixing up nephrology with phrenology. 😂
@C-64 Ha! Not quite 10 years ago, I was in the hospital and among other things, my kidneys weren’t functioning properly. A good friend of ours was visiting me and heard about me being seen by a nephrologist and wondered why they had someone examining the bumps on my skull.
@C-64 Could be worse. You might have mixed up phrenology with proctology. Heads or tails?
@C-64 you made me laugh out loud - i even snorted. thanks!
Playing from the UK i found this very Natick-y, but I was on the right wavelength for the wordplay ones so it wasn't a total exercise in frustration. 'Shticky' bothered me though.
Liked this puzzle except for the cross of 24D and 39A, which was sort of a "you know it or you don't" situation.
@MikeW And I didn’t. I was fine til that last square so I googled CODA. I figured it was no more a cheat than running the alphabet, but potentially faster. I have never heard of either of those individuals. Not a brag or a confession, just an unfortunate fact.
@MikeW I thought the same. Names shouldn't cross IMHO. And there were too many of them: SANDRAOH HECHE HEDER RON AGEE HUNTERHAYES YEATS NIN
Fun puzzle, the difficulty felt like the right balance between tricky and doable to round out the week. My only complaint is that it had an intersection of two names I don't recognize (HUNTER*AYES and Sian *EDER), with the shared letter being one that I couldn't reasonably infer. It's always a bit disappointing to finish a puzzle by randomly entering letters until you hit the right one. Oh well, it was a fun time otherwise!
@Dave I expected this to be trouble, too, but Hunter Hayes was a good first guess once I passed my kidney stone.
Lol. Foster Kitten is my stripper name. Time Inc. sounds like the where you'd go in a sci-fi movie if you wanted to time travel. "So, what's your target date?" For reals, has anybody else heard that Target is supposed to be a great place for first dates? Grindr users take note.
@ad absurdum A place to GO for a first date? What do you do on it? Look at underwear together? Are you sure it didn't say a place to FIND a date? (Some DC grocery stores in neighborhoods high in young singles had that rep. I guess you flirted over the avocados.)
Tough one! I went in from the bottom up, so when I got _AYES from the crosses, I thought of HAYES, but the only HAYES I know is Isaac. So, of course I had to stop everything and dig up "Theme From Shaft", and spend five minutes watching the intro in the movie, with Shaft making his way down the streets of NYC, cool as a cat in his 1971 leather trench coat, but a far cry from a FOSTER KITTEN. If I had a soundtrack like that playing as I walk, I'd be invincible, too. <a href="https://youtu.be/pFlsufZj9Fg?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/pFlsufZj9Fg?feature=shared</a>
What the H is going on here? I'm leaving that square blank in protest. In fact I may very well give up this xword dodge altogether! That certainly will be a SADDAY. OH, And speaking of H's, l looked at SHT___Y for the longest time, a very unlikely consonant set to begin a word. Furthermore, who said CDRACKS are obsolescent? I've half a mind to dig mine out of the attic. On reflection, I'm not going to KWAI about this any more. (Sipped some BARLEYWATER, I feel better now. Thanks.)
@John DHubby had a set of stacking cases with drawers for his CDs. When he decided they are inferior to his vinyls, he sold them off, and I inherited them. I removed a certain number of the dividers and have my quilting tools, rulers, spools of thread, and various other useful items (such as hemostats, special scissors, etc.) stashed there. Try THAT with a CD RACK--those really ARE useless for anything else. (Awaiting a retort from someone who uses his in a smoker or something....)
Quick for a Saturday, but the answer to “Digital Agreements?” gave me a chuckle.
This was my best Saturday yet by far... And clean as the driven snow my WINTER TIRES roll around in every year! Huzzah!! It seemed really hard at first and there were a number of things I didn't know but it all came together swimmingly... somehow. 🤷 I particularly enjoyed CANOODLE for "Spoon" and ARM IN ARM for "Walk affectionately." Oh, and PINKY SWEARS for "Digital agreements." All so sweet and appealing to my SOFT SIDE! Darling husband is an expert on all things JERKY, err, the dried meat, that is, he's completely lovely, so that came easily. If you haven't had YUCA yet, give it a fry! Err, I mean give it a try! Honestly, I can use a win this weekend, so I'm very grateful for this new Saturday best! Cheers, all!
During the solve today, DIDIASK myself how someone can create such a tangled chunk of fun words and brain-itchy clues, then lead you hand in hand through its obvious impossibility while still allowing you to think with humble pride that you did it yourself? Yes. Yes I did.
I got up at an ungodly hour this morning to get to the state fair before it gets too hot. Finished the puzzle well below my average. I have a theory that I'm actually better at crosswords when I'm really tired. Will report back tomorrow on experiment involving cheese curd ingestion and number of guesses in Wordle.
@Katie When I was younger and went to bars, I learned I'm much much worse at darts when totally sober. I'm not saying I was great after a couple of beers, but it was the only way I could ever hit a bullseye.
@Katie And I figured out how to ride a bike no-hands when seriously stoned on freshly-picked Michigan marijuana. I think the common thread is that certain anxieties or inhibitions are turned off. Or maybe overthinking?
@Katie Eat anything new AND tasty? I’m heading there with the kids today maybe.
This seemed a bit tough at first, then it became much smoother to solve. It would have been much easier if I could have remembered THE SCARECROW’s name, but I could only picture Cillian Murphy playing that character Like many other people, I got a little stuck at HUNTER HAYES crossing Sian HEDER. I listen to a fair amount of country music, but I don’t recognize Mr. Hayes or his 2012 hit. And while we all enjoyed CODA, I didn’t remember the director’s name. Less problematic was the YEATS/YUCA crossing. The poet could have been Keats, but “no country for old men” sounded more like what little I know of Yeats’s poetry than Keats’s. And I was pretty sure that YUCA was correct, though I haven’t eaten yuca fries. In the end, though, I was slowed by a typo in the gimme TIME, INC. Luckily, it didn’t take me too long to find that.
Eric Hougland, Yeah, Mr. Murphy shone brightly through the burlap sack in that one, didn’t he… (and I am just barely fighting the urge to mention that you must have had your peaky blinders on :)
I really enjoyed this puzzle because it was so difficult for me. I had to take a break and come back to it and that always seems to help for whatever reason. Nicely done.
A faster Saturday than normal -- and my 200th puzzle of the year! Thank you Ryan for the delightful solve (though I too had to guess at HUNTERHAYES). And thank you to the entire NYT Crossword community for fueling a habit that brings me daily joy. Enjoy your weekends, peace.
Great puzzle, tricky enough for Saturday but thoroughly enjoyable. Loved the film Turning Red, but didn’t know the amazing Ms OH was the Mum’s voice. I took a shot once I had NDR in. The river was a gimme, with the wonderful Sir Alec, but yes, that 39 cross was harsh. Two complete unknowns to me left me playing the usual alphabet game. Now, Ms Amlen, we need a word. ‘CANOODLE. A usage in Somerset…meaning donkey’ As you can spot, I live in Somerset, though not native to the county. I gave a shout out on our pub WhatsApp for clarification. Lots of friends are Zummerzet born and bred, the eldest is in his late 80’s. I can’t pass on exactly what they’re saying as the emus wouldn’t pass it, but the gist is; ‘ absolutely not. How very dare you Madam?’ A ‘Nodle’ is a type of fool here, which I see Routledge mentions in conjunction with canoodle, (spelled noodle) but has nothing to do with donkeys. It’s been taken as an insult akin to the Welsh and sheep. I have to show proof I’ve refuted this scurrilous claim or else I owe everyone a pint in the pub tonight. I await your apology young lady. ☺️
@Helen Wright it was actually Caitlin today! Good on you for redeeming your town's reputation 😊
I'll admit it. This puzzle made me angry. Didn't know the country singer or the CODA director. Also didn't know the snowboarding event or the pop artist. Felt like I was double naticked this morning. Hoped against hope that something in the clues might lead me in the right direction. Was the singer's name Bayes? Hayes? Mayes? Something else? And Sian, where is that from? Ireland? Don't know. And then that other crossing---could it be BI-GAIN and NON English??? Or maybe BIG-AIR and RON ENGLISH? Or ... who knows what. In the end, I went with the alliterative HUNTERHAYES and the somewhat less ridiculous BIGAIR and RON English. So I solved the puzzle unaided, but not pleasantly. And don't even mention YEATS meeting YUCA. Or was it KEATS and KUCA? Got this one correct too, by assuming that YUCA is perhaps Spanish for yucca, and by vaguely remembering (or imagining) that yuccas have starchy, edible roots. About to look that one up. Really liked "Singers do this" for SEW, and on the whole the fill was extremely interesting. Still, almost 50 minutes of suffering. Not sure the experience I've gained qualifies as a REWARD.
@Xword Junkie Sounds like you thrashed it out just like I did. With a lot of guesswork, but educated guesswork. BIGAIR was one of my many JETES of faith.
@Francis If I knew all the answers why would I bother doing crossword puzzles? Learning how to guess well is the fun part for me.
Was pretty much in my wheelhouse today, although I was lucky my first guess at 24D/39A was correct. Got held up in the NW because I really, really was proud of 'assorted' at 17A and waited way too long to give it up. You have to admit it could fit the clue in a Saturday kind of way. Nice to see my grandmother's sewing machine in there. She sewed all our clothes when we were growing up, including our underwear, bathing suits, winter coats, and blazers for my brothers. Everything except socks and shoes. I and my sister still have the gorgeous Barbie doll clothes she made us, including teeny tiny underwear and bejeweled bridal crowns. No telling how many bridal gowns she designed and made for church members, refusing compensation for anything but the materials. Grew up on a hardscrabble farm and lived her life as an artist at her machine.
@Lynn Actually, I'm not sure that refusing compensation for her time was a good thing. We all thought she should have charged, and so did my grandad.
Loved this puzzle! When my (now) husband and I were a couple of weeks into 2 years in the Peace Corps, we found ourselves walking back to our lodging "arm in arm." It just felt so natural -- we clicked. We call that the beginning of our life together. Enjoyed the misdirects! I'm a singer so I really noodled on "Singers do this." Chuckled when I finally realized it was that other Singer.
Well... another tough one for me and an odd solve. Got started early this morning and didn't have a whole lot of anything filled in. Then had a bunch of stuff to do this morning and put it aside. Came back early this afternoon and... somehow everything fell together from a few guesses and the crosses. Maybe I oughta start doing that more often. Taking a break and then coming back. Oooh - and TWELVE debut answers, but most of them actually fairly familiar terms or phrases. Don't recall seeing that many in a while. Anyway - ended up enjoying it. ..
@Rich in Atlanta Highly recommend the break-taking. Not always necessary, but always fascinating to experience so vividly how our brains keep working on problems in the background when we rest/do other things.
I enjoyed it. I’m getting back to solving especially the weekend. I don’t care about streaks anymore. I just solve when I feel like it.
with a 1709 day streak, i have gained a lot of skill at doing the crosswords, but i don’t think i’ve ever solved a saturday this quickly! it was a sweet puzzle and i enjoyed doing it pinkyswears and wintertires were 2 of my favorites today happy saturday, everyone!
I wouldn't mind seeing a lot more of Ryan McCarty. His grids are always fresh and have clever cluing. [Strong, as a bond], for AAA, [They often roll around in the snow] for WINTER TIRES were favorites. TURKEY JERKY, PINKY SWEARS and ARM IN ARM are just plain fun to say, and then BARLEY WATER triggered Traffic's John BARLEYcorn Must Die: <a href="https://youtu.be/LdI057Rs3wY?si=kqoVvBAn0DI1A2M6" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/LdI057Rs3wY?si=kqoVvBAn0DI1A2M6</a> What's not to like?
@Nancy J. BARLEYWATER instantly brought to mind, to my astonishment, a line from a song in “Mary Poppins,” when the children sing about their requirements for a nanny: “Love us as a son and daughter/And never smell of barley water” As a child I listened to the album over and over, always wondering what in the world barley water was.
@Nancy J. I’m looking forward to setting up my turntable. I haven’t listened to my Traffic albums in far too long. Now if I can just figure out where to put all my LPs . . .
It's my birthday! What better way to start my morning than with my favourite crossword day of the week. I love Saturdays. Found this puzzle relatively easy until the very end: can the constructers stop putting so many crossing names!! _ECHE and _EDER had me stumped.
@Remi Happy birthday, Remi! This one was quite easy for a Saturday. But three names crossing is diabolical! I also got stuck on CITy bank....
When I started this puzzle last night, I wasn't getting anywhere. Today, after a cup of coffee, I started again and it all fell into place. I loved ARM IN ARM, PINKY SWEARS and SEW.
Why don’t I ever get ambushed by 15 kittens? Does the cat distribution system hate me?
Ugh, crossing two names of people famous to Americans (?) always means you have to end with a shameful googling for the crossing square... And Heder/Hayes aren't the most obvious names to begin with.
@Henrik I share your feelings. As an American, I consider them two not-famous or barely famous Americans, since I've at least heard of Hunter Hayes. Today is the first time I've heard of Sian Heder.
@Henrik Trust me, they are not famous to this American. The H was my last box to fill. For me, it was the only logical letter, but that's because I'm more familiar with likely American names. If they were Swedish names, I would have been out of luck.
@Henrik I am in the US and didn't know either...I ended up only needing the first letter of the director, so I guessed! Otherwise a fun puzzle!
So much white. So few black squares. Yet such a painless solve! And with answers like PINKYSWEAR SHTICKY ARMINARM RESCUEKITTEN… Just lovely. I do think the added question marks to some clues made this more of a mid-week level (like [Digital agreement?]) but otherwise a lovely solve. Thank you Ryan!
@CCNY Where did you find a RESCUE KITTEN? Why will no one tell me what to put in for Square 39???
Caitlin writes: 5D. [Strong, as a bond], solves to AAA, which is the highest designation that can be assigned to a savings bond. I don’t remember ever seeing a savings bond be described as “strong,” but variations of this clue have appeared in Times puzzles twice before. Caitlin, *All* U.S. Savings Bonds are rated AAA, since they are “backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.” Bond ratings are more important with bonds from other government entities, other countries, and from the private sector (see "junk bonds"). I read [Strong, as a bond] as fine Saturday misdirect. (The CPAs must be sleeping late today.)
@Barry Ancona Not any more, I’m afraid. Two of the major rating agencies have downgraded the US rating below AAA, though Moodys has not (yet). Too many debt ceiling cliffhangers. But AA+ isn’t bad!
Such a good puzzle! Like many others, my first pass left a lot of empty squares. Every corner required brainpower on this one.
24D/39A was a natick for me. Several letters could fit the common letter if you know neither name.
@KK It was a Natick for me as well, but I correctly guessed the common letter on the first try.
I haven't even started today's / Saturday's puzzle yet but thanks to the call outs about Deb's collaboration puzzle from April 2nd, 2019, I just finished that one up and thought it was a real hoot!! So glad I went back and did it! Highly recommend if you're working through the archives. I'm still in April of 2023 but I like to go back and do other others that I see recommended. I loved Deb's partner in the puzzle, Natasha Lyonne, in Poker Face! I hope they'll be another season! And another collaboration between the two!!
Thish wuzh a SHTICKY sholve, but shomehow wound up sheven minutsh below average. Shorry.
Will also point out that while a lot of people claim that HUNTER HAYES is a relative unknown, just as many seem to think he's alliterate.
PINKYSWEARS and TURKEYJERKY star in this fresh masterpiece using entertainment trivia for a skeleton and quirky wit for the flesh. It gave me a [GRINAMINUTE]
Not the most difficult Saturday puzzle I've done, but I couldn't finish it without help. I only knew half of the eight names in the puzzle, I had to Google the other four. I'm getting closer to a "no look up" Saturday though.... someday soon!
When I was a kid, my dad had a set of proper WINTER TIRES, which had metal studs in the tread. He referred to them as 'whistling Suzies' because of the noise they made on the road. They'd be totally illegal nowadays. With that said, I wanted the answer to be ARCTIC HARES. I also wanted PEARLY GATES above it, thinking "deadline" was clever wordplay. Nope, not today.
@Grant Studded tires are legal in most states, with many having reasonable seasonal restrictions on use, but some with no restrictions at all. They're rare because I think people realize that, these days, in most populated areas that get winter road conditions, you may need studs only a few days a year, and, with climate change, even less. I used to use non-studded winter tires in eastern MA and NH, but there have been years lately with almost no snow, so they don't make sense anymore.
@Grant - Studded tires are legal here in Maine but only during the winter. It is one of the six states where they are still legal. They are really only useful on ice, not snow. My father, the depression-era cheapskate, bought tires from which you could manually add and remove the studs. It was a bi-annual chore he seemed to enjoy. As the winters have warmed considerably up here, we actually seem to get more ice than in the past. We used to have snowy roads and the snow would. last weeks or even a month or more without melting Now, we seem to go through daily freeze-thaw cycles that mess up the snow and cause ice, much more than in decades past. I still don't use studded tire, though.
Nice, smooth flow throughout the puzzle. Top was mostly completed fairly quickly, but the bottom took some thought. I liked the challenge.
@John H. I have to ask: what is WILMYwood? Is that a shortened version of a longer name? a new species of tree?
Nice puzzle. I got a little stuck in the SE corner. I cleared out the few answers I had and started afresh after a few minutes of struggle and it all quickly slid into place. I’m not sure what was holding me up on the first go. I came to the comments for the SCHTICKY response. So far, there’s not much noise! Colour me surprised. Have a great weekend everyone!
@Katie SE was also the corner holding me back. I'm not bothering with "schticky" because I only this week saw another similar "sch" word spelled "sh" -- was it in an NYT puzzle? -- so I figure it's a trend.
Time Inc! Gay men! Color me happy.
I got the pinky swear right away with only the Y filled in. This was a fun puzzle, done over a great cup of coffee! Thanks, Ryan!
I was really hoping for FOSTERBEAGLE.
@Gregory Melahn I had FOSTERanimal for a while! Struggled a bit in some areas but enjoyed the puzzle! Thanks!
Tough puzzle! I stuck with it and kept my streak alive but it was slow, challenging going. Very fun, liked the cluing. Nice job, constructor!
I had a little struggle with this one especially the SE corner. I got stuck thinking of hand in hand, which didn’t fit, but which blocked me from coming up with ARMINARM for a time. Coming up with CAGEY eventually gave me enough to put the rest of that section together. This is the second day in a row where most of the general knowledge/name questions (other than YEATS and KWAI) were not familiar and I needed to work from crosses, so I was pleased to finish.
I don’t PANIC or get in a TIZZY on late week puzzles, just accept that I’ll need a lot of help. Today’s puzzle was full of interesting entries and very satisfying to solve.
@suejean Keep calm and carry on. :) I'll never get a one liner through. Go for four.
Much to my surprise, I got much of this puzzle with barely a pause--especially since it strikes at my weakest areas. However, I call a Natick Foul on the crossing of 39A (the director) and 24D (the 2012 hit Country singer.) No point even in running the alphabet there. On top of that, I went to bed last night knowing it was Friday (after a long week of "up late!" Days) and woke up this morning thinking it was Sunday. Hoo, boy. For 10 Down I entered SEW and then took it out...Note to Clue-Masters: it has been a long, long time since Singer was making good sewing machines. I mourn my 1947 Singer Featherweight, but despite its portability, I SO missed the advanced features of newer brands (such as the low-tech knee-lift) that I did not enjoy sewing with it. I swear by my Janome, and if you want to go mechanical, Juki is superior. Bernina has snob-appeal, but the manual is written by the engineers; need I say more? I traded mine in for a BabyLock with a deep harp, and keep it set up for quilting. Final Comment: Hah. I wd never have connected Yale with Fine Arts.
@Mean Old Lady 39A and 24D was my last square! I guessed H because I figured a country star might as well have an alliterative name
@Mean Old Lady Jodie Foster and Meryl Streep received degrees from Yale, for what it’s worth. It was not called the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale until the 2021-22 academic year, of course.
@Mean Old Lady - I think that Paul Giamatti, Frances McDormand, Sigourney Weaver, and Meryl Streep would all be quite chuffed if would start to link Yale with quality dramatic arts and artists.