@Deb Amlen The link to the Wordplay blog is broken in the app. I get a Page Not Found error when I click it. I found this page by a Googling, but others may not think to try that
For reference, it's got a 10 in a spot where it should have 11. The date appears twice in the URL and isn't right once. (I had to google too.)
@Beth I went into the NYT app and searched for Deb Amlen then sorted my date.
@Beth as an alternative, I often use this bookmark in my browser <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/daily-crossword-column" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/daily-crossword-column</a>
@Beth I searched Wordplay in the app.
@Beth Same here. I accidentally clicked on tomorrow's article in my search, as it said April 11th. I hope that does not blow my gold start for tomorrow. I posted in that article about the link before I realized it was Saturday's column.
For those of us with only a Games subscription that can't leverage the whole NYT app search, it was surprisingly hard to Google this. Perhaps it was just a bonus puzzle.
Second try. DEAD LAST I’d rather be dead last than dead first I’d rather be left alone than right together I’d rather bar trivia than slam poets I’d rather have a group purr than a group spat. Thanks for the Friday fun, Jesse! (I think I’ve eaten my last sea scallop).
@Puzzlemucker Sea scallops are certainly better than the sea swallow that I first fit in there. When I looked it up after finally finishing well above avg, (RvSALES/PAvANS remained in place for too long), the sea swallow is a particularly nasty piece of work and it's widely distributed around the world. Stay away from anything that can feed on the Portuguese Man-O'War. Any comments, Captain Q?
@Puzzlemucker Mucky, I share your sentiments and love your verse. I add my purrs to the collective purr. 😼
I love a puzzle that's like a coconut, looks impervious at first, then you start hammering at just the right spots, split it open, raise it to your lips and drink of its cool freshness. Some take more work than others. Boy, wouldn't it be tough if you were a s@xaholic astronaut left alone on some windy ice planet, zero chance of a tryst, and all you have are memories of that bar trivia night where you wrote "Arigato" in answer to the question "How do you thank a male automaton?" and in your group was a particularly attractive art major in tutus, and even though you came in dead last (you shouldn't have answered "Pepsi" to the question "What is alt-pop?") you were not surprised when the bell rang at 3am, "It's me" Yup. ... all the love, all the lying, the oceans of nurses, you recall each one, each spark, there was the one named Opal, who ironically drove an Opal, there was the one who had "Love" tattooed on the inside of her fema, there was the one who said you looked like Errol Flynn, there was the one who called you a boor doing a spat, there was the one on LSD who saw GI Joes crawling out of a bag of spinach, but here you are, left alone, like Neptune ruling over oceans bereft of sea scallops. But do one more recon, down there where the land is edgy and in darkest shadow. You never know what might be near. Say to yourself, "I'll wait," and soon you'll be onto something new.
@john ezra ARIGATO for yet another delicious SNAP STORY. I’d like your characters to meet one day. The s@xaholic astronaut and Elon’s play date, for instance. Maybe they could find true love together?
Broke my record by 10 minutes. Unusually easy for me on a Friday, must just be because it’s my father’s birthday, RIP.
@Rrose Selavy Parents birthdays can be tough after they leave. Take care.
@Elizabeth Connors it’s been 19 years now, but I still think about him pretty much every day—for better or worse.
Overheard as the audience exited the theater: “Welp, one of ‘em may have died IRONICALLY, but the other one was DEAD LAST!”
The outing today filled me with images: • Stark frozen views of an ICE PLANET. • Romeo, grief stricken, thinking Juliet dead. • The strange creatures that show up at the OCEAN’s depth. • A yellow textured corncob pipe. • A ballerina, on toe, in a tutu. • The energy and passion of a slam poet on stage. • That first hint of the light of dawn seeping into the darkness of night. Oh, the places you’ll go through the course of a puzzle, no? Not to mention brushes with beauty in answer (ARIGATO, PAEANS, TRYST), brushes with serendipity (EDGY on the grid’s border, for one), new learnings (for me, SNAPSTORY and messy BUN), and memories (FEMA, triggering a flood of post Helene memories – good and bad – here in Asheville). I liked seeing “full ride” in one of your clues today, Jesse, because that’s what you gave me today. What a rich experience! Thank you!
By the way, if you liked today's puzzle, you'll be happy to hear that Jesse has a Saturday in the queue (which he divulged in his notes to his last puzzle).
@Lewis "Romeo, grief stricken, thinking Juliet dead," I suspect I'm not the only one to have first put "tragically", then later "ironically". I loved this puzzle. It's rare that I love a Friday puzzle!
just a yay me, moment. I've solved the last four Fridays in decent times with no cheating. Maybe I'm finally getting the hang of this.
@Joe I did no lookups untl after I did not get my gold star and music. Had to look up paeans. I thought Alt Pop could not imagine that being the crossing. Closest to a no-lookup for me ever on a Friday!
Not bad tho at first i thought it was hard one, my first pass wasn’t great, with a couple of exceptions (see below😆). 27A - what other children of the 80s immediately started singing “Domo ARIGATO, Mr Roboto”? Now that dang song be popping in my head all day…
No boulevards masquerading as streets. No country names in the wrong language. Just a simple themeless puzzle that moved a bit too fast for a Friday.
@Steve L I've been looking at the comments and seeing how most of you found this very easy. For me 75% of it was, too. The NW corner did me in though. I can't actually remember when I last knew so little in a NYT grid's quadrant. I wonder how Jane and Helen will fare - our experiences are often similar, as you have noticed.
I flew through this puzzle and have no idea how all the entries came to me so easily. Maybe it's the vitamin-enriched cereal I had for dinner. Maybe I'm just well-hydrated? I know for a fact it's not LSD. I think I'll go with being on Jesse Guzman's wavelength. It made for a delicious and enjoyable solve. I worked it from bottom to top and left to right, and so my one mistake was sculptOR instead of ART MAJOR because I had the OR in place. That was quickly fixed by the surrounding entries. Thank you, Mr. Guzman for a really great puzzle! (The inspiration for today's song comes from Mr. Guzman's first name. Here's Roberta Flack with "Jesse" – <a href="https://youtu.be/xPoZRJP1ZH8?si=f68CItuL0iyseTSR" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/xPoZRJP1ZH8?si=f68CItuL0iyseTSR</a>)
@sotto voce Because it was an easy puzzle?
Most of the puzzle was very easy, but the NW... Wow, I knew almost nothing there. The most recent opera I know was probably written and composed in the 19th century, so I had no idea a clue about something from 1987 could involve OPERA ROLEs. I can't imagine how you get pipes from COBS. Is OPAL about this weird birth stone thing I've learned from previous puzzles? Also, while having Googled the answer to the clue I seem to remember seeing OPAL as a female name, my Polish mind couldn't come up with it. Polish (language and culture) only ever uses very traditional names, like Maria, Anna, Julia, etc., so my neural pathways can't handle the more diverse and creative American connections between words and names. Trivia is often my undoing, and today it was, too, in more ways than one. I only got BAR TRIVIA with loads of crosses. I don't know American Sign Language. I needed lots of crosses for ALITO. I haven't watched Barbie. I've never heard of SLAM POETS. I had Romeo die tragICALLY so I could not come up with GI JOES with the wrong cross (they were never big over here, anyway. I had one as a preteen in 1991, only because a rich friend whose father got it on some foreign trip threw it away when its arm and leg fell off. I performed reconstructive surgery with wood and plastic - quite skillfully I must say!). I've never heard or ERROL Morris. I had to Google ORIOLE. CARPOOL and ART MAJOR came late so they were zero help while solving the harder clues. Not my day.
@Andrzej regarding cobs, we have a kids Christmas song, Frosty the Snowman that includes the lyric: “with a corn-cob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal.” Corn-cob pipes were popular, I think Douglas MacArthur famously smoked one (more) during WWII…
@Andrzej You are correct, opal is the birthstone for October. There are actually two October birthstones, opal and tourmaline, although I’ve never seen the latter used as a woman’s name! (Opal is also pretty rare in America.) You might be surprised to learn that Poland played a big part in popularizing birthstones: Although the practice of attributing mystical powers to certain stones began much earlier, linking gemstones to birth months was a marketing tactic used by 16th century European gem traders, especially those in Poland and Germany. Or so the Internet tells me.
@Andrzej I don’t know if it’s just an American thing, but poetry slams are competitions where poets read their work in front of an audience and are ranked by a panel of judges. I’ve never heard the participants referred to as SLAM POETS, just “poets”, so that wasn’t an easy fill for me. I had to intuit it from the crosses.
@Andrzej You're very lucky that Samuel ALITO does not haunt your dreams like he does mine. ERROL Morris, on the other hand, makes interesting documentaries. Three that I recommend off the top of my head are Gates of Heaven, The Unknown Known, and The Thin Blue Line. Just curious, would you have known the sign for LOVE in PJM?
@Andrzej I was born in October, so I got OPAL immediately. However, I had wanted something with "pints and points" to be darts, so I spent several confused seconds wondering how one would make a pipe out of a cod.
@Andrzej Regarding the ASL for LOVE, I responded in a separate message above because it was something I had intended to include in my original post about the puzzle and forgot. The video I linked to is beautiful.
@Andrzej I think the Northwest is often the hardest at least for me!
This was one of those ones where I had very few answers in the beginning and worried I'd meet my match. But when they started coming, they came fast. Once again, I finished in almost half my Friday average. To @Deb Amlen I would ask, are your scallops usually served with the shell on? If not, them don't worry. They're not looking at you! Photo: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/TheDepthsBelow/s/7r2FLJBJf5" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/r/TheDepthsBelow/s/7r2FLJBJf5</a> Did anyone else put tRagICALLY before IRONICALLY? I had GIJOES for 24A, then took it out for tRagICALLY, then put it back in after getting messy BUN and BOOR. I started 1A with FIREWORKS, but Michael CERA was a gimme, so that one changed pretty quickly too. Anyway, I thought it was fun and satisfying.
@Beth Oy, so many typos. We need an Edit button. Or at least an Un-Submit one!
@Beth Great photo. What a creature, what a world!
@Beth Ironically I entered tragically. I've seen people with bugs in their hair before, soooo...
@Beth I looked back at GI JOES while trying to fill that down answer because I thought maybe it was wrong. But I was too confident about BAR TRIVIA and ART MAJORS for GI JOE to possibly be wrong. If I didn't have those two fills I definitely would have removed GI JOES like you did.
Couldn't get anything in the top half on my first pass through and thought I'd have to turn auto check on. Then a lot of the bottom half started coming together. After a a slog through the NW, what do you know, I finished my first ever Friday with zero lookups! I'll take the little victories these days.
It's 830 on Friday morning and the link to Wordplay is still broken. Srsly? I'm conflicted about this puzzle. There's a lot of nice Friday level fill, but much of the cluing seemed Tuesday level to me. Some are reporting trouble with the NW, but I was able to complete it before moving onto the rest of the puzzle. Usually in late week puzzles I'm left staring at a mostly blank NW with the rest of the puzzle done.
@Vaer I loved this puzzle! I loved the witty clues. I was surprised and delighted that I only needed six cheats. (But I'm never one to clamor for harder puzzles.) Yes, it's quite odd the Wordplay link only goes to the main Wordplay page, and not the article about the puzzle this late in its run.
@Vaer Still broken at Midnight Friday as well!
Popeye’s spinach paeans worked for me. I eventually came to love the ironically-healthy stuff.
@JohnWM it's embarrassing that I first put CHICKEN for Popeye's 🤦
@JohnWM The only spinach in my childhood home was the frozen stuff, reheated by itself. I think I must’ve have been (may still be?) hypersensitive to bitter flavors, because I hated it. Letting it get cold on my plate did nothing to improve the taste. Then, in college, I tasted fresh spinach probably for the first time. Now, I’ll eat frozen spinach when I put it in something like the sauce for a pizza.
Secret comment section today for true comment-heads ONLY >:) have a good weekend y'all (context: wordplay article has a URL/date error at the moment)
@koty We’re all laughing evilly and making diabolical puzzle plans!
Sparkling Friday puzzle that flew by like a breeze
Only 6 seconds away from beating my Friday best. Drat. But what a great puzzle!Very nice answers all throughout, though maybe the clues were a bit easy? Oh, and the link to this article from the app is broken.
A fine, fresh, fun puzzle that was right in my wheelhouse. I liked the clue for IRONICALLY. The only hiccup I had was that I invented a new musical genre called artpop. I must have been thinking of Kate Bush and Joanna Newsome. I had to scour the puzzle at the end to see that it should be ALTPOP.
@Marshall Walthew Lady Gaga beat you to the punch with the invention of Artpop, which was the title of her 2013 album.
@Marshall Walthew I put artpop too. Fortunately I thought about the "rsd" crossing it created and realized there was no way that was correct. But I ended up having to scour the puzzle at the end for a different single letter error. For some reason my brain cannot retain names and I once again typed Alita instead of ALITO. The crossing didn't even seem unreasonable to silly ol' me. Aceans totally seemed like it could be some obscure word.
Wow, not sure what happened, but this was like a Monday puzzle for me! Finished in record time. Definitely not used to that with a Friday puzzle. I guess the setter and I were on the same wavelength!
@DQ It was for me too! Probably my fastest Friday ever.
I was just thinking the other day that it had been a while since I had a new personal best. I’m not sure what my previous best Friday time was, but today’s was Monday or Tuesday territory. Though it wasn’t hard, it was fun, and the grid is about as clean as you can get. Thanks, Mr. Guzman!
For the SLAM-curious, watch SlamNation. It captures the humor, camraderie and energy of a SLAM perfectly. My good friend, who has since passed away, introduced me to the form, and has a small part in the film. I think of him every time I see references to poetry SLAMS. He was also my mix-tape or mix-cd buddy, so every time I share a music link here, I'm wishing I could send it to him.
So, earlier I figured that surely someone notified the games team about the broken link, and didn't notify them myself. Then, I started thinking that, well, maybe no one did. So I just did. But now I'm curious... did anyone here notify the Times about this earlier???
@Lewis I didn't until probably just about the same time you did. Editors and Games emails.
@Lewis I did, but the link from the app is still broken. Looks like they used the date instead of the puzzle name to construct the link used in the games app. I’m surprised they still haven’t fixed it!
Loved the clues for 31A (down from F) and 39A (pilot). Had both answers immediately (yay for being on the same wavelength!) and grinned while entering them. NE corner took me the longest -- I think of LOPED as the "steady, easy gait" definition rather than the leaping/bounding stride definition, so I started with Leapt in 16A, plus I don't associate ITSME with doorbells-- on entering, sure, and right after knocking , sure, but somehow not after ringing doorbells. So slower, but I also had a pretty good time overall-- both in terms of fast and in terms of enjoyable.
@Isabeau. Yes, leapt and on the spot had me stuck for awhile. Once I started thinking of all the other possibilities for “On the …” it finally fell into place.
I forgot to mention but was reminded by a comment from @Andrzej: The ASL sign for love was a happy coincidental gimme for me only because I happen to be participating in a concert this coming Monday during which we will sign to part of the song "Both Sides Now," by Joni Mitchell. The ASL segment of our show was inspired by a scene from the movie, CODA, which won an Oscar for Best Picture and was featured in last Saturday's crossword puzzle! Here's the scene. It's beautiful. <a href="https://youtu.be/qlTEAXcKssg?si=IX5j9gTcfN4V1CJs" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/qlTEAXcKssg?si=IX5j9gTcfN4V1CJs</a>
Ah, PAEANS: the word that one can barely spell, let alone pronounce; usually LEFTALONE. Day made.
@Suzzzanne I always remember there's a tricky E in there somewhere. Fortunately for me, that was my last letter to fill, so I knew where to put it!
@Suzzzanne I never remember if it's PAEANS or PEAENS and invariably choose the wrong one first. This time was no exception. (Or peahens, but that's for the Spelling Bee)
@Suzzzanne I used Google to double-check my spelling, once I knew that was the word I wanted.
@Suzzzanne I have no problem spelling that word, but remembering it ? That's a horse of a different color. Peaens would be a British (maybe Cockney?) pronunciation of peahen! ;)))
So the link was bad, and we commented on it here, and it's still bad. Someone once said "they" pay no attention to the comments and I guess they are even more right that I thought. No wonder we get nothing worth anything when we complain about the emus.
@Francis The column is dated wrong. That is one of the problems. The bigger issue I won't comment on, but it has been wrong all day.
@Francis Could this be the revenge of the emus!?
This one put up a fight. I enjoyed it
Opened tough, closed well. Like a good par 4, some challenges, and it will go smoothly as long as you avoid the pond in front of the green. Happy spring!!
Nice Friday puzzle. Not all that easy for me of course, and had to look some things up, but most of it fell together from the crosses with a bit of considering alternatives and pondering. And, of course I have a couple of puzzle finds today. First one - a Sunday from April 1, 2012 by Patrick Merrell with the title "Of course!" Some theme clue and answer examples: "Golf club repositioning?" CHANGEOFADDRESS "Comment after hitting a tee shot out of bounds?" BYEBYEBIRDIE "Wedge shot from a worn-out practice range platform?" ACHIPOFFTHEOLDBLOCK "Woods stowed in the rear of a golf cart?" BACKSEATDRIVERS And there were more. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=4/1/2012&g=49&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=4/1/2012&g=49&d=A</a> I'll put the other puzzle find in a reply. ....
@Rich in Atlanta As theatened: A Sunday from March 23, 1997 by Bryant White with the title: "Pop culture." Some theme clue and answer examples: "Pop setting for a Mussorgsky work?" BALDMOUNTAINDEW "Pop Anthony Burgess novel?" ACLOCKWORKORANGECRUSH "Pop dance team, informally?" FREDANDGINGERALE "Pop Peace Nobelist?" ELIHUROOTBEER "Pop western of 1960?" THEMAGNIFICENTSEVENUP And there were more. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/23/1997&g=97&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/23/1997&g=97&d=A</a> I'm done. ...
Well, that NW gave me a little crunch, but thankfully the rest of the puzzle opened it up like a present! Hubby has a scar on his ankle from one summer on the Vineyard where we spent our summers working and beaching it. He swears the scar is from a scallop. That bit him. The mark left from a ferocious scallop attack, I guess. I married him anyway, but…you know?
I got quite the retro vibe from today's puzzle: CARPOOL - back before there was remote working RERUNs - back before there was streaming and bingewatching GI JOES - Yes! my favorite toy, back before Hasbro shrunk them AOL - IRONICALLY, my service provider decided to get out of the e-mail business, so all accounts were migrated to AOL Mail. I got to keep the domain name in my address, though. Mom still has her original @aol.com address.
@Grant I still use aol! My kids tease me about it--in fact, they've asked if I still pay for it. I miss that "you've got mail" announcement and the sound of the modem connecting.
I had nothing on my first run through except COBS, AOL, ORIOLE, and BOOR. I also had BAR_ _ I _ _ _ . A couple lucky guesses there. Then I read more clues, knew COMOESTAS, and eventually managed a complete fill in 3 minutes faster than my average. It felt daunting at first, but for a change, I didn't dwell on stuff I couldn't figure out immediately. Quite an enjoyable solve, all things considered.
@Steve congrats and I had a similar experience too. I love it when the puzzle starts coming together after looking so bleak at first
The left side was a lot easier than the right side for me. My time got hung up in the NE. I don’t usually do well with long stretches like cocacolas. However, snapped in opal and cobs and my brain went to the correct crosses in the NW. Many fun clues, skaters turn into? I love watching figure skating and have for years. Actually had to visualize Ilia Malin doing a quad axel before realizing the clue was correct
The bottom half of this puzzle came together very quickly for me, but I found the top half much tougher to crack. The NE corner, especially, was just not on my wavelength. When I ring a doorbell, I wait silently. Futzing didn’t lead me to toying, un-straight didn’t make me think untruthful, and all I know about Iceland’s weather is it gets very cold. Still, I pressed my way through without a lookup, so it was a good Friday for me.
@Heidi. Indeed. I had leapt instead of LOPED and on the spot instead of MEND.
It was a nice, smooth solve. Thank you Jesse. The 200 eyes of the SEA SCALLOP threw me for a loop too. But good to learn something new today. May help me with BAR TRIVIA someday. Heh. Favourite clues : SPINS A YARN, PURR, ILL WAIT
I was TOYING with the NE corner for about 45 minutes. Tough puzzle, but fair.
@MFSTEVE. Same here. I had LEAPT and On The SPOT for the longest time! I had to put it away and come back an hour later for it to dawn on me.
Smooth multifaceted fill, a lot of unique things to think about, a pleasant Friday. In response to Deb's question, the only difference solving a Friday from Thursday, for us, is that when we think we might be encountering a Natick - we can at least be sure that it's not because a rebus or other theme play is afoot. It's usually just because we did not consider the clue properly. Or maybe because we didn't complete our research on ancient aztec rap covers by South Korean boy bands... When stuck on Friday or Saturday, it's time to consider the Spelling Bee for a few minutes and come back to the grid. When stuck on Thursday, try doing an old Tuesday puzzle from the archive, before returning. Or just breath for a moment...
A pleasant puzzle. Solidly constructed, with some fun clues. But honestly, it was just too easy for a Friday. . . This seems to be a trend lately; in my experience the puzzles are getting easier, especially later in the week. I'd like to think it's because I'm such a genius, but the rest of my life assures me that's not the case. Nor are my solving skills that much better than they were, say, five or ten years ago. I think the puzzles are just not as challenging as they used to be. And that's disappointing. A minor disappointment, in the scheme of things, but still. To answer Deb's question, I used to approach Tricky Thursdays on full alert, like I was embarking on a great mysterious treasure hunt where any square might be part of a hidden pattern that provided the key to completing an otherwise impossible grid. But too often these days it seems that understanding the trick is only incidental instead of integral to the solve. Yesterday's puzzle was an example of that. Cute theme, artfully executed. But the solving experience was a kind of a let down for a Thursday.
@Anna Don't underestimate yourself, I think you're getting better. At least I think I'm getting better.
@Anna The easiness trend has to be intentional. They must figure the more people who can solve the puzzle, the more subscriptions they'll sell.
@Anna That's interesting! I have found the puzzles lately (last month or two) to ne much more difficult than others in the previous two years. I was happy to have a bit of relief this week where I could finish the mon-fri puzzles with minimal/no lookups! Isn't it interesting how people's experiences diverge depending on their knowledge and wavelength with the constructors. As a side note, I have a pet theory that not only is there a Monday through Saturday difficulty trend, but also a monthly difficulty tend, where puzzles get progressively harder throughout the month (e.g. a Saturday puzzle at the end of the month will be harder than a Saturday puzzle at the beginning of the month). But I imagine this is probably confirmation bias!
I enjoyed this one. I didn't get much until I hit the SE corner, then it started to come together. I had a hard time with the NW but finally wrestled it into submission. I have to say, the NY Times crossword puzzle is the only place in my life where I routinely run into references to LSD. It's a little weird. Anyway, thanks for the fun!
Paeans and Sea Scallop tripped me up. I thought "Sea Swallow" at first and that messed up my other words for a bit.
@Emily I don't recall if I had any crosses for PAEANS (perhaps the first A?), but the word popped into my mind immediately. And that really was the key for me to that whole section of the puzzle! I can see, though, how that would stump folks (the word has certainly hung me out to dry a time or two).
@Emily I had sea swallows for a long time too!
Finished in around 2/3 my average time. Fun puzzle. Thanks
The trivia about scallop eyes is wild! I've never seen the entire thing, only a cleaned version, so only the muscle and orange bit. I'm going to look for it at the fishmonger. Nice puzzle, several really great entries. To answer your question, Deb, on themeless I ponder the long answers briefly, and then move on. After I get a few of the crosses, I'll take another stab at the long ones. Similar to themed puzzles, but in themed, I try to get the themed answers and the theme without using many crosses. Makes it a bit more (sometimes a lot more!) delightful.
@Nora scallops really are "see-food" after all!
Being a former music major (and a current musician), OPERAROLE and EFLAT were right up my alley. As a baseball fan in Maryland, I was happy to see ORIOLE. My 80s teenager self was triumphant about knowing ARIGATO (and reminisced about RERUNs). My daughter is an ARTMAJOR. Having finished the Duolingo Spanish course, I was pleased to see COMOESTAS. (I'm now using Duolingo to refresh the German I learned decades ago.) I never eat SEASCALLOPs, so I'm not now worried that my dinner will be staring at me. And as I type this, one of my kitties is next to me saying [Please keep scratching me!] So, yeah, loved the puzzle!