Wow did anyone tell Sam this wasn’t a Saturday? Loved all the theme entries but given the double stack and therefore the preponderance of some more obscure entries, the cluing could have been kinder for a Sunday— I’m looking at you COLMAN/MSG for example. Had to sweat all the way through this. ULTIMATELY I enjoyed it though.
@SP Thank you! Colman/MSG was the error I couldn’t spot.
Back in the early 1970s when the world was colder and snowier, we had a sledding party, and I ran my Flexible Flyer into a snow-covered stump at the bottom of the hill and received my first concussion. For a week afterward, my thoughts were thick, slow and fuzzy. Reading was almost impossible: the words looked like arranged lines of stones and pebbles, without apparent meaning or connection. I hope this isn't a political comment that will get bagged by the emus and editors, but after Tuesday, which was a disaster for me and my family, I felt the same way, muddy and dumb. People would talk to me and I'd be unable to comprehend what they said. I refused to read any news, and even worse, I couldn't manage the crossword puzzles. I left yesterday's largely incomplete after three hours' toil. Today's took me 2:25, a minor victory on the road to recovery. I'm wondering if other puzzlers have had a similar experience. On to the puzzle itself. Usually I don't light up when I see Sam Ezersky's name. I've been put off by what I saw as braggadocio, lack of humility. This one had none of that, the cluing gentle and funny. I don't think of Poe's works as particularly eerie even when it's about a midnight dreary, but I appreciated having the two most famous literary Edgars sharing space. Some of the themers were a bit strained, but who cares? They worked. Glad Sam didn't call it "Transfixed" - that would have incurred a Descent into the Maelstrom from those touchy about those things.
@john ezra -- Oh, yes, me too, John. You are not alone. Et tu, emu.
@john ezra You are definitely not alone. The puzzles have been a bit of a refuge, but even basic things have left me flummoxed within them.
@john ezra When I was in middle school, we were all assigned to do a dramatic reading in front of the class, and I drew “The Tell-Tale Heart.” At my mother’s suggestion, the teacher allowed me to lower the blinds, shut off the lights, and hold a flashlight under my chin as I read the story. I worked on my maniacal laugh, too. It was eerie! (And “The Cask of Amontillado” gave me nightmares for weeks.)
I’m actually relieved to see others struggled with this one. Felt like a Saturday in difficulty. Was starting to question my sanity as the clock ticked 16 minutes over my average!
SUB, EX, MICRO, ANTE, PAN, DIS, POST, AUTO, PRO, SUPER Imagine coming up with ten common prefixes that take on an entirely different meaning when put at the end of a phrase. SUPER indeed! Great puzzle, Sam.
IMO, this was just not a good puzzle. Even after giving up and revealing the answers, I still don't understand what the constructor was going for with a lot of these clues. Just absolutely a slog that never paid off.
Jamie, Would you share one or two examples of answers you revealed but still didn't understand the clues?
@Barry Ancona I still don't get the theme clues. Normally there is an "a-ha" moment.
I like a puzzle that adds to my knowledge base or opens me to a wider uses of a word or expression. This puzzle did neither at any point. One of the few times I felt I wasted my time.
After this absolutely awful week, I was looking forward to the Sunday crossword, and then to my horror saw the by-line. NOOOO -- more misery!!! To my surprise, although it took a bit longer than a typical Sunday, I cracked it, and it did bring me some respite from our sad world.
I found this to be a kinder, gentler Sam E. construction. Usually there's a point when I throw my hands up and just hit Reveal. But then again, those might have been Saturday puzzles. I just kept plugging away, using all the PPE available and finally remembered I should look at the title again and see if I could figure out how the themers worker. Lo and behold, I got it with STANDARDSUB. I liked the convertible answer (SPORTY), but I'm giving a little side-eye to ADDY.
@Vaer Yeah, yeah, ADDY is in the dictionary. I just can't imagine saying it.
@Vaer I usually ignore the titles. This was one of those cases where it was pleasant enough to catch on without it, even as I quickly realized a lot of the theme answers were unsatisfying / sub....optimal? ;) ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
It brings up the rear of a truck convoy? FINAL SEMI
I didn't see who the constructor was until after I finished. I am not surprised it turned out to be Sam Ezersky.
Some of this was ridiculously obscure. Terrible puzzle. Do better.
@Mac Noooooooo! I beg of you. I normally have to go to the archives for puzzles like this and I really miss them. Let's keep non-obscure puzzles earlier in the week. There are plenty of those.
@Lynn It’s not meta, it’s a Sunday Ezersky. To your point though, sometimes the hardest for me can be Thursday, Friday or Saturday, which is part of the fun. Sunday puzzles are delightful in many obscure ways, but the hardest recently fall on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday. I love them all. It’s a bit sad when comments evoke a WWII debate: let’s leave that to Spelling Bee, where the Games Team request not to discuss politics went up in flames. Thanks for listening.
I look forward to the Sunday puzzle each week: my favorite. Speaking only first myself though I rarely enjoy an Ezersky and reading about this one have no plans to finish. It does not Spark Joy: Marie Kondo on organizing, decluttering and tidying up the mind. On to the archive.
Today’s puzzle was a Sunday delight. I was very slow to catch the trick of reversing the words in the themed answers, but finally caught on when I got MANAGEDMICRO. Then I went back admired all the ones I’d gotten without appreciating the cleverness of the construction. I was happy to see our local convenience chain, WAWA, get a shout out. My favorite clue was Masters of writing - with its disguised capital and false plural. EDGARLEE Masters’ Spoon River Anthology is classic Americana, and inspired a fine song of the same name by criminally overlooked singer/songwriter Michael Smith, which I discovered via Steve Goodman’s cover version.
@Marshall Walthew My daughter and grandson have just moved to Las Vegas to live with me and are already missing Wawa's. I've been here many more years and have been missing it longer. There is no equivalent!!!
@Marshall Walthew Also, you had Punxsutawney PHIL in close proximity to the WAWA.
What a delightful Word Quirk theme, never done before, best as I can tell. Sam’s notes say that it took months to come up with this theme answer set, and I love hearing about perseverance like that. Of course, it’s an impressive build, as Sam is a puzzle polisher. Here we have a remarkably dense theme – ten theme answers taking up just shy of a third of the white squares! – smoothly filled, for the most part. Wow! As an elegant touch, he made sure that the only question-mark clues in the across answers were theme answer clues. It’s also, IMO, a capital-P Puzzle, issuing the challenge: “Crack me!” So many vague clues, clues that could yield several answers, and misdirects. Also, those theme answers weren’t easy to come by. I had a few I’M DYING moments, and overcoming them, as always, was supremely satisfying. My favorite clue was the misdirect [It’s attached to covers and sheets] for SPINE, which had me retrieving bed instead of book terms. I also liked the fauna references: ROO, PHIL, BABE, a backward BATS, WORM, A$S, and BEES. Sam, I come into your end-of-the-week puzzles with trepidation and determination, and always leave them with appreciation. This was a beaut, and thank you so much for it!
@Lewis loved this review! So positive and gets to the point of puzzle solving for me anyway, being challenged! So many whiners out there today. Maybe they should stick to sudoku. . . 😁
I figured out the theme surprisingly quickly, and I thought ooh, maybe we were getting a break. But the rest of the too clever clueing made it not a fun solve for me, in the end I gave up. I wish the Times would stop publishing puzzles like this.
@James We don’t have to solve them, but spot on.
@James If the Times took your advice many of us would be sad. I like the occasional challenging Sunday puz. When I was a kid we got the paper just so my mother could solve the puzzle. It sometimes took her all week. Those were hard puzzles; these days, not so much.
Oh, I meant to ask, what does "Thunder shower?" solving to ESPN mean? I got it but didn't get it.... Ohhhhhh, belay that... I get it now. Shower as in one who shows, not shower as in rain or get clean. Ack! I usually catch those faster. I reckon the Thunder are a sports team that are shown on ESPN. Noted! Go, sports!!
@HeathieJ Glad you got it. I get the same reaction with "tower," a word that has made several appearances. Such is the world of crosswords. Enjoy and have a great Sunday and week ahead.
@HeathieJ. The Oklahoma City Thunder are an NBA team, and ESPN televises NBA games.
@HeathieJ Ha! I also was completely lost on my crosses-only solution to [Thunder shower] --- thanks for continuing to put your comment after it dawned on you. Now I get it and I love it. I also feel for "tower" whichever day that was. No more... I'm on to you "ow" words!
@HeathieJ Ha! Your post is a near-perfect transcription (sans STENO) of my own thought process with that clue. Go sports!
I've never hated a puzzle more than this one full stop
Sam E.’s puzzles tend to be very overwrought and best described as “too clever by half” and this is no exception. Arbitrarily difficult, not by virtue of fun or whimsical wordplay, but by self-indulgent trivia and glue-y crosswordese fill. From start to finish, the clunky 3-letter answers were either yawn-inducing (ROO, EAR, MEW) or hair-pulling oblique (MSG, NRC, HAR). The 4-letters weren’t much better: ADDY, SWIT, LINT, PHIL—none of it particularly fun or interesting. The themed answers were just a very basic form of wordplay where one part of a word gets rearranged and some contrived clue gets used to describe the otherwise nonsensical result. Not particularly fun or interesting, and about as close to themeless as one could reasonably get away with for what’s supposed to be a heavily themed puzzle. Pile on a truckload of proper names and obscure trivia, and this puzzle (for me at least) failed that most golden of rules: it ultimately does not pass the Sunday morning coffee vibe check.
Well... a record for me. I've never before had less filled in on any puzzle when I finally gave up. Just couldn't get anywhere with this one. Couldn't even get many down crosses, so never came close to tumbling to the trick. Actually surprised that most everyone else was able work this one out. Maybe I can do a Monday. We'll see. ..
@Rich in Atlanta Use the cheat sites! This level of difficulty requires some cheating for most, I'm sure. (At least there's no one annoyingly complaining that it's too easy!)
I was scrolling through the comments in new-to-old order, got about halfway through them before I had had enough. Too many people venting their anger and hostility over the leisurely pasttime of solving, or attempting to solve, crossword puzzles. Seems like many are not having fun and I wonder why they continue.
@Jim I think it's generally better to read them from old to new... I have no science to back this up but I feel like the first half of comments tend to be more positive and any negatives are stated in a less mean spirited way. I have often wondered the same as your last sentence.
I’m not saying it was a Sunday puzzle to die for, but it did have some cruel suffixion.
@jf - What do you think is wrong with ADDY? It's a word, although it is informal. And it is in use. It's even in dictionaries. Informal and slangy words like ADDY are not banned from the crossword -- thank heavens!
ADDY is not a debut answer today. Would you have preferred this clue? Mon Jan 21, 1963 58D Girl's nickname. Norma Schier Farrar
@jf Perfectly valid comment. Proceed with caution, duck and cover. The easily upset are upset. Best ignore such.
@jf I'm with you (and others) on thinking ADDY is clued questionably here and is just kind of sub-par fill anyway. I understand I don't personally have to have ever heard a particular thing for it be "legit" but I can still complain that the editors should be considering how well known and/or reasonable an entry is and that ADDY may be familiar to some but is obviously unfamiliar to many. And really if I ever heard anyone say "What's your addy?" to me, I would probably roll my eyes at how stupid it sounds. Editors obviously thought the 10-entry theme justified letting in a lot of other mediocre fill, that just it is what it is some days.
If enough people buzzed loudly, would ADDY be allowed in Spelling Bee?
I needed lookups and autocheck because of an abundance of entries unknown to me, and I actually revealed a few squares, but I found the puzzle quite enjoyable. I got the theme, which doesn't always happen, and I thought it was pretty smart. Most of the clues were on my wavelength, too.
@Andrzej Wow, and here I was worried about how incomprehensible this would be for you in particular! Good to hear this.
It’s really hard for me to enjoy a Sam Ezersky crossword puzzle. Why is that? I find them extremely challenging in a way that doesn’t provide satisfaction to figure out. (Spelling Bees are great) Second—the blog today! I’d be surprised if folks working on this puzzle didn’t know gravity is less/we WEIGH(T) less on the moon. Or that milky weigh includes NOUGAT. Maybe EDGARLEE or AUK or some of the other obscure names would have been good to share.
@MG AUK obscure? I learnt that word reading one of the Little House books as a kid. "Pa" had a book with a picture of a Great Auk in it.
Too many “for short” and “informally” indicating a weak effort to find a decent grid. The theme is in Sam’s head, just not clever enough to mean anything to the solver.
Not a horrible puzzle. E-word clues just roll of my back at this point. But it's a rookie error confusing "Wii Sports" and "Wii Play". Wii Sports was ubiquitous due to being a pack-in with the Wii console. And was a massive popular and critical success on top of that. It is well remembered to this day. Wii Play is a terrible collection of glorified tech demos. It is widely hated, and many people only ended up owning it because it came free if you bought a second controller in PAL territories. It is not a "hit" by any definition of the word (except that you hit a billiard ball in one of the minigames). According to Mobygames' "Mobyscore" metric (based on contemporary critical reviews) , Wii Play is ranked 22136 of ~25.6K Wii games. Which is even worse than it sounds, because some games don't have a score there. Of games with a score, it is in the bottom 150. Easily Putting it in the worst 1% of all games on the system.
@Atavistic Cringeworder Yeah, caught that too. You’ll eventually learn that the editors absolutely do not care about factual accuracy.
Not surprised to see Sam was the author of this puzzle because, although I’m addicted to Spelling Bee, I’ve never been on his wavelength in terms of crosswords. I found many of the clues to be clunky and forced, and the reveals insufficiently clever. Too many lookups, not enough fun. Not a good Sunday for me.
Tough, brilliant, over my average, well worth it.
Saw the byline rolled up my sleeves and was feeling quite chuffed, flying through the grid (but in a patchy way) and my nemesis, my greatest foe? The tiny little spot in the east. Was so sure Liu was Lucy making I fOld work nicely, because I a rocket surgeon who didn’t realize I was apparently *fine* with EfGRECO. Those down answers can look just fine when they’re so…not. But you did not defeat me Sensei Ezersky! I conquered! *CC bows with 🙏 *
@CCNY I had the same hang up. And I adore Simu Liu! (If you haven’t watched “Kim’s Convenience,” you owe yourself a treat.) I guess we need more Lius on the screen so we’re not so easily misdirected.
@CCNY Ef GRECO? What did GRECO ever do to you?
This was a classic Sam Ezersky puzzle, which reminded me that I don't like Sam Ezersky's puzzles. The theme was okay but I the fill was EH.
WOW, that was hard work, very few have taken me over the hour. And while it might allegedly be a thing, if anyone sends me a mail with "Nice to e-meet you", they're on a one-way ticket to the Junk folder
@Steve For what it's worth, I've mostly seen it when a mutual third party has made an electronic introduction to connect two other people who they know, but who don't know each other. Often on LinkedIn, but also by email. I saw it especially after I was restructured out of my job of 20 years a few years back, when friends were trying to help me network with some of their connections. They would write to both, give a little background on each of us, and then encourage connection. I'm very thankful no one simply disregarded me, or vice versa, for such a trivial thing because building my network in a whole new job search world, after leaving a job which I had found in a printed newspaper want ad, was pretty daunting. 🤷♀️
My first themer was PENULTIMATEANTE, but never having heard the term "antepenultimate," the theme remained unclear to me for way too long, which made the rest of the puzzle quite the slog. One of these days, I'll learn to stop working at a puzzle when it starts feeling more like work than play.
@Josh When you see Sam Ezersky as the writer of the crossword, just walk away. I assume he's competent at the other things he does for the NYT games team, but his crosswords simply bring no joy to the solver.
@Josh Think of it as two words. ANTE (in the) PENULTIMATE hand. L
Ditto to Edward and others. Overly clever and no fun. Solved it with no help, but also no satisfaction. Not a worthy puzzle -- especially for a Sunday.
FABULOUS puzzle. Extra-delightful intro (Joel) and comments (Caitlin). Caitlin: i’m guessing there’s not a solver alive who has not added 70A to their list of all-time favorites. The answer would be a worthy name for your Complaint Department. Special ongoing thanks to Sam Ezersky— as an older annuitant I depend on thezersky puzzles to keep my mind flexible. Solving Dis: “annuitant” is not in Spelling Bee’s Word List. Very best regards and wishes.
Or maybe just call that complaint department “70A”.
@Barbara Barnes Like Catch-22 or Room 101.
Ah. Ok. Got it. Yet another theme where the rearrangement has absolutely no relevance to the puzzle, theme, clueing, reveal. Great. Thanks.
@Jairus The theme is right in the title, "From Start to Finish." You take a common word or phrase and move the start of the word to the end. So "expensive" becomes "PENSIVE EX." I don't mean to dis your solve, but just because you didn't understand the puzzle doesn't mean it's not good.
I too found this one took longer than my average... but GUYS! It's a PUZZLE!!! It's *supposed* to be a challenge! I pity the editors... there's no pleasing everyone. But as a proper addict (though I'm sure my current streak approaching 800 wouldn't impress many in this comments section) I delight in the variety, and the offbeat, and the quirky. I'm sure there are comforting, easy-to-complete puzzles out there if you just need to check a box every morning. But I come here to be challenged. Keep it up, New York Times! <3
Delightfully frustrating, always a mere one or two letters beyond reach until the ‘Gotcha!’ moments started ticking in. I’ve never run through the entire alphabet so many times. Time itself flew by, which was just as well, because I needed a lot of it. The best kind of Sunday. I maintain my streak of never once having sussed out a puzzle theme. Many thanks to the editors, without whom I would remain sadly ignorant of the inner beauties of puzzledom. The emu has a request. It often has its feelings hurt in the comments. So much emudissing! We are founding the International Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Emus and Other Incorporeal Beings, an NGO based in Geneva. (Where else?) Donations accepted. Emucoin only, please.
Wow, this one was hard but fair. A little over double my Sun average.
I definitely did this one from the STRUGGLEBUS (well, not the themed entries, those I was pretty good with), so I was pretty shocked to find that I had nothing wrong when I finally decided to check puzzle so I could do a lookup without getting a gold star. There were a couple areas that were especially difficult for me that I ultimately worked through (at a very high cost of time), but I could not get the crossing of 81A/D with 94A. I mean, I guessed it was likely ASWAN but I hadn't ruled out other starting vowels. Guess I haven't gotten to cities on rivers in my geography game yet. Har! It helps me soooo much out here but not today. Too bad I didn't know what a TI-84 was, since battery types show up in the puzzles a lot. It sounded like a plane or something to me. First time I've not made it all on my own on a Sunday in ages! That A took me down! Oh well, it was a grand diversion, for which I'm very appreciative. SOLVINGDIS was definitely my favorite of the themers. I'm sure that will be the case for many of us today. PENSIVEEX is very cute too. This made me chuckle after a while: I didn't have a lot (as usual) on a first go through, so at 95A, I was thinking it was maybe a rebus... oooh! A bright spot in a tough week, perhaps!? Guess I think of Hardy boy(s) much more than I do Hardy HAR, even though I actually use just HAR a fair amount. Thanks for a great week of puzzles!!
@HeathieJ Well, stick to Sodoku! Kidding, I thought that clue was pretty apt for the comments crowd, too. For me, Sunday is all about perseverance. If I can just refrain from looking something up, the answers often come to me. KOWALSKI took a while when Stanley obviously didn't fit. Hell, Stanley took a while, I could only think of Stella and Blanche. But being a scientist, a calculator was my first thought, although the answer was slow.
Figured it would be a tough one when I saw Ezersky’s name, and it was, but I enjoyed the challenge. Had a giggle at knowing WASI immediately, and I’m in awe of anyone who can do THEWORM! APOCALYPTICPOST seems a bit too on the nose right now, but a great clue. Fun theme.
Not a great puzzle - too forced. The real head-slapper is "crossest". Really?
Clunky and self-indulgent. The inclusion of yet another contrived “e” word answer just cements my opinion of this awkward and unsatisfying grid. I’ve spent more years online than nearly anybody, and at no point did I “emeet” anyone.
@Chet My girlfriend had heard of e-meet, so it may just be you.
@Chet True. It's like an anti-Shibboleth - indicative of membership in no group whatsoever. The Buscemi "Hello, Fellow Kids" of crosswording... ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
Clearly, Chet as puzzle editor would not have accepted EMEET. The actual editors did. Perhaps their experience with the expression was different. <a href="https://howtosayguide.com/how-to-say-nice-to-e-meet-you-in-email" target="_blank">https://howtosayguide.com/how-to-say-nice-to-e-meet-you-in-email</a>/ <a href="https://languagetool.org/insights/post/nice-to-emeet-you" target="_blank">https://languagetool.org/insights/post/nice-to-emeet-you</a>/
If anybody doesn't like this puzzle, or has trouble solving it, 70 Across! Sam: [Subway] in the 10A clue gave away the 23A themer! I'll be sharing 114A with my super. P.S.: Glad Joel replaced Sam's working title.
@Barry Ancona When I saw 70A, I thought "I finally know Barry A's job description at nyt!"
@Barry Ancona I find 19 Ps in the grid or 38 entries containing that letter. How appropriate for a puzzle so heavy with PPP. (That' s Proper nouns, Pop culture, and Product names.) If this be worthy of 70a, make the most of it.
I go through the archives daily and was feeling pretty smug when I got a 4:30 on a Monday “Oldie” from March 2020. And I thought to myself: “well, that was a fun race but it’s over so soon.” Then I opened this Sunday puzzle and it took me three hours working on and off on it. I feel as though I prevailed. Good workout. HELPS!
Saw the Sam Ezersky byline and knew I was in for a challenge. His last puzzle, a Saturday, was borderline impossible. This one was tamer. It was merely improbable. Somewhat more approachable, with a theme that I was slow to catch on to, but I eventually did. Perseverance got me to a 100 day streak.
Meh. IMO puzzle would have benefitted from less ambition on the theme density to get cleaner fill overall. I hadn't looked at the puzzle title and thought a lot of the theme entries were just poorly worded! Understanding the theme improved my impression of the puzzle, but I think limiting the theme set to ones where the meaning is really shifted and the word-break is in the middle of a word would have been better. So DISSOLVING, EXPENSIVE, and PROVISION are pretty good. PAN-AFRICAN and SUPERHEATED are relatively lame flips of compound words. And ANTE-PENULTIMATE feels like a big stretch. Going for fewer and better theme entries might have made it possible to avoid fill like CROSSEST, YESBABE, and ADDY and not putting ONETON and ONEMONTH in the same puzzle (neither of which are great fill anyway). Somewhat better solve for me than Sam's last puzzle which I think was a Saturday I really hated.
@Jessica Bloom - The final syllable of a word is called the ultimate or ultima. The syllable before it is called the penultimate = “next to last.” The syllable before that is called the antepenultimate or antepenult = “before the next to last.” These are used especially when talking about accentuation (stress) in speaking: When produce is accented on the penultimate syllable, it is the noun for fruits and vegetables; when it is accented on the ultimate, it is the verb for “to make something.” Directional is accented on the antepenultimate syllable.
I always enjoy a Sam Ezersky puzzle, creative and fun. There is always something to learn. The best thing of the day, though, is Natan Last’s op-ed in the NYT. I took Natan’s JASA Crossword Construction class — he was an engaging, kind, and brilliant guy. The NYT is fortunate to have both Sam and Natan. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/10/opinion/crosswords-comfort-crisis.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/10/opinion/crosswords-comfort-crisis.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare</a>