This was a lot of fun! Cluing was clever, without much reliance on trivia, and once I figured out the trick it all fell into place in a very satisfying way. Congrats to Landon for the debut!
Congratulations on your debut, Mr. Horton, and a fine one it is. A round of applause to you for persisting through 19 rejections just to bring us some glorious entertainment. And another round of applause for this very worthy and delightful puzzle. Thank you!
On the billboard, one of the eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckleburg had developed a stye, but they did not budge from staring down at us as we rumbled through the Valley of Ashes on the way to the City. There, in the hot hotel room, Tom Buchanan would break the ice as he mixed doubles of gin with shots of sambuca, and then yelled at the bellhop, a poet from Iberia, to wheel the drinking buggy away. "And get us each a rare rib-eye, you lazy Arab!" he shouted, "None of that pub grub!" Dressed to the nines in Armani, he turned to Daisy and asked, "What do you see in this playboy buddy of yours, anyway?" and watched her skin redden, first her nape and then her ear. She turned to me, silently mouthing "Help me!" I put my hand in my pocket and felt the cool steel of one of the razors I keep to use in just such a situation as this. I turned to Tom and beamed from ear to ear, as if I was the avatar of a loco god, said a prayer to Mama and --- I can't do it. I just can't bring myself to do in Tom Buchanan in this awful, blasphemous version of Gatsby. Off to see the Dylan movie: I hear that Chalamet kid can really do Bob, and that Edward Norton channeling Pete Seeger is simply uncanny it's so true. Don't forget to vote (for puzzle of the year, that is, otherwise, it's all over, Baby Blue).
@john ezra This reminded me of a spoonerism I once blurted out in a college class discussion about the author—F. Skit Fotchgerald. Thought I'd never hear the end of it.
@john ezra I only wish Newbie were here to read this. He’d probably enjoy reading Gatsby. Brilliant stuff!
Two great moments, one actual and one I imagine. The actual. After uncovering the theme answers, I tried to guess the revealer after leaving it blank and not reading its clue. Nothing came. So, I tried the next step – revealing its first word (MIXED), and in a mighty flash, saw DOUBLES. Oh man, the kick of solve-ation mixed with the realization at how perfect the reveal was, well, that was a moment. A high. The imagined. There’s Landon trying to clue HORSE AND BUNNY without sounding mundane. I mean, you try coming up with one! And then [Mare/hare pair?] hit him. I’m guessing that was a “Thank you, heavens” moment for him. Lovely serendipities today: • A short-U fest: BUDDY/BUNNY/BUGGY plus BUDGE, GRUDGES, RUSTS, NOPUN, DRUB, and twice in PUBGRUB. • GALLOP and HORSE kissing corners. • The homophone of “booze” crossing an alcoholic beverage (SAMBUCA). • Three three-letter e-sandwich palindromes (ELE, EWE, and the EYE of RIBEYE). Landon, I’m inspired by your persistence in continuing to submit puzzles to the Times after 19 rejections, and I’m thrilled by the happy ending. Thank you for a most impressive theme and for that pummeled-by-happiness moment!
A charming, marvelous debut. Very clever interplay of the double letters among the theme clues. I always enjoy reading the constructor notes, particularly when they convey the obvious joy of that first time in print. I'll look forward to the next puzzle from Mr. Horton.
The comments today feel more playful than usual, perhaps inspired by the nature of the puzzle and Sam’s column. I have a high regard for constructors of all stripes, but especially one that perseveres through 19 rejections to be published in the NYT. Congratulations, Landon! It’s clear from the column and comments that this puzzle was something special.
A tiptop Wednesday, that was interesting and evocative and just plain fun, from Mama Bear to Jay Gatsby to that unlikely pair of poets and those unexpected MIXED DOUBLES. Of course it was an impressive debut, but more than that, the whole puzzle was fresh and relied on only a tiny few "oleos." Fittingly, this one was bottoms up for me—a slow start, but soon enough the fills were flowing from clues that were both witty and confident. I knew that I was in good hands and started to really enjoy myself. Thank you, Landon Horton. and for our sake, may the force continue to be with you.
Was this Wednesday? It was so frunchy (did we make that portmanteau a thing?)! Great job, Landon. I had to chuckle at 14D because on the group chat my kids had a big laugh at how I hold GRUDGES for them that they have long forgotten. Me: “Remember when Emilie grabbed your arm in fourth grade and pulled you down the hallway?” Daughter: “Um, no” Me: “Isn’t that the guy who tried to embarrass you in front of the soldiers in your squad?” Son: “When?” Me: “In November of 2023, right before your Thanksgiving leave.” Heaven HELPME to bite my tongue when I see those “offenders” 😂 Yeah, I’m a LOCO (but actually harmless) MAMA bear 🐻 Have a great day, everyone!
@Pani Korunova I too am described as a MAMA Bear, not only by my kids but their friends as well. Don’t you ever upset any of them or I will wade in there swinging (metaphorically of course, although there was that one time…) I still look sideways at one of my daughter’s best friends, despite her now being a delightful human being, because 15 years ago she made my baby cry in High school. DD has let it go long ago. But me, not so much.
@Helen Wright Ahh, a kindred spirit. I paid attention then and I pay attention now. They say remembering every detail of those incidents is my superpower!
@Pani Korunova I hold very few grudges, but when I do, it's for life 🤣 So far I've outlived one of them 💀
Very smooth puzzle with a theme that actually helped me a bit. My only hiccup was having nudge instead of BUDGE and not seeing that OKAYnE made no sense until I got the dread almost finished keep trying message.
There is a theory that CONEY ISLAND got its name from the Dutch word for rabbit, due to a purported large population of wild rabbits on the island. Nice crossing with BUNNY. Fun theme! Congratulations on your debut, Landon.
@Anita That was the answer/question on the most recent episode of Jeopardy, category FROM THE DUTCH
Boy, the rabbit holes you end up going down some days! TIL that the # sign has a name: octothorpe. Who knew!?
@Ken I am sincerely eager to learn how you got there from here.
The Brooklyn Dodgers' Peewee Reese stood 5'10" tall — average height. He earned his nickname playing marbles as a boy (small marbles are called "peewees").
Managed to snarf this one down very quickly! An excellent, breezy Wednesday. Thanks, Landon Horton!
@Striker You made me snort-laugh at snarf 🤣
Breezed through it. No longer feel like a beginner.
@MExpat Same here and not one lookup on a Wednesday! 20 minutes was also a Wednesday first for me!
Quick and fun – and for once I figured out the trick without brain pain :-D. I'm amazed the columnist had never heard of DRUB, as DRUBBING is a common sports term, for example: The Montréal Canadiens took a DRUBBING from the Toronto Maple Leafs the other night, as they blew a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period, and lost 7-3. (Apologies to the Habs fans LOL LOL)
@Alison I’ll certainly take the lesson when it comes from my hometown’s national sport! I just can’t shake the idea that DRUBBING is someone saying “drumming” with a cold.
@Alison Plus it is somewhat ancient! Howard Pyle's Robin Hood was often delivering a DRUBbing to a deserving individual....
Landon, congratulations, your dogged perseverance is commendable! Thanks for taking the long and winding road and arriving at this wonderful Wednesday wordplay.
Congratulations on your NYT debut, Mr. Horton! I found it more challenging than the typical Wednesday puzzle, especially in the NW corner. It wasn't until I switched LOon for LOCO that I could see BREAK THE ICE (which should've been obvious much sooner). Hope we'll see you back again!
“NO PUN” just sounds like a (definitely intended) dare for our resident punster Mike… Maybe it’s just a wavelength thing, but I found this puzzle surprisingly easy. I also thought it was clever and fun— just what I needed at the end of a long day! Speaking of which, I think a DRINKING BUGGY sounds like a fine idea. Anyone care to join me? We can BREAK THE ICE into some glasses and pour the SAMBUCA, or enjoy some DOUBLE shots (mixed or otherwise). Later on, maybe even TOKE a little LOCO weed. I told you, it’s been a long day.
Great debut, Landon! Very clever and fun. Glad you stuck with it (or should I say KEPT TO?). Looking forward to seeing what you do next.
Typical long Wednesday workout for me, but a really enjoyable puzzle. Just a lot of fun working out each of the theme answers. Glad to see another new constructor and looking forward to more from Mr. Horton. And... one answer search today was inspired by our constructor's name. Dawned on me that HORTONHEARSAWHO is 15 letters and that led me to discover that there are at least three other Dr. Seuss books with 15 letter titles, and some of those appeared together in more than a couple of puzzles. The others being: GREENEGGSANDHAM YERTLETHETURTLE and IFIRANTHECIRCUS Just seems like an odd coincidence. Might put another puzzle find in a reply. ...
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: This is by far the oddest puzzle I've ever encountered. A Wednesday from July 16, 2008 by Joe Krozel. I feel like I must be missing something but I really don't exactly get what was going on in this one. Anyway -the puzzle had eight 15 letter answers, all of them in pairs on the edges of the puzzle, across and down. And then.. there were eight two letter answers around the edge of the puzzle, each of them being state abbreviations and the clue for each of them being "See note." And the note was: "The eight two-letter answers in this puzzle are all state postal abbreviations, representing (in some order) the Beaver State, Beehive State, Big Sky Country, Heart of Dixie, Pine Tree State, Show Me State, Sunflower State and Volunteer State." I remain appropriately puzzled by exactly what was going on there. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/16/2008&g=2&d=D" target="_blank">https://xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/16/2008&g=2&d=D</a> I'm done. ...
@Rich in Atlanta You’re a treasure, Rich.
@Rich in Atlanta - I did that 2008 puzzle after seeing your comment. It is one weird looking grid. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before with a double row of full spanners all around the periphery. It was fun and not too hard. I didn’t think the postal abbreviation gimmick added a whole lot, but it didn’t present a problem either.
Yesterday, I was proud to announce to the world that, after 8.5 months of NYT crosswording, I finally achieved a milestone and completed a puzzle without any lookups. (In my defence, I don't even go here - here being America. And yes, I just quoted Mean Girls!) Oh. Em. Gee. (Note: this isn't a HARDG.) Now slap my face and call me a Valley Girl, I've just gone and done it again. Two days in a row without any lookups. Is it a full moon? A blue moon? That other moon variant where it looks super huge... I forget what's it's called?!! 🤔 I BEAMED. I stared in AWE. I downed a couple of shots of SAMBUCA to celebrate. I'll need a couple of ALKA-Seltzers in the morning but who cares, I'm gonna go LOCO tonight. OKBYE.
Lapsus linguae. Isn't that a blue gemstone?
@Steve L Good one, Steve!
@Steve L Yes, of course you’re right. Just as lapsus linguae e calami is squid ink pasta. :)
And interesting "permutation" theme here. Not sure I've seen this before. The start of each of the three thematic entries correctly pairs with the end of the next thematic entry, in a cyclic pattern: 1 --> 2, 2 --> 3, 3 --> 1. Or just (123) in cycle notation. MIXEDDOUBLES seems a good revealer for this theme. TYCO/TSAI meeting at the T worried me, though I vaguely recalled the company name and TSAI made sense as a Taiwanese family name. Got HARDG immediately today, avoiding yesterday's MELC debacle. Congrats on the debut!
@Xword Junkie You know, the puzzle fell so quickly that I missed half the clue/entry pairs. Now that I'm perusing the grid and reading some clues, I thought 53A "Noted name in suits" could have been DARROW....but not after the i-n-a-m-r went down in Left-to-Right order. Oh well.
Thank you, Landon and Sam, this morning, for sliding me down that polyunsaturated rabbit-hole of bad chemistry and bad gastronomy, hard and soft g's, which is Butterine, aka OIéomargarine, aka Margarine, aka Oleo. Too much even to summarize--at one point, between OED, M-W, and Wikipedia, I had six tabs open. One take-away--the (British) Parliamentary Margarine Act of 1887, with a legal mandate of the term "margarine," over "oleo(margarine)" or "butterine". Not to be confused with the (American) Congressional Margarine Act of 1886, which tried (unsuccessfully) to ban its production and sale entirely. Neither, however, addressed the "g" controversy.. Also, the OED lists a verb form, "(to) margarine," which is what Frank's Diner does to my toast, too liberally for my taste, unless I tell them not to. Frank's isn't far, but today it's too cold to walk--maybe I'll just take a taxicab instead.
@Bill amendation: The congressional act was named the Oloemargarine Act of 1886, and in reality applied stiff fines to manufacturers and retailers for mis-labelling it as " butter," or adulterating butter with oleo; and applied a 2¢ tax (per lb.?) to the substance. <a href="https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/uscode/uscode1946-00202/uscode1946-002026016/uscode1946-002026016.pdf" target="_blank">https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/uscode/uscode1946-00202/uscode1946-002026016/uscode1946-002026016.pdf</a> "ll substances known prior to August 2, 1886, as oleomargarine, oleo, oleomargarine oil, butterine, lardine, suine, and neutral" "Lardine," and "suine"--don't those sound tasty! And we haven't even touched on the "color" controversy!
@Bill I’m astounded. Thank YOU for adding such a — ahem — spread of historical detail. I’ll be bringing up the margarine mishegaas at my next dinner party.
@Bill I do believe Wisconsin was successful in banning the sale of yellow margarine in order to protect its butter production. Forcing the makers of margarine to turn out a white product was intended to make it look unappetizing.
Hi all, it's my day to promote The Griddies - with an easy to use ballot to vote on the PUZZLE OF THE YEAR for 2024. <a href="https://form.jotform.com/243358842724059" target="_blank">https://form.jotform.com/243358842724059</a> You'll see 4 categories: M-W Thu Fri-Sat Sun Vote for as many as FIVE in each category. First round voting ends midnight Jan. 24, the top ones in each category will be on the second round ballot. <a href="https://form.jotform.com/243358842724059" target="_blank">https://form.jotform.com/243358842724059</a>
@john ezra Is "midnight Jan. 24" functionally equivalent to 11:59 PM on January 24? And in what time zone? (Asking for a friend.)
Really enjoyed the “no pun” intended when it was clearly and ever so intended. Well done.
*Crossword Revolution Day 1: CONEY ISLAND “Coney Island Baby” by Lou Reed. Glory of love The glory of love The glory of love, might see you through Yeah, but now, now Glory of love The glory of love The glory of love might see you through Glory of love, uh, huh-huh The glory of love Glory of love, glory of love Glory of love, now, glory of love, now Glory of love, now, now, now, glory of love Glory of love, give it to me now, glory of love to see you through, huh. <a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=t0dsDJFJ1jk" target="_blank">https://youtube.com/watch?v=t0dsDJFJ1jk</a> * A Crosswords Saved the Day ™ production. All rights reserved.
@Puzzlemucker Sometimes you're an enigma to me. Except for the two hours that I rewatched The Last Waltz because of the news of Garth Hudson's death, this what is what I've been feeling. <a href="https://youtu.be/GigYMvbKho8?si=ZOqfrbymuITqMqFk" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/GigYMvbKho8?si=ZOqfrbymuITqMqFk</a>
@Puzzlemucker Man, I love Lou Reed. And David Lynch too. But, on the plus side, we still have Louis Rossignol! He kind of fills that void.
The puzzle was cute, but my two favorite laughs tonight are: “Hot air bassoon” from Landon “Spoonerism by accident” from Sam
Fun theme and some great clues with EAR, HELPME, BOOS, MAMA, HARDG and EWE. I liked the clue for PEEWEE but also found myself wishing it was Herman-related. KGB was also a missed opportunity IMO and could have been a great historical clue instead of another TV reference. Like “Komitet Gosudarstvenoy Bezopasnosti, if you were Russian through it?” PUN intended!
@Charles Nelson Reilly Today may have been the first time I understood a clue like the one for HARD G right away. In the past such clues were my nemesis. I'm more proud of this apparent progress than I probably should be :D Also, I just realized American NSA's name is almost exactly the same as KGB, just with Agency in the place of Komitet (Committee).
Somehow I find I solve more downs than across, so I typically start with down. I also always enjoy when the clue requires someone to think about it phonetically vs. semantically and it always makes me smile when I’m corrected! This being said for 8D I was reluctant to put A BALL simply because I felt like two words, specifically using the article “a” is rare, but then I saw KEPT TO and NO PUN so put it in. Figured it out once I started the crosses and it was delightful being wrong, gave me a good chuckle. 47A was a breeze. I wish there was a way to *save* my favorite puzzles on the app!
@AT Your wish is a brilliant idea! My memory is beyond horrible, but I would like to vote for my favorite puzzles in the poll linked below by @john ezra. However, I just don't remember which puzzles I liked most, and I can't be bothered to check them one by one using the dates provided in the poll. Being able to have a favorites list would be awsome!
@AT I agree with you. This puzzle is definitely one for a favorites of 2025 list. Great idea. Now, if I can just remember that I started the list!
Skin-of-the-teeth completion for me without lookups. SO many complete unknowns. Hung for a long time until I got the X in O_IDE, which started an avalanche of solves, culminating in a right-on-third-attempt guess for the cross between the magic 8 ball (whatever that is) and the Taiwanese president. (Slightly surprised, on a quick scroll through, that the End Of Civilization is not being predicted by the Usage Police now that the NYT has equated "deny" and "refute".)
@Oikofuge Thanks, I didn’t know those were synonyms! I used to get mad when politicians would say accusations of wrongdoing had been refuted, when they had just been denied. Now I can just refute ‘em right back!
Welcome, Landon! However....I really wanted HORSE AND BUGSY at 31A. And this puzzle seemed to be swarming with B's; please note that some of us are allergic. The OBOE is a delightful (and important) instrument, but none of us Band members found it especially "thin," nor considered it a quality of note. Flutes, drumsticks, the conductor's baton--now, those are thin. Ish. Please get busy on our next treat!
@Mean Old Lady I wondered, briefly, if the clue referred to the instrument's timbre. From Walter Piston's *Orchestration*: "Upward from the A above the staff the oboe tone gradually becomes thinner, and above D begins to sound less like an oboe." He then quotes Chausson's Symphony in B-flat. (Earlier in the chapter, he describes the oboe's tone as "pungent, tangy, nasal, penetrating, biting, piercing, and raspy."--quite the flood of adjectives!)
Congratulations on a delightful debut, Landon Horton. This was such fun, and I’m looking forward to your next puzzle. And, as always, your column was endearing and entertaining, Sam. We really need the joy of daily puzzles right now. 🫣
I recently discovered that my NYT subscription includes the Crossword Puzzle. I used to do it in the paper with pen every day - and then stopped, took 20 years off, and am back. I'm working backwards, too, going through the archives. I must say, it's amazing how many words repeat and repeat and repeat. "EGOT" has been in at least 10 puzzles over the past four months. Kelly Ripa was a popular clue 25 years ago. On the other hand, one would have never seen "Tokes" in 1997.
TIL grawlix. Though if #!@*&% shows up in a clue on Saturday, I’ll probably just curse myself for not being able to remember it.
Just chiming in with the rest in congratulating Landon for constructing a very fun Wednesday puzzle. Tight clueing, clever gimmick, and just an overall enjoyable solve. Thank you, Landon!
Landon, congratulations on a sparkling debut! Debut-iful! Happy Wednesday all! 🐪
I just love seeing a debut puzzle! Congratulations, Landon. I get carsick, so maybe a DRINKINGBUGGY would work better for me than a party bus, as long as they didn't go at a GALLOP. Speaking of which, I had "canter" in there first. Not for long, thank goodness. Have a good Wednesday!
No hints or lookups today felt like a win. The NW corner gave me fits! KEEPTO doesn't sit well as a thing anyone actually says in my experience. I went through every possible variation of KEEP___ before landing on that because I finally figured out OPTS and TOKES independently. Probably just me but those three clues (in combo with 20A being extremely non-obvious) weren't doing anything for me today. While I certainly did not find this puzzle breezy, as some others have suggested, I am learning to just stick with the trouble spots, start a section over, and walk away periodically. Eventually it clears up as it did today. And the feeling of triumph is all the better when it follows a prolonged struggle.
Scott, Experiences differ (no surprise). I've heard and said "KEEPTO the plan" many times. [Stick with] crosswords and you'll continue to do well.
@Scott Yeah, I think "keep to the plan" sounds pretty natural. That said, I had "keep at" for the longest time . As in "to keep at a task". And it screwed me up. I was unreasonably confident in that answer. "keep to" is actually a better fit for the clue.
Thanks folks. I wasn't hearing it in my head that way. It was more like keep at it, keep it up, keep on trucking, etc. I do see the intended meaning now.
So far this week I've been completing puzzles faster every day - filling today's grid took 2 minutes less than yesterday's and 3 minutes less than Monday's. Last week my solve times were all over the place, too. Either I'm special or the editing in recent weeks has been a bit... Eccentric?
@Andrzej Opposite for me; today +40 seconds over yesterday, Tuesday 3+ minutes over Monday
@Andrzej for me, yesterday and today were within a second of each other, and a minute longer than Monday. My averages are 3 Monday-Tuesday and 5 Tuesday-Wednesday. So yeah, a bit odd so far this week.
Very nice puzzle, much enjoyed! Thanks and congratulations to Landon Horton! Super theme, too. Often you can just ignore the theme and notice it after finishing, but today's grabbed my attention and took a good while to reveal itself. Exactly as it should be. 👏
An excellent theme for an excellent debut! I wanted 30D to be cheese curds. My recommendation: a Surly Furious IPA and cheese curds at the Nook in Saint Paul. You can get a Juicy Lucy there, but their patty melt is my favorite.
My favorite Spoonerism of all time comes to us courtesy of my ex-wife, when we were shopping for hardwood flooring at...wait for it...Liquid Lumberdators.
Wow! Huge respect for sticking to constructing. Having the perseverance pay off with a smooth puzzle like this that gets published is a win, but another real accomplishment is finding something as challenging as crossword construction that you enjoy.
One of these days, the answer will be BROMO-Seltzer, and only solvers from Baltimore will get it. (They stopped making it in 1975, when bromides were determined to be toxic.) You can see the Bromo-Seltzer Tower from Oriole Park, with the brand name emblazoned on its clock faces.
@Grant - Or old people, like me, who remember it. Apparently the brand Bromo-Seltzer® is still made, but the formulation is different, and I can't recall seeing it in many years. The NIH has an information page on it, including views of the current packaging. You can see it here: <a href="https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/fda/fdaDrugXsl.cfm?setid=8ff88ee1-e33e-4051-992f-24e2720c48ce" target="_blank">https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/fda/fdaDrugXsl.cfm?setid=8ff88ee1-e33e-4051-992f-24e2720c48ce</a>
@Grant Plenty of people not from Baltimore who are of a certain age would know BROMO.
Grant, I know BROMO, but I didn't see the tower watching an Orioles game; they were still at Memorial Stadium.
@Grant Do "bros" use it? Or "bruhs", too?
Clever and enjoyable, but pretty easy for a Wednesday.
@Wendy Laubach Surprisingly easy for a Wednesday. I didn't really get stuck on anything today, usually at least a few words stump me temporarily.
@Wendy Laubach I think the Tuesday and Wednesday puzzles got switched. I needed no cheats for the "Wednesday", but I did for the "Tuesday". Very fun, just the same.
@Wendy Laubach Hmm. I found it a bit more challenging than most Wednesdays, probably because BREAK THE ICE took me much longer to get than in should have.
Congratulations on your debut, Landon. I enjoyed the theme, and it was useful in getting some answers that I may have not have gotten otherwise. Time was 28% less than average.
This was fun. I can imagine the elation upon receipt of the acceptance letter! I liked the theme. Maybe some constructor could get their head around this collection of words with common endings and come up with a puzzle: Patroon Dragoon Lagoon Maroon Festoon Cartoon Quadroon Spittoon
@William Schrader these were complaining that they were left out: Macaroon Balloon I'm sure there are a lot more... but you get my point. I'll let the constructors do the rest...
Absolutely tickled by this puzzle, and earned my best time for a Wednesday! Congrats on the debut, Landon!