So nice to see some of the lesser known Marx brothers represented: Chico, Creepo, Stiletto, Catcondo, and especially, L'mao. 1981 was a good year: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZt64_XOflk" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZt64_XOflk</a>
Don't forget their sister Onya, who was a famous runner. Her name is still invoked at the start of every race.
@Bill Now I'm wishing that there really was a Marx brother named CREEPO!
A rare puzzle where knowing BOOBLESS and 07734 from your TI-83 days was actually preparation and not a cry for help
@Steven Golus Oh no, the TI-83 graphing calculators had a full alphabet on them. You’re thinking of the TI-36 scientific calculators. Signed, someone whose math prowess ground to a complete halt around pre-calculus
"There's a whole university devoted to calculus!" "Will you attend now?" "Nah, I'll go to Calc U. later." (There are limits to these puns.)
@Mike Put down the beer. Don't you know you shouldn't drink and derive?
@Mike Is it a dental school? / / /
I can't tell if these puns are the maxima or the minima. Maybe both.
I didn’t know Bush senior and Carter both had perms. The formal Bush and the humble Carter, who would have guessed. And then of course I rethunk it. Had a good laugh.
I'm so happy today. My streak is now 365 days. When I started with the minis and then Mondays in 2020, I couldn't imagine I would one day solve a Saturday puzzle without any help, let alone solve 52 of them in a row (and all the days in between 😊). Very grateful to the whole crossword community, especially to the constructors!
To anyone who got MUKBANGS / IGA and LIANE / LUCA all on the first try, I tip my hat. You win the Natick award today.
@Lpr Well, you can just keep your hat right where it is, my good person. I face-planted in both those places.
@Lpr I got them both but, while IGA was a gimme because I follow tennis, the L in LIANE/LUCA was almost a coin flip. I gave the L a 60/40 chance of not being a D. I did think LUCA was slightly more likely than dUCA, but it’s a Pixar movie so, really, all bets were off.
@Lpr. Liane was a gimme as the Moriarty Sisters are literary royalty here in Australia. MUKBANGS was unknown to me but I did know that Korean words often contain "ng," so after I had all the other crosses, IGA seemed an okay guess. It was my 2nd or third guess so I don't get the hat tip, but either way this worked out for me at least.
@Lpr Had to ping-pong (table tennis anyone?) between Diane and I?a to get the solve, but it eventually worked. Now, the research phase begins :-)
@Lpr It almost never happens, but today's tricky crossings were actually up my alley!! IGA because I'm an armchair tennis nut, LUCA because we're a PIXAR loving family and MUKBANKS because my teen was telling me about a friend who loved watching them recently lol.
Despite the many differences we have: across regions, countries and tastes, today I have seen that we are united in one way: having delighted in writing 58008 with our calculators.
@Karen that’s your peace accord right there
Nobody over 30 needed that revealer, haha. Cute puzzle.
@Teresa OK. I'll be 76 in two weeks, and even us 'oldies' know how to read words upside down on a calculator. But maybe it's because my 40-something kids went through middle school. :o) I managed all the way through college with a slide rule. The year we graduated my husband started an Elec Eng Masters at MIT. And the first HP pocket calculator came out. All those MIT students wanted one. But they were $600!! Tuition was $2500/year, so that was a big chunk of change.
It went from 378163771 to 5376616. Et tu, emu.
@Lewis Of all your remarkable posts, this one may be the most entrancing to me yet. So, is there meaning in those two numbers that I'm not seeing? Or were they chosen randomly? Well, there are 16 digits by my count, and none of them a 0. That's suspicious, because often people when "randoming" a number tend to leave out zeros. Also, there a substantial over-representation of 6's, I think. 11 of the numbers are odd, and only 5 even. Again. suspicious. Also suspicious is that of the five even numbers, four are the aforementioned 6. 2,4,9, and 0 are missing entirely. I would say I'm 95% sure these numbers are purely made up by one of the least successful random number generators, the human brain. Watch me fall flat on my face for this one. I'm really sticking my neck out. I'm also really mixing metaphors.
@Francis Like the theme of the puzzle, pretty sure he means it went from “ILLEGIBLE” to “GIGGLES” :)
@Lewis Given your encyclopedic knowledge published crosswords, I was expecting you might have chimed in about previous examples of this theme. I know I’ve run across this before, but I can’t remember if it was in the NYT. I haven’t read all the comments yet, nor looked at the “other” blog, so perhaps it has been discussed. I do know there are whole puzzles out there that have used this concept in all the clues. For example: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/mukvy27c" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/mukvy27c</a>
Anyone who grew up in the 70s/80s: immediately reading upside down Everyone else:
@Jen F. For better or for worse when I was in school in the 00s students were still writing 5318008 on their calculators and flipping it upside down for a giggle
07734.40 everybody! What a great puzzle, to fit all those themers in, cleverly clued, and do it symmetrically, and especially the Emily Bronte clue, that was simply fantastic. I'm sure that there will be complaints about MUKBANGS from those who need more Bang for their Muk, but none from me. Everything worked out from the crosses. Agree that Liane could be Diane, but Luca sounds like a Pixar movie, Duca sounds a movie about Mussolini's daughter or perhaps found in an Italian diaper. Unless, of course, you're running a bat condo or a rat condo, in which case all bets are off. You'll never impress anyone at a cocktail party with this, but just remember: Ellis Bell is Emily, Currer Bell is Charlotte: E-to-E; C-to-C. No flies on those Bronte girls. The real question is, could either Catherine Earnshaw or Isabella Linton be called bridezillas? Of the two, Catherine is the more socially ambitious and weirdly misguided, making more confounding decisions, like marrying Linton, so I guess she's got more zilla in her, although Isabella had an anger streak early on that went away with her shouldering more responsibilities. Loved Truth Bomb & So Not True. There's a pair for our times.
@john ezra actual LOL at the this whole post, but especially at the concept of hosting a bat condo or a rat condo. I'm imagining what the classified ads for such places would look like. Happy Sunday!
Oops, forgot Anne Bronte -- Acton Bell. Now they should all ring bells with you!
If IGA was a tricky one today, I warmly recommend learning her name as I suspect we'll see her for quite some time in these pages. She's a tennis player, 23 years old, who's already spent over two years at the #1 ranking in the women's game and won five Grand Slam titles. She has a beautiful style of play and seems kind and gracious in interviews.
@BC IGA clued to the tennis player has been done six times in roughly two years, so it’s time for everyone to remember Ms. Swiatek. Before her prominence, IGA was clued as a supermarket chain. On May 8, 2021, it was clued as [Grocery store found in Michigan?] Get it?
@Steve L How about "company that runs airport services in Istanbul." Surely everyone will get that...
I knew that learning to read upside down and backwards when I was 15 was going to come in handy someday, but 75 years was a long time to wait. (Just kidding. It's always been a plus.) This was an exciting solve, mostly because it was going so quickly and I was having such a good time. There were moments when the puzzle was almost doing a head slap for me because the fill was right there in front of me (MASTS) and I was totally on the wrong track. Welcome to the Sundays, Mr. Reed. I loved your puzzle and I'm looking forward to many more! (Uh, maybe. Your next concoction might not be so forgiving.)
@dutchiris thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
Several lookups for me today, even after I finally figured out the theme, which was well-done. Thanks for the fun! But I'm concerned that Ayo Edebiri was not included in today's puzzle. Is that even allowed?
@Peter C. Did you miss it?! She's embedded in 80D!
Had to do handstands to read upside down. I fell 14 times. Which is right around my Sunday average.
Oh, just for an instant, when I saw the clues with the numbers, I thought of doing the math, but nah. Then I flashed on a brief scene from third grade, where someone showed me an upside-down calculator with the word meaning the opposite of heaven spelled in the display; my jaw dropped, and for a bit, it was the funniest and most amazing thing in the world. I remember this scene clear as day even as I haven’t thought of it in many, many a decade. Hah! This memory thrust me right back into what it felt like to be me back then; it was like visiting a long-lost friend. I started remembering other moments from elementary school, then home scenes with my family, even songs we sang around the piano. For a brief interlude, tinged with pleasure and meaning, I was once again Little Me. Thank you for that alone, Jacob, not to mention something else I realized while uncovering your fun puzzle, namely, that I have a talent – the ability to read text upside down as comfortably as rightside up. Maybe this comes naturally to everyone, but I never thought about it to the point of trying it out, until now. I picked out a book from the shelf, one by Zadie Smith, turned it upside down, started reading, and there was nary a hitch, even with words like “Churchillian”. Hah again! Yours was one of those puzzles, Jacob, where the gratification of cracking riddles was padded with ancillary pleasures, raising its enjoyment immeasurably. Thank you!
@Lewis I got the revealer early on and then went ahead to do the math. Never thought of re-reading the clue!
@Lewis Just tried it. I can read upside down too. But for some reason, reading those "calculator-style" numbers wasn't as easy for me to interpret upside down as the text on this page is.
The 'theme' trick was cute. Not Sunday-worthy, IMO, but cute regardless. However, not only did I (along with others) have to run the alphabet on MUKBANGS/IGA, I also didn't know either of the Pixar movie/author pair, giving me the reasonable guess of dIANE/dUCA. After several stabs at the tennis player, I thought the unknown rapper CUDI might be wrong, so changed it to CoDI/oHNO, and went back to run IGA again. Still no good. Sigh... move on to the coming of age movie as one I'm not sure of, and start running through the possibilities for that one, trying lots of guesses for our tennis star at each guess for the movie title. Still nothing?!? Grrr! Change oHNO back to UHNO, and do the runs again. Finally (!) get told I "solved" the puzzle. But did I? When you've got (imagine bold italics here) THREE (emphasis off now) Natick-y crossings to guess at, it just makes for a lot of boring work, not an enjoyable intellectual exercise. I can see that there might be times when crossing proper names is acceptable, but it should be a last resort for constructors, discouraged by editors, and should only be allowed for ultra-mega-well-known famous names. (For instance, I'd be OK with Bob Hope crossing Bing Crosby at any "b" or "o"). Again - IMO.
@Grumpy IMO, you're exactly right. I went through almost the same problems in the same order.
@Grumpy I'm not so sure younger solvers would find Bob Hope and Bing Crosby to be gimmes. Can't we all just acknowledge and accept that there are a wide variety of solvers and not every puzzle is going to be in everyone's wheelhouse? Wouldn't it be boring if they were?
@Grumpy I’m 40 years old. I listen to Kid Cudi and have read Big Little Lies (after watching the immensely popular HBO adaptation). Got those right away. I didn’t know about Mukbangs nor tennis. All that to say I don’t consider myself a Bing Crosby generation but not a youngin either. Definitely part of the calculator messaging generation. You win some you lose some, it’s not always about age.
@Beth I agree with your sentiments, Beth -- AND with those who groan about multiple proper-name crosses (probably only because, via sheer luck, I did complete the puzzle with neither lookups nor reveals, keeping a months-long solve streak alive 🤗)
@Grumpy I totally agree Grumpy. I never can maintain streaks due my gaps of knowledge of pop culture of the past 2 decades or so. But I'd rather not have streaks than spend whatever time it would take watching/listening to mediocre television/movies/music to be versed enough on such references. I don't have that much time on my hands.
@Grumpy Very well said. I really liked this puzzle. I'm a LOTR fan and having two related clues made my day (acknowledging that this might have been annoying to others). Although I believe that crossing of proper names is going to happen and should happen, I agree that the crossing of obscure names should be discouraged. I am not going to say that I should be the arbiter of what is "obscure", but I imagine there are algorithms that can be used to determine this based on relatively objective parameters. Puzzles should challenge us and I enjoy learning about people, places and things I'd never heard of from crossword references. But when two generally obscure names cross, the frustration factor outweighs the joy-of-learning factor for me and ruins an otherwise fun experience. Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
@Grumpy I got hung up on the oh oh instead of uh no as I am unfamiliar with certain rap artists. Looking for that one error took me 20 minutes, adding to my initially good time.
22D “Bush Senior and Carter each had one” With _ERM, and given their fashion time period, I actually convinced myself to enter PERM.
@Stavros You're in good company. See an earlier post.
@Eddie The puzzle almost done me.
Iga and Mukbangs? Seriously? Extremely Naticky, at least for me. (I'm nearly a foodie, frequently online, and have never heard anything like that Korean term.) I had to roll the alphabet on the G. Other than that the puzzle was simple and the gimmick was very easy for those of us of a certain age (and likely everyone else too). It was okay overall. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@B Yeah, there was no way I was getting Mukbangs without *all* the crosses. And Iga wasn't one that I could be sure of, although I knew it was a "common" name in my world, like Ira or Ida.
@B There used to be IGA grocery stores in Madison, WI. So it was a gimme for me. Mukbang (and some others) I looked up.
@B I love that there are parts of the internet yet untapped by so many. I’ve been watching mukbangs for at least a decade. They came into my world right alongside ASMR videos.
The 11 year-old me plopped down next to me the *moment* I opened the puzzle and saw those clues popping! She was giddily getting ahead of herself, while the middle-aged me tried to keep my top to bottom, left to right pattern, savoring all the rest of it. I think it’s probably a valuable practice. Sitting with our younger selves. They knew so little, but they *knew* so very much. Thank you Jacob! (from both of us)
Mini. Sam. Seriously. Tesla? Imagine i'm a federal worker. Imagine i have a loved one in a Salvadoran prison camp. Imagine i just got my first Social Security check and am scared it will be my last. Imagine i'm any world-dwelling puzzle lover not expecting a punch in the gut.
Was able to get most of it, but dIANE and dUCA sunk me. Also MUKBANGS crossing IGA was simply impossible for me.
The themed entries were fine. But MUKBANGS crossed with IGA? And, to a lesser extent, LIANE with LUCA?
Just started this puzzle so not reading any comments yet because I don't want spoilers... Just needed to vent about BRIDEZILLA. Vent! Vent! Vent! Vent! SEXISM Vent! Vent! Vent! Vent! That is all.
@Beth I don’t have a problem with it.
@Beth Please! I know women who have worn that title as an honor! It’s all in good fun. This world is becoming unlivable taking these kinds of things to the extreme.
@Beth I don't usually have a thin skin about stuff like this, but for some reason, it strikes me as blatantly unfair. Why don't we hear about groomzillas? Anyway... clearly just my knee jerk reaction, as I've never before felt so turned off by a crossword term that I felt compelled to comment before even finishing the puzzle.
@Beth It might be better if we lived in a world where two people in love simply shared a toast with a handful of people they loved who were there to witness and support their effort to establish a life-long bond. Why isn't our world more like that? I blame the Wedding Industrial Complex.
@Beth It just strikes as a little weird to call it sexist when it's a term used nearly exclusively by women and perhaps gay wedding planners. It doesn't seem many/any straight men use it. They really don't care enough about a weddings to create or wield such a label. But of course yes women can be sexist against one another...
@David Connell When I read these comments earlier, all I could think of was the momzilla. We were all pretty chill, but I had a song at mine that was definitely because my mom wanted it (One Hand, One Heart, and it was lovely).
For some reason my braggy post about completing my 365-day streak was not published. I think that the emus are jealous. But yes, this happened today, and I'm super happy.
Or rather it was posted with a long delay. Something is wrong with the nyt website today, the spelling bee was also an hour late.
@Turing Big ol' congratulations from this side of the pond.
Maybe I’m just the right generation for this, but my brain didn’t even attempt to parse the numbers as numbers, just immediately read them upside down. Meant that I had no aha moment and the whole thing solved as a (too) easy themeless Of to the archive to find another Sunday I guess! 😅
@Alexis Yep. The theme was excruciatingly obvious to many of us. As soon as I saw the segmented numbers I looked at them upside down and hoped for something more clever than I found. It was fill in the blanks for the most part...
I grew up in the 80s and 90s but, somehow, the calculator trick passed me by. Maybe I was too much of a goody two shoes in a school full of them? I feel a bit cheated now… Luckily, the puzzle was eminently solvable without the theme clues. And LOBE clued as headquarter was worth the price of admission. Happy Sunday, everyone.
P.S. Caitlin, the photo caption today is priceless.
@Sam Lyons I hope you were at least slightly mollified by the appearances of LIANE Moriarty and EMILY BRONTË. Happy Sunday to you, too. (I saw a cartoon in one of my Facebook groups about skiing that you might enjoy, but unfortunately I can’t figure out how to share it with you.)
Being a mathematician of a certain age (and easily able to read inverted text) this theme was a gimme. Filled in all the thematic entries and the revealers almost immediately. Only RINGOFDOOM proved wrong. That said, I failed to solve the puzzle correctly, because I couldn't recall the tennis pro's given name, and MUKBANGS was a complete unknown. Also had to guess at the CUDI/UHOH crossing, where CODI/OHOH seemed almost as likely. Another guess for me at LIANE/LUCA, but there DIANE/DUCA made a lot less sense. Not a particularly enjoyable puzzle for me. The theme was obvious and there were so many proper names in the fill.
@Xword Junkie To both correct an error and Barry-proof ;-) my post, I'd like to strike "proper" from my last sentence above.
@Xword Junkie thank you I needed that U instead of O
Credit to Jacob, who had a nine-letter bank to use – three vowels and six letters (including less-commonly used G, H, and B) – to come up with varied phrases that could be used as spot-on clues. I tried to do the same, using the BEGHILOS bank, and concluded that Jacob did a remarkable job. Bravo, sir!
I didn't get why OLE was a "Root word" until I read Wordplay. Root, root, root for the home team. Thanks, Caitlin. I didn't get why a "hot dog" might PANT for even longer, until I realized that a "hot dog" was neither a "frankfurter" nor a "show-off", but merely a dog that was hot! Sometimes I think too much; other times....
@The X-Phile You're not alone. "Hot dog" hung me up for much longer than it should have!
Breezed through almost all of it in record time and then got stuck in the MUKBANGS / IGA / KANGA region. Eventually did figure it out through trial and error, but wasn’t as satisfying a finish. Fun theme though!
@Ors Me too. The same problem. I got it from the column because I think I was already over 45’. But wow what a fun and amazing puzzle! I liked the visual elements of it.
@Ors same. No idea what a MUKBANG is, or who IGA is. I had MUKBANnS for a while and couldn't find my mistake since, to me, InA made more sense. Ultimately, scanned the tricky clues section and saw I had it wrong.
So much fun. I never get to be the person who immediately gets the theme or gimmick, but today was my day!
Got the trick straight away, possibly my favourite puzzle ever simply because of this!!
@Elizabeth Yep. Still working my way through it but, being in my 50s, reminded me straight away of school, and the "rude" use of some equipment,
Old trick (on the plus side, maybe some of the youngs will not get it instantly?) and a one-trick pony. Easier solved on paper; don't break your devices or strain your necks, digital folk! Expecting plenty of Natick calls from solvers who are not tennis fans and who don't watch South Korean tv food programs. Otherwise, a breeze, yes? Nice construction, Jacob.
@Barry Ancona No problem reading the clues on a mobile device—just turn it upside down! It would indeed have been harder on a computer screen. Nice bit of nostalgia today and learned some new trivia along the way.
Hi Barry, Usually I solve it on my giant monitor on Sundays, but thought I'd have a go at it on my phone instead... Good thing I did, though most of them I could read upside down anyhow. I was very well practiced back in the day. I've never called a Natick, and I'm not today, but I did have a trouble with that crossing. I knew I'd seen the tennis player's name in the puzzles before so I kept coming back to it and trying to let my little gray cells do their thing. When it came down to it most other options just didn't makes sense with the rest of the crossings and that was my very last box. IdA was what I was going to try if the G didn't work. Anyhow, yes otherwise easy breezy! ☺️
@Barry Ancona you called it - lol so much natick in the comments and the sun isn’t even up.
@Barry Ancona Well executed, but if you are an oldie like me and I guess you, pretty transparent so solved like a themeless. I’ll put a hand up to call a Natick for me at least.
@Barry Ancona, I have no problem calling a natick. If ever there was a natick, this would be it. IGA and MUKBANGS? Really?
GLOBE LIE BOOB for "Flat earther" 😂😂😂 Oh how I wish that would have made it in!! Very fun and breezy puzzle!! A rarity for me to get the theme on the very first themer, especially without the revealer but, like many of you I'm sure, this brought back some fun old memories. I liked that TRUTHBOMB was right next to SONOTTRUE. 54A "Style of writing" had me raking my brain to see if I could think of an author named Style, after being tricked by Styles of music the other day. And now, for the true confession that will probably get me kicked out of this fine comment board: I'm not really huge into Lord of the Rings, though I would say I like them and I have certainly watched all the movies. I'm also not really great about character names in movies and TV. This isn't a problem with books, but definitely with video based things..... Soooooo, ever wonder what has the same number of letters as THEONERING at 22A? Mmmmhmm: my precious. I shall see myself out.... It has been nice knowing you all! 😂😂😂
PS If it makes any difference, I did get GANDALF right away. 😀
@HeathieJ You're not alone. I've never seen a single one of the movies. I tried reading The Hobbit about two million years ago and couldn't get through it. As with sports, I only know of Tolkien what little that I've absorbed indirectly... ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@HeathieJ You get a pass on Lord of the Rings from me. I think you gave me a pass on something earlier, but I can't recall what. It may have had something to do with not reading something or other, or that I like the Carpenters or that I slandered some focus group. Anyway, I've been big on Lord of the Rings since I was about 16. I re-read it every couple of decades or so, though I doubt I will again. And I've never been willing to try the Silmarillion. WAY too much effort for me to parse the language, and way too little return for my taste.
@Vaer I enjoyed reading The Hobbit (for a book club) enough to start The Lord of the Rings. Couldn't make it past the first hundred pages. Thanks, Peter Jackson!
@HeathieJ You’re not alone. I have a little LOTR knowledge, so I knew GANDALF (although I spelled it wrong at first), and I knew about the RING, but what was it called…? HobbitRING? GollumRING? RINGofdoom?? In the end, I had to sit that one out and wait for the crosses.
Once I got over sulking about numbers in my puzzle, I enjoyed solving the puzzle. It is possible to solve without deciphering the theme clues, but after employing the Wheel of Fortune Method on a few, I did try deciphering the numbers and did OK with them. I also liked some of the clever wordplay clues for some of the smaller words and, as always, I liked the so-called trivia, otherwise known as facts. My only quibble, as stated elsewhere, is that I thought much of the cluing Tuesday level. Besides all that, any puzzle with the Bee Gees in it is okay by me. Thanks Jacob. Don't let the kvetching get you down.
@Vaer You made me laugh before I even finished your first sentence.
Crossing MUKBANGS with IGA was a bit obscure for me - I had to take a few guesses. Also LUCA with LIANE, but I figured there was no Pixar film called “Duca”. The rest was Tuesday level easy. Thanks for not including every middle school boy’s favorite calculator word - 5138008.
@Rob I was tripped up on those same two crossings.
@Rob yeah I'm calling Natick on that one, that G was my last letter in the puzzle. 7734 40
@Rob I think you misspelled your number... didn't you mean 5318008? /snicker The MUKBANGS/IGA crossing was brutal for me since I know nothing about Korean food or pro tennis players. I woulda gotten it if IGA had been clued as a supermarket chain, but the chain is not widely known either and would've hung up others who know tennis.
Even if I hadn’t already thought this was a super fun puzzle, the creator has my undying respect for figuring out that I could have been showing my 19th-century lit students how to spell Ellis Bell on a calculator all these years. Well, I know what my next extra credit on the final exam question is! 😂
Oh dear. Being dyscalculic I struggle to see numbers at all, let alone convert them into letters. This then was an impossible ask. I ignored the number clues and focused on the straightforward ones, hoping enough crosses would enlighten me. Although I did get a couple; 20 and 22A’s, I had no idea how they related to the clue. Reading Caitlin’s column showed me how it was supposed to work, but was still beyond my ability to parse. I gave up, which I rarely do, but it wasn’t worth the frustration. As always, kudos to the constructor. I’m happy that so many of you enjoyed it. It was like translating Klingon to me. Onwards to Monday.
@Helen Wright Oh, that had to be tough! Glad you didn't force yourself through the frustration. Much as I like my puzzles and games, sometimes it's just not worth it. Hope tomorrow is extra fun for you!!
@Helen Wright I’ve never been diagnosed (TIL dyscalculic), but I’ve always felt numbers just move on me; swirl even: my malaise is named! Explains a lot. It’s humbling to see so many here enjoying a game I can’t get even once it’s explained. My skill at this peaked at “h-e-double hockey sticks.”
Loved today's theme! This 80s/90s kid felt right at home, back in math class. Well done to Jacob Reed for the concept.
I can read upside-down so this was easy ☺️😙
5318008 Got the theme instantly. 17 minute solve
@Steven M. Still sad I didn’t get 5318008 in there
@Steven M. the way I score these things, I got over 13 times more pleasure out of solvng today's puzzle as you did. 😉
Definitely not for me. Not enjoyable at all.
Actually surprised to see that everyone else found this one quite easy. I never caught on and just didn't even come close to finishing it. Even after reading all the comments I must confess that I still don't entirely get it. Oh.. and I was a math major at one time, but I'm not sure if that's even connected. Might be time to return to my home planet. ....
@Rich in Atlanta, I’m in good company at least.
@Rich in Atlanta Were you able to see the images of the numbers? To get this puzzle, you have to see the numbers in a 7-segment display as they appeared on old calculators, which is what you're supposed to see in the clues. When you turn them upside down, they look like letters/words. Here's a good explanation. Scroll down to the instructions for Method 2 Turning Your Calculator Upside Down: <a href="https://www.wikihow.com/Write-Words-With-a-Calculator" target="_blank">https://www.wikihow.com/Write-Words-With-a-Calculator</a>
I saw the title Number Game and thought I was in for it. I hate numbers! But then I looked at the theme entries. I've been able to read upside down and backwards since I was a little child, in print, cursive and calculator, so the theme clues just jumped out at me. But IGA crossing with MUCKBANGS was my Natick. I don't follow tennis or Korean food videos. In fact, Korean food is among my least favorite ethnic cuisines. So running the alphabet was no help at all. But I'll remember for next time that IGA is also a grocery chain. Except for a very few clues that worked out correctly from crosses, LIANE/LUCA and a couple of others that were lucky guesses, i.e. THEONERING AND Kid CUDI, this puzzle was easier than last Monday's.
MUKBANGS? SRSLY? If you're watching someone else eat a meal online, you should probably go on a MEDIAFAST. 5318008