A sad note for Wordplay old timers: Dr W, one of the regular commenters from blog days, has passed. He had not been well recently, and retired from posting a few years ago. We discovered we lived a few blocks from each other, and got together several times. <a href="https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes/name/stephen-warshaw-obituary?id=54529218" target="_blank">https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes/name/stephen-warshaw-obituary?id=54529218</a>
@Barry Ancona Thank you for letting us know. We are a family here.
@Barry Ancona Oh, Dr. W, I remember him... He was often here when I first lurked in these comments four years ago. May he be resting in forever peace now.
@Barry Ancona Thank you for telling us. How many commenters have stopped posting without our knowing why? Maybe we should all choose a designated door closer for when we won't be posting anymore. Someone to say goodbye for us.
@Barry Ancona , I’m pretty sure my son would write in when that happens.
@Barry Ancona I’m sorry to hear of your loss and of commenters’ loss.
“Golden retriever who ends up with a chocolate lab?” is one of my favorite crosswords clues that I’ve ever read.
@UE I came here to say the same. Absolutely brilliant.
@UE For me it was among the most arcane clues I have ever seen in my life, but I know neither the film nor the book.
@UE I got it from the crosses, and when I. looked up Charlie Bucket after i completed the puzzle I loved the Aha moment. Amazing clue.
@UE ditto. I am honestly jealous I didn't create it haha
"Your laundry puns aren't funny." "Well, my sense of humor is dryer than yours." ("Just don't cycle through any more.")
@Mike I definitely do not think you're all washed up. Your puns keep on tumbling out and your trap seems to be free of lint. (I'm not sure what that means, except that the machine isn't straining and they're never off color.)
Mike, No matter how you try to spin it, laundry puns are the loadest form of humour. So just put a (single) sock in it. :)
No one in Australia says Boyo
@Belinda we have to deal with mom, color and gray.....at least get an "Australian' clue right
@John but the clue is "Australian lad" what has that got to do with Wales?
@Tim haha no one here is saying boyo mate....plenty of swear words being said no one's saying boyo
@Belinda My dad, an Australian, used to say BOYO all the time.
Quick one. Easier than Thursday, the rebus was tricky. And, side note, I voted today!
LESBIANBAR was in fact in poor taste simply because it assumes a gender binary. For opposites to attract (or in this case, not), there must be clearly defined poles with some kind of midpoint—but gender and attraction are fluid and occupy broad and vaguely defined spheres of possibility, which is what makes them wonderful and expansive. This clue reduced that beauty and the lived experiences of millions to a naïve and lazy implied construct of man and woman. Further, Lesbian Bars, like other queer spaces, are about far more complex interactions and community socialization than just romantic or sexual attraction, further making this clue pretty poor by any standards. Disappointing.
@GM Well, THIS lesbian thought that clue was adorable. The point of view you espouse is a very popular one in some circles, but is certainly not universal.
@GM Good grief! As a card carrying lesbian, my advice to you is lighten up and not assume that everyone has to toe your non-binary line to be acceptable.
@GM As a nonbinary person, let me say: This is a crossword puzzle, not a treatise on gender theory. Please calm down. This type of pontificating only alienates people from our cause.
@GM “Opposite sex” has a well-understood meaning, just right for the abbreviated and punny world of crosswords. Clues are almost never exact definitions.
@GM Goos grief indeed. Crossword clues aren’t typically dictionary /textbook definitions of a thing. They’re clues, that’s all, meant to give direction. Get over yourself.
@GM I feel sorry for you. I'm trying to imagine how sad my life must be for me to get so worked up over a crossword clue. I hope things improve for you.
There might have been some kind of transcontinental confusion at 49D... either that, or Australia must have significant population of Irish émigré's that I'm somehow unaware of...
@Jack There's been a large amount of Irish migration to Australia but BOYO is not in common usage here. Confused as to where the constructor or eds might have seen it used in an antipodean context.
@Jack G'day. "Boyo" sounds Welsh to me!
Admittedly a little uneven clue difficulty, but the clues for CHARLIEBUCKET and ONLINEPOKER were definitely worth the price of admission and IVOTEDSTICKER is definitely timely.
Ohhhhhh how I loved this puzzle. Some great jokes throughout. LESBIANBAR and CHARLIEBUCKET both made me laugh out loud. Lots of intuitive “spoken phrase” clues too.
A couple of things slowed me down today: Having “zillions” instead of JILLIONS, and “online baker” instead of ONLINE POKER. I think CHARLIE BUCKET had me focused on sweet treats, because I asked myself, what’s another kind of chip? “Chocolate chips!” I answered. And who makes the chocolate chip cookies you might see in a recipe on your computer? “Why, an online baker, of course!” Hey, it seemed reasonable at the time. At least I refrained from using my first thought for 2D’s “#2”. I think you can probably guess what that was. 41A, however, came to me without a second’s hesitation, because I got one of those today! Yay, democracy! (I’m hoping I can still say that four years from now.)
While I appreciated the voting theme of the puzzle, I thought it was a bit insensitive to include C H A D Anyone else picturing a lesbian bar full of moms demanding action? Do you come from a land down under Where women glow and boyos plunder? Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder? You better run, you better take cover
The unusual letter patterns LLBS in I CALL BS and DEES in DEESCALATE had me stumped for a bit. A nice aha moment when thoy finally clicked. I’m bummed to have missed out on the cleverness of the CHARLIE BUCKET clue, never having seen Willy Wonka. Favorite clue “I “ LIFT for EGO BOOSTER. A good start to the weekend.
The clue for 25A was genius! 😆 Quick but enjoyable solve. Wondering if some folks will be up-in-arms over LESBIAN BAR, because… well, actually there’s no reason at all— but that hasn’t stopped some past commenters!
@Darcey O’D Those up in arms are above. They will find a new thing to be offended by tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then next week.
The clue for LESBIAN BAR is very strange, isn't it? It was supposed to be punny, I guess, but really, how are men and women , and only men and women, opposites, exactly - because that's what's being implied? Is it some of the Mars/Venus trope BS? Also, character opposites attract for all genders and identities, don't they? Anyway, I found this puzzle very hard in places, and not in an enjoyable way. NE and SW was easy, SE less so, and NW almost defeated me. I needed trivia lookups for some 5 entries. I've never heard of CHARLIE BUCKET and as a dog person with a chocolate lab for his best friend I really wanted the clue to be about dogs. The column explained the entry to me... Impossibly arcane to somebody who's never seen the movie, like me. It's not at all popular over here. Also, dryers are not common in Poland, so DRYER SHEET I had to get from crosses. Most of us live in apartments 50-70 m² (our flat is 90 m², which is huge by Warsaw standards and unaffordable for most people), we do our laundry in our bathrooms, usually, and they are smaller than in the US - a typical bathroom is ca. 5 m², and many are smaller than that. You can't fit two huge devices into a room of that size. Very few people have space for a laundry room. On top of that, dryers or combo washers/dryers are expensive to buy and run, given European electricity costs. I don't get the clue for CRAW. Could somebody please explain?
@Andrzej stick in (one's) craw To rankle or irritate one. It really sticks in my craw that he would lie and take all the credit for my idea! Not sure if this a uniquely American idiom.
@Andrzej Also I have seen Willy Wonka, but still missed the Charlie Bucket reference - I hated the movie so don’t know how much attention I was paying, so there is that
@Andrzej When something rankles, it is said to “stick in one’s craw” or so the saying goes. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stick" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stick</a>%20in%20one%27s%20craw
@Andrzej I love living without a dryer, which in my opinion ruins your clothes and is ecologically unsound, but in our 80 m² apartment I wonder how I will dry my bedsheets if my landlord ever decides to deny me access to the furnace room which is actually in his apartment. How do you do it?
@Andrzej I agree about the LESBIAN BAR clue. It kind of stuck in my CRAW. Well, not literally: The craw is the crop or preliminary stomach of a fowl, where food is predigested. Hunters centuries ago noticed that some birds swallowed bits of stone that were too large to pass through the craw and into the digestive tract. These stones, unlike the sand and pebbles needed by birds to help grind food in the pouch, literally stuck in the craw, couldn’t go down any farther.
@Andrzej - The author is Roald Dahl, a writer from England mostly know for his fantastical stories, ostensibly for children but with a layer of humor for adults. He's also written novels for adults. Other well known books of his include James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and The BFG. My personal favorite is Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was also made into a movie by Wes Anderson.
@Andrzej In the US, “same-sex” and “opposite-sex” are terms commonly used to describe relationships. I guess the clue is just wordplay based around this terminology
@Andrzej Back when there were only two sexes, the one was commonly referred to as the opposite of the other. I found no problem with the clue. And sure, people are of the same sex can be opposites in personality, but it's a word game, not a biology textbook. Years ago the US Census Bureau came up with an acronym only the government could love: POSSLQ. Persons of the Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters.
@Andrzej I'm nonbinary, and I too object to the idea that men and women are "opposites." Even the idea that they're two complementary halves of a whole is fraught with problems. However, I'm willing to let the clue pass, as this is a crossword puzzle. If I spent my whole life getting upset over stuff like this I'd be miserable. The clue was cute and I'm okay with it.
@Andrzej It's funny to me (a New Yorker living in a fraction of the space you have) that you assume all Americans have laundry in their residences! We happen to have a laundry room in our building, with 6 washers and 6 dryers for 52 units; my partner and I usually go to the laundromat down the street for less crowding and better prices. When I was a student in Paris in the 80's, I likewise did my laundry down the street at a laundromat. That said, I will give you that the DRYER SHEET is likely a specifically American item. I don't care for them, myself: there are less perfumed, more environmentally friendly options!
Re some of the comments on LESBIANBAR: I'm queer, nonbinary, live in an area with lots of lesbians, and have no problem with the cluing, FWIW. I recommend checking out this humorous performance of "I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar" by (straight cis male) singer/songwriter Jonathan Richman. I've seen him perform this song live numerous times: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjFU98mEem4" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjFU98mEem4</a>
@Pax Ahimsa Gethen I'd never seen that performance before. Thanks for the link! Jonathan Richman can pull off goofy songs better than anyone else out there. We've seen him live a couple of times. I don't know why we didn't see him more. Sometime in the late 1990s, he had a five-night stint at the Continental Club in Austin, which was within walking distance of our house.
@Pax Ahimsa Gethen @Eric Yep, that’s the one on Conan I remember. Goofy is one word, although I like how uniquely relatable his sense of humor is. I’m Nature’s Mosquito, Pablo Picasso, Government Center. Or his other songs, Roadrunner (covered epically by Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols), That Summer Feeling, Velvet Underground, She Cracked. There’s a sincerity to him.
@Pax Ahimsa Gethen this song is what initially got me into richman (like many others i’m sure)! he’s sooooo good, and his stage presence is unlike any other i’ve seen. i also loved the clue! gave me a chuckle when i solved it. very fun easy friday.
This was a kind kind of Friday, IMO. One reason was the bevy of stalwart crossword answers – i.e. AS IS, AVOWS, GRR, CLAN – that were given prosaic clues, providing a wealth of footholds. Actually, IMO, most of the puzzles this week have been easier than typical for the day of the week they fell on, that is, low-stress, and, given that it’s the week before a nail-biting election, I say, “Thank you, editors!” In his five previous NYT puzzles, Spencer had shown himself to be a superb wordplayer, so I entered this grid with a skip to my step. He delivered again today, with entertaining clues for OLDE, DELI, and ONLINE POKER. Plus… That world-class [Golden retriever who ends up with a chocolate lab] for CHARLIE BUCKET. During the fill-in, the answer didn’t mean a thing to me because while I’m familiar with the story he’s in, I don’t remember the full names of the kids in it. But after the solve, when I looked him up, then saw “Golden retriever” in the clue, I swooned in celebration. There was also beauty in answer today, i.e., DE-ESCALATE, A JOB IS A JOB, SEND IT BACK. All of these, BTW, are NYT answer debuts. Kindness, wordplay spark, and beauty – that is one sweet combination. Thank you so much for this, Spencer!
I didn’t realize until googling that the actor who played Charlie Bucket, Peter Ostrum, ended up as a veterinarian which makes the clue doubly good.
@Gregory Melahn Thanks for bringing this up. There was a short-lived reality TV called “Veterinarians On Call” about a decade ago which included a piece on this gentleman. He never returned to the big screen after Willie Wonka and had been fascinated by the work of the vet who took care of his family’s horse. He went to vet school at Cornell and became a large animal vet. Here is the piece featuring him, in which he discusses his movie roll: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/5fd2rf4c" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/5fd2rf4c</a>
I'm definitely getting better at Friday crosswords... 10 minutes under my average time and no look ups! *happy dance* What's that, you say? 90% of commenters found this puzzle very easy? Great.... it was nice while it lasted... *sigh* Oh well, I still enjoyed every minute of solving this one and that's what counts. 😊
"Golden retriever who ended up with a chocolate lab" might be clue of the year. So good.
I nominate 25A for clue of the year! And speaking of chocolate, I hope everyone had a fun Halloween! At one point it was snowing out my back door and raining out the front, but it cleared up so all the little ghoulies could go trick-or-treating.
@Katie totally agree!! And re: Halloween weather - upper 60's on the CT coast. Ridiculous, but great for the kiddos. I actually went walking in shorts and a t-shirt this morning. Nov. 1 - Utsnay!
@Katie It was odd weather here, for sure. I was in the office yesterday and the same was happening between my office and a colleagues... snow out one and rain out the other. But, and I just have to say it, it was no 1991! ;-) I love how strangely proud Minnesotans are of the great Halloween blizzard of '91!
Opposites attract even in a Lesbian bar. Haven't you ever heard of butch/femme?
That feeling when you breeze through a Friday puzzle, which means if you check Xwordinfo and the NYT comments you’ll learn it was on the easier side of the Friday curve. Curve be damned, great puzzle! Delightful misdirects, and a great GOTV reminder. Collect you own personal sticker and vote! *Just once though, offered not valid for certain groups, check terms and conditions.
Golden retriever clue was excellent. Got it really quick and felt like a genius
@Casey Interesting. I think it was my last fill to get completely. I had CHARLIE for a very long time but had a few bad guesses in the Downs there and didn’t think of Charlie’s last name 🤦🏼♀️. So I didn’t feel like a genius, just felt good about finally getting there.
Wow, that was seriously fun, thank you Spencer Leach! The Chocolate Retriever who ends up with a chocolate lab is one of the best clues I've seen in a long time. I'm still smiling over that one.
I found this one fresh and breezy, with a plethora of fun clues and good words, especially DEESCALATE, which just looked wrong without its hyphen, but was oh so right. Dated a while back was clever for OLDE, and clueing crossword staple ASEA by referring to Life Of Pi tickled me ( and slowed me down a bit). I also liked IVOTEDSTICKER (I’ll get mine on Tuesday), and LESBIANBAR, which sent me searching for my Jonathan Richman cds. All in all a nice puzzle.
@Marshall Walthew I’ve had “I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar” running through my brain since I solved that clue. Ooh, ooh, ooh.
@Marshall Walthew I had OncE for a long time instead of OLDE and just couldn't make that corner work. Doesn't Once Upon a Time fit there? It also didn't help that I knew it must be some kind of gAyBAR, as I had the A_BAR part. But what would go with NESB? Finally gave up and looked at the column... Once I changed it to OLDE everything else fell into place.
Spencer Leach if you check these comments - 'golden retriever who ends up with a chocolate lab?' might be my all time favorite clue. Until I had enough crossing letters I was thinking I missed a socially conscious addition to the Air Bud franchise.
@Brandon Heard. Glad you enjoyed it :)
I guess I was on the same wavelength as Mr. Leach. Either that or it was just not a very challenging puzzle, as I came in at less than half my Friday average time.
Really enjoyed this Friday crossword. A good balance of clues, some gimmes, some clever wordplay, and a few head scratchers that could eventually be solved with crosses. Great fun as we head into the weekend!
I had to look up the spelling for MAASAI, but I didn't look up anything else. I usually don't put a lot of effort into trying for a clean solve. It took a while, but it was pretty gratifying when I finally got it.
25A is the best clue I've ever seen in a crossword puzzle! Kudos!
Let me add my voice to the chorus of those who found the clue to LESBIAN BAR one of questionable . . . taste? accuracy? a comment by @Andrzej, below, sums things up pretty well. In the meantime, it is worthy to note that there are only a handful of Lesbian bars left in the US--somewhere between 15 and 40. The Lesbian Bar Project--a video project (sponsored by Jagermeister) dedicated to documenting the remaining bars--counts 34. <a href="https://www.lesbianbarproject.com" target="_blank">https://www.lesbianbarproject.com</a>/ Of course, this all depends on how one defines "Lesbian Bar"--a particular Italian restaurant in Ferndale, MI, is particularly popular with Lesbians--but also with heterosexuals and queer men. Does this make it a Lesbian restaurant? Back in the day, however, I spent more evenings in Ye Olde Gaye Bars, packed onto the dance floor like sardines--but packed in sweat (and pheromones) instead of in oil. But the world has changed, and so have I. Now, 11:00pm on a Saturday night is more likely to find me sitting home, getting a head start on Sunday's puzzle. Or seeing who died this week in Midsomer, on PBS. Or more likely, in bed. I hope this isn't TMI. Somehow, I knew [Golden retriever . . .] had something to do with *Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory*, but exactly what it took me a while to work out. And Thank you, Mr. Leach, for prompting me this morning to read up on spherical geometry.
@Bill A woman who is very important in my life thinks that lesbians drive Subarus. Maybe an observation based on specific findings within a very small sample size. But it seems to be a "thing" in her mind. (As a great philosopher once said, not that there's anything wrong with that.) As for the great LESBIAN BAR philosophical question: I think some people are twisting themselves to find objections to the cluing. The phrase "opposite sex" is well-established in English, and with that in mind, the clue fits fine. All the diving into gender theory seems to me to be overthinking.
@Bill I just thought it was an oddity. GAY BARS, LESBIAN BARS-- is specialization still a thing? Though I guess there is a segment of society that cares/abhors... And @ Steve L Oh, dear. We have a Subaru Outback, and I am the principal driver of this vehicle. (For a while, it was our sole car, but when PhysDau was diagnosed with cancer, we got a used Hyundai for DHubby, to avoid conflicting schedules/apptsl/needs.) And now I find out that I'm a LESBIAN? Is it something in the upholstery?
Fun clueing, smooth solution, and a Friday personal best. What’s not to love there? I admit to being a bit ashamed that my original answer to 2D was POOP instead of VEEP, but maybe that’s just the election fatigue associated with living in a purple state (North Carolina, not me personally). Y’all take care and have a lovely day. Keep laughing!
@Barbara Prillaman I’m sure that my friends and former neighbors in Wisconsin can’t turn on television, or social media, or look at their mail, without being overwhelmed with election fatigue these days, which I don’t miss at all, even though everyone I’m going to vote for here in Indiana is a long shot. Little blessings.
I suspected that 25A had something to do with Willie Wonka, but I've never seen any of the movies or read the books, so that one had to wait for the crosses, and I still feared that something was wrong with the BUCKET part of it. I was glad to see the I VOTED STICKER answer. Durham's say "No bull--I voted."
Oft told tale: During my residency, when I wanted to be a real psychologist, we would show movies on Friday nights replete with popcorn etc. Willy Wonka was a favorite. And the normally catatonic viewers would all laugh and cheer when Violet Beauregarde explodes. Thank you Spencer. Nice job
@dk Oh if only she did. The kind oompas juiced her down instead. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (I do this instead of emuing)
I feel like I'm slowly building up an image of an alternate reality Australia from NYT crossword. One where more than zero people say "Boyo", Canberra is in New South Wales, and Rugby League and Rugby Union are the same sport.
@Atavistic Cringeworder But both universes are fully represented by Paul Hogan and Foster's, right? That's not a knife. It's Australian for beer, mate. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (I do this instead of emuing)
@Atavistic Cringeworder I would have said BOYO was Irish, but since Australia is entirely populated by Irish convicts, that made sense. "Low lie the fields of Athenry..."
There's something to be said for a whoosh-y puzzle when it comes on the heels of a bear of a puzzle (yesterday's) that humiliated and defeated you. I thoroughly enjoyed my lack of suffering today and I also enjoyed some very lively and colorful fill that's colloquial without being sloppy. I loved all the election-related answers: I VOTED STICKER; VEEP; DEESCALATE; and especially I CALL B.S. I hope that JUDGES ROBES won't be part of it. You say "a JILLION" and I say "a ZILLION" -- Let's Call the Whole Thing Off. I had enough crosses to get CHARLIE BUCKET although I didn't understand the reference or where it came from. I was hoping for a real Golden Retriever and a real Chocolate Lab story -- they're perhaps my two favorite breeds. A fun puzzle that left me feeling a lot smarter than I felt yesterday.
I’m going to try to explain lines on a sphere one more time once and for all. If I give you two points on a piece of paper and ask you to draw the line between them you will get out a straight edge and connect them. If I draw a curve between them and ask you if that’s a straight line you will say no, because it’s not the shortest distance. Miami and Lagos are both near the Tropic of Cancer. If I ask you to fly between them in the shortest distance you WON’T fly along the Tropic of Cancer—you will fly along the great circle connecting them (the one that cuts the globe exactly in half). The Tropic of Cancer is thus like a curve in the sphere and the great circle is a straight line. And all great circles on a sphere meet every other great circle twice (for that you are going to have to try visualizing yourself). THAT is what that clue means and why it is strictly speaking correct although admittedly esoteric.
Fun and engaging puzzle! I went through most of it pretty quickly for me, which is still a lot slower than many of you... not that I need an EGOBOOST or anything. But it took me JILLION years to want to accept that CHARLIE preceded BUCKET. I have watched two versions of the movie (the earliest and the latest) but the name did not ring out to me so I had to accept the crosses. I still wasn't sure who he was till I looked him up and slapped my forehead!! I'm terrible with character names. It took another JILLION years to get my last cross—SPAYS and PICS. I only remember TYKE being spelled TiKE. I thought of shots as drinks, vaccines, things being fired, etc., but it took me a while to think of PICS and then, of course, no golden retriever, err, star because what the heck is SPAIS. I finally tried a Y in case TYKE was a variant spelling, since spays would make sense... turns out TiKE is the variant and lesser-used. Who knew!? I mean, other than most of you, the constructer, the editors, the columnists, pretty much most people, it seems... Har! Maybe I do need an EGOBOOST, which was actually my favorite one this time and I'm a big Idris ELBA fan, so that was fun. Lots of fun ones! Can't wait to get my IVOTEDSTICKER! We've tried four times and the lines have been out of control, which is awesome, but not doable for us. We'll go on election day. I think it'll be quieter since there are more polling places and longer hours. If there are long lines, we will wait!
Nice and easy one for a Friday and a PB to boot! Under 10 minutes (and under half my Friday average), but it would be nice to see what my previous PB was, as I didn't check it before starting today. Anyway, have a great weekend all!
@Paul Well done mate. I struggled a bit with this one and took 33:27, just above average. My PB for a Friday is 5:53, which was on 23 Dec 2022. Good to see another NYT crossword lover from Down Under!
Emus ate my comment. Loved the puzzle, little worried that if I check the comments I will see EGO BOOSTERs claiming it was too easy. That said, the GOTV clue right before election😍. Vote people. Get your sticker! (Certain terms and conditions apply.)
@Red Carpet I voted by mail. I got an email from the county clerk after my ballot was counted with a colorful “Print Your Own” I VOTED STICKER, which you can see here: <a href="https://crosswordfiend.com/2024/10/31/friday-november-1-2024" target="_blank">https://crosswordfiend.com/2024/10/31/friday-november-1-2024</a>/
It immediately was clear that this was something new. Love the different approach to clues. When you’ve been doing these as long as I have, something that makes you think and think differently is really welcome. I’m sure it will rattle some people, but I enjoyed it. Thank you.
My mail-in absentee ballot came with the "I VOTED" sticker.
Well... wasn't all that easy for me, but managed to get through it. Guess I shouldn't be surprised that everyone else found it easy. Drifting - 15 letter answer that dawned on me this morning (appropriately) : ITSALLSAINTSDAY And... that led to a rather surprising find. That complete answer has never been in any puzzle, but drop the 'its' and it was part of of Thursday puzzle from November 11, 1982. That one had four 12-letter theme answers. I was quite surprised at this coincidence of length: ARMISTICEDAY ALLSAINTSDAY GUYFAWKESDAY THANKSGIVING Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=11/11/1982&g=28&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=11/11/1982&g=28&d=A</a> I'll shut up now. ..
@Rich in Atlanta Don't feel alone. I didn't find this puzzle easy. There has never been a Friday puzzle that I found easy! Happy All Saints Day!
@Rich in Atlanta , And of course you can add me as well,
For a Friday puzzle, this one seemed very gentle. Except for CHARLIEBUCKET, which I got entirely from the crosses without understanding at all. Now I know a certain literary Charlie's surname! "Eggs-terminates?" for SPAYS left me with a visceral feeling of revulsion. Not sure why, but it just did. I suppose some attempts at cutesy cluing are better than others. Solid enough Friday puzzle.
@Xword Junkie I felt the same about 36A, but couldn't quite clarify enough to put words to it. You expressed the sentiment exactly! I also had a similar, but less strong, reaction to 13A. It's been really interesting to read a range of responses from the commentariat on that one! (For me, it felt awfully binary, while at the same time I knew from the cluing that the answer would be along those lines.)
Has it been mentioned that OLDE and SHOPPE appeared on consecutive days, both times at 1D?
Oh my goodness. I haven't finished the puzzle yet and I haven't read the column or the other comments, but: TWENTY FIVE ACROSS. *Immediately* one of my favorite clue/answer pairings of all time. This makes my day and honestly possibly my week, especially because when I was a kid this time of the year is when we always watched that movie. I'll have to find it again soon - my partner has never seen it. Thank you to the constructor and/or editors who came up with it!
And now I've finished and read the column, and I am all the happier to see that it was Mr. Leach's clue, and his favorite besides. What a delight. Mr. Leach, I hope you get a 41A - whatever else there is to say about Florida (and there's certainly no shortage of options), I DID get a sticker with my mail-in ballot!
Hats off to Mr. Leach! Having raised children to adulthood, who were all happy to get 41As with us this week, we are so well versed in Real Dahl and Dr. Who that we chuckled through this breezy Friday. Mr. Leach notes that he usually constructs Saturday puzzles, then describes the subtle cluing changes made by the editors. I will go out on a limb and say his original clues were perfectly cromulent clues, for a Saturday. Interesting to see what perhaps the editors think will make them Friday clues.
Not a bad puzzle for my at home day. I have just noticed that puzzles seem to be making a lot of jokes at women's expense. Jokes about sanitary products, tons of "spay" jokes (where is "sperm slayer"?), and the ever-popular bra jokes (yesterday's overflowing cups.) Why don't we have jokes about limpness (or not,) "length", neutering, vasectomies, etc? Is it just that anything that has to do with women, women's sexuality, women's bodies, and women's health is just funnier because it's "naughty?" And because everyone knows that "droopy" jokes just aren't funny, amirite? Is this the 1950s?
@TLC What is offensive about "its cups aren't supposed to runneth over"? If a bra fits the way it should, the cups don't run over...that's not offensive it's just, how a bra is supposed to work. A very brief look at past clueing shows a lot related to impotence, eunuchs ("one deprived of his masculinity"), castration, neutering, etc etc. I'm sensing some selection bias...
@TLC If you look for offense, you are sure to find it. Also, we don't spay women - so not sure how that fits your offended narrative.
I thought it was going to be a breeze. I filled in the bottom half much faster than that my normal Friday, but then struggled in the top, getting more confused as Charlie came into view, and am I the only person that had poop in 2D forever. Deb, Gene Wilder and I are in concordance; the original Wonka was the only one we needed. Anyway, anytime I beat my Friday average is a good day. Nicely done Mr. Leach.