Honestly I know people are going to come and complain this one was too easy but today may be the first Wednesday I’ve solved with no hints or look ups. Perfect the first time. Not even a typo!! So it might be my favorite puzzle ever!! Loved it!
@Courtney and I solved it in 9:40 :)
@Courtney IMO the puzzle perfectly reflects the concept of Wednesday difficulty. Actually, given my foreign status, I found it more difficult than average.
@Courtney Definitely not too easy for a Wednesday. Congrats on your perfect solve!
Fun puzzle, took me about 10 minutes and brought my streak to 500 😅
@Matt It took me a little more than half again as long as you, but I was distracted by the Yankees trying to stay in the Series.
@Matt Fun puzzle, took me about 15 minutes, and brought my streak to 521 days! I hope to see more puzzles from Kaufmann.
@Matt 13:01 (distracted by the Skankees) 1218 (gold) TBH, I kinda' wish that my streak would end. It's become a compulsion.
Congratulations on your debut, Josh! It was a fun and clever puzzle with just the right amount of challenge. Looking forward to your next one.
One of the happy-button aspects of solving for me is when an answer is out of my wheelhouse, but I get it anyway. That answer becomes a TIL, and it’s sweet to learn new things. Also, making the unknowable gettable is evidence of artful construction and editing, and brushes with excellence always bring me joy. Today, the entire theme was out of my wheelhouse, as I’ve never seen any production of the Beetlejuice franchise (though I’m familiar with the character through ads). Yet it easily filled in, and I learned a delightful aspect of the story. Thus, much happy-button-ness. Figuring out the circled letter aspect, and appreciating the skill behind making that happen was icing on the cake. I loved the middle-of-the-grid crossing of two lovely words, INDULGENT and OTOLOGY. I liked seeing ETO, which used to be a crossword staple, but hasn’t appeared in the Times puzzle in more than a year (is someone who studies this answer an etologist?). I also liked seeing jaunty words CHUM and JEST as neighbors. Lots of pleasure in this one for me. Thank you for that Josh, and congratulations on your debut!
@Lewis Not just the DAY of Hallow's Eve, but The ENTIRE Month here has been devoted to 'horror' movies (from "The Shining" to "Beetlejuice" and on and on and on) showing continuously, mercilessly, endlessly.... Nothing can make this better...especially not this puzzle. I know you pride yourself on being relentlessly upbeat and generous, finding cause to praise every puzzle...but gee... One More Day
bORERS looked fine and made sense in its context, and given how unusual some of the names I have encountered in these puzzles seemed to me (Kotb, anyone?), I accepted ERIb. When I did not get my gold star, I reviewed the puzzle, googling the proper names, and only then did I catch the "mistake". That was not a fair cross, IMO. Other than that I enjoyed the puzzle, even though Halloween means nothing to me, personally. It was unknown over here when I was a kid, and only became popular in the past 10 years or so. My wife and I value our peace, quiet and privacy highly, and our old dog gets stressed out by the doorbell, so Halloween is more of an annoyance than anything else, for me. I once put up a sign "A sick child is sleeping, don't ring the bell", but I can't do that every year... Also, interestingly, there is Catholic pushback against the "pagan" Halloween over here (and many other things, too...). To let kids dress up for the season, some Catholics organize All Saints parades, where kids dress up as saints, as a supposed counterbalance to all the ghouls, zombies and vampires. Too bad we don't have children because we would have our kid become St. Bartholomew, dripping blood off exposed muscle, with his own flayed skin in his hands, or St. Lucy with her gouged out eyes on a platter, her eye sockets gory.
@Andrzej Our pups go nuts with the doorbell, too. So we put a bowl of candy on a table on our walkway with a sign- Take one, Take two, But never more. We’re watching from behind the door. Then we tape eyeballs to the window on our door, go in the back den, open a bottle of wine, watch a movie, and get take-out. We miss out on the cute costumes, but have a most relaxing, bark-free evening.
@Andrzej If you think of a CORE Sample, it makes the CORER more acceptable, but I agree that BORER is superior as an entry there. They could have used "Apple ___" instead; that would have raised some howls of protest. (Just try to find an apple CORER nowadays!!)
That was sublime. Say it three times! Fitting for the eve of all hallows eve.
Congratulations on a fun debut, Mr. Kaufmann!
Yay for Shirley Manson (and Garbage)! A longtime favorite band.
@Tom I love that Shirley got the clue instead of, say, Charles or Marilyn. . . . . Are emus happy in the rain?
@Tom I saw them live as opening act for No Doubt circa 2003, What a show!
Fun puzzle! One of these days I'm going to have to watch the original movie, the remake, and the musical...I wonder what happens when you WATCH Beetlejuice 3x in a row? 👀
@A.B. I think if you wear a "tin foil hat" you'll be safe. Just for the third one.
No. Just no. The only possible [Words that might follow "This is not a drill"] are "This is an impact driver". No drill instructor(SGT) would ever repeat themselves. (Let alone say it three times.) Incontrovertible blunder aside, what a creative theme! Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice Every morning you greet me
@ad absurdum Do I know you? I've been making that (hilarious) joke to new techs and engineers for decades now.
This was a pleasant puzzle with a timely theme. I had a laughable misstep: conflating BEETLEJUICE with the similarly named star, and coming up with beetlegeuse. That caused a bit of unnecessary confusion in the SE corner, but was easy to sort out in the end
@Marshall Walthew Ooh that's two times already...
@Marshall Walthew haha I actually just made a comment about this. Betelgeuse actually IS how the character in the film Beetlejuice spells his name!
Dear Sam: This was a fun puzzle. Per your request for alternate terms for this remake, may I offer "REGURGITATION?" In looking up the names of all the cast members and director [Tim Burton] on Screenrant.com, I came upon this sidebar gem: "Warner Bros. supposedly hated the movie's title, and seriously considered several other options, including House Ghosts and Burton's sarcastic suggestion Scared Sheetless ."
Nice puzzle. Not all that easy for me, of course, but managed to work through it. Didn't really catch on to the trick until I was almost done, but that's just a nice touch. Puzzle find today - a Friday from June 13, 1986 by Gloria Evans. The theme clues and answers: 11d: "RISING STAR :" ESUEGLETEB 26d: "UPSIDE-DOWN CAKES." SDOOFLEGNA 20a: "BACKWARD NATION." ALAMETAUG 47a: "REVERSE GEAR :" TNEMPIUQE Don't recall seeing another one like that. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=6/13/1986&g=11&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=6/13/1986&g=11&d=D</a> ...
Pretty simple puzzle. Sensible chuckle levels of entertainment I suppose. I feel as if the nice long "put them together" was sort of wasted on such an easily exercised theme. Fun enough. I confess I was stymied by "CAS" until I read Wordplay. :( /emu /emu /em ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (I do this instead of emuing)
@B Same here. I came here hoping someone could tell me what a CAS is, and why on earth it was in Charlie. (Ouch.) But I get it now. . . . . (At least it wasn’t G as in Gina. That could be a little deflating.)
A very fun puzzle! Thanks for saving it for this pre-Halloween day. Or, if you live in NJ, Mischief Night. (Do they still do that? Does any other state do that?) I think I got ULGE as my first circles and had to stare at it for a few seconds too long. Then I smacked my head and got on with it. I quickly got the rest of the puzzle. The theme was easy and fun, and made me laugh and, really, that's what I want from a puzzle. Fun.
@Momerlyn Detroit does but calls it Devil's Night.
@Momerlyn I noted that ULGE anagrammed to GLUE, but that turned out to be a blind alley. No mischief or deviltry in my neighborhood, but not much trick-or-treating, either. I blame Covid.
@Momerlyn, I’ve heard it called Cabbage Night in Massachusetts.
The new BEETLEJUICE movie is pretty impressive, heartily recommended. I’m usually not into sequels but this one’s an exception. Also cool to see AFROBEAT in here as well, love the Kuti family, and Seun came to Prospect Park Brooklyn a few months ago for an astounding show but there’s so much beyond that. Lots of proper nouns but luckily I knew almost all of them. Fun Halloween puzzle!
Hahaha. Omg. I hadn't got the down revealer, but I had the 2 across ones, so I put the circled letters together and said it 3 times fast and burst out laughing. What a fun time. In record time I think too.
Fun and breezy! But I’m expecting solvers will fall into roughly three camps- Those of us that have seen the movie at *least* once, those who have heard of it, and those that just learned it existed. Coming from the first camp, I flew through this and had a blast! Thank you Josh!
@CCNY and those of us who have seen it and didn’t like it! 😄
Guess what I saw at a matinee last Sunday? Michael Keaton was worth the price of admission. A perfect Wednesday.
Fun puzzle. The last clue to be conquered was 40D, at first I had “carfare”. That’s what the older generation called the money paid when hopping on a bus. (Streetcars used for public transportation were replaced by buses.) But that didn’t suit the cross, I modernized my entry and happy music was played. I assume CABFARE will eventually be modernized as “uberfare”.
i was stuck on the first clue and entire NW corner until the end lol. fun one!
Fun grid. Only saw BEETLEJUICE once, when it first came out. Didn’t love it so don’t remember it well, though I recall the whole THREE TIMES thing. I much prefer Tim Burton’s animated films; they have a better flavour of his anarchic talent. Personal nit alert: 33A, ugh. No, she wasn’t, that was Blair’s PR schtick. The clue works fine, she is the obvious response which is the point of the crossword I know, but for an anti-royalist like me it leaves an unpleasant taste. Nothing against the woman, just the establishment overall. I’m with Jonny Rotten’s god save the Queen lyrics. Ok, nit alert over. Other than that, excellent Hallowe’en puzzle. As others have mentioned, it’s very much a US based holiday which is spreading (like it or not) to Europe. My kids enjoyed it in the early 00’s, it was simply a pagan festival in my childhood; we would hang onions on the doors and tell ghost stories. Simpler (and cheaper) times.
@Helen Wright I just read an interesting NYT article talking about how Halloween came to the US via Scottish and Irish immigrants in the 1840s, a combination of All Hallow’s Eve and Samhain.
My sister-in-law, Tara, is incensed that 43-across demotes a queen to a mere princess!
@PhilO Your sister in law must have missed the part in Frozen 2 where Elsa abdicated the throne to her sister.
@PhilO Surely she knows that Elsa is one of many Disney princesses? Many of whom are not royalty. <a href="https://princess.disney.com" target="_blank">https://princess.disney.com</a>/
@Red Carpet Doesn't matter. She is a Disney princess. It's essentially a brand. Many of them are not royalty.
@PhilO Inform her that the clue is "Disney princess." Surely she is aware of the Disney Princess line of dolls, toys, costumes, paintings, etc. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Princess" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Princess</a>
Took me a while to find the wrong answer. At first, I thought it was MCATS or OTOLOGY. Turns out, I spelled Kristen WIIG's name wrong.
@Khabib Nurmagomedov I expect she's used to it! .
I enjoyed this puzzle. Fun and easy. Not complaining but I am wondering if I am getting better or are the puzzles getting a little easier? Haha.
As we prepare a knot of toads for tonight's stew I wonder why PaT is not as good a PUT. Thank you Josh. A fun debut and solve.
Maybe you have to have seen the movie.....and it's best if you do NOT know how to actually spell the name of the star in the constellation of Orion... CARFARE worked for me until it didn't...(ERASE at 51A didn't make much sense, but finally I took a CAB and got there.) BORERS vs CORERS I don't get the clue for 4D. I tried PATCH EM TOGETHER at 17A for a bit. Oh well. ABoU ben Adhem spelled it differently. The End.
@Mean Old Lady, the 4D of a book, movie or play is the main oppositional character to the protagonist. I was looking for something like poltergeist (is he one??) at first but got it from the crosses.
@Mean Old Lady A bORER merely makes a hole. A CORER takes a core sample, by which you can examine sedimentary layers, or tree rings, if you're a dendrochronologist. (I just wanted to use that word in a sentence.)
@Mean Old Lady I think Abou is Arabic while Abba is Hebrew.
MOL, Abou is an Arabic name for boys that means “beauty and glow of the face”. This name shouldn’t be confused with the word Abu which means “father of”. In Arabic they are two different words with different roots and spellings.
Three fun and doable puzzles to start my work days this week. Thursday is gonna be a doozy isn't it?
Sometimes it feels like constructors sacrifice the overall quality of the puzzle to jam it into a preconceived theme idea. This one doesn’t feel that way, I enjoyed the non theme clues too! Also now I’m humming “I’m Only Happy When It Rains” to myself, which is a good way to start the day.
In a week where a lot of commenters have hit personal bests, this puzzle came pretty close to my Wednesday record. OTOLOGY cost me about a half minute, and that might have done it. Whenever the early week puzzles are this breezy, I always fear the end of the week will put me firmly back in my place. Hot take. I never really liked BEETLE JUICE. Although, I remember loving the Banana Boat scene when I was a kid. Fun puzzle - Thanks, Josh M. Kaufmann!
In the film Beetlejuice, I believe the character actually spells his name Betelgeuse (it's seen on his gravestone in the original film). I had it in there and truly didn't think to change it before being stumped and using a hint. Now obviously I felt a bit foolish for not having thought to try that, but since the clue references the character and not the film, wouldn't Betelgeuse technically be the correct answer?
@Conor BARBARA glances up at the statue of the Angel Gabriel. BARBARA Are you Swallowtail? BEETLE JUICE He's all tied up. I'm his second-in-command. The name is Beetle Juice. Come on. Let's talk.
@Justin It would make sense for the script to use the more phonetic spelling, since it's easier to pronounce that way, but it's shown written a few times in the movie (on his grave, on a neon sign) and is always spelled Betelgeuse. Alex Baldwin's character even misspronounces it the first time he reads it (with a hard "g", which wouldn't really make sense if it were spelled Beetlejuice).
@Conor Hmmm. Well I don’t know if it’s too meta-theatrical a distinction, but as an actor I think my character’s name is what precedes each of my lines in the script, regardless of what’s printed on a set piece.
@Conor thanks. I guess I’m not crazy. The details of the movie are pretty murky at this point, but I too thought the character’s name was spelled like the star. After completing the puzzle and looking in IMDB, I see that they also list the character’s name as Betelgeuse. However, when I was doing the puzzle, I was glad when I filled in the J in JEST at 53 across and realized they must want BEETLEJUICE, because I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to spell Betelgeuse correctly without most of the crosses 🤓
@Conor Well, you are absolutely correct about the proper spelling of the character’s name. FWIW, in the other blog Rex makes a big deal out of this “error”. The character is named after the red supergiant star in the constellation of Orion. Betelgeuse has been an answer 4 times, always clued to the star. BEETLEJUICE has only appeared once before 12/26/2018, correctly clued to the title of the movie. OTOH, [Beetle juice?] has been a clue 5 times (as recently as 7/21/2024) for GAS (like fuel for the VW car).
A very clever debut. Many thanks. I've been saying it so many times in the past week I'll have to repeat it here: Do you plan to vote early or will you wait for Election Day? Or, have you already voted?
@John Carson Thanks for asking! Already turned in my absentee ballot ✅
@John Carson Unfortunately there is another or: are you planning to vote? Curious as to why you want to know whether someone votes early or on election day. Does it matter as long as one votes?
@John Carson Spouse and I voted early yesterday. Now free to spend Election Day making GOTV calls. Unhappy memories about not actually getting to vote in 2012 because we'd gone to Pennsylvania to canvass and my absentee ballot had not arrived in time. So now we usually vote early. Though sad to miss the PTA bake sales. One day the schools will have all they need and the Pentagon will have to hold bake sales....well I'm not really that naive but it's a nice dream.
@John Carson - I vote strictly in person on election day, and have done so for 45 going on 46 years. If anyone is going to futz with my vote they have to do it to my face. Because there are people in this country working year-round at disenfranchisement, and that’s why I vote. Every year, without fail.
@John Carson We've tried thrice now to vote early but the lines are hours long each time. We've tried different days and times but it's just bananas! So we will vote on election day, where I predict there will be no lines because everyone in the area has already voted. Fear not, if there are indeed lines on election day, we will wait them out but at our regular polling place, even when we didn't have early voting, there were never lines more than like 10 minutes since everyone goes to their own polling place, rather than standing in line for hours at the local library as with early voting. Proud to say that MN typically ranks first in the nation for voter turnout! :-)
Delving in to the Connections archive, I ran across the April 1, 2024 entry. I don’t recall another one where all the clues were emojis! Very fun idea and execution.
Before I got any of the crosses I was tempted to write in "GORNISHT" for nada, nil, zilch. But I knew it was way too much of a niche answer, so I plodded on with the down clues and got the right one. For the uninitiated, GORNISHT means NOTHING in Yiddish. I doubt whether it has ever appeared in a NYT puzzle, or ever will. Other than knowing the name, BEETLEJUICE held absolutely no meaning for me, so the entire puzzle was done on the crosses.
@Times Rita Me too! It fit, it had the right meaning, and this is NY! And then I came to my senses. Sigh. A puzzle filled with Yiddish would be so fun...and so hated by the commenters. Maybe submit it to The Forward? Or Hadassah magazine?
“Yes, that’s correct, sir: the last four letters in my ROTHIRA are U-L-G-E as in Beetlejuice.”
Well-made puzzle, thanks, Josh. I've never seen the movie, so it had no real closing zing for me, but I've heard enough to finish the puzzle. BEAT ULGE OOSE seems a mite of a stretch. Don't know 47D Shirley Manson either, so went and looked up her up. "Only Happy When It Rains" may be self-deprecating angst, but it's still rather bleak. The video fits the dark side of Halloween. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esEdC0c3YI4" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esEdC0c3YI4</a> Strands is the antidote. Strands #241 “How sweet!” 🔵🔵🔵🟡 🔵🔵
@Linda Jo Strands #241 “How sweet!” 🟡🔵🔵🔵 🔵🔵
I have an issue with 45 Down: Garland Barr Session, etc. for short. These men were/are Attorneys General not Attorney Generals. So the answer should be ASG, not AGS.
@David The initialism is "AG." Each attorney general is an AG. Multiple attorneys general are AGs.
@David And I suppose Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge have a lot of RSBI. !!!!
@David Nnnnno. You pluralize "attorney general" as "attorneys general." You pluralize "AG" as "AGs." Just the thought of reading "former AsG Barr and Sessions" makes me cringe. They're former AGs.
why does 32D highlight 1A?
@Michael it didn’t for me in the iOS 18.1 version of the NYT Games app. Maybe a glitch in the version you’re using? There be emus down here
@Michael It did for me too on the NYT app but not the Games app.
@Michael Huh? I guess it's a bug. It highlighted on my PC. too. There's nothing to see here.
@Michael I wondered that as well! I solved on the website on my computer. I just checked my phone app though and it doesn’t highlight it there.
great puzzle, well done! Saran/Sap what a start :)
Still have not watched the original Beetlejuice from beginning to end, but still knew enough about it to have enjoyed this puzzle! Well done!
"Throw me a bone" is, I believe, a line spoken by Dr. Evil to his followers at the Evil board meeting.
Congrats on your debut crossword, Josh Kaufmann! I loved the movie Beetlejuice and highly enjoyed this clever, intricately themed grid. Cheers!
I completed the puzzle but don't get the connections between the clues. I've never seen Beetlejuice and don't understand why there's a picture of SkyDome (OK, Rogers Centre) and the CN Tower. And I live up the street from both of them. Can anyone enlighten me, please? Happy Hallowe'en.
@Janet SkyDome is a home (field) with a dome! [Home with a dome?] … …
@Janet …and in the movie Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton plays the part, it’s a fun one) if someone says his name three times, he appears! So, phonetically, the circled letters sound out to BEAT ULGE OOSE Beetlejuice! Hope that clears it up! …
@CCNY yes - I was working at the Dome on Opening Day, 1989 (when, although the rain was pelting down, the GM opted to keep the roof open!) However, what is the link to Beetlejuice, please?
@Janet Home with a dome - clue for 35D. Nothing to do with the theme as far as I can tell. This here is an extra sentence to hopefully ward off the (evil?) emus.
@Janet I'll add that in the original film, Beetlejuice is unable to say his own name, forcing Winona Ryder (Lydia) to pay supernatural charades to pronounce it correctly and summon him.
This felt like more of a chore than a puzzle.
Well, that was strange. I solved it, as I’m sure many others did, without the faintest idea what any of it meant. Some nice clueing.
I was able to solve this pretty smoothly despite having only the faintest idea of what the movie is even about! But somehow I guessed SAY IT THREE TIMES before all the other theme entries, and I couldn't help but wish it had been Bloody Mary, haha.
@IL It took me a bit of time to relent on it not being that.
Good job on your debut Mr. Kaufman, but it really doesn't belong on a Wednesday. I think the eds did you a disservice.
@Dave S Xwordinfo.com would agree with you. That said it was nice to have a good theme puzzle. I imagine tomorrows for Thursday will be the trick of the Halloween treat.
@Dave S I know this is because I'm not American, but for me this was a hard-ish Wednesday puzzle, don't in above-average time.
A very fun puzzle! I haven't seen the movie - what's the connection between the movie and/or the puzzle and the photo, which I believe is of the Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays?
The Rogers Centre used to be called the SkyDome, a reference to its shape and retractable roof.
@Bill 35D. Home with a dome? Technically, a retractable roof isn’t actually a dome. There’s only one current stadium in MLB that has, er, had a fixed roof. Milton fixed that for good in St. Petersburg this month.
@Bill For the love of Michael Keaton ! Michael Keaton ! Michael Keaton ! go see it now! (The original, anyway. I can’t vouch for the sequel.)
Bill, The column lead photo rarely, if ever, refers to the theme of the puzzle. Nor does the column headline, except on Sundays when it is usually the puzzle title.
@Bill I can’t help but mention that anyone with young baseball-fan kids may appreciate a trip to the Rogers Centre. Decades ago I took my then 10 year-old to stay a night at the hotel built into the stadium there with full-wall glass over-looking the field. Quite the unique experience that neither one of us will forget…
Elsa is not a Princess. At least she isn't in the outfits that people dress up as her in...
@Steven M. She's a queen. Steve M'queen? 😅
@Steven M. She was a princesss before being coronated as a queen. Then she abdicated the throne in a sequel, and is returned to queen status, unless she asked for a lower rank. Now Anna is Queen of Arandale.
@Steven M. the clue is Disney princess. That is a specific category of Disney character. Several of them are not royalty at all. They have their own website <a href="https://princess.disney.com" target="_blank">https://princess.disney.com</a>/