More fun than a graveyard smash. Happy Halloween!
This was a blast! And I grinned to see both see Manet and Monet.
@Dave S Agreed. And combined with the Bernini appearance, it felt appropriate in a puzzle by Pablo Picasso - ER - Paolo Pasco.
You may remember the last NYT creation by Sarah and Paolo, an octagonal-shaped puzza (combination of pizza and puzzle, their term), with a stuffed crust, that is, the entire outer edge – 40 squares! – consisting of rebuses. (6/27/24). High props to the two for pulling today’s consummate theme out of the ether. How could it not have been done in the 62 years since “Monster Mash” came out? It seems so OBVS! But no, it hasn’t, not in the Times or any other major outlet. I bet the constructors were astonished and thrilled when they discovered this. What makes this puzzle top tier is not only its perfecto theme and revealer, but also witty clues (i.e., those for BRA, RINK, and MONGOL EMPIRE), lovely answers (FOMENT, TREMOR, MINCE, CANDOR), freshness (eight NYT puzzle answer debuts, including MANGO LEMONADE, MICROGREENS, and MONGOL EMPIRE), and brain-engaging bite. Gorgeous creation all around, Sarah and Paolo, a beauty and the beast puzzle. Thank you so much for making this!
Funny crossword moment: For [2016 election nickname] I was thinking HER, as in Hillary Clinton’s catchphrase “I’m With Her”, even though it didn’t fit. And then it popped up at 31D. This is similar to a malapop, where you insert an answer, it turns out to be wrong, then pops up elsewhere in the grid. But not exactly, because HER didn't fit. The term "malapop" was invented by constructor Andrea Carla Michaels, BTW.
Lewis, Respectfully, this is one time I think you should have edited your Rexblog comment before posting it here. For newbies and those with short memories, Deb referred to and provided a link to the June puzzle ... without giving away the theme.
This puzzle was tough but loads of fun. Incredibly well executed and a perfect theme for the day. Never thought of a lemon as a tropical tree - But, seeing it clued in this way, I CAN SEE NO WAY tropical isn’t the PROPER classification because the NYT doesn’t get things like that wrong (but I often do). OBVi felt way more OBVi than OBVS so DESDEMONA became quite challenging for me. Really loved this one. Happy Halloween, everyone!!
Who doesn’t love a Halloween theme? A fun puzzle made scarily challenging by the fact that the rebus squares were not symmetrically placed and each was unique. A very unusual grid design too. Excellent wordplay with “Khan tract”. GOLEM was my final rebus entry. Love the amusing clue for FOGHORNS (“Sound sounds”). Thanks, Sarah and Paolo. Well done!
When Huey Long was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1932, Senator Carter Glass (R-NY) said that the Emperor Caligula had appointed a horse to the Roman Senate, but the Romans were fortunate in that they at least got the whole horse.
@Fact Boy Glass (of Glass-Steagall fame, for you bank lawyers out there) was from Virginia, not New York.
@Fact Boy Also, Glass was a Democrat, as all VA Senators Fox that era were. And probably only a Democrat would have pushed through Glass-Stegalll , the undoing of which helped cause the Great Recession
@Fact Boy They just don't make political insults like they used to, do they?
Not familiar with “Her”, and had OK don’t at the cross. So I googled dating sites. At least that’s the story I told my wife.
I rarely am impressed by a puzzle's construction but today I was - fitting all those creatures into entries that made sense across and down can't have been easy. Respect! I caught onto the theme early, once it became obvious PRI(DEMON)TH was the only thing that fit. Coming from a place where many ignorant people disgustingly demonize the LGBT community, I'm not sure I like that particular entry, but it's great, technically, as part of the theme. I also rememebred MONSTER MASH, even though it's not something I have ever heard in Poland - I probably know it from some streaming series. It was quite an enjoyable puzzle, in general, albeit slightly trivia-heavy for my tastes. I had to look up a few names. The clueing was not 100% on my wavelength but I was able to deal with it in the end, solving the puzzle slightly faster than my average. Btw, the clue with Polish/polish was among the last ones I figured out 🤣.
@Andrzej - some time in the 1990s when I was in Warsaw, I located the center GL (gay/lesbian) with a very cryptic doorbell and label. No one answered the door. When we traveled in Korea and China, our contacts reacted to our saying that some of our students were Jewish as though we had said “there are elves and leprechauns traveling with us.” In Poland and Russia, the same incredulity for queer students. There’s a word for the Polish/polish effect: capitonym. <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitonym" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitonym</a>
@Andrzej Pri(demon)th originated as a far right meme but it backfired, which is nice. People wore Pride Month Demon t-shirts with rainbow lettering to pride parades this year. The shirts are even available on Amazon.
@Andrzej It was DES(DEMON)A that clued me in on that one! I was scratching my head, thinking maybe Othello had a nickname for her, but then I rememberd it was a Thursday - rebus day!
@Andrzej Hope you enjoyed reading about the names you looked up. If you weren't familiar with 8D, he had an interesting wife as well. Some of my heroes.
Very appropriate and lots of fun. I caught on at DEMON the second time through. GOLEM took the longest. A CAPOTE is also a Portuguese cape or cloak with a giant hood. May be an old-fashioned word by now.
@Liz B I had figured out MONGOL EMPIRE but had the rebus as [OLEMP] for an embarrassingly long time
At first I was tearing through this monstrously fun puzzle like a DEMON. I spotted the rebus early on at TROLL, and saw DEMON and OGRE reasonably quickly too. But then the south central and SE made me put the brakes on. I had Mongolia for Khan tract (great clue btw), which created no end of confusion.i looked everywhere else for the final rebus trying desperately to think of what monster might still be lurking in one of the remaining blank squares. Eventually I realized my mistake, and saw that GOLEM would fit nicely in the MONGOLEMPIRE and I was home free. I liked having both Manet and Monet in the puzzle. This was a nice Halloween treat with a tasty trick inside. I am looking forward to tomorrow’s trick or treaters and have a playlist of suitably spooky music to have playing when they come a-knocking.
This was an enjoyable puzzle. I was slightly irked that PRI[DEMON]TH had been used semi-earnestly in bigoted right-wing memes earlier this year, but I assume the constructors and the editor were unaware of that. Such people shouldn’t be able to spoil our fun, anyway.
@Nick It's a popular meme that has largely been co-opted by queer people at this point. It's likely deliberate and I'd be disappointed if it wasn't.
What a charming puzzle! Several clues had me laughing: [Its cups aren't supposed to runneth over] [What the puck is going on?] [Sound sounds] [Khan tract?] Those were brilliant! I was very pleased with myself when I figured out the rebus trick (though MONSTER MASH was a big clue). There were a couple of sticky spots that kept me from getting a record time though. CRESCENT looked right, so TROLL was my last rebus fill when I realized TEATEY wasn't a thing. Luckily I had two other squares wrong so I had a chance to correct it. I had OBVi at first and didn't realize DESDEMONA was misspelled. I also had OkDONT, and for all I knew a dating site for queen women could have been called HEk, lol. That was my last correction, and it held me up a few minutes. I definitely got both a trick and a treat today! 😄
Dream puzzle for a Liberal Arts major who keeps up with pop culture. Found the OGRE first. Thank you for not making the rebus locations OBVS with circles. Fun column, funny constructors' notes. Well done, Sarah and Paolo. PS. Got a kick a seeing Catherine OHARA, a holdover from the Beetlejuice puzzle, in the mini. Day-O!
@Vaer Last week, we heard a song called “After Hours” by a guy we’d never heard of, Christian Lee Hutson. It has a line “You look like ‘After Hours’-era Catherine O’Hara,” which I thought was pretty funny. So we rented “After Hours” last night, which also got us a bit of Teri Garr. It’s not Scorsese’s best, but it’s still an entertaining movie with a great cast.
@Eric Hougland I just finished listening to Griffin Dunne's excellent memoir. I highly recommend it. That guy has led a life. It was of privilege and also has had its share of heartache.
Really fun and clever. Halloween is already a success.
Mini stories from today’s fun rebus entries: Oof, that actress in this production of Othello has an inner craziness to her. I tried to get a cuppa as the train went under a bridge, but the attendant demanded an extra bribe. I’m trying to do this download, but some horrible force has it stalled at 37%. This tropical juice drink has taken on a life of its own. ((Last day of vacay: dribble. motel.stage))
This one took me a BIT longer than the average 2024 Thursday, and I was glad it did. Lots of fun here. OLE! Thanks, Sarah and Paolo.
As a foreigner, crosswords with SO MANY names, brands, and local pop culture references get incredibly annoying. At least I wasn't asked again about some nail polish brand I couldn't care less about.
Dividing my attention between the Warriors/Pelicans game and the puzzle, weighted a bit toward the crossword because it is, after all, a Thursday. But no, no rebus in this one (stop that unkind snorting!) and the grid almost entirely filled if you ignore the strange nonwords I didn't know what to do with. Then the shoe dropped and the first rebus was unmasked. So. There will be more. Got another one and then a third, and the puzzle stopped looking so goofy. Went cold in the southeast. I knew there was a rebus there on the same line as the one across the way, knew it would be something scary, but didn't, couldn't, get past Mongolian and think of it even though it is one of my favorite OGRE DEMON TROLL types. Sighed and came to the column, fingers crossed, and here it was: GOLEM! Golly. Halloween puzzles come and go, but this wicked one is now on the trophy shelf with your names on it, Sarah Sinclair and Paolo Pasco. Thank you! (Now back to the game, in which the Warriors are leading!)
Last letter to fall? Ok DONT. HEk could be an app, right? Took me a solid ten minutes to flyspeck, but got ‘er done! And, because I’m a rocket surgeon, I was fine with TEATREY, cuz I’m not British MONGPIRE with MANGONADE and PRESSBAR. Didn’t even notice the weird MICROENS. DESDEMONA was my only ghoul! But the revealer said there were four, so I went monster hunting and found them. Fun one! Thank you Sarah and Paolo!
@CCNY "HEk could be an app, right?" HEk--short for "Hekate"--is already a dating app for feminist Wiccans, so I can see your confusion. Emus delendae sunt!
Got hung up at the very end because I put OBVI instead of OBVS, both of which are valid slang. And to my generally Shakespeare-ignorant mind, the cross DEIDEMONA seemed just as plausible as the actual answer. Otherwise I enjoyed this one.
@Shrike Same. Also never heard of “HALE and hearty” so I was completely hung up there which cost me a gold star.
What a fantastic theme. And not too very difficult for non-US Solvers (had to look up the baseball clue e.g.). I just started daring to start solving Thursdays and it's my sixth golden one :)
@Anna US Solver, AND a baseball fan. I had "sec" at the top first, followed by "min", with just a couple of crosses. And I was like why can't I parse this name? When I got Babe Ruth nearly plotzed.
This puzzle delivered tricks AND treats! I got stuck in the northwest corner but otherwise it was a graveyard smash! (BTW, someone told me today that we've never actually heard the song 'Monster Mash' -- only a song ABOUT the mash. That will keep me up tonight...Happy Cabbage Night, brain!)
Well, if you’re going to do a Halloween themed grid, might as well go full Frankenstein. I loved this. Gathered we would need a rebus to get DESDEMONA, but missed the cue and thought I was looking for sounds (moan, whoo etc) so it took a while to see the trick. I knew TEA TROLLEY was required, but as I haven’t come across a pastry named 22A I struggled to fit it in. This made for a nice crunchy outing. By the way, good luck finding a 13D these days. Covid seems to have been the excuse for the railways to ditch them. I knew 30A as I’m still watching Grace and Frankie (clued earlier in the week) and have just watched Robert audition for it. As opposed to having actually read the book that is. My earworm is now a conjoined twin of MONSTER MASH and tunes from OLIVER. Bring on the dancing Mummies.
@Helen Wright I've never made pigs-in-a-blanket but there are recipes for canapes and such out there, involving CRESCENT ROLL dough, which comes in sort-of cans in the refrigerated section at the grocery store. I don't do the grocery shopping for our household (this dates back to my job that required me to leave the house at 6:30 a.m. and get home, exhausted, at 3 p.m. or later.) So these have never entered our home... yet.
@Helen Wright Please, sir. I want some more mash.
I’m even struggling with my favorite kind of puzzle now. Today I only managed to find 2 rebuses, TROLL and GOLEM, both fun and satisfying at least. Like others I enjoyed having both MONET and MANET in the puzzle. Very impressive Thursday puzzle from Sarah and Paolo.
@suejean No, I KNOW you absolutely know 4D.... N'est pas?
It just took me fifteen tries to log in to my NYT Games account when I hadn’t logged out. This happens roughly twice a month. This happens on not one other website I log on to, ONLY the New York Times. Many other posters have made similar complaints. How about fixing this glitch? How about we just open the page and it is there? Wouldn’t it be loverly? Sick of this problem with NYT IT.
@David Connell Same here. I had an especially rough time yesterday.
@David Connell They are too busy genuflecting to the emus.
@David Connell Happened to me yesterday and today. Yesterday I gave up and today I almost did. Thanks for speaking up about it.
@David Connell - It happened to me, too, today. At least today it corrected itself without me having to write to user support. I now save the replies to my previous customer serice requests and when this happens, I reply to the previous one, thereby ensuring it has the same "case number." It also includes the previous thread of correspondence between me and their people. Every time I send a new request for help, I also say "Why don't you fix this for good? It happens ONLY on the NYT site, and it happens far too frequently." After my comment here last week, I will bow be including "this happens to many other users. It is non only me." I also have learned to point out that it is not my browser or my computer, because I have changed browser and even fired up my laptop and used an entirely different computer, and the problem persists. I include this information because if I don't, they ASSume the problem is on my end and suggest things like clearing caches, shutting down and restarting my browser, and disabling any password managers, none of which have anything at all to do with the issue. It's better to let them know from the get-go that those solutions will not solve the problem. I do wish that others would complain, too, when it happens to them. The replies to my comment last week indicated that most people don't report the issue. Please DO report it! If we all bother them with this issue, maybe they'll eventually fix that darned problem.
Fun solve! For some reason, the puzzle counted it as solved without putting in the TROLL rebus. I had never heard of a TEATEY before, but I’m just a casual Anglophile, so I rolled with it.
@Gurdog If the first letter is correctly filled on rebuses, the app counts it as correct!
Completely tangentially to the puzzle, the automated voice that reads the article correctly pronounces "Polish" and "polish" the first time (at 4:04), but as of this writing, the second go around mixes them up (even though they're both capitalized the same way as "Polish"). That the voice even chooses different pronunciations is fascinating to me.
Great puzzle, loved it, but one minor general kvetch- it used to be that my least favorite Xword entries were obscure and/or extinct cable channels. Now this has been supplanted by text slang like OBVS. All I can say is PS-IDMC (please stop it's driving me crazy)
Stuck forever with MANGONADE since around here the Mexican drink stands/carts all sell “mangonada”
Whew - and Wow! Quite a long workout for me, but just such a clever puzzle and amazing theme that I had a great time finally figuring it all out. And... one really amazing thing about this one: Did a search for the string of letters GOLEM, wondering what else that could be embedded in. And... that's it. manGOLEMonade and monGOLEMpire were both debuts and the ONLY answers that ever embedded that string in a longer answer (GOLEM and GOLEMS by themselves have been answers before). That's just amazing. And, of course I had a puzzle find today. I'll put that in a reply. ..
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Tuesday puzzle from January 25, 2005 by Lee Glickstein and Nancy Salomon. The 'reveal' answer in that one was GOBETWEEN. A couple of clue/answer examples: "Something to play in Kinshasa? :" CONGOGAME "The Lord's tropical fruit? :" MANGOOFGOD And a couple of other theme answers: EGOMAIL TANGOLINES Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/25/2005&g=11&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/25/2005&g=11&d=D</a> ..
it's a graveyard smash! I caught on in a flash. Can't say as I've ever heard of MANGOLEMONADE, but a golem's gotta drink something. Fun puzzle, thanks Sarah and Paolo.
I look forward to Thursday puzzles and I like rebuses! It's all part of the puzzle challenge. Happy Halloween and thanks for the monster mash!
Easy and fun! Adorable picture! I spent a couple of days up in Salem, MA, last week. One of my best excursions ever. Thousands of people, many in spectacular costumes, and all good vibes. I recommend it to any Halloween / goth / pagan fans out there.
I thought the lowercase n lookalike was the ñ but spelled out as EñA. ETA & LAB RAT makes a lot more sense though. OBVS! Haha MONGolia and MANGONADE had me stuck for way too long before I realized rebuses were involved. And “It comes from the heart” was a cute clue for AORTA.
["Polish The Emerald Isle!"] ReVAMP IREland! Of course the entries in the puzzle are actual things. Otherwise we could have had entries like "I've been hooking up with Dracula on the reg, but Elvira is my siDE MONster." I wonder if Elvira would agree with 28A. I adore these constructors! More puzzles with cute pix, pls!
Great Hallowe’en theme! I had to google a bit but I sussed out the theme clues on my own. These days I puzzle over the PARADOXES we’ve FOMENTed and feel like I’m tilting at windmills, while always tracking the PROGRESS BAR. A good crossword is a blessing!
Today I broke my streak record! 187 and counting, I really want to get to 200 this time... Crosswords gods, please be merciful in the next two weeks. Today's puzzle was tough enough, I needed almost half an hour and for a while I thought that NE would be the end of me.
I found that very difficult for a Thursday! Good one.
I was first introduced to the MONSTER MASH in 1988. Only, for me, it was the MONSTER bASH… a celebration of the 1988 Oakland A’s and the Bash Brothers, McGwire and Canseco. That was an October I’ll never forget. Fitting that the last time the Dodgers won the World Series (we don’t count their 2020 championship here in The Bay) was 1988. Until tonight, that is. Kirk Gibson broke my 8 year old heart way back then. Freddy Freeman did the same to some kids in the Bronx tonight. Enjoy the MONSTER bASH… <a href="https://youtu.be/HGxEGNrgdRE?si=5I0bB7VT2mMl-zBf" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/HGxEGNrgdRE?si=5I0bB7VT2mMl-zBf</a>
This is the first time I have commented before finishing (or giving up on) a puzzle. I really do try not to complain in these comments, and I normally enjoy a challenging puzzle, and I love a good rebus. That said… If one does not know: ・ Othello roles (yes, I know a rebus is there) ・ “just terrible” and “throw hard” slang ・ pigs in a blanket ・ Bernini ・ Caligula ・ Cervante ・ Water Lilies paintings ・ BeBe’s gospel duo ・ different types of manicures ・ painter of Olympia ・ Elizabeth of cosmetics ・ Khan ・ Clone Wars (is that Star Wars?) ・ Green Machine ATMs Is there any hope of solving this puzzle?
@Bill in Yokohama I certainly agree on Star Wars (and Harry Potter) clues.
@Bill in Yokohama I didn’t know many of those clues in that list definitively outright, but by working through and filling in answers I did know and using a combination of logic and educated guesses I found this was very solvable. I do find obscure trivia a big downer in crosswords - but none such trivia in today’s. Just a solid crossword with a fun theme and a range of clues to give people different access points.
@Bill in Yokohama It's no great secret that crosswords are easier the more stuff you know, but I don't think there's that much on your list that's niche. Maybe the Bernini opera, the manicure stuff, and the ATMs (and of course, they may be gimmes for others), but: Othello is a high school staple, and DESDEMONA is the main female character. Of the two slang terms, one is inferrable and the other has appeared five times in just over a year. For CRESCENT ROLL, just ignore "pigs in a blanket" and think of types of pastry dough. Caligula's legend is, well, legendary. The two painters, world famous. The Wynans, gospel all-stars. ARDEN a puzzle mainstay, dozens of times. Genghis KHAN trivial? For Cervantes, think Man of La MANCHA. Clone Wars? Of course Star Wars. For me, there were several clues for which I did not know the answer outright, but I could figure it out with crosses and logic. For example, the Bernini role required a name from classical mythology. Some of the other fact-based things I didn't know from the clues were OLIVER, BAA, DIP, KENOBI (but did recognize it as Star Wars), TEN, TEA TROLLEY, TD BANK (but could infer it because their logo is green), HER, MICROGREENS, and BERN. Nevertheless, a few crosses and everything fell into place. And I didn't find that the number of unknown things was unusually high. I finished this puzzle about a minute above my average, but I blame that more on the ballgame being on at the same time.
@Bill in Yokohama You know I'm one of your fans, but some of the items on your list are pretty common knowledge: the evil Caesar, the Impressionists/painting, Cervantes' s famous magnum opus, and (Ghengis) Khan.... (I also had a list of objectionable entry/clues...)
@Bill in Yokohama Where do we draw the line? If you don’t know who painted the water lilies, or the other main role from Othello, or who Khan is, I’m sorry my friend, but...at some point we have to assume a basic level of shared knowledge. At least for folks educated in the Western hemisphere, yeah, I’d expect anyone over the age of 18 to know those.
@Bill in Yokohama I feel exactly the same way. It felt like a smarmy pub quiz full of trivia that you know or not. No chance of solving though the crosses.
@Bill in Yokohama I was totally struck in the south east last night, but came back to it just now and wrapped it up in short order. It’s funny how your brain works in the background. With you on throw hard. I was about 50-50 on your list half crosses half knowledge. So yes it can be solved.
The last square to fall for me in this puzzle was the first P in PROPER because I was convinced from the down clue that this was where the fourth monster belonged. I guess I assumed MANGONADE was a real thing. So I was struggling so hard to come up with some kind of monster that ends in -EMP, with OLIANEMP as my ridiculous placeholder. I knew I was missing something but couldn't get my brain to approach it another way, and coming up with monster types didn't help (though it did briefly sidetrack me down a VAMPIRE rabbit hole), so I switched to just P as my placeholder and bam! I unexpectedly got the gold star (and kept the crazy long streak alive). Huh??!? I know the first letter alone works for rebuses but couldn't suss out what monster starts with P and ends with -EMP. Puzzle "solved", I turned to the comments and saw GOLEM mentioned. Ahhhhhhh, MANGONADE isn't a thing. I get it. Except that I've never thought of a GOLEM as a monster, no more than a Roomba is a monster. The GOLEM, made of clay and brought to life, carries out chores. The biggest risk with a GOLEM is that you forget to tell it to stop making the latkes and then latkes fill the town. More delicious than monstrous.....
@Classic Hip-Hop Fan I, too, thought that there ought to be MANgONADE, and spent too much time searching for the (GOLEM). It may interest you to know that a little Googling shows that, while there is no mangonade, there is "mangonada". <a href="https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020269-mangonada" target="_blank">https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020269-mangonada</a>
@Classic Hip-Hop Fan Oh me too!!!
@Classic Hip-Hop Fan I replied to another thread, but I had a very similar thing with Mangonade and trying to stick a rebus into the Khan/Polish crossing. Oof!
Timely theme and just the right level of (extra) difficulty for a Thursday. Got through the rest of the puzzle without getting too twisted up but then had to stare at the intersection of 44A and 35D for a long time trying to figure out the rebus I knew had to be there. When I figured it out I still didn't get the happy music until I discovered that 52A is spelled with and I at the end not an E.
Freshness score of 74 percent, no other grids like it. I knew we were in for some ghoulish tricks today. And this did not disappoint. Thank you!
@Red Carpet Not to mention a Thursday freshness score of 89.1%, not too shabby! But that other puzzle from last June 27 which is noted in the column was 99% for a Thursday. What a team… — — — — — — — — — — — —
How does one compute a freshness score? Had not seen (or recall seeing) such a thing mentioned before.
I was definitely confused getting the "Puzzle complete" with MANGONADE (there are recipes online) crossing MONGPIRE (no evidence whatsoever of recipes or Khans). This blog at least helpfully explained the real answer. Figured out DEMON and OGRE but still not sure what the fourth rebus was. Somehow the puzzle is still complete.
@MattS Came here to say the same! Was waiting for a “close!” message when I filled in the last square since I hadn’t found the fourth rebus yet, but it said puzzle complete! Glad for my average time but confusing lol
@MattS It’s GOLEM. Enjoy looking it up.
@MattS The TROLL rebus is easy to miss because CRESCENT looks sort of correct.
@MattS Same thing happened to me and as a Jewish person I certainly know the GOLEM. But I was looking at the next line because I thought Mangonade could be a thing and assumed the themed entries would be symmetrical, so was wondering what monster was OLEMP and whether OLEMPROPER was a thing. But got the happy music anyway. I don’t blame the constructor that they weren’t symmetrical this is a pretty tight theme to expect that.
@MattS Teatey isn't a thing, but tea could be on a trolley...
What a graveyard smash! Wish I could say I caught on in a flash… I finished with only two of the rebuses filled in and then I couldn’t keep editing. I knew TEATEY was wrong somehow, so I might have found TROLL, but I have never heard of GOLEM (and MANGONADE seemed fair enough to me). Don’t know if it was intentional or not, but I liked the added touch of the crosses/crucifixes warding off any vampires hanging around this puzzle! Happy Halloween!!
@Chrissy Totally missed the crosses lying there! Thanks! Emu Prevention Measure
Clues based on cultural flotsam like Star Wars (and Harry Potter for that matter) are OK only if they go as deep as the very basics (e.g. "princess with buns" etc). Clues involving the minutia of pre-post-reboot film #34 of this irrelevant set-in-space soap opera should be subject to the wrath of the editor's light sabre.
@Super8ing I agree, but have spent too much of my childhood watching the SISSO in question not to note that KENOBI and his involvement with the Clone Wars appear in the first movie, in one of the most widely quoted and parodied lines from any Star Wars movie ("Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope"), that the character had appeared in all the tentpole movies until Disney took over, and that the character, the clones and Clone Wars have all appeared in the titles of Star Wars media (meaning it's theoretically possible to have gotten this simply by walking or scrolling past enough enough movie posters without ever watching even a second of Star Wars media). I'd rate this about in the ballpark of "Harry Potter's best friend" as far as cluing obscurity, but of course YMMV. Now, that Broadway name ...
@Super8ing If you expect the average person off the street to name a few characters from one of the highest-grossing movie franchises of all time, they’re going to name the character in today’s puzzle. Just figure it out with a cross or two. I haven’t watched that movie in twenty+ years, but I know which name is six letters long.
I love it! Halloween is my favorite holiday, I'm an unapologetic fan of Monster Mash, and rebuses just make my day. The pictures of the constructors in costume are just too cute. They look like they have a lot of fun together. Happy Halloween, everyone! Don't eat too much candy and get a tummy ache. (I probably will though.)
Happy Halloween, everyone! I wore my wedding gown as a costume for many a year, veil and all. How many people actually wear out their wedding dress? LOL The TROLL gave me the theme today! My fave was GOLEM - great cross. In my opinion, "It was a graveyard smash"!!
Hidden rebuses are the bane of my crossword existence, but I'm glad other folks have a good time with them. Hopefully that'll be me one day.