"But I can't write with this pencil!" "You're missing the point." (Not my first choice for a pun, but it's #2.)
@Mike Oysters are said to put lead in your pencil. A PESCETARIAN diet that deserves a standing ovation.
So much for the “hardest week of the year.” I kind of sailed through that one. That said, I had a long day, and a perfect Friday really hit the spot. Thanks, Jackson Matz. Also… My long day involved working with developers on an app I’m building. Being on the other side really makes you appreciate how amazingly smooth the NYT Games App works. We tend to gripe when things aren’t perfect, but (trust me!) we should be thanking more people than just the constructors and editors in these comments. There’s a hardworking team behind the scenes whose job is to make sure we don’t notice them. Well, *now I’m noticing!* A sincere thank you to the NYT Games App team. You folks are doing a phenomenal job.
@Striker Why would this be the hardest week of the year?
@Striker Very strong second! I could not possibly agree more. I spent nearly 20 years in software development, and the amount of work that must go into some of these puzzles is astonishing. AND it has to work on several different platforms--computers with different browsers, phones with different operating systems, etc. So we lightly joke about "an edit button". That could cause massive changes in the software, as well as having serious ramifications for data storage. Hats off to you, guys! Nobody's perfect, but I'm impressed and I pretty sure you're underappreciated.
I solve the NYT crossword daily, but rarely read the insight column provided, maybe once in a Blue Sunday to see how the columnist and or creator thought of it. This Friday was a doozy: medium hard as Friday goes but very unique and so many possible ways to look at many of the clues and answers. So I had to understand its provenance, expecting a seasoned possibly decades long veteran. Thus was I surprised to read of the creator's age and life status. Very impressive! I hope they keep it up and don't get bogged down with trivialities like attending college. Keep them coming!
Gorgeous design – never appearing before in a Times puzzle. No wayward black squares, a pair of scrapbook photo corners, lovely diagonals. I feel peace just gazing at the empty grid. Not out of high school, this is Jackson’s third NYT puzzle. His first puzzle had a clue I adore: [Needle on a thread] for TROLL. To me, that’s punny, but not in an eyerolling way. Today, more smile-producing punny clues – [A lot to like] for PRIME REAL ESTATE, [Safe place] for BANK, [Windy flight] for SPIRAL STAIRCASE – plus Beauty In Answer with SHEBANG and PESCETARIAN. Speaking of cluing, AONE, which has appeared in the major outlets more than 600 times, is almost always clued something like [Top notch], so I loved seeing that Battleship clue today. And here’s a puzzle-inspired riddle: What (not-in-the-puzzle) word relates to both MORTAL and SPIRAL STAIRCASE?* Jackson, I hope you continue to construct. There’s a chance, says my intuition, that you are like the young David Steinberg, who started good, and just got better, with a continuously rising arc, moving into the top tier. Please? More puzzles? And thank you for a most enjoyable outing today! * coil
@Lewis I thought DANGER, ha ha....
Great puzzle, Jackson! Good luck with your college apps.
51A “unwelcome sight in musical chairs” would work well for the frequently used answer SRO.
I can often do Friday puzzles quite easily, but not today. Not knowing some of the trivia and apparently not being on the constructor's wavelength were my undoing - I needed several lookups and autocheck to finish in reasonable time. I have had much better results even on many Saturdays, including those decried by man as being too hard. It is really interesting how idiosyncratic solving experiences can be. I have never seen HAVOCS used as a verb, but I suppose dictionaries allow it? ERICH threw me - I speak German so I would never think of pronouncing the name to rhyme with RICH, and that mental leap was needed to get the answer. I wanted ERICa there, for a Spanish connection to riches. I sighed when I saw the Detroit Lions spanner - just what a foreign solver wants: an uber-long American sport entry 🤣. For an experienced American solver this must have been an enjoyable puzzle, and not very hard, either. For me it was impossibly difficult in places, but I'm not complaining - you can't win them all as a foreigner.
@Andrzej HAVOCS as a verb was new to me, but it’s in my dictionary, so I can’t complain about it. I had no idea on the Detroit Lions clue, either. I got the -ING DAY part first and briefly thought it might have something to do with training, before realizing that that would have been too generic to fit the clue.
@Andrzej As I was working hard at the puzzle I thought it would be a beast for non-native speakers. Not a puzzle question, but a Polish language one: my grandfather was from Zaręby Kościelne. Is ę pronounced "em?" My mother had told me he was from Zaremb, which I could never find on a map. Thanks.
HAVOC is not a verb and as Calvin told Hobbs “verbing weirds language”
@Ιασων Merriam-Webster includes a definition for "havoc" as a verb: "transitive verb: to lay waste : destroy" <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/havoc" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/havoc</a> The Google definition notes it is "archaic."
@Ιασων Actually it was a verb (used by no less than Milton) in the seventeenth century. The OED entry has nothing more recent than Tennyson.
Mr. Matz' construction was rife with challenging clues, but solving it was not frustrating, as some recent puzzles have been, and weirdly (with no political connotation), the long fills were easier than a lot of the short ones. The simplicity of what looked like impossible spans made me smile every time one emerged. And when it was done? THANKSGIVING DAY. Thank you Jackson, for a beautifully made Friday crossword puzzle. If it's not too late, attach this one to your college applications and you will be sure to get their attention. (Don't forget to include the solve in a separate sealed envelope.) Please be assured that we will all be sending good karma your way. When things settle down, you'll know what to do (another construction, please).
Any crossword that features wordplay on the entry SPIRALSTAIRCASE is automatically a good puzzle in my book. It's amazing how many ways that it can be clued in a fun way. Excellent job Jackson!
I found this a challenge; it took me quite a bit over my Friday average (or even Saturday average). Among my false starts: 13A: echoes 25A: alum 48A: inductee 8D: aces I'm pleased that at least I didn't have to look anything up. A very impressive puzzle, especially for a high schooler! Kudos.
Being OLD, I thought of PIPPA Longstocking and her pigtails, and just thought J.Matz was being cute with "pig tales"...until IXES made no sense. I vaguely recall that PEPPA PIG was mentioned in the past, but that's not a tale/pig that was part of childhood for me or for our kids (both now in their 40's...yipes.) As bad a time as I had yesterday, that's how quickly I was filling in the Very Long Entries in this puzzle. 6D was instantaneous. I'd like to point out that THANKSGIVING DAY is on most Americans's schedule...(How many months have 28 days?) I question 33 HAVOCS as a verb...(insert wait time for Barry to leap in with a defense, even while the THUD is still echoing...) Best trick: 25A. Best clue: "Kind of number represented by M=v/c" Or maybe 30A "Windy flight?" Or 10D "A lot to like?" Best show of resisting temptation: working out 15A even though my bird book is Right There. Major props to Jackson Matz! More, please.
@Mean Old Lady PEPPA Pig is too recent for even your children, but the Swedish girl is not. However, her name is Pippi, not Pippa, anyway. The defense for HAVOC as a verb is simply that it’s in the dictionary. And that point has already been made by others.
@Mean Old Lady The last time HAVOC was a verb, according to the OED, was the nineteenth century, and most of the examples are from the seventeenth.
I was ready to be hostile about HOSTAL being spelled wrong but of course I was spelling PESCETARIAN wrong (and even now my phone’s spell check also prefers PESCATARIAN).
@Justin You were only spelling it wrong for this puzzle. Either spelling is accepted. I believe the e spelling was the original, but the a spelling is more common.
I trust the commentariat will find this a gentle solve after yesterday's challenge. I don't recall meeting HAVOCS as a verb; as a noun, I have seen a lot of havoc. Put lots of clues in those apps, Jackson!
@Barry Ancona Dear Barry, HAVOCS can indeed serve as a verb, as Merriam can attest. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/havoc" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/havoc</a> :) -the emus
Started strong by quickly filling in THANKSGIVINGDAY, worked my way through what was for me an enjoyable but challenging puzzle, ready for glory and ... nothing. No happy music. Took me forever to find my error at the intersection of HOSTaL and PESCaTARIAN. My Barcelona eyes have gone native, and they refused to see the Spanish word HOSTaL for HOSTEL as anything but correct, especially crossed with what I thought was not only the preferred but only way to spell PESCaTARIAN. So double the time and triple the relief to finally get this one in the books!
My goodness. Always in awe of a constructor’s skill, I am doubly so when said constructor is still in their teens. MAN, I was shaving my hair and head banging to punk rock at that age. Which probably explains my cognitive decline. Another tough puzzle; it’s been one of those weeks, but a few runs at it got me going. Those long spanner’s helped. Despite knowing nothing about American football other than what I’ve gleaned from the grids, I got 1D fairly swiftly with helpful crosses. I wanted ChowChow for SHARPEI but was saved by lack of space. Haven't read the Tin Drum for years but the name emerged from somewhere out the back of my head. That K gave me the in. There’s a very old black and white horror film called 30A that scared the bejesus out of me as a teen. Watched it again around 20 years ago. Yep, still gave me the creeps. Well done Mr Matz. Along with everyone here I applaud you and wish you well on your next stage of education.
@Helen Wright Not only is it a clue about American football, but the answer is an American holiday! Playing a Thanksgiving Day game dates back to the early years of football, when college teams traditionally played on that day as early as 1876. Pro teams soon emulated the college holiday games. Traditionally, the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys each host a game on Thanksgiving Day, which is always a Thursday. They (as well as their opponents, of course) therefore do not play the following Sunday, which is when the bulk of the schedule is played each week. A third game, played on Thanksgiving night, is a recent addition. Since there is now one Thursday night game every week, that's unsurprising, and the host teams are not fixed like the day games are. See, now you know more about American football than you knew before!
@Helen Wright Yep, it's like watching football matches on Boxing Day, because there's nothing else going on. Just curious, was that a tradition before matches were televised?
Tough but good. Solid Friday puzzle. Well done to the constructor.
Yowza, I second the comments saying this was difficult for a Friday. Had lots of incorrect fills at first, especially in the NW and upper middle, but I eventually made it. Great clues for ERICH and SPIRAL STAIRCASE, and the crossing clues were all great entries. Good luck in college, Jackson!
One of those puzzles where I had very few answers filled in at first but slowly but surely things started to fill in. I really enjoy those types. My favorite answer was Erich for the crypto investor. I had to look at that twice before I got it.
A nice challenge. I thought I was lost after my first run through, but I continued to plug along and got it. Nice long intersecting answers, and I liked the layout look before I even started.
@John I also thought I was beat after my first run through but I kept plugging and even finished with no look ups in below average time.
Mr. Matz is an impressive student. I predict that his applications for early decision to Northwestern University, University of Michigan and Boston University will be looked upon favorably. QUES.:Why those three, you ask? ANS.: Because all three of them have Crossword Clubs! And, he'll be pre-med; my prediction is based upon his subconscious choice of "MCAT" for 39D---a.k.a.. the "Medical College Admission Test" Good luck, Jackson!
Maybe a sports fan (a few good entires today). BU, short walk to Fenway. Northwestern, a few el stops to Wrigley. Michigan, pretty good football team I hear.
@Joseph my blue heeler Wrigley says thanks for calling out the place she got to visit when she was 7 months old, just starting her service dog training before coming back to Washington State
@William Schrader I guess you know that you can’t apply to more than one school early decision (unlike “early action”). In the article I’ve linked below our constructor is wearing a UVa sweatshirt, so I suspect that’s in the running. OTOH, his older brother goes to Duke and is the crossword editor of their newspaper. I sure hopes he keeps us informed of where he ends up, talented guy(three varsity sports, musician, Model UN)…. <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y6fw6bmh" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/y6fw6bmh</a> — — — —
Fan-Fri-Tastic! What more could we ask for? Yesterday a college student, today high school. Gotta give us all hope for this next generation! Happy Friday, all!
I went away from this puzzle after achieving an almost blank grid after many minutes, continuing my morning ritual of Strands, Connections, and Wordle. Forgot about it, did my errands, etc and finally went back to it. My failed attempt , greenbaypackers, finally gave way to THANKSGIVINGDAY and eventually everything fell into place. Upon reading that the constructor, Jackson, is a high school senior I was bowled over. Truly amazing feat for someone so young! Such a great puzzle to boot. Good luck with your college applications Jackson. As someone who wrote many a recommendation for my AP Bio students over a 30 year career, I know how arduous they can be to complete and how torturous the wait is.
SPARROW led me straight to Simon & Garfunkel, "El Condor Pasa," a song I haven't listened to in decades, so I'll start by thanking you, Jackson, for this: <a href="https://youtu.be/i6d3yVq1Xtw?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/i6d3yVq1Xtw?feature=shared</a> Another thanks goes to you for including the team VASCO (da Gama) in the grid. Well, not really. Flamengo is the way to go! :-) But still, anything from Rio is fine by me, though I can't imagine how most solvers fared with this one except through the crosses. I know that I would have been asea had I not had one foot in Rio. This was a most enjoyable puzzle and I had a blast with the spanners. And so, thank you, Jackson, for this great puzzle, and best wishes for good luck with college applications. I do hope they'll consider the great achievement that it is to already have three puzzles published in the NYT. It's really very impressive!
@sotto voce Since I don’t follow Brazilian club soccer, I greatly appreciated the “named for an explorer” addendum to the soccer club clue. Of course, I spelled it VASCa (I just can’t seem to remember the correct spelling).
@sotto voce Vasco da Gama was the only Portuguese explorer I could come up with, so it made it very easy.
@sotto voce Nice S&G call out SV! They must have had a thing for sparrows because there’s a song titled Sparrow on their first album. My mind also went to Maybe Sparrow by Neko Case. Do emus and sparrows get along?
Boy, what a struggle -- but I felt at every point that it was an educational one with grown-up fill and good cluing. Lots of write-overs: RAPS before RIPS; ALUM before AUNT; and bRiCK at the end of the "extremely solid" clue instead of ROCK, with no lead-in words. That really threw me off in the West. Great clues for PARANOID; MORTAL and SPIRAL STAIRCASE. Why can't I remember my diets? If only PESCETARIAN had come in sooner, it would have saved me a lot of struggle. OTOH, I who remember nothing somehow remembered that it's the SHARPEI that has a blue tongue -- although I did first confirm the answer with IPOS. This is exactly the sort of puzzle I hope for on a Friday. Chewy, interesting, and fair.
Hi, @Nancy! What do you have against crabs? both your puzzles published yesterday had clues for a four-letter foodstuff which (as clued) could be [soft- or hard-shelled], and in both instances, it turned out to be tacos! Now I'm jonesing for a nice soft-shell crab--batter-dipped, pan-fried, and served with sauce remoulade--and I'm not even pescatarian! I enjoyed doing both puzzles, but especially the WSJ. Thank you! (I hope I got the right @Nancy. I get you guys mixed up, especially when you start sparring back and forth:-)
Loved the long spanners, was so pleased when SPIRALSTAIRCASE turned out to be correct. Still needed help as always with end of week puzzles. I was surprised that we had such a young constructor today and hope Jackson will still find the time to do the crosswords when at college.
Finally!!! An excellent puzzle, one of the best Ive ever seen! No complaints with this one at all.
I posted initial thoughts last night after a very long day. To sum up: very smooth solve, best Friday ever, and very enjoyable puzzle, plus a joke about all my exes living in Texas. Looking at the puzzle again in the light of a new day, I appreciate it even more! I love a good theme but for themeless puzzles, I'm totally okay with out a theme when there's such good, fun wordplay/witticisms/misdirection, etc.—and this one is chock-full of it! My favorites: —Pig *tales* for PEPPA is so cute!! —No contact rule for EXES is a fun misdirect, especially right after completing a football entry —A lot to like for PRIME REAL ESTATE is just so clever! —Windy flight for SPIRAL STAIRCASE was the only spanner I struggled with, initially thinking of Chicago as the windy city. —Like you and me for MORTAL—wonderfully vague and so cute upon discovery! —Vault opener for POLE! So clever and fun! Those were favorites but the whole SHEBANG was fun and sparkly to me! And it taught me some things I did not know, whether I remember them or not is a whole other matter! Glad I went back over it again to remind myself what a gem it is! If I solve too late at night, especially a themeless, I might enjoy doing it, but don't always remember what made it so special unless I review next day! So thanks again, Mr. Matz, for another wonderful puzzle and best wishes on your college pursuits!
@HeathieJ I meant to end my comment with, "A lot to like, indeed!" but I got distracted when a work call came in and hastily hit submit! 😊
Had “Inductee” instead of INITIATE for 48A, which fit perfectly with “Udon” (rather than MISO) for 45D, which made solving the SE quadrant . . challenging. Good, challenging Friday puzzle.
How does HE know I’m not immortal?
@352nightowl Are you Wowbanger the Infinitely Prolonged, crisscrossing the galaxy insulting every sentient being in the galaxy? In alphabetical order?
@Francis It all started with an irrational particle accelerator, a liquid lunch, and a pair of rubber bands and has yet to end.
I found this one very easy -- solved it in under half my usual time. The clues were very amusing. Sometimes the joy is in solving the clues but sometimes it's also in reading them.
I started slowly on this one, but picked up speed when two of the long downs (THANKSGIVINGDAY, which I knew, and MISSINGTHEPOINT, which I guessed with only one cross) came to me quickly. I needed a few more crosses to get PRIMEREALESTATE. But the highlight of the puzzle for me was the central horizontal spanner, SPIRALSTAIRCASE, for windy flight. The puzzle was reasonably breezy — even if this clue was not. Being a birder helped me get SPARROWS, as did having a PESCETARIAN daughter, and who would have ever guessed that having read The Tin Drum would pay dividends in a crossword puzzle decades later. Most of the rest of the puzzle was not in my wheelhouse and had to be pieced together by logic and guesswork. And therein lies the joy.
S’POSE a sleepy solver NODDED off a few times and *entered bizarro letters while not actually awake*! Would that be proof of the existence of the unmoved mover? More like the unsolved solver. But after MISSING THE POINT in such a weird way, it was a fun finish. Nighty-night!
@Cat Lady Margaret I have been that sleepy solver many nights. Not tonight, though; this was a lot of fun.
Well that was fun and about perfect for a Friday. Well done!
Such a rewarding and challenging breath of relief after yesterday's disaster of a puzzle. Many thanks!
Although I finished at six minutes above my average, I’m a huge fan of this puzzle because it was challenging with so many clever clues, but it was also fair. Congratulations to Jackson Matz on a fine piece of work.
I was initially put off with some of the trivia (1 across) but decided to push on. Ended up in below average time after persisting. Nice puzzle and very impressive for a high school senior! I expect we will hear more from him in the future!
Sorry, no mainstream online dictionary spells PESCETARIAN as you’ve used. It’s PESCATARIAN everywhere.
Rob, Look again. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pescatarian" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pescatarian</a> how do you spell emu?
Last time I recall seeing SPIRAL STAIRCASE, I believe Will clued it as, "It turns into another story", which I think was a favorite of his.
@Adam Mellis Deb spotlighted this clue and puzzle in the Wordplay column. You're correct. . . . , . Emus don't fly or climb spiral staircases
Strangely, after several difficult days for me, this was my best Friday ever! And a clean solve! Huzzah!! Loved the spanners! Somehow they just came to me. THANKSGIVING DAY needed no crosses and the others I only had like two or three crosses for before filling them in. I don't think we ever knew Porky's age but I assume it was much more than four, so for once I didn't have to debate which pig wasn't question, or whether two or four legs are better... Also, I'm reading something into 8D, EXES, considering Thursday's puzzle had the scrambled Texas right up in that same corner.... and after all, don't all your exes live in Texas!? All mine do! 😉
A reasonable Friday challenge, made more challenging by my inability to remember the correct spellings of PESCETARIAN and VASCO de Gama. I enjoyed the quote from my one-time neighbor, Molly Ivins, even though it reminded me how much I miss her writing. Thanks for a colorfully clued romp, Mr. Matz! And good luck with the college admissions process.
@Eric Hougland The fish-eater is either spelled PESCETARIAN or pescatarian. Apparently, the word derives from the Italian pesce, so the E was the original form. But since it wound up being pronounced with a K sound in English, which doesn't usually work with a "ce" combination, the second spelling appeared. So either way, you'd be right. Except in this crossword.
As soon as I finish the puzzle it would appear that size of the font in the fill increases just a tad and the puzzle seems smaller than the vast empty space I stared at a little while back. Fairly sure it’s all in my head … Nice puzzle. The crosses helped with THORNE, MCATS and SHARPEI but otherwise fair and not too USeteric.
Loved it. Legitimately challenging with many well written clues. ERICH below HAVOCS was novel, as I’ve not heard HAVOC used as a verb before or pronounced ERICH as “E-RICH”. However in the spirit of the puzzle, one creates havoc with confusion and obfuscation, so it seemed appropriate. APES before EXES, INDUCTEE before INITIATE, SAMOYED before SHARPEI, PIPPI before PEPPA, JEER before JAPE. I see a lot of enthusiasm for the hometown football team - people ask if I am onboard and I usually say the same thing: at some point I realized I could name more football players than US Presidents. Maybe that isn't unique or relevant, it just seems hard to avoid. Cheers
Lovely! tricky but lots of fun. The vault opener was chefs kiss. Well done Jackson!
Great Friday challenge. Tricky in a brain-teasing way but not gimmicky. Thank you!
This is one of the funnest puzzles I’ve done in a while!!! Senior in high school?!? Good luck to you, Jackson! I’m super impressed and can’t wait to do your next puzzle!
@Amelia I agree, I'm also impressed and best of luck to Jackson for your college admissions!
This was an amazing puzzle! It felt too difficult for a Friday, but by the end I didn't care, since I had so much fun solving it. The fill is unbelievably lively, with barely any glue (MCATS was the last entry to fall into place). The juxtaposition of THEISM and PEPPA Pig tickles me for some reason. I believe this is one of the best crosswords I've ever solved.
@Katie It's certainly better than yesterday's! ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (I do this instead of emuing)
I liked this one as much as I disliked yesterday's. No gimmicks, but included long entries, thought of alternative usage was mandatory, fair clues - deceptive but not cryptic. Way over my average but a pleasure to solve.