Caitlin suggests: Today’s Theme The only indications of today’s theme are eight sets of circled squares... I suggest: This is a Sunday when -- more than most -- reading the title is a very, very helpful indication of the theme.
@Barry Ancona I'd agree. The problem is that in the app (at least on Android), there is no title shown unless you go to the column... and I refuse to look at the column until I've finished the puzzle. After I "fixed" sess to SESH (an argument for another post) and got the good news, I came to the column to find out what was going on, because I never got "ship out" at all.
@Barry Ancona that’s for sure! I prefer to solve without looking at the title - unless I have to. And today, I did have to, because I was just not understanding horizontal groups of circles. Not knowing Steve Kerr, BAR bEEPER seemed like it could be one of those things they give you at restaurants to let you know when your food or table is ready. And since I also didn’t have R at the end of KERR, BA_GESIN wasn’t coming or making sense. I thought it would be some *kind* of SIN, like a deadly sin (but a different word). Didn’t know NITER and NANA either, making the other “ship-outs” (before I knew they were ship-outs) hard to guess. Eventually I decided I had to look at the title, and that helped me finish the puzzle correctly. Enjoyed it and finished with no lookups, but fell short of my personal goal of figuring it out without the title. Very much agree that the title was important today 🤓
This was a disappointing puzzle for south east asians. As stated by a previous commentator, beef adobo isn't a thing. And I would like to add that ORANG also isn't a thing. I have voiced out this error on ORANG here before which was widely agreed in the comments section, so it's baffling how the editors just ignore this egregious error. Just clue it as "person in Bahasa" or "___ Utan"....is it so hard?
@T I admire your perseverance. I have somewhat similar complaints about the often inaccurate and sometimes borderline insulting clues about Slavs that appear in NYT puzzles, and I voice those complaints here, but I don't expect things to change. After all, not all people and peoples are equal, not really, and some of us just have to get used to being treated like we matter less than others.
@Roz doesn't orangutan mean person of the forest? If my recollection is correct that is what the clue is getting at.
@T I've said this before when it's come up, and I'll say it again, and you probably won't like it anyway, but here goes: Yes, ORANG means person in the Indonesian language. Many of us know that. But this is an English puzzle, and unless the puzzle is going for a foreign language clue like "...in Sumatra", the answer is in English. When loan words come into a new language, there is often a semantic shift. Latte means milk in Italian, but in English, it's a coffee drink with milk in it. An entree is an appetizer in French, but in American English, it's a main dish. These were originally mistaken usages, but they're firmly planted in the English language today. Using them the English way is not a mistake. Simply stated, ORANG in English is just a shortening of orangutan. Just like hippo, rhino, dino, etc. No one is insulting Indonesians by calling people apes. I guarantee fewer than 1% of English speakers know that ORANG means person in Bahasa. In fact, fewer than 1% know what language they speak in Indonesia at all. If you wish to take offense on behalf of the Indonesian people, feel free to. I promise you, no one is calling Indonesian people apes. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/orang" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/orang</a>
@T As I note often but with no small amount of irritation, the editors do not care about accuracy.
@Chet Given the amount of US college clues, I don’t think the NYT Crossword editors care about anyone outside of America
@Steve L Yes, you are right about latte etc changing meaning in English (though as a non-USian I don’t think I’ll ever be able to wrap my head around entree as an main dish) However the problem (as I see it) is that ORANG simply isn’t a word in English - at least no version of English that I’m familiar with. No one’s going to the zoo to see the rhinos, hippos, and “orangs” So the parallel you try to draw isn’t valid
"I'm worried about this geometry test." "You have nothing to sphere." (Solid pun.)
@Mike. I love your puns, -- can you please craft some about the other half of the theme?
@Sal Don't want to speak for Mike, but he'd probably say it was smooth sailing -- if yawl ketch my drift. Sorry.
@Mike I guess you've been inCUBEating that one for a while.
I get that this one was supposed to be clever and all, but somehow that didn't make it very enjoyable.
@Kincaid . Well it also wasn't all that clever. Two separate themes, mildly executed and joined by a title phrase. Puzzle was an 8; theme was a 3. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
My favorite solving moment was, after wondering for a long time what layered topping an avocado toast might take on, getting EGG from a cross, then wondering for a split second more what the heck kind of layers an egg has, then, with a huge “Hah!” getting HEN. Not just a bam, but a bam-BAM! Oh, I’ve seen the hen/layer trick before, but I fell for it again, and I simply adore getting got good like that. There was plenty more for me to like as well. Plenty of cluing pushback, with areas that required several returns, giving my brain the rub it savors. Lovely NYT puzzle debuts OLD AS TIME and SEAL OF APPROVAL. Plus the theme itself, how that lively title phrase was literally played out in the box – a terrific idea, IMO. After I caught on to it, it helped my solve. And nerdy me liked seeing five palindromes and the contrasting PuzzPair© of ABED and a backward PUMA. I love the backstory, with Alex working on this puzzle for more than five years, rejecting versions for being too dull. This is an artist as well as a craftsman, one who keeps the solver and excellence to the fore. Altogether, Alex, this was one terrific Sunday, a most splendid outing. Thank you, sir!
@Lewis I was amused by EVE raising Cain, who subsequently raised ENOCH.
Fun fact: botanically, a notelet is not a true note. Due to its size and tendency to get lost, it is scientifically classified as a scrap of paper.
@JohnWM This is why I just write on my hand.
@JohnWM "it is scientifically classified as a scrap of paper." also described as a pseudonote.
@JohnWM Apparently, there's an app on my phone that I can use to make a note. Until I figure that out, I will stick Post-Its to the screen.
Too clever by half. The crossword equivalent of a puffy shirt - it calls attention to the constructor but is otherwise tiresome.
@S Godwin Agreed. I found the “trick” confusing at worst. I generally find the puzzles with tricks or puns interesting, but your word “tiresome” summarizes this for me.
@S Godwin Whenever I see the comment "too clever," I interpret it as, "I couldn't figure out the theme on my own and now I am mad."
Loved this! My 16 year old daughter and I do the Sunday crossword together every week. She was the one who figured out the "Ship Out" part of the theme, I got the "Shape up". She is invaluable with OMGYES and song titles, I get the American clues since she moved to Aus when she was six. We both decided we didn't have enough testosterone to get the CHESTBUMP quickly.
@Maria I love your post. I don't have children but I work with first and third year students at university and I admire them in many ways - also because they teach me to think in different ways and to notice things I would never have noticed myself. Embracing the wisdom of young people is so much smarter than dismissing them because, I don't know... They like avocado toast and haven't heard of actors born in the 1890s?
What?! Uveas taste nothing like grapes! (Cornea at least makes a kernel of sense) Great double theme. Why can't I remember if I've seen Memento?
@ad absurdum Um, is that you, Guy? I've been wondering where you are.
@ad absurdum Maybe write it down somewhere, and if you're out of notelets I'm sure you'll think of something
Luckily I knew all about that ole’ swinger Frank Sumatra, so that gave me a head start.
Amusing puzzle, some tricky parts, a bit overburdened in the middle with all the idiolects of a diehard techie (CD drives, IBMs, IMO, OMG YES, Zapf, E-sign, even Reader & Slot fit right in) and maybe the strain of fitting in all the (very) clever themers can be seen in some of the awkward words toward the south: RC Car, Libelers, Steaded, Notelet (I've made a notelet to buy more aglets, BTW), Be Seen) but I also kinda love notelets, steaded and libelers, they come across as awkward only in that they're scarcely employed and don't come readily to tongue or pen, and scissors cuts, templates, amnesic, idiolects, ice holes, Dubliner, lemon scone all provide a rich substrate for this grid, mentally tickling me. But don't let me stop you from grousing about ORANG. Do you need some orang-aid to help with your sour dispositions, as if you ate your lemon scone too quickly? Because I can't help you. I have no egrets.
@john ezra I wonder, would you be as eager and as quick to jokingly dismiss complaints by people of any ethnicity, culture or religion, related to terms that might be used to insult them? Or does the evaluation of offence depend upon who takes it, and how others empathize with that person or group of people? I can't even write about this in any more detail, because the comment would not make it past the moderation filter! I come from a very intolerant country, where anybody but the white, Christian majority are subject to horrible discrimination, and your comment resonates very badly with me. When I try to make a stand for victims of verbal discrimination in Poland, I often hear comments akin to yours. You surely are not like the people I have to deal with in such moments, right?
@john ezra As I read the comments after what I found to be a difficult but terrifically enjoyable puzzle, it pained me to see two people I greatly admire and respect seemingly at serious odds over an issue I didn’t understand (any previous discussions either were overlooked or no longer resident in the memory banks). I found the following link illuminating: <a href="https://www.orangutanssp.org/orang-vs-orang-utan.html" target="_blank">https://www.orangutanssp.org/orang-vs-orang-utan.html</a> Coming at the issue from the perspective of native-language speakers helps me understand why this usage is offensive and to be avoided. Constructors or commenters who write for an audience that might include those offended by such usage can show respect and avoid unnecessarily causing distress by simply not doing so. It’s the best kind of “woke”: kindness and consideration for others.
Beef adobo isn't a thing. You make it with chicken or pork, never beef.
@Mike If it doesn't exist, how come there are lots of recipes for it? <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=Beef+adobo&rlz=1C1ONGR_enUS1087US1087&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8" target="_blank">https://www.google.com/search?q=Beef+adobo&rlz=1C1ONGR_enUS1087US1087&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8</a> (Note: For an answer to be valid, it doesn't have to be the most common version of an item.)
@Steve L Mike didn’t say beef adobo doesn’t exist. Heck, beef ice cream probably exists. Somewhere. He said it wasn’t a thing. Which is true. If you look at a beef adobo recipe, it might have a couple of comments, whereas chicken and pork adobo recipes have hundreds (and, in Tagalog, goat adobo). It’s like clueing “French stew” for “duck bourguignon.”
I don't misuse words; I employ idiolects. Was I the only one who was dissatisfied with today's puzzle? It seemed that the gimmick existed merely to justify a snappy title, and not the other way around. Some of the theme entries, like LEMONS(CONE), were end-checked; others, like COMES(CROSS), were not. And the "star" of BASKETBALL(STAR), means, well, "star." (RATS/STAR does give @ Lewis--whose post I haven't read yet--a good reason to pull out his "semordnilap.") And "tract" and (SUB)TRACT have a clumsy etymological connection, as does, I suppose, "cross" and "across." Not being familiar with the acronym RINO, I guessed "dINO," as in "dinosaur." Abe is rolling in his grave. Multa obstat. (Maybe I'm just in a snit because I couldn't find a good YouTube clip of the driving instructor teaching Lisa how to use her pernundel. IYKYK.)
@Bill Without the title, the theme is a bit of a mess.
@Bill No, there's at least two of us. Seventeen cheats on a Sunday is just plain too evil hard! I was not a fan of this puzzle. It just wasn't fun for me at all. I slogged through and got my star. Whew! Soon, the Monday puzzle will arrive and I will be smiling again.
@Bill yeah this puzzle was terrible. Your criticisms are spot on. Very poorly designed.
"Some of the theme entries, like LEMONS(CONE), were end-checked; others, like COMES(CROSS), were not." Bill, Say again, please.
@Bill Dissatisfied is an understatement. I have to disagree with the column subhed; this is not a precise construction. Props for SCHEMATIC, though.
This was one of those puzzles that make me question my English skills in particular, and my education, life experience and intelligence in general. There was just so much I didn't know and failed to figure out! I feel like never attempting a NYT crossword again 🤣. It was so much more than just the trivia that defeated me today! I sort of understood the theme on my own, but only grasped it fully having read the column. Perhaps the IQ test I once took that scored me at 70 was correct after all? (I was annoyed by some of the questions so I answered them randomly 🤪). An example of my theme-related confusion, before understanding the theme: Paging device - BARKEEPER? I had no idea what the coach's name might be so bERR looked OK, and I thought maybe the disc device you get at some establishments to let you know your order is ready is called a BARbEEPER. (Now I know a BEEPER was indeed the correct answer, after losing the BAR...) IDIOLECTS - that sounds more like an insult than anything else. "You're such an idiolect!" - I bet almost everybody would take that badly 🤣 Was of service to - STEADED? Could somebody explain that to me without questioning my intelligence? Because I've had enough of that today already 🤣
@Andrzej It took me a while to figure out the theme as well because as usual I forgot to read the title. So when I got barkeeper I just figured it was like any number of sitcoms where some guy’s wife calls the bar to see when her husband is coming home (making the barkeeper a sort of pager). But of course it was just that ARK needed to go away, as you noted. As for steaded, I think that’s like saying someone is doing something in someone’s stead (much more common to say that someone is going to do something instead of someone else).
@Andrzej STEADED had me question that whole area when I didn't get the happy music. I had to look up the word, but there is a verb form of stead that means "to be of avail to". I didn't know that. And it turned out that my wrong square was eGLET and BeBAR, both of which I did know.
@Andrzej I doubt many people here were familiar with the word IDIOLECTS - even as a native English speaker, I certainly wasn’t. But it seemed correct to me because I was thinking of it as a portmanteau of the the words idiosyncratic and dialect
@Andrzej STEADED is a questionable entry. The usage described in the puzzle is characterized as "rare" in the Oxford English Dictionary. (Related meanings are "archaic" or "obsolete.") The most recent cited example is 146 years old. IDIOLECT on the other hand is a term I have known for at least 20 years, and while I enjoy words very much I have never studied linguistics.
OMGYES I loved this. One of my favorite Sunday puzzles EVER. Boatloads of fun: fabulous clues (48A!, 78D), classic puzzle words (24A!, 59D!), delightful crossings (6D/18A!), blasts from the past (46A), not to mention (but I will) the brilliant construction. Thanks, Alex! This made my day.
@Steve Kass I'm with you! I loved this, especially the clever and even humorous clues. Just what the puzzle should be. I can overlook the tiny gripes that others went on about for a puzzle this good overall.
@Steve Kass I agree, I came here to add my delight and say thanks to the constructor, surprised to see the negative comments. I loved it, somehow the odd words didn't bother me
I figured out how all the entries matched the clues, but when I finally realized the circles were all ships and shapes it raised the theme to LEGENDARY. Great work, Alex. A very fun and entertaining challenge.
So glad Zapf Dingbats got some love today. For anyone who appreciates a good font joke (and who doesn’t?), Elle Cordova is brilliant: <a href="https://youtu.be/BXbW42uTKYo?si=0cO1ebSNghxwx3W9" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/BXbW42uTKYo?si=0cO1ebSNghxwx3W9</a>
@Justin LOL, I love her. Thanks for the link!
@Justin Thanks for the great link! As a former graphic artist I definitely appreciate a good font joke, and Elle does a deep dive that gets better with each “character”. I don’t know what was more fun today: the puzzle, your link to Elle, or finding out that Andrzej is a self-described drama queen. All at 5am on a Sunday. Getting up for work is going to seem very dull indeed after this.
@Justin I howled! Does that me a nerd or what?
@Justin I howled! Does that make me a nerd, or what?
It’s a comment section folks. All people are free to comment. Those who found it easy, those who found it obtuse, those who thought IDIOLECT is a neologism that only made it into the dictionary because the compilers lost the will to fight, and those who just came here to say: Meh 🫤 it was okay. Made the train ride to Paris this morning less tiresome.
@Ιασων Well said. Plus, you get to go to Paris.
Way too complicated!! Not worth the time.
Sesh, not sess. Arrgghh. Spent way too much time looking for that error. This is the puzzle that clicks my streak odometer to 1100 so I was determined to find the hitch. Clever, clever puzzle. At first I expected theme answers to follow the same pattern. Re-reading the title helped trigger the aha moment about the orientation of the answer making all the difference. A lovely Sunday challenge.
@JBW That's where I got stuck, too. I also had EViL for daredevil name. I had to finally go look at the answer key.
My goodness, that was a Sunday with bells on. I wasn’t finding the clues too tricky to start with and cottoned onto the SHAPE section of the title quickly. Just as I got comfortable the constructor (literally) turned it on its head and I didn’t know what was going on. COMESAC and LEMONSC had me scratching my head for so long. Caitlin’s column as always shed a little light, but it was still a tough grid to complete. I loved the theme within a theme, just to keep us on our toes. Well done. Storm Bert is beginning to ease up now. The wind has dropped but the rain still pours. We’ve lost two huge pines to the snow/wind combination but no loss of fences or hedges. We can spend the next month hauling and chopping for next year’s firewood. Our track is under water but why go out, when I can sit in front of a fire, cuppa in one hand and crossword in the other. Lovely.
I was not impressed with the theme. It seems like he had two ok ideas that when joined resulted in a confusing, disjointed puzzle
@Taylor Paul The phrase "Shape Up or Ship Out" is pretty commonplace, IMO - are you suggesting otherwise? Is this an aging phrase that isn't well known anymore? Was really surprised by your take cause most themes like this feel convoluted and strained to us but this one really flowed.
Kudos to all who solved this without looking at the theme hint ! I confess to always checking the puzzle title on Sundays. I still had to work out how to apply it, but I would've been quite stumped without that. I found this puzzle a very enjoyable workout, with a good amount of wordplay solving. It especially made me happy to correctly imagine "idiolects" even though I don't believe I ever heard of it. Something like a dialect for a single person? The "Idio" prefix seemed a good guess, and a fun new word.
@Sal Yup, the puzzle title is there to set us thinking, "how do I apply this to what I'm about to see?". I wouldn't countenance embarking on the puzzle without checking over the title. Fathoming it out is part of the pleasure of the solve. Very much enjoyed today's puzzle. I got my Aha moment and had a little bit of a stretch but nothing agonising. I knew idiolects though unsurprisingly it doesn't crop up a lot in daily life so I had to sift it out of the linguistic depths
@Sali ashamed to say I looked at the title and promptly forgot about it until I took a second look after being confused by the theme. Somehow, a theme that is hard to parse without the title hint seems a bit cruel. But that’s what we sign up for.
The puzzle theme merited a 21-gun salute as it flew by well over my head. It was more like sink or swim over here for a while. A magnificent piece of showboating from the constructor and a real dreamboat of a puzzle. Next time I go up a certain creek, I’ll try to remember to bring a paddle. Signed: First Admiral, Swiss Navy. Still at sea.
@Rusty Wheelhouse Aha. Reading the comments, I realize now that showboating has a negative connotation, which this overseas speaker completely missed. A showboat is a dazzler of a boat, right? Apparently not, and what I meant was dazzling . And in a good way.
Off to FTMEADE to use an Enigma Machine to figure out what NOTELET is code for. Thank you Alex a fun solve except for NOTELET. Have I mentioned NOTELET yet?
CMON, dk, it's not Secret (Top or otherwise) (or even Confidential NOFORN). You're old enough to know a NOTELET is a Post-it® note without the glue.
I'm old and study words. Never have I ever heard or seen NOTELET until today. It wasn't difficult to suss out, but it was definitely a new one on me. I doubt I'll use it in everyday life. I prefer that people know what I'm talking about, so I'll stick with "note card" or "sticky note", depending on what I'm going for.
@dk -- to you and other NOTELET protesters: I'd never heard of it either, but Google is very, very happy with it. It pops right up when you type in NOTEL and evidently I've been using them for decades without knowing what they are called. No, people, you're missing the real word sacrilege that's right in front of your face. Right before STEADED came in, I said to myself: "Oh, please, please don't be STEADED!" But it was. I went to Google for that, too, typing in "STEAD (verb)" and was roundly ignored. 9/10 dictionaries listed it only as a noun. The one that did list it as a verb, wrote "obsolete" next to it. So focus your objections, everyone, on the word that's really, really wrong! Which seems not to be NOTELET.
@dk NOTELET bothered me too, but not as much as STEADED. Sure, there's homesteaded in common parlance, but that derives from establishing a place (stead) for your home. If you build a frame for your mattress, are you bedsteading? Oh, I'm sure there are archaic references to a laird steading his reeve in yon cotswold, but c'mon, man!
I always forget to read the puzzle title. Usually it doesn’t matter. Today, well, I solved it with a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Cute idea but would’ve been more fun if I’d only read the title first. What if the title actually came up when you loaded the puzzle, instead of having to go to the info page?
@Emilie, I also wish they'd give us the same info/intro they give the print edition. It doesn't seem like too much to ask. I don't like looking at the column until I finish the puzzle.
@Emilie Are you playing in the app? I solve in my browser, and the title always comes up first thing. (Whether or not I actually remember to read it is another matter...)
@Katie yes I play in the app. The title doesn’t come up unless you click on the info icon.
Now THIS is a Sunday puzzle! I sussed the “shape up” rather quickly, but the “ship out” was a true aha moment. Many thanks Mr. Eaton-Salners (BTW- TEXANS: 30+ million/vegans: 9.6 million) That’ll learn me. . .
What a rush of adrenaline constructing this puzzle must have provided! What an accomplishment! All those circles going up produce shapes and all those circles going across produce ships! Wow! I missed more than half of the whole shebang while solving. Oh, I did see the circles going up that were needed to complete the clue: LEMON SCONE and BASKETBALL STAR and such. I needed them to solve, you see. It took me until I was almost finished solving to realize that the circles going sideways needed to be removed. "Offed", if you will. My very first fill-in, realizing that, was SIN for "sloth", ignoring BARGE. Two different parts of the puzzle doing two different things and I was slow to catch on. But in neither case did I notice either the SHAPES or the SHIPS. I patted myself on the back for filling in SEAL OF APPROVAL -- missing the OVAL entirely. Which was the story of my entire solve. So a construction coup mostly not shared by me, the solver. Which is always, always the problem with this kind of puzzle. But I do understand that those of you who are more visually perceptive than I am -- a very, very low bar, I might add -- may have had an entirely different and more exciting experience. At any rate, I applaud the effort that went into creating this.
@Nancy How is that a good theme? It's two different themes loosely joined by an old phrase. I still must be missing something because it seems jammed up and lazy to me, not clever. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@Nancy I missed half, too. I got the Shape Up part while solving, but had to go to the column to understand the Ship Out part. I do know that phrase, but I think it's old. I'm old, too....
A case where, for me, the theme steaded the constructor or the admirerers of puzzle architecture more than the funness of the solving experience. Off to check the official dimensional ranges of note cards versus notelets (humongous eye roll).
@JohnWM Yeah, that one is a stinker. NO ONE ever, ever says that, writes one, and the post office won't take it if it's that small. I guess we could forgive him... eventually.
"...including the Puns and Anagrams found in this issue." Way to poke at a sore spot for us online subscribers! We haven't forgotten that, once upon a time, we could enjoy variety puzzles online.
@David Reiffel Now that I’ve got that off my chest, a truly fun and clever puzzle. I felt like i was in the hands of an expert.
If I have to read the blog to figure out the puzzle its not agood puzzle for me. Struggled with this. took too long to get it all A puzzle probably more fun to think up than it was to solve. On to Monday
I never see or "get" themes. They are almost always above my head. I just plug away and try to solve the puzzle, which I did with today's pleasant version. If I have time, I love to read Gameplay, so I can be informed of the clever theme that flew over my ducked noggin! This was fun. One of my wrong guesses made me laugh--OLDASDIRT instead of TIME, and I had others that just gummed me up, but I deleted and got on with it. Since I'm an online solver, I can go back and dredge up 20 years of archived puzzles, and I love to do the Sundays at a snail's pace, savoring the themes and trying to see them. Most of the time, I fail, but it's great fun either way. (What's extra-funny is those 19-year-old references to current people or events that I have to dredge up from my memory bank--or just give up and look up--which have since been consigned to oblivion.)
@Cloudy Rockwell I also wanted it to be OLDASDIRT, having somehow acquired that status myself. OLDASTIME will take a little longer.
I like puzzles like this so I’ll chime in for the defense. I cottoned on to taking the ship out fairly quickly at SUBTRACT but I was woefully late adding the shape up to its connecting answer. If I have a quibble it’s STEADED being OLD AS TIME.
I couldn’t figure out the theme — only that some words went up? But I solved it anyway, and now feel dumb for not considering the puzzle title. Very clever!
I had little confidence in my solution but was pleased to get the music upon filling in the final square. A few minutes under my average time. I saw the title after I had filled the puzzle . Cute theme. In other news I screwed up the courage to enter a crossword contest at the local library. 3 NYT crosswords. I think I did okay.
As I normally do, I skipped the title before solving the puzzle. So while I quickly caught on to the trick in 26A BASKETBALL(STAR), I didn't realize that the ascending letters spelled a shape. Skipping the title also meant being a little confused by answers such as 50A B(ARK)EEPER. I knew the answer was supposed to be BEEPER but didn't register that I was leaving out an ARK. It wasn't particularly difficult to finish despite not fully grasping the theme. Once I took a look at the title, the significance of the circled letters made perfect sense. Happy to say that I'm no longer one of 30+ million Americans (or at least not one of those Americans).
@Eric Hougland And thanks to Steve L for adding IDIOLECT to my vocabulary many months ago.
Sorry to have this puzzle on a Sunday…except for it’s 25x25 size, isn’t this a Thursday puzzle? I suspect REBUS-style puzzles amuse their designers more than any solver. And on top of the first, second and third comments (recommended reading): some answers here are quite a stretch. I hope this puzzle was fun to build…but it wasn’t fun to solve.
@Sam -- FYI, today's grid is 21x21. Et tu, emu.
I always thought runners were a rare and generous group. Post race, people would stand around and talk about their times, and there could be a sub 3 hour marathoner congratulating a 4+ hour marathoner on their time, knowing it was a good time for that person. More experienced runners would give tips on pacing and strategy. No one seemed insulted or jealous if you mentioned your time. Maybe, just like here, there were people lurking in the shadows with their nose out of joint, taking snipes at the "braggarts", but I was just having too much fun to notice.
Nancy J., You could see their faces, right? And the sweat? Anonymity: the eighth deadly sin :)
Interesting. I just had four posts eaten. Tested it, and it turns out the offending word was the word that refers to repairing socks. No matter how it is used in a sentence.
Lynn, Now we all just sit and wait for the darned after-socks. (tick-tick-tick… )
@Lynn The kids these days have a whole list of words they use to get around filters. This is fine, but it's very annoying that they use the same filter-cheating words conversationally. Especially ahh. (Source: kid in high school)
What? What? I finished the puzzle without much difficulty and had a general idea of what I thought the theme was doing. Apparently not! I read the column when I was done. What a mess of a theme concept. ...And/or clearly above my pay grade. :( I still enjoyed doing it though. A reasonable Sunday regardless. Looks like 300 comments before me. Time to see if I'm alone. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
On topic, briefly: I struggled today. Why and how? I wanted to tell you but... I made the mistake of submitting an Andrzej-style post: long, detailed, explaining my difficulties and asking for help with understanding some things. But of course it did not make it past the automatic filter. My bad for thinking I could actually express myself on this board. I suppose I really have to refrain from making a mistake like that ever again.
What the fuzzle... There it is, 4 minutes later. Why?
The above makes me look like a drama queen, but, first, I am one, and, second, I've had so many posts never appear on the board recently that I just can't help but complain about it. The unpredictability of moderation on this board is tiresome.
@Andrzej I like reading your posts, so I'd like it if you continue to post. I greatly admire your ability to solve puzzles in what I assume is not your mother tongue. Maybe let go of needing to see your submission on the Immortal Internet so quickly. So what if it takes hours, or doesn't show up, even? It's a fun place to share perspectives, IMO, which leads me to 35D. "Online commenter's qualification"? My first thought, which made me laugh, was "nothing", but that didn't quite fit. Oh, the other sense of "qualification"...
@Andrzej I am going to guess that some get referred for human moderation, which causes the time lag
@Andrzej I can't imagine why your posts, in particular, get blocked or held up by the emus: you never use inappropriate language (such as I can remember), you eschew (American) politics, and in general longer posts, especially initial ones, are less likely to be held up than short ones. (Although that appears to have changed recently.) Could it be where (Warsaw?) your posts are originating from? If so, that's really "clappy"! Do the emus object to a "ndrz" consonantal cluster? Let me just add my voice to the chorus of those who consider your posts to be an invaluable part of this forum, and to urge you to keep trying!
@Andrzej Another hand up for enjoying your comments whenever they appear. Please don't give up on us! I have a theory about why your longer post didn't show up right away today, based on a comment of mine that took a long time to get posted. I think the filter might flag negative emotion words. My post that got delayed included the word "annoy" and I see your original one had that in it too. Now I guess I'll see if my reply shows up right away or gets delayed. Another thought - I've noticed that my comments on forums I've contributed to frequently, like the Wordle review, show up immediately, but if I comment on something new there's almost always a delay. My theory about that is the Wordle review filter recognizes me as a known commenter, and the other filter doesn't know me from Adam. Corollary theory: the filter might have a list of people it considers potentially unsafe commenters. So I wonder if your name somehow got onto that list. I'm sorry you're encountering this embuggerance.
Learned that puzzle titles ARE important. NE corner had me thinking I was dealing with a rebus puzzle for a bit. Noticed the title about 75% in, and everything clicked into place. Fun Sunday.
OMG, YES! I’ll spare you the multilayered description of my multilayered aha’s. Whatever Lewis says in the morning, times ten. AES is one of my favorites, and now I add this: AES, I ADMIRES ya! An extra LEMON SCONE for you! You get my SEAL OF APPROVAL! CHEST BUMP, if that’s not too cringe. I shall now go off and see what phrase might have a secret CANOE hiding within, such that when you ship it out, you’re left with another word. Yeah.
I think I must be just about the only solver to have come across "idiolects" before, judging by the comments here. It's a perfectly legitimate word. I particularly enjoyed the "steaded" and "libeler" type clues for their clever use of English. My thanks to the setter!
@Sukey I'd come across idiolects before but then I live in a very wordy and quiz mad household.
@Sukey It always amazes how many crossword solvers--how, by definition, must have at least a slight fascination with language--are befuddled by established linguistic terms like "idiolect," "plosive," etc.
@Sukey Some of us knew IDEOLECT. I picked it up here, months ago, from Steve L. It’s a great word to know.
Shouldn't "Four Corners tribe" be Ute instead of Utes?
@Scott Agreed. I think I’d have gone with “tribal members” to get the S on the end. <a href="https://www.utemountainutetribe.com" target="_blank">https://www.utemountainutetribe.com</a>/
@Scott Absolutely. Makes about as much sense as "Mediterranean nation in the shape of a boot" = Italians.
Satisfying aha experience for me when I finally got "ship out." I spent way too much time trying to figure out how the horizontal circled letters fit with a down answer - I was so sure I'd figured out how the puzzle worked after getting LEMON SCONE and BASKETBALL STAR. I must have read the title a dozen times before I grokked it. I was cursing the constructor for a while because of those boats. I needed the crosses to get the downs that connected to them (especially Steve KERR), and before that aha moment all I knew was that the across answer didn't make sense with the clue. Good puzzle! I found yesterday's pretty easy, but definitely got my comeuppance today.
I hate to say this but I was bored by the whole thing. The theme was too much of a stretch for me. Sorry. 😕
@Carrie Yeah I guess we're in the minority but I was looking forward all day at work to the Sunday puzzle and this was a massive disappointment. I don't really understand how hiding random words makes it a "theme."A lot of lame clues, not worth the time.
Had a lot of fun with this one. I'd say one of the funnest Sunday puzzles this year. Clever theme (or should I say themes?), smart clues, and pretty much no naticks. A masterpiece.
Random thoughts. Oh, that Elizabeth, duh. DIE HARD just happened to on TV as I was solving. DAISY and UVEA back again. The crossing of SESH and STEADED was the last thing I got. A trés JOLIE puzzle, Alex. Merci