This forum’s not quite what it was It’s minus a bit of its buzz Replies have gone ghostly But certainly mostly I’m missing “I done did this puzz”
@Lewis Maybe Eddie will make an occasional guest appearance.
@Lewis Seems like Eddie disappeared after someone yelled at him for posting the same comment every day. I hope he knows that person's comment was an aberration, and most of us appreciate his contributions or at least get a chuckle out of them. Perhaps he's just having fun on vacation, and that incident had nothing to do with his disappearance.
@Lewis Eddie did what he does Proudly solving each puzz Then folks griped. Why? Because He was quick to the point Noses bent out of joint Now I miss just how succinct he was
@Lewis Seen saw Lewis' sad reminiscing. Eddie's absence, he's gone and went missing. Eddie's done did his due solving crosswords, he's through! Outgrown and outgrew puzz untwisting.
@Beth It could also simply be an issue of his comments not going through the emu for a few days in a row, which combined with people grunts made him decide to stop. I don't know if he posts anywhere else but I can imagine that one account posting the same comment every day would be considered spam by a moderation tool. His last comment would have been accepted by the tool because he wrote more than 5 words.
I’ve been doing the NYT crosswords for a couple of years now, and this was my very first complete 100% solve without one single look up or help at all - and pretty swiftly too. I do believe this may be a fairly easy solve for a Wednesday, but I am still chuffed at this milestone!
@Zoe same here! But I had to read through to figure out the joke, so it doesn't feel like a 100% to me
@Zoe me too! I loved the theme and clues!
Fun theme but I have to ask does the constructor (or the editors) fly first class? Because I can’t remember the last time I ever saw a footrest in the main cabin.
@SP Definitely a First Class amenity, from my limited experience.
@SP all of my economy class flights have this. It's folded up against the seat in front, and you just fold it down. Maybe it's a Canada thing.
@SP ". . . footrest in the main cabin." [Deep sigh] More likely to be the person seated behind you wedging their bare feet onto your armrest. 😫
@SP I’m 6’ tall, more or less. I can’t imagine having enough leg room in coach to use a footrest in the unlikely event that there was one. It’s probably going on 10 years since I have flown anywhere. I don’t miss it.
@SP I put down food tray at first and then when I needed to correct it with the crosses to FOOT REST, I had the same reaction! I have not seen a foot rest in coach in my part of the world in a long time. I think some older planes had them... seem to remember them from when I was a kid.
As a Pittsburgher born and bred, I feel seen, along with fellow 'Burghers Al, Josh, Sue, and I think there's one or two others, all of us representing our (not very) fair city with aplomb. There's a Pittsburgh, Kansas that spells it the correct way, and Pittsburg, California (we regard them with contempt). In 1891, the US Department of Geographic Names decreed that all towns ending in --burgh must standardize and drop the "h." Perhaps there was some hidden anti-German sentiment at work there, too, who knows? For years I assumed that Pittsburgh was unique, but apparently a number of other towns across the US had to comply. Some did not. It costs a lot to change letterhead and signage, and plus, there were those revanchists eager to reclaim that lost "h" as if its loss were a mortal blow to their dignity and civic pride. Some refused to drop the H and continued to publish their newspapers and magazines with the H intact, which led to heated disputes, jabbing the air with their cigars, threats of caning, and stern rebukes in the editorials of those papers bereft of H who took their cues from the millionaire's row. Incidentally, Tesla worked in Pittsburgh just prior to our dropping the H, basically providing Westinghouse with the workings of alternating current. Westinghouse paid him a pittance for his inventions. There's amoral in that story.
@john ezra As a kid, I always liked Pittsburgh. I'd never been there. Still haven't. But I grew up in Pueblo, Colorado, which was a major steel producer, and nicknamed "Pittsburgh of the West". I looked *everywhere* for something about my town to be proud of, and that was as close as I could come. It occurred to me that it might not be a compliment when I saw pictures of massive air pollution in Pittsburgh in the 50s. But I rooted for the Pirates for years because of that connection.
@john ezra Hello, also from Pittsburgh! Hope yinz survived the pahr ahtage n'at! (Many of us are still reeling from a storm last week that led to a declaration of emergency. Our borough looked like a war zone. Streets ripped up, houses smashed. We were 140 hours without power.)
@john ezra Actually, the Kansas town is a no H town, like the one in California.
@john ezra I moved to Pittsburgh to work for Westinghouse Electric in 1960 right after graduation and married a girl born and raised in the city. That was just after Renaissance One had removed most of the black smoke from the sky. Spent my entire career there. Watching the 1960 World Series with a roomful of natives was a traumatic experience. That is not my only connection. My father left a job in the NYC offices of US Steel to work in the mills at Homestead and Gary in the 1920s. That was the time when the Smoky City had to turn the streetlights on at noon. The story is that my grandmother and aunt finally got on a train and persuaded him to return to NY. I'm still a Yankees fan but I quickly adopted the Steelers and later the Penguins as "my" teams.
@John ezra I thought there must be a Scottish connection, the terms 'burgh' (buh-ruh) and 'royal burgh' were used extensively for administrative areas from the 12th century. According to Wikipedia, Pittsburgh was named in 1758 by a Scottish general in honour of statesman William Pitt. Pitt emphasised the American colonists right to liberty, "I rejoice that America hs resisted."
@John Ezra The story I know from somewhere (maybe having taught an SAT class in Pittsburg, TX, many years ago) is that the because there was so much variation in the use of 'h' in the various Pittsburg/Pittsburghs around the country, the USPS instigated a requirement of a standardized no 'h' spelling to avoid confusion. However, the OG largest former Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania had enough political clout to have its 'h' restored, while other, smaller Pittsburgs in the U.S. remained H-less. I am aware that a quick Google would likely solve reveal the facts of history (and that the existence of a Pittsburgh, Kansas, would put the lie to the story), but I think that here it's best to not let the truth get in the way of a good story.
@john ezra I moved to Pittsburgh from the New York area and love living here. I never bothered to change my location but really enjoy reading your comments
@john ezra thank you for the shout out and your post, which jogged my memory of an exhibit at the Heinz History Center where I think I learned some of that for the first time. My aunt worked at Westinghouse for decades and retired well. Her husband worked in the mills. I’ve lived in other cities, but never one where the history felt so present to me.
Etc[etera] = *and* other things; among other things = inter alia.
I lit up when I saw Tom’s name atop this puzzle. It’s been three years since his last Times puzzle, and his puzzles are rife with wit and humor. His mind is askew in a marvelous way, and his puzzles feel out-of-the-box. Here he went with the fact that Pittsburgh spent a period without that final H, and rather than move on, he contrived this off-the-wall theme that totally charmed me. A puzzle sparked by glints of wackorama. FIGHTING IRIS? [Let’s see that dance move where you lie flat by a door!”]? Hah! A puzzle beautified by answers such as INTREPID, ENMITIES, REALM and HECTOR. A puzzle marked by a new and lovely clue for OREO, which has appeared 500 times in the Times alone. That is tough to do. Go ahead – try doing the same! I entered this puzzle with that smile at seeing your name, Tom, and left it grateful for your skill, talent, and eccentric excellence. This one pushed so many happy buttons!
@Lewis agree!! This is such a thoughtful response :)
"Did you know that a writing implement in Pittsburgh doubles as a meteorological device?" "I've seen a pencil vane, yeah." (And when their baseball team sells desserts, they have good pie rates.)
@Mike These puns are perhaps an allegheny for a broader moral message -- to steel is a sin?
@Mike It seems that your line is stretching the point.
Ah, Marc Chagall. A stunning example of how deeply rooted identity and displacement can become transcendent forces in art. His work floats between worlds, both literally and figuratively: shtetl and city, sacred and profane, memory and myth. His autobiography is also a work of art, if not outright poetry. And ah, Uther Pendragon. “Marth ys kywreith Vthyr pen” “Wondrous was the wisdom of Uther the chief dragon.” From Elegy for Uther Pendragon in Old Welsh (Marwnat Vthyr Pen[dragon]), attributed to Taliesin. Thank you for an excellent puzzle, Tom, one that doth stir the mind and scatter the neurons into all kinds of directions worth pursuing.
I grew up near Pittsburgh and in reference to the mention of the phrase the car 'needs washed', you would most often hear 'I have to wersh the car'. I'd also have to 'red up my room', tell my friends 'see yinz guys later', yell at my sister to stay out of my room and stop being so 'nebby' and ask Mom if I could have a 'pop' instead of milk with dinner. Ah, Pittsburgh, such a great little city. Our family spent a lot of time there enjoying the museums, restaurants, Pirates ball games (I even remember the ivy covered walls of old Forbes Field)...I haven't been back in decades, but when I hear that accent, I'm right there again. Thanks for the nostalgic puzzle, really enjoyed it.
@Lily I definitely had to 'warsh' the car. I guess I stole the 'r' from 'library', which I pronounced as 'libary'. It still is an effort to remember to pronounce them correctly
@Lily Would yinz up in the Appalachians please explain PARKOUR? (Yes, PIttsburgh is in the Appalachians.)
@Lily 'Yinz' and 'yin' is used a lot in Scots dialect. My younger bothers and sisters were the 'wee yinz', 'High heid yinz' - high-head ones eg managers, government 'Auld yin' - old one - mother, father, grandparent (fondly) Big yin - used for friends and family, "How are ye, big yin?" and nickname for Billy Connoly.
"I definitely had to 'warsh' the car. I guess I stole the 'r' from 'library', which I pronounced as 'libary'. It still is an effort to remember to pronounce them correctly." Colorado (formerly Iowa) Z, I had a Grinnell classmate last name Warsh. The locals *hearing* it thought Wash was a funny last name. The locals *seeing* it thought Fried was a funny last name.
@Jane Wheelaghan I did not know 'yinz' was used anywhere else, that's very interesting. Thanks for adding that!
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight Parkour is traversing obstacles with running, jumping, climbing, flipping and any other number of physical moves. It looks dangerous, but if you're young (or young-ish) and fit it's probably a lot of fun. I'm way past Parkour age, but it is amazing to watch and videos of it can be found on line. Yes, Pittsburgh is the largest city in Appalachia. Situated in the foothills of the Allegheny mountains, a subrange of the Appalachians, Pittsburgh is famous for it's hilly landscape.
Clever and I got to learn Pittsburgh-y things! I can still smell the new box of 64 Crayola crayons 🖍️ with the sharpener on the back. It meant new school year, and we weren’t *that* poor that month. Lovely Wednesday. Thank you Tom!
And once again, I’m surprised to see complaints about what I thought was a thoroughly delightful puzzle. I understand that not everyone loves every puzzle, but is the snark really necessary? So back to you, Tom McCoy. Thank you for brightening my morning with this clever theme. Please keep them coming. I did a Master’s in Linguistics and then taught ESL to adults. I loved it, and today I loved learning about Pittsburghese and “yinz”.
@Shari Coats I was wondering a similar thing this morning: what is it about some puzzles that seems to make some people so angry? I completely get that not every puzzle is everybody’s cup of tea, but the tone of some of the critical comments is often needlessly harsh. In my humble opinion…
There were two prominent Pitts, Pitt the Elder, Earl Chatham, and his son, Pitt the Younger. Both had distinguished careers, worth reading up on. Because of their sympathy for the American cause, their names are all over the United States of America. Chatham is primarily a county name (honoring the father), but also used for towns and other places; Pitt is usually honoring the son and usually used for cities and towns. I used to live in Pittsboro, in Chatham County, North Carolina. The town is named for Pitt the Younger, the county for his father, Earl of Chatham. Those European revolutionaries and forward-thinkers who supported the nascent USA are honored here, there, and everywhere: Lafayette, Kościuszko, Pulaski, von Steuben. We would never have won the war of independence without their assistance, and all for idealism.
@David Connell Kościuszko is considered a hero in Poland not only for his achievments in the American struggle for independence but also as the leader of the Polish 1794 uprising against the dominance of foreign powers in Poland. In the 16th century Poland became one of the most powerful countries in the region, a regional superpower. However, disastrous wars of the 17th century (with Russia, Sweden, Turkey, etc.) caused a great decline from which Poland never recovered. By the end of the 18th century, Poland's neighbors - Russia, Prussia and Austria - had engaged in the partition of Poland, taking away bits of the country. Kościuszko led an insurrection against occupying Russians in 1794, but it ended in distaster. Heroic the struggle may have been, but in reality it contributed to the ultimate downfall of the whole country. In the aftermath of the uprising, the final partition of Poland came in 1795 and the country disappeared from the world map for 123 years, to reemerge only in 1918 - us Polish people remain grateful to the US president Woodrow Wilson for his support of Polish independence at the time.
@David Connell. Growing up in the NYC area, we heard constant traffic updates on AM radio (usually 1010 WINS and WCBS 880). They often mentioned traffic issues on the Kościuszko Bridge on the BQE and the Pulaski Skyway in New Jersey. So I read up on the two as a kid, history nut that I am. Now, whenever I go over them, I give a little nod of thanks to these amazing people.
Any puzzle with a David Bowie (RIP) reference is okay by me. An odd theme that grew on me after completing the puzzle. And I appreciated the fresh and somewhat fresh cluing for OREO and TESLA, respectively, though I now have a Wheels on the Bus earworm. And though I'm not as eloquent as Ms Lyons, Marc Chagall and UTHER Pendragon were most welcome.
@Vaer And another RiP for Chris Priest who wrote the original novel of The Prestige.
Ok—“fighting iris” is the funniest crossword answer ever. I know it wasn’t the actual answer. But the idea of it is just cracking me up. I keep picturing this ferocious little eyeball and I’m dissolving in laughter. 🤣🤺👁️ Thanks Mr. McCoy!
Kristin Gilbert, I second those emoticons!
A lot of Pittsburgh biggies, the three W's: Frank Lloyd Wright, Andy Warhol, August Wilson, and a bunch of other names, including Gene Kelly, Perry Como, Rachel Carson—something for everyone. Who knew? I've never thought much about Pittsburgh, never having been anywhere near the place, but I see that it must be a most interesting city. Thank you for the puzzle, Tom McCoy. The puzzle clues were great fun and added a lot to this one.
@dutchiris Don't forget George Romero - Night of the Living Dead 😬
@dutchiris Pittsburgh had its own cloud factory for years. It's gone now, though.
@dutchiris A wonderful City that we visit every few years.
I don't think I've ever felt older while solving a crossword than when I instinctively answered LPS for "Media for old music players", then had to delete that and type in CDS. Thanks, NYT!
@Dave Hey, at least you didn't try to enter 78s...
@Dave even older, wax would fit. would've made the crosses interesting.
This was fun and clever and I enjoyed learning about Pittsburgh. My own town has a history of adding and dropping letters at the end as well. The town was incorporated in 1881 as Spokan Falls. In 1883, the "e" was added to the end because the mayor thought it looked more sophisticated or something. The "Falls" was dropped in 1891, and here we are.
@Erma And then there's Cle(a)veland, very near my home town. Apparently that name didn't fit in a newspaper headline many years ago so it was shortened to Cleveland. Strictly hearsay but who knows?
@Erma And that explains why it's pronounced with a short-a sound. Mystery finally solved!
Surprised at the amount of negative feedback! I was so thrilled to finally see a fresh, unique theme.
I was somewhat underwhelmed by the theme and understand why it would appeal to the constructor. Some of the phrases, after removing the terminal H, were really a stretch in my mind. But that’s me. I will repeat a response I made to a reply from a few hours ago that is buried in the plethora of comments. Please resist the urge to include a Wordle spoiler in your comments in this column. I often don’t get to Wordle until later in the day and the comment today ruined it for me. I could not unread it. If I am not mistaken, there is a Wordle forum where such comments should be made.
@Ken S Oh man, really!? Sorry to hear that happened. Spoilers are so disappointing! I haven't done Worldle yet either, so I'm glad I read your comment! Better go do it before reading anymore comments.
@Ken S Yep. The comment didn’t include the actual Wordle answer, but it was so direct that it wasn’t hard to get the answer on my first guess.
"do the mat!" I laughed til I cried. Thank you for this bit of extreme levity.
I'm a PITTSBURGH native, but for the last 30+ years I've lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. Out here we have a Pittsburg, without the final H. So whenever I say where I'm from, I always qualify that I'm from the genuine, named-for-William Pitt PITTSBURGH Pennsylvania, not one of the impostor cities like the one out here. ;-)
I have nothing nice or interesting to say about the puzzle itself (I did it, let's leave it at that) but I have an observation about the recent comment section bug - it affects older puzzles, too. I just did a puzzle from 2022 and checked the commnets there: just like at present, things are iffy, and they weren't before. Whatever the IT people did, it affects all posts, also archival ones.
@Andrzej That actually may be a tiny bit of good news. If old data is showing up similarly wrong, then the problem is most likely purely with the display, not the data or its storage.
Mr. Fairbanks Jr. angry about having to play an old prospector? -Nope. -Yup. SOURDOUGH (Did your eyes roll, or do you have a fighting iris? Which is just a great, hilarious, corny image :)
Which is used more: Oreo in the Crossword or Acacia/Acai in Spelling Bee?
I wonder where Uther Pendragon's son got those coconuts?
Took this Irishman too long to get HECK. Far too many mild expletives in my vocabulary.
Thank you for this delightful puzzle! I now live in California but Pittsburgh is the first city I lived in when I came to US decades ago. This puzzle brought me back to the fond memories of the city. Also remembered another favorite Pittsburghese - ‘n’at!
My poor little birthday child, just for a moment, had teensy bus wheels made with ORZO. I visited xwordinfo to see when we last heard from Tom McCoy (July 2022) - while there I was reminded of his puzzle on 3/18/21. Highly recommended, if you haven’t done that one.
@Cat Lady Margaret Thank you for the tip. Yes, that was another great solve - the real McCoy!
@Cat Lady Margaret Yes, thank you for referencing the other puzzle. I had no shot of solving it on my own but thoroughly enjoyed the theme. I’m curious … is a dance mentioned in all his puzzles?
10 out of 10 for this one. A delightfully entertaining solve. Nice work, Tom McCoy!
It took me way too long to remember that "shed tears" could be past tense. Worse, I have been speaking English for about 87 years, and I couldn't have told you what INTREPID means! Or is it one of the words my "cognitive decline" has erased? "Courageous" for 38D was one of the lookups that got me to a phony 24-day streak. But it took me an hour. I'm going to have to go back to using Autocheck soon.
Very fun! A clue I found extra fun today (a part from the oreo one obvi): a little bit of everything for 'atom'. 😊
@Isabelle G. Yes, me too. I think ATOM unlocked the rest of the puzzle for me. This puzzle was funny and made me laugh.
TOP-NOTCH puzzle, Mr. McCoy! Not only did I immensely enjoy the solve itself, I immensely enjoyed the wonderful feeling of getting what the themers were all about once the revealer came up. It's always the icing on the cake (a school bus cake, of course, with OREOs for wheels) when we get the theme, isn't it? For a musical accompaniment today, please enjoy Simply Red with "STARs," live in Hamburg (which has never had an "H" at the end) and do note Mike Hucknall's awesome artwork shirt (albeit not a Chagall)– <a href="https://youtu.be/HJmk25b4Acs?si=Pay1WTNdvlJrQOoC" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/HJmk25b4Acs?si=Pay1WTNdvlJrQOoC</a> Thank you, Mr. McCoy, for reasserting my already established love of a Wednesday puzzle!
I was all set to dislike this one, starting with the mild annoyance that the developers could not render the strikeouts in the clues in the pdf version(s) and then the decidedly off beat theme/reveal. But Sam's column got me off that (not too) high horse. Nicely done. For staring contests I practice with a mirror but it always ends in a draw.
That was different. Managed to work it out, but will admit I remained appropriately puzzled by the theme answers until I was almost done. Just made for a nice 'aha' moment when it finally dawned on me. And... there was only one debut answer in this puzzle and it was... FIGHTINGIRISH. Really surprised to see that that had never appeared before. And, of course I have my puzzle finds today. I'll put those in replies. ...
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: First one a Thursday from October 21, 2021 by Michael Lieberman. I probably did this one but had forgotten it. Anyway... four theme answers in that one; all of them down answers (that's important) and no other hint as to the trick. Those clues and answers: "Clueless about current trends" AROCKLIVING "Take more shots than" THETABLEDRINK "Choke" PRESSURECRACK "Give a sworn statement in court" OATHTESTIFY Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=10/21/2021&g=23&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=10/21/2021&g=23&d=A</a> ...
I’ve been mulling over since last night how I feel about this theme. Sure, it’s a subjective matter, especially considering that we have never seen such three-line clues with all those cross-outs (and the tiny font that I didn’t appreciate). But to me, the connection between the revealer and the theme answers was tenuous at best. PITTSBURGH started out with an H, lost it, and then got it back again. This is a detail you could care about only if you live there or are a Pennsylvania state historian. And the H-less “answers” (FIGHTING IRIS???) were just so strange. Nothing technically wrong, but this one had me scratching my chin.
@Steve L Thank you for saying this. I got pretty much the same impression. The theme did not feel very witty or fun, to me, either.
@Steve L That’s a fair assessment. When I finished the puzzle, I hadn’t noticed that the H-less answers fit the second clue. I commented to my husband that I thought it was a weak theme. I reassessed it once I saw that the second clues weren’t meaningless, but I was still underwhelmed. I do give Tom McCoy points for originality. I can’t remember a puzzle with a theme quite like this.
I guess it just shows how old I am-I was thinking lps or even eps for the old music player. Never cds.
@David My kids (and wife) laugh at me for still using MP3s...
@David My wife works in pre-school. One day, the teacher hauled out the old record player and a vinyl LP. One of the children looked at the album and asked, "Teacher! What happened to your CD!" Some of us even still have a few 8-tracks in storage...
Flagrantly absurd theme! My work here on Earth is done.
I know I'm biased but this Gameplay--and especially the Constructor Notes!--is the most charming EVER. And are you sure it needs washed, or do you just need to redd up?
@Kate B I grew up in Lancaster County, PA, and we needed to redd things up, too. I think our version of "yins" was more like "youns" (as in "you uns"), but I think that it's fun that our dialects were/are so close, despite a couple of hundred miles separating us!
Kate B and Jennifer. Good stuff. Philly natives but we lived in Berks County for 30 years and also lived in Western Lehigh County. I travelled a lot in that area and the dialect nuances throughout PA were fascinating.
Very cool puzzle! Loved the 'today I learned' info about Pittsburgh, and creative way to build a puzzle from that. Well done!
I honestly had such a hard time with this on my first pass, though I haven’t the slightest idea why. I just couldn’t break through. I came back a while later and it all clicked. I’m still laughing (out loud) at DOTHEMAT. 🤣
Since several of us are talking about home towns. Mine is a Spanish named town: Pueblo, Colorado. What's Pueblo Spanish for? Town. My home town didn't even bother to get a real name.
@Francis Bit unimaginative, for sure, but perhaps took a bit more thought than No Name, Colorado.
@Francis Warsaw is Warszawa in Polish. It was probably named for the medieval owner of the settlement, the knight Warsz. According to legend though the name comes from the names Wars and Sawa, who, according to one version of the legend, were happy lovers - the poor fisherman Wars and the beautiful siren Sawa. This explains the origins of Warsaw's coat of arms - a siren. In another version, Wars and Sawa were poor man and wife who gave refuge to the local prince who got lost during a hunt, not knowing who he was.
@Francis So good they named it zero times.
@Francis Is it possible that that name refers to the Pueblo Indians?
Renegator, The Pueblo peoples of the southwest were so called by the Spanish because of their distinctive villages. "Pueblo" was not their term for themselves.
@Francis Your comment made me recall the name of a nearby place in California, Vacaville. Yep, "cow town".
Loved this one. When I figured out the trick I had most of PEACEMARCH through crossings and I laughed out loud. After that I got the other themers pretty easily and broke out in a grin at each one. Fighting iris! I liked the creative valuing of OREO and now that I’ve read its origin story I like it even more. Very surprised that so many people have not heard of parkour. It’s been popular for at least 20 years. I think it was considered for the Olympics at one point. My kids have been to parkour birthday parties. A parkour party with a school bus cake with OREO wheels, now that would be something!
Based on some football games I’ve seen, I think Pittsburgh used to have a population of around 140 million people. Also thank you for cluing 27A differently but I think that word’s just ruined for me forever.
@Jamie I’m not even going to look back to see that you’re talking about OREO. Would you feel better if you knew that I actually pondered over that one, having decided first glance it must be ORange or something? Yes, orange with four letters, tricky. This puzzle seem to be casting a very wide net, which strikes me is there a Wednesday like. At least there were no made up words.
"Fighting iris"? Wince. I enjoyed this one, despite the excruciating puns. More than usually in my wheelhouse, with the obvious exception of the aforementioned Fighting Irish. A point from the constructor's notes. Like Pittsburghese, constructions of the form "The car needs washed" are very common in Scottish English. Whereas in Northern England you hear "The car wants washing", which always slightly fazes me.
@Oikofuge Alternate clue for 37 Across? Arguing with Ms Murdoch.
@Oikofuge And here, "The car needs to be washed." Which ours did, desperately, on Sunday. Hopefully the days of rain since have gotten rid of the pollen and construction dust -- like so much of this city, our block has a massive construction project going on -- but the sticky sap accompanying the pollen will require a trip to the car wash. (Is that what you too call the business that washes your car for you?)
I really like "A little bit of everything" and its answer.
@Michael That is a nice clue/answer pair, but it has been used at least twice before.
I really enjoyed this one. Much more fun / clever / challenging than most of last week. The theme revealed itself slowly and by the time I got down to the revealer it was a gentle "oh, cute" moment. I haven't read the comments today but someone mentioned it got a negative reaction? That surprises me. To each his own....
@B In addition to the other new forum "quirks" of even more unreliable displays, how do I keep the "Email me" box from constantly toggling itself back on every single time? This forum system was poor before and it seems to have gotten notably worse...
Great puzzle today. The theme was obscure, but luckily I did not have to solve the theme in order to get the right answers. When the light dawned, that theme was an absolute hoot. Marc Chagall would have appreciated the namecheck. I knew "parkour" from various suspense books featuring people younger, spryer. and bolder than I am. Perfect Strands today; perfect Connections today (to get *one* of those perfect is extremely rare for me). However, the Mini was a challenge. Does anybody else think the Minis are getting more difficult? Maybe I'm just trying them too early in the day (never was, and never will be, a morning person). Tom McCoy needs congratulated. More from him, please!
@Natdegu I found the Mini a bit challenging, too. I’m not sure why, as it doesn’t look difficult in hindsight.
@Natdegu I thought that several clues had multiple potential answers, so I needed the crosses. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember 1A and had only POET to work with. I agree about the increasing difficulty. I don't mind raising my time goal if it means a challenge!
@Natdegu I think the Minis are a little harder than when they first came out! In the early days there was an uproar that the puzzle was too easy for the NY Times. It’s still not hard but it’s harder for sure(I mean, for me ever to get my best 18” again)!
We missed you Tom!
Well that was certainly a groanworthy theme, although I had to read Wordplay to appreciate the missing H angle. PARKOUR and HECTOR made it all worthwhile. I had a college roommate from PITTSBURGH who once puzzled me by asking for a gum band. It took me longer than it should have to figure out that that was PITTSBURGHese for rubber band.
@Marshall Walthew Wow! I never heard the word “parkour” before. Had to Google it.