For anyone wondering if my Constructor Notes were omitted, here they are (yes, I’m vain enough to care, sadly): I am so stoked to be sharing a byline with Ilana on her NYT debut! We met in the "Cruciverb" Facebook group, which is where I met my mentor (now NYT rockstar) Christina several years ago in the same fashion: as a new constructor looking for feedback on a few early construction attempts. I have to say, it was a bit awkward for this 50-something man to dole out constructive criticism to a younger woman whose puzzle included the theme entry MANSPLAINING—it's like I was asking for trouble! Nonetheless, I persevered because I wanted to pay Christina's kindness forward. Who knew it would ultimately result in today's puzzle? For aspiring constructors, the editing staff's wise advice Ilana referenced: they wished all of our theme entries had more transformative clues. While STAY AT HOME DAD [Going shopping without you, Pop!] and STUDY BUDDY [Hit the books, slacker!] were cute, they were too literal; STAY AT HOME and STUDY change parts of speech, but the general meaning is unchanged. This made them less clever than, say, TWISTED SISTER or BLOCKBUSTER. Wordplay is key. To Ilana: thanks for the "mentor" props. It's an honor, even if I don't consider myself anyone's mentor. This was a true collaboration. How awesome is it that the very first idea we worked on together is running in today's New York Times?? Or, perhaps more appropriately: Can you believe it's RUNNING, MATE?!
Regarding Sam's question about 28A: Yes, you are overthinking it.
@Grumpy Somebody had to say it.
Of course, it’s very satisfying to successfully fill in the box. But this puzzle had much more to pad the experience. Beauty in answers, for one, adding radiance. Gorgeous words: SHARD, LITHE, SLIVER, PORTENT, STOLID. Lack of ugliness. Look at the finished grid, how clean it is – as I scan it, my whole system calms down. A theme that delivers: • Sweet wordplay. How the first word of the theme answers changes meaning from the normal phrase to its meaning in this puzzle. • Brain-happifying riddle cracking, trying to guess the theme answers with as few crosses as possible. • Freshness. Four of the five theme answers (excepting BLOCKBUSTER) are NYT debut answers, and worthy ones, bringing the patina of newness to the box. Smile-triggering serendipities. The cross of EYE and SEE and a quartet of three-letter palindromes in EYE, HUH, WOW, and CDC. Thus, a solve plumped with pleasure, satisfying indeed. Ilana, congratulations on your debut, and Scott, kudos on your first NYT 15x15 after four Sundays. This was a gem, and thank you both!
"Awww, you shouldn't have. An artificial nuclear reactor, Fermi?" Truly delightful theme! Well done! "Are acrosses columns?" "Rows, bud."
Anyone seeing a lot of problems with how comments are appearing (or not appearing)? Anyone also write to the NYTgames and get replies that explain away all these bugs as if they are normal and "streamlining" and to be expected? Anyone write to them again, explaining in more detail what is going wrong with the comments, and get (72 hours later) a reply that echoes the first, but a little more condescendingly? This is bringing out my worst self. Got a light, dude? FIRE MAN?
@john ezra I've written three times. I thought maybe I had the ear of someone who might be able to do anything, but I've not heard anything in a couple of days. Nothing. I've sent extensive scenarios, with screen shots and visual aids, but nothing. I feel like I've done the QA work that maybe isn't done at all at the NYT. Nothing. I've written up that QA work in the style of how bugs used to be reported to me. Nothing. Deb? Sam? Can you do anything to help us? Nothing seems to be working. Nothing.
@john ezra Thought it was only me. Good to know I'm not alone.
Sam, This has nothing to do with *moderation* of comments. It's all about changes to the comments *system* that produce unintended and/or undesirable results.
@john ezra and even now, only 3 replies to your comment show, with nothing to indicate that there are more. Sam's comment doesn't even show! When comments are invisible, one can't follow or contribute to a conversation here. Broken conversations make a broken community. I'm assuming that the "streamlining" of the comments system is aimed at those controversial or political articles that get thousands of comments. It's probably an algorithm somewhat like Facebook's "Most relevant" filter (which is also fraught with problems.) But we don't get thousands of comments here in Wordplay, it only becomes unmanageable on the occasional tricky Thursday or Sunday. The community here is why I keep coming back to do these puzzles. Breaking the community may kill the golden goose of Games for the NYT.
@john ezra and everyone Yes, these are confirmable and repeatable bugs in the comments *system* that have been occurring for about a month now. (I have screengrabs going back to at least early May.) Like @Francis, I took the time to document issues in the manner I would while doing QA/UAT as part of a product team -- to no avail. As @Barry Ancona has mentioned previously, these issues occur across the NYT Digital and are not merely within the Games section. As such, it's astonishing that apparently this situation is such a low priority! Like @Eric Hougland, I have almost completely stopped commenting because it's so frustrating. That there has been zero progress, zero communication, and indeed outright denial by Customer Support is incredibly discouraging.
@Linda Jo Fascinating: When I refreshed the page to check if my comment posted, @john ezra's initial post indicated "5 replies". As keeps regularly occurring, only two displayed -- @Francis and @Sam Corbin -- and then (erroneously) the View All Replies button, which should only display after 3 replies. Clicked on that, the indicator changed to "8 replies" (inaccurately, as there were more than eight) and suddenly @redweather's post appeared between those other two. (Mind you, that's an entirely different scenario from when I first encountered the post and began my reply...) And yet you got a completely different scenario! For the same thread! Wild.
@john ezra Dear Crossworders/Cruciverbalist Commenters: I have been seeing you all talk about the problem and not experienced it myself but I have an older phone. If not obsolete, it is out of date and I wonder whether the comments section is just struggling to keep up with all latest models of iPhone, Droid or whatever brand we have— and to keep all of the various stakeholders happy?
@john ezra, er @Convoid I'm not even using a dad-gum mobile, I'm on a desktop PC accessing through my bowser, not an app. So age or model of phone is irrelevant. @Jane I can't find any puzzles at Guardian. Maybe they're not on the US website? or only available to upper-level subscribers?
@john ezra and all At the beginning of this month I had an exchange with one of the customer support reps. Here is the final reply: "Hi John, The comment section may be showing fewer replies because only direct replies to the original comment are being displayed, while nested replies (replies to replies) might not be included in the initial view. This approach could be intended to streamline the viewing experience, reducing clutter in threads with many nested responses. However, I understand this makes the VAR function appear inconsistent, especially since it used to show after 3 replies, and now it’s not triggering reliably. Your workaround of clicking the timestamp to display all replies, and the fact that emailed links show all replies, aligns with this explanation, the timestamp likely forces a full thread reload, including nested replies, while the email link bypasses the streamlined view. I’ve tested the thread you shared, and I can confirm the VAR button isn’t consistently appearing, which suggests a potential change in how we display replies. I'll note this ticket as feedback for our team to review and consider as we continue to look for future improvements for our solvers, thank you. Lovedeep D. Customer Support Specialist The New York Times" I know others here have also received similar comments and it appears that the faulty functioning of the View All Replies button is/was part of a deliberate attempt at "streamlining" the readers experience.
Continued . . . Sam, since you may be following this thread perhaps you could advise as to what our next step might be. I've been mulling around creating an open letter or petition that a number of us could sign on to in order to try to convince NYT to put some resources into solving this problem.
I sent this thread to Deb Amlen with a note asking her to see what she could do to get Games to talk to IT about the matter. I got an OOO, so I forwarded the message to Everdeen Mason.
John Ezra I was fortunate to get a rep who seemed to engage the the issue and even tested the sample thread that I sent them. We agreed that the issue is the code behind how and when the View All Replies (VAR) button is displayed. The workaround of clicking on the time/date stamp, long ago suggested by Barry, works in the same way that using the emailed link works which isolates the thread but then one must go "Back to All Comments". I've noticed that if the Recommend button is clicked the VAR button will be displayed if there are hidden replies. So I'm using that workaround now if I suspect there are replies not displayed. So it pays to like everybody here, and probably in general. :) Barry, Good idea! Hope you/we get a response.
"One surprise in that exchange is the repeated reference to "nested responses". The NYT comments do not have nested responses! There are no indented "trees" and all comments (used to) display chronologically regardless of reply-to reference." G, I think they are (mis)using "nested" responses to mean replies to replies, as opposed to replies to the original post on the thread. I clicked Reply to the OP to post this, so everyone will see it. If I had clicked Reply on your reply, my post would not be seen without a timestamp click. This is "streamlining" we don't need on this forum, and I have difficulty understanding where it would be beneficial.
Convoid, You may not be seeing anything wrong but you may not be seeing all posts. That is wrong.
I found this puzzle easier than yesterday's - I finished it in Tuesday time. The clueing was very straightforward for Wednesday, wasn't it? The theme seemed Monday-ish. It was not a bad puzzle but maybe it should have run on another day. I don't get one thing - Origin crossers: AXES? Are these AXES as a plural of axis or axe? I'm feeling completely lost here. Is my poor knowledge of math to blame, and my even worse ability to describe in English what little I do know of math? The puzzle doesn't ring many Polish bells, but the one it does ring is a big one. Marie Curie, or more accurately Maria Skłodowska-Curie, was Polish, and her achievements have been celebrated here for decades. She is considered one of the most significant people in our history - hers is one of the first historic names kids learn in school. Strangely, for a long time only a very minor street was named after her in Warsaw. So when a major new bridge was built recently, it was given her name, too. She is also the patron of many Polish schools and research institutes, including several in Warsaw. Her biography is fascinating and well worth a read: <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie</a>
@Andrzej Axes is the plural of axis.
@Andrzej To expand. Axes could also be the plural of axe. Axes as the plural of axe would be pronounced like with the first syllable stressed, rhyming with faxes. The plural of axis, is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, like "AKS-ease", phonetically.
I just found an answer to my AXES question below. Yeah, nah. Math terminology, especially in English, is not my forte. I have no recollection of whether I ever learned if this origin point has a name in Polish, and I don't care to check. Math was my nemesis in school, and I revel in how my satisfying and not unsuccessful life has proven right my skepticism at teachers' professions that "you will find *all* of this useful." 🤣
@Francis Thanks for the pronunciation explantion. I had no idea axes and axes are pronounced differently (not that it matters much, as I can't imagine ever needing to talk about an axis in the plural). Stuff like that never happens in Polish. If it's written the same, it's pronounced the same.
@Andrzej - As I learned it in Poland thirty years ago, the word “muzyka” when pronounced with the classical Greek accentuation MUzyka means the art of music, but pronounced as a standard Polish word muZYka means a band playing for a wedding or a dance hall. There are words with Latin plurals paralleling English plurals that people like me are careful to distinguish. Appendix meaning the bodily organ has the plural appendixes; appendix meaning additional matter in a document has the plural appendices. Ditto for indexes/indices, codex/codices, and others.
@Jamie B Two of my best friends in school loved math, too. As for me... Either I was not smart enough to learn anything beyond the basics, or the teachers did a terrible job, because I always struggled with math. Actually, I literally hated it in school. Already then I knew I would not be going for a STEM career (humanities were my thing), so learning anything more advanced than basic algebra and geometry seemed completely pointless to me, and it still does. I've never found any use for most of the stuff teachers claimed would be "necessary". My wife is good at math, but she doesn't use it in her career, either, and it's been quite a career. No, teachers: not all of us will find all of this useful.
@Andrzej Actually, it just occurs to me to ask you if you have words in Polish that are spelled the same but have more than one pronunciations? We have a lot of those. Axes and axes is an example I've never thought of. Likewise "effect" is pronounced two different ways depending on if it's a noun or a verb. In fact, our most basic word "the" can be emphasized by saying "thee", as in he wasn't a hypocrite, he was the(e) hypocrite." The "the" would be pronounced "thee".
@Andrzej In the last few weeks I've found Wednesdays to be easier than Tuesdays (and sometimes even Mondays) as they rely less on brand names we may have never heard of in Europe and have less natick crossings.
@Andrzej There has been lots of responses about the "AXES", but I haven't seen any mention of the "origin". In a (Cartesian) graph, the "origin" is where the X-axis and Y-axis intersect, with the co-ordinates (0,0). By the way, did you notice that one of the constructors is British? I was wondering if that would be helpful to the non-American solvers.
@The X-Phile No, I did not notice that. I usually don't read the column or the author note. I remember a puzzle from 2023 (I think?) which was constructed by a Brazilian. It featured many uber-US clues, as if the constructor tried to out-American the Americans.
@Francis We have words that are spelled differently but pronounced the same, not the other way round. For example bóg (god), buk (beech tree), and the river Bug are all pronounced the same, pretty much like your "book." I can't think of a single case of two words sharing spelling but with different pronunciations. @David C The accentuation you mention, David, is an affectation more than anything - I've never bothered with the MUzyka/muZYka distinction. One of my teachers in law school pronounced the word "prawnicy" (lawyers) with an accent on the first syllable, rather than the penultimate one, as is the usual Polish way. She may have been trying to make the same sort of distinction you mention - *real* lawyers!
@Andrzej I also found it much easier than yesterday and set a Wednesday best for myself with no lookups. That is rare indeed!
@Andrzej Polish. And polish.
@Andrzej I'll add that around here, there's going to be a Polish festival soon, and there are signs for it everywhere. But the sign says POLISH FESTIVAL; all caps. So when we pass the sign, I say to my wife, I hear they're going to have shoe polish, furniture polish, nail polish, silver polish.... She doesn't laugh...
@Steve L I've been thinking about how to identify a groaner and I've come up with the Flanders/Lipa test. Tell your joke/pun to Ned Flanders of the Simpsons and Dua Lipa. If only Ned laughs, we've got a groaner. If only Dua laughs, the joke's good. If both laugh... Then I have no idea.
Congratulations on your debut, Ilana! Really enjoyed this puzzle. Clever and fun. CHEESEDOG AND DELIVERYMAN made me laugh out loud. Thanks!
A fun theme that was well executed.
EMMA Thompson intersecting with ANG Lee? Must be a sign to rewatch Sense and Sensibility. The other night on a Jeopardy repeat, the final Jeopardy answer was something like What two people have won Nobel prizes in two different fields? One was Marie for chemistry and physics and the other was Linus Pauling for chemistry and peace. The themers here were fun. I found the Acrosses somewhat difficult, but the Downs were kind to me. Nice job, Ilana and Scott.
@Vaer the editors actually fact checked that clue and changed it from two Nobels in different fields to two Nobels in different science fields 😂
@Ilana Whew. :) Hope you have more constructions underway.
Congratulations, Ms. Levene, on a fun NYT debut! You and Mr. Hogan delivered an amusing puzzle. I particularly liked BLOCK, BUSTER. Thanks!
I just read the constructor notes. I too am sorry that COMEBACK KID didn’t make the cut.
@Eric Hougland Incidentally, Comeback Kid by Sharon Van Etten is one of my favorite songs. I can't say I get the lyrics but I love the sound.
@Eric Hougland audio of Anrzej' recco, Comeback Kid by Van Etten <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-DdA0xqyAQ" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-DdA0xqyAQ</a>
I was delighted to see Enrico and Marie in today’s puzzle! This was a breeze, but a pleasant one.
Nice Wednesday puzzle. Got the puns pretty quickly. Some nice toothiness for a Wednesday but relatively fast solve.
For some reason today the NYT website doesn’t think I have a full access description. I can sign on through the iPhone app and see that I have a paid up full access subscription so it’s on NYT end. You know what’s more annoying than not being able to access the website? Having a customer service bot tell you that it understands your frustration. Finally got through to a human and was told techs are working on it and I should try again in a few hours. I thoroughly enjoyed this silly theme. But I’m a sucker for lame humor that knows it’s lame.
@Cyndie Subscription, sigh. .
@Cyndie I had the same problem, and, happily, it passed.
@Cyndie This is apparently a problem people have been having. Keep refreshing the page. It happened to me, and that’s how I got it to fix itself.
@Cyndie every so often, that happens to me. It seems to happen if I’ve been away from my home for too long or when I do a software update. Hope you got it all sorted out though, Namaste!
Thanks all, good feedback. Just back from 6 hours of hiking at Arches NP and also back into the NYT website's good graces. Next time I will try refreshing instead of rebooting. Now I'm off to read all of the replies to @john ezra about the streamlining improvements to the Wordplay comments section.
New Wednesday PR here by a mile. That was *very* breezy for midweek! Charmingly free of Yoko ONO, TNOTES, TBARS, OLLAs, and other chestnuts, tho.
Three easy peasies in a row no doubt confirms that tomorrow will be a bear.
Given that I solved it less than an hour and there was a theme, I dug it especially for a midweek puzzle! Sadly while doing it, certain answers like CIA, FBILAB, and CDC naturally got me thinking about my True Crime fascination and how those agencies are going to be affected big time and therefore, so many people who have lost loved ones are never going to have that chance of closure so to speak. Many Cold Cases aren’t going to be solved due to the lack of support/funds from the government. Of course I’m still having SLIVERS of hope though! Anyways, hopefully my fellow NYTers are having a Wonderful Wednesday and Namaste!!
Not exclusively related to today's puzzle, but today I reached a 2,000 day streak.
@Fergus Sullivan, Wow!!! That is truly a milestone. Congratulations!! 🍾🎉🎈🎆
@Fergus Sullivan Quite an achievement! Congratulations!
More of a Monday level difficulty. It was fun, with a cute theme. I don't mind cuteness.
Was the constructor from Virginia? One entry refers to Camp Peary, another to Quantico — both Virginia bases for their respective agencies. Had they worked in another entry for Langley, the game would’ve been over.
@Sanders McNew My only knowledge of Langley comes from American Dad!
Happy to report a personal Wednesday best on this one! Haven’t seen one of those in a while and I’m quite pleased with it. 🤘
Lovely, refreshing Wednesday puzzle. Guaranteed rebus-free (was pest control involved?). CHEESEDOG made me smile, and, with the other clever theme entries, was perfectly punsensible. FERMI and CURIE are old friends, and the car models were not difficult. Now, as to why the NYT is making me sign in again every time I want to do a different puzzle... or could it be the devious computing machine? Very nice start to the day. Hats off to the constructors!
This was so much fun! It went by very quickly (tied my best Wednesday time to the second!) but that's in part because I was so entertained that I wanted to get to the next theme clue. Very fun; great job, constructors!
I was just sure I had already commented...but it has been one of those mornings. DHubby wanted to get through breakfast and move on to grocery shopping; I found the lower temps ..well, tempting... so I got out the window-washing Windex hose attachment thingie, and it was off to the races. Kinda. Doing the ceiling of the porch is a challenge, but wasps and dirt daubers and spider make it necessary. (I won't let the crews hired by the Village do it because they've already pressure-washed the paint off the ceiling, doors, etc. I just say I have hired a professional to do the job...and none of my plants get crushed, as a bonus.) Oh, the puzzle. Cute pairs, even if it should have been DELIVERY, GUY! Whipped through it and moved on in a good mood. Then I read all the CHEESE DOG mentions and feel slightly ill, especially the one mentioning chili. I am still not over the 'chili cheese spaghetti' at Skyline on the corner of Clifton and Ludlow...circa 1974.
@Mean Old Lady Dirt daubers is new to me...we call them mud daubers in the midwest.
@Mean Old Lady wow Skyline?! I remember trying out that chain when I lived in Ohio for 2.5 years. It was decent but given that I’m from and live in Jersey, I like my Wawa and White Castles lol! Hope you enjoy your day and Namaste!!
@Mean Old Lady Oh, I love Skyline coneys, although I hesitate to call that meat sauce chili. I ate there frequently when I was at OSU, especially on the way home from the bar. They now have locations in Florida, to serve the snowbirds from the Midwest.
I appreciated seeing the clue for Camp Peary. Let's hear it for Williamsburg, VA! Colonial reenactors, college students, amusement park fans, and spies. There's something for everyone! 😀
@D, I am a graduate of The College of William & Mary! I was most recently there two years ago, when my niece graduated from its law school. Lots of great memories! It's where I met my husband; we'll celebrate our 39th anniversary on Saturday!
@Susan E Happy Early Anniversary! I'm glad to have brought back good memories for you.
This puzzle theme was a bit TWISTED, SISTER. You owe me. PAYPAL.
Hi Sam! So, *sostenuto*, literally, means "sustained," and I suppose if you sustain something, like a note, you make it longer. But as a musician, I would never consider them synonymous. I had LiNGER as well, which doesn't match by part of speech, but captures better the quality of a melody or phrase played "sostenuto."
@Bill The FURIES as _instruments_ of vengeance? Another odd choice of words. In their primordial form, as the Erinyes, they were certainly vengeful, but they acted willfully, of their own accord; they didn't act as instruments, as it were--of any greater deity, like Zeus, say. Then there was that fiasco with Orestes, in which they served as prosecuting attorneys--hung jury, DA Apollo makes a fuss, Judge Athena (who works for the same law firm--no conflict of interests there!) steps in--it's like a bad episode of Law and Order. The Erinyes demand the case be REHEARd, but no! A&A, Attorneys-at law, recruit them into some "convict rehabilitation program," and rename the Eumenides. Eons later, they are hired by the NYT Puzzles and Games Dept., where they revert to their original personae, under the names of the Emunides. Linus of Thrace was the music teacher of Heracles. Herc wasn't the best of students, didn't always sing in tune. During one fateful lesson, and exasperated Linus cried out "No, No, Ercole mio! Più sostenuto, prego!" In anger, Hercules bonked Linus over the head with his lyre, and killed him. Now that's what I call a Mythological instrument of vengeance!
@Bill Sorry I didn't see this before I responded to Laura. (see above) The FURIES acted on behalf of victims of murder and other crimes, usually women wronged by men. I cite Anyanka in "Buffy" as an example. So Orestes would have been fine if he hadn't killed his mother, as well as the evil king. That's what got the Furies involved.
Nicely straightforward. I found this easier than yesterday's. Fortunately the car names filled themselves in. The theme was funny, although I didn't understand the 'dog' either. And someone has just answered that, thank you.
Fun puzzle, fun theme, though I had no idea what a CHEESE DOG was til I read the comments. Um, yuk? Today is a significant birthday for me. Not quite as LITHE as I used to be, but NOT BAD either. Still not a pensioner as successive powers that be keep raising the pension age, so I’m not sure what that makes me, other than a punk elder. Naturally Mother Nature chose to break the several week heat wave with a tsunami of rain fall today. Yes, the land needs it, but you couldn’t wait one more day Ma’am? I had a trip to a beautiful garden planned washed out. Thanks. I had to put up with a lunch out with DH instead ;)
It’s fascinating to me, as I move beyond my Monday & Tuesday solving comfort zone, how different my performance can be from one Wednesday to the next. Last week I only filled 25% of the grids before giving up. (In fairness, sometimes my time to persevere is limited.) Today was much more successful. I managed all but the northeast corner. REHEAR did not come to me, I’m not weirdly conversant with Nissan’s models (although it sounded familiar in retrospect), ERG on its own was new to me, and the wording of 21A wasn’t transparent enough — the word “instrument” made me erroneously think of an inert object. I didn’t love 54A, primarily because there are some subtly different definitions of the word, but, hey, I’ve got to think outside the box. But I really enjoyed the theme clues and answers— clever, funny, and satisfying to solve.
@Laura Forgive the autocorrect errors! Grid (singular), wildly (not weirdly).
@Laura Caveat: everything I know about FURIES comes from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." They are demons summoned by women who have been wronged by men, so "Instruments of vengeance" worked just fine for me. Is it a coincidence that the demonic car in "Christine" was a Plymouth Fury?
Really enjoyed this one. Thank you for an excellent puzzle.
That was a pun fuzzle - all in the clues. Not all that quick for me of course; none of the theme answers dawning on me just from the clues, but they all came together with some crosses. Nice 'aha' moments for all of them. Was really surprised to see that four of the theme answers were debuts, as they were all quite familiar terms. Puzzle find today was inspired by 'Tin Lizzie.' A Sunday from July 18, 2013 by Andrew Reynolds with the title: "Fast Work." Hard to describe this one. Some of the answers... HENRYFORD TINLIZZIE MODELT ASSEMBLYLINE But... there was a whole lot more to it than that. You'd have to go take a look to get it. Here's the link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/28/2013&g=78&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/28/2013&g=78&d=D</a> I'm done. ...
I keep hearing these phrases in the voices of either The Dude"l from Big Lebowski or Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High and I can't stop giggling. <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bMtdrKIdDgE" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bMtdrKIdDgE</a> ❤️🤣❤️🤣❤️
@Niki B I'm picturing you as this: <a href="https://youtu.be/JTSk5cbaZso" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/JTSk5cbaZso</a> The wordplay furies won't allow the text in here, go figure. Hope you're not offended
@Niki B I just watched The Big Lebowski two nights ago lol! That movie is such a classic and John Goodman is such an underrated actor too. Namaste!!
Add my voice to those who really enjoyed this puzzle. Cute theme, breezy, some new fill, etc. It wasn’t close to a PB, but beat my average. Ilana Levene and Scott Hogan have indeed made some friends here.
Such a delightful puzzle! I admit, I purposefully slowed down my time, just to appreciate the theme answers. (Thematic answers? Whatever...) I usually go into Wednesday with bated breath, knowing it could always be more Thursday-ish than Tuesday-ish. And sometimes it's just plain fun. That was today. Yippee!
It really didn't read as an easy puzzle, but it sure filled in quickly. Beat a lot of my Monday times, and although not quite my fastest Wednesday, it's one of the quickest. A variety of not-so-common answers and some clever themers made this an enjoyable exercise. Thanks, Ilana and Scott!
Best Wednesday time by a mile. I agree with those who think this was maybe a bit too easy for mid-week, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable. First class, mates! And now I’m hungry for a cheese dog…
Fun and quick 1 cup of coffee puzzle for a Wednesday. Nice. Now for the slog, finding my typo. Argh...
@Andy G If you have the NYT Games app on your phone, it has a List View that puts clues and answers next to each other. It has saved me lots of time when I have tried to find a mistake in the puzzle. It’s hard to find an error in the grid unless it creates something that’s obviously not a word. Good luck!
CHEESE DOG: Pro or con? The "cheese" that you get on most CHEESE DOGS has the same relationship to real cheese as the "butter" you get on buttered popcorn has to the "real deal". Definitely con. On the other hand, the new Korean CHEESE DOGS are spreading throughout the land. This is similar to a corn dog: a hot dog on a stick, deep-fried with a core of molten cheese and an outer layer of something interesting. <a href="https://www.emmymade.com/korean-style-corn-dogs" target="_blank">https://www.emmymade.com/korean-style-corn-dogs</a>/ Color me curious.
@The X-Phile I did 2 tours in Korea, one in '79, t'other in '95. I would avoid any Korean dog product. 🌭🐕😉
Great to see Māori make an appearance! While it would definitely be too niche to be included in the NYT crossword, we'd typically refer to the language as te reo Māori, or just te reo, whereas Māori refers to the people. In English, most people would just call the language Māori.
@Logan It's so cool to get information from all over the world like this.
Cheese dogs are good, expand your mind!
@Crab My mind has expanded beyond hot dogs and melted cheese (I'm vegan), but I won't knock the fan base!
@Crab. I’m sticking with mustard and sauerkraut! Carl Sagan and many others have used this apt quote, though no doubt in a less important context than the best way to eat a hot dog “It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.” Kidding, of course. Our sons eat them with ketchup. But we love them anyway.
I was going to ask what a CHEESE DOG was but given Sam’s comment, I’ll pass. Thanks Nice Wednesday puzzle.
@Ιασων I’m not sure what the disgust was about… a cheese dog is just a hot dog with melted cheese on it. And what food doesn’t taste better with cheese?
I filled in 26A with PORTENT because of the fantastic comic strip Cul de Sac by the late Richard Thompson. And look at what today's comic is! <a href="https://www.gocomics.com/culdesac/2025/05/21" target="_blank">https://www.gocomics.com/culdesac/2025/05/21</a>
@Nora I always read the comics right before doing the puzzle, so that was fresh in my mind as well.
@Nora It's fascinating how some things are completely lost on me. Is it language alone? Is it culture, too? What's an uh-oh baby?
@Andrzej There was an "Uh-oh Baby" doll sold in the 1980s that...I'm going to have to be careful how ai phrase this...had some interior plumbing, such that when you put water in its little plastic bottle and inserted it in its mouth, shortly thereafter the doll would need to have its diaper changed. I'm not at all sure that's what was referenced here, but I guess it's a possibility.
The uh oh baby in the comic strip was a recurring character that the children saw as a PORTENT of doom. The baby would wander into the strip and freak out the kids. I think you would have to be a regular reader of the comic to understand.
Very enjoyable. I'm borderline with doing Wednesday puzzles, but this one went fairly easily. Bottom right I had "exterior" which messed things up until I finally figured out "external." "Sostenuto" is the Italian version of "sustain" which is a standard musical notation for holding a note a bit longer, or spreading out a musical phrase.
@pkimmel For what it's worth (good song, by the way), Fermata came to mind for me, but that's more a symbol than a term. In rock and roll music, "sus" is used, or a squiggly horizontal line. For classical music, I can't recall if "sostenuto" is spelled out on the sheet music, or simply "sus."
This one was quite easy but took 28A on my part. A few were a tad 10D, but clever as heck. Great job, Scott, the subtle theme was very witty. Stolid or stoic; I just loved the confusion that created. Thanks for that distractor, bro. Gah! Or is it argh! Cruella… brilliant performance for the pair of Emmas! That quickly became one of our favorite movies of this modern age. Funny observation; Any humorous reference made by we “boomers” at work would inevitably elicit an off-handed “dad joke” comment by the millennials. We did observe the cultural phenom of showing each other memes from their phones, and giggling. How creative (?) That's gold, Jerry… gold, can I use that? 40A I don't get it, nor does 42A ring any kind of bell. And I need to definitely add lithe to my dwindling vocabulary. 53A “Alone” might have been more apropos and fit nicely. "In tune" seems unattainable, at least in my case. Try again? Rehear? Wow. Mind… blown. Brilliant, Scott! 42D location, affectionately known as “The Farm.” If I tell you more, you'll get “visitors” at your door. Ectoplasm. Who else pictured Egon Spengler and Dr. Venkman dripping in the stuff?
"40A I don't get it, nor does 42A ring any kind of bell." Jerry, 40A: plural of axis 42A: FENway Park ring a bell? <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_Bay_Fens" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_Bay_Fens</a>
Lizzie should have been capitalized. Now I'll read in the comments why it shouldn't have been. "Dog" for "dude" seems OK, but CHEESEDOG? [DOESNT SEE YET, he says, while reading the easternmost column in the grid.] I mean, who would ever put cheese on a frankfurter? Liked the theme, and the puzzle seemed solid, albeit a bit gentle for a Wednesday offering. LITHE, PORTENT, STOLID, and SPLURGES were interesting *words*. NOTBAD, if not quite WOW!
@Xword Junkie - there are no foods that are not improved by cheese. Next time you scoop a bowl of berry-flavored ice cream (strawberry, blueberry, multi-berry), grate some hard aged cheese (parmesan, grana padano, romano) over it and get back to me about the magic of cheese.
@Xword Junkie Actually, the correct spelling is DAWG, but we have to make allowances...
Ilana Levene and Scott Hogan NOTBAD, a STAR cuz you SHAR'D. I tripped right thru this puzz. 22D—Afterthought's afterthought: Abbr. PPS could've been PPB, then 30A could be changed to BLOG. That was the only area I had trouble with. Maybe it was PPS to up the difficulty to Wednesday. PS—I drove the Chevy VOLT to the levee but the levee wasn't dry. PPS—There are no EXTERNAL chargers at the levee. PPPS—I met this chick in an ALTIMA. Her name is INÉS CUERVO but she goes by INÉS CROW en Inglés. We're all out of rye so we're drinking rum n coke. PPPPS—INÉS and I getting along great! I told her she's so mysterious, so EMMA PEEL, she laughs and calls me Mister Yosa. Earlier she was calling me Dickey when we were chatting about the levee. Luv her accent. PPPPPS—"Mi maletero está lleno." means "my trunk is full in Spanish...who knew?! I helped INÉS wrassle some of the biggest, heaviest trashbags outta her trunk. She sez her NINO will take care of them. Anyway, we're off to some party...INÉS sez its revolutionary! I'm in!