WHOM has fallen into disuse? I’d say it’s fallen into misuse.
@Christine This doesn't bother me. You know what bothers me? It seems that no one, and I mean no one, is capable of saying "you and me" on television. Every last person, from every socioeconomic stratum, says "between you and I", "they did it with you and I", etc. It almost makes me sadder than the next 4 years will. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@Christine My thoughts exactly. People are throwing "whom" around like crazy. I say if you don't know the difference, it's better to stick with "who" even if it's wrong. I observed a court trial recently and, I'm not kidding, the judge asked the prosecutor throughout the day, "Whom is your next witness?" And while I'm at it, what's with all the bros and their "Me and my buddies did this" and "Me and her did that"?
@Christine Language has been constantly evolving since it's conception. I have never understood why people are so perturbed by a change of usage or the absence of certain words. I'm not saying that you are, but it does seem like an interesting thing that happens. I imagine that has always happened. I think the evolution of language is really quite interesting. It reflects changes over time. Whether it is by a misunderstanding of the original usage or a shift in the lexicon caused by a cultural shift, I think it is very fun to explore. It certainly isn't the first or last time something like this has happened. That's such a cool part of etymological history. Honestly, your comment was a nice way to reflect on these kind of changes. I like to think that a change in language reflects a change in how people see the world. That may not be true, but language seems to affect how we view the world. To me at least.
@Christine WHOM is a word in search of a purpose. Eventually, it'll realize it has none, and finally die. No other language I've studied has a separate word for WHOM, so in the natural course of event, English will lose it as well. You're right that when used, it's often misused, but on the other hand, it's being used less and less, mostly by those intent on being correct and winding up, well, less so.
@Rachel I like that quote from Phantom of the Opera! I have never thought about quote as a noun being odd! That's really interesting and I can see where you're coming from. I find using the word "fail" as a noun feels somewhat strange. I get it and I've heard it enough, but something about it just doesn't feel quite right when I say it. My grasp on it is a major fail :) I really enjoy looking up the background of words that feel like they don't have an obvious root. My current favorites are malapropism and spam (in the current usage beyond the food product). Who would have thought Monty Python would spawn such a ubiquitous word version of the word spam!
@Christine As a Californian for whom Mexican food is "food", I agree with Sam Corbin on 27A.
Dad humor is CORN? Surely you meant CORNY? Also, ORALE, really? Go type that word into Google and tell me how far you have to scroll before you find the archaic pre-13th century definition that was clued here. Truly baffling fill on this one.
I'll add: if you Google "orale vestment" multiple hits on the first page are crossword clue websites. Which means the word's usage *in crosswords* has outpaced its actual real-world usage and therefore should probably be retired.
@Shrike Not going to Google it because I just saw Conclave and feel like that was good enough, but thank you for that L. It was keeping me from being done.
@Shrike As clued, "dad humor" could refer to an adjective (corny) or a noun (CORN). Maybe you're being rhetorical ? My first thought was noun, so I started with puns. I think the adjective would have been better clued as "like dad humor", especially on a Wednesday.
@Shrike Since I didn't know this word and clue, I thought I would use ORALE for my Wordle start word. Not on the list, so I don't feel as bad about my ignorance of papal garb.
@Shrike Being common (as opposed to rare, not as opposed to proper) is not a requirement for crosswords, ever. And this was even truer in the past. Unless the clue is inaccurate, I don't get what your objection is.
I have considered giving up my current crossword streak and quitting the crossword community forever. I have had one too many struggles here. But, then I said: “Never gonna give you up, Never gonna let you down, Never gonna run around and desert you! Never gonna make you cry, Never gonna say goodbye, Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you!” You’ve just been Rickrolled! 🤣🥲🤣🤣 Okay, I’ll never have a STANDUPACT because that may have been the CHEESIEST, CORNiest use of Rick ASTLEY lyrics. Anyway, today seemed easier than yesterday to me but I got hung up on so many clues I ended up taking quite a long time. I enjoyed the puzzle more, though. Shout out to LISBOA, whose district is where I live. Still dealing with “Type A” flu, which the home doctor said is rampant throughout the district and the country. Keep that in mind if you’re traveling here. It’s a pretty rough strain. Adeus!
@Pani Korunova Feel better!!! And thank you for confirming that Lisboa is not the problem with my filled-in-but-not-correct grid.
@Pani Korunova Saudades. Are you a native alfinete? Spelling?
@nash.mark Muito obrigada. No, I’m not an alfacinha, a native of LISBOA. I’m just an immigrant (estrangeira, or “expat”) from the southern US. I love it here, though, and I’m learning their language and culture. The immersion in such an old culture is good for my brain, though my body is still doente 😷. Have you been here? I’d guess you have by your knowledge of the language.
@Pani Korunova "You’ve just been Rickrolled! 🤣🥲🤣🤣" Darn, you got me. By the written word too!
The volleyball theme triggered me a bit! I am one of the many 70s kids who wasn't athletic, and suffered in PE class for it. But one of two of my shining moments in PE was volleyball, serving the ball [just] over the net three times and watching the other team just stand there, as they were sure every time that I wouldn't make it. And we won by the margin I provided. !!! Never happened again. Thank you for letting me relive my short-lived triumph!
@Patricia Thanks for sharing this! I wasn’t particularly athletic either and hated team sports for that reason. If this had happened to me, it would definitely be one of my core memories! Way to go!
@Patricia I'll bet that, on that day, your serve was a good old fashioned slap-shot! Kudos!!
Every item of clothing put on for worship in liturgical religions has a name, a meaning, a status, and a specific prayer attached to its donning. Some belong to particular offices. Alb is nearly always wrongly clued as “priestly garment” here in NYT puzzles, since wearing the simple white garment is the privilege of any baptized person serving in the liturgy. Orale is correctly clued as “papal vestment” because only popes wear the capelet with horizontal stripes called orale (accent on the second syllable; the Mexican interjection is órale, accent on the first). As I was trained in a very serious corps of altar boys/servers, in a conservative parish of a conservative diocese, I had to memorize and recite the vestment prayers proper to each of the many items worn by myself and the clergy I assisted in vesting. In Latin. Before any vestiture could be done, there was a ritual washing of hands with its own prayer (Da Domine virtutem manibus meis…) which remains a fixed element for me 50 years later. The names and prayers are different from faith to faith, sect to sect, place to place, but what Catholics, Anglicans, Jews, Muslims etc. share is respect for the transition that is accomplished when putting on sacred garments. Yes, orale is niche. No apology for that other than “crosswordese.” But, an orale is a real thing, just as a judge’s robe, a barrister’s wig, a police officer’s badge, are real things, never to be donned without respect for that which is signified.
@David Connell Great post, thank you 👍🏾
@David Connell - My two brothers and I didn’t object to wearing a new suit on Easter morning, but the matching hat? “Why do I have to wear a hat? I just take it off when I get to church!” Motherly answer: “Yes. You have to have a hat to take off to show respect.” Even for laity, the hat that is doffed by the men, the lace doily on the heads of the women, these are marked, these are marks. Take your shoes off. Put a skullcap on. Don’t wear a leather belt on Tisha b’Av. There must be fringes at your waist. These are all marks. Orale just happens to be a rather obscure mark. But a mark.
@David Connell I don't see anyone calling it imaginary.
@David Connell Best post on orale today. Thank you for providing cultural context!
@David Connell Your post is a good reminder to be washing those manibuses frequently, with all the norovirus going around!
Volleyball players always order room serve-ace. (These puns are a net positive.)
orale is a terrible answer, as clued. could have clued it as the mexican slang word órale. suspect there was some discussion internally to do it that way, but they made the wrong choice. side note (i don’t post here often): if there is an answer that includes an ñ (different letter than n) it should be an ñ in both directions. doesn’t apply to this puzzle but i’ve been sitting on that one for a while
G Man, This is the sixth time ORALE has been clued as [Papal vestment] in the Times Crossword. Also as Pope's cape, Pope's vestment, Papal cape, etc., etc. What is your issue with the clue?
@G Man I agree on ñ. It’s an entirely different letter.
@G Man I'm a 70-year-old Catholic and I agree the papal vestment was pretty darn obscure for most people, including me. I'm not saying it shouldn't have been there, because the crosses were easy but it's worthy of complaint.
@Barry Ancona Just because they've made a bad editorial decision five times before, doesn't mean they have to keep doing it!
I thought this was super easy… until it wasn’t. PRATE? Uh, ok. Stickiest> sweatiest> CHEESIEST… finally! (A little more knowledge of dark Greek mythology would have helped me there.) ORALE? Hmm. And who knew Darryl from The Office was Michelle Obama’s brother? (Just kidding. I got that.) Moral of the day: Embrace the rickroll! Never give [it] up.
This was the hardest Wednesday I can remember. Typically the comments about difficulty on this forum reflect my own experience, and I must say that I'm surprised that some people found this one to be Tuesday-level. I had never heard of ORALE, and had probably heard of KOLA but had no idea what the third letter was; and for some reason I had never heard of the word PRATE. Is it common? And, of course, had never seen either ZERO MOSTEL or EREBUS. Luckily there are not many endings of PRA?? that give an English-sounding word, and an alphabet run finally gave me the ORALE/KOLA. But for a while I thought that my 255-day streak would end because of a Wednesday!
@Turing mine was a 253 day streak, and hit hung up in the exact spots as you, with ZERO MOSTEL / PRATE /EREBUS. Had KONA (coffee!) and finally thought to try KOLA (cola?) and hit the music. Toughest Wednesday in some time. Now I’m at 254, whew!
@Turing to each his own. ZERO MOSTEL was a gimme for me and helped me get some good info for crosses. MAA instead of bAA for pasture sound was what tripped me up for a minute
Here is the Tuesday puzzle! Nice one, Laura.
@Barry Ancona I went looking for your comments yesterday (I couldn’t find them in the 500+). Does seem like a bit of a mix up. I think Wil Shortz is testing us. ;)
@Barry Ancona agreed 100%. Switch the last two days and no one complains! This was a breeze for me.
Somehow, it never occurred to me that there was an eponymous Mr TUPPER, but there he is. (And I'll take any opportunity to use "eponymous" in a sentence.)
@Grant Yeah, who knew! That made me grin. I couldn't resist, here's the Wikipedia bio: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Tupper" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Tupper</a> I was curious to see how much money he made off his invention, seems it was 16 million in 1958 dollars. But it's what he did after he got the money that made me grin from ear to ear.
Sorry, really didn't much like this one, although it was way, way easier than yesterday's misplaced and excessively tough (though well done and enjoyable) Tuesday. There were one or two fine clues here (virtue signal is great) but I thought the theme and theme answers were really weak and, more damningly, boring. :( Decent puzzle overall. On to better days. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@B I sort of agree with you, but the theme probably was enjoyable for the three dozen people who follow volleyball 🤪
@Andrzej Maybe, but every American played volleyball in school. At least the girls did. I thought it was a fun theme.
Wowza. If anyone is tempted to add the archived puzzles to your daily solve, today should be a solid push. Felt like I was doing a 1997! IONE ASTLEY ORALE PRATE… like the good ol’ days! I’ll take Rick-rollin for $400 Alex- Give you up Let you down Run around Desert you Make you cry Say goodbye Tell a lie Hurt you Question- What are eight things Rick Astley is never gonna do? Happy Wednesday all!
@CCNY Whenever I hear those lyrics I'm thinking, did this guy just finish a 12 step program for spousal abuse or something?
Loved this one. Surprised to learn how many people were unfamiliar with ZERO MOSTEL; in addition to "Tevye" he created the role of "Pseudolus" in "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum"--two iconic musical theatre roles, both of which earned him Tony Awards. *And* he co-starred, with Gene Wilder, in one of the funniest movies ever made, Mel Brooks' The Producers. *And* he was black-listed thanks to the HUAC, and managed to come back strong, even starring in a Martin Ritt film about the blacklist, The Front. And as Pinky once said to Brain: "I think so Brain; but Zero Mostel times anything will still give you Zero Mostel." Narf!
That has got to be one of the most impenetrable themes for me, ever 🤣. I know nothing about volleyball in Polish, let alone in English. Still, I solved the puzzle 2 minutes faster than yesterday's "Tuesday" 🤪.
Learned BUMP, as in volleyball, today. That’s where a player uses their forearms together to direct the ball to the person who creates a plum for the spiker to smash. Seen it when I’ve watched volleyball on tv, like in the Olympics, but never knew the name for it. Something I find amazing is that the three theme answers – MINOR PROBLEM, STANDUP ACT, and POWER SURGE – all very in the language, have never appeared in the Times puzzle before. The latter two have appeared in other major venues, but this is a world premier for MINOR PROBLEM. The grid features schwa de vivre, with that sound ending an octet of answers. It also features words I adore: IDLE HANDS, PRATE, ARROYO, NIGH, SPOILSPORT, ARCANA. And I like seeing HELIUM floating high in the grid, and even crossing with RISERS. Thus, a sweet solve, with some lovely takeaways. Thank you very much for this, Laura!
@Lewis I also liked some of the crossed pairings—OLD and WHOM in particular, given how they were clued. And MAA crossing MEADOW brought a smile to my face, although admittedly before I had corrected Moo. Different barnyard animal, but same nice touch.
@Lewis Your comments always make my day! I'm sure the constructors feel the same way--how you find the things that make each puzzle special. We need more positivity in this world! Thank you.
Sorry Sam, it’s up to me to put a meal on the table every evening.. TACO PIE was an inspiration and what I’m making tomorrow.
@Elke I agree - what's wrong with a TACO PIE?
@Elke yeah Sam, why yuck on this yum? Though I knew it as the Senator Nancy Katzenbaum [sp?] dish.
@Elke I’ve been working through January 2018 puzzles from the archive. Coincidentally there’s a wordplay column featuring a photo where someone was inspired to make TAMALEPIE because it appeared in an earlier crossword (Jan 8 2018 column by Deb Allen titled “Compromise”, <a href="https://nytimes.com/2018/01/08/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2018-01-09.html" target="_blank">https://nytimes.com/2018/01/08/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2018-01-09.html</a> )
@Elke I'm glad someone said it! It's delicious, filling, and generally a crowd pleaser.
Why so many complaints about PRATE? I though it was an easy gimme! It's a perfectly cromulent word that (according to xwordinfo) has appeared as an answer 32 times in the modern era.
Well - not an easy one for me. A longer than usual Wednesday workout, but managed to get through it. Will confess that I was not entirely grasping the theme. No big deal. Interesting (and surprising) that all of the theme answers and the reveal were appearing for the first time in any puzzle. Other than the reveal they seem like quite familiar terms. Hmmm... Kind of an odd answer history search result today. Wasn't familiar with ORALE, but it seems like a useful piece of fill. Well... it's been an answer in 197 puzzles. Pretty much at least once almost every year from 1943 to 2006. But then... this is it's first appearance since then. Hmmm... Oh well. I'm done. ...
@Rich in Atlanta really, not since 2006? I’m gobsmacked, because ORALE popped right into mind, and the only way I know it is from crosswords. I have been doing these for a very long time, though…at least 35 years.
@Rich in Atlanta @Rich in Atlanta really, not since 2006? I’m gobsmacked, because ORALE popped right into mind, and the only way I know it is from crosswords. I have been doing these for a very long time, though…at least 35 years.
@Rich in Atlanta Yeah, I'm always amazed by the commenters who say shake their finger at someone and say, "BLAH has appeared 50 times..." If you do the math, that's often once every 200 puzzles or something. Big deal.
This was a breeze until I got to the SE corner where I had to know both a caffeine-source nut (not spelt COLA) and a papal vestment. I happened to guess correctly, BUT when I looked it up post-solve, the very definition stated that the garb is no longer used. Similarly, 10A claims that WHOM is "falling into disuse." I can say it seems no longer to be taught, along with proper use of ME and I. One day (years back) our son tossed off the statement tht he hadn't understood when to use WHOM until he studied German. That's sad--ignorance being perpetrated in educational settings and modeled in daily fare such as advertisements and even news reports. Okay, that should take care of today's rant.... I loved volleyball and soccer when we learned those games in PE! I was encouraged to go out for 'track and field' based on my high-jump skills. My mother protested that I would be "getting all sweaty" and nixed it. Then when I wanted to learn to play the clarinet, my HS schedule forced a choice between Band and PE, so.... (Apparenty it did not occur to Mom that the Marching Band got pretty sweaty out there practicing on the football field...) Got pretty far down ole Memory Lane today...Merciful heavens! All y'all stay warm and safe.
@Mean Old Lady "One day (years back) our son tossed off the statement tht he hadn't understood when to use WHOM until he studied German." I would agree--I don't think I really understood English grammar until I studied a foreign language.
@Mean Old Lady the orale hasn't been used by Pope Francis, but still exists. I read Benedict pulled it out of the mothballs once or twice. (I'm a Latin Mass person, anyway. LOL) I think they must have a whole course devoted to "how to dress your Pope!" in seminary.
I agree, here’s the Tuesday puzzle. I also felt that it was my kind of puzzle. First: I don’t compete in sports but have scored a lot of volleyball games in the last 10 years so bump, set, spike was a gimme. Second: My junior year of high school I was a towns person in a production of Fiddler on the Roof that opened our newly remodeled auditorium to a SRO audience and 14 curtain calls. 30 years later I was cast as Motel the Tailor’s mother in a community production that due to COVID got shut down. And Finally: my mom got to see Zero Mostel as Tevya on stage! Can I say easiest clue ever for me!
@Megan I love Fiddler on the Roof and thought the answer was Topol. I started with the down clues, mind you. No clue who Zero Mostel is.
@Vj One did the movie, the other did the musical. And I can never remember which is which… lol. Fortunately for crosswords, both have different amounts of letters :)
[Virtue signal?] for HALO and [Noneternal flames?] for EXES - excellent! Nice puzzle overall, which is what I've come to expect from Laura Dershewitz.
Commenting early means you’re with the quick folks. 🫤 For me this was a slog. Certainly not easier than yesterday which I also took my time over. No one PRATEs
I see there’s been some PRATE hate in the comments, and I respect it. To me, though, it’s a word I use, and a marvelous word that somehow conveys its meaning in its sound. I love it. Et tu, emu.
@Lewis Perhaps more people have heard PRATTLE (which of course must be a variation -or even a conjugation?)
Welp, time to make a couple deposits in the crosswordese bank. The PRATExEREBUS and ORALExKOLA crossings accounted for a solid ~quarter of my total solve time. Yes, all of those clues have appeared in plenty of previous NYT crosswords…but none within the last couple years, and I drew a blank on all four of those today.
@Man and 2 dogs I love your banking image. PRATE and EREBUS and KOLA were in my vaults, albeit deeply buried. ORALE was new to me, and has been deposited for future use.
What do we know about Héloïse and Peter Abélard? 1) that their correspondences have been preserved. They're not as prurient as all that. 2) that, in a 19th c. publicity stunt, (probably-not-really-)their remains were transferred to Pére Lachaise cemetery in Paris. 3) that it requires three diacritics to correctly write their names. 4) that Alexander Pope's poem "Eloisa to Abelard" is the source of the line "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind," the title of one of my favorite-- and IMHO, one of the most romantic ever--movies.
@Bill I've been meaning to give that movie another watch again soon. I loved it and think of it often. Thanks for sharing this info... didn't know the source of that line.
I was disappointed to learn there was no Earl of TUPPER, only some guy named Earl who invented TUPPERware. We were not a TUPPERware family when I was growing up, so was always somewhat fascinated with the stuff. We were, however, a Mel Brooks family, and ZERO MOSTEL will always be Max Bialystock to me. And it was nice to be reminded of Say Anything, a "teen movie" with a lot more going on, by IONE Skye and the iconic scene featuring Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes, a nice antidote to being Rick rolled.
@Vaer IonA crossing with AstlAy was my downfall.
While I was also hung up on papal vestments and Kona beans, I was particularly thrown by MAA. It had to be MEADOW, and it had to be ASTLEY, but cows go MOO and sheep go BAA? I’ve never heard of anything going MAA. Perhaps noises have evolved since my children were small 20 years ago.
@Kitty Goats say MAA. They also eat everything and poop constantly. I'm not a fan.
@Kitty I share your sentiment. That one threw me.
@Kitty Goats - per my grand daughter’s farm-themed books!
@Kitty Original comment seems to have been eaten by emus, so I'll try again: Goats say MAA. They also eat everything, much like emus.
@Kitty Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full! (End of discussion.)
@Kitty Long ago a New Yorker article reviewed how different languages do various animal noises. LARGE differences on dogs and cats as I recall. Wonder if on the web now.
Wow! Heloise and Abelard! Talk about ARCANA.
@Tim V. It was a rare gimme. Different people know different things.
@Tim V. Listen to Ella Fitzgerald sing It Was Just One of Those Things. They are mentioned in the intro. Something like, “As Abelard said to Heloïse, Darling drop me a line if you please.”
A lot of crosses I thought were unfair in this one: IONE crossing ASTLEY (is it ionA or ionE?) ORALE crossing KOLA (koNa is also coffee-related) SOBA crossing ABALARD (is it sobA or sobE?) (or maybe it's Erdoc instead of Ordoc?) PRATE crossing EREBUS (though nothing else made sense) I couldn't figure out the correct combination of letters.
@Joe I agree, there are some ferocious crosses, if I might say so without attracting smug comments.
@Joe I’m just glad I can play SOBA somewhere (I’m looking at you, Spelling Bee)
A challenging vocabulary expanding experience. Brings to mind the '70's ERA 7UP commercial, "This!, is a KOLA nut . . . " voiced by Geoffrey Holder. But I blab, blabber, chatter, clack, gabble, gibber, maunder, palaver, piffle, prattle, tattle, tittle-tattle, twaddle, yammer. Nice one and thanks.
@John Carson If there were an extended version of this song with eleven more verses, I have no doubt it would include PRATE: <a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=ALOqAqOri5E" target="_blank">https://youtube.com/watch?v=ALOqAqOri5E</a>
We had a volleyball team in grad school and would play other departments and at times a team comprised of our professors. After a BUMPSETSPIKE I nailed my advisor in the face.... I still graduated. Cute solve, thank you Laura
Breezy puzzle, although I bogged down a bit in the SW corner. I kept trying to fit sleasiest in even though I knew it was spelt with a Z not an S. CHEESIEST eventually came to me. I got BUMPSETSPIKE, but didn’t get the theme until after I finished the puzzle — then I had a good chuckle, which was the cherry on top of a fun solve.
@Marshall Walthew I had 'jumpsetspike', and the Wordplay article set me right. That was the only cheat. This was definitely easier than the puzzle they ran Tuesday.
Same mistake in several puzzles: Iona instead of IONE. Some ARCANA for this solver: ORALE, ASTLEY, LISBOA, ANYA. But not SO BAd that a little xword STAMINA couldn't solve.
Thought I was going to crash and burn on this one. Volleyball! I saw that played once, in 1973. Various cliff-hangers ensued, followed by hairs-breadth escapes. The realisation that I actually knew the name of an actor in a film I'd never seen; that TUPPERware was presumably named after someone; that I'd filled the name of an unknown noodle entirely on the crosses... Filled the grid... no happy tune. Scrolled through one clue at a time. Wondered if BUMPSEySPIKE might not be as plausible a volleyball thing as it had intially seemed. Hmmm. Maybe I needed *three* words to match the three other clues this one was supposed to "reveal". Minutes go by. Maybe that entirely impenetrable down solution is EAST, rather than EASy? Ta-da.
An unimpressive slog. Random googled trivia and foreign terms with a D- theme.
@Michael I'm surprised you received five recommends (and counting) for such a contemptuous comment. It's crossword puzzle, dude.
@Michael Agreed. Maybe I'm just uneducated but I feel cheated by puzzles with this much arcane trivia in it.
@Michael I didn't have to google any of the trivia. I solve crossword puzzles, so my brain is naturally full of random facts. I am a fact hoarder. If you have trouble with entries like EREBUS and ABELARD, my advice would be to read more books.
@Michael What, pray tell, is a "D-theme"? Here's a "D-theme" story: Freshman English Composition assignment: read four boring articles about whether Shakespeare or someone else wrote plays attributed to The Bard ; discuss and back up your opinion. I hated the topic, and I guess it showed; I got the paper back with a D! (I had never even earned C's, much less a D!) It concentrated the mind wonderfully. I wasn't aware we were meant to assign grades to the puzzles.
@Michael not to pile on, but if you felt like this was a slog, that might say more about your crossword skills than it does about the puzzle 🤷♀️
Two more thoughts, I really loved noneternal flames for EXES at 57D! That was EXcellent! I don't usually do the mini but as I was trying to back out of the comment section here today, somehow I clicked it open in the first clue at 1A was about my beloved Far Side, so I just had to do it. That was awesome! One of my favorite clues ever possibly!
Only a minute faster than yesterday 😉 I had two typos to fix. As per usual, the last one was in the SE, so it took me almost 5 minutes to track it down. Having just returned from Hawaii, I had KOnA on the brain. It wasn’t until I reread the clue that I noticed “nut” 🤦🏼♀️ Oy vey! KOLA it is. Thank you, Laura, for this lovely SET.
@Jacqui J Similar! I had KO, so filled in Kona without a lot of thought. As the next clue came up, a wee thought bubble appeared, "wait a minute, was there a nut in that clue??"
Interesting to see people say this puzzle is a lot easier than yesterday's. I found yesterday's to be fairly straightforward but today was harder for me than some Fridays.
@Ciptir It doesn't really make sense to compare individual puzzle solving experiences. We have all led different lives, learning different things along the way. What is a gimme for most may justifiably be an arcane mystery for some. Some of the puzzles I have struggled with the most were ones most others found easy, or at least enjoyable. There was a well-liked Evel Knievel-themed Thursday puzzle in 2023 that I can still remember cursing at time after time, encountering one trivia-based clue after another. It was a an impossibly hard grid for me, a veritable nightmare, and the best puzzle ever for others. And neither evaluation was wrong. They were just different, for reasons that made sense.
Yeah today and Tuesday's should've been switched lol
I was a minute slower than my Wednesday average and fifteen minutes slower than yesterday so I must be the target audience they're building these puzzles for. This one felt hard but fair. Proud to say I got HALO right away. The entire middle from west to east gave me a few hiccups but fell into place once I literally deleted that entire section and started over. Sometimes I stare so long at the existing letters that I lose the trees for the forest or vice versa and a clean slate is helpful.
Not sure how others felt, but Tuesday and Wednesday seemed transposed this week. Solved this one easily, in less than 3/4 the time I needed yesterday. Only the intersection of ORALE and LISBOA gave me pause. Today's theme seemed oddly parochial, but solid enough and, again, more Tuesday-ish than yesterday's theme. Some interesting *words* here: MODAL, ARROYO, STAMINA, ARCANA (of which there was certainly some in the grid). Liked WHOM/WHAM emanating from the shared W. Another pair that nicely illustrates how non-phonetic English is.
And then there was Moldy Earl, the guy who kept a tuna sandwich in his locker so long the high school had to be closed for three days. He was a hero. (over-reaching?)
My solve times are getting faster every day this week
PRATE?? Truly has anyone ever used that word, ever in your life. And don't prate.
@Wilson The answer is no, no one ever has (although that doesn't necessarily preclude its presence). Prattle, sure. But as crosswordese goes this one didn't bother me much... ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@Wilson Anyone ever? William Shakespeare (Macbeth) Ever in my life? No
@Wilson Me. I've used it. Mainly because other people don't, but it's a fine dismissive word for a particular kind of tedious, ill-informed monologue that makes death a long-felt want.
@Wilson Husband uses that one regularly. It’s a pretty cool word, actually. … …
@Wilson - I've used it. But I've used "whom" more.
I claim the prize for being the first to be slower than yesterday. Too many beans and noodles and I don't see why swatting a fly is sacrificing it
@Steve Don't you think of Cthulhu as you swat your flies? 😮
@Steve I think the fly's perspective would include sacrifice.
@Steve As a rule, I don't like to swat any living things. I make an exception for mosquitoes, but when I swat them, I apologize. "It's you or me, buddy, sorry." It feels like a sacrifice of sorts.
@Steve Since you're from England, I imagine you don't see the wordplay here. In baseball, when a runner is on third base, he can score if he can make it home after a fly ball (a ball hit into the air) is caught. (Note, he can only leave the base after the catch is made.) A deep fly ball often accomplishes this, and is an out for the batter. But unless it's the third out, and the inning is over, the runner at third can attempt to score. There are times when this one run is the margin of victory, so the action of the batter, even though he is out, is not viewed as a negative. He has said to have hit a sacrifice fly, and it does not count against his batting average. Although it's a little stretchy to say that when you SWAT a fly, you're sacrificing it, but we also use SWAT in reference to hitting a baseball far, so now you can see the wordplay there.
Many people seem to have found this much easier than yesterday's puzzle, but it took me 10 minutes longer! Both were done in close to my average time for the day (as was Monday's) so the sequence of difficulty has been correct for me so far this week. I entered several wrong answers on my first pass (8D Frodo, 24A moo, 58A stickiest). Realising this and correcting them held me up for a while, but overall I found it an enjoyable puzzle.