How cool that the circled letters spell 'REBUSES'.
@Paul I missed that. But there are no rebuses in this puzzle? It took me a very long time to solve this puzzle (1:24:16).
Meh. Again, a puzzle that's too clever by half. And some of the clues are very poor. An earclip does not help with Bluetooth (it may help with a headset), and a slat is not part of a futon (though it might be part of a futon frame). Not enjoyable.
@S Godwin. As I remarked earlier, metonymy
@S Godwin There are two kinds of EARCLIPs. One is a piece of jewelry. The other is a peripheral that is similar to an earbud, but it's worn like the first kind of EARCLIP. This second kind of EARCLIP doesn't have to be part of a headset; in fact, two of them as a set constitute all you need to get your music via Bluetooth from your device. As for SLATs and futons, you're thinking of the original Japanese meaning of a futon. As explained by others elsewhere, in the US, "futon" is used to mean the entire piece of furniture, and has been for decades. Americans generally do not buy the mattress portion separately to sleep over tatami mats. The mattress and the frame are considered one item of furniture. But I think you knew that. Words change meaning when migrating from one language to another. Have a tamale or two for your entree tonight.
I was not fond of this theme. But that's ok, I don't have to love every puzzle I do.
That was fun! I totally enjoyed figuring out the theme, pictorially speaking. I most like the ones where the spelling of the entry differs from the spelling of the illustration. RODE rather than road, NIT rather than knit, PY rather than pie. So clever. Cute clue for ITALIC. PROPS, Rich, for spelling REBUSES with the circles. Great construction!
@Anita Oh wow, great pickup! I didn't even notice that. Eagle-eye Anita 😉
I solved it, but I didn’t enjoy it. Some really off clues (how does an ear clip help with Bluetooth?) and just felt like a chore.
Gust for GALE probably added 10 minutes to my solving time. I finally caught on to the trick with GIVE OFF/EMIT, but I still struggled to finish the NW corner. This was the most challenging Sunday puzzle in weeks, not so much because of the clue drawings but because of the "See __ Down" clues.
@Eric Hougland (raises hand for Gust))
I had a good -- and long -- time doing this puzzle. You might have missed it in the flurry, but the EEO is no more. Donald got rid of it a couple days ago. First enacted as an executive order by Lyndon Johnson in 1965, the EEO mandated that employers could not discriminate based on gender, color, or any other biases, "without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." Congress made it an official act in 1972. It was often identified with "affirmative action," which made it a target for (mainly) white conservative politicians. In his statement about EEO, Donald said that because of it, American companies "have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences," and that these DEI practices "can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation."
@john ezra I just said something similar about EEO in the tome that was my comment. Sad times, I say, sad and scary times.
@john ezra "dangerous", "demeaning", "immoral" I know someone else who has those attributes. But how was President Musk...eh...Trump able to get rid of it if it was established by Congress? Not that it would matter. Congress will do exactly (and do only) what is demanded of them by their fu....uh...leader. (Emus are coming for me! Tell my kids I love them and my wife that I really, really liked her!)
@john ezra What's unfair about "merit based:
@john ezra B-b-b-baby, we just ain't seen n-n-n-nothing yet
@john ezra It has only been 5 days and already a wrecking ball has been bashed over the country. What's next? I shudder to think.
@john ezra It's an act so it still exists but basically isn't going to be enforceable anymore bc of what he's done at the federal level
@john ezra I hope we will get the EEO back but I’ve already been waiting for Citizen’s United to be overturned, as well as Shelby County vs. Alabama.
Didn't like that in some of the themed clues the illustration was spelled correctly (e.g. CAPE, TRAY) while in others it was phonetic (e.g. NIT, PY). Wasn't a fan of the fill either (ARDENCY, really?). Sunday continues to be the worst puzzle of the week.
@Hugh TRAY isn't "spelled correctly". Without the B, you're left with ETRAY. Similarly, without the S, you're left with ECAPE. The new words just represent what the rebus clues represent, like in the old TV show, Concentration.
@Hugh I guess you’re not familiar with picture rebuses, because that’s how they work. The picture always represents a part of a word (or sometimes part of a phrase). The spelling doesn’t always match because it doesn’t need to. The phonetics are the important part.
@Hugh I agree! Tray and cape are what are pictured, but py and rode are phonetics. Some of these explanations make no sense. The word isn't "etray" because you take out the spelling of the letter B, "be." Yes, to construction such a puzzle was quite a task, but while I admire what went into it, it was not a whole lot of fun to solve. Just my opinion/experience.
Crossword Revolution Day 5: ANYTOWN USA ANYTOWN USA still believes in: Decency Honesty Equity The Constitution Democracy Right? * This is a Crosswords Saved the Day ™ production.
@Puzzlemucker I can see a whole range of CSD (Crosswords Saved the Day) products, including daily tear-sheet calendars, coffee mugs, mouse pads, bumper stickers... Thank you for this great project!
@Puzzlemucker But then again, too bad Anytown is imaginary.
@Puzzlemucker I'd love to think so, but sadly, looking over how the voting went in the oft-venerated Middle America, I'm afraid that Anytown USA, from behind its picket fence, has recently endorsed: Cruelty Lies upon lies Privilege Mob rule Oligarchy I am not without hope for the long term, but I'm going to need a lot of good puzzles along this long road....
Mark, This is what. Look under synonyms. <a href="https://merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ardency" target="_blank">https://merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ardency</a>
@Mark It’s not a word I’ve ever used…or seen/heard anyone else use, outside or a crossword. But is that a problem? With all but the easiest crossword puzzles, there are usually at least a couple answers that you’d never be able to get without help from crosses. These could be trivia you don’t happen to know, a word that’s not in your vocabulary, or some wordplay that just doesn’t click (and in all of the above cases, the entry could be deliberately hard/obscure, in which case the constructor expects most solvers to have to rely on crosses, or simply not on your personal wavelength). Incidentally, I’d say that “ardency” occupies a slightly different genre of clueing than just “super obscure vocab” — it’s one where the general flavor of the answer is quickly available (ie “ardor” is strongly associated with “passion”), but the exact form of the answer is unfamiliar, such that most solvers will have to make their way there gradually, and eventually concluding, “well, I guess ardency must be a word”.
I still haven't finished the puzzle. Homophones are the bane of a non-native-speaker crossword solver like me. I can pronounce English just fine, most of the time, but getting homophones does not come easily to me (maybe because Polish has so much less of them than English I'm simply not accustomed to dealing with them). So I sort of get the theme but I can't figure out all of the entries. It's not a nice feeling. Also, the puzzle is overflowing with proper nouns and trivia, making the fill very frustrating for me. Seeing how much I'd have to look up, I just gave up and started revealing answers. So far during today's solve I've done that two dozen times, if not more. This may well be a great puzzle for its intended audience, but personally I am not enjoying it. I'm contemplating simply revealing the whole thing.
Ok, I managed to get all the themed entries in the end. I can appreciate the effort that went into constructing the grid even if I did not enjoy it myself. KNURL 🤣. That looks so random! I checked what it's called in Polish. There are very few Polish words I don't know but I've never heard of "radełkowanie".
Not really enjoyable for me. The inconsistency of the rebus pictures being the full word in some entries (cane, cape) versus not in other entries (py, mit) added a layer that didn't contribute anything but confusion. Also, ASU isn't the largest campus by enrollment, according to the Dept of Ed (which actually has the numbers). How is enrollment defined this clue, anyway? Too much of a stretch, like some other clues in this puzzle.
@RM I had OSU for the longest while, too. I thought that was a gimme, but maybe numbers have changed recently. That was one of the things that kept me from making progress in that entire corner (plus the fact that the crossing INCAS wasn't a brand name, which is what I was expecting there).
@RM I, too, was really annoyed by the inconsistency of the rebus pictures. For that reason, as well as disliking picture rebuses in general, made this a truly unenjoyable Sunday puzzle.
@RM The 8D clue is [Largest public sch. in the U.S. , by enrollment]. It does not use the word “campus”. I see plenty of data to suggest that ASU enrollment across all its Maricopa County campuses exceeds that of all the campuses of OSU. Which school are you thinking of?
Thank you, Mr. Proulx, for this super engaging puzzle, and Mr. Savage, for the smart doodles. I loved the idea of the across clue being non-existent and depending on the down entry. Puzzles within puzzles make me happy to no end. The rest of the puzzle was challenging, but also perked me up – for instance, I could hardly wait to find out who were the pioneers of freeze-drying food. It was also only today that I learned about NO BRA DAY. I'm a woman; shame on me for not knowing about that. Live and learn. On another note, I just want to add that I was very moved by Caitlin's choice of a picture today. Seeing these elderly women with their grey and white manes, being honored for their service in WW II, tugged at my heartstrings and deeply touched me in a good way. Thank you, Caitlin, and thank you again, Mr. Proulx. You've both put a smile on my face.
@sotto voce Every day is that for me now that I'm retired. Well, except for church on Sunday morning.
@sotto voce I had NOBlemAY for a long time, which totally messed up that section of the puzzle. I know May is breast cancer awareness month. I've had it, my grandmother, my father, my paternal aunt died of it. My sisters have both had it, and my niece in her 40's. My daughter, age 41, has started doing mammograms. BUT, we don't have the gene -- at least not the one they know about.
Can you please present Sunday puzzles that aren't so gimmicky, please?
@HC Tabak i thought this puzzle was too clever by at least half. and some of the answers apart from the theme were too abstruse. Not a fan
@HC Tabak I disagree. I found the gimmick entertaining. It took me a while but once I figured it out it helped me complete the puzzle with no look ups and 12 minutes faster than my average time. Keep up the good work.
@HC Tabak why? Plenty of people seem to enjoy them, me included.
Even though I had a tough time with the theme, any puzzle with Isabella ROSSELLINI, Helen MIRREN, ELENA Kagan and ROSIE the Rivetor is okay by me.
I generally dislike gimmick puzzles, especially on Sunday. This one was a lot of work (and not much fun).
@R.J. Smith I agree. There wasn't anything in particular I didn't like about it, but coming up with answers felt like pulling teeth. But 8D reminded me of a funny line from The Simpsons... somehow everyone dies, and since Homer is apparently going to heaven, Flanders says going to heaven must be easier than getting into Arizona State.
@R.J. Smith Disagree. I thought this was a lot of fun.
The NYT blesses us with 365 crossword puzzles a year (not counting the minis). It makes me wonder why people complain in the Comments section when they don't like one of them. If you're disappointed with the occasional puzzle, I suggest you just wait until tomorrow, or seek out an additional crossword source.
@Lorel I don't know for sure but maybe the puzzle editors check the forum to see how a puzzle went over. Negative feedback could be important.
Seeing EEO in the crossword made me sad. It's heartbreaking to watch the US devolve from my little corner of London. It's enough to make one "stress-eat" (see what I did there). It took me eons to figure out how the picture clues fitted in with the rest of the puzzle but once did, I was pretty impressed by the creativity. I did find it tough and had to lookup four or five answers. I'm sure trying to solve it at 2am on Sunday morning straight after completing that killer Saturday puzzle was a bad idea but the naticks didn't help either: - ELENA and ALAINA - MEGAN with MIRREN (these I knew as I'm a big fan of both) - ROSSELLINI with GILDA. I knew the former but the latter also crossed with IDEM (which I'd forgotten as I haven't read a research paper in yonks) and ADOUT (which was also a bust as I don't watch tennis). TIL: - OSH Kosh B'Gosh is an actual store. I've heard it said many time but I thought it was just a random cobbling of non-words that sounded funny. - ARDENCY is a word. I kept trying to stretch ARDOR out. Even the British spelling didn't fit! 🤦🏾♂️ - AGESPECS are not a thing 🤓 - TIL stands for things I learned 😆 Special mention to 18A. Lifted one's spirits for MADEATOAST was inspired 👏🏾 I hadn't heard of the Weird Al parody of Wiz Khalifa's Black and Yellow (White & NERDY) but I do love the Funny or Die version called Black and Jewish which hilariously laments the plight of the forgotten subsection of the Jewish population... the Black Jewish. Check it out.
@Sebastian Nice post but as another non-U.S. resident I'll politely disagree with your complaint about naticks. I certainly didn't know anything about Alaina Urquhart but, with all the attention the mostly execrable U.S. Supreme Court has received in recent years, we've all heard of Elena Kagan. one of the few members of that august institution who is actually compos mentis. As for Gilda Radner, I don't think she's that obscure these days, but that's from my 70-year-old perspective. Megan and Mirren? Both are so well known there's no natick there.
@Sebastian The Weird Al song is actually a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin' Dirty". As usual, I prefer the Weird Al version!
@Sebastian WOW, just wow. If you are so concerned about the "devolution", of this republic, try to remember WWII. Or are you still sore over the Revolutionary War? You can keep your opinions about my country where you are.
@Sebastian Your post was a complete pleasure to read. Thank you for it! AGESpecs has me smiling from ear to ear. It reminded me of being in my thirties when I was forewarned by my eye doctor that I would need readers when I reached 40 because, well, everybody does. I've worn contact lenses for myopia since I was 14. I'm 61 now - and the only time I need readers are when my contacts are in. If I take them out, I can read just fine (as long as there's enough light, I'll admit.) Those AGESpecs the doctor said I would need - because *everyone* does at exactly 40 - still haven't materialized. So, yeah, AGESpecs have plastered quite the smug smile on my face, directed at my eye doctor as if he were standing in front of me.
@Sebastian FYI, TIL = today I learned : )
@Sebastian It sure made me sad too! 😭 But I agree about 18A! That was really good!
CLEAR AS MUD just doesn’t feel like an apt definition for the word ARCANE, although I can’t necessarily say it’s completely wrong
@Peter I agree. ARCANE means known by a few, not necessarily unclear. Esoteric would be a better definition.
Peter, Crossword clues and answers -- or in this case related answers -- are supposed to be hints, and are quite often not definitions (or complete definitions). Since, as you note, the pairing is not completely wrong, it's just fine here. (Not every ESCAPE is a SIDESTEP, etc., etc.)
@Peter Well, I smiled a little when I solved that one because the clue described my experience of the puzzle to a T.
Put me in the "loved it" column for this Sunday workout. It took me a good while to catch onto the theme. I needed a critical mass of non-theme crosses to get a toehold. All the way down to "give off "/"emit" the aha moment finally hit. After that, it was a delight to sound out the remaining themes. Well done.
@JBW I was exactly same though my Eureka moment was WORKGROUP/ U-(k)NIT. Ok, so not exaaaactly the same then 🤪
You know, I am relatively new to solving, so maybe I’m missing something here. It seems from reading these comments for several weeks that whenever a solver does’t get the theme, or there were several clues that were “obscure” from the solver’s perspective, that is somehow the creator’s fault? Someone tell me if I should continue to enjoy learning new information, or if the true spirit of crossword puzzles is that I should just become a curmudgeon and blame the creator every time it takes me longer than my average to solve the puzzle.
@Danny Dont take the anecdotal whiners too seriously....Its like restaurant reviews...The happy people tend to not comment...So goes the board for the puzzle...Unhappy people are likely to be loudest.
@Danny Older solver here, you're not alone. I've stopped caring about solve time and just try to appreciate the clever themes and fun words I can gleam from each puzzle.
@Danny , I'm in my 6th year here and still learning. The behavior you describe is why I rarely visit the comments anymore.
Danny, One thing I know you should do is post more!
@Danny Older solver here, you're not alone. I've stopped caring about solve time, and now I just try to appreciate the clever themes and obscure words of each puzzle.
@Danny We need more like you. There are plenty, but sometimes, the complaints you describe get too tiresome and the people who aren't like that stop visiting... the balance can seem off sometimes but there are lots of us who just want to discuss and appreciate the puzzles—and when there are nits, they are constructive and respectful, not abusive to constructors, editors, etc. No one expects everyone to love every puzzle but it's possible to express that without the curmudgeonly behavior you describe. :-)
@Danny Most of us walk a very fine line. There are times that, from my imperfect perspective, a clue is inherently weak, or a theme has problems, or a cross seems almost designed to cause a failure to solve. I think most of us feel that way from time to time. And occasionally some very nasty exchanges result. But...and this is a big but (hehe)...most of us realize that our perspective is far from the only perspective. Most of us try to focus on what we liked about a puzzle and not spend too much time challenging what we don't like. But there's always something not to like. Because there is no perfection in this sphere.
@Danny I also think your perspective is one most of us share. These puzzles on the whole are very high quality, with a great mix of wordplay, clever cluing, and lots of great windows into worlds of knowledge … and after a while you start to recognize the voices that appreciate them.
@Danny For me, the whole point is to encounter and tackle a challenge. The folks who complain about not getting something, to me, are just not getting the point. If you want an obvious easy to solve puzzle you can pick yourself up a large print jumbo book o’ crosswords for a buck ninety nine at the train station.
A capital-P Puzzle for me, Stymie City, where I had to shift my brain into a gear that included patience, faith, and a lot of sweat. I like that gear. I like this kind of work, where I have to up my game – if it’s fair. And, for me, it turned out to be. Despite the hitches that befell me – a host of no-knows, ultra-thorny clues, and a tough-to-unravel theme that took up a lot of squares – realizations kept popping out, with an “Oho!” here, an “Oh yeah!” there, and, from time to time, a “Bingo!”. In the end, very satisfying. This is Rich’s ninth Times puzzle, with eight of them being themed. I bring this up because I have loved every one of his themes, pulsing with originality. Today’s is his most complicated, where clues and answers intersect in the grid, where pictures are involved, and where the circled letters spell something (Hi,@Nancy J!). And where the horizontal elements of the theme pairs are symmetrical! Wow! Very happy to see you again, Rich, after you’ve been away for three years. I eagerly await your next, and thank you for a very worthwhile outing!
Yesterday, I spent *hours* constructing. Which (CC style) means Pen and notepad, scratching out theme ideas… working on one for hours and then fighting the urge to rip it into shreds… Finally feeling sure enough about one to- move to my computer, and *attempt* to assemble a grid that will be the vessel to carry the theme in a way that’s actually fun to solve. It ain’t easy (for me). So, noting the theme this morning, and the three (four?)-pronged aspect of it makes my head spin. It’s beautiful and complicated and clever and so very, very impressive. Mr Proulx, you’re either working with a mega-brain, or you’re using witchcraft or magic beans or something. Either way, fantastic, brilliant construction.
Holy moly, this must have been tough to construct. Putting the clue and the answer in the grid, having them cross and managing to have the circled letter spell out REBUSES? Yikes! Wonderful job, Rich. This was one of my slower Sunday solves, but I enjoyed every minute. I always enjoy a novel trick, and this one was very well done.
@Nancy J. I agree, quite a feat of construction. But unlike you, I did not enjoy it. I also must not understand the definition of rebus, because I thought it was when more than one letter is entered into a box. Ok, I'll google it.
A rebus puzzle that is not a rebus puzzle! Will everyone love it or will everyone hate it? Or will people just be cross about the words? It's Sunday; anything can happen. I thought it was cute. Easy but cute. Hope you still have a day job, Rich, and that's a serious comment, not a knock on your construction.
@Barry Ancona Stop making me look bad, Barry. It took me a long time to get through it and most of that time was spent trying to figure out the rebusness of it all. In hindsight, you're right - it wasn't difficult per se. As I wrote in my epic saga hidden amongst the other comments, it didn't help that I went straight from yesterday's to today's and in the middle of the night as well. Sebastian's a silly sausage, I hear you say 😀
Having read the puzzle's explanation at the top, I rolled my eyes and said to myself, "oh please." Then I did the first theme and I immediately fell in love with this construction. Thank you Rich Proulx for an enjoyable experience.
There are monsters under the bed and I need my daddy to tell me everything will be okay. "What a world! What a world!" The puzzle took a little longer and served as a distraction. I am sending some positive vibes to all who need to receive them, myself included.
@Min I'm very sorry dear, but the monsters are real and everything will not be ok.
Tried, but couldn't muster much ARDENCY for this puzzle. Solved it without help, but felt that the theme offered little bang for the buck. HITON, OSH, NOTSO, ADOUT, ADREP, SOFTA, TONOW, SONOF are pretty unfortunate. At least KNURL and ASYLA are *words*, and SLIER is a variant. I suppose SITREPS are things, though my first guess was SITREVS (which I took to mean "situation reviews"). Sorry, but not a fan of this one. The pictorial element didn't compensate for a middling theme and some awful fill. Hope others enjoyed this.
"I suppose SITREPS are things..." Xword Junkie, SITREPS are indeed things, and they are briefings in war rooms (and, in wars, outside of rooms too). Been there, done that.
@Xword Junkie ASYLA isn’t really a word in English. Doesn’t appear to be used ever. I got it but didn’t like it. The only use I could find for it online was as the title of a piece of music. It is defined as being the plural for the Latin word “asylum”. If it’s a non-English word it should be clued as such I think.
@Xword Junkie Bonus, just for you: the proper format of a SITREP is called SALUTE, an acronym which stands for; Size of enemy force Action of enemy force Location of enemy force Unit identification (if known) of enemy force Time of sighting Equipment observed So yes, that is a thing that I've done, but only over a radio, not in a war room.
The audiophiles I know call their setups many things, but never a STEREOSET.
@ImmodestyBlaise Kind of old fashioned, I agree. I'm old enough to remember when you had to choose between mono and stereo when you bought an LP. Likewise, you had to specify if your record player was stereo or not.
Took me a while to get it, but enjoyed the puzzle. One thing, though, appears to be an error, at least to me. A futon is a mattress. It does not have slats. A folding frame that can turn from a bed to a couch has slats. But that’s a frame, not a futon. Am I the only one that saw this as incorrect?
@Aaron Teasdale Whenever “futon” appears in a crossword, I have to think about whether it’s asking about an actual futon that you’d find in Japan or if it’s instead asking about what is labeled a “futon” in English-speaking countries. A Japanese futon consists of cloth padding (not really a full mattress, as you only use them on tatami floors that are already comfortable to lie on) on the bottom and another cloth covering that’s like a duvet or blanket. Because a Japanese futon would be uncomfortable to use in the vast majority of homes in North America, I think what they sell usually does include a minimalist frame with slats of some sort, plus a mattress that is bulkier than the bottom part of a Japanese futon set but lighter than a traditional mattress.
@Aaron Teasdale Nah, if you’re buying a futon, you’re buying the whole unit, slats and all. If someone says they’re sleeping on a futon, they don’t mean just a mattress on the floor. The clue may be technically incorrect (and I just learned something, so thanks!) but in terms of common parlance I think it’s perfectly fine.
@Aaron Teasdale I once had a futon that didn't have any slats.
@Aaron Teasdale It depends whether you're using the original Japanese definition or the western adaptation. Online references incuding wikipedia refer to slats when discussing the western version. Since this is a US puzzle, I consider this a fair clue.
@Aaron Teasdale I'm with you on this one. I filled it in easily, but assumed I'd find discussion here. I still think of the furniture as a futon and a frame. Certainly the meaning of the word is different here in the US--in many cases it seems to serve as a synonym for sleep- or convertible sofa; but if you google futon images you will see an awful lot of furniture without slats (and a bunch with).
@Aaron Teasdale I'll just reply to myself here. Thanks for the comments. I see it means different things to Americans in recent years. I grew up sleeping on futons. On the floor. It would have never occurred to me that "futon" would also refer to the couch/bed frame. I find that odd, and I generally dislike "definition creep" that reduces the specificity of words, but I do appreciate knowing what the word means to others.
This puzzle hearkens back to the very crunchy, Naticky, unforgiving, frankly mean puzzles of the naughts and nineties and before. Given how easy crosswords are these days, this puzzle was a refreshing slap in the face. Puzzles are supposed to be challenging. I feel so sorry for those of you focused on your solve time and streak more than actually, you know, the challenge in front of you.
I like a challenge. I like a puzzle. I’m growing quite fond of a rebus. So this grid should be a perfect Sunday for me, yet, not so much. Some clues, like 18A were a joy to fill when I finally got it. ‘Ah, that kind of spirit!’ Others, meh. How do you connect 22A with 19D? It just doesn’t work for me. As for 29D. What I saw was a rode through hills. How does that work out to EATAWAY/ERODE? I confess myself flummoxed. A lot of the fill was interesting and crunchy, but the gimmick was too, well, gimmicky for my taste. As always I continue to be in awe of the constructors skill. Hats off to all of you who enjoyed it. I tried to go for a dog walk part way through this, only to find our track blocked by a fallen tree AND a flood. Do you think Mother Nature is an NYT crossword aficionado who objects to me leaving the grid part filled? I literally can’t get out til DH takes a chainsaw to the tree.
@Helen Wright Edit: Road not rode. Emus, get off my keyboard.
@Helen Wright I thought of you the other night when I threw a Harry Potter trivia pursuit game night at my place. It was really fun! I really wanted to recreate a lot of the dishes that they ate in the books, I even have a Harry Potter cookbook, but I just couldn't pull that all off. So it was taco bar night and Harry Potter. I did manage to find a lot of Harry Potter candies though, so that was a nice addition. ⚡⚡
When the first combination of no-help/no-help appeared, my heart sank. When the first combination got solved, big smile and I settled in for some clever cluing. The homophones seemed a bit unfair, but all in all, once the rode-trip got underway things started to move. While I didn't feel much ARDENCY (???) for this one, it was worth the tsuris and it did get done.
@dutchiris I also ardently questioned ardency.
Finished the puzzle, taking almost 5 minutes longer than my average (according to the stats when the jingle played). I didn’t love or hate it .. just meh. A couple of the pictured clues didn’t make sense. It felt like a slog towards the end. But it’s done.
@ctyankeeindc I took 55 minutes longer. Really not my puzzle.:-)
ctyankeeindc, Which pictured clues did not make sense to you? How are things in King Donald's court?
@Barry Ancona The clues that didn’t make sense: 29A/D: I kept trying to put ROAD in the clue 42A/46D: was the last one for me, after finally realizing the last letter for BACKSTA*. I needed Wordplay hints to fully understand the picture clues overall. As for Trump: like the 1963 movie, it’s a MAD MAD MAD WORLD. Or an early Tears for Fears song.
Voting is now open for the final round of the 2024 Puzzle of the Year awards, a/k/a the Griddies. You can find the ballot at <a href="https://form.jotform.com/250186385916162" target="_blank">https://form.jotform.com/250186385916162</a>. Voting ends at 11:59 PM, Friday, January 31. We plan to announce the winners next Sunday, February 2. Again, puzzles are divided into four categories: Early Week (Monday–Wednesday), Thursday, Themeless (Friday and Saturday) and Sunday. There are five finalists in each category and you may vote for one puzzle in each category. Thanks again to everyone who nominated a puzzle. And thanks also to Cat Lady Margaret and John Ezra for their assistance in helping me make sure the ballots reflect the Wordplay community’s preferences.
Eric, et al, Voted. And thanks for the great job.
@Eric Hougland My votes are in. Very tough –they're all great. Very grateful to you, John E and CLM for the amazing work. Bravo!
@Eric Hougland Great work, Eric! -- and for those thanking me and CLM, we did some announcing, but 99.44% of the formatting and puzzle descriptions, figuring out how to use the balloting software, making sure all nominations were recorded was Eric, and how he managed to do that and take a break to do some skiing (and whatever else he does) is truly amazing. It was a pleasure working with such an organized and energetic guy. And the response from voters has been great, much more than I thought. Keep it up and vote for the POY, people! Bravo to Eric -- and thank you to all who participated.
@Eric Hougland Voted! That was tough but a fun trip down memory lane. Sadly, there were some I couldn't vote for as I only started crosswording at the start of May. Good luck to all the contenders and well done on being nominated 👏🏾
@Eric Hougland Voted! Thanks for organizing. Can’t wait to read about the winners.
@Eric Hougland -- A huge thank you especially, Eric, who JE says did the great majority of the grunt work, plus great appreciation to @John Ezra and @Cat Lady Margaret for the work they did. This was remarkably well organized, professional and entertaining at the same time. Bravissimo!!!
@Eric Hougland Voted early but not often! Thursday was especially tough for me to choose! Thanks for all your work on this!! ☺️
Well, this was a worthy workout for a weekend evening with nothing happening. It would have been very frustrating if someone was waiting for me to finish to go out to dinner! I will say that I finished much slower (half again my Sunday average) with this one, and I'm trying to decide how much of this was circumstances, and how much it was the puzzle itself. The only circumstance that could have been a factor was that I had taken a nap just before puzzle time and apparently slept very deeply, as I woke up kind of groggy. But I still had 15 minutes to wake up before starting, so I think that was only a slight factor. I think it was mostly the puzzle. This is a trick I've never seen before; of course, we've occasionally had picture rebuses before, but never quite this way. Not knowing how the trick worked made two crossing answers opaque, muddling whole areas until the gimmick is figured out. I also had non-theme slowdowns, especially in the NW, where it was all CLEAR AS MUD. One thing holding me up was INCAS. I couldn'f figure out how to make BIRDSEYE fit, and after that, figured it had to be another brand. As a Lexington Avenue resident once said, "Who knew?" I've said that I now solve with a sense of "when, not if" I'll finish, but this puzzle made me wonder if I would need to take a break, or if it would break me. In the end, it got done, and I was glad I was careful to avoid typos, because not hearing the music would have been devastating!
@Steve L I could have written a very similar post when it came to the challenge/time of the puzzle...or the NW corner and the Incas...or the "when not if" challenge. I wasnt a big fan of the puzzle...although i dont tend to get angry at a puzzle...just solve and move on to the next day. For all of the originality of the puzzle it felt clumsy...I guess since the picture was more of a homophone than a concrete useful answer.
"... I'm trying to decide how much of this was circumstances, and how much it was the puzzle itself." Steve, YMMV, but based on my solve, I'd say your issue was 95% circumstances and 5% puzzle.
@Steve L I like the puzzle today. Both yesterday and today were good workouts. I didn't try BIRDSEYE in the NW but did start with INUIT. One would think they'd have freeze dried something! Plus I already had the I and the T would fit PST if I could figure out another use for th acronym.
@Steve L So strange to see you write that. I thought the puzzle was very much on the easy side of things. Certainly FAR less difficult than yesterday, and the easiest Sunday in a while. Agreed that it had to be the nap. :) ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@Steve L it *felt* more difficult than usual to me. But when I finished, I found my time was less than 80% of my average. So 🤷🏻♂️. I thought it was a fun challenge. 😊
@Steve L Steve, that fear of typos is REAL! Especially on a mobile device and if you've got stubbly thumbs like me. Then you have to go through each clue one by one looking for the error and midway through, you wonder if you zoned out so you go back to the beginning. Kill. Me. Now. I had that yesterday though it turned out they weren't typos, just wrong answers! 🤣 Wait, what? Something you wrote just sunk in - THERE'S MUSIC AT THE END? 😮😵💫🤯
@Steve L I'm with you on this one. only about five minutes longer than my Sunday avg, but it felt like it took a long time to start falling into place. In general I don't love clues which reference other clues, and of course that was integral to the theme here. My brain doesn't work that way.
@Steve L My solve was much like yours. I share your “when, not if” level of experience. But today was the day I would *finally* match my old streak (1283), and I was starting to panic. I was preparing myself to accept that I would spend the whole day on it if it came to that. Fixing Gust finally broke it open. Tomorrow I’ll have a new best! Awesome workout!
I liked the theme. The fill required to support the theme was far too esoteric.
Picture rebuses are my favorite rebuses. When I first saw the cane, I knew I was in for a treat. I think what I like most about this type of rebus/crossword mashup is the combination of the written and the aural. Each picture represents a sound, which becomes a syllable that completes a word that must fit the squares. Layers and layers of puzzle, so fun! More, please.
Wow, so clever, and so satisfying when I finally got it. I started it last night and got nowhere fast but it all came together this morning. My first one was ARCANE/CLEAR AS MUD, which I got because I had the CLEA and the UD. I stared at the freeze-drying pioneers and "just like that" for a long time before I noticed the "that" was italicized; adding ITALIC gave me CLEAxAxUD which couldn't be anything else. Once I understood how it worked, the gimmick actually helped me solve the rest of the puzzle. There were an awful lot of things I didn't know in here (KNURL, for instance, and INCA freeze-drying) but in the end I solved the whole thing without a single google.
Figuring out homophones suggested by overly simplified drawings was annoying enough, worse when they weren’t even real words. This felt like a puzzle on a kids’ menu at space camp!
@A B Church When you say they weren't even real words, I suspect you don't quite completely understand the trick.
@Steve L I understood the trick just fine, solved the puzzle no problem—it just didn’t strike me as appropriate for an NYTimes crosswords.
It took me awhile to unpack the theme on this one. CLEARASMUD as the match for ARCANE seemed like a bit of a stretch. I struggled to come up with EATAWAY/ERODE partly because I couldn’t come with RIA or AIDE for number two (my mind went in a couple of different directions on that one), and that little box where those answers resided offered relatively few crosses. Eventually the light bulb went on. The other theme pairs made sense and were relatively easy to suss out.
This was not nearly as easy as the usual Sunday puzzles, and I'm not even referring to the gimmick clues. The answers to the regular clues just didn't seem as clear-cut as usual.
Hated the 40 minutes that I did attempt to slog through it and finally just pressed the reveal puzzle button. I prefer my Sundays to be well-clued without too much weird gimmicry.
I was delighted with the theme; innovative, fresh and tricky, without a dout! I'm embarrassed by how long it took me to see the cape. At first I thought it looked like fins, i.e. flippers. Or possibly a broom and dustpan. This could have been a Thursday if the constructor had trimmed the number of themers so the circled letters would spell out REBI.
It was fun to suss out the picture clue the paired answer. Much of the fill was really, really tough. The northwest corner and the entire southeast took a loooong time.
There were some brutal crosses in there: ALAINA with KIR. I also struggled with 5A cross with 8D. I could have sworn that Ohio State U was the largest school in the country.. But it's ARIZONA state? Could have knocked me over with a feather. Really hard for me. I don't judge a puzzles fairness, because it seems to be impossible to define.
@Francis I think it's because ASU has a huge online presence.
Maddeningly one square away from a gold star. I had ARDENCE, which seems to me of similar legitimacy to the actual answer. I just figured NOSILE must be some new-to-me word along the lines of puerile or sterile. Dagnabbit! This one gave a good fight. The theme pulled out a lot of line before I was able to reel it in. ESCAPE/SIDESTEP was the one I figured out from the crossers and the others were not too difficult once I got the pattern. This felt like a good level of difficulty for a Sunday although I'm sure some will disagree in both directions. Thanks team!
@Scott I was in the same boat with ARDENCe / NOSILe and had to come here to figure out what was going on with that crossing. The Y was the last square to fall! Otherwise I too enjoyed the challenge the puzzle gave me. Nice Sunday workout!
@Scott Same ! Still stuck there, in fact.
Also, if anyone uses the word ARDENCY in my presence, I shall look upon them with PASSIONate disdain. That includes you, emus.
@Steve I wish you the joy of acquaintances with limited vocabulary
A clever one. Hey, rebuses that actually are rebuses! Wonderful! It took some "Concentration" to figure this one out. I had trouble in the SE: never heard of MOORE, the phrase STEALS UPON is a bit quaint, I have an aversion to the (over)use of ly words such as RUDELY, and for some weird reason I had "string" on the brain instead of THREAD! I finally got through it when I thought of aye MATEY! What did the pirate say on his 80th birthday? Aye-matey!
@Mark I think the phrase is STEALS UP ON, which is a little less quaint.
@Mark Gordon MOORE was one of the few gimme's in this puzzle. But I'm a software engineer and my husband is an electrical engineer and we live in Silicon Valley just a few blocks from where Gordon Moore and friends started their work. So, my wheelhouse for sure!
Futons do not have slats. They are cushions meant to be rolled up, their components are stuffing and a fabric bag to contain the stuffing. You can put a futon on a frame with slats but that is a frame not a futon. It's like saying a mattress has slats, it's wrong. End Rant
Chris, Noted here repeatedly by others: In Japan, a futon is the cushion; in U.S. usage, "futon" includes the frame.
@Chris With you all the way. I couldn't decide if the only futon I've ever had had a SLoT, a SLiT, or a SLaT. (I managed to exclude SLuT. Well, mine didn't have any of those, so I was left to wonder what other futons had that mine didn't.