I had a date last night. Then I had an apricot. (It was the pits!)
@Mike I hope you weren't in some seedy motel.
@Mike Plumming the depths, I guess. I though you were raisin your standards.
@Mike well this comment thread was just peachy
Quick witted. I'd swipe right on this for sure! There should be a dating site for puzzles, don't you think? Not constructors or solvers, the puzzles themselves. Let's call it PUZZLR. First you post a picture of yourself, maybe half filled in (an alluring look) & then work on your profile: "I like hidden Easter eggs, sports themes, my ultimate fantasy is a sextuple stack." "I like oreos, rebuses, listening to Eno & Ono..." "I can be difficult and I don't suffer fools, some would call me hard to get. But I'm worth it." "I'd like to engage in coaxial symmetry with someone on my wavelength." "I'm pretty easy and just looking for a good time, preferably under four minutes." When puzzles find a match, sometimes it can be a real success. I've known puzzles who met on PUZZLR & now have families. One couple down the street now has two minis and a pet wordle and the latest Dodge Acrostic sedan. OK, before this riff gets old (lotta ways to go with it, but brevity is the soul of wit) congrats on this debut: solid effort! I admired the chutzpah of beginning with "OFF OF" -- there's a good reason we haven't seen it seen 1966 -- and I liked seeing IGA (Swiatek) crossing with SWIPE RIGHT: she also swipes (her racquet) right! Also the good combo of NO TIP / DONORS Band names: ICHOR BUTTE; ACE TEN & THE NONETS; DINO GRIT; DEAD CARD; KROC POD. And of course that indy band of "leftists," SMUDGY EMPIRE.
@john ezra My gosh, this is absolutely brilliant. I'll never look at a puzzle the same way again! 😂
@john ezra Your comments are regularly delightful, this one especially so. May we all, puzzles and people alike, find love in a hard world!
john ezra, I uprose and applauded, while smiling out loud. Genius.
@john ezra Was that a backhanded comment about Ms Swiatek?
@john ezra Just had to pop in to say, what a great post.
@john ezra, I agree, super comment! Thanks for the chuckle!
@Wayne Harrison I came here to say exactly that!
@Wayne Harrison it's in fifth edition of shorter oed if you can believe it
Yes, UPROSE. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uprose" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/uprose</a> My uprisings are more often uprisen, but uprose isn't wrong.
@Robco I believe it. There are an awful lot of words in the OED. That doesn’t mean I would use all of them.
@Wayne Harrison I had no problem with uprose. "The people uprose in revolt."
Congratulations, Lindsay Rosenblum. I'd say you are a fast learner. Not bad for a debut, and tiptop for a dream come true. 👏👏👏
First off, a shout-out to Sam for alluding to Steely Dan and "Reelin' In The Years." Well done, Sam, well done. <a href="https://youtu.be/5b6fPnBtUqw?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/5b6fPnBtUqw?feature=shared</a> As a bonus, here's "Do It Again," also from 1972: <a href="https://youtu.be/7SM_eJKVlzs?feature=shared" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/7SM_eJKVlzs?feature=shared</a> Their live performance in the first video is a bit more uptempo than the studio version. And I kind of like the word "uptempo" as a quality of this puzzle. A snazzy uptempo puzzle. Yes it was. And if I hadn't already solved it, I would do it again – solve it, all over again, because it went much too quickly and I'd love to enjoy it from scratch. I have no SWIPEs to take at this puzzle, Ms. Rosenblum. It was delectable all the way through. Congratulations on a fine debut and thank you!
@sotto voce I must have forgotten to refresh my browser before posting but at least I posted a different song.
@sotto voce For your Side B allusion. (I keep waiting, in vain, for someone to spell 20A Link Wray’s way.) The inventor of the power chord: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TddkJKg5PNw" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TddkJKg5PNw</a>
@sotto voce I am glad you posted this. I read the caption on the photo, and thought of Steely Dan, but I thought the guy at the piano was Ray Charles(!) instead of Donald Fagen. My brain just couldn't unsee that. I did like the puzzle too.
Nice theme and fresh clues, I enjoyed the puzzle. However, not having heard of INSULT COMIC, RIM SHOT or COTAUGHT I googled the trivia that crossed with those entries (the fast food guy, the university, and the actress). I tried not to seek outside help at first but in the end I was just too confused. As a result, this was another Tuesday I solved close to Wednesday time. Also, entering NOTIP I realized something I have known for ages, apparently, but have not thought about until today. In English it is possible to leave nothing behind, or to leave no tip. Polish doesn't allow that. Over here you can only say you did not leave anything behind, or that you did not leave a tip. In other words, in Polish you can't leave a lack of something: you can only not leave something. "Zostawiłem nic" - "I left nothing [behind]" - consists of valid Polish words but is not a correct Polish sentence. The Polish negation in such sentences must associated with the verb, not only with the noun (I'm sure somebody can put that better into words). I'm glad I must have learned this organically as a child because it would be a very unnatural and abstract thing to grasp for an adult.
@Andrzej in English leaving nothing behind also means taking everything.
@Andrzej In English it would sound strange to say "I left NO TIP" but it works for the puzzle. I would say "I didn't leave a tip." We also have this idiom: "leaves nothing (or a lot) to be desired," although I would say it's used more in print than spoken. As in, "the dinner was excellent; it left nothing to be desired."
@Andrzej English lets you negate either the verb or the noun - it's flexible in this way; one can equally say "I left no tip" and "I didn't leave a tip." Requiring negation of the noun in this instance feels more "Germanic" - e.g., in Dutch you always negate the indefinite article ("een" i.e., "a") with ("geen" i.e. "no"). So you always say "ik heb geen fooi gegeven" (I have left no tip). But to negate the definite article ("de/het" i.e., "the"), you negate the verb with "niet" i.e. "not"). "Ik heb de rekening niet betaald" (I didn't pay the bill). For English speakers it's more typical to follow what I'm guessing is the "Romance" route and negate the verb, though - I imagine that "I didn't leave a tip" is much more common than "I left no tip" and indeed the negated noun feels just slightly archaic (slightly!). Using noun-negation exclusively for indefinite forms is a bit hard to learn for an English speaker, because it's not super typical in speech, but it must be easier than for other languages since at least the form exists in English.
@Andrzej ”I'm glad I must have learned this organically as a child because it would be a very unnatural and abstract thing to grasp for an adult.” Speaking as someone who has learned Polish as an adult, I don’t think this is one of the more unnatural or abstract or hard to grasp things. There’s plenty of fun little things that are way more likely to trip up a learner. 😁 That said, Polish is a great language and not nearly as complicated as the reputation it has would suggest. I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to pick up a new language. 😊 As for the puzzle, I enjoyed it! Lots of lively clues and new trivia for me to learn!
@Andrzej This is the most wonderfully multi-national set of comment/replies I've seen yet! I'm way too lit to understand it now, but I look forward to coming back and doing so very soon.
@Bruce I didn't say it wasn't correct, just that I think it would be odd (archaic or whatever) to hear someone say it that way, depending perhaps on how bad the experience was. Using "no" implies more emphasis so if someone were really upset they might say "I left NO tip AND I spoke to the manager." An opposite example is "He left no stone unturned," which would sound silly as "He didn't leave any stones unturned," or worse, "He turned all the stones." 😂
Being left handed is a chore for English handwriting. Every character is running away from you. That and the “binders” of notebooks on the right-side page… Notepads avoided this nagging issue but weren’t robust enough for the scholastic daily grind. I finally gave up in college and took notes writing backward and, for the right-side page, I flipped the notebook a full 180° and wrote “bottom-up” — always away from the binder. It was this eccentricity that allowed, in-turn, a self-conviction that my high D+ test score was actually a high A.
@Steven Completely off topic but a chance to say something else in sympathy with lefties--our daughter is one--having to use right-handed scissors. It's nearly impossible to see the line you want to cut along. In the bad old days, those scissors didn't even close correctly for lefties. There used to be left-handed scissors and I hope there still are. But the cheap solution was to create ones without that closing problem but still for righties. Those stiill pose the same problem for lefties. All right-handed teachers (and parents of lefties) should be made to try out a true left-handed scissor! And then buy them. we did.
Found it a bit harder than most Tuesdays. Once again, the puzzle shows how different a world younger generations have experienced than coming of age in the 1970’s. Back then, finding the courage to directly ask someone on a date and being prepared to have them say no to your face was an important lesson in life.
@JM Have some sympathy for attractive wonen who have to deal with the other side of that situation constantly, from men that they enjoy being around but aren't interested in having a relationship with, from strangers in bars, from aggressive creeps sitting next to them in a bus. It can poison friendships and ruin days, and having to constantly come up with a deft response for a given situation must be exhausting.
@JM I assure you, as someone who met her partner 10 years ago on OK Cupid, life still offers a wide variety of opportunities for someone to reject you to your face!
Congratulations on a fun NYT debut, Ms Rosenblum! Nicely done! I'm impressed (and a little jealous) that you're published here after only a year's worth of construction experience. I hope we'll see you back here soon.
Off of was one of those rare moments when my “it’s probably not this” guesses actually worked out. Right off of the bat.
1 Down was a layup for me. That's where I met my wife 13 years ago! Great way for me to start today's puzzle, one week shy of our wedding anniversary.
Very nicely done, Lindsay! Congrats on the debut!
This was a really fun solving experience for me, and I managed to work out enough of the grid on my own to say that I solved this by myself. I completely agree with the statement about debuts, there have been several amazing debuts that I've solved that I still look back on to this day. Great job!
Yet another early week puzzle that I found quite difficult, but most didn’t, so won’t grumble. Impressive debut, and I enjoyed Lindsay’s remarks.
Any column that can send me down a Steely Dan rabbit hole is OK by me. Thanks, Sam. I miss the 70s. <a href="https://youtu.be/GCX635Z7_PE?si=_kOxVMq_M2v4EX_Q" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/GCX635Z7_PE?si=_kOxVMq_M2v4EX_Q</a>
Emus are hunting tonight? Let's try this again. Re: 44D SMUDGY? Not like words written in ink by this lefty. EOM
@Barry Ancona I had SlantY at first, but when that didn’t fit with crosses, I visualized the left hand being pushed behind the pen, from left to right, perforce over ink that has not yet dried. Obviously, left-handed adults have figured this out, and I suppose your hand floats as naturally at the angles it chooses as a right handed person’s does? The clue for SMUDGY seemed a bit judgy to me too. Should we take cheer in the fact that since they’re no longer teaching children to write cursive, or even to print properly, it won’t be a problem for long? Another problem solved! I have observed a few kids in a class of 25 who have clearly put in practice; they care about being able to write fairly fluidly. Others children resort to cramming their words into one corner of the paper, so they don’t have to move their hand as much.
@Barry Ancona I found this to be an example of a left-handed swipe. My brother was left handed and I don't recall his having any problems with smudges. One thing I noticed with him as well as others was that his hand curled curled away from the wet ink to avoid smudges.
@Barry Ancona Mine aren't either. Because the only pens I use is at the POS LCD screens.
@Jennifer Why do you think kids aren’t taught handwriting? Do you really think schools have completely eschewed paper? This is a really persistent myth among older people lately.
@Flamingo Not a gimme for me, and perhaps harder than your average Tuesday clue, but still a valid clue nonetheless. Did you by any chance look it up? I'll save you the trouble. Uprose is the past tense of uprise. The #3 definition out of 8 listings for uprise at dictionary.com is "to rise in revolt".
@Flamingo Hardly. I can use it in a sentence easily: Jack found himself UPROSE in a Renault Towncar in the cargo hold. There you go!
@Flamingo I had UPNOSE for way too long 😂
Clever puzzle and an enjoyable Tuesday workout. Most of it came together fairly smoothly but had to work the down crosses to get MMAFIGHTER and then... the reveal finally dawned on me. Just made for a nice 'aha' moment at the end. And... puzzle find of course. Similar theme in a Wednesday puzzle from February 19, 2020 by Alex Eaton-Salners. That one had two reveals, both of them referencing two other answers in the puzzle. One was SWIPELEFT and one was SWIPERIGHT. And can't say that I entirely grasp what was going on there. I'll just provide the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/19/2020&g=65&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/19/2020&g=65&d=A</a> I'm done. ...
@Rich in Atlanta The phrases referenced in the SWIPE LEFT revealer have a soundalike synonym for to SWIPE (steal) at the left (beginning) (LYFT, KNICK), and the phrases referenced in the SWIPE RIGHT revealer have a soundalike synonym for to SWIPE (steal) at the right (end) (STEEL, KOP). Hope this helps!
OFFOF at 1A was a bit unpleasant, though I liked it more once I found INON at 38D. KEENS, ICHOR and GESTS were interesting, and the theme was solid enough. Congrats on the debut!
@Xword Junkie Since OFF was born as an emphatic term of OF, the combination OFF OF seems redundant (and is obviously so in sentences like "Get OFF OF me!" and even in the context given in the clue), it seems clunky to many of us. But alas, language changes, and OFF OF has come to be a common expression lately. And you can't argue that the language is changing too fast to follow; OFF became an offshoot, shall we say, of OF in the 12th century. <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/off" target="_blank">https://www.etymonline.com/word/off</a>
For what it's worth, OFF OF was a gimme. Emu, get off of me.
@Xword Junkie I first put in 'OFFIT' and thought the crossing "Not passed" was 'TAIL' as in on the freeway.
Our dad was a Lefty. Born in 1912, he was a sad victim of teachers determined to change him into a Righty. Even after that pointless effort was abandoned, the teacher insisted that his paper be placed at the same slant as the other students'.... His handwritiing was at best difficult to impossible for us to read, though while he was stationed far off in Korea he wrote to each of us occasionally--printing in hope of produciing more readable missives. I do realize the puzzle was about more than RIGHT and left. (One of these days I'm going to be able to nail that! Hope springs eternal in the human breast.) I do get UP and down every time. Nice puzzle; over too soon.
@Mean Old Lady - my big brother was forced by the nuns to write right-handed (early/mid 1960s), until my mother marched in there to tell them off. As soon as they let him be who he was born to be, his grades - across the board, not just penmanship - went from Cs to straight As. There are other parallels, btw.
@Mean Old Lady This post brings back childhood memories of years spent with an ink-stained hand. I was born well after Mean Old Lady’s dad in 1912 but still had to keep the paper in the same direction as the righties. Ignatz, aka Sister Mary Ignatius, insisted on this scholastic nicety. So I learned to write crab-style, forming the letters upside down and writing in almost vertical columns. Writing isn’t even the half of it. Lefties watch the clock go round the wrong way, the door usually opens on the wrong hinge - and let’s not get into can openers, scissors, or ironing the iron cord - in fact I’ll stop right here. Maybe I should move to the southern hemisphere, where at least the water circles the drain in the proper direction. Is that why we’re called southpaws, I wonder?
@Mean Old Lady I too was born a lefty and after much grinding and gnashing of teeth my parents succeeded in making me a righty. I proceeded to win award for worst handwriting through middle and high school, and to this day my handwriting is unintelligible to all but the most courageous. I learned how to type early in the game so I could make myself understood. Hurray for personal computers! Now I don't have to write ever again.
A lovely, classy grid with no junk. Even though I solved it as a themeless, I still pondered: what was the theme that tied the themers together? It wasn't a letter thing and it wasn't a first word only or second word only thing, so it had to be an entire phrase thing -- which would make it much, much cleverer and produce more of an "Aha Moment" -- RIGHT? Such an "Aha Moment" it didn't turn out to be, alas. The RIGHT= correctly thing seemed a bit vague. It works well with CREDIT CARD since there is a right way and a wrong way to SWIPE -- and I should know because I so often swipe the wrong way. And I suppose the right way to swipe for a PICKPOCKET is any way that doesn't get noticed. But I don't know if there's a right way and a wrong way to insult people or a right way and wrong way to do MMA fighting, whatever that is. It didn't matter to me. I appreciated the lack of crosswordese, textspeak, initialisms, pop names and all the other things that uglify so many puzzles. A very nice Tuesday.
In response to 61D -- which garnered a number of comments on The Other Blog: Gosh -- the Internet knows EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!! I have gone my whole life without having the slightest idea what day of the week I was born on, but of course I know my date of birth. So I courageously popped my DOB into Google. I was taking a chance, of course. Would I be "full of woe" or perhaps even worse? In less than a nanosecond, Google popped the answer back at me. Monday!!!!! Which means I'm "fair of face"!!!!!!! Who knew? This is just too, too thrilling!!!!! I only wish I'd known it sooner:)
Congratulations on your debut, Lindsay! I should check out that online construction course. Learned some new words today : ICHOR, GESTS, KEENS (to mean loudly laments) I was convinced the latter was the wrong word when I got the error message, but all the crossings worked. Thank goodness I eventually found it as I am working towards a Personal Best streak. The offender was SMUDGY (not SMUDGE). Whew! Favourite clue : EAR
I don't really see how the mma answer fits the theme. It's a big stretch. The others make sense
@Robco Knowing next to nothing about mixed martial arts, I may stand — fall? — to be corrected, but possibly it’s an allusion to a sweep kick that throws one’s opponent off balance.
@Robco I agree it's weak, but someone will probably quote the dictionary to you.
The SW was Friday tough. This one took me 35% longer than average and four times my personal best.
The last time 42 D, RIMSHOT, appeared was more than four years ago (8/9/2020). At that time a drummer, Treegarden, wrote in to lodge their “Too Close Syndrome” complaint that this was inaccurate and should be called a “sting”. DC from Weston wrote in to agree with this assessment, but pointed out that this is a common misuse of the term. When I look up RIMSHOT in M-W it gives the proper definition of the drumstick hitting the rim of the drum, but adds, “especially such a beat used to draw attention to the humor…of a preceding statement.” When I look up “sting (percussion)” in Wiki it gives four audio examples, I’m not certain any of which has a real rimshot to my ear (I could be wrong). I think this distinction is worth bringing up every four years or so, but maybe no more often than that 🤗
I didn't know "keen," and didn't remember "Ichor," but otherwise an easy one.
For the mini, it is “ooh la la” not “oo la la”.
@matti Oui, I agree. It's ooh la la in English and oh là là in French. . . . . .
As a lefty, I felt a bit unfairly smeared by 44D, and I would add that it's definitely not a "delightful" entry, as the Wordplay column claims. In this case, two incorrect swipes do not a "swipe right" make. Now, we just need a puzzle making use of the left brain -- right brain nature of handedness so that we can all be reminded that lefties are the only ones in our right mind.
@B.C. As a righty, I have smudged ink a number of times due to how I was trying to draw or write something. Definitely annoying, but I wouldn't see it as a reflection of my worth, character, etc
@B.C. Sign of the times. I thought when you said you were a lefty, that meant politically. I wish we could go back to a time when this wouldn't have been so ambiguous.
Fun but a bit too easy for my liking! Even for a Tuesday.
ICHOR was used on an old “Castle” that I recently watched, and all the stars of shows which I’ve never seen had available crosses. I’m glad they’re not all Tuesdays, but it is nice to zip through occasionally.
Appreciated the crossing of 55A and 45D. It made me think the theme should have been SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS.
The grammar for OFF OF… I had Off it, which gave me tAIL for not pass - which kinda works from a driving perspective. Did have to wonder what iED had to do with reference, though…
Meh. Competent puzzle, just didn't tickle my funnybone. Strands seemed a bit off kilter. Or it's me, I'm the problem, I'm a bit off kilter this morning. Strands #226 “Beast mode” 🔵🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵🔵🟡
@Linda Jo I was just glad that Strands went in a different direction than I expected based on the title. And the Spangram was visually impressive.
@Linda Jo It's me. Took a swipe at Connections, only made it out at the Phew level (3 mistakes). The games just aren't jiving with me today. Connections Puzzle #492 🟦🟩🟨🟪 🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟦🟦🟪🟦 🟪🟩🟪🟦 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟪🟪🟪🟪
A fine and fun debut. Many thanks.
27D reminds me of a Harvard Lampoon headline: Ray Kroc is McDead. Not in the best taste perhaps, but still . . .
Late puzzle finds: Two puzzles that used the same theme (and a couple of the same theme answers). Don't recall seeing any others quite like this. Anyway - One was a Thursday from February 11, 2016 by Zhouquin Burnikel and the other a Thursday from February 1, 2018 by Damon J. Gulczynski. The shared answers (with clues): "Malady" "Malady of French History?" MARIEANTOINETTE "Legal?" "Legal acting in a 1980s prime-time soap opera?" LINDAEVANS And a couple of others (not shared) Roman? ROYORBISON "Tamale?" TOMARNOLD "Regent of film criticism." ROGEREBERT And there were more. Here are the Xword Info links: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/1/2018&g=34&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/1/2018&g=34&d=A</a> <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/11/2016&g=22&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/11/2016&g=22&d=A</a> I'm done. ..
That was quick. I was anxious today after uncharacteristically flunking both Connections and Wordle. I'm particularly annoyed about Wordle because I completed a 100-day streak yesterday. It's a common observation in cricket (no apology from me for being a fan) that a batter who has made a careful century will soon get out to a loose shot, and that was my Wordle this morning: took my eye off the ball as it were. I wonder how many readers are familiar with the tale of 29d in Britain, which is not sold here? About 20 years ago Coca-Cola noisily launched Dasani, then it was discovered and widely-reported in the media that the Dasani they were selling here was nothing more than bottled and filtered London tap water. Red faces all round! All British restaurants are legally obliged to provide tap water free of charge on request.
@Rosalind Mitchell today’s wordle was cruel !!! When I did it, the wordle bots stats seemed to suggest that <60% of people (on “hard” mode at least) succeeded ! I got super lucky and got it on 6, phew !
@Rosalind Mitchell - here is one of the definitive dasani videos, from the incomparable Tom Scott: <a href="https://youtu.be/wD79NZroV88?si=TasHS96gLeORQakB" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/wD79NZroV88?si=TasHS96gLeORQakB</a>
@Rosalind Mitchell Wordle took me 5 today - I usually get it in 3 or 4. I've already forgotten what the word is...
@Rosalind Mitchell I flunked them both too, though when I saw the answer to Connections I knew I didn’t have a chance. But Wordle broke a looong streak. I thought I just didn’t get enough sleep so you made me feel better!
The theme really made me chuckle! Very clever.
Found the theme enjoyable and clever. Fill felt a little more modern than average which I like as someone who can name several pokemon. Only nitpick would be the proper noun crossing of Agee and Leah. Not finding a particular easy way to edit it out though so understand why it was kept. Congrats and hope to see more!
@Jon - Do yourself a favor: read “A Death in the Family” and turn James Agee from crosswordese into beloved author. See also: Odets, Inge, Willa (Cather), …
Jon, There are several proper noun crossings in this puzzle, so I assume your nit is that the crossing you cite is two names of people. Given that they are from different spheres and different times, I think most solvers would know at least one of them. But if they knew neither, what other crossing letter would you think would work?
@Jon Haha, I see the Natick Police have arrived. 🚨
I took 20 seconds off my personal best, so I'm feeling pretty pleased. And I got Wordle in 4, when many people I know had thier streaks broken. The problem is that I want to tell myself that these things aren't truly important. They are just games, and speed is the least important aspect of crossword solving.
@The X-Phile Agreed, on the 2nd comment - it's the daily mental challenge that I like. Unfortunately I went bust on wordle when several much more common words were not it!
Loved Steely Dan. Aja, Hey Nineteen, Babylon Sisters, Deacon Blues...
With apologies - late puzzle finds. Don't recall encountering this before. Anyway - this started with a roundabout answer search that led to: DEVILANDDANIELWEBSTER (21 letters). Well... it appeared in two Sunday puzzles. Both of them 23 letters wide (!) and both of them by A.J. Santora. One from 1965 and one from 1969. Another 21 letter answer in one of them, also making it's one and only appearance: CROSSWORDPUZZLEMAKERS And a two answer combination in one of them: LOOKIT UPINYOURFUNKANDWAGNALLS (and that was 23 letters) And the only 23 letter answer in the other puzzle was: WAITINGFORTHEROBERTELEE And that puzzle also had the theme answers: PAULREVEREBOWL JOHNBROWSBODY MILESSTANDISHMONUMENT JOHNHANCOCK BENFRANKLIN Here are the Xword Info links: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=5/16/1965&g=29&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=5/16/1965&g=29&d=A</a> <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/27/1969&g=28&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/27/1969&g=28&d=A</a> I'll shut up now. ....
Ok, maybe someone can explain the connection to SWIPERIGHT for me on the last too. CREDIT CARD makes sense. PICKPOCKET is a tiny bit of a stretch, but I get it (swipe being a synonym/slang for stealing). But how do you connect INSULTCOMIC and MMAFIGHTER? I got the first two, missed the third, and originally had the last one, but when I got SWIPERIGHT I deleted it because it didn't make sense to me.
Mike, I thought Sam took a fair swipe at an explanation in the Wordplay column. Did you miss this? Each of today’s themed entries must, in a different sense, SWIPE RIGHT (as in correctly). Your CREDIT CARD (16A) must swipe properly through a payment machine. A PICKPOCKET (25A) has to swipe valuables without being detected. An INSULT COMIC (36A) must take effective verbal swipes at a roast’s honoree. And you’ll see many a swipe dealt by an M.M.A. FIGHTER (51A), who, incidentally, participates in a different kind of “match” than the one alluded to by the revealer.
UP crossing UP at square 21 feels half-baked especially because both UPs here are acting as separate words in a phrase (vs as a prefix at 55A). With so many UPs, maybe the constructor is a Pixar fan? Or perhaps they have a preferred courier company.
Deb says, "29D. Few countries share the same beverage brands, so I sympathize with those who weren’t familiar with [Some bottled waters] known as DASANIS. If it makes you feel better, the water’s not even that good." Of coarse it's not that good, it's a CocaCola product.
@CalGal the correct spelling is course
I finished today's crossword, the time stopped, and I got the gold victory screen. However, it still shows up as incomplete blue on the home screen and on the archives. I'm not a stickler for streaks but being over 100 at the moment I'm not willing to give it up on a glitch that is not my doing. I even rebooted, to no avail. I hope the algorithm, emus, or whatever, will correct this. At least I have the personal satisfaction of finishing, I guess.
@Louise I can almost guarantee the NYT customer service will fix it for you. Puzzles and games is probably their biggest profit maker.