SHEESH is an apt response to much of the fill in this one.
@Shrike ??? I thought there was a lot of fun, colorful fill: FIX IT IN POST OLESTRA QUANTA GO BANANAS SWOLE BATTLE ROYALES
@Shrike Agreed. though I cauht on ok, I don't like when entries aren't actually words or abbreviations. E.g., TEEL is not a thing, but was needed to get Abs of steel and eel. Still, not a favorite puzzle for me. Tomorrow is another day!
@Shrike I agree wholeheartedly. Little snippets of RAT matches EEL? And Jason Momoa might be more known for his hair or tats ... "abs of steel" is not a thing dedicated to him. The magnets did very little, and the "match" was understandable inside the clues themselves (oh, how baffling, order in a Japanese Restaurant/Order in a Chinese Restaurant). Torturing a puzzle into meaning because you want to slop three letter animals in and imply that they are related simply because they are animals is lame. Maybe CAT/RAT, or OWL/BAT, or so on ... but this was the equivalent of Table/hat, wheel/hammer ... because they're "things". Giant Meh.
I'm very old-school, I guess, but I really don't like it when reading the grid left to right gives you gibberish, as occurred here a few times. The trick was very cumbersome.
@dougschoemer I would think that one of the challenges to creating cross words at this level is how often it's true that "it was cool, but it could have been so much cooler if it had done this".
@dougschoemer Look again at the three letters on either side of the magnets. You can read them from left to right. Then you'll discover why ANIMAL is part of 108a. Not bad for gibberish, eh?
@dougschoemer totally agree. The first “-“ clue I filled in was RATS from ACTIONSTAR, so I was looking forward to all the “-“ entries also being unclued valid fill, but TEEL, GANT, DOGF, RASS, ELKN and GNUY ruined the puzzle for me. BOWL was the only other one that also worked as a valid entry by itself. I thought the theme, while clever, was not good enough to merit the resulting gibberish in the grid. Not to mention the down portions of the themers... ACTIONS was good, but the rest failed to be valid fill.
@dougschoemer I agree. If you have “DOGF” as a full across, the puzzle needs work.
How can GREEN GRASS be a colourful feature of a lawn? The grass _is_ the lawn, no??
I admire that a grid like this is even possible, but the huge amount of glue needed to hold it all together was a real minus for me. I counted 38 three-letter entries. I probably spent more time grinding through all those than the themers.
@Jamie I too was struck by the number of 3-letter entries.
I was really hoping the animal magnetism would lead to the male and female of the same animal like sow to boar, or cow to bull, etc. I don’t really see how an eel and a rat, or an ant and a dog, are attracted to each other.
@logical right? I got the theme, but kept expecting there to be more of a link between the animals.
@logical They weren't attracted to each other, they were attracted to the magnets in the black squares. Were you maybe playing on an app and didn't see the magnets?
I respect the constructor and the difficulty in creating with theme. I could not do it. But- I disliked this puzzle. The theme was not witty or funny or interesting. The clues for the fill were mostly boring definitions. I like puzzles where I literally smile or laugh when I uncover an entry. This one? No wit. No fun.
Bit of a 'meh' puzzle. Unsatisfying in so many little ways, but I can't quite say exactly why.
@Michi Is there something disrespectful about egg fu young and noodle bowls? I thought at first you were joking, but just in case I'm missing some cultural context, thought I'd ask.
@CB I think it's being taken in the same way that a lot of people would react if they saw "Beef-A-Roni" clued as Italian food.
@Hitch The solver should have as much fun, if not more, as the creator (because creating is tough work). Here the creator had a lot more fun? (I'm guessing)
@Paul Yep, pretty much how I felt as an Asian. It's not really offensive but did rub me the wrong way. It's like a death by a thousand papercuts: each incident isn't a big deal but it adds up. What makes it worse is having to justify yourself time and time again because people (generally white Americans) don't understand what it's like to be a minority and just think you're are overreacting to a single event.
Unless I'm being thick there are 8 unchecked squares in this puzzle which I thought was a big no-no. I found the theme underwhelming and a huge amount of junk fill made this a slog for me
James, I’m glad I checked, before posting the same question/observation. I’m not sure if they are officially “unchecked” according to some official definition - but probably. It seems most any “rule” or convention is bendable if it serves the theme, so probably that is the case here (though the bending could have occurred in a way or location where the letter would be checked).
@James Wow I think you are right. That might be the first time I’ve seen a genuinely unchecked square in one of these crosswords. Usually the squares that seem unchecked at first glance are actually checked by a layer of the theme, but those 8 squares in this puzzle are truly unchecked
We see truly unchecked squares -- in support of a theme -- from time to time. Here's one example: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/daily/2022/09/09" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/daily/2022/09/09</a>
Wow. Given all the layers to this theme and that they weave together so seamlessly, this is a work of art as well as a puzzle. Et ti. emu.
I'm not a fan of puzzles that allow gibberish in the grid. TEEL RATS GANT DOGF RASS ELKN BOWL GNUY Not elegant, in my opinion. I don't have a better suggestion, other than using words that make the bend around and also are actual words when read left-to-right - LIVE-EVIL for example.
@James Strong Agree - would have been better if the animal words started on the bend.
@James Well, per the OED, "teel" is a type of Indian sesame seed, or "till" in the Cornish dialect; and "rass" is Jamaican slang for, um . . .; and I once owned a Gant dress shirt-- --but yes, it woiuld have been more elegant if the turns were just the animal names. But that would been almost impossible to pull off, I figure.
Points: • Magnets! I don’t ever remember seeing images of magnets in a grid. It’s hard to come up with something new to Crosslandia, and here it is. Furthermore, these magnets are not just for show; they perform two important functions. They draw the animals in, and they attract related phrases together (Asian foods, action film actors, ground cover, and church-related). • John’s notes in XwordInfo detail how much work went into making this, which took him about a year, involving solidifying the theme concept, coding, culling close to 4,000 phrases, grid design, and making it all work (which was very thorny). All this for a puzzle that will probably have but one day in the sun. Strong evidence to me that John is an artist, crafting something beautiful for beauty’s sake, something he hopes others will enjoy. Well, this was a thing of beauty to me with its intricate theme so comfortably nested the box. And I sure as heck enjoyed conquering the hills it presented, cracking its riddles, and the discoveries that emerged from it. This was a jewel, John. Thank you!
@Lewis ...and it was a pangram. It took me a while to find the J, though. (I made a mental note to check after I filled in QUArks.)
Loathed this. It felt like the constructor didn't believe the theme answers were enough of a draw (they were; those were the best clues in the whole puzzle), so they rewrote a bunch of other clues to have the most obtuse, arcane solutions possible. Boo.
FRENCH OPENS was timely, considering that the finals were/are this weekend. I had fun solving this, though hyphens always alarm me at first. And any puzzle that reminds me of ANSEL Adams is okay by me.
A delightful romp (for me). I got that the magnet answers met their match, but I didn't immediately grasp the 108 Across. Clever theme with fine fill. What more could one want from a Sunday? Thanks, John!
Too gimmicky. Can we please have a regular crossword next week? Call me a dinosaur, I don't mind.
@Storm Petrel I don’t mind gimmicks when the answers are independently valid. I figured out the gimmick at egg foo yung. And then I realized that I couldn’t figure out the rest of the clues without figuring out the gibberish. I think this grid had a ton of potential. I like puzzles that have the dashed clues because I know that I get to figure out what would be that dash. I’m also not a fan of Xx/zz rebuses. Seems like it really isn’t a crossword at that point.
@Storm Petrel Hello, Dinosaur. Sorry you didn't like it. This one was right up my alley.
@Storm Petrel Thursdays and Sundays probably just aren't your thing. Nothing wrong with that. What you call gimmicks are a key feature of Thursday and Sunday puzzles. And there's no such thing as a "regular" puzzle. These kinds of things have always been part of crosswords, especially on Thursday/Sunday. Those of you who don't care for "gimmicks" still have lots of days of the week to get your preferred puzzle types.
Captivating puzzle. Boy, I went through so many things that Jason Momoa has, from ArmOFSTEEL to AssOFSTEEL (never seen it, but I'm pretty sure it is), to finally ABSOFSTEEL. And that was just one entry. I don't know how many times I had to work and rework answers until they finally fit. 10D went through some iterations, and UPVOTE had a complicated history, too. It would be cool to have an accounting of every keystroke one makes in a puzzle, to measure things like "how many times did each square change", and the "maximum time between any two entries that are correct". I enjoyed it right up until the inevitable flyspecking that I needed. GLAMAZON is very clever.
@Francis i also was going through a list of Jason Momoa's attributes in my mind. At least it was a scenic journey 😅
@Mary 😂😂😂 Yeah, I can imagine it might be just that.
I had to warmly smile when I saw NOODLE in the grid, placed there by a man named Kugelman. Noodle kugel was a dish my grandmother – who I fiercely loved – made, one of my favorite childhood foods. The taste, aroma, and the feel of being around my grandmother all evoked by this tiny piece of the puzzle – priceless.
@Lewis Your comment almost made it worthwhile, but I must know -- with or without raisins?
@Lewis You've just brought to mind my own grandma's kugel! The difference is, as much as I also loved the woman, I hated kugel, haha. Hers was sweet, and I just couldn't wrap my head around noodles and sugar in the same dish! That said, it's always nice to think of grandma and her beautiful spirit (but I'll let the memory of kugel fade back into oblivion, lol.)
I’m a new-ish crossword solver and I’m super proud that I finished a Sunday Times with no hints or look ups, and actually figured out the twist on my own! (I did hit “check word” about a million times so that probably doesn’t count for most people but hopefully I’ll get there someday.)
@Lori Congratulations! You will get to where you don’t need to check words — and probably quicker than you would expect. Have fun!
@Lori What @Eric said! It's a huge leap -- in self-confidence, at minimum -- to simply be checking already-entered answers. And fwiw, I've been regularly solving for a few years, and I still use Check Word when I'm in the archives! It has greatly improved my level of certainty with current puzzles. :)
@Lori I consider those tools to be training wheels. As you build your confidence with more and more wins like this, you will likely need them less and less and eventually not at all. Congrats! It's such a great feeling!
I'm not to post this as a reply to any particular comment, because I don't want to single anyone out, but-- --it always amazes me the number of people who come on to the Wordplay comments to complain about entries like "ABSOFST"; I assume they have not completed the puzzle--maybe only just started it--and haven't picked up the gimmick yet; that's fine, but still, they would have to have clicked on the "read about today's puzzle on Wordplay" link, and then again on "read comments," to post their complaint, without ever having "read about today's puzzle"! I mean, that's a lot of effort, just to maintain one's ignorance. Poor Caitlyn:-( (et aliae). I could copy this comment, and repost in on virtually every Sunday, and many Thursdays, changing only the details.
@Bill On the other hand, maybe they haven't been able to complete the puzzle and that's why they're crying foul? Usually solvers rely on the combination of downs and acrosses. When there are quite a few missing clues, not everyone has a sudden flash of inspiration; they are left feeling stupid and at a loss for something to try.
@Bill Sometimes I wonder if there isn't some secret back door that only certain people are privy to that allows them to bypass the column to get to the comments. It's the only possible explanation, right?
@Beth My assumption is they hit the Comments icon at the very top of the column without scrolling -- or reading -- further. Tbh the other day someone commented about needing to go all the way through the column to get to the comments -- and I was confused! 😂
@Bill It would be nice if it were impossible to comment until after you had read the column. It surprises me how many people hear announce that they haven't or don't read it.
@Bill I am no longer amazed by such things, nor by the compulsion some have to take them to task. Similarly not bothered by those who somehow manage to see the column photo before starting the puzzle, and crying, "Spoiler Alert!"
@Grant Depending on your setup in solving the puzzle, it is possible to see the picture without going into the column. No one seems willing to believe this, or that we might have different setups, except for those of us who experience it. Now that I'm used to it, I take extra measures to alter my screen so that I don't see the picture right below the puzzle. It's not a problem when I solve on my phone but when I solve on my computer it can be because the picture is right below the puzzle without clicking into the column itself.
@Beth Thanks so much for checking that out and seeing what others of us see. I'm about half and half between the app and my computer, depending what time I get around to solving that day, which is highly variable for me. As G says, the resolution on my screen, which serves my work the best, means that I only have to open it to see the picture, not even scroll. The weekends in particular tend to have big spoilers. Anyhow, a lot of people just don't believe this can be a real problem so I really appreciate you checking it out!! ☺️
When I first saw STEEL being bent by the magnet and then RATS I thought we’d have a metal on one side and an animal on the other which would have been cool (but likely unrealistic). When I discovered that both sides were three letter animals I was a little underwhelmed. But then I saw that the sides related to each other and that sold me, that was quite an accomplishment. Also, did anyone notice IRON right in the middle of the grid? Wonder if that was deliberate. Thought his alternatives were great too especially ROCKY BALBOA and APOLLO CREED. Last comment—I guess I am going to have to resign myself that LAM is a verb, although I am going kicking and screaming.
@SP Had a very similar experience, with my admiration for John Kugelman increasing with each realization. The magnet icons made the bending aspect semi-obvious, but I didn't notice the animals until the revealer, and then I didn't noticed each set had TWO animals until after I had completed the puzzle. Finally, it wasn't until I was re-reviewing all the answers that I realized the pairs of clues were also connected. Really well done!
@SP “… the sides were related…” I think that’s one of the issues I have with this puzzle—the answers bent by the magnets were not related to each other in any way that I found interesting, meaningful or elegant.
This was a constructor's crossword, not a solver's. Too much Slanglish, unknown or rare words, words that appear on the "new word lists" that constructors use to feed their construction software programs that force-fit thousands of combinations and spit out something like this. BORK. That even makes the Slanglish SNARF(appeared last week) look mainstream. Both of these words flatline on Google Ngram viewer, especially when compared to SCARF, which is slang itself. Why do they keep saying "Sunday puzzle is Wednesday/Thursday difficulty level" when its usually not? How much of the constructor's original cluing was changed by NYT editors? Will these kind of puzzles be the norm when AI takes over puzzle construction in the near future? Are these new vocabulary words useful? Or if I tried to use them in everday speech would I come off as a pretentious eccentric? I'm just left with more questions than answers, leaves me with a lot of agita. This puzzle looks much better in retrospect and I'm really glad its behind me.
@replay I’ve always considered it to be Friday level difficulty, with Thursday level deception.
@replay It was definitely Wednesday level for me.
@replay BORK and SNARF only register as a flat line on Google Ngram Viewer if you include SCARF in the search. SCARF has another meaning, much more mainstream. Add -ing to your search words, and you'll see that flat line rise a bit. (Still not that high, though.) And remember that Ngram only shows printed usage.
This was too clever for me, leaving enjoyment behind I’m afraid. Oh, I completed it and found some great clues, but the overall theme held no MAGNETISM for me. I’m always sad when I can’t gel with a constructor’s work. There’s so much effort put into producing a grid that I so want to ‘get’ it. The downside; so very many names and products unknown. On the upside; any mention of Mr Wilde or Pooh and I’m sold. I always wanted to be a GLAMAZON. I picture 1930’s beauties like Ginger Rogers; sleek, svelte and able to twirl in killer heels. Sadly, I’m 5’ 4’’ and can fall over in wellies. Ah me, I can but dream.
@Helen Wright I've been known to fall off my sneakers that have a slightly higher sole than I usually wear. I get it.
@Helen Wright falling over in wellies is.....oddly endearing :)
I thought it was interesting and a good challenge. I can feel the rebus haters misdirected anger bubbling up at a distance.
@Paul Why? It’s not a rebus just a hidden word
SP, Paul wrote "misdirected" anger. I'm guessing he is expecting people to try to solve the puzzle using rebuses and then complain when that doesn't work.
I'm not sure what to say about this one. It wasn't all that difficult (app says 36 minutes under my average), and the trick was clever enough but a bunch of fills were just ... unsatisfying. IPS? Computers don't each have an IP (Internet Protocol), they each have an Internet Protocol Address. So "Computer addresses, for short" should be IPAS. (If the clue had been singular, and the answer was IPA, I could live with that. I still wouldn't be happy, but I could live with it). And as others have pointed out BATTLEROYALES doesn't "feel" right. Merriam Websters prefers it without the final "E", but does have "BATTLE ROYALE" as a variant, so that's OK. But then it goes on to list lots of plurals: "battles royal or battle royals or battles royale or battle royales" - the last of which was chosen by the constructor. Still, it feels ... unsatisfying. And there's more. I won't go into detail, but MESH, OMG, OPTOUT (among others) feel forced. Then there's things like LAS, BEG, DUD, and ROO (among others) that felt like lazy cluing. Almost as if, after getting all the clever fill done, the constructor got tired of thinking and just went with Monday-level clues for the short glue words. Such an odd (and unsatisfying) mix.
@Grumpy It's interesting. I make a point of reading your posts, and it strikes me how often I agree with you, point by point, and yet none of it bothered me in the slightest at the time I read it. I'd love to know what's happening in each of our brains when we're solving. Why and how each of us is responding to each clue, whether it's appropriate or not, etc. The brain has always fascinated me, but is far too ooky for my taste to have been a pursuit in my youth.
@Grumpy Don't forget, the clues are often edited by the NYT team and aren't necessarily those of the constructor.
@Grumpy I don't think I've ever seen the abbreviation IPA regarding computers. Personally, I've only ever seen or heard "IP address" so that clue/answer didn't bother me. But after reading your comment I would have to agree that IPS doesn't make sense.
Grumpy, I’ve been asked on more than one occasion by an IT support expert “What’s your IP?” My suspicion is it may now be a question they don’t need to ask, due to other ways of logging in to my local machine(?). (No quibble with your general sense of dis-ease with the smoothness of the puzzle.)
@Grumpy BATTLE ROYALES are seen in TV wrestling. WWE, WrestleMania, etc.
@Grumpy For 53D I had "MAC" in there for a while. Each network interface card (NIC), such as an Ethernet adapter or a Wi-Fi card, has a unique MAC address assigned by the manufacturer. Wreaked holy havoc. I only put it in because the constructor was going next-level on a lot of clues and answers.
@Grumpy Yes. In my many years working with computers we called it "IP address". I can't remember ever calling it just IP or IPA. I don't expect anyone to dig into their computer setup, but it's called "IP address" there, too.
Clever theme but needing the extra letters in the animals really ruined this. Too forced.
@Greg I'm sure he could have constructed the puzzle with the bend just before each 3-letter animal, but having the bend where it was made it look like it wasn't just the animal getting pulled to the magnet, but the entire answer in which the animal was embedded. When answers appear nonsensical, and then my perception changes and they appear sensical, I like that shift. Like staring at those perceptual puzzles, is it a duck or a rabbit. But YMMV.
@Lynn I found myself nodding when reading the original comment, but now appreciate your perspective as well.
If there is really animal magnetism, it conjures up some funny images: Momoa with his abs of steel, struggling with a bunch of eels. Tough guy Stallone battling with a bunch of rats. Churchgoer, desperate to sit still while tormented by ants. You-know-who making a total mess of the green grass. Not to be outdone, the elk destroying the periwinkle. The owl and gnu sharing a sloppy meal together, noodles and egg foo yung respectively. All in all, quite a mess! (Not the puzzle itself of course)
@Cat Lady Margaret -- An example of animal magnetism that you might appreciate. I have found that whenever I fold two towels and place one above the other, that no matter where in the house I place this arrangement, whether high or low, bedroom or broom closet, within ten minutes, our previously nowhere-to-be-found cat will be lying on top of it.
I felt very glad to have figured out the theme on my own! I only needed four (or five) cheats, and most importantly, this puzzle was FUN! Thank you!
At least three Naticks here. CISQO/QUANTA (had a C at the crossing) CELIA/EPPS (tried I and E, but other stuff was wrong) DAEMONS/TROI (O fit best, but tried E too) Couldn't work out the last yeah because I didn't consider Q before O to be possible. ORTEGA/REB and STE/SALERNO were also pretty rough, but I guessed those both right with a relatively high degree of confidence
Steven M., Pro tip (from an amateur): I know from times you post that you solve very quickly. Consider slowing down just a bit and reconsidering whether you might have come across answers before (in the grid or in real life). IMHO, most reasonably experienced solvers or readers would have run across at least one of the answers in your "Naticks." Perhaps, on reflection, you have too.
You're saying you've never heard of either CELIA Cruz or Omar EPPS? I'm finding that hard to fathom.
@Steven M. Troi is from Star Trek TNG. Star Trek TNG, original series, voyager, and DS9 are often used in the NYT. Because NYT is nerd core.
I'm not a student of their work either. (To my knowledge I've never seen TROI, but I know that name too.)
@Barry Ancona I hadn't heard of either person. What's hard to fathom about that? I learned a lot of proper names today -- I was honestly just grateful that I knew SIA, cousin ITT, and ANSEL Adams.
@Steven M. I only mention this because you said cISQO several times: it's SISQO. The first S crosses with PISANS. That said, the Q in SISQO/QUANTA was the final letter for me before the happy music. It was pretty close to a Natick, but I thought well surely the unit of energy is QUANTA.
Rachel and Jane, I found it hard to fathom that Steven M., not all solvers, had not heard of either of them.
“Like a mom or dad’s patience” is a great clue.
This puzzle must have been *very* challenging to construct. That said, I didn't enjoy solving it and found the theme rather underwhelming. Random three letter creatures "attached" to one another with horseshoe magnets, symbolizing ANIMALMAGNETISM. Too little bang for my buck. Especially with fill like TINGS, STEERTO, DOAJIG, LEDTO---and all those short entries needed to accommodate the theme. Solved it unaided, but then spent more (and more enjoyable) time trying to create a thematic entry of my own. Likely I'll find a better one already in the comments, but here goes: "Like Updike's Rabbit tetralogy" --- FOURVOLUME. Stick that in your 18D! (The EMUs better like this comment.)
@Xword Junkie Agreed. Considerable effort, but not much payoff. GREEN GRASS and NOODLE BOWL were particularly mundane.
Not my cup of tea - prefer an old fashioned crossword where I actually learn new words or history through clues that show completely in the crossword.
Maybe we can't build BANANAS in the U.S., but I know I have GO(ne)BANANAS for this second super fun John Kugelman puzzle in the last week or so! I knew it would be so much fun when I opened it and looked at the grid, and I was not disappointed. But now I'm going to LAM it because my husband usually has to work away from home on Saturday nights, but not tonight! Yayyy!!!
Kudos to the constructor. This was a bit challenging, but oodles of fun.
Okay. Okay. Theme idea? Fun. Animals with magnets between them. Animal Magnetism. Grid? Solid. Word count, flow, visually enticing! Themers? Matching?? Green grass and periwinkle. Noodle bowl and egg foo yung. Woah. Fill? What fill? Glamazon is just plain fun. Do a jig. Miltie. Fan Fic. Fix it in post. Sheesh. Kugelman nails it! Again! Imma go back and just look at it for a few. Happy Sunday all!
@CCNY I particularly liked FIXITINPOST giving a little hint to COEDIT (one of the last to fall for me, but I appreciated it when I figured it out!).
Mmm, potassium sorbet! As usual it falls to I to fix the grammar mistakes. "Trix are for kids". Therefore 6D should read [It are for kids, not silly rabbits]. OMG. Just so nobody else has go through the embarrassment that I did, be forewarned that "Thong Song" has nothing to do with flip-flops!
@ad absurdum LOL! and thanks, you single-handedly improved my Sunday puzzle experience!!
@ad absurdum My Mom was working with Mormon missionaries coming to Austria about 30 years ago. She changed the list of things to bring from Shower Thongs to Shower Flip-flops.... Then 10 years later I was in Germany and had a slight argument with a young woman who wouldn't believe that the English word for Flip-flops was flip-flops! She thought it was a German word, and we must call them something else in English!
I liked the construction, appreciated the extra brain tickle on a Sunday. My initial impression was, “Good grief that’s a lot of music and movies clues.” I counted 21 afterwards. Is that a lot? Felt like a lot. YMMV. All in all, though, a very enjoyable puzzle, which is how John Kugelman likes to make them.
@Sam Lyons I don't know. But there are 143 clues in all, including the - entries. So that doesn't seem like a terrible percentage. It seems like there were a lot of short entries, but I assume that has something to do with how to get the theme in there. It didn't bother me, but I am one who likes that stuff in my puzzles.
I finished this fully expecting to get the “something’s amiss” note, because so much seemed to be amiss. TEEL? GANT? DOGF? RASS? ELKN? GNUY? SHEESH. (Notice I left out BOWL and RATS because those are actually words.) I get the theme, but the results seemed a bit inelegant to me. That said, I’m always happy when my dog makes an appearance in the puzzle. Who’s a good boy? ROO is! (ARF.)
This puzzle was not my thing, for some of the reasons others have mentioned. Mainly, gibberish makes me uncomfortable, and the animals didn’t match each other in any way. Those two things made it not feel clever or artful to me. I love Sunday puzzles. I like a tricky trick. But I just didn’t think this one was interesting. Fill and iffy clueing don’t bother me that much anymore but I’ll mention two specific gripes. REB is Yiddish or Aramaic, while the Hebrew would be Rav. Unless the clue was using the word Hebrew to mean Jewish (which would be archaic and a little weird), that was unfair. Second, GLAMAZON rubs me the wrong way. Harumph. I’m going to put this puzzle behind me and enjoy my Sunday.
@Noemi Totally agree on your first paragraph. But as the mom of a glamazon -- a tall, athletic and strikingly beautiful young woman (and I'm definitely not the only person who thinks this of her) -- I loved that answer and learning about its surprising origin!
*clears throat* battles royale. other than that, i enjoyed this very clever puzzle!
@richelle Totally agree, but I suppose local sportscasters are where today’s children learn this particular term, and it will be “changed”, we are not allowed to say mispronounced. The trouble is that the original meaning is lost.
Well, it was a bit longer solve than Sundays tend to be for me. Quite challenging, but also truly clever. I got my first inkling of what was happening with the magnets around the area where EGG FOO YUNG turned left to make a GNU. My hat goes off to Mr. Kugelman 🙌🏻 These days I really need the distraction from reality that comes from puzzles. Other distractions for me today were singing in my church choir and playing handbells there as well. It was the last time for both until the summer ends, and I will miss them. Hope everyone has a summer safe from hurricanes and wild fires. Stay well friends. 🤞🏻🤞🏻
The clueing on this was bad, just gave up in the end. Disappointing Sunday puzzle.
@James Without challenging you in any way, may I ask for an example or two of bad clues? If you don't want to answer, that's fine--I'm just interested in comparing how I see a puzzle like this as opposed to others.
@Francis I can't put my finger on it, exactly, but for me it was a mix of never being on this particular constructor's wavelength and there being a lot of trivia. I wouldn't call it bad clueing, like the OP, but it was thoroughly unenjoyable for me. (I had some spare time so I broke my own rules about omitting Sundays. I only did the top of the grid. I got the trick almost instantly - ACTION HERO gave it away - but the tedium of dealing with the fill made me abandon the solve)
@Steve L Large American knowledge base* The cultural divide is my main obstacle in acing these puzzles.
@Steve L I already knew what "in one's wheelhouse" meant, but I had no idea where it came from. I sort of get your description, but not all of it, as I don't know what a strike zone is or what "pitch somebody away" means. I have always thought my general knowledge base was way above average. It sure was when I was at school and uni (I was not a popular kid...), and my memory had not yet been ruined by alcohol. These days when I have finally realized what stuff I really care about, and also have the luxury of learning and doing only this stuff, my knowledge base is probably much narrower than it used to be. My memory is terrible, too, unlike in the past... The knowledge-based clues in NYT puzzles stop me in my tracks more often than not.
@Steve L Your analogy is great - being Polish, I am about as familiar with baseball as I am with some American terminology and wordplay 🤣
Oof — I got the theme really early on but it didn’t do much to help my solve. I just wasn’t on the constructor’s wavelength I guess but this was a _slog_
I feel strangely drawn to this puzzle.
I do like puzzles with so-called gimmicks, so consider the source, but I don’t buy the criticism that the blank acrosses are not words. The hyphen indicates that they are continuations of something else. I’m also unbothered that the animals embedded in those acrosses are not related. They’re animals and they’re attracted to the magnet. I fully enjoyed the hour I spent puzzling it out while watching the French Open.
What a brilliant puzzle week it's been!! Sure it took me nearly an hour today with a bunch of look ups and all the Wordplay clues, but I completed it and that's my goal. The more puzzles I do the better I get and the more I appreciate the sheer talent, skill, grit, determination, and brilliance it takes to construct a crossword. And a week of puzzles of this caliber, just wow!!! This week I celebrated my 1 year anniversary with NYT games, I've been challenged,frustrated, annoyed, and enjoyed every day of it. Thanks to all the constructors and editors. This past year has been a joy and I'm glad I joined the party. Here's to many more years of happy puzzling.
@Michelle Yay, what a wonderful post! Congratulations on your first year of NYT Games. As you said, here's to many more years of happy puzzling!!
Nope, not gonna do it. I just don't have the patience. I'm grouchy enough that I might throw my computer through a window, and I don't want to deal with the repairs.
@jaded Wow, that's a lot. Hope things turn for the better for you.
@jaded That used to happen to me when I was developing software. I called it "a weekday".
@jaded One has to wonder why you would be grouchy enough to not solve the crossword, but apparently not grouchy enough to resist commenting on it.
@jaded trivia laden. A bore and a chore really.
Whew. Tough one for me - took me a long time to finally tumble to half of the trick, and even longer to tumble to the ones that turned the other way. And even then had to stop and ponder a bit over and over again to recall exactly how it was working. But it is really impressive to come up with a new kind of trick like this. A couple of puzzle finds today. First, a Sunday from April 26, 1970 by Alfio Micci with the title: "Musically speaking." A couple of theme clue and answer examples: "Musical creator of monster?" FRANCKENSTEIN "Quinn, Norwegian style?" ZORBATHEGRIEG But most of the others just had a quite straightforward clue with no hint to the trick. e.g: "Telephone sound" BIZETSIGNAL "Child's game" HAYDNGOSEEK "Postal warning" HANDELWITHCARE "___ in air" BRAHMSBURSTING And there were quite a few more. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/26/1970&g=25&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/26/1970&g=25&d=A</a> I'll put the other puzzle in a reply. ....
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Sunday from February 10, 2013 by Patrick Berry with the title: "I heard you the first time" A couple of theme clue and answer examples: Somewhat redundant 1965 country song? : GREENGREENGRASSOFHOME Somewhat redundant Milton Bradley game? : HUNGRYHUNGRYHIPPOS And all of the other theme answers had "Somewhat redundant" at the beginning of the clue. Some other answers: EXTRAEXTRALARGE SHORTSHORTSTORY THEWILDWILDWEST ITSAMADMADMADMADWORLD I was more than a bit surprised to see that only one of those theme answers had ever appeared in another puzzle, as a few of them are quite familiar terms. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/10/2013&g=22&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/10/2013&g=22&d=A</a> I'm done. ...
@Rich in Atlanta That first would be easy for me (once I got the gimmick), tricky for many.
Sometimes the crossword tries to be too clever and it shows. This was one of those days. Some really poor clues, quite a lot was forced.
Just want to share that MALI/SOMALIA fit the clue in 102 Down (but not the grid).
I cheated right royal. I'm a noob so I'm not going to slap myself. But I had seveal Aha moments that I'm proud of. Reading Caitlin's column... eveyrhing made sense. Really ingenuous puzzle, loved it! All the animals appear and make sense but for GNUY. Google pointed me to the African beast, never knew that.
@TNWhiskey Whatever you do to help fill in the crossword is fine. It’s not cheating, it’s learning.
@TNWhiskey There’s a New Yorker cartoon that shows a kid looking at a GNU at a zoo while the accompanying adult explains that GNUs used to be frequently seen in crossword puzzles. I tried unsuccessfully to find that cartoon. But this one is pretty good: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https" target="_blank">https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https</a>%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fnew-yorker-cartoon-this-week-v0-o064fa74128a1.jpg%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3Df0a889d75f785c3b0c24f3e4a47a31b89713479d
@TNWhiskey, You never GNU that? 😄