This was a stunning debut. I absolutely loved the star exploding across the grid and the echo of related answers like ad astra, starburst, and make it pop. Gold star for this one. More please.
Probably the best application of a rebus crossword I've ever seen. Great stuff. I had one squared circle remaining, having noted the theme and the expanding s-t-a-rs. I still didn't suspect a rebus - not a single other square needed it so why would I - and then the duh moment kicked in, finally letting me solve the upper left corner clues and beautifully finishing (or starting) the theme progression. Excellent. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler) That was a very satisfying finish. Excellent.
"Will we finally see a star explode today?" "You nova know!" ("Can't you ever be Sirius?")
Mike, Not to be supercritical, but star puns can be nebulous. As in, how I wonder what you are… ;)
@Mike the Sirius very unlikely to evoke into a supernova. Separation a bit too large for effective accretion into a single degenerate (red supergiant feeding a white dwarf) and time scale for a double degenerate (white dwarf white dwarf merger) probably longer than the lifetime of our solar system. Also at a distance of 2.5 parsecs it would probably be devastating for life on earth. Let’s see if the emus allow “degenerate”
I really liked the way the STAR exploded bigger and bigger. It would have been fun if the solved puzzle had been animated--bright orange flames or something similar. The symmetry of STARBURST and MAKEITPOP was also very nice.
@Liz B, I thought so at first, but it’s diagonal symmetry. So the partner of STARBURST is SUPERNOVA (good), and MAKE IT POP goes with HAD A BLAST (also good!) And the exploding star travels along the diagonal line of symmetry.
Evan and Jeffrey packed a lot of fun into one small grid. Besides the very cool expanding STAR, they gave us HAD A BLAST, SUPER NOVA, STAR BURST, MAKE IT POP, NEIL deGrasse Tyson, the EAGLE has landed and AD ASTRA. Then they threw in a rebus as a final treat. I'm looking forward to more from these two.
@Nancy J. And they also had Sulu, of Star Trek! Yes, lots of fun!
Oh, man, the things you can do in crosswords! That visual of the supernova’s explosion traveling through the grid is remarkable to look at. It’s also a remarkable idea to have thought up, and while I’m on “remarkable”, those 13 circles with letters in them make that entire NW to SE sash remarkably hard to cleanly fill, and look how well Evan and Jeffrey did! That alone makes this puzzle CLASS A. But they didn’t stop there. They saturated the grid with outer space echoes from the four longest answers to AD ASTRA, NEIL (the astrophysicist), and SULU (as in “Star Trek”). Then came a marvelous solving moment for me, when I looked more closely at the circled letters, saw the expanding stars, and, with an explosive “Aha!”, figured out the surprise single rebus. A Crosslandia peak moment set in grid beauty? What an outing! I loved this. Evan, congratulations on your NYT debut, and Jeffrey, congratulations on your tenth, and to both of you, enthusiastic thumbs up. Thank you!
Loved this! It was an ingenious puzzle, not just for the one single rebus waiting for the solver's aha moment, but also for the inclusion of AD ASTRA and NEIL DeGrasse Tyson, both so pertinent to to the SUPERNOVA theme. (If I were him, I would be flattered not just to be in the NYT xword, but to be alongside a topic that speaks to me.) For the musical accompaniment, of course there's only one song that comes to mind... <a href="https://youtu.be/tI-5uv4wryI?si=90kEOC5Yo19g3d3Y" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/tI-5uv4wryI?si=90kEOC5Yo19g3d3Y</a> Thank you, Messieurs, and congratulations to Evan on a debut that was sweet and delicious as a STARBURST melting in the mouth!
@sotto voce Well, for this boomer one song came to mind after I thought I was heading for a Wednesday PB, only to be thwarted by that one particular square in the NW. How could I have ignored the circle in that square? I figured out all the other circled letters immediately after getting ASSIST/DARN but I must've lost 5 minutes checking and rechecking my answers in the NW! Just this: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alo7U0S_VPU" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alo7U0S_VPU</a> But it was a good kind of hurt since the puzzle was so incredible...and included one of the greatest soul singers of all time. Otis, My Man!
That was fun and I guess that I won't be the only one who filled the rebus last. It didn't make sense till it did.
I'm quite literally 2 mins into the crossword so trying not to look at any other comments just in case, but I have to say I let out a audible 'Oh that's good' in the break room when I got the theme.
Minor quibble: an eagle is not a good golf score, it's a great score. It means two under par for the hole.
@Tom If an eagle is great, a double eagle would have to be SUPERgreat?
@Long walks n sunsets ha! According to Google the odds of scoring a double eagle are 6 million to one!
Whenever I see a rebus, I race to the comments section to defend their honour. I love rebuses! Especially when they're surprises!
Wow. Quite an amazing puzzle. Typical Wednesday workout for me, and then... the STAR rebus in RESTAREA was the last thing I filled in, and it wasn't until then that I really parsed the other sets of circled squares. Just can't even imagine what it takes to put together something like this, with both the restrictions of the theme square entries and - managing to do that synchronously form upper left to lower right. Just - Wow. And... a VERY unusual puzzle find today. I'll put that in a reply. ...
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Thursday from March 12, 2015 by Jeff Chen and Ellen Leuschner. Really hard to describe this one. There were two rebus areas in the puzzle (at least as it appears on Xword Info) but I have no idea how it would have appeared in the solve, as those rebuses were basically a four square block - Here's one sample set of crossing answers: PLAYSWITH(FIRE)(FIRE)LANE ______GUN(FIRE)(FIRE)ANTS And... I can't enter it accurately here, but the crossing down answers were: (from the top) WILD(FIRE) SPIT(FIRE) (and then going down) (FIRE)LIT (FIRE)AXE So the rebuses would have appeared as: (FIRE)(FIRE) (FIRE)(FIRE) And the 'reveal' answer was (in one of those crossing blocks) was: (FIRE)INTHEHOLE You have to go look at it to really get it. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/12/2015&g=3&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/12/2015&g=3&d=D</a> ...
@Rich in Atlanta I finally got RESEA, the puzzle completed, I googled RESEA, found it was an acronym for Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment… a break from employment… and thought I was done. LOST seemed good enough. I only discovered the rebus and extra letters here. Maybe the constructor worked in heavy element synthesis too… TAntalum is only made in the r(for rapid neutron capture) process in Supernova. We are all stardust.
How delightful and serendipitous to have this puzzle land today, after just witnessing the safe return of the space station astronauts. Brilliant execution of a stellar theme! Congratulations to the constructors, and especially to Evan on his debut.
I turned off the timer on the crossword settings today and I think that was the nicest solve for me in a while. I'm sure that feature is probably well known here. I've never really been one for speed solving, but I would see the time tick up and I felt like I had to go faster nonetheless. I'd go to the hints sooner. I'd get frustrated if my Sunday took me longer than usual. I wouldn't even pause to sip my tea or think about my day without exiting the game. I never really noticed that it had changed the way I play so much. Anyway, this was a wonderful puzzle! It took me a minute in the NW to figure out what I needed to do. Very clever.
@CCed I turned off the timer last year and haven’t looked back. As you noted, the presence of the clock diminishes my enjoyment of the puzzle. This was especially true on my petite iPhone SE screen. Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s great to have a non-timing buddy 😉
@CCed Amen! I gave up on timing myself because of a weird computer glitch that would make it so it looked like I'd been working on the puzzle for 22 hours. (I refuse to get a new laptop.) But it's nice not to worry about time. I do this puzzle first thing in the morning, so I like to sip my coffee, listen to the birds, and stare off into space as I desperately wish I was back in my bed. Ignoring the timer lets me do that.
@CCed Yep, turned it off the moment I started a subscription. It still surprises me that it's a default... Do so many (presumably non-expert) players really appreciate that stress inducing distraction while trying to actually enjoy working and discovering g a puzzle? ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@CCed wow, I never even noticed the timer. Not sure what that says about me—I definitely enjoy scoring a personal-best solve (rare though that is any more!)
@CCed Thank you. I wasn't aware that one could turn off the timer. It is certainly a temptation but for the fact that I usually try to solve the puzzle over my morning tea and the timer is the only way to (sometimes) make me aware that I am spending far too much of my day procrastinating with the puzzle!
Across the universe tonight you can hear the sound of rebus haters heads explode.
Maybe a bit of a cautinary tale about involving current events in the crossword, but wince the fall of the Assas regime most people would say SYRIA's flag has three red stars, not two green ones.
@Michael So you're saying current constructors should think twice about cluing the US flag as having only 50 stars?
Wow! My brain must work differently than most other people's. I got the star rebus immediately, and then when I got to Starburst at 10 down, it became obvious what was going on with the other circled squares. Can a square be circled? Great puzzle. Also loved how they sneaked Sulu in too.
@Doug Ouch! Just re-read my comment and noticed the horrible redundancy of Also/too. Sorry:(
@Doug I actually liked that you made that mistake - it made me feel better about my own, of which there have been hundreds in all the posts I have been spamming here for almost two years now 😀
@Doug the way to know it’s not an AI/LLM is to be human and err 😀
Another Wednesday POY nominee for me (third one this year!). I absolutely loved everything about this puzzle … no lookups, solving it five minutes better than my average, the visual portrayal of the SUPERNOVA, the sneaky rebus (which I got right away), the additional space-themed answers, and one of the best clues I’ve seen all year: 59D, [Invasive plant?]. What a stunning debut! Gold star 🌟 to the constructors! I hope to see more of your puzzles! I’m starting to like Wednesday puzzles! Do emus give out gold stars? ⭐️
If it's true that no one expects the Spanish Inquisition, then certainly nobody expects a puzzle with only ONE rebus square in it. Got the answer almost by accident and then came to enjoy what the setter had done. A Star is Born!
@Jim in Forest Hills There have been countless puzzles with only one rebus square. Actually, they’re not actually countless; you could go onto xwordinfo.com and sift through every rebus puzzle (at least they have them listed in one place and give the count of rebus squares for each one). I just did a cursory glance, and through today’s there have been 10 so far in the 2020s, although the last one was over a year ago.
Another editing error within a few months - Syria's flag has been changed by the interim Constitution. It features three red stars. The Assad regime's flag was the one with the two green stars.
Also, day in ancient Rome (in the nominative case, which is the default unless otherwise indicated) was DIEs, and DIEM is the form in another case. Declension is a thing in Latin...
@Andrzej I never learned Latin, though I know a little about cases via my wife and a few Latin ohrases. So my brain started with DIEs (from dies irae) and then moved to DIEM (from per diem). Fortunately I didn't need to know examples of the other cases!
@Andrzej Eh. Even in the accusative, a day is still a day. It was one of those clues that you had to figure out contextually.
Andrzej, The flag was officially changed only six days ago, so at the time the puzzle was edited, the clue was correct. Nevertheless, I think a last minute change from "has" to "had" could have been made.
This puzzle was really cool. Since Thursday puzzles are known to be tricky, having this puzzle on a Wednesday is an excellent way to introduce a new solver to the rebus function since you can see the letters in STAR disperse throughout the grid. It was also neat how they worked in a few other space-related entries. Awesome job -- really enjoyable solve :)
Thanks for the fun puzzle from Canada!! We still love you :)
@FR Kern Do we ever!!!
Not me having AR in the center of the answer for "That really stinks!" and filling in a F and T ... Great puzzle and loved the novel theme execution.
Moving to next-level solving may involve taking a moment when the puzzle first appears to consider the empty grid on its own, that is, without reading any clues (or titles or author credits, for that matter). Elements to be taken in might include Is it the expected 15x15 (or on Sunday, 21x21) or are the dimensions unusual? Is the symmetry the usual rotational symmetry or is it hyper-symmetrical or mirror symmetrical; if mirrored, is it the very rare diagonal line of symmetry (as today’s is)? Are there oddities such as stranded squares, two square answers, circles, etc.? Where are they? Do the black squares form a shape (best evaluated at a distance)? Taking just a few seconds to ponder these things can help take your solving game up a notch. It only takes a little patience!
@David Connell Plain ignorance on my part I guess, but I still fail to see what value symmetry, or consideration thereof, adds to a puzzle or the experience of solving it. It still seems like an enormous waste of effort. Although someone here posted that it has a positive side effect of averaging word lengths in a grid. Sigh. Okay. I feel similarly about several of the other notes. I suppose I'm just not ready for next level, chef. ;)
This was a really fun puzzle with a clever theme! I went through it fairly quickly but then stalled out with only one square left to fill. You know the one. I stared at that Northwest box with just the one empty circle for minutes, demanding it reveal its secrets to me, certain there was no letter that could go in that circle that would complete the across and down. And it was all that was left of the puzzle. That one devious little circle... I couldn't get it, I couldn't get it, I couldn't get it, I got it!!!! I got it!!! Huzzah!!! IRULE!! I love the ahas of crossword puzzling!! And a one square rebus, I love it I see no fault in these stars!
@HeathieJ The part of this I didn't mention earlier.... Having that square waiting, and staring at the expanded sets of 4 S T A R s, seeing only one circle left, how could that work, is it a mistake... OH! :) Just delightful.
Nice little bonus rebus! Just wish there had been a STARBURST animation as a reward for solving this puzzle (I know, I know, solving is its own reward ;)
@CLN I'm a paper solver. When I finished, my puzzle burst into flames, leaving just a pile of ash on my table. At least that's the way I imagined it.
Love the theme and execution. Loved all the star references. Bonus - it was a nice coincidence that the astronauts came back last evening. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
What a fun puzzle! The number of circle squares warned of many possible rebi, but I just kept plugging along. It worked out fine, with some bumps along the way (I filled in a number of wrong words at the beginning). The theme and the science-related clues were wonderful. I left the one actual rebus square blank till the end, looked at the pattern of the SUPERNOVA stars, then -- Boom! (So to speak.) Bed SLAT made me laugh out loud. It was almost a cryptic clue, where the solver has to think very literally and imaginatively at the same time. How on (or off) Earth do the two constructors do all their extracurricular activities, construct a NYT-worthy puzzle, and keep up their marks at Western? This just goes to show that Western students are... not dummies. Bravi! More from this team, please. Go Canada!
Really fun solve and I enjoyed the rebus. Nice Wednesday where everything came together pretty smoothly but with enough twists to be satisfying. Congrats on your debut!
A rebus!!! And on a Wednesday! What are we to do??? Relax and enjoy a wonderfully clever puzzle. Thanks, Evan Park and Jeffrey Martinovic, and congratulations on your debut, Evan!
What a delightfully deceptive day! Was fortunate to have moved past the NE with a couple unfilled squares, so the single S and T in the middle we’re already apparent. But candy-coated cleverness abounds! Loved it. Been getting a bit pummeled by Life, so I’ve missed you all for a few days. Very, very happy to be back! ⭐️
@CCNY NW. The North West. Add an edit option and I’ll give you my money. Oh wait. I’ll give you *more* money! I know you won’t. It’s almost like you don’t even care about my whining…
The following is now at the end of the Wordplay column. A correction was made on March 19, 2025: An earlier version of today’s Mini Crossword contained a clue that incorrectly suggested that Mario, the video game character, wears suspenders. He wears overalls.
Vaer, I think “overalls” sounds like a pretty inclusive word, kind of an umbrella-term for pants and everything that goes into keeping them up, so okay in a crossword. But I suppose NYT is now bracing for lawsuits…
@Vaer I got a chuckle that Mario merits a correction but the flag of Syria doesn't.
@Vaer Yes, Erin from NJ pointed this out much earlier. It prompted a discussion of Halloween costumes that may be DIY and thus involve suspenders, if one does not own a pair of overalls. Fehstik makes a good point about that flag issue. A long time ago BA suggested they just change ‘has’ to ‘had’, seems like the least they could do in a correction.
Well, I can't seem to get anything past the emus, so I'll just write an ultra abbreviated version with a small number of words, so I can tell which one the emus don't like *today*. Puzzle good. Liked it. Love stars.
@Francis You too? They've been voracious this week. :( ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
The puzzle was very nice, but filling in that last square at the very end (you know which square it was) was *fantastic*. Having one trick square could be too subtle, but the rest of the theme really pointed the way. Great job!
Congrats on your debut, Evan. You and Jeffrey make a great team and I can’t wait to see more of your puzzles in future. This was so much fun to figure out, such an unusual and clever theme. I hope you can ignore the curmudgeonly comments from a few people who perhaps are having a bad day. This will go down as one of my absolute favorites of the year. I had a bad night’s sleep and was a little grumpy when I started doing my puzzles this morning, but this gem put a smile on my face. 😊
I'll forgive the "rebus on Wednesday" because the puzzle itself was so sweet.
Thoroughly enjoyed every second of this solve, and loved the column just as equally. Filled the puzzle completely and wasn’t met with the music until I discovered, OH My, one typo. Sam, I couldn’t agree more with your stance on space; yes, we are a mere speck in the grand scheme of it all, but what a wonderful idea that can lend itself to be. Happy Wednesday everyone! Do emus have humps?
Gold stars for Evan and Jeffery!
What a class A blast I had solving this stellar puzzle! A rebus, a visual, and all that theme fill made this puzzle SUPER fun!
The northwest corner stumped me, but I appreciated the trick when I finally gave up and read the column. It seemed like a fair surprise rebus, considering how long I'd spent wondering if the first circle needed to be an S or if it could be any of S, T, A, or R! A very clever solution. I'm usually terrible at recalling names, so I was amazed to pull KLAUS out of my memory banks immediately, ~2 decades after last reading A Series of Unfortunate Events! The clue that vexed me the most was ATRIA -- it was the first thing I thought of after solving only the final A, but I spent quite a bit of time arguing with myself over whether an atrium is a courtyard. Apparently it can be used to mean an open-air space -- another learning from a crossword!
I am a total sucker for anything astronomical. And this was a really great example of creativity. So, BIG thumbs up from my corner.
Solving the rebus early made me overthink every other circled square. Good one, puzzle creators! And congrats on a stellar debut.
I’ve shared thoughts about visual accessibility before. This is basic stuff for web/app designers. In today’s puzzle, the circled letters are essential to completing the grid and I can’t see them. In dark mode, the circled squares are virtually invisible. Personally, I use dark mode because I do the puzzle when it comes out at night and I like to minimize my light exposure, but there are people who use dark mode to compensate for a visual impairment. It is a valuable accessibility feature. This is easy to fix. Make the circles yellow in dark mode so that they are visible. If you would like to replicate what I see, solve today’s puzzle on an iPhone 15 pro max with the screen brightness almost all the way down and the puzzle set to dark mode. There are other visual accessibility issues with your app, like how difficult it is to see the numbers, but this is a really easy one to fix, so it’s a great place to start. Thank you, Torey Adler - avid solver, currently on an 893 day streak.
@Torey Adler I 100% agree with you. I always play on dark mode with brightness all the way down on my Android Galaxy S23, and it makes it impossible to see the circles unless one is hyper zoomed in (which makes it impossible to see the puzzle as a whole). If anyone from the NYT staff is reading this, please take Torey's suggestion and do something to make circled letters stand out, aI have been frustrated by this for years as well.
@Torey Adler I agree. Please write to <a href="mailto:NYTGames@nytimes.com">NYTGames@nytimes.com</a> so they can consider your comments. The more people who send the suggestion, the better chance of implementation.
@Torey Adler I think in dark mode, black might be the best color (or white) for those circles - especially if you’re going to turn your screen brightness all the way down. I have a feeling that a lot of visual accessibility design that works great under “normal” conditions won’t work as well with the screen brightness turned all the way down, which is gonna mute the colors a lot.
As a rebus lover I’m quite disappointed that I didn’t see it, only noticed the growing STARS. Very impressive debut and definitely looking forward to more from Evan and Jeffrey.
Have never heard anyone exclaim 'OH ME' either in real life or in media or literature. 'OH MY' is a common exclamation that fits the meaning of the clue, though.
Tony, I think I've only heard it as part of "OH ME, oh my," but this a crossword. Beware the IDyS of March?
Brilliant puzzle. Absolutely loved it. Lots of guessing on my part that either paid off nicely or worked out on the crosses, and it took me a hot second at the end to find my error in SULe/YeP (having never seen Star Trek), but I still really enjoyed this one.