My vote is for very enjoyable and quite the challenge. I was way over my recent Saturday times, More about that below... There were several times when after several minutes of my lasar-like focus, nothing would come up to resolve a region with an embarrassing number of blank squares. Then I'd widen my vision, and see that I had three other regions just like that. So I was fully prepared for a total flame out. But, gradually things came to me, as these seem to do. And sometimes things leave us. My rascally little Schipperke mix "puppy" died today. She was almost 16. I'm not doing this for sympathy. I just want to put a little message out in the digital world that will likely be there for a long, long time: "Holly, I loved you. You were a great little girl and I'll miss you every day."
@Francis I'm so sorry about Holly 😢. Dogs make our lives better but leave such a void when they're gone... I have no idea what to say to make you feel better but please know my thoughts are with you. Now I'll go hug old Jorge the lab.
@Francis Okay, you said you're not doing this for sympathy... I do respect that, but I'm still incredibly sorry for your loss. I have no doubt that Holly was amazing!! And that she felt very lucky to have you!! Sending big cyber hugs!!
@Francis I’m so sorry about Holly. I hope she’s having quite the romp over the rainbow bridge. That’s how I picture my furry angels. The grief is hard to explain to a non animal person.
@Francis “Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really.” ~ Agnes Sligh Turnbull Sending you & Holly love.
@Francis - I'm so sorry to hear this. One of my pups, about 14 years old, died in October. It was difficult and I blamed myself quite a bit for her suffering at the end. Don't do that to yourself! It is hard enough saying goodbye to our cherished companions. Her sister, supposedly from the same litter, is doing well, sleeping quietly right next to me, as she does every day when I am doing the puzzles and posting comments.
@Francis I love Schipperkes! Such mischievous little faces... I'm very sorry for your loss. 😟
When HUMAN CANNONBALL Zazel retired it took a long time to find a replacement of the same caliber. L
While it was nice to see my country's currency as a clue at 33D, I should point out that the word "Naira" is an invariant noun like "deer" or "sheep". As such, ₦1 is "One Naira" and ₦1000 is "One Thousand Naira". Other than that, a pretty fun solve.
@MrB This is why I love the comments section. I always learn something!
A chef's love language is quality thyme. (Or herbs of affirmation.)
@Mike I wanted to add something oreganol, but I'm having trouble cumin up with anything. Lack of caffeine is parsley to blame, no doubt. Maybe some of the other sages will be able to garnish this bouquet.
Faster than Friday (per my trusty if not precise water clock). And no, I don't solve online, I don't solve for speed, and I don't run a timer (so I can't post my times). Nice to see the puzzle play PEORIA. 7D was a quick shot through the grid. Some very clever entries and fun clues. Thank you, Rose.
Well, I guess that’s one reason you didn’t jump to respond to that quite odd post by The Iron Horse yesterday. One of the strangest I’ve seen in awhile…
@Barry Ancona You are a longtime solver and seem to be someone who enjoys a hard puzzle, so I'm curious if you know where more difficult puzzles can be found. I think have to go looking elsewhere. I've been solving the NYT crossword every day for 25 years. It used to be that I could at least rely on a few challenging puzzles each week, but not anymore. I have to guess that, since games subscriptions are now the biggest revenue generator for the NYT, they have chosen to lower the difficulty level to maintain subscribers, but it's a bummer for those of us who are puzzle masochists. They just rarely scratch the itch anymore. These days, when there is the rare puzzle that's challenging, the message board is on fire with complaints about "gimmicks" and such. To each their own, but I can't help being disappointed that Saturdays are often what I think of as Wednesday level difficulty. (Just to be clear, I thought this was a perfectly fun puzzle and I genuinely liked it, no insult at all to the constructor! It just wasn't hard.) Any recommendations for a puzzle sicko like me?
I spent president’s day visiting my 5 year old grandson, who is fascinated by snakes (especially venomous ones) and he regaled me with the trove of facts he’s learned about them. Result: GREENANACONDA was a gimme, which would not have been one last week. Paying attention to the things he’s interested in has helped me with the puzzle on several occasions now. I loved the new to me GALENTINESDAY. I also loved HUMANCANMONBALL, which put me in mind of the Richard Farina song, Hard Loving Loser, which has the line, “He’s the human cannonball comes in for a landing and wonders where the net disappeared.” Finally three cheers for the great ARTCARNEY!
@Marshall Walthew Woo hoo, another Richard Farina fan! Great song. GREEN ANACONDA/NAIRAS was my personal Natick. I started with great anaconda but that didn't work with belts, so I ended up with the nonsensical greet anaconda. My grandchildren are both girls. I learned about narwhals from the younger one, but I don't think either one was ever interested in snakes.
@Marshall Walthew Here’s to Megan’s Gen-Alpha again! 🐍
@Marshall Walthew Yes, glad to see the shout out to Art Carney, a longtime resident of my little town.
I loved this puzzle so much I was positively giddy filling it in. Things that brought a smile (asterisks so it can pass the pop emu quiz): OHDA** - I say that a lot IH**EYOU- when a friend or my daughter looks really pretty, I’m quick to tell them how much hate I have for them 😂 SNL — the Eddie Murphy reference. Love some Eddie! LOVELANGUAGES — If you are a fan of the hysterical Pop the Balloon on You Tube, perhaps you are also surprised by how many men know their love languages. <a href="https://youtu.be/Hok1bMInu9E?si=WWnQu-V-AQugmQVA" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/Hok1bMInu9E?si=WWnQu-V-AQugmQVA</a> GALENTINESDAY - thank you Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones for this holiday that far surpasses Festivus in popularity. We celebrate it whenever a friend is newly single. LOCS - The scream I let out when I saw the clue [Protective hairstyle, familiarly] and the answer! I’m in shock 😳. I wish to thank Rose Conlon for this challenging-yet-familiar puzzle, and the NYT team for publishing it. More, please! 🙏🏾
@Pani Korunova I was also surprised and delighted to see LOCS in the puzzle! Before I had the first letter filled in I assumed it would be afro, since that’s frequently the answer to a hairstyle clue. How excited I was to be wrong!
A nonstop rat-a-tat of my happy button: • That moment when I add a crossing letter to a long answer, then give it a re-look and still nothing comes, and maybe that happens a couple more times, but then suddenly I look at it and BAM I see the answer in a magnificent flash. That is a magical moment, and it happened often today. • The five question-mark clues, whose wordplay brought smiles, especially those for TARTLY and MATH TEAM. • That moment when I look over a completed grid and a wave of peace washes over me because it’s clean as a whistle. • Kapow from nine NYT debut answers, including all three in the stagger-stack plus HUMAN CANNONBALL. • Art Carney. My heart melts whenever I picture him in my mind, with his gumby body and sweet humility. • Serendipities: ANG sharing the grid with a backward LEE, and PLUNGE plunging. • Two lovely TILs – OGALLALA and “protective hairstyle”. What a pleasure! Thank you for a beast of a box today, Rose!
@Lewis Yes. That suddenly flash when a group of scattered letters with several gaps suddenly becomes a whole word. Magical is just the right word.
EGGING in this economy?
Only in the most exclusive residential areas...
@Jill from Brooklyn and only Tesla autos...
I think it’s great when a cultural gap stumps our crossword community. Lots of “Never heard of LOCS” comments - well, now you have and that’s awesome! They’re a beautiful, protective hairstyle for Black hair. I never heard of the grape variety “GAMAY” so hopefully we all leave these puzzles a little smarter and more worldly. I especially appreciate a variety of cultural references in the crossword, so including 16A was fun too. And 58A was hilarious once I got it. Good stuff.
@kt mo It wasn't the culture that was questionable, it was the spelling. Why would it be LOCS and not locks? And even locks would be questionable, because it just means hair. My friends who have them all call them dreads. In the immortal words of Bob Marley, "Natty Dreadlock in-a Babylon, Natty Dread."
My “utterance made in pairs” was initially I DO. Good, huh? Oh well. Always fun to be misled on 1A! Tonight I’m sending out a Galentine to a certain gal from my state. IYKYK.
@Cat Lady Margaret I was super curious, so I Googled to find out what you're referring to, and if I'm right, good for her!
@Cat Lady Margaret And she deserves it.
@Cat Lady Margaret I also had to Google. At first I thought you might be referring to another Mainer in politics, which had me a bit *concerned*. But I’ve learned my lesson.
Yesterday, in a down moment while volunteering in an elementary school, I picked up a book from a series on which animal would win a fight with another animal, specifically an alligator versus boa constrictor. The last page had a picture of a 600 pound GREENANACONDA, the largest snake. Volunteering is so worthwhile!
Regarding today's Constructor Notes: It seems to me that [Strip halfway down] would be a better clue for BELT(S) than for LAPDANCE. But perhaps I need more experience at clubs before I jump to any conclusions.
Today marks my second solved saturday and my first solving seven SPREE. And it took me seven years. How fitting!
@Anna Congratulations! I'm certain you'll experience many more puzzle victories going forward!! :-)
OMG I am in love 😍! I loved this puzzle so much I was positively giddy filling it in. This has simultaneously been the best and worst Black History Month in a long while. As I completed today’s puzzle, I became convinced that the constructor is a Black American woman, like me. If that’s true, it’ll be the icing on the cake of this very eventful February. Things that brought a smile: OHDAMN - I say that a lot IHATEYOU - when a friend or my daughter looks really pretty, I’m quick to tell them how much hate I have for them 😂 SNL — the Eddie Murphy reference. Love some Eddie! LOVELANGUAGES — If you are a fan of the hysterical Pop the Balloon on You Tube, perhaps you are also surprised by how many men know their love languages. <a href="https://youtu.be/Hok1bMInu9E?si=WWnQu-V-AQugmQVA" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/Hok1bMInu9E?si=WWnQu-V-AQugmQVA</a> GALENTINESDAY - did this start on Sex and the City? We celebrate it whenever a friend is newly single LOCS - The scream I let out when I saw the clue [Protective hairstyle, familiarly] and the answer! I’m in shock 😳. I wish to thank Rose Conlon for this challenging-yet-familiar puzzle, and the NYT team for publishing it. More, please! 🙏🏾
@Pani Korunova EMUs, why is this unedited version showing up now 🤨? If you look down, I already took all the “offensive” references out. 🤔
@Pani Korunova Galentine’s Day comes from Parks and Recreation :)
@Pani Korunova I loved the LOCS clue too. Brought back memories of doing personal care as a health aide in Atlanta. The personal conversations during those times were amaaaazing.
Well that was awfully hard. Unlike some other early posters I didn't find it fun or rewarding though. The unknown aquifer crossing the unknown hairstyle was a lot more Naticky (to me) than the easy Nikki one Steve L was pointing out yesterday. I didn't know gam instead of pod and wanted don instead of add. In the end the thing that held me back was the simplest - ear tat instead of ear tag. Ugg boots, duh. I had no problem at all remembering Harry and Tonto, even though I've never seen it. It pays to just be old sometimes. I expect others will find this quite hard too. I just hope they enjoy finishing it more than I did. Kind of a slog overall. Also, why are lies problems? A golf thing? ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@B lye sounds like "lie" which is a problem, I guess?
@B It DOES pay to be old, but perhaps not so old that when seeing "Keaton" your mind automatically goes to "Buster" and not "Diane." Whoops. It didn't fit anyway . .
@B I very much admit I could have easily been tripped up by any one of the examples you mentioned. I can't begin to explain why I wasn't. And that, in a nutshell, is the whole problem of the easy/hard discussion. Somehow I got through all the stop lights and you got stopped by them all. Somehow I manage to avoid stepping in gum and you didn't. But tomorrow is a whole new story. New clues, new answers, you'll be different, I'll be different, having evolved to some extent from where we were. And all the probabilities are reset.
I always thought that the expression "But will it play in PEORIA?" meant whether the performance would appeal to or be understood by a stereotypically bland, unsophisticated, white bread, conservative, Midwestern, middle-American demographic. If the PEORIA audience was "tough", this meant that no one in the audience understood or appreciated humor or references more familiar to big city dwellers on the East Coast. Perhaps I'm wrong about this--it wouldn't be the first time.
DLKDMV, Your thought is close(r?) to fine, and so is the clue. <a href="https://www.peoriamagazine.com/archive/ibi_article/2009/phrase-put-peoria-map" target="_blank">https://www.peoriamagazine.com/archive/ibi_article/2009/phrase-put-peoria-map</a>/
I coach the Southwest High School math team, and we won the Minneapolis district last week, so going to the state tourney next month, go SW!
Living in the Midwest, I see the word OGALLALA quite often, but I guess I never caught on to the spelling. It's so frustrating when you know the answer but can't spell it! Well, it won't matter soon, because the aquifer is disappearing and we are all doomed.
@Katie I have only seen OGLALA Sioux (a more modern spelling)...so it took a bit before I caved on that fill.
@Katie Haha... made me laugh. That's one heck of a silver lining!
My Dad used to tell me that he tried to get the circus to take me on as a human cannonball but they said I wasn’t the right caliber for the job.
Are LAPDANCES a LOVELANGUAGE? Sorry, couldn't resist!! I tried to for a moment, but it didn't stick. I actually have appreciated the LOVELANGUAGES as a framework with my husband, especially early in our marriage. We express love very differently, as it turns out, and understanding some basics of that has been really good for us. Anyhow, Thursday's "easy" puzzle absolutely PWNED me. I finished Friday's puzzle pretty handily, but this Saturday puzzle was PWNED by me! It's been an interesting few puzzle days for me. I don't know that it was easy but I jived with it. I don't like to assert difficulty based on my own experience, since it's so subjective and I know it feels kinda bad to be the only one or two who found it hard. In any case, it was fun to do, with a number of clever answers that made me smile. 16D - PEORIA, I just asked that of two people in my office yesterday. The one who's a bit older than I am laughed immediately... it did not play with the other one, who's 20 some years younger than I am. Ha! Lastly, this is relevant because Brooklyn 99's Captain Holt (and Amy Santiago) love the NYT crossword and Will Shortz even had a cameo in it, so enjoy one of the greatest scenes from it, and may all your solves result in dunces' tunes! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwzjAZCDglI" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwzjAZCDglI</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL4N08TKXrM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL4N08TKXrM</a>
@HeathieJ Possible answer to your brilliant and unsettling opening question: I think so! I can't think of a single act of either (and *of course* I only know of one of them by word of mouth) that can't be linked, in some sense, to the the acts of the other. I wonder if that will get by the emus. BIG up votes for "...jived with it."
@HeathieJ I'd imagine Lap Dances as sign language. You can talk about whatever comes up
@HeathieJ I also was on Rose Conlon's wavelength (faster than Thursday or Friday) and really enjoyed this puzzle! Once I got rid of the S I put at the end of 17A, HUMANCANNONBALL just came. And thanks for the Brooklyn 99 clips ❤️ as for love languages, sure, an at home LAPDANCE would count in several categories.
I found this puzzle to be a breeze after a particularly tough Friday. But other commenters have called yesterday easy and today difficult, which is just further evidence that all of this is wildly subjective.
@Stephen P.S. I’m surprised at some comments calling out “LOCS” as a particularly hard answer to guess. It’s been used in tons of NYT crosswords as best I can remember. And even if it hadn’t been, it’s a shortening of “Dreadlocks”, which means it should be easy enough to infer from partial crosses.
@B It's a natural hair style that protects the hair versus, say, straightening.
For the last few summers, the Hollywood Bowl has featured a screening of "Singin' in the Rain" (with the score played live by the LA Phil). Seeing 20A (SLAPSTICK) in today's puzzle reminded me of one of my favorite slapstick performances: "Make 'Em Laugh" by the great Donald O'Connor. If you've never seen it or would just like to see it again: - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGCNBdCvzL4" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGCNBdCvzL4</a>
@RichardZ I remember the first time we showed that to our kids. It was a beautiful summer evening. I made some popcorn and we set up a CD projector and screen in the back yard. They laughed themselves sick. So fun.
@RichardZ I got my undergrad degree in Radio-TV-Film. I don’t remember which class it was for which “Singin’ In The Rain” was required viewing, but I wasn’t a fan of musicals then. I went in expecting to hate it and came out doing my best Gene Kelly impression (which was pretty bad). It’s a great movie.
@RichardZ Thanks for sharing. This movie is a tonic for what ails you - from "Moses supposes his toeses are roses," to the iconic "Singin' in the Rain" number. Smiles and laughter and just pure joy for all to relish - Happy weekend!
The plural of the Nigerian currency is NAIRA. Never heard anyone in Nigeria or elsewhere use an S.
@Jed Well, you have now. Signed, Yours Truly, Mr. Smart Aleck P.S. Welcome to Crosslandia where pretty much anything goes if most are able to suss out the answer.
Emus ate my first, and I kinda get why. But I *loved* the frolic romp that this puzzle provided. During lockdown, my son was home and learned to speak Japanese. With it, he taught himself how to cook Japanese dishes. First one was torikatsu chicken. I woke up missing him, and seeing a little glimpse of my boy in the puzzle makes my mamma heart so happy. Thank you Rose!
Today's writer of Gameplay reminded me (again!) how much older I am than many of the devotees of the Saturday crossword puzzle. I remember going to the movie theater to see "Harry and Tonto" so the fact that Ms. Lovinger had never heard of the movie--sigh! Art Carney's Oscar win was well-deserved!
@Robin I remember my 17 year old self going to see Harry and Tonto with my 18 year old boyfriend in a movie theater. I think he thought he was going to see a Honeymooners movie, but he did end up liking it, though he didn't understand why it made me cry. Anyway, it is too bad that it isn't available to be seen nowadays.
Getting answers like GAM, KATSU, OGALLALA and LOCS felt a bit like being on the math team: I never would have known the answer without doing the gazzintas, but it all checked out (carry the K). Or maybe more like a slap-stick scene, where the crosses were banana peels, and I’m up in the air looking down (and across) at those hard answers, waiting see how funny it is when I land. All in all, a good puzzle, which I didn’t wreck on.
@JohnWM Gazzintas? Weirdly, googling it explained little. What does it mean?
@JohnWM crossing LOCS and OGALLALA was just cruel
@Andrzej and learning your “gazzintas” is analogous to learning your TIMES tables so an apt comment today.
Fun and smooth solve that promoted several rabbit hole explorations. First, I learned that the aquifer is named after the town in Nebraska which was named after the Native American tribe. <a href="https://www.oglala.gov" target="_blank">https://www.oglala.gov</a>/ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer</a> Which got me thinking about our local water source: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkwood-Cohansey_aquifer" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkwood-Cohansey_aquifer</a> The things you learn in Crosslandia!
A decent challenge, which was a relief for me after yesterday’s slog…at least it was for me. Finished a minute under my Saturday average. Quite a few difficult but clever clues…”Apple corps” for GENIUS BAR; “Ones who should prepare for their day of reckoning” for MATH TEAM (though my initial thought centered on, well, you know without my sullying the comments with their names). BTW, I loved the mention of Harry and Tonto, which I recall as a charming film—I remember being happy for Art Carney’s Oscar win at the time, though the choice was unpopular, as other nominees included Al Pacino for Godfather 2, and Dustin Hoffman for Lenny). I thought seeing it again now might be a tonic against the absurd and cruel madness, but sadly it doesn’t seem available to stream.
@Joe We had MATHletes at my high school, but also "It's Academic" which was a local PBS quiz show.
@Joe I’d check my local library for it.
Great Saturday! My absolutely favorite clue today was for HUMANCANNONBALL, and not just because I got it early. Or because it spanned the puzzle and made it easy for me to get to a whole bunch of other answers. Just a great clue altogether! Thanks for a fun start to my day!
Loved the long entries in the center. It felt a bit easier than most Saturdays, but it was still good fun.
Clever, fresh and fun clues. Thanks, Rose!
I hadn't heard of OGALLALA or LOCS, which crossed at the 2nd L in OGALLALA, so I couldn't finish the puzzle until I ran through the alphabet.
@BrianB You and me both. But I had the L very early (probably first) while my real issue turned out to be a simple ear tag on a cow wearing Uggs. There was a lot of Naticky stuff in this one, at least 3 places. Oh and I also had PALentine's for a while. Seemed cromulent. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
Just enough names, nouns, and specific knowledge to spoil some otherwise fun clues. SRO crossing NAIRAS was my eventual downfall. And even as a marine biologist I've never ever heard of a GAM. Bit of a shrug on this one
@Joseph I had exactly the same problems, and am also a biologist who thought the collective word for whales was “pod.”
@Joseph For future reference, SRO means Standing Room Only indicating that a show is so popular, all of the seats are taken. It appears multiple times each year, so commit that one to memory.
@Joseph I took a peak at the data and I was surprised to see that, at least in the modern era, GAM out numbers POD something like 20-6 as it relates to a group/school/herd/pack of whales. OTOH, the latter has also been clued to groups of seals or dolphins. Good thing here is that unlike KEA/LOA or SASHA/MALIA, you only need one cross to sort out.
@Joseph I had a wall poster when I was a kid in the 80's which listed names for all sorts of groupings of animals, such as a "murder of crows". Gam of whales was the first in the list, and I've never forgotten it -- thankfully, since it shows up in crosswords! It may be that as a *marine biologist*, you're only looking at it from your area of expertise -- and "gam" may well be of a more literary persuasion. Perhaps an ornithologist can weigh in vis à vis "murder of crows" to add to the discussion! :)
@Joseph - As a crossword solver, voracious reader, and marine biologist, I concur that the more common word is "pod," especially in current marine biology, but GAM is still legit. I see it primarily in older literature. Most of these collective nouns have been around since Medieval times, and some have been replaced by others over the years. You might also see a group of whales referred to as a school or a plump. (I rather like "A plump of whales.") This same issue comes up every time GAM appears in the crossword clued this way.
As I was perusing the selection on 50% off Chocolate Day (Feb 15th), I came across a box of Galentine's Day chocolates. I thought that was a great idea, buying goodies to share with your gal pals. I was quite happy to be able to fill in a long answer right away. The rest of the puzzle was a little harder, I needed help with a few words like KATSU, NAIRAS, and GAMAY. Tough, but not the worst Saturday experience I've had. Was it worth a LAP DANCE? Maybe.... 🤔
Any puzzle with Harry and Tonto in it is okay by me. (Tonto also deserved an Oscar.) GALENTINES DAY went in without any crosses, though Geek Squad before GENIUS BAR held held me up for a bit. Otherwise a pretty smooth solve for a Saturday. Thanks Rose.
My PB for a Saturday! I guess I’m just in the right demographic for this puzzle. I loved GALENTINESDAY!
A Saturday best by a considerable amount. Seems the clues were right up my alley, so this was a breezy solve. 60A 'Solutions that sound like problems' was my favourite clue
I think that article in re Peoria is a little too kind to its reader base. I've always taken it as asking if the act in question was too coastal, with all that entails - too intelligent, too ethnic, aimed too high. If it wouldn't play in Peoria, if the average American wouldn't like it, then it had to be dumbed down, homogenized. The same formula is applied for TV shows and movies today. Luckily, starting with HBO, premium and streaming services realized they could make money off shows that wouldn't play in Peoria - not as much money as in the network heyday, but enough to keep the golden age of TV going for the last 20 years.
@Jay It wasn't just Peoria. Nat King Cole was such an impressive entertainer he got his own network television show, which wasn't shown in a lot of places in the South because Cole was black. This is within my lifetime.
GAM instead of pod for a school of whales? What am I missing?
Anne Jacko, You are missing another three-letter word with the same meaning. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gam" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gam</a>
@Anne Jacko That some constructors think that pulling any ole thing out of the dictionary is perfectly kosher so long as their automatic construction software tells them it fits? (It's one of several other terms used for a school of whales.) ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@Anne Jacko I would guess GAM dates back to when we were putting whale oil in lanterns. Orcas travel in pods.
@Anne Jacko WRT xword puzzles, POD/GAM for a bunch of whales is like KEA/LOA following Mauna. You need a cross (or two) to know what to fill in. IRL I would go with pod.
GREEN ANACONDA? OH No! Who knew they came in colors? ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
@dutchiris I tried this twice last night with variations on a word in the puzzle, but the emus were frightened by it—brave about the snake, but kind of chicken about the curse word.
@dutchiris That is some impressive ASCII art :D
@dutchiris I just love the creativity on this forum.
"But will it play in Peoria?" Yes, I'm sure it will.
Should I be embarrassed that 58A was a gimme for me?
@Francis Yes, definitely.
@Francis It was my first thought but I didn’t use it until later because I didn’t think it would have gotten by the editors.
It would’ve been one of my fastest Saturdays ever, except— well, let me tell you all the ways in which GREat ANACONDA can be rationalized to fit into 32A: tAIRAS to buy some nkwobi on a bed of jollof rice in Abuja? Why, sure. BaLTS, those hapless dwellers on the shores of northern seas whom the European Council forgot to cc when it issued an official document in December praising Moldova for its 2024 presidential elections? Coulda happened. You guys may not care about such things but the BaLTS and us assorted American expats out here sure do. Despite my hiccup, a very entertaining Saturday treat. Though I call Natickishness on the ART CARNEY/RUE since CAnNEY and nUE are plausible, too, especially what with the latter so close to a LAP DANCE. Happy Saturday, everyone.
@Sam Lyons love your mini history of the Balts! But I don’t think an Oscar-winning actor and a current major celebrity can be called Naticks. Trivia is ok, just not excessively obscure trivia.
Chortling over LAPDANCE as a LOVELANGUAGE. Yikes exclaims ko. A nice and hard Saturday. Thank you Rose
I was all set to pitch a fit about 19A [Word after something, anything or nothing] I kept shouting at myself that almost any word can come after those. Then my calm self, rarely seen, said, "There's going to be clever answer you're just not see yet." And, for once, my calm self was right and my frantic side was wrong.
Nice Saturday puzzle. Typical long workout for me and had to cheat a bit in a couple of places, but just lots of nice 'aha' moments when I finally worked out something from the crosses. That center triple stack of 13 letter answers were all debuts, and that really made for a nice long workout. Puzzle find today was our constructor's debut puzzle. A Wednesday from February 23, 2022. I'd done that one but of course had completely forgotten it. Really clever set of theme answers. The reveal clue and answer in that one was: "Accept a package formally ... or a hint to 17-, 29-, 45- and 62-Across?" SIGNFORDELIVERY And a couple of those clue and answer examples: "Sneaking suspicion" GUTFEELING "Reason to pause a workout" WATERBREAK And the other two theme answers: THEKICKER BUMPYRIDE Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/23/2022" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/23/2022</a> ...
@Rich in Atlanta Nice twist on your puzzle find, being from the same constructor! I too had done that one but didn't remember it. Good one!
There were a few answers that made me cringe (36 A, 37 A, 58 A), but otherwise a nice puzzle with fill for every gereration. I prefer a little more challenge at the end of the week, but I think I'm swimming against the tide.
I agree, I was almost disappointed with how easily I finished this. Felt like more of a Wednesday fill, but maybe that’s just my brain rot. I knew many of the more modern references and phrase. There were a lot of usual filler words as well though- EEL, ANG, TSK, AYES.
Fun Saturday. The GAMs got me, though. GAM came with the crossings, but I then went down the blow hole to learn more, who knew? And GAMAY was a lookup, and now added to my “everything I know about wine I learned the NYT crossword” list.