This name comes up way too often these days for me 😅
@Heidi No. One of them has talent.
@Heidi How funny is it that the puzzle constructors thought that they might get to debut AYO?
@Heidi There's also EGO Nwodim to keep in mind - she's been on SNL since 2018.
Memorable moments: • Stopping after filling in MOOD, trying it out in the "That's relatable" sense, finding it perfect, and wowing over how beautifully our language evolves. • Going “Huh!” at realizing that ERROL backward spells another icon of old Hollywood. • That thrill when my brain slipped me the answer unlocking an impenetrable spot. • Going “Wow!” and “Hah!” at those stellar clues for SLEEP MASK, BEST ACTOR, GENIE, HAIL MARY, and especially [They’re grated outdoors] for DRAINS. • Melting at beauty upon uncovering MAKE MAGIC, ROYAL WE, and DEEP FAKE. • Meditating for a moment on the wise and exquisitely expressed Santayana quote. • Surge of respect as I take in the completed grid, with its measly 68 words and 32 blocks, and find it free of DRECK and abounding with longs (15), not one of them boring. Sarah and Rafael, you filled me with richness today. This was far sweeter than simply a fill-iin-the-squares. Thank you!
As soon as “bottled spirit” solved to GENIE, I knew this would be a killer grid and I was not disappointed. Maybe the best set of clues so far this year.
@Jamie I thought GENIE was quite clever, too.
@Jamie I agree! I learned a number of things today, and loved the clever cluing for HAILMARY and DRAINS. When I was admiring the finished puzzle, realized that PETAL clue of fortune-telling pick relates to picking a daisy and saying "She loves me, she loves me not", right?
@Eddie When do you not “done did it”? What do you even post, if you don’t? “I worn slap out” “This dog didn’t hunt”
A very pleasant puzzle, but to me it felt like an easy Friday. The entries were fun; maybe kick the cluing up a notch. Or two notches? I WANT TO TRY something tougher. Thanks, Sarah and Rafa.
@Barry Ancona Barely Friday difficulty I thought. Was hoping for more of a challenge.
@Barry Ancona When was the last time you were challenged by a puzzle here? Just curious.
@Barry Ancona It’s always wonderful to be reminded how good you are at crosswords. Your comment has truly enriched the comments section. Thank you.
Even Ms. Edebiri would be embarrassed to know her name has come up three days in a row.
@Remy I personally think the editors are trying to help us out by having repeat answers back to back. The only chance I have at remembering a new name is seeing it three days in row. Ayo Edebiri Ayo Edebiri Ayo Edebiri What a bear! Hah. Maybe now it will stick.
@Remy Ayo Edibiri is entering the eno-ono-oreo hall of fame.
@aa I spelled it right on the first try Friday and told everyone (who does the puzzle) I know! She's an amazing talent and is involved in some genius projects in addition to The Bear.
I find it quite fun that Madam Edebiri shows up in both themeless puzzle for this week. Im not surprised she has shown up 4 times this year alone!
@Elijamin I did laugh when I saw her. :)
@Elijamin 4th time for AYO, but I’m pretty sure I remember seeing EDEBIRI as well.
@Elijamin I hope AYO was a particularly easy gimme today for everyone who does the puzzle daily 🤓
One of those puzzles where you step over the obvious to find the skewed, but if you do it every time you miss the junk (boat, that is), and sometimes have to take a step back, in a different direction. The fills were not difficult, but the cluing was sly, and it was like learning to dance with a new partner (two partners, this time). DAY SPA was an obvious destination, but I wanted to body surf, and a private detective as an eye shadow for a night out (don't ask my why about that one). The puzzle put me in a very good MOOD, and I thank you for that, Sarah and Rafael. Let's do it again.
Any other night owls and late risers here??
@Amanda early but on the other side of the pond 😀
@Amanda Hi Amanda from Texas. I'm up and just finished the Saturday Crossword. Night owl here. I'll be a late riser tomorrow. How'd you like the puzzle?
@Amanda Big, big, big time night owl. I'm practically nocturnal. I don't know why. It causes all sorts of problems in meshing with family matters, but it's my strong, strong inclination.
@Amanda 1:45 am and having just finished the crossword, I’m about to start Spelling Bee. So, definitely yes!
@Amanda Early-rising night owl reporting in, with customary red-rimmed eyes.
I LOVED this puzzle! It wasn't as easy for me as for some of you, but I did solve it more quickly than most Saturdays. Just like Deb, I was so proud of myself for entering yoganidra for 15A with no crosses. Eventually, I realized YOGA was the last four letters so grudgingly changed it to nidraYOGA. But 5D had to be EMTS, so I changed it to DREAM, muttering the whole time, "That's not what it's called." Then, just like Deb, finished the puzzle and Googled "Is dream yoga the same as yoga nidra?" and learned exactly what Deb learned. Nope. It's a different thing. THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T COMPLAIN IN THE COMMENTS ABOUT AN ANSWER BEING WRONG WITHOUT FIRST LOOKING IT UP! But now that I know what it is, I want to start practicing it! I already lucid dream occasionally, which is just so much fun because as soon as you realize you're asleep and dreaming, you also realize that you can do anything you want. Sure, you can fly or walk through walls. At a piano recital and forgot to practice? You can play anything you can think of. On stage and forgot your lines? No problem. You can make up the lines because none of it's real! There were so many other fun answers that were totally on my wavelength. I got AIRSIGN right away because I've also wondered why Aquarius isn't a water sign. Great clue. Got SLEEPMASK because I wear one every night so that, as a night owl and LATERISER, I don't get awakened early by the sun.
@Beth Also, loved "words on a statue honoring Washington," "something picked in a fortune telling game," "shakes but not sundaes," and "bottled spirit." I could gush on and on, but it's time for my cherry-flavored Betty's Eddie and sleep mask. Night night.
@Beth Oops. I'm so sorry. It was Caitlin, not Deb.
@Beth On of my great disappointments is, though I often have the same type of dream every night, I haven't ever been able to realize I was dreaming. I've come close, I think, but never quite got there. For example, acting dreams: One night I couldn't remember my lines and I realized it didn't matter because it was a dream. And yet, I told myself *during the dream* that even if it was a dream, I still had to do right by the director, and wouldn't allow myself to just wake up. I'm kind of a mess.
@Beth Using an eye mask improved my sleep by at least 33%. In a long-term insomniac and it’s been such a boost.
For “Rely on audience support during a show,” I was so proud to immediately come up with CROWD SURF. Too bad it was wrong…
Ayo as an answer again? That’s what, three days in a row? That’s way too much for an actress you have to be a fan of a particular show to know.
@MarkN AYO must be getting tired, after making so many appearances lately.
@MarkN Three times this week; Tuesday, yesterday and today. Not in a row. But if you know that, how is it you don’t know the name yet?
@MarkN is AYO Edediri this generation’s Alan ALDA?
@MarkN If you think she was only in The Bear, please check out The Residence. That is, if you like a COZY MYSTERY.
*checks yes, adds smiley, passes note back* Fun and smooth. A few misses -- SEIzeS before SEISMS, dine before GNAW, TEen before TEMP, DRoss before DRECK, thought about TigER for 50A, might have considered durian for 25D except I knew 40A, and really wanted 54A to be "crowd surf" -- but easily fixed. WANTTOTRY DREAMYOGA? I vote YEA...
@Isabeau I'm so curious about durian for 25D. So curious I just Googled, "do you grate durian?" Nope. That's not a thing. What am I missing?
@Isabeau SpaSMS before SEISMS myself
@Isabeau I had several of the same initial fills (TEen, DRoss), not to mention Atari instead of AMIGA, making the SE difficult to unwind and properly complete
A very wistful solve for an insomniac, what with SLEEP MASKs, LATE RISing, and DREAM YOGA. Like Caitlin, I thought the latter was going to be yoga nidra, although I’ve heard of the Tibetan practice of dream yoga. I’ve been a kundalini practitioner since college, and my most memorable teacher tried to initiate me into some Tibetan rites but, to dream, one has to sleep first and, well, the latter has always been problematic for me. MOOD as clued crossed with MOCHI led to my having to leave the M square empty till I completed the remaining grid, then running the alphabet. There are two assumptions which come shining through in how both the NYT crossword puzzles and Spelling Bee are edited: (1) modern slang is ubiquitous and/or worth acquiring, and (2) everyone is or should be a foodie. I’d argue this is more of a culture-creating than culture-reflecting position, but I’d be a pretty lone voice. Aron for ADAM held me up for a couple of minutes and briefly left me wondering why East of Eden would be clued as a movie instead of one of the finest example of our American literature. But then Virginia (or perhaps Leonard?) WOOLF came and went without a single work being cited. And so, true to form, the puzzle managed to avoid requiring the solver to have ever read anything resembling literature (with apologies to Emily TESH, but still). I liked the puzzle, by the way. I suspect the dumbed-down clueing is on the editors, not the constructors. Have a good Saturday, everyone.
@Sam Lyons Right, Virginia Woolf reduced to an animal sound-alike. I almost didn't want to enter it. I have never heard of EGGHEADED as an adjective. That felt so off that at first I couldn't even imagine what two letters would come after EGGHEAD. DOTTODOT was invented out of thin air. And have you ever once said WANTTOTRY as a stand-alone phrase? HATE as a pathetic "word before" clue is as bad as GRAVY needing a silly fill-in-the-blank clue. Dumbing down is right, whoever's responsible. Sigh.
"I liked the puzzle, by the way. I suspect the dumbed-down clueing is on the editors, not the constructors." Sam, I agree.
@Sam Lyons That's funny that you think the Spelling Bee editor expects everyone to be a foodie because I'm constantly irritated by legitimate foods or ingredients that are not included in the Bee! Annatto (a natural food coloring included on many product ingredient lists) comes to mind immediately, but there've been plenty others.
I just discovered crossword puzzles less than a year ago, after getting bored of another game I’d been playing for a few years, so I can’t tell if today's really was unusually easy for a Saturday, or it just happened to have the hidden theme, "mostly stuff Ed knows". I love that I learn something new from almost every puzzle—despite all the times I’ve been to Ireland, ERSE was a TIL. Nit pick: AMIGA is a model of computer; the brand is Commodore. And they really were amazing machines for their time!
@Ed H. I remember watching this Amiga demonstration back in the 80s and being absolutely amazed: <a href="https://youtu.be/Hoz76CS8z4k" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/Hoz76CS8z4k</a>
@Ed H. Oh, that's why AMIGA as a computer didn't make any sense to me... I got it all in the crosses. Commodore, now that I recognize in this context. Thanks for the nit!
Not Saturday difficult - not even close.
27A/27D was a definite natick for me: MOCHI/MOOD?
@Wayne Harrison If I didn’t have a daughter in her 20s and I didn’t follow certain food reviews on YouTube, I working have gotten either.
Didn't find this one unusually easy - typical tough Saturday workout for me, and had to look up more than a couple of things, but ended up being an enjoyable solve. RE: 34 down - was living in Upper Michigan when that happened. Now I have the lyrics of the last verse of the song stuck in my head. And... ...yep - GITCHEGUMEE was an answer in a puzzle once. And of course I have some puzzle finds - I'll put those in replies. ...
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: First a Sunday from October 20, 1996 by R. Ross with the title "What their names mean." In that one, all of the clues were just the names of states and every theme answer was appearing for the first and only time. Here are some examples: "FLORIDA" FEASTOFFLOWERS "KANSAS" PEOPLEOFTHESOUTHWIND "MASSACHUSETTS" GREATMOUNTAINPLACE "NEVADA" SNOWCAPPED "ILLINOIS" TRIBEOFSUPERIORMEN "MISSOURI" TOWNOFTHELARGECANOES "MINNESOTA" SKYTINTEDWATER Don't think I would have much a chance at that one. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=10/20/1996&g=86&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=10/20/1996&g=86&d=A</a> ....
@Rich in Atlanta Hah.. how about "Shining Big Sea Water"??
Today was not easy for me (at all). FIEF (although so obvious and straightforward in hindsight), SEISMS, and the whole SE corner took me longer than I care to admit. I broke in with SLEEPMASK but every other letter felt like an eternity. Happy music felt like MAKING MAGIC today! I'm usually fast with Musa's puzzles but not today. In other fun news, I am running for local political office in my lovely Town of Millton (Board of Assessors) and I'm off to go hold my sign in the rain. Election is April 29. Local government in northeastern towns is fascinating. For a fun rabbit hole, google the concept of Town Meeting. Such a wild form of democracy that was completely foreign to me when I moved from Cleveland 20+ years ago. We take our local elections extremely seriously here, as I think it should be. Cheers!
@Niki B Funny, I spent many years in New England and I don’t think I ever ran across this kind of Town Meeting, just the informational ones. Thanks for bringing it up. BTW, I think many of our readers might be interested in your impressive qualifications for this position! You’ll have to keep us all informed how it goes… See: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/2y336arh" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/2y336arh</a>
@Niki B My mom has been a town meeting member in central Massachusetts for 45 years. I just proofread her flyer last week and she’ll be out there with her sign tomorrow in the center of town. I wish there was such a thing here in California.
One of the joys of spending New Years in rural Japan is making mochi by hand outdoors. It’s a bit terrifying, because you swing a large mallet at the pile of sweet rice that is placed in the hollow of a tree stump, and in between each swing of the mallet, the proprietress of the inn will swoop in and quickly knead the mochi. It’s not sporting to pause for her—you’re just supposed to establish a rhythm in swinging the mallet and hope that you don’t smash her hands instead of the mochi. When finished, the mochi cakes are wrapped in nori (sushi seaweed) and baked on top of the wood stove. Yum!
A nice little boost of confidence since it was the first Saturday I have solved without any hints, auto check, or peeking in a very long time :)
BEST ACTOR, haha! Lewis, what say you?
Nice Goldilocks puzzle for me, neither too easy nor too hard (for a Saturday). Just right! Too much of AYO Edebiri? Not yet. She's becoming a gimme, though. And I appreciate not needing to spell her last name, although I think I have it down now. Now that I think about it, though, it seems to me that the puzzle was both too easy and too hard: a surprising number of gimmes for a Saturday, and some real head scratchers to balance it out.
And now an earworm: "The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee SUPERIOR, they said, never gives up her dead When the gales of November come early."
One Hamilton mention and now I’m listening to the entire soundtrack once again lol. Had to check if NEVIS got a name drop. I guess I’ll have to listen to the whole thing just to make sure. 😌
@Ryan I know St. Kitts does have a name drop. (That or Hamilton's Wiki article.) And I knew from looking up St. Kitts when Hamilton came out that it had a partner island. I did have to look up the name of that island last night.
This was quite challenging for me. A very ‘uncomfortable’ solve. But I got through it pretty quickly. I don’t think I even had five entries last night, falling asleep while trying to solve. Which unfortunately included probably 30 minutes of timer doze time. But this morning, I plowed through it. The whole time thinking I would never finish. SW->SE->NE->NW SEISMS crossing FIEF was interesting to me, because I always mix up the I and E for both words. It took me a while to realize it isn’t spelled FeiF. If AYOEDIBIRI Shows up tomorrow, I still probably will get it wrong. Well constructed. For me. A good Saturday. For others, probably too easy
I live spitting distance from Detroit's Mariner's Church, the "musty old hall," where the bell "rang twenty-nine times/for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald." Can I see it from my dining room window? Not quite--the RenCen gets in the way. But the ship sank much further north, off Whitefish Point, at the eastern end of the Upper Peninsula. It's one of my favorite spots in Michigan--beautiful and desolate. In recent years, It's starting to become more "touristy," between ship-wreck junkies and bird-watchers; so try to catch it on an off day. The spectacular Tahquamenon Falls is about 25 mi. away, also worth a visit. We try to get up there at least once a year
@Bill, Don't forget to stop by Clyde's drive in, located in St. Ignace.
I liked this puzzle. Some good crunchy clues, some fresh fill, smooth overall.
Interesting how we have AYO again after the whole name was there yesterday. And we have YEA again, with its more common meaning of "affirmative vote".
@Steve L Three times I attempted to post a longer comment that began with the above two observations, but apparently something in that comment tripped the wires. I also wondered: Is GNAW the opposite of YEA? Do Bill NYE's fans actually count down to the start of his shows? Kudos to whoever came up with the clue for 31D. Fastest Saturday for me in a few months. Last one that was faster was 2/1.
Beautiful puzzle. Under 70 words? That’s so tough to do. Maybe not tough to construct, but is MAKING MAGIC when you can do it this well. Wow. Color CC impressed! Thank you!
Great fun. Only stumbling block was MOCHI and MOOD. Mochi I should have known. Mood I would never have known, though perhaps I should have asked my daughter, her being in the neighboring room and always pleased when Dad gets shown up.
Very enjoyable. Some culture clashes: IVIES obviously SEISMS not in common use ON RAMP = slip road TEAR in this sense = binge, bender, splurge, spree LIT ON = alight upon YEA = aye (eg the ayes have it in Parliament) TAM = in Scotland usually tammie NYE = in Scotland - Hogmanay HARD PASS - not in common use Will I remember MOOD? I don't even use "That's so relatable" so probably not!
@Jane Wheelaghan In case you were wondering, HAIL MARY refers to a certain play in American football. When a game is in the final seconds, if the trailing team has possession and could win with a touchdown, but is far from the goal line, a HAIL MARY pass is a long, high-risk throw to the end zone. All the receivers run down that way, and hopefully someone is lucky enough to catch it. Of course, the other team has an equal chance to catch it, and sometimes, no one catches it. If the offense scores and wins, it’s thrilling for their fans. But usually it doesn’t work. So why do they run the play? Generally, it’s the only option from that distance. You could guess why it’s called that! That’s probably more about HAIL MARY passes than you wanted to know!
I think today’s puzzle wins the award for most answers I’ve never heard of, never heard used in the way they are referenced or still don’t understand even after I’ve solved them. Not sure if that’s a compliment or a criticism. :)
Please correct 5D's wrong impression that you need to be an EMT to administer naloxone. Anyone can and knowing this can save lives.
Well that was fun and fast! This night owl should probably head down sometime soon because I have things to do tomorrow and I can't be too much of a LATERISER, but I wanted to mention how exciting it was to have The Mousetrap in a clue at 14D when - literally - immediately before I started the puzzle, I purchased tickets to The Mousetrap at the Guthrie! MOOD! (Just kidding, I have no idea how to use that slang term. Usually when I'm in a MOOD it's not really relatable or good... hahaha) Also, regarding the hauntingly beautiful Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, if you are a Severance watcher, I'm wondering what the heck is with that song in the soundtrack. If anyone answers on that, please don't do any spoilers for anyone who hasn't watched the show yet. I don't think my comment is a spoiler, it's just a tune that has shown up and surprised me. My fifth grade music teacher had us sing that song at a concert.... that and Dust in the Wind by Kansas. Thinking back, it seems a little dark for a bunch of fifth graders to be singing both of those songs, but you know it gave me an early respect for the songs and I'm here for it! Never been much for traditional anyhow... I was always going to turn out a little bit dark. Several really fun clues, but it went pretty fast for me for a Saturday. I enjoyed it though!
@HeathieJ Hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but The Mousetrap in the West End closed during covid, and reopened a year or so later.
57A clue brought to mind the great Billie Holiday lilting… 🎵 The difficult I’ll do right now, the impossible will take a little while 🎵…
Not gonna lie, today was a hard puzzle especially the southeast. Really liked the clues for HAILMARY and SLEEPMASK.
It's been a while since i've enjoyed a clue as much as "Bottled spirits." Thank you!
Kelp, I enjoyed it too. It's been enjoyed here quite a few times. Here was the first time: Sat Apr 4, 1959 26A Bottled spirit. Harold T. Bers Farrar
Marshalled more grey cells in the SE corner than the rest of the puzzle combined. Nicely done. I checked "Yes".
I often don't look for or notice constructors' names before I start a puzzle, and today was no exception. As I was working this one, I started getting excited by the thought that a possibly new constructor was involved in making this fresh, fun, fast puzzle that was right in my wheelhouse. But, it was Rafa and Sarah - not disappointed, but not surprised. Even the constructors' note was interesting and fun to read - with a tie-in picture, no less. Thanks to you both for this Saturday with real personality.
@Jay Oh, forgot to add that the logo for Mass Audubon (no relation to National) is a very clear graphic of a swift, which has the same number of letters as EGRET. An unintentional misdirect for me, and probably only me.
"I could go for some grass right now." Cow *mooed* I liked it. Why did the chicken cross the road? To see where the egg headed.
Once again my lack of cultural knowledge slowed me down, is what I want to say, but actually it was the misdirects mostly. This took me around 50 minutes, but it was mostly enjoyable. I had to run the alphabet on mochi/mood to get the M, but other than that, I had to use my detective skills most of the time. (Is that why they are called clues?) My deerstalker is off to those who found this fast or even too fast.
@Renegator i came to say the exact same thing. In other words: MOOD!
Bonked myself big time by filling BIG READER for 1A instead of EGGHEADED. Took me a while to realize that was the thing holding me back in the upper half - that and ERSE, which I mixed up with EIRE. I felt a bit silly once I finally got them right. But that is why I love crosswords; they’re like yoga for the brain! The stretching is the point!
Question: Isn’t it always cheating just a tiny bit to solve using the app, because if you fill in all the squares but hear no music you get a mulligan of sorts? Today was my fastest Saturday ever, out of perhaps 300, but I was wrong in the first letter of 27A and D. There was even a bit of trial and error in fixing the mistake, working off the theory that the slang term would be a repurposing of an actual English word and the initial letter of the snack would be one that can begin a Japanese syllable. So hurrah! I heard the music and I got my record. But had I, for example, done the puzzle in an in-flight magazine, the next passenger, perhaps someone Japanese, might have glanced disappointedly at the already completed puzzle and thought, “That goofball didn’t even know what mochi is.” Of course the object of the game is fun and however one solves is fine, but can I really pat myself on the back without embarrassment?
@Paul Turner I’ve thought about this as well- without the app there would be no way to run the alphabet on things like _IMB_P from Tuesday this week, but at the same time back in the pen and paper days the constructors didn’t have software at their disposal that could automatically fill a grid with words like KIMBAP. So a pretty fair fight in my estimation.
@Paul Turner This is interesting. I never thought of the built-in advantage of using the app vs paper solving. Had it not been for this, I would have had a real problem with mochi/mood.
@Paul Turner PS: Go ahead and pat yourself on the back -- I did 😀
@Paul Turner I've asked myself that question many times. As far as I'm concerned, the only perfectly clean win is if you never see the "Almost" screen. But that's a pretty high bar. I don't think there's any day of the week I can really count on a perfectly clean solve.
@Francis Especially as I have had letters change "by themselves" on an electronic crossword. Probably an errant keystroke of mine. Or I forget to change my orientation from down to across b4 typing, and I obliterate whatever letter I first had there.
This one defeated me. Didn't know MOCHI or MOOD (as clued), so I was "naticked" there. Other than that, another puzzle that seemed too easy to run on a Saturday. Themeless Wednesday again. Finished in less than 20 minutes, and I'm hardly a speed-solver. "Artery access point" for ONRAMP was clever, as was "Bottled spirit" for GENIE. That said, "Source of an unsigned love letter" for SECRETADMIRER is simply much too direct for a Saturday clue. Even "Pronoun also known as pluralis majestatis" was a giveaway, and I've never seen the Latin name before. As was "Lake ___, setting for "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" for SUPERIOR. Surely, on Saturday, more obfuscation than this is possible. A nicely made puzzle. all in all. Too many phrases and names for my liking. I miss seeing interesting *words* rather than stuff like WANTTOTRY and ONEPAGER. If stuff like this is being stacked, maybe stacking contributes more to the constructor than it does to the solvers? Will need to add MOCHI to my knowledge base. Think I'll pass on MOOD as clued.
@Xword Junkie I call NATICK on the crossing of 27D and 27A... I ran the alphabet and chose the M --but it was a sheer guess. Aside: I was exposed to quite a bit of Japanese culture when living in Hawaii (even our DoD schools were run on thee Japanese model) and it was broadening. My English teacher, Miss Nakagi, had survived the Hilo typhoon and flooding as a young girl along with her father and grandmother; her mother and two small brothers all perished. She showed some of us female students a photo of her husband-to-be; it was an arranged marriage...in 1960. Living in the Territory of Hawaii was interesting! It was called a "melting pot" and Lei Day (May Day) celebrated the many cultures represented in the population... most or all of whom had preserved their cultural heritages. So much for the melting pot... As 'Haoles' we were a minority. That was pretty interesting, too.
31D was my favorite clue in this puzzle. I had a good laugh when I figured it out.
Egad! Back in the latter 80's I chose Amiga over Atari when comparing computers. I still have an Amiga (AmigaOne X5000) but didn't even think of that as I filled in TARI after the A I had at 44D!
@kilaueabart I immediately entered ATARI even while thinking, “It’s more of a game console than a computer but…” When I entered some conflicting crosses I remembered Amiga. I had a Commodore 64 as my first computer but then have been Apple ever since.
@Byron Atari actually did make a line of home computers prior to the Commodore 64 coming into the market, so that would have been late 70s/early 80s. I think it sold a few million units.
I used to dread Saturday puzzles but lately those and Friday are the one I look most forward to. Fun puzzle today and only one look up.
(Third attempt. I switched the actual word of 46D out in case that's the reason...) Some random thoughts. None meant to be a criticism of the puzzle. AYO is back again. Three times since Tuesday. YEA is back again, but with its better-known meaning, an affirmative vote. Do Bill NYE's fans actually count down to the start of his shows? Is the opposite of YEA GNAW? Vulgarity alert: At least in its original Yiddish, 46D means more than junk. At least it did to my Yiddish-speaking grandmother. Kudos to whoever came up with the clue for 31D. Fastest Saturday for me in a few months. Last one that was faster was 2/1.
"(Third attempt. ..." Steve, The bird woke up.
@Steve L My Yiddish-speaking grandmother seemed to have no qualms about saying "dreck" in front of her grandchildren!
@Steve L Am I missing a joke? If so, sorry, it’s still early here. New Years Eve?
I liked it! I do not mind millennialese in my puzzles, just as I do not mind classic literature or opera clues! Fun sat, though I came in wayyy under my average
Thought I was going to finish under a quarter of an hour, way faster than I like, but fortunately did not know the Hugo award author or the modern slang and also had the wrong computer (Atari, then Apple). So those two spots provided an extra 5 minutes of fun. Thank you Sarah and Rafael! It's a YES from me.