Fearless Fosdick predicts: This puzzle will be commented upon by scores of people who will say they didn't see the theme while they were doing it, didn't see it when they were finished, and didn't understand it even after reading the explanation.
@Steve L 2 out of 3 in my case. (I understood it once it was explained.) I have to say I prefer the kind of theme that helps me fill in the puzzle; this one didn't.
@Steve L Then it's a bad theme if that's the case
@Steve L I highly doubt anybody is going to say they don't understand the theme after reading the column.
@Steve L I found your first post above uncharacteristically snarky for you. I mean, yeah, many of us will not spot the theme (I know I didn't), but do you really think so little of your fellow solvers as to presume we will not understand how the theme worked having read the column? That can't be the case, can it? You're not that sort of guy. If a Thursday is so easy you can ignore the theme and still solve it very quickly ( like I did), it really is on the puzzle, not the solver. I'm not criticizing the constructor BTW - maybe she submitted it for another day of the week, or maybe the editors made some changes to the original grid. Still, this was not a proper Thursday puzzle for me and I'm not the one who made it so.
@Shrike I'm pretty sure that has been said before about other puzzles so it's not inconceivable!
@Steve L You're basically right, but I don't see the "scores" of comments. Maybe you were exaggerating a bit. I fit into your first category, but I still appreciate the puzzle.
Perhaps AI can someday bring relief to those who chronically declare the puzzle far too easy for them: Individualized, computer-generated puzzles designed to ensure that everyone solves in exactly their average time, or occasionally a minute more so they can feel challenged, or sometimes a few minutes less so they can proclaim their intelligence. Technological nirvana for the status-conscious cruciverbalist. Until then, perhaps the NYT could add a button to autogenerate a complaint that the puzzle was too easy. Think of the time it would save! For today, though, in the season of reflection and gratitude, perhaps we could relax and remember the puzzle is a game and every one is different from the last, and some necessarily will take longer than others, and we are lucky to have crosswords prepared at a level as consistently high as those in the NYT. Happy holidays to all!
John, Your comment was too balanced… for a Thursday. Just kidding - enjoyed the idea of select-a-comment. Or maybe the AI would just generate it for it, based on the details of our solve (time, corrections, listening in to our mic, etc).
@John Think of sipping a fine wine rather than chugging it. Or, tasting morsels of a dinner rather than snarfing it down. I take great pleasure in a leisurely solve: sipping and tasting along the way. ‘Nuf sed?
I too immediately filled 33A with ELOPE. But soon realized it made 10D into something … unlikely to say the least.
@RIch Garella Oh dear!! Hilarious!
@RIch Garella Thanks for the laugh.
@RIch Garella Funniest comment I've read here maybe ever.
Ha - I had to go looking for where the third theme entry was, because I had been satisfied that Faith Hill could have made a perplexing philosophical song entitled “This”: “It’s perpetual bliss.” “What is?” “This.” “What is this?” “Perpetual bliss.”
@Cat Lady Margaret For those who are interested, here's the real song: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dls_cBmUt7Q" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dls_cBmUt7Q</a>
Oh, crafty puzzle. Crafty in two senses. It took great craft just to build this grid: • It’s a tight theme. After today’s theme answers that include IKS, if you don’t want to repeat names or words ending in IKS, there’s SHIKSA, and … I’m going blank. Help? • Having three theme answers that take double turns greatly constricts the answer possibilities, and filling this in as cleanly as Ella did displays her virtuosity. • As does creating a grid design that accommodates this twisty-turny theme. It also took great craft, as in cunning, to come across the term SKI LIFT, and envisage a theme that had SKI not only going upward, but taking the solver to a higher level to complete the theme answer. Not to mention the cunning involved in creating a theme never used before in ANY of the major crossword venues. I did like the theme echo in THE BAR, which reminded me of T-BAR, clued so often in Crosslandia as [Ski lift]. Ella, your puzzles are imaginative, playful, and, yes, crafty. All of them. Brava on today’s, and thank you for a most splendid outing!
@Lewis When the kids keep asking "are we there yet?" we answer "don't be such a nudnik!" You can call a young boy tattela, or "boychik" More?
@Grant and @Momerlyn -- Those are lovely IKS words, but please see @Steve L's reply just above yours.
Didn’t spend a second trying to understand the theme before, during, or after. This was just a brute force solve.
This took me barely half of my average Thursday time and, in all honesty, I completely forgot there was even supposed to be a theme. I'm ignorant enough about Faith Hill that "THIS" sounds like a reasonable song title by itself. The only thing I couldn't figure out was what CASH IS was supposed to mean, but oh well. Less of an "aha!" theme and more of an "oh, alright" one.
Putting aside the theme, I really adored the debonair, urbane, neo-Weintraubian cleverness of the cluing and answers. And some of the little touches, like LOGOMANIA crossing OFF LABEL. Amused by coffeehouse beatniks for its stereotyping -- there were a lot of coffeehouse poets in NY and San Francisco (and parts in between) in the 50s and 60s who would be horrified to be lumped in with the beatniks. Frank O'Hara and John Ashbery read in the downtown scene, in coffeehouses and they'd be Howling with laughter to be linked to the "angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night." Minor kvetch. And the theme was well done, brilliant that the first two could be entered without "getting" the ski lift: "This" works as a title, and "pencils" could be "bottoms" just as "trousers" and "capris" are. It's only when you get to "Cash is" that you know the game's afoot. I'd bet Ms. Dershowitz knew to do it that way. I wish the ski lifts could have been diagonal somehow, the way ski lifts are. These ski lifts look more like fork lifts, so that was a minor disappointment. Despite that, I think this is Ms. Dershowitz's best puzzle yet. Good holidays to all you logo-maniacs out there! May you not suffer from logorrhea from eating too much caloric verbiage at your family gatherings this season. It can make you gassy for sure!
@john ezra Yes, I too had no idea what the song title was, and since "THIS" rhymes with the word "bliss" in the clue, I took that as a hint that the title was THIS. And, like you, I thought PENCILS was all that was needed, just as it would be for "trousers" and "capris." CASHIN did give me pause, but I decided that that was just another example of modern slang that I didn't know.
@john ezra I didn't get to yesterday's puzzle, or Wordplay, until very late in the day, but I left a comment that you might find interesting.
I find it interesting that Diana Nyad’s first name anagrams to “naiad”… some may be “Born to Run”, but she was obviously born to swim.
One of my professors hammered home a lesson that I have always tried to pass along. “The composer started with a blank page.” This was in the context of music theory and history (unlike most schools, which teach theory in separate courses from history, my college insisted that the two never be separated). Nonetheless, the idea is essential: The writer is faced with a blank page/screen. The composer, blank staves. The set designer, an empty stage. The architect and builder, a cleared lot. What this means, its implication, is that everything imposed on that blank is meaningful, even when it is random. There are no throwaways. Every clue is meant to be read, even though one may get the finish music without having done so. Every circled square, shaded square, question mark, lack of symmetry, unusual symmetry, big huge shape that dominates the grid…is meant to be read, even though etc. Today’s comments section amounts to dozens of admissions of incuriosity. Fine; curiosity killed the cat. Curious cats take down Christmas trees. But why so few solvers are unwilling to maintain a curious mind - curious enough to pause and wonder - this is, for me, an eternal curiosity. I could probably fill in most puzzles (main, and especially mini) without reading all the clues while solving. But I never do. The constructor started with a blank page: every mark on it is meant to be read, understood, realized. R.I.P. Prof. Don Chittum <a href="https://obits.goldsteinsfuneral.com/donald-chittum-1" target="_blank">https://obits.goldsteinsfuneral.com/donald-chittum-1</a>
@David Connell Wonderful post, as usual. I will confess I do not always read every clue...because some entries are filled by crossings before I get the chance. I often, then, have to remind myself of the wise advice: Read every clue. (Echoing Robert A. Caro's "Turn every page.") But sometimes I don't. V Visiting daughter, upended schedule, crazy weather, long hours in the kitchen, disrupted sleep, changes of diet (Waaaaay more sugar than we're used to!)... so I give myself a pass this time. C'mon now--don't you do this sometimes, too? Happy Boxing Day and ...wishing courage for us all in the New Year.
@David Connell What a remarkable person Professor Chittum must have been. Your appreciation of Ella Dershowitz starting with nothing but a blank page is thanks to his effectiveness as a teacher I would assume. Thank you for the link to his obituary.
Took me forever to understand the theme. I finally got it at PENCILS/KIRT, but it still took a lot of staring at the completed grid to see CASHIS/KING. Clever. Overall a slightly easier than usual Thursday for me, but a pleasant fill nevertheless. A belated Merry Christmas/insert your holiday of choice, to all. It’s Boxing Day here in the UK (the feast day of St Stephen), devoted to football or racing if your sports minded, or lolling on the sofa with cold turkey sandwiches if you’re me.
@Helen Wright On the other side of The Pond: When I spent Christmas with my sister and brother-in-law (yes, just have the one) I loved that Boxing Day followed Christmas. So very civilized! Loved walking in Toronto's snowy neighborhood off Avenue Road....now, THAT is a proper Winter!
@Helen Wright No Arsenal match today, so I had to content myself with watching Tottenham lose. I would not have known PENCIL SKIRT if it hadn't been for the Pulp song by that name.
Any puzzle that totally fools me -- and in a totally fair way -- gets a thankyou from me. After seeing all three upward SKIs, I thought I was finished. "That's a pretty dull Thursday," I thought. Like many, I was satisfied that Faith Hill had recorded a song called "THIS," that CASHIS meant something and that slim-fitting bottoms were called PENCILS. As happens so often, I am grateful to Deb for bringing me to the party.
A Thursday puzzle you can easily solve quicker than in Wednesday time and without ever considering the theme is not a true Thursday, is it? I admit I was slightly puzzled by CASHIS for 'Money talks', but it did not prevent me from filling the grid. Not knowing the title of the Faith Hill song meant I never considered the answer as part of the theme (I just ignored it). Finally, I misread the clue for PENCILS as plural so the answer sort of made sense without [KIRT]. I was surprised to get ATARI from crosses: I know nothing about go (in fact I only vaguely remember ever hearing of a game with that name), but I've been a (video) gamer for almost 40 years, so I only associate ATARI with video games. It was not a bad puzzle as such, and the construction can't have been easy, but personally I found it to be less difficult than I expect on a Thursday. Once I would have considered that a good thing, but these days I actually enjoy being slightly challenged by these puzzles.
@Andrzej CASHIS is part of the SKILIFT gimmick for this crossword, so the full answer is CASHISKING
@Andrzej I think you would find Go to be more challenging than any video game. Just some white stones and some black stones and a board, but a killer amount of concentration, strategy, watchfulness, and nerve. The thrills are subtle, but they can be massive.
@Andrzej It seems you actually did find it challenging. The 'skilifts' clue requires us to find 3 clues where the full answer is revealed by a ski lift. It seems from your comment that you didn't do this? Filling the grid can be considered completing the puzzle in one sense, but in another sense the puzzle's not complete until you actually solve per the theme. It's that aspect which seems to have been the challenge. (For me, the 'This Kiss' was the challenge, since as you note, I also don't know the song and assumed 'This' was the complete answer)
@CB That’s an odd definition of finishing the puzzle. So if I don’t understand a clue, but I fill it out via the crosses, then I haven’t solved the puzzle? I agree with others about this: easy for a Thursday (half my average time) and no need for the theme.
How tricky it must be to take a puzzle with a trick, keep it tricky enough to avoid a cacophony of “Too easy!” while keeping it solvable enough to avoid a cacophony of “Hated it!” while keeping it fun enough to avoid a cacophony of “Meh.” The trickiest of tricky tricks…
I finished the puzzle without ever understanding the theme. Does that make me bad at solving, or does that make the theme bad at presenting itself? The only entry that made me furrow my brow was the Faith Hill song…it should have been THIS KISS, but the specs and existing letters only allowed for THIS, so who am I to question? PENCILS alone seemed like an acceptable response to “close fitting skirt”, and CASH IS was filled in through crosses, so I didn’t even notice the truncated expression. I expect more from a Thursday puzzle, but it’s Christmas, so in the spirit of the holiday I will not complain. Peace on earth, good will to all solvers, etc etc. Be careful on the slopes.
@Heidi No, it’s not you, just another in the long line of themes that provide no help in solving. I’ll bet 90% of regular puzzlers don’t use Thursday themes to solve. At best they help me with one solution, but typically zero.
@Heidi "Does that make me bad at solving, or does that make the theme bad at presenting itself?" It's not and either/or situation. It *does* mean that you were not curious enough to see why some of the answers didn't make sense. I didn't know the song, so THIS could have been the name, but PENCILS as a plural could not be the answer for the singular "bottom", so it became obvious that I had to do something to have an answer that made sense. I found it to be an easy puzzle, so I didn't need the theme to fill in the boxes, but I did need it to have all of the answers have meaning. People unfamiliar with IRT, SERTA, KIA, and ATARI would definitely have benefited from understanding the trick. I would prefer more of a challenge, but the trick did what it was supposed to do. It required that you understand it in order to see what was going on with three of the answers.
@Heidi That was my experience. I just didn't get the theme and I still don't understand it. But I did solve the whole puzzle without assistance.
This is my kind of puzzle, so I want to love it. But the fact is that I found it a snooze because everything came in on its own without my having to even realize there was a theme, much less what it was. The song that I never heard of could just as well have been titled "THIS", and "CASH IS" could well have been a new expression from the generations that like to shorten absolutely everything for the purpose of texting. Only at PENCILS should I have woken up, because PENCIL SKIRTS were a Thing when I was a teenager and I should have gone looking for them. But I didn't. Once I hit the revealer, I went back to look for all the SKI LIFTS, but by then the puzzle was over. That rarest of things: A very good puzzle that I didn't appreciate. Which is completely on me. (Maybe if I hadn't been awakened and kept awake all night long by a banging radiator. This has been going on all week. Sure hope my super and handyman can solve the problem tomorrow...)
@Nancy The fact that "Slim-fitting bottom" calls for a *singular* should have awakened you (to the theme). A bit more subtle than a banging radiator, but a hint nonetheless!
Hooray! Deb's back. That's a lift to my spirits.
@Linda Jo I was surprised when I got to your comment and saw fewer recos than others around it. I'm wondering if some people thought you were slamming our other columnists rather than expressing happiness that Deb has seemingly, hopefully, recovered.
The helpful thing to do here would be to link to SATIE’s Parade, where the typewriter comes through loud and educationally clear, but the responsible thing—the altruistic thing—is always to link to the Gymnopédies and the Gnossiennes: For that one person who’s never heard Satie before and whose life won’t be the same now she has. <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wnacdOIoTBQ" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wnacdOIoTBQ</a>
@Sam Lyons SATIE sans Erik was also an answer on Friday.
@Sam Lyons These days no one knows what a typewriter is.
@FJC my twelve year old brother knows what a typewriter is.
@FJC I offered this little story a few months back when a clue or a comment, I forget which, brought it to mind. I apologize to those who read it the last time, but it seemed apt to offer it once more. Sam, about age eight, brought a friend to the room where I was working on my PC. She spied an ancient IBM Selectric gathering dust across the room and asked me what it was. I got up, went over and rolled a piece of paper into the machine, turned it on and hit a few keys to demonstrate. I went back to my desk and listened as Sam and her friend hit keys for a minute or two. Then Sam called over, “Dad, how do you make it print?”
@Sam Lyons Was introduced to Erik Satie's music by Variations on a Theme by Erik Satie (1st Movement, Adapted From "Trois Gymnopedies") on Blood Sweat & Tears second album. The sad melody has stuck with me ever since.
@Sam Lyons When I use the timer on my phone, Gymnopedie #1 is the sound that plays. I tried a bell sound, but it would scare me when it went off. I set the timer to steep my tea, and when it goes off, I say my saTEA is ready. (My cat thinks it's hilarious.)
Don’t want to get too far over my skis this morning, but this puzzle gave me a lift! Seems like I might be in the minority today.
@Jonathan I loved this puzzle, too. You likely aren't in the minority, if every solver were equally vocal. (I only needed one 'cheat', for I had to check Wiki to see what Wiley's role was. It seems less of a cheat if I use Wiki.).
I admire and enjoy a puzzle like this one, where I need the revealer to understand the theme, which then it helps me finish solving. For my money, that’s the best kind of puzzle. Thanks, Ella! I once worked with a guy who was a RUBIK’S CUBE speedsolver. He had outstanding ILLS K MOTORS
Trivially easy to just brute force.
@grant I basically brute-forced it, but didn't find it trivially easy. The southeast corner especially was pretty tough for me.
Once you come to the blog and peep the theme it obviously makes sense in retrospect and there is an element of respect to the designer. But during the puzzle it's just "that's not what that song is called but the puzzle is never wrong so I'm missing something" or "that's not what that phrase is but the puzzle is never wrong so I'm missing something". I'm truly not sure how to feel about it. Again. Respect to the cleverness of the theme but I would be surprised if more than the tiniest fraction figured it out. One area of the puzzle that really got me was MOIRA crossing IRAS. Having never seen the Handmaid's Tale (didn't have the proper streaming service at the time and then lost interest) and being Canadian (and therefore ignorant of certain American tax ephemera) this combo felt borderline impossible to get correct within the bounds of the puzzle. The other one was ironically the revealer where it crossed "gumshoe". I know a gumshoe is a detective but have never once seen it shortened to TEC. Anyway. Good efforts all around but it would be nice if certain types of trivia were a little more crossable. Take care!
@Scott To me, "solving" a themed puzzle includes discerning the theme. So, by definition, I've never "solved" a puzzle without understanding the theme. The theme today was simple to spot, and the revealer basically gave it away in any case. Same thing in Connections. If I reach the final four but can't see how they are connected---no solve for me. It's your puzzle to solve, and you're free to define "solve" however you like.
@Scott IRAS have been in NYT puzzles 136 times in the plural and 425 in the singular, so it’s one of those short fills you should just memorize as crosswordese, and wouldn’t have pinged editors as a Natick.
@Scott TEC is old slang for detective. In modern times, I've only seen it used to reference Detective Comics, which might feature LOIS Lane.
@Scott "... I would be surprised if more than the tiniest fraction figured it out." You underestimate the curiosity of those in the solving community. "I know a gumshoe is a detective but have never once seen it shortened to TEC." Per Deb: "TEC has appeared in 208 New York Times puzzles."
@Scott An IRA (or better yet, a Roth IRA) is a retirement savings account; this can be a huge help to people who do not earn Social Security benefits to any great degree but who need to save for future needs. Speaking as a teacher (on the state Teacher Retirement Plan--which in Ohio in the 70's went bankrupt repeatedly) it made sense to augment the pitiful amount. Taxes can be deferred until money is withdrawn (mandatory after a certain age) when the tax rate will be lower.
@Brandon Barr I recognize that I am a noob who does not know the shibboleths. I don't think that negates my desire for a puzzle that is solvable without knowing the entire history of the nyt crossword. I don't think my tone was harsh or in any way implying that I know better than the editors. Feedback is useful if you don't take it as an attack. Broadly speaking, I understand your point and even agree with it. Hard puzzles are hard and I'm not the smartest person in this room and I will learn the tricks with time. Fair enough. But calling me out for "pinging" the editors feels like a gatekeeper move.
Today I learned ATARI. And I figured out the theme at the end of my solve. An uplifting experience it was. They really raised the bar for this one. I'll make it my slalom promise to not make any more puns about this puzzle. Completed in 24% less time than average.
I solved this in the wee hours during an AFIB attack that kept me from sleep. I left a brief comment then. Now, I just circled back to see what everyone else thought of this puzzle. Very mixed reviews. Many say it was too easy. I instead marvel at what went into constructing this puzzle. So although I solved in record time for me, I took a minute to stop and smell the roses. Six weeks and counting until I have a procedure that should take care of my AFIB. Looking forward to doing the puzzles after a good night's sleep!
@Mark AFib attacks are awful. Mine is pretty well managed on meds but they really would like me to get the ablation. Is that what you are scheduled for? I've heard great things about them but I'm such a nervous Nellie. Hope you'll report back about it! Good luck!! As to the puzzle, I agree! It went pretty quickly but it never felt easy in a bad or boring way. And figuring out the theme actually did help me since I had no idea about the title of the Faith Hill song and my only real struggle was in that area.
Solved the puzzle this morning before we hit the icy, foggy road home. Been in and out of dozing in the passenger's seat since. (Holidays are so exhausting!) But I still wanted to say what a pleasant puzzle this was! After I got the revealer I went to find the lifts right there in the places where I knew something was up (Ha! No pun intended!) Figured out PENCILSKIRTS because I knew it couldn't just be pencil. (Plus, I already had RUBIKSCUBE and SERTA.) So that helped me with R in ATARI and the other two, which I'd left open not knowing if there was a rebus or other trick. I know the CASHISKING saying when I saw it, but didn't know the Faith Hill song, so it certainly helped me that I had gotten the theme. And it made me smile! What else could I ask for? A real lift! And so, just now, I found THIS KISS online and played it in the car. My white night had heard it before (he listens to country sometimes) but I don't recall every hearing it. Glad the puzzle included it because it's such a pretty song! I'm glad to know it now! A PAY RAISE is always good but like many of you, I'm sure, my end of year wish is for peace on earth, Goodwill to all! Barring that, maybe some peas on earth and a Gouda wheel for all.... 😉
I’m mostly one of Deb’s lurkers, but I wish you all a healthy and peaceful holiday season. Christmas was a little weird for us (two elders with health issues meant that there was no family get-together), but it’s still good to be home for the holidays, as the saying goes.
I have a new Thursday PB with this puzzle, even though I didn’t figure out the entire theme until after it was over. The cluing was extremely straightforward, especially the Downs, so even though some of the Across answers didn’t match the clues, I didn’t notice. I had 3 daily PBs in 2024 — one in January for a Friday, one in August for a Monday, and today. I hope everyone is having a good holiday season!
I liked the trick and it definitely helped with one or two of the answers. Fun.
Agree with Deb - the theme slowly clicking into place for this one made it a pleasure to solve. Great puzzle
Not all that easy for me, and cheated a bit, but finally catching to the theme was a nice 'aha' moment and managed to work it all out after that. Did a lot of skiing as a kid at a ski hill just outside of town. That one did have a SKILIFT, but only the more affluent folks got to use it. The rest of us just used the ROPETOW. And that led me to one puzzle find today. It was an answer in that one but not part of the theme. Anyway.. a Thursday from September 29, 2011 by Ben Fish. That one had a circled letter in each of the four corners, and the letters in those circles were: P, L, U and S. No hint to the theme beyond that. And then four theme answers, each of them clued as "See Blurb" Those answers were: GRADEBONUS MATHSYMBOL NICEQUALITY POSITIVEEND Don't grasp the connection between 'blurb' and the four corners, but... whatever. Here's the Xword Info link for that one: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/29/2011&g=48&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/29/2011&g=48&d=A</a> Might put some other puzzle finds in replies. ...
@Rich in Atlanta Here's one other puzzle. A Sunday from May 29, 2005 by Frank Longo with the title: "Shuffling feat." A couple of them clue/answer examples: "Derived great pleasure from chastising? :" YELLEDATELATEDLY "Dunces hurried up? :" MEATHEADSMADEHASTE "Gets closer to a batch of hooch? :" HOMESINONMOONSHINE And some other theme answers: OPPRESSINGPOPSINGERS SNAKEBITBEATNIKS VIDEOSTOREOVERDOESIT Thought that was pretty amazing. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/29/2005&g=111&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/29/2005&g=111&d=A</a> ....
@Rich in Atlanta - My guess is the blurb is the bit in yellow above the puzzle and the two clues it mentions are the circled letters and the grid art (the big sign in the middle of the grid?
Fun to discover BEATNIK in the puzzle. The"beat" generation post WWII and a coinage perhaps influenced by SPUTNIK the Russian satellite of that era and immortalized by Bob Denver playing Maynard G Krebs on "Dobie Gillis" Like, Groovy, Man!
@Jim in Forest Hills "You rang?" Krebs's byline, later picked up by Charles Addams in The Addams Family.. When Lerch would answer the door, he would enquire, "You rang?" I think I got that right.
Very clever Thursday puzzle. And all the SKI lifts were hidden in interesting long entries: ERIKSATIE, BEATNIKS, RUBIKSCUBES. (Very helpful to me that SATIE appeared in a recent puzzle.) "Bass organs" for GILLS was cute too. Wasn't familiar with THISKISS or PENCILSKIRT, but seeing PENCILS for "Slim-fitting bottom" certainly let me know something tricky was afoot. Liked this one quite a lot.
I didn't find this puzzle as easy as others did, but I did figure out the theme after I filled in the revealer. I thought it was clever and well constructed. I think the main problem many commenters had was blithely accepting the almost-but-not-quite theme answers without considering there might be a trick... on a Thursday! I was surprised by this. For me, figuring out the trick, theme, rebus, etc is part of the fun, and the puzzle isn't complete until I do.
I was a little perplexed for a moment after running into my first tricky section. Wondered how I was going to fit "THIS KISS" into four squares. The crosses got me to put THIS into those four, and then after a bit I noticed the elevation of the last part of it. That made it a tad easier to figure out what to do with the rest of the tricks when I ran across them. Fun puzzle, nice trick. Thanks, Ella!
Almost exactly my average time for Thursday, so in terms of difficulty this was on the right day of the week for me. I got the theme with a little help from Deb (I knew I had to lift something above the SKIs but not knowing the song and thinking “pencil” seemed good enough on its own, I didn’t get the operation of the lift until I read the first part of the column). Speaking of ski lifts, glad I wasn’t on the gondola at Winter Park last Saturday when riders got stuck up in the air for five hours! This was much more fun than that. 🚠
@Justin yikes! I also just shared a stuck lift experience at Grouse mountain (glad I wasn’t one of those stuck)!
New Thursday PB. Appreciate the easy ride, still feel like a hungover walrus after yesterday’s feasting.
Is it just me or was this puzzle easy to solve without knowing about, or caring about, any reference to ski lifts.
@Gianni Not just you. Not knowing the Faith Hill song, “THIS is Bliss” sounds as good as anything. I got PENCILS on downs without I think glancing much at the clue, but even so I might have thought PENCILS was just a casual term for the skirts. I did notice CASHIS was missing KING and it would be a theme where something was hidden in the black square, but essentially forgot it. So when I got to the revealer I just noticed that SKI was going up in three places, thought that’s a bland theme, and finished the puzzle. Only when I read the column did I appreciate the full theme. It was pretty clever I suppose but I did solve the puzzle without it and it seemed pretty easy.
Two comments: (1) I've known a few older people in need of burping and (2) there's something fishy about one of those clues.
@JB As to (1), they might even appreciate it, but slinging one over your shoulder is a problem for most of us.
I thought this was a nice breezy puzzle with a fun theme for a recovery-type day for many folks. I liked the Diana Nyad clue as I have thought this as well but never seen it remarked upon. I had also thought that “check” and “atari” had to be announced by the player putting their opponent in that position, but Google tells me that isn’t the case. I guess that’s just something my dad did to help me when he was teaching me the game, but I never went on to play it regularly. I still have his board and stones though. He would have been 101 today (passed away over 14 years ago) and it was nice to have that little reminder of him in this puzzle.
I don't care how long you continue to use pop culture stuff like Faith Hill lyrics; you'll never induce me to listen or learn.... (Guess what was last to fall....) Let us now speak of famous saves thanks to the crosses... ERIK SATiE is getting some nice publicity these day, is he not? My brother-in-law was a student of/fan of the game of GO, but he never mentioned ATARi as the term for a win. (He was interested in GO as a "winning strategy for the VietNam conflict.") Aaaaand here we are again with the supposed slang for the gumshoe/shamus: TEC. Boo. You'd never catch anyone using that term on NCIS!
@Mean Old Lady ATARI isn't the name for a win in Go, but, like "check" (as opposed to checkmate) is a warning to your opponent that a group of their stones is in danger of being taken. Go is a great game. Both surprisingly simple and surprisingly difficult. And it doesn't involve luck at all, so there's no one to blame but yourself when things don't work out.
@Mean Old Lady Not so much a win at Go, which would be equivalent to a chess checkmate, but a situation in which the player has only one "liberty", vaguely equivalent to being forced to move a king under check. (I've never played Go, but I did once research the name of the games console!)
and of course so sad that 16A couldn't be WORLDPEACE or at least CEASEFIRE
Didn’t “get” it until I read Deb’s column, but enjoyed the puzzle greatly, anyway! Thanks for everyone’s comments. Hope your holidays are full of peace and contentment.
@Theresa agreed! If there was a marker on any of these three clues I feel like I would have gotten it faster. But I had to read this to check what happened to “This Kiss”!
An interesting, if simple, puzzle. I think the only work by Satie that included a typewriter is Parade, which includes a lot of other unconventional percussion instruments, including a starter's pistol, a jug of water sloshed around, tap shoes held in the hand, and a siren. But I think the oddest unconventional instrument is the bicycle, as played on Steve Allen's show by a young Frank Zappa in 1963. Check it: <a href="https://youtu.be/QF0PYQ8IOL4?si=jr-W5diVch2nl9hN" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/QF0PYQ8IOL4?si=jr-W5diVch2nl9hN</a>
@CaptainQuahog Yes, wasn't it John Cage wo introduced the typewroter?
A SKI LIFT, then downhill all the way. One to enjoy on Christmas Day. I don't mean to be SNIDE, but if you couldn't ICe this one, you may have spent too much time at THE BAR.
I enjoyed this one a lot. (Is it me, or are the crosswords just getting more clever with each passing day?) I found the first theme entry right away and the key to theme nearly at the end. Nice clueing made for a breezy solve. Thoroughly fun! Thanks, Ella!
I recently spent a couple of months trying to master a classical guitar transcription of Gnossienne No. 1. It was a great transcription; it altered the key by a half-tone (fixable with a capo) and made very minor alterations for some things that are doable on piano but basically impossible on guitar, but otherwise very fairhful to the original. I can play it... sort of. My slurs got much, much better from trying. But the level of difficulty was making me dread and avoid practice and dislike the piece, so it was time to put it aside for a while. At least Satie's name is permanantly drilled into my head. That piece was the background music for every dream I had for weeks, too, even if it was a dream about changing out Honda fuel injectors (seriously). I could not for the life of me remember the second letter of IRT, despite repeating "Just Another Girl On The..." to myself over and over, and couldn't remember ATARI, so that created my personal pseudo-Nantick and my only lookup.
Having just stopped skiing after 40 happy years enjoying the sport, I was glad to ride the lifts again. I like that “raise the bar” is snuck into the puzzle at 16 and 17 across. Nice touch!
Maybe I am just a dork, but I thought logomania was something everybody here suffers (?) from.
Got wise to the theme just in time to be able to fix a problem in the north east corner. Maybe slightly easier Thursday than usual. I'm starting to remember these US brand names like now the bed maker as they tend to repeat. So that helps.
Merry Christmas , Happy Chanukah and Peaceful Kwanzaa . The puzzles and this forum bring a delightful break to my world every day and for that I thank the NYT crossword team as well as all of you . May Wordplay lift your spirits and bring you the joy it brings to me .