Entirely positive experience, clever theme, vivid cluing. Over the years I've learned a lot about eels from the clues here. This week I learned that no-one knows much about their erotic or procreative life, and today I learned that they are nocturnal. That gives them all day to fool around somewhere private, away from those eelers (whose erotic life also remains somewhat of a mystery). There's a bar not far from where I live called Nooners. It attracts a certain clientele and repels everybody else. A place like that is where I would look for eels on the make, if I were an eelologist. Eels probably look for that spark of electricity between them, or maybe I'm projecting. I read somewhere that Freud in his student days dissected hundreds of eels in a search for their male sex organs. That doesn't seem to rank high on a list of his achievements, but we did learn from him that the Naughty and Nice are the same people; the nice people suppress their naughty side & are the unhappier for it; and vice versa -- the trick is to be naughty AND nice, isn't that Freud 101? Asking for an eel. Back to this fine debut. I like the northerly vibe of ICE WINE (which is, yes, TOO SWEET for the likes of me -- plus one for that cross!), the INUK, the NHL'ers deking away -- our Mario Lemieux was perhaps the finest deker I've ever seen, he could deke the tennis shoes off an eel. SAME HERO's cluing was inspired, and to finish off with LEMON LIMO, awesome, 10 out of 10. Voila!
@john ezra -- First paragraph, why you are such a gift to us, and perhaps to all mankind. Magnifique! Et tu, emu.
@john ezra So awesome, I’m still r(eel)ing from and f(eeling) the r(eely) great laughs!! Thank you for st(eel)ing the Comments show!
My friend always complains when his jalopy breaks down. He's a lemon harangue guy. (I think he wrote "The Fault in Our Cars.")
@Mike The fault in our cars?! I had to comment here just to say I really laughed out loud.
@Mike He'll figure out something and fix it. He has such great enginuity! (It's not true that his favorite movie is "Khartoum.") 🚗 Emu, why not take a vacation and go for a little ride?
Well, holy moly, this debut puzzle was submitted after 39 rejections. Long before that, so many would have BAILed, or at least stopped sending puzzles to the Times. Started doubting their ability. But no, Howard persisted, and, as I imagine him, tried to do better, tried to learn from what feedback he got. Kept at it. And oh, the day he got a yes! The flood of feelings. The excitement. This is not a going-through-the-motions puzzle, as one might expect after 39 rejections. The theme has spark, with each theme answer a riddle in its own right, so I was motivated throughout, taking stabs and feeling quite satisfied when I figured one out with few crosses. The theme clues/answers brought me smiles. Lovely answers deepened the solving pleasure – GO LONG, TOOK PAINS, CUE TIPS, CULT FILMS. This is not just another grid – it has a bold look without scattershot black squares, and it has never appeared before in the Times. At 72 words and 34 blocks it is more Thursday/Friday than Tuesday, yet still works because the theme, cluing, and answer set are Tuesday. Howard, I am inspired by your persistence, your continuing to tell yourself, “Okay, I’ll find another way,” until you reached success. You, sir, are my hero of the day!
Next month will be four years since I seriously committed to solving the crossword every day. My average times have stabilized over time, which is to be expected. A very slow or very fast time has less effect, the larger the data set. What surprises me though is how often my daily time is within a few seconds, high or low, of my average. This has to be a testament to the edtiors' skill at slotting a puzzle into the correct day and tweaking and tuning the clues for that day. From here, it looks like a challenging job done extremely well.
As a blood banker, BLOOD TYPO made me think of an actual typing error resulting in the wrong blood type (yeah it can happen and it isn’t good). If you were the person making such an error, no employer would want to touch you with a TEN FOOT POLO. They’d wonder if everything was as it should be with your FRONTAL LOBO. You might then wonder WHY CONTINUO, and take up a different line of work.
Woo doggy. That was a pretty tricky little Tuesday. a total blast. Well done, Howard Neuthaler.
@Striker Tricky? I’ll say. Something went wrong for me in this puzzle. How else to explain that I was 27 minutes over my usual time for a Tuesday puzzle? Absolutely nothing gelled. Perhaps it’s just because half my kitchen is missing, thanks to an ongoing renovation. I’ll blame it on that. Maybe that would also explain why it took me so long to work out Strands today. I blame that on the spanagram. Will someone please tell me if they thought that was a plausible answer? Does such a thing even exist in the arena it referenced?
What a clever theme! NOT QUITO and LEMON LIMO are brilliant. The inclusion of several other long-O words like SLOMO, ALPO, OPPO, CAMEO, AGO and UM NO is molto BUONO. I often overindulge on that dessert drink made from frozen grapes. Just call me an ice wino. Congratulations, Howard, on your NYT debut. With 39 rejections I'd say it was longo-verdue!
The plural SATINS does not strike me as unusual. I know it from the Porgy and Bess lyric, “I’ll dress you in silks and satins.”
@Alan Young your comment strikes me as unusual
@Alan Young Agreed, Alan. Sam, no problem with cottons, linens, woolens, silks or satins. Although if satins really were a bit of a stretch - they’d be jerseys.
1. Read the clue that listed [. . . B poditive. . .] 2. Thought, "Wait until I get to the comments to blast the editors!" 3. Dutifully filled in BLOODTYPe 4. Got caught up short on TOeKPAINS 5. Slapped forehead. That I can be so slow witted in the morning constantly amazes me. That it took 39 Steps to get to this gem of a debut is also amazing (Would love to see some of those, bet they are great too). Many thanks.
@John Carson You have to approach it with the same mindset you use when a stage magician does some apparently inexplicable thing... rather than beat yourself up because you got fooled, you learn to appreciate the finesse it took to fool you.
@John Carson or same as you, but replace #2 with just read the clue and not even notice the (intentional) typos, which is what I did. Otherwise the other steps were all the same as yours 🤓😂 .:.:.:.:.:. .:.:.:.:. .:.:.:.
Maybe the most enjoyable Tuesday puzzle I've ever done. The themers are all so imaginative and so funny. It takes a certain kind of wacky wit to come up with these and I can picture Howard chortling with delight as answers like BLOOD TYPO, SAME HERO, and LEMON LIMO came flooding into his brain. They are all quite delicious and they're all clued in an exceptionally playful way. But Howard also TOOK PAINS with the non-themer clues. He seems to have been having fun there as well, as he clued MOI and BARBELLS and COLBERT and GO LONG. Sometimes a constructor's personality shines through and makes you feel that this is someone you'd enjoy having lunch with. This is one of those times. A delightful puzzle.
@Nancy What a great review!
The constructor notes on this puzzle points out something that I think about a lot. And that is almost no one (or maybe even no one at all) makes any kind of a living based on these puzzles. This was Mr. Neuthaler's 40th attempt! I defy almost anyone to point out a similar level of passion and drive. And in the end he may have ended up with $500. And this is why I reflexively defend constructors from attacks here. I realize not all puzzles are as ingenious as others, but anything that appears has spent a lot time in gestation. And it hurts me to think that after all that...after all that...they get responses like "Terrible puzzle". It just rubs me the wrong way. If these were multi-millionaire athletes getting booed, it would be one thing. Crossword puzzle makers are not in the same league in compensation, and, I my oh so very humble opinion, should also not be in that league when it comes to criticism.
@Francis I'm sure it won't surprise you to hear that I completely agree! Thanks for sharing your thoughts about it... I think it's a good reminder for folks to remember that there are humans behind these puzzles, who've poured themselves into this. It's fine to not like something and state that respectfully, and hopefully productively, but the rudeness and weird assumptions of poor intention on a constructor's part are simply uncalled for. What the hay does, "Too clever by half" even mean!? :-)
@Francis Good point, but my criticisms — on the very rare occasions they’re allowed — are not so much directed at the constructor — I doubt I could construct one myself — but at the editor for allowing the puzzle to be published. I think the presence of a bevy of proper nouns, for example, should be discouraged and publishing such puzzle is IMHO a disservice.
@Francis There are a few people who can make a living off constructing crossword puzzles, but most constructors do it because they enjoy it. And if you think about the money earned in comparison to the time spent in constructing a puzzle, it’s even more obvious that no one is doing this to get rich.
INUK crossing DEKE was a stumper for me, but otherwise a fun, challenging, but not too difficult Tuesday! I LOL’d at all the punnies.
@ds I've seen DEKE a few times before, which was useful today, especially since goals, skates, and mayhem is about all I know about the game.
@ds me too!!! I know they’ve both appeared before; I hope they stick now.
Wow, nice puzzle. Kind of difficult for this early in the week, no? A theme and everything. I wasn't expecting this much of a challenge, although the solving was fairly smooth and quick in the end....
Mr. Neuthaler writes of 40 tries before the NYT finally accepts this puzzle. He then goes on to tell us the lovely story of the crew which supports/solves his puzzle making efforts. The puzzle was a nice Tuesday but the story was the real gift. Thank you sir.
I seem to be finding quite a few of the puzzles harder than the day they appear, and today was no exception. Nothing wrong with the puzzle, very clever theme and lots of interesting entries and I’m certainly impressed with Howard’s efforts. Hopefully the next one won’t take as long to be accepted.
A very fun puzzle. I look forward to more puzzles from Howard Neuthaler! (I liked the 'cuetips' and 'qscore', also.)
Congratulations on a fun NYT debut, Mr. Neuthaler! I particularly liked SAME HERO. Your perseverance is inspiring. I hope we’ll see you back here soon.
Another terrific Toughened Up Tuesday with a clever theme. Thanks to all. ************************ ************************
Mmm… Crunchy! Love a Tuesday that actually feels like meal and not a snack! And not for nuthin’ but fantastic debut, that had a slew of Os and not an Eno Ono, or Oreo in sight!! Way to gO! CheeriO!
This was a bright Tuesday. I really liked BLOODTYPO and NOTQUITO (perhaps because I managed to guess both before I had any crosses, which I seldom manage with theme answers). Seeing the Queen of country torch singers, Patsy CLINE, sent me to Spotify to to play a few tear jerkers.
@Marshall Walthew As luck would have it, the country/country-ish playlist we often listen to with dinner had three Patsy Cline songs this evening. What a great voice.
I almost broke down and looked up stuff around the revealer. I have never heard the expression "Presto CHANGO" or the term ICE WINE, and NHLERS were a mystery (or rather, the names of the clubs were - I knew we were dealing with sports teams, but of which sport?), much like the name of local American politicians. In the end though with crosses (I did know ELLIOT) and some plausible guesses I managed to deal with that area on my own, but damn, it certainly was not Tuesday difficulty for me. Had I not known Page's name, I would have needed lookups - on a Tuesday! I am personally still not a fan of trivia-heavy puzzles, especially ones with naticky crosses. Also, having read the column, as I understand it the revealer is pronounced [change-oh]? How do you get that from the spelling? I can only see it rhyming with mango. Or am I misunderstanding the revealer and it is simply about there being an O where you would expect an E in CHANGO, much like in the themed answers? I partially understood the theme, and it sort of helped me complete the grid - in Wednesday time.
@Andrzej I'm pretty old and remember "presto chango" as a term used more in fun in reference to magic tricks or pseudo magic tricks. Also, a co-worker liked ice wine because it was really sweet, so I had to read about it. Not for me. Maybe the emus like it.
@Andrzej I presume this is the comment that some 10 hours ago you lamented had been emued. I can’t imagine it is anything but bad luck, but who knows. But like I said, I’ve been held up for as long as 4 days, so I guess 9 hours is not so bad all things considered. — — — — — — — — — — — —
@Andrzej I'm with you in hoping someone will chime in on the correct pronunciation of CHANGO as I, too, can only see it as rhyming with mango. I've only ever heard "Presto!" on its own.
Terrific debut, Howard. I loved the theme, especially NOT QUITO. Looking forward to your next one!
Very original and funny, and for me a smooth solve. I'm glad to see INUK instead of Inuit, given all the debate that's gone on in this space on the topic (i.e. the misuse of INUIT as a singular noun). ICEWINE is a Québec specialty, and I've tried it a few times -- nice flavour, but high-priced. A somewhat better value, if you like apples, is cidre de glace. Now (or in a few weeks for the peak fall coulours) is the time to come to southern Québec and go on a winery (or cidrerie) tour!
@Esmerelda I thought I would take a peak at the past frequencies of the use of the entries Inuit/Inuk and it’s kinda interesting. INUIT has appeared 57 times, but only once since late 2023 (that was 1/21/2024). INUITS just 7 times, but the last was 8/14/2024. That, of course, was the day the very first commenter criticized the use of the term and got 57 recommendations. It also got about 15 replies, two each from Steve L and BA. Today’s INUK has only appeared three times, the first being just 12/15/2023. I guess the editorial staff has learned their lesson on this one…we’ll see…
@Esmerelda and the Germans have Eiswein -expensive when available and very sweet.
Re: Satins— By itself it may not be common, but “silks and satins” is a not uncommon phrase.
@Rachel R. This explains why I was unfamiliar — I'm definitely more of a cottons and linens girl.
@Sam Corbin I remember the phrase from Bugs Bunny singing "She's the daughter of Rosie O'Grady A regular old-fashioned girl She isn't crazy for diamond rings Silkens and satins and fancy things"
Wonderful Tuesday. Inventive, but not difficult. I was trying to put "cue sticks" in but "cue tips" is even better. I pictured trying to clean your ears with a pool cue.
@Jonathan It says it right on the box: Do not put anything into your ear! Of course, everyone uses them to clean between the keys of their computer keyboard... Not!
Congratulations on and thank you for a sparkling debut, Mr. Neuthaler! I think my synapses are firing rather slowly, as I got hung up in a few spots. Either that or this was, in fact, a crunchier Tuesday than usual. It didn't help that I've never heard "Presto CHANGO" and have always known it to be just "Presto!" Then again, I don't watch magic shows, so that would explain it. And yet, I did catch on to the trick and thought it was quite clever. Thank you for a fun romp!
O WELLGEE that was neato (a little crosswordpuzzlese). The fills had a sort of giddy quality, which made it especially delightful. NOTQUITO was inspired, as were soooo many others. TOOKPAINS gave me the BLOODTYPO (knew it couldn't be some kind of toe thing) and the fun was in looking for more. I don't play a lot of hockey and stalled on DEKE, felt like a yoyo, and finally had to look for it. Howard Neuthaler, it's hard to believe that 39 of your puzzles were a no go. Thank you for persevering! More to follow, I hope!
Juicy puzzle this. Like the lemon limo (crossed with Go Long!) I encountered some difficulties along the way. Some clues really stretched me. Incidentally, I make a drink that I call Chango. It’s water kefir flavoured with mango and cherry. Well, I like it anyway. No me la quito.
Fun puzzle. A bit on the slow side for me, but tumbling to the trick was the big turning point and that's always a nice touch. Big smile when each of the theme answers finally dawned on me. Kind of on the edge of dad jokes, so definitely right up my alley (oops). VERY unusual puzzle find today. I'll put that one in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Sunday from November 5, 2006 by Derrick Niederman with the title: "Missing links." Here are some clue/answer examples. First a couple of the slightly easier ones: "White ___ House :" CHRISTMASTREE "Double ___ play :" CROSSWORD And then... some of the others: "Orange ___ Bowl :" JULIUSCAESARSALAD "Easter ___ bunny :" SEALSOFFKEYCHAINSAWDUST "i ___ Pod :" QTIPTOPBANANASPLITPEA Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/5/2006&g=14&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/5/2006&g=14&d=D</a> ..
An awesome debut, Mr. Neuthaler. All I can say is, today's puzzle is the Home of the Bravo!
I'm glad Mr. Neuthaler persevered, because submission #40 was a winner! A really fun theme that was well-executed. I especially appreciated BLOODTYPO as the first theme entry.
@Eric I kind of wanted to repeat OPPO at 21A (well, OPPOS, really) but No... That corner really had me ...well, in a corner.
Naticked on a Tuesday! EHUD/DEKES tripped me up - I clearly need to brush up on my hockey lingo and my knowledge of former world prime ministers. This one was fun! I didn't even notice the TYPOs in my quick first reading of 17A, and I enjoyed the "aha!" when I came back to it.
I love a challenge and a chuckle. Today's puzzle took me about 50% longer than the average Tuesday, but made up for it with the delightfully absurd fill on the long entries. Thanks for the good cheer, Howard Neuthaler, and I hope to see more of your work soon.
Looks like there’s a typo on this page for the answer to 24D - doesn’t the puzzle (and his actual name) only have one T?
@CW You're right that his name has only one T, but there's no error in the puzzle, which correctly spells his name ELLIOT.
@CW Oh dear, thanks for spotting that; it's been updated in the article.
An excellent Tuesday puzzle constructed by a college classmate! Encountered in the wild! And a reminder to make my next platelet donation appointment (O poditive if you’re wondering)! What a morning.
@Laura Whitaker That must have been a really cool surprise.
Ok seeing mostly complementary responses so going to be brutally honest, I thought this puzzle was terrible and not up to snuff. I love a theme, this one misses the mark. "Change O" to me should imply we should be changing all Os in the theme answers or changing letters to O's. This theme is neither. Every answer in the theme is literally what the fill should be. The theme answers should of been "blood type", "same here", "not quite", and "lemon lime", we as the solvers then could of felt the magic by "change O" the last O to reveal fill that fits. As the theme is now all of the fill is literally what it should be and I guess it's loosely put together that if you change the last O it's a still word. Weak. How is this a "brilliant illusion"? Not feeling the magic in this one.
@Jon Interesting. To me, the way it was intended made perfect sense: The answers, all ending in O's, fit perfectly with their clues. Then you change the O's to E's and – presto! – you get new phrases.
Excellent puzzle, if a bit difficult for a Tuesday, and congrats on your acceptance after so many rejections! Your perseverance is admirable. Keep it up!
I enjoyed it. A bit harder yhan Tuesday usually is, but (just?) enough to make it interesting.
Love these write ups but just one point of feedback. NHLer is a pretty popular term in ice hockey that hockey fans hear regularly. It's user to distinguish between professional players in other leagues ("lower" leagues and international) and those playing in the NHL.
@Michael A few hockey-related comments: First of all, I’m not a big NHL or hockey fan, so I couldn’t confirm or deny how common it is to distinguish NHL players from other hockey players (NHLER), but I’ll say that it doesn’t seem to be much of a thing with sports that I do follow (MLBer, NLer, ALer, NFLer, etc.) On the other hand, it’s odd that DEKES is always considered a “hockey term”. I never thought that to be exclusively the case. Just last night, the Mets’ second baseman (or maybe shortstop) deked a runner going to second that he caught the ball thrown to him, so the runner didn’t get up and advance to third. The announcer flat out said something like “Alvarez deked him and he holds at second.” I’ve heard it used in football, too, and though I’m not a big hoops fan, I’m pretty sure they say it in basketball, too. The word, by the way, is just a shortening of decoy. And finally: today’s NHLER clue would have been much better if they’d used the **Jets** and the Sharks.
Tired today—had to get up in the middle of the night to catch a 6 am flight to Miami. Or rather, to sit on the pre-dawn runway for an hour waiting to take off. That may be why it took me quite so long to get the theme. I had a rebus in there until the last (of many) minutes. Sigh. But, once I figured it out, aha! Satisfying and pretty funny. Thanks for a pleasant diversion, Howard Neuthaler & eds.
My brain wasn't at it's best today as I did a long flight yesterday but waking up and doing this crossword was exactly what I needed. A fun theme that I could really get behind and simple but fun cluing makes this one of my favorite Tuesdays. Definitely a crossword I'll look back at. Good job Howard!
“Withhold my skepticism” (as mentioned by our columnist regarding magic) was for me a good motto today. I felt the initial rabbit ears sticking out of the hat (BRB, EEL, ADO) were eventually offset by some interesting, if not quite magical, clues and/or answers (SAMEHERO, LEMONLIMO, [Prominent part of a bowline knot], and for hungry me, GORGES which can tend toward onomatopoeia if you eat just right=wrong). And in Mini news, start making plans now for your Dec 5, 2024 celebrations of World Soil Day.
My 1500th overall solve, but current streak if far, far, below that by more than 1400. Sometimes work, other commitments, and the occasional particularly frustrating puzzle gets in the way of long strings of daily solves. Today’s grid was a Tuesday-plus difficulty for me, but I found it clever and enjoyable.
Wow! What a pleasantly surprising fun and challenging puzzle for a Tuesday! I mean, not difficult. Just a little higher bar than a typical Tuesday. Nice!
Six minutes longer than usual, and a few lookups too. Harder than the average Tuesday!
Very nicely done Mr. Neuthaler. A devilishly tricky Tuesday and a very fun solve. Great way to get the neurons firing along with a good cup of coffee and a lap kitty 😺.
Yikes, that was a toughiO for MOI! Good fun but tough! I actually had to do a lookup... on a Tuesday! And maybe I didn't have to but I chose to because I don't think I could have completed the section where the revealer is in the left middle without it. I was already way long for a Tuesday. For the life of me, I could not think of a Hollywood star whose last name was Page. I wasn't tricked by the veiled capital, I just didn't know who it was. And everything else there was a no go for me. I eventually remembered the DALEYs but that was it. I couldn't think of anything that would follow presto, even though I had all the theme set completed and I knew the revealer must end in O. I don't know if it was that much tougher or if I'm that much slower today but it was fun nonetheless. I really liked each of the themed answers - very fun! And I'm proud that I've been remembering DEKES as a hockey trick. Now if only I could remember NHL team names. What I know about hockey, could fill a hockey stadium! Or is it arena? Ugh, see!? O well! Hi ho, hi ho, back to workO, I go!
@HeathieJ right there with you - haven’t had to do a lookup on a Tuesday in ages, but I just wasn’t on the same page as the clues today.
@HeathieJ It's a strange phenomenon having an answer right on the tip of your tongue but can't dig it out of our brains. What does it mean that "we can't find the answer"? What are our brains doing when they try to recall something that is there and yet isn't quite? I suspect one of the last areas human will understand, if we don't slip on an apocalyptic banana peel, will be our own brains. Maybe the most mysterious three pounds of goo anywhere in the universe, although I suspect there are thousands of advanced civilizations out there. I also suspect that not even one of them has managed to contact another.
"B poditive"? For a moment there, I thought we were heading into the sci-fi territory of the pod people. But it was a cleverer theme than that. Thanks, Mr. Neuthaler. More puzzles, please.
@Linda Jo What's really funny is that my eyesight is such that I'm only barely getting the clues read anyway, let alone knowing if they're misspelled. The other day a lot of use misread "titled widows" as "tilted windows". I was one of them. Or maybe it was visa versa. My memory is also getting dull. So I didn't notice the misspelling until I was already trying to figure out why it was BLOODTYPO rather than BLOODTYPe.