Pretty good puzzle, even nifty. However, I think that 1D is a bad clue.
@R.J. Smith I believe the clue should have had some hint that the answer wasn't his real name, but a jokey pronunciation of his name. Maybe "The Gubernatah"? It's a fairly small nit to pick in an otherwise excellent puzzle, though!
AHNOLD is unacceptable. Sorry.
@Caroline If I were doing an Australian crossword puzzle and had to come up with MACCAS, I'd have the same opinion.
@Caroline Agree. Have a personal beef with puzzles that include this kind of deliberate misspelling.
I just wanted to say that “Father figure?” would be a great clue for DADBOD. 😊.
Yes, it was! Fri Dec 27, 2019 8D Father figure? Sam Trabucco Sun Apr 14, 2019 61A Father figure? Will Nediger
@Barry Ancona haha, great! Before I started doing the puzzle 😢.
@Jeb Jones Ha, I just saw someone the other day with a shirt that said "It's not a dad bod, it's a father figure"
A fun solve because I actually used the theme to solve some of the entries. ENAMOR, TOILET and SEA CRAB were all entered INSIDE OUT AND BACKWARDS. I’m happy that I took time after completion to study the circled letters and realized they spell INSIDE on the top half and the reverse on the bottom half. Awesome construction! ArNOLD before AHNOLD had me wondering whether rEAVIES is some slang term I was unfamiliar with. Love the clue for SPATULA (“What a flipping tool”!). Great puzzle!
@Anita That’s nice to hear because I would have said the opposite—it solved like a themeless to me, despite the cleverness of the theme and its excellent execution. That’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I’m glad that for others it added to the solve because that would have added extra charm for me.
It was a fun gimmick this week, but we were a little unsatisfied with 1 down, which was our last letter to solve.
> separated by a backslash no, no, NO! That is not what '/' is! That's a slash. A normal punctuation mark. '\' is a backslash, used primarily in specific computing contexts, but for some reason a LOT of people get this wrong.
@el I got a reason for you: back in the day, DOS was king, and all computer commands were typed. Ugh. Anyway, disk addresses used the backslash, like "C:\something\else". (I'm hoping that the backslashes don't disappear, I'm not sure how to make them stay. Here it is with the ! standing in for the backslash C:!something!else.) So knowing and using the backslash was key. Unfortunately, for lots of people, the plain old slash was rechristened backslash. A need for making a word sound fancier? Longer is better? These days, thank goodness, the actual backslash is pretty much relegated to the command prompt window, which hardly anyone needs to know about. Saying it, though, lives on. Caitlin, this is a tough crowd. My sympathies, and apologies for being one of them. And I expect to hear if I got details wrong, it's been a while.
@el I didn't recall the word "backslash" being used in any of the clues. After rereading then all, I finally realized that you were referring to the columnist (Caitlin) using the wrong word in her description of the puzzle. Good catch.... Yes, definitely a regular slash (aka forward slash). More importantly, if we could somehow get the writers and editors of movies and TV series to use "and me" and "and I"properly, that would be great.
@el Yup, I don’t get it. Since a backslash _literally_ leans _backwards_ it’s not hard to remember which is which.. (@Caitlin: please don’t read this as specifically a dig at you! Just confusion that it’s such a common error)
"Signoras" is not the plural of "signora." That would be "signore." Maybe that is too picky an objection, but Italian doesn't make plurals with esses.
"Signora" has been in the English language for more than 400 years. In English, it can have an English plural. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/signora" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/signora</a>
N.B. If the clue had been {Women in Rome] I would have agreed that the answer was bad.
@Barry Ancona While I disagree that "signoras" is wrong (I don't think signora is an English word, but I think it's fine to use English plurals on foreign words, for the crossword), I don't think M-W is a very good authoritative source. They seem to include literally everything anyone has written anywhere, including the Internet or a fifth grader's essay, so every misspelling is listed as an alternate.
Okay. So I, whose brain inexplicably delights in palindromes and semordnilaps, most certainly reveled in this theme and in uncovering every theme answer. Rebecca and Adam, you had me from NETIPOT/TOPTEN to ROMAINE/ENAMOR. Full stop, end of story. Well no, not end of story. After reading the constructor notes, add “astonished” to “delighted”: First, Rebecca wanted to make a theme based on “semipermeable membrane”! Amazing. Second, Adam took Rebecca’s concept – having words morph into other words, but with something left out – and in only “a few more minutes” came up with today’s less arcane version, going from “semipermeable membrane” to the marvelous INSIDE OUT AND BACKWARDS (both 21 letters, btw), with the answers fitting Rebecca’s concept. What a brilliant leap, and made so quickly! Astounding. Third, the nuts and bolts performed by this duo. Finding words that can do what these theme answers do, with those words containing letters that spell “INSIDE” in the circles, in order – twice! Boggling. The miracle of crosswords. I come to a box of empty squares, and by the time I leave I’m agape and enchanted. Wow, Rebecca and Adam, and thank you!
I don't understand the problem with AHNOLD. The clue is heavy slang. AHNOLD is a well-known nickname for the man, perhaps made famous, for me, anyway, by Dana and Kevin on SNL. For those reasons, when I saw the clue, AHNOLD came to my mind first, although I entered ArNOLD, because I was, like, no way. I was thrilled to see that AHNOLD was correct. Anyway, good puzzle, fun gimmick. Enjoyable Sunday.
@Steve Just had to play one of the reavies, didn't you? :-D
@Steve I got it on the first recheck pass, after thinking about AWNOLD. I think it would have been uncontroversial if the clue had been something like: The "Gov-uh-nator".
@Steve I don’t think [“The Governator”] is a strong enough indicator that the answer will be such strong slang. Yes, it’s a nickname, but the clue (by definition!) has to find a way to refer to the man in a way other than by actual name so I think a nickname is fair game for a straight clue. So much so for me that when I entered ArNOLD I thought that was already _too_ cutesy (rather than not cutesy enough!), but Schwarzenegger wouldn’t fit
My last letter was the H in AHNOLD. It cracked me up because I guess we all say it that way, but it still surprised me that it was the answer. I can’t explain why, almost like i wasn't sure if it followed the clueing rules….? Or something? Anyway, loved the puzzle!
@Sean I think [“The Governator”] was supposed to clue us to another of Schwarzenegger’s nicknames. I tried ARNIE and then ARNOLD.
@Sean The one was also my last letter. I thought the same thing about REAVIES. I only got it after reading Caitlin's column. This clue needed more elaboration. Perhaps "The Governator, in his own accent," or "The Governator."
@Sean I originally wrote in ARNOLD, and thought to myself, it might be AHNOLD. That was before I got the trick (see my adjacent reply to Eric), and I couldn't glean HEAVIES from the clue. By the time I got back to that area, I'd forgotten completely about the governor's "name", and the rest of the corner was filled in. Of course, I had to go back and change it, since REAVIES doesn't make any sense. (HEAVIES makes sense, of course, but doesn't seem too natural to me, but this is not a nit. We learned yesterday that PAH is actually a word that some people use.)
@Sean It was a running joke while AHNOLD was our governor. It was the way (supposedly) that he pronounced it.
"Can I borrow your crewneck?" "Shirt thing!" ("I have to order some more." "Sounds like a clothes call!")
@Mike Why do you need to borrow one? Are you some kind of Tee totaler?
@Mike I'll have to iron it first. Haberdasher tea while you're waiting. (There's got to be some sort of Blazing Saddles thing about a collarless shirt -- "You mean a Hedy" -- "That's Henley!" but I can't make it come together.)
I got bored about halfway through but persevered. When the gold star didn't appear I would normally go back through the puzzle to find the mistake but it just didn't seem worth it today, and I'm glad that I hit Autocheck instead. 1 Down? Ugh. Maybe I'm just having a bad day but that was not a great clue, with not one but 2 Rs.
Absofreekinlutely mind boggling how folks like Adam and Rebecca can come up with stuff like this! Great job you guys 👍
Wow, a lot of complains about 1D. "The Governator" is a nickname. "Ahnold" is a nickname. The answer fits the clue. "Arnold" would not have fit, as it is not a nickname! When I saw the clue, the first thing that popped in my head was "Ahnold" - in the form of "Ahhhhnold". I entered it confidently. It was a fine piece of clueing, as were many others. I would describe the whole as clever, enjoyable, and on the easier side. It was a great start to Fathers Day, in my opinion. Thank you, constructors!
@EmptyJ AHNOLD and ArNOLD both fit the clue. I think the use of “the Governator” points the solver to AHNOLD, but if the cross had been a word starting with R, I would have no complaint.
@EmptyJ “Ahnold” is not a nickname though… It’s his name spelled in a way that reflects his accent. If the clue had been spelled “The Govehnatuh” then you might have a point. This was a bogey of a clue, with all due respect.
Alex, The OP didn't say AHNOLD was a nickname. [The Governator] suggests the entry will be a variant from standard usage for some reason, which it is.
Sorry, Alex; the OP *did* call both nicknames. But the clue *is* non-standard, whatever else you may wish to call it, so the *entry* should be non-standard, whatever else you may wish to call it.
I always appreciate the work a constuctor puts into a puzzle like this. Finding so many theme entries that also work backward with one letter missing and then laying them all out so the circled letters spell an appropriate word backward and forward seems like an impossible BAR to hurdle. As it turned out, I solved it like a themeless puzzle, then went back to admire the feat Adam and Rebecca performed. It kind of mind-blowing, actually.
@Nancy J. How'd it go yesterday? Care to share your sign, signora?
The US has been in debt since 1836, the second of two years in which there was no national debt (Jacksoon administration).
I got this thing done without a single hint from the Wordplay column until literally one last square: the H in AHNOLD. AHNOLD? 🙄
@Michael This made me laugh out loud - a first time for a crossword puzzle. So clever!
Didn’t love AHNOLD, but otherwise a solid puzzle and I loveee the theme!
Liked this puzzle a lot. There are actually 4 ways to find "inside" in the circled letters -- the left half, the right half (which Caitlin mentioned), the top half, and the bottom half (which Anita mentioned below). 2 are forwards and two are backwards. Now I'm wondering if connecting the circled letters makes a pictures. It looks a bit like the crumpled shirt on the floor that I put on inside out and backwards this morning.
11D crossing two naticks at 24A and 33A took the wind out of my sails at the end. Had to just put random letters in until I got the Gold Star.
@Hugh for real. that was inexcusably lazing clueing. random singer crossed with random actor crossed with random 60s group crossed with random singer. throw in a french term just for fun. sheesh. not good.
@Hugh A reasonable rule for constructors should be, IMO, that a proper name as an answer should not be highly uncommon. NIECY fails that test - by a mile.
Not a very good one today, in my humble opinion!
@Charles While I respect your opinion, I have to unfortunately disagree. A crossword should challenge, keep you on your toes. As John C Maxwell said “Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” From a seasoned fellow crossword, make sure to keep this in mind.
@Charles An excellent one. Fine work.
@Charles I'm inclined to agree with the others, and what I believe is going to be a hefty majority over the course of 24 hours. If you don't like the puzzle, why not tell us what you don't like about it?
@Charles I thought figuring out the theme answers was kind of fun.
@SP I don't see how they're being a troll, it's a benign comment stating their displeasure at the puzzle. I don't understand why they need to justify their opinion, it's not like they were bashing the constructor or the puzzle, they just didn't like it. It feels like people here want answers so they can clap back at the commenter instead of hearing them out.
1D: How many of you uttered (audibly or at least in your mind) the answer in his accent?
@Heidi 17 times. I’m almost concerned, now, reading the comments, that I assumed I should leave the second letter blank because I didn’t know which spelling would be used. Does people still refer to him as “ARE-nuld”?
“Semi - semordnilap”. Who would have thought of such a thing! Adam and Rebecca, that’s who. I was at first trying to turn corners and use crossing words etc to get the second clue element. Duh, it was right to left there before my eyes. Very fun!
Really amazing piece of construction - just well above my pay grade. I did figure out the trick but still got stuck in more than a few places. Actually surprised that everyone else was able to work this one out. Maybe time to return my home planet. See you tomorrow. ...
I’m just gonna get to the heart of what matters most, and I think I speak for absolutely everyone, everywhere- Melt one stick of butter. Mix with 2 cups crushed Oreos. Smash into a pie pan to make a crust. Put in freezer for 3 minutes to solidify. Pour chocolate pudding in a 1/2 inch layer on the crust. Mix 2 cups whipped cream with 1/2 cup chocolate pudding and pour on top of pudding. Mix about a cup of whipped cream with 10 crushed Oreos, and plop over the cream/pudding layer. Sprinkle with a crushed Oreo. Chill. Oreo pie. Eat the whole thing. Regret nothing.
@CCNY Wow! Incredible. How much is a 'stick' of butter? In ounces/grams, not spoons. Not that I would ......
I didn't notice the INSIDE down and INSIDE up until I read Caitlin's column. Absolutely brilliant, but I expect no less from these constructors. Mwah!
@Pezhead I think of it as "INSIDE BACKWARDS".
My uncle was one of the top nose artists in Canada. Pretty chuffed to see this clue and got it immediately. 🍁
@Michele Which clue? What’s a nose artist?
@BR. 40A, part 2 of the clue. I hadn't heard this term either, but have appreciated the art in the WWII movies.
@BR <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilroy_was_here" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilroy_was_here</a> This was a famous drawing that was popular during WWII. It was a sketch drawing of a man with a long nose, peeking over some sort of barrier. That was often accompanied by the writing "Kilroy was here". I think it was so popular because it looked as much like another part of a man other than his nose, and other features on the drawing was reminiscent of another pair of objects of the male anatomy.
@Francis. However, I think the nose art Michele (and the clue) is referring to is more like this: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nose_art#/media/File:Hells_Angels,_Flying_Tigers_1942.jpg" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nose_art#/media/File:Hells_Angels,_Flying_Tigers_1942.jpg</a>
In a million years I would have never guessed AHNOLD.
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I thought this puzzle was clever, and it was fun to finish. Yesterday, I restained my deck,and last night I was so sore I thought I would never walk again. So this puzzle was a happy experience.
This is in regard to the answer for 125 Across. For approximately a year between 1835-1836, during Andrew Jackson’s presidency, the national debt was completely paid off.
@Kathryn Amazing what you can do when you steal the land from a hundred thousand people, killing more than 10,000 in the process.
@Mrs. Billie M. Spaight Andrew Jackson was not a nice guy. I didn't know that about the debt, but do know about his role in the forced removal of the Cherokee and other endeavors.
I LOVED the trick! It gave 2 possibilities for getting the answer. Please, MORE, MORE, MORE puzzles with this trick. Even though I didn't get the entire puzzle, I had a grand time with this one. THANK YOU.
Well, I was prepared to complain that if you're going to go the cheeky phonetic route, "Ahnuld" would be the answer and "Ahnold" is just half----- and wrong. But I checked Ngram and found the Old version is more prevalent, somehow. Anyway, this was fun to do and the theme was helpful. I figured the circled letters would reassemble to something interesting but I was too lazy to get it until I read the column. :) Very impressive construction that didn't chintz on wit or fun. Thanks. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
Are we really letting one, albeit problematic, clue ruin such a spectacular puzzle? So much to enjoy in this one, incredible craftsmanship and a fun fill, at least for me.
@Sonja Which clue do you think is ruining the puzzle for some people? I solved the puzzle as if it were themeless, but I think it’s an impressive piece of work.
@Sonja, Ruin it? That’s part of the enjoyment!
I did this puzzle after getting back to my hotel in Queens after attending the wedding of the daughter of my best friend of 50 some years. I appreciated that it was cleverly constructed, yet not too strenuous, and had some wit about it. I can picture someone calling someone else a SPATULA, and when met with a look of bewilderment, telling them “because you’re a flipping tool.” I wonder if I’m a TEASNOB because I like a cup of Darjeeling in the morning.
@Marshall Walthew So did I. I'm NOT snobby about teas but yes I do like Darjeeling--especially with a slice of lime in it. I also love Earl Grey.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has a terrific sense of humor. He has demonstrated over and over that he can be very funny, and now that he is out of office, I can almost forgive him for belonging to (ahem) "the other" party. If he saw the AHNOLD fill, I don't think he would have been offended by such a petty incursion as teasing him about his accent, and no doubt would have welcomed being at the top of a NY Times puzzle.
@dutchiris As someone also from Massachusetts (Arnold ostensibly has a place to stay in Hyannis), the soft R does not sound like an accent to me. I had to check that answer, and the cross didn't help me.
@dutchiris. In eastern Massachusetts, Rs can be soft. In western Massachusetts, you can hear them. Maybe because so many out-of-staters like me have moved in? Not sure, but Boston seems to have its very own accent.
I gasped when I figured out the trick. Well done!
I have no beef with AHNOLD, I thought SEACRAB was a stretch and I’ve never heard of a BARCADE, nor do I want to go to one. All that noise and flashing lights plus alcohol, I’d be a HOTMESS. Very fun puzzle!
@Lisa Marshall you can come with me to a barcade later today for a birthday party down in the city if you’re around.
Looks like a lot of people didn’t like 1D, but I thought it was hilarious! Great (rather easy) puzzle -
@Tom Bandy Me too! I laughed out loud when I realized the R should have been H.
1D/19A is utterly disgraceful. I am sick of these types of clues ruining my gold stars. Why would you intersect that H (which was not properly indicated) with an asinine slang term? What a total lack of consideration. I would have praised this puzzle were it not for this fiasco.
@Michael Shows how differently people respond to the same stimulus. I loved that combo! It had humor and cleverness for me. The fact that Arnold was cued as The Governator made use of the H instead of R a given for me and an evoked a chuckle. That the H fit into Heavies as well turned it into a full out laugh.
Michael, Until you change your thinking about crossword clues, you're going to continue to miss many gold stars. (There are several threads today discussing why the clue and answer are valid.)
@Michael What ruined your golf start was the fact that you couldn’t figure it out. The puzzle is fine.
Michael, You're missing more than gold stars.
"What ruined your golf start..." Steve, I thought you were starting a sports analogy, but then I realized AI turned a "gold star" into a "golf start."
@Michael It sounds as though you may not be familiar with the shared sense of humor between Schwarzenegger and his fans? I'm not one, particularly, but have seen enough affectionate plays on his name to almost like him.
Like many others, that H of Ahnold and Reavies just made no sense. Pity we didn't have better clues. Other than that, a fun puzzle! Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially to the ones who take their role seriously and whose children would say they appreciate them.
My Diary of a Crossword Fiend review: <a href="https://crosswordfiend.com/2025/06/14/sunday-june-15-2025/#ny" target="_blank">https://crosswordfiend.com/2025/06/14/sunday-june-15-2025/#ny</a>
Eric, I am complete agreement with your conclusion: "That’s an impressive amount of theme material, full of nice entries. I’m sure the constructors put a lot of time and effort into finding words that worked with the trick. But for me, the puzzle solved like an easy themeless puzzle."
@Eric Hougland Not an "easy themeless" for me; I knew there was some sort of trick, and my glancing familiarity with a NETIPOT didn't help things out, but when I got to OMELETS and the eponymous fire (which was a gimme), I knew that the circled letter needed to come out of STELEMO. Knowing this trick helped me go back to TOP(?)TEN, and I conjured up NETIPOT from my long-term memory stores. After that, it was off to the races, but I'd have to say the theme got me started with a kick (along with the title).
Steve, Obviously there was a theme. One did not need the theme to solve the puzzle. I looked for the theme because I solve to savor puzzles, not to race through them. I found the theme quickly and enjoyed the second answers to the themers as I went along, but I certainly did not need the theme to fill in the squares, and the clues were not a challenge, so it did indeed solve like an easy themeless.
@Eric Hougland Enjoyed your review. The Mets were in Denver last week and they showed some views and sunsets. Beautiful. You must have similar.
Eh. So so. Relatively straightforward for a Sunday. Theme was cute but very basic and almost immediately recognisable. Almost had a stroke reading 111D.
This took a little longer than it should have, because I was making the trick harder than it was. I thought “inside out and backwards” meant I needed to turn the letters inside out, i.e. rearrange in some way, then read them backwards. When I realized what was happening, the backwards part worked more like an accuracy check than an aid, but I still enjoyed it. I also appreciated the use of a few dad jokes (AHNOLD, “flipping tool”, Stumble INN), considering the publication date. Happy Father’s Day to all who celebrate!
@Heidi Shouldn't backwards be backward? I think backwards is British usage.
Fun Sunday solve for me, Nice theme, good construction. Enjoyed it even though I spent 10 minutes on internet search of rEAVIES, before finally thinking of HEAVIES. I " knew" ArNOLD was right, but at least it got the thought train going.
@Sal Z. But we did learn that there’s a Reavie’s Pharmacy somewhere in Manitoba!