Sunday, October 27, 2024

Coming here to rejoice with other puzzle-lovers in a Sunday puzzle for the ages. It’s fitting that Jeff would be a co-creator, as he long lamented on Xwordinfo that the overall quality of the Sunday NYT Xword has declined from its heyday in the 90s and aughts. Not sure if that’s true but IMO this one is up there with the best of the last 30 years. As usual, Caitlin summed up my solving experience quite nicely, and I appreciated her link to the joke about the dog spy. Any excuse for a laugh these days is welcome. Hope all are hanging in and hanging on.

"Your barber cuts your hair by the light of the moon?" "Yep, eclipse it just right!" (It looks crater than you'd think.)

What a fun puzzle! I was so proud that I not only figured out the theme but also the trick of the rebuses (rebii?) as they traveled around the puzzle. Even better, this was No. 999 in a row for me … my last hurdle to 1,000 in a row. Monday, here I come!

Great theme with clever rebuses, but some brutal crossings. INADITHER could have been INAtITHER and crossed with NADIYA was no help. SUNIN/ELBRUS. Hadn't heard of SONORITY, but I suppose that's just a common noun, but crossed was LANAI and NADIYA didn't help.

Elegant circle-in-the-square execution for presenting the phases of the moon. These phases have names, such as waning crescent, waxing gibbous, third quarter – phases I’ve heard of but am fuzzy about what they describe. But here J&J removed all fuzziness by illustrating the phases using the letters of the word MOON, and by having the MOON circle the EARTH. That’s art. Translating the concept into a crossword grid – making it a puzzle, where the solver has to figure out what’s going on in the circles, figure out why some have rebuses and others don’t; using the entire grid so there aren’t large areas unrelated to the theme; filling the grid despite the restrictions caused by circles which have to contain certain letters, scrubbing junk out of the answer set. That’s science. This puzzle, to me, has the feel of an instant classic – how can the presentation of a timeless concept, the phases of the moon, be done any better than this? And then the dedication of the constructors, 200 messages and 100 grid versions during the build. I’m filled with gratitude, Jeff and Jeffrey, for what you made, a fun-to-crack puzzle with the sheen of beauty and excellence. Thank you!

Hurray! This puzzle made me smile. I actually had a pretty big concussion several months ago, and while healing, I lost my streak -- couldn't focus on Sunday puzzles enough to solve them. I had nary an Aha, Oho, or even an Oreo. But, I swear by the ever-changing MOON, I'm thrilled that this one clicked into place for me! Loved the theme -- every part of it made sense to me. It brought me to the comfort of watching Star Wars or Bake-Off (NADIYA's season is great!) Thank you, constructors! I was finally able to say YAHOO! again!

Gotta say... MICRODOT had a completely different meaning to me about 50 years ago. What a trippy puzzle!

I try to make sure I comment when I believe I have just completed a particularly notable puzzle. Crossword puzzles, when constructed well, are (to me) a particularly satisfying blend of technical precision and artistic sensibility. The result of that adeptly crafted blend? Joy. In this case, a quiet and peaceful Sunday morning of appreciative smiles throughout the grid. Thanks, Jeffrey and Jeff!

A most sublime "Aha" moment. The painstaking hard work to get this one right certainly shows. It is hard to remain un=phased by the eloquent execution of this puzzle. Our brunch-time solving group thoroughly enjoyed being lured into this puzzle by the NE corner; quickly guessing what a black circle might mean; but confused/amused by an N and an M in circled squares; there is definitely a learning curve to this puzzle! Soon enough the light went on, as we entered the MOON light while SMOOCHING with the Lone Ranger! We all had to stop and enjoy the beauty of this grid, aware of how effortlessly we had all accepted the exquisite deployment of MOON lit rebuses (no small feat to get our group to agree there was no other way this could be executed). And finally taking the outer tour of the grid, poking at all the corners, with the varying degrees of difficulty, we enjoyed taking turns solving each outer section. This was the Sunday we have been hoping for! Thank you so much, Jefferey & Jeff, for the many hours of hard work.

There’s so much here to be over the moon about. MOO entries SMOOCHED, MAKE IT MOO, MOOSE MEAT Great debuts IT’S JUST A PHASE, GOING FULL CIRCLE, HONEYMOON SUITE Fun clues “Ain’t that the tooth!”, “I thought you were my friend!?” The graphic waxing and waning of the moon as it circles the EARTH. I even see the man in the moon smiling at us. Kudos to the constructors!

Bravo, gents, for this astronomical work of art. Phenomenal, really. Beautiful cluing, rather tough in spots but worth every minute. I hit upon THE MOON early on, and wondered what the rebuses would be. First?...Second?... No, it was so much better than that. Now off I go to find out more about STEENBOKs. Thank you!

Clever theme, but how many potential Naticks are you going to put into one puzzle? Not a clue who NADIYA is and the N crossing with the trickily clued LINEDOUT made that a tough square to get. And the random first name ELLEN crossing with the -BOK that’s not a springbok. At least that’s pretty guessable because the name is common. The worst was mountain trivia ELBRUS crossing with hair care trivia SUNIN at the U. I solved it, but sigh.

Nice grid! Fun theme, I was struggling to figure it out until it all suddenly clicked. Great job on this amazing grid!

I'm feeling a bit limp now, but I'm sure it's just a phase. A struggle, and at times I thought, I can't go on, but I did. I've never heard of Eton Blue, and had to eyeball it for a while before I could say yes. At times I thought it might be best to put off finishing the solve until tomorrow, but the very idea put me in a dither. (I'm in too deep!!). Thank you, Jeffrey and Jeff. A BADASS puzzle, Kemo Sabes, but a satisfying one. See you later.

Wow, this was brilliantly executed. I especially like that once I figured out the puzzle theme, it followed the waxing and waning as I expected. There is nothing better than working clues to figure out the theme, and then having the theme help figure out the clues. What a joy!

Very nice! I enjoyed seeing the MOON wax and wane around the earth. Great job!

This is such a clever and creative puzzle that I’m sad I had to finish it with a square reveal and a blue star. (I don’t know what a mARSONG would be, but I was positive mARIO wore the purple overalls.) I don’t care about streaks so it’s not that, but if any puzzle deserved a gold star, it’s this one! As for the suggestion that rebus puzzles should come with a warning label: Please, no. Figuring out that a rebus is involved is part of the solve. That’s why it’s called a PUZZLE. For me, that light bulb moment of realizing that a seemingly impossible clue can be resolved with the use of a rebus, which suddenly sets off other light bulbs in other areas, is a bit of a thrill and a whole lot of fun. Especially in a puzzle like this. It’s a shame not everyone has that experience.

I was on the dark side of [this puzzle’s theme] for a looong time.* It’s been a blue [this puzzle’s theme] since a Sunday has taken me so long. I was over the [this puzzle’s theme] when I woke in the morning and was able to zip through the rest. I guess I really needed the sleep under the waning crescent [this puzzle’s theme]. *still had fun while there!

This is not simply a puzzle but a real work of art. Magnificent creativity!

A round of applause once again for the fabulous NY Times Sunday crossword setters. Ever week they give us something innovative, something challenging and something to smile about. From a grateful Kiwi!

I think this is one of my favorite themed puzzles of all time. I loved it, it’s cute, there were so many supplementary fills to stay on theme, I really enjoyed it. My only nitpick is the NYT Editor’s continued insistence that macaron/macaroon are interchangeable. They simply are not! They’ve been spelled differently for 400 years now. They share the same etymology - but so does “macaroni” and I don’t see the Editor ordering cookies with that word! You will not find a “macaroon” anywhere in Paris except a Jewish bakery in the Marais (unless you order a “congalais”). You will not find a “macaron” in the Lower East Side unless you go to a French patisserie. It’s historically, culinarily, and practically incorrect to treat them as interchangeable. The error isn’t happening at the crossword’s level, to be fair to the constructor, it’s included in the NYT style guide - and it drives me crazy! It’s like cluing “espresso topped with foamed milk” for “cafe au lait” instead of cappuccino just because they’re both coffee and milk. Love, A passionate baker and food history fan

Lots of fun. Frustrated because I figured out all but the SW corner and then got stuck there for 20 minutes. Sigh.

I loved this puzzle. I’m in awe of the people who came up with the idea and made it work. What fun.

So much is wrong with this otherwise creative puzzle, that I don’t know where to start. Is it with the absurd crosses - Hair lightening brand crossing with Europe’s highest volcano? Or perhaps the first name of a onetime African head of state (hmm, couldn’t tell us the nation, could you?) crossing with a horned antelope from the same continent? Or perhaps playing fast and loose with commonly-known mob terms, as in the theme-forced answer to 53-Down? Or maybe it is combining many modern words with the last name of a Scottish crime novelist who died over 70 years ago, and whose best-known and lauded novel was named by a British crime writers organization as the best crime novel ever…even though your readers and solvers would be virtually incapable of finding it in print today. A fun theme that could have been done much, much better.

Sigh. As soon as I realized rebuses were involved I decided I hated this. Then I grew grudging respect as I realized it wasn't simply "moon" each time, but rather waxing and waning of the word. Cute. in the end, after finishing, I've decided I still didn't like the puzzle all that much. It was moderately difficult, maybe unusually so for Sundays, but I can't say I had any fun doing it. I appreciate the efforts involved in making it. Moving on. Not the worst of the week. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (I do this instead of emuing)

I don’t like the puzzle

So I'm cruising along, feeling smug after 'getting' the theme, and everything's making sense. I enter the final letter in triumph and BAM -- I get the dreaded message that I'm not quite there yet. I check and double-check what I know to be lucky guesses, but they are all correct. Finally, I see it. I have typed TIT for TAT! Doh!

Spent forever wondering what an OC Dave was. Couldn’t figure out why the puzzle wasn’t complete. In my defence, Wand is a much better answer to wish list item than ‘Want’

Woohoo! Three great puzzle days in a row! And full of Canadian sports trivia, some of which I almost knew: "They're the Montréal Canadiens, right?" I asked. "It's short for 'Habitants'--they're always been called 'Habs'," said my (Windsorite) Partner, Cansplaining it for me.

Loved today's theme! Rebuses can be tricky, but once you get experienced at solving them, they add a nice extra dimension to the puzzle.

Took me a while to figure out the rebus. I was stumped by Wario.. And had no idea how to spell nadiya.. Of course snl and emu were here. As well as Mr eno.

Bravo! As Puzzlemucker said, this is a Sunday for the ages. Brilliant and fun puzzle. Thank you.

I thought I was really in the zone on the top half, then hit a brick wall in the bottom half. HONEYMOON SUITE was the key, after I had corrected it from bridalSUITE. Still, I was in a dither on the ELBRUS/SUNIN cross. Had to run the vowels at the crossing. And, as an amateur astronomer, I really enjoyed the phases of the moon.

93 Across….6 letters…begins with N….Natick

Apparently, I was the only one who saw a baseball diamond, with MOUND as the "Apt central entry." Right off the proverbial bench, I had AARON Judge, who should probably stay there with the way he's hitting. Then ROUND TRIP, AT BAT, A ROD, LINED OUT, UMP, did I miss any? And then the rebuses began to phase in. GAH! I was way off base. Our Canadian friends got some love today, to make up for yesterday's snarkiness. Allez les HABs! Is MOOSEMEAT actually on the menu? I've had elk meat, but that was harvested by my brother-in-law. @Bill from Detroit, because 97A: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK0AmgDGpPo" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK0AmgDGpPo</a> (They're from Niagara Falls)

So fun and satisfying! Still smiling as I type. Brilliant theme, impossibly complex construction (bravo on all the hard work, Jeffrey and Jeff), and ultra-clever cluing. The only downside for me was how tiny the print is on the "special puzzle" PDF, which is the only option for those of us who do it via old-fashioned pen and paper. But, it was worth it to move my glasses up and down and back and forth!

Well, I won't be quite so dramatic as to say that I CAN'T GO ON, but I wrote you a little story today using words that would not be considered objectionable, especially as they are words from the puzzle itself. I tried to disguise the A - word in different ways because that was an issue from the other night and I finally got something through by altering it but it's not working tonight. I can't think of anything else to alter. I mean, no big loss to any of you, I'm sure, but I enjoyed writing it and think some would get a kick out of it. I suppose they're on extra high alert with some big national thing we in the U.S. have coming up soon... but how anything I wrote could be objectionable, I have no idea. GAH!!! Anyhow, I also praised the puzzle. Very fun theme and use of the rebus. Really good one, in my book!! I don't want to do anything to offend the emus further, so I'll just say that my favorite was probably 77D for BOO. Now I'll quietly ease away like the Homer Simpson GIF of him backing into the bushes.

Absolutely loved this puzzle!

This was a mixed experience for me. The puzzle itself was fine, and I do love a rebus, especially a variable one like this. I bamboozled myself a bit by discovering the rebus at HIREDGun. Not! That slightly delayed me from figuring out the real lunar pattern of the rebus answers, ergo HIREDGOON. What really set me back, however, was a plethora of typos, even more than my normal quota, which required some unpleasant grid review, which I was not in the mood for. A bit of puzzle serendipity: My wife and I happened to watch the new Springsteen documentary tonight, and who but THEBOSS himself appears in the puzzle tonight. The doc is worth watching, if for nothing else than Little Steven’s sartorial choices. But then as someone who spent his teen years in NJ in the early 70s and started following Springsteen before he hit it big, I’m a bit biased. Growing Up was my senior year of high school anthem.

As a big fan of the moon and tricky Sundays, this hit the spot. Thanks Jeffrey and Jeff! Macaroon rant - back when the "macaron" craze was revving up (late 2000s?) a coworker was gushing about them and I thought I'd introduce a bit of trivia that I found interesting - that we in the US call them macaroons and they have been made here for centuries in almond form and later with coconut. She got very upset, surprisingly, and insisted that lowly coconut macaroons were a totally different cookie - not a macaron - and that perfect macarons were very hard to make. Even after explaining that the only difference was that one had flaked coconut and the other had almond flour, she just got more angry. Prior to going back to college in the 90s, I was a professional baker for many years, and one of the many products I'd turn out were almond macaroons, baked just like you see in the pictures (though we didn't fill ours). Granted, coconut macaroons are easier to make, as you have to pay more attention to your meringue quality with the almond version, but it's not rocket science - I mean, I made them as a new baker in my teens. Fetishizing food, especially when there's an added snob factor, bugs me, I guess.

This was the most fun puzzle in ages! Really clever, thanks!

Filled this in while listening to my cows MOO for their cownuts. A lovely crunchy grid which I really enjoyed. The theme was delightful; once I got the MOON in 97A I was away. 21D had me thinking the original ladies. I had Fawcett in there for a while as I haven’t seen the remake. Once LUI filled in I had LUCY. As for 124A (thanks @Justin for correcting my numerical error), the less said about the lady the better.

This was fun and I like when a theme has to stir around in my brain for awhile before it clicks. I knew pretty quickly it must be the moon but the mechanics of the theme took some simmering. A lot of very clever cluing as well and all the bonus theme entries—this must have taken many iterations to get right!

The abundance of sporting trivia and proper names made this a very hard puzzle for me, only doable with lookups and autocheck. The theme was OK I guess, and I realized there was a rebus quickly, but overall I did not find the grid particularly cool or enjoyable.

Ah, a rich, layered puzzle. So much to solve. What a delight! Thanks for the fun.

I did it, but I didn't like it. I can do rebus puzzles but I'm not a fan --- ESPECIALLY ON SUNDAY!!!! And I found this one very annoying.

My final entry was the DOOK at the end of 88A, but I'm sure I looked cute with that sheepish grin on my mug. This was just a TON OF FUN! I'm not saying that just because I "got it"....(well, perhaps somewhat on that account.) Really, the clues were inspired for the most part (the exceptions being ELBRUS and AARON Judge, and then 40A/D's pair of stinkers.) That left a lot of really entertaining solving. Both Jeffrey and Jeff have my thanks and my admiration! (Nice photo--even managed to look modest.) Eagerly awaiting another!

Great, frustrating puzzle. Loved the theme, both the waxing and waning of the MOON, the graphics, and the revealers. Also chock full with clever clues, such as [Places for grilling], which took me a while. So why did it take me fifteen minutes over my average? I had the whole thing filled in under my average time, went over every answer, across and down, multiple times, and still nothing. Could they be looking for the exclamation point in YAHOO and BOO? Nope, but don't think I didn't try it. Went away from it for an hour or two until I finally traded TiT for TAT! Thanks to both of today's constructors, and especially to Jeff for all his contributions to the crossword world.

Hated this puzzle…too much work formatting and not enough fun!

Nadiya Hussain was my favorite contestant from the original Great British Bake-off, so I’m delighted to see her in today’s puzzle. Very enjoyable one.