REALLY struggled with the obscurity of some of today’s cluing. While I’m on the younger side, I imagine some of these references were challenging even when they were timely.
@Alex and to clarify - I don’t mean the themed clues. I mostly enjoyed those and was at least vaguely familiar with all of them.
@Alex I'm legitimately surprised that so many people had trouble with this puzzle. I'd call it a little over medium difficulty. As to the references, most of them were of well-known people and occurrences. (NIXON RESIGNS and TITANIC SINKS--we've all seen those movies, right?) The ones that weren't well-known I could guess from the crosses (IDA McKinley, Joe TYNAN). My rule of thumb for people I haven't heard of is, "That's a name!" Even though I didn't know of the Alan Alda film, I looked at the crosses and thought: "TYNAN, that's a name! I'll put it in." Sometimes I'll leave a space blank: "Is he SNEED or SNEAD? I'll leave that fourth space blank." That said, there was little in the puzzle I was unfamiliar with (the crossing of Mr. SNEAD and SAL being my undoing). In order to be good at crossword puzzles, you need a head for trivia. It might be possible to avoid trivia in the Mini, but in a 21x21 Sunday grid it's impossible. I suggest reading, watching, and listening as widely as you can to up your crossword game. Get out of your comfort zone: if you love classical, listen to rap, or vice versa. Pick up a novel in a genre you don't like. If you've never played a video game, now's the time to start--they have improved just a little since the days of Pong. In short: be curious.
This was a HARD puzzle, with a natick for me where SAL and SNEAD crossed. What is SAL soda?
Jamie, <a href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/sal-soda" target="_blank">https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/sal-soda</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_carbonate" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_carbonate</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Snead" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Snead</a>
@Jamie Yes! That was my final struggle was trying to remember if it was Sneed or Snead, and what the heck a "sal" or a "sel" soda was?
@Jamie I’m going to have to vote “feh” on SAL soda. Never heard of it and I don’t think it’s familiar enough to justify a “___ soda” clue especially when it crosses a proper name that can be spelled in more than one way.
about 90 across: Let's not confuse health CARE and health INSURANCE. Insurers provide no care (and as too many of us know, they often are an impediment to actual care).
P George, I think [care] in the clue was intended as a gentle misdirect (and may well have been ironic). I hope you have vision care (if not insurance): that was 99 Across, not 90.
@P George I saw some "Free Luigi" graffiti yesterday. I can't say I disagree.
@P George And they also don't care.
84A [Headwear that's stereotypically red]: Hands up if you thought MAGA HAT???
@Steve L Yes I'm quite sure that and the USSR cluing were deliberate attempts to misdirect and depress, respectively.... ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@Steve L No, of course not. I had MAGA CAP.
@Steve L I had bandana, until it didn't work.
@Steve L I did, but then thought 1. M_G_H_TS are always red, I assume 1. No constructor in this paper would dare.
@Teresa Wayne Gretzky was wearing a white and gold one in a recent photo.
@Steve L My husband owned a red baseball cap until I made him throw it away, lest anyone get the wrong idea. These days, it’s almost like we have to avoid wearing gang colors.
The most difficult Sunday we've had in the past few weeks. I didn't have much fun completing it, to be honest, but I did enjoy the challenge. (Or "enjoy," I suppose I should say. *Appreciate.*)
@Chad agreed. The top half of the puzzle was pretty easy and lots of fun enjoyable. Bottom half, not so much.
Natick after natick after natick… the theme would have been fun if the surrounding fill was less niche. Quite an unfortunate slog if you don’t know the headlines already!
@Betsy I think you should change your attitude about doing crossword puzzles! The whole secret is that if you don't know something then you should take great pleasure in figuring it out. I agree that the crosses were frustrating in their clueing some which was obscure to the extreme. But as someone who remembered most of those headlines and just needed a little twitchy clue to get them started it was most enjoyable and I thought it was an extremely creative theme.
@Betsy Where are the Naticks? There aren't that many names outside the theme answers, and most of those don't cross. The only crossing names I can find that might give you trouble are SNEAD and TOSCANINI. (I wouldn't count ALEXA and NIXON as a Natick, as both are extremely well-known names.) For the record, I knew TOSCANINI because of the cartoon Darkwing Duck, which had a character named Tuskernini. He was a walrus.
Terrible. I guess it's just me. I don't get the jokes, can't make sense of the clues. I am looking for something to engage my very bored mind and I don't find it here.
@Nancy Sculerati MD Not every solver will enjoy every puzzle, and that's OK. This wasn't my favorite but as a puzzle it was fine.
@Nancy Sculerati MD Really? Most people are here to try to dial down their over-stressed minds. There isn't an Austin TX outside the US, is there?
@Nancy Sculerati MD There is a ghoulish sort of fun in the final HEADline--or there might have been if TOPLESS had been used for both segments, maybe, or if the grid had HEADLESS right above TOPLESS... As it was, it was just a gruesome headline at a gruesome time in our nation's life. The magnitude of the disaster for many young workers now cast onto a reeling job market (and probably not well-heeled enough to afford a move to a more likely area--think "forest ranger" and then imagine how likely it is that there is some work that would NOT involve moving, retraining, etc.!).... and now I've committed a Run-on Sentence...
Where was the wordplay? I wait all week for a clever Sunday and the theme involved trivia, not actual wordplay. A huge disappointment, and a slog. I solved it, but I did not enjoy doing so.
@Kelli same. When i figured out it was just headlines i was disappointed.
Just what we need — scary headlines! Kidding, of course. I enjoyed this news-based puzzle and don’t recall seeing a similar theme before. My first comment was emubargoed, so perhaps if I’m a bit more discreet this one will get through. Possible recent headline: 11/5/2024 DEMOCRACY SINKS
@Puzzlemucker I got a kick out a headline today, although it was not front page. "Twin Test Flight Explosions Show that SPACEX is No Longer Defying Gravity"
@Puzzlemucker Brilliant suggested headline! I doubt the emus will think so, but we can hope they're asleep for the night.
@Puzzlemucker Sounds like an Utne Reader headline.
Second attempt: 84: [Headwear that's stereotypically red] Hands up if your mind went first to a certain recent ball cap that's been in the news in the past decade or so?!?!
@Steve L And of course, as soon as I try again, the first one shows up....
@Steve L I"m certain you're not the only TDS sufferer here.
@Steve L I entered MAGAHAT first until it didn’t fit
"I've read more newspapers than anyone else!" "Yeah, you're in the lede!" (I'm headline over heels for these puns.)
@Mike I had an inkling you'd say something like that.
@Mike He delivered on the issue, but by now that's all just his-story. Others had different op-ednions. Who's to say who's write?
Fantastic! I think this puzzle has a few layers of fun.... If you know the headlines because you just kinda know the dates...And immediately know what the topic has to be...That's one of the levels of fun. A second is that you can solve them and theyre are just kinda fun things to learn. And then there is Headless Body in Topless Bar...and really...There aint nothing better than that.
@Paul The best wordplay headline was from the Chicago Daily News. "..Leopold, despite his erudtion, ends sentence with a proposition." I think I heard of this first when I started group cryptic crossword solving.
These crossings were mean. AVON/AVIE? SNEAD/TOSCANINI? RIAN/SCAD? SON/TYNAN? Some of these were weird esoterica I would never get, but even the clues I understood after revealing weren't satisfying. It was much more "ummmm..." than "aha!" At least I have Taylor Swift to thank for getting CASSANDRA. And I learned some new things today.
All the headlines were familiar to me with the exception of WALL ST LAYS AN EGG. I remember well the HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR headline. It was classic NY Post, a tabloid paper well known for sensational headlines that are often hysterically funny (and punny). They had a field day when NY Congressman Anthony Weiner was exposed in a salacious scandal (exposed being an operative word). Great word APOCRYPHA, and a fun clue for PORCH (“Where people typically go to the mat”). Don't forget to spring ahead.
@Anita Another classic, similar to the NY Congressman: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/08/opinion/bezos-national-enquirer-blackmail.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/08/opinion/bezos-national-enquirer-blackmail.html</a>
@Anita Hi, I don’t get the clue for porch. Maybe I would if I lived in a house with one? 🙂
@Joey It's referencing a welcome mat. It took me a few minutes to catch that one.
@Anita Oh dangit, it's 1:30, not 12:30. Literally every time, this happens.
Oh my. As soon as I figured out the theme, I knew I had no chance as I lack the histories. Still I enjoyed finding out interesting headlines along the way, but… I found some words either too obscure and/or awkward for me, some I didn’t understand even after the answer. So went the Sunday struggle.
@Andy K I figured out the themed answers, mostly, but the rest of the fill was just brutal, like a cruciverbalist decapitation, possibly in a topless (clueless?) bar. I also still don't understand a surprising number of clues and answers. So you were not alone in your valiant yet ultimately failed struggle.
I know this will not last, but giving it a shot. Just received this - pass it along. Dear Friends, On March 15th, each of us will mail Donald Trump a postcard that publicly expresses our opposition to his actions. And we, in vast numbers, from all corners of the world, will overwhelm the man with his unpopularity and failure. We will show the media and the politicians what standing with him — and against us — means. And most importantly, we will bury the White House post office in pink slips, all informing Donnie that he’s on probation. if each of us writes even a single postcard and we put them all in the mail on the same day, March 15th, well: you do the math. We’re setting a new record: over a million pieces in a day, with not a single nice thing to say. So sharpen your wit, unsheath your writing implements, and see if your sincerest ill-wishes can pierce Donald’s famously thin skin. Prepare for March 15th, 2025, Write one postcard. Write a dozen! Take a picture and post it on social media. Spread the word! Everyone on Earth should let Donnie know how he’s doing. They can’t build a wall high enough to stop the mail. Then, on March 15th, mail your messages to: President (for now) Donald J. Trump The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Include one that says YOU’RE FIRED. Copy and paste, please and put it in your calendars. Let's do this!
@EAB I am doing it! I've actually stocked up on postcards to prepare for this. Some are European capitals--our allies that he is now dissing, and some are our National Parks that he seems intent on destroying. I doubt if this postcard idea will change anything but at least it's a way to get some of my anger out.
Absolutely brutal. The last headline was particularly rough, and I have to say I’ve never heard of OLMEC, TOSCANINI, MALLE, AGLET, LADED, SAL soda, APOCRYPHA, YARD glass, PARSONS, Bel PAESE, Joe TYNAN, HBCU, IDA McKinley, HOSTA, UPICE, OAS, or Sammy SNEAD. Not quite sure whose wheelhouse these would all be in, but safe to say it’s not mine.
Neil, There is a difference between having heard of a word and getting it from the clue. I knew all of the words you cite, but I needed the crosses to get IDA and HOSTA as clued, and a letter or two to confirm a few others.
@Neil I recognized all of these, but I've been doing crosswords since I was a teenager. Toscanini, Malle, sal soda, Ida Mckinley, Sammy Snead are oldies, for sure. I can also see that a lot of these and the themers were US-centric, even NYC-centric.
What I loved about this theme was that it was not a one-trick pony. It had dimension: • The riddle-cracking fun of guessing those long answers with as few crosses as possible. • Most of its answers evoked images of the headlined events, where I paused to relive what I remembered. • The headlines that were funny WERE funny to me, filling me with smiles. • The one headline that was unfamiliar was a worthy TIL. So, the theme was more an experience rather than simply a figure-it-out. Plus, some lovely sparks. The gorgeous APOCRYPHA. Being misdirected by [Drink after a race, say] for HYDRATE, where I was seeing “drink” as a noun. That tiny 4x4 section in the upper SE rife with schwa enders AROMA, EMMA, MAMA, and a backward DATA. And finally, two uber-clever clues: [Where people typically go to the mat] for PORCH, and [They’re known to open with some jokes], for APRILS. Very fond of what the box offered today; thumbs raised high. Thank you greatly for this, Michael!
There was no way I would ever solve this. There were just too many things I simply did not know (so many names!), and also loads of clues and answers I don't understand even now, having revealed them. I usually ask the community here to explain stuff I didn't get, but today there was just so much of it I just don't have it in me to find it all in the huge grid and write down here. Some quick examples: SAL soda? HBCU (and its clue)? I haven't failed that badly in several weeks. HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR is what I feel like after today's "solve" 🤪
@Andrzej I got all of the headlines except the one you cite just from the years in the clues and a few crosses, but otherwise I had the exact same experience as you, and finally just looked at the answer key. I share your question about SAL soda. I think HBCU is a gimme for most Americans. It stands for historically black colleges and universities, and Howard is the most famous one.
@Andrzej Well, you'll be glad to learn that "sal soda" is brand new to this chemist who's been kicking around the USA for 72 years. I know quite a bit about what it actually is, which is sodium carbonate, but have never heard it called that. And HBCU is definitely part of the American travesty concerning race. Because so many public colleges and universities would simply not accept black students, a few special schools were set aside for them. I think a lot of them were private. (I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable will correct and/or extend me.) These special schools became knowns "Historically Black Colleges and Universities", or HBCUs. I'm so proud to be an American.
@Andrzej As I was struggling through this I thought of you. You had no chance here.
I was excited at first, not a big history guy but I knew DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN and I figured there'd be a NIXON headline in there somewhere. But hey that's pretty fun trivia, surely I'd be able to suss it out from the crosses... Boy was I wrong. I enjoyed this for about 25 minutes and the other hour (?!) was an absolute slog. And that's only counting the time the clock was running, not the time spent in the shower running through the entire alphabet to figure out _ _ L soda. Woof.
poor cluing, too many proper nouns. absolute slog of a puzzle.
"Headless Body" is the greatest headline, followed by "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29."
@Dave "Harvard Beats Yale 29-29" is a really good documentary, too. Tommy Lee Jones was at Harvard at the time, was on the team, and roomed with Al Gore. It was great seeing him in a non-acting role.
Great theme undone by some tortured clueing. A frustrating slog for me.
The Carolina Reaper is a CHILE (with an E), not CHILI (which is the stew). Just sayin’ …
There are quite a few cites out there for CHILI. Not just sayin'; linkin': <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Reaper" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Reaper</a> <a href="https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-types/superhot-chili-peppers/carolina-reaper" target="_blank">https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-types/superhot-chili-peppers/carolina-reaper</a>/ <a href="https://pepperscale.com/carolina-reaper" target="_blank">https://pepperscale.com/carolina-reaper</a>/
@doodles5 You could check a dictionary: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chili" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chili</a> <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/chili" target="_blank">https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/chili</a> <a href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/chili" target="_blank">https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/chili</a> CHILE is correct in Spanish; however, this is English. Don't fall into the tamale trap.
@Barry Ancona This is a New Mexico thing. In New Mexico, the vegetable is known as CHILE.
The midsection of this puzzle is as frustrating and stubborn as my own.
@AGW Hmm. I found it a bit flat, but generally rock solid, rippling with nuance and easy on the eyes. ---But that's just me.
I remember reading somewhere that “Headless Body……” was the best example of a NY Post headline except for one thing. It was accurate.
@Maine Spring 😂😂😂😂😂 Yeah, the NY Post prides itself on avoiding accuracy .
Okay seriously, if obscurely, who here wouldn't want to see Louis Malle's "My Dinner With Andrzej"?
@ad absurdum Me? In an artiste film? Ye gods. I'll take Things that will never happen for 1000$, Alex.
@ad absurdum Are there any Wall-E's around here who might volunteer to share the meal with him?
@ad absurdum I want the action figures. ;) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WwZkbAvBtk" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WwZkbAvBtk</a>
Not a great puzzle. Have seen far better from NYT.
Not been around much this week, too many of my entirely innocent and purely crossword related posts have not appeared. I feel like I’m being shunned at a polite dinner party. Here goes: that was the hardest grid I’ve filled in a long time, sadly not in a ‘wow, that was tough but fabulous’ way. Far too many specific US references to make this even halfway possible. I completely accept that’s a perfectly reasonable theme for the NYT, being an American publication. But it stonewalled me. Well done Mr Schlossberg on an entertaining and unusual theme, I’m only sorry I wasn’t able to appreciate it. For those kind posters who’ve asked me about my Alpacas’s; I tried several times to respond (see my first paragraph). They’re beautiful and settling in nicely. Not too keen on the dogs so we’re keeping them well away, with one closely monitored visit a day over the fence so they can get used to each other. Fingers crossed this posts.
@Helen Wright I feel for you - I had most my posts not appear several months ago and it felt disrespectful. I can't imagine what the "moderators" could have found objectionable in your posts, of all people. Thanks for the update on the alpacas ❤️
@Helen Wright Good news on the alpacas. Not so much on the puzzle, but I'll just remind you that most of the US solvers, including monolingual me, holds all of you in awe.
@Helen Wright So happy to hear the alpacas are settling in nicely! And please keep posting. Emus have been extra fussy lately. Unlike… 🦙
Sloppy clueing. E.g., “My heavens” for “I DECLARE” and “Jeez Louise” for “AW COME ON”, crossing each other? And so so many obscure proper names. One of the worst puzzles in memory.
so many responses I typed and then deleted...
Too much trivia in this one. It's better when there's a balance between trivia and wordplay. It's just not enjoyable otherwise. This was a slog! "Fire hat" is a bit silly, no one calls it that. It's a fireman hat or firefighter hat or similar. It's not a hat for a fire. "For the win" does not mean "victory is mine." If you're going to use slang, use it correctly.
Loved how those old classic headlines were worked into this -- but I bet younger solvers felt like I do when faced with coming up with the name of a popular group or song from the last few years. With almost everyone getting news on -line in one way or another -- will we ever have such shared headlines again?
@Cheryl If anything the Internet makes sharing interesting headlines easier. It's not like most Americans subscribed to the Chicago Daily Tribune, Variety, or the New York Post when those famous headlines ran....they had to be shared by other sources....
@Megan Wow, when I first read that I saw Jesus Christ, RIP
@Megan I deliberately break it from time to time so that when a puzzle comes along that I’m just not having fun doing (including today), I don’t waste time grinding just to be able to say I kept the streak.
Okay hands up if you are both old and never heard the term "sal soda". (I'd heard washing soda.) Obviously in order for this to matter one also requires a poor grasp of the spelling of Sal Snead's name. :) Decent enough puzzle. I wonder if I would have liked it better with the original illustrations. Big honking sinks sound like a hoot, and the "famous dates" thing has been done to death here.... ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@B I knew sal soda from former puzzles. It's definitely an old term. It reminded me of my mother-in-law who'd buy "strong water," which was what she called bleach.
@B I'm old and have never heard of sal soda.
@B I am old and sal soda was a gimme for me. I don't know why, since we never had it at my house.
@B This one stumped me, but now I see it has been clued exactly this way 15 times before in the modern era, the last being 2021. I won’t miss it next time….
@B It was a OTC powder that could be stirred into a glass of water to settle an upset stomach, as I recall. There was some in the folks' medicine cabinet (1950's-60's)... My older sister (a student at Emory) disclosed that another girl in her dorm used a dose of SAL-SODA to prevent pregnancy, which prompted our alarmed mother into going into (uncharacteristic) intimate detail as to why this was an unreliable, mistaken effort at birth control. (The Pill was not yet out there...)
A headline from the LA Times, last year: "Lego thefts across Southern California leave police trying to piece together clues"
I loved this one. A bit longer than my average Sunday. Props to the constructor for getting AGLET and EYELET in the same puzzle.
This puzzle is beyond unfair. The last 2 headlines are too obscure and cross with random proper nouns and terrible riddles. An unbalanced slog fest.
Enjoyed the headlines, but overall far too many short “words” that are just abbreviations or fragments, crossing esoteric answers, with question-marked clues. By far the least enjoyable puzzle I’ve completed this year.
Sometimes the puzzles are easy for me; sometimes I find them more difficult. Sometimes they're just right! (But not as often as I would like.) But what I find amusing is how we solvers find it to be a personal insult and assault when the puzzle is more difficult than we would like it to be. What's up with that??? Don't we have more important things to complain about in this crazy world?
@The X-Phile, I hear you. Though perhaps letting of steam here, may be BECAUSE there are so many more important things to worry/complain about.. Too many of which may feel frustratingly (horrifyingly) beyond one’s control.
Really didn't enjoy this one. There was so much I have never heard of, and couldn't get there with the crosses. I love Sundays because they're bigger and reasonably challenging, but this felt closer to a big Saturday for me 😕
Really, really enjoyed this walk thorough history. I've was here for many of them, though not the Titanic. And technically not the Wall Street egg laying, although IMO Wall Street embarrasses the bejesus out of itself simply by being Wall Street. My heart was in my mouth when I saw 84A[Headwear that's stereotypically red]. I wonder if we're entering a whole new world of trolling.
Loved, loved this fun Sunday! TIL about SAL soda, and now know more than desirable about taxidermy.😳 If you watched Phineas and Ferb, you’ll never forget the AGLET. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_DuY0CQUz4" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_DuY0CQUz4</a>
@Lizziefish haha came here *immediately* upon hitting 102D hoping to be the first to post the song. Good on you for getting here first. No P&F fan will *ever* miss that crossword clue! “AAY-GEE-ELL-EEE-TEE, don’t forget it”
Wow my streak of 770 nearly broken by that messy messy middle section - I do love a tricky puzzle but one that needs cleverness to solve as opposed to slogging it out to figure out random names and naticks. I do love reading the last headline though whenever it comes my way. And the now classic: “when an eel climbs a ramp to eat a squid from a clamp, that’s a moray”
@Jasmine Funny, I felt the same about this puzzle, but after speeding through, the SE stymied me. Or maybe I just gave up too easily by a YARD. I did enjoy the headlines though. I thought Edsel FORD told the cops to drop dead.
@Jasmine The version I always remember is... When a fish bites your heel and it looks like an eel... ....
Seems like a lot people here found this quite manageable. I solved it unaided, but it took around 1 hour 45 minutes. I found it incredibly difficult with the crossing of obscure clues and names, but that may just be me. While it felt okay to get the gold star, for me, this was more of a workout than I really wanted. No demands or complaints, I know a lot of you cruise through this sort of thing. Just giving the NYT team some anecdotal feedback.
These got surprisingly harder after Nixon resigned - I took forever to get the right thing to drop dead! Laughing all the way! To make up for my sluggish performance, here are some extra “extra extra”s that seem au courant to me: CASSANDRA FOR THE WIN GREED SEETHES DAYSHIFT HOTLINE
@Cat Lady Margaret That Ford headline was extremely famous in New York City for a long time; it may have been considerably harder to get for a Mainer.
@Cat Lady Margaret I first had Ford telling Cats to drop dead. I was suspicious that I was wrong.
Hey Michael, inquiring minds want to know, what were your other images aside from your terrific TITANIC SINKS one??? Et tu, emu.