Reminder to all Wisconsinites to do your civic duty tomorrow. If you know anyone in Wisconsin, remind them it is vitally important.
To clarify, Tuesday April 1.
@Janis I early-voted, so now I will sit back with fingers crossed.
@Janis I posted this reply and it was here last night, now it's gone. Really, this offended someone? Invest in Tesla: $6.4 million Purchase Twitter: $44 billion Contribute to a campaign: $288 million Own the US Government: Priceless! Might as well buy the Judiciary too for good measure.
@Janis Only if they are voting for Crawford, right? Why are you pretending that it is about the "civic duty"?
I will just assume any complainers are just pulling their own (not so funny) April Fool's Joke Because this is such a perfectly executed and clever idea for a Tuesday April Fool's puzzle. It's Tuesday, so it can't be too hard, but you have to include some twist on April Fool's, so really hard to strike that balance And this really does capture the frustration/annoyance of filling in a partially filled puzzle Well done!
What made this great was that it had a mix of right, partially right, and entirely wrong fill ins
@Steven M. And the subset of partially right: the classic plural "S" guess filled in a couple solitary squares. I'm thinking this prior passenger was not a very experienced solver based on the few answers filled in, in what appears to be two passes through the grid
I really thought someone else had filled in my online puzzle using the pencil option. Asked my husband who had our subscription info and told him whoever did wasn’ t that smart! This was a great April Fools joke and I fell for it hook line and sinker. First time comment from me but it was so much Fun! Props to the constructor!
@GK awwww! This needs to be a NYTimes pick. I hope they see it!
What a delightful prank! Thanks for a pleasant April Fool’s Eve solve.
This theme was immensely relatable and incredibly fun. Bravo!
This year I've been on a mission to go back through the archives and complete all of the puzzles I started and never finished when I was new to solving. This reminded me so much of those, and made me smile in the best way. So much fun! :)
My husband’s uncle had several books of NYT crossword puzzles. When he died a few years ago, his widow gave them to me. Filling out this grid reminded me of finishing the puzzles Uncle Woody started — especially when I had to change an incorrect answer. Thanks for the fun, Mr. Milton, and congratulations on your solo NYT debut!
@Eric Hougland I left a book of NYTimes puzzles sitting in the living room. My little sister found the book and carefully filled in all the answers from the solutions in the back — such a helpful little seven-year-old! I’m afraid I yelled at her… Sorry, Ty!
Easily my favourite Tuesday puzzle of the year !
@Rahul It’s clever and made me giggle.
Number 1 is a bit misleading. Amiga is indeed the word for a friend who is a girl. A girlfriend, as in the one I'm dating would be "novia".
@AT That was my first guess. [Girl friend, in Guadalajara] would have been better. What a difference a space makes… but 1 Down saves us.
@AT I wouldn't say it's misleading, because girlfriend can mean a romantic partner or a platonic friend particularly between straight women.
@AT That was kind of a theme in this puzzle: Amica/amiga; chicks/chicas; rna/dna; and aver/avow are all common crosswords because of the length/sense duplication.
@AT As some have said, I wouldn't say "amiga" is misleading. I just kept "novia" in mental reserve in case "amiga" didn't work with the crosses.
@AT “Number 1 is a bit misleading.” Given that we’re talking about clues in a *puzzle* here, I’d say “a bit misleading” is par for the course.
Sande's puzzle was the perfect level of difficulty and originality for a Tuesday puzzle, all fooling aside. It's the most fun you can find next to a barf bag. Also, please remember to return your seat tables to their full and upright position and have a good day at your destination. Buh-bye
Bravo! Hoping the author reads this comment, as I found the puzzle hilarious and perfectly executed; maybe my favorite puzzle of all time. Something about the way the letters were entered was just a perfect reminder of the inflight crosswords. Perfect for April Fools Day too.
When I opened this puzzle, I got the hugest grin. I showed my husband and literally said “remember when we used to do puzzles on the airplane and sometimes we would find one like this?” 🤣 Imagine my surprise and glee when that worked out to be the theme of the puzzle!?!? Such a clever idea and it flowed so nicely from start to finish. Congratulations on such an awesome debut. Watch out for those pranksters everyone! My younger son got me good the year he turned 10. He poured his dad a glass of wine before dinner. He asked if he could try a sip, then proceeded to chug the whole glass down. It turned out that he had poured a glass of soda earlier and let it go mostly flat so it wasn’t bubbling. We were dying when he said “gotcha - April Fools!” 🤣🤣🤣
“Yes!”, I thought, with an imagined fist pump. “I’ve been seen!” I know this experience, looking forward to filling in the in-flight magazine crossword, only to be soured by a partially filled-in grid, often accompanied by ball-point-pen smears. And I sulk. Have I ever shared this nit with anyone? No – most people wouldn’t relate. But Sande here is a soul brother; he knew that nuisance of which I speak, lampooned it to my delight, and I saw that I am not alone. From somewhere in my inner being, a “THANK YOU!” roared out, and now I feel a little lighter. Thank you so much for this, Sande, and for so skillfully nailing its presentation in the box. Your puzzle was a joy and a tonic!
Administrative note: I am leaving on a trip and will return in a week. I will try to get my Favorite Clues post in on Monday, but it may very well wait until my return. Wishing all a superb week ahead!
This was SO MUCH FUN! It's always annoying to find the airplane crossword filled in, and I usually forget to bring a pencil with an eraser. But a nice, bold pen can cover up all the wrong answers!
Insert primary pun related to puzzle here. (Insert secondary pun here.)
@Mike DIY punning! I love it!
@Mike Insert a different pun based on the pun theme here.
These in-flight puns are really bad today.
@Mike I think there may be an era in today’s puzzle. Amie! Will I be able to figure it out?
@Mike Musk was COURTing voters in Green Bay Sunday. (We also have a race for head ot Dept of Public Instruction -- primary as well as secondary education.)
@Mike Is the Second as related to the First a "Son of a Pun"?
That was a different and cute idea for a theme! I know I’ve probably left a few partially solved puzzles in the seatback pockets in my day - sorry.
@GregK YOU WHAT‽ YOU LEFT A PUZZLE UNFINISHED‽ Does not compute.
That was a delight. Doing it on March 31, I wasn't quite in the April 1 mindset, but I cackled when I realized the unique angle.
Loved this puzzle! I found it quite ... remarkable. ✏️
The second I saw the grid, I smiled. I just couldn't wait to find out the reason for the already filled-in answers. Until I figured it out, and before the column reminded me it's April Fools' Day, I seriously thought it was a way for the NYT to show newbies how it's done: fill in what you think you know, plunk down those S's for what's plural, but always keep in mind it might all need to be corrected. And I especially loved that the "teaching" included the famous AVOW vs. AVer (wait for the crosses!) and DNA vs. rNA (brush up on biology or – wait for the crosses!) Okay, so the reason for the filled-in entries was way simpler and cooler, and I adored this puzzle. My only UGH was the penmanship (hold no grudges, graphics team; you rocked it anyway!) Thank you for this fabulous solo debut, Mr. Milton! (And since we're on a plane, here's the song for those who stayed behind. Hall & OATES with "Everytime You Go Away" <a href="https://youtu.be/jsOBYLFlctM?si=ElJFSx9-JWa8B73o" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/jsOBYLFlctM?si=ElJFSx9-JWa8B73o</a>)
@sotto voce I enjoyed your initial interpretation, even though it wasn’t correct. Clever!
The moment you go from "I'm so confused" to 'it all makes sense now' is such a magical one (I believe crossword constructors call it the Aha! moment 😆) I'd also forgotten what day it is so this is my first April 1st crossword. I started on May 1st so my one-year anniversary is coming up soon. Apparently, the correct gifts would be 'paper' or 'clocks' - apt, much? 🤣 I may not have a decent streak but so far, I haven't missed any. Long may it continue. Happy April Fool's Day!!
@Sebastian totally wish I was in your neck of the woods! Pip-Pip Cheerio Tea Time Darling! Namaste!!
Aver/avow, I'm happy now! Simply wonderful! And the icing on the cherry on top was the pre-filled esses. I'm pretty sure I used to fill those in early when I started doing these. While I'm all for a bit of tomfoolery, please take a moment to remember the true purpose of this holiday: to honor all the fools who gave their all to make this country what it is today.
Who's been writing in my puzzle???!!!! This better be good, is all I can say!! It is! Very! Oh, it's so clever to put an easy, correct answer for the first one most solvers will see. LES made my blood boil. Why are you doing this to me? I wondered. Such a boring------ But wait. AVER. That's not right. That doesn't fit. It's AVOW!!! With a huge lightbulb going off in my head, I correct it. Lightbulbs go off in my head as one by one I correct several more. While also appreciating the ones that are right. What a funny, funny idea! To make the PREVIOUS PASSENGER such a complete amateur at crosswords. We've all seen INFLIGHT MAGAZINES like this one, right? While this may not be one of the best puzzles I've ever done, it's certainly one of the most original. And one of the most amusing. Loved it!
@Nancy Nice to see you back here! I thought this puzzle was a lot of fun. It’s one of the few on my list for 2025 POY consideration.
@Nancy I just have one criticism of your post.... it's too infrequent. Do better. 😀
Just the right amount of annoyingness for April 1. I liked it.
I forgot that tomorrow is April Fool's Day. A cute trick for a very easy puzzle. I would have liked it better if there had been more fills "penciled in" by the spoiler, some right some wrong, to up the challenge. Of course, that would make it more like a Thursday puzzle, especially if the clues were harder. (You can see what has happened. I have driven mad by crosswords.) Congratulations on your debut, Sande, and thanks for a puzzle that made me smile. Don't pay any attention to comment above. It was there when I got here.
@dutchiris This is a superb comment. (I see what you did there!)
So cool! Really enjoyed how you were able to make that work in the app, demonstrating the pre-app phenomenon of inheriting someone’s magazine or newspaper. That in-flight magazine crossword puzzle was the first thing I’d check after boarding a flight. Incidentally I remember pilfering my seat neighbors’ when my copy was already filled in and if I boarded early. (Back in my cut throat youth.) Ah, the pure joy of finding a new, unscathed crossword puzzle. It was always a treat to find fresh puzzles. But there was also a sense of satisfaction in finishing someone’s sparsely filled crossword mess. Thanks for that blast from the past!
I thought this was whimsical and hilarious--one of those puzzles that I wish I'd thought of as a constructor. Congratulations, Mr. Milton!
That was a great idea for a Crossword. Especially the part where some of the answers were in fact right. Honestly though, I was more annoyed when someone had already done the Sudoku.
With this reference and all this talk of in-flight magazine crosswords, I’m reminded that the very first time I finished a New York Times crossword was while waiting for a flight to Israel in 2007. I’d picked up a copy of the NYTimes and worked on the puzzle right up until I boarded the plane. I finished once I reached my seat. I’m pretty sure that was a Monday puzzle, and I’d continue working on puzzles from time to time, but only Mondays. It wasn’t until the pandemic lockdown — and the excellent NYT crossword app — that I set a goal to complete the harder puzzles of the week. Now I can complete the puzzle every day of the week!
Love, love, love, so clever. Though I haven’t seen in-flight magazine in quite a while!
@Nick Roumel Yes — where did they go?.
Great fun, this puzzle brings back so many memories. For decades the only crosswords I did were in in-flight magazines. I was a lawyer back then, operating under time constraints: the puzzle could only be worked on before we were allowed to take our enormous old laptop computers out and after we were instructed to put them away. Gotta get those billable hours! But at least I had the lawyer’s habit of carrying both red and black pens, so I could start in red and overwrite mistakes in black, if necessary. (It was always necessary.) Unfortunately, I was flying so much I was often stuck with a puzzle I’d already done, but at least frequency sometimes scored me upgrades, and in First a kind flight attendant might swap a used magazine for a fresh copy. How I hated prior cruciverbalists! I’m not sure which I minded more, the competent or the incompetent. Those days are gone forever, and now the nice folks here deliver fresh puzzles every day that don’t require a cab ride to O’Hare.
@Paul Turner One of the best things about spending my legal career in government work (after a truly miserable year or so in prison practice) was not having to worry about billable hours. I’m reading between the lines here and assuming you’re now retired. Isn’t retirement grand?
One of my all-time favorite puzzles. Is it possible that I have, now and again, been that person who pencils in a few halfway right answers in an in-flight magazine, and then loses interest in order to gaze longingly at the snack cart? No. I've never done that, not at at all. You're thinking of someone else.
@Asher B. 😀 It's a little suspicious when someone just ups and says "I didn't put in HORSE for 44D".
Neat idea! Very nicely done by the art and coding team to pull this off! Fun!
This one made me smile. That they weren’t ALL wrong was a nice— and realistic!— touch.
Cute April Fool's joke. My best prank was on my mom. We do Wordle together over the phone. One morning, I did it on my own, and when we did it together I suggested the solution as the first word. Mom was so jazzed we got it on the first try, I almost felt bad saying "April Fool."
As an April’s Fool’s prank, this one was pretty mild. But in terms of Tuesday puzzles, it was a delight. It’s always fun to see something new and whimsical in the grid. My solar, my solar. My kingdom for a solar!
A couple firsts for me this past week: -First time posting in this forum -First time doing a Friday and a Saturday puzzle without any clues! (Although both puzzles took me the entire day to do) -First time getting the entire week gold star. I'm posting this now because I just finished the Sunday puzzle this morning. Being hungover most of the day Sunday didn't help much though. So after finishing the Sunday I powered through the Monday and Tuesday and I'm currently at a 9 day streak. Another first. Maybe I finally figured this crossword thing out... Oh and this is NOT an April Fools joke lol
@Joe F The difference in my strategy from the previous weeks was/is just not overthinking the clues. Before if I wasn't 100% on an answer I would leave it blank but this time I just filled in the first thing that came to mind. I know this might be the normal way for most people (or not) but I always thought that if I had wrong letters in there it would confuse me. It actually did the opposite. Who knew? Haha.
@Joe F It took me WAAY too long to realize that if I was unable to do the puzzle one day I could continue my streak by going back and doing the one I missed BEFORE starting the most recent puzzle. Super helpful when traveling / away from the Internet. Congrats on your full week streak!
@Joe F Congratulations, and welcome to the clubhouse! "The difference in my strategy from the previous weeks was/is just not overthinking the clues. Before if I wasn't 100% on an answer I would leave it blank but this time I just filled in the first thing that came to mind." Usually a good course of action, and as your experience increases, you'll get a good sense of how much wordplay is involved, on any given day. But not always--sometimes, in late-week puzzles, you'll be looking for elaborate wordplay, when it's the straightforward answer which delivers the deek.
@Joe F Welcome to this forum! And congratulations on all your recent crossword firsts! One friendly suggestion: “Clues” are what’s published with the puzzle. (If you can solve without clues, you’re doing better than me, and I’ve been solving for decades.) Anything else, whether from the Wordplay column, the Friday Easy Mode newsletter, or some third-party website, is a “hint.” Happy solving! Hope we’ll see you here more often!
@Joe F Sounds like you're on the way. Congratulations. And welcome to the forum. There are a lot of stellar people here, and me.
Loved this one!! I'm sure many of us can relate to this experience.
There were moments of frustration, but I realized I was angry at the idiot who penciled in before me! This was a very fun puzzle, in the strangest sort of way. Perfect gag for April Fools as well. This puzzle was off-the-wall, but in a way that still felt like a solid NYT crossword.
HUP? TIL. I always said HUT and thought that’s what I heard.
@Michael I thought the same thing. This was the word that I got stuck on. I had to look at the answer key. That said - loved this puzzle!!
@Chris same. I never once considered that HUT was wrong so I couldn’t figure out APT_. I thought it ended in T but APTT was obviously wrong.
Did not expect this to throw me off like it did! Nice.
How clever! I fly a lot and I got a good chuckle when I figured out what’s going on. Perfect for today
Finished in record time and I think this is one of the few times I didn’t have one look up. Bring April 1st I was prepared for a more devious (in a good way) puzzle or at minimum REBUS 🤦♀️. I don’t fly as much as I did before I retired but can’t tell you the last time I saw an inflight magazine - kind of miss them. Congratulations on a fun puzzle….no fooling! 🎉
I was thrown off by 1A’s clue being one word. Yes, I know that the meaning of “female friend” is both a socially and dictionary sanctioned one for “girlfriend.” But I’m an old fogey who’s used to “girl friend” (two words) meaning “female friend” and “girlfriend” (one word) having a romantic meaning. Hence, my initial entry of “novia” here. But it’s only Tuesday, so this was very quickly sorted out by an intersecting clue or two 🙂
@Joey It took me forever to let go of noviA. I had the rest of the puzzle completed before I could bring myself to question, and then replace, that entry.
@Joey Completely agree. Amiga is more naturally "girl friend" and novia "girlfriend".
There have been quite a few puzzles this year that I've really enjoyed. This one is at the top of the list. It was neatly themed, perfect for the day, and a bit silly. The RNA/dNA crossing kept me from the good music for an extra couple of minutes. Super fun, thank you. Now where'd I leave my SkyMall catalog?
Started out with a huh? which quickly turned into an ah ha! Super silly & satisfying April Fools Day puzzle.
What a fun idea and brilliantly executed! Left a smile on my face.
I loved this crossword puzzle! Seeing the puzzle already pencilled-in (unexpectedly in handwriting quite similar to my own) made me chuckle. Thanks for making/publishing it.