UNCANNY VALLEY is incorrectly clued. It’s not a term used to describe robots that seem “too lifelike” — if it were, after all, we perfectly lifelike humans would all reside there, not just robots. Robotics professor Masahiro Mori coined the term to describe the valley-shaped section of a graph charting our emotional response to robots as they become more lifelike — a steep dip into near-revulsion followed by steep improvement as their appearance becomes lifelike enough to the same empathy we feel toward other humans. The robot designs in the uncanny valley are not “too human”; they are exactly not human enough.
@Ken W. Correct. They are simultaneously "too lifelike" and "not lifelike enough".
@Ken W. Terrific explanation! I knew the term and had an intuitive sense of its meaning, but your comment provides the background to make it clear.
One could argue that getting a wordle in one isn’t ACING but lucking out, as there’s absolutely no skill involved in that.
@Sonja A definition of acing is getting something in one try, as in tennis or golf. Ace is the root. Ace=one, as in playing cards. The clue was correct.
Sonja, Re: volleyball ace One player on the receiving team can touch the serve and it can still be an ace, but if the first player successfully passes it to a second (or a third) before it is not returned, that's hardly an "ace" for the server.
I'm risking all the eye rolls to say that porter is a style of, not an alternative to, ale. That is all.
@Mark It's an inherently nonsensical clue anyway. There are many types of ales, some are sweet and some aren't. It's like if they clued "They aren't as sweet as merlots" and the answer was REDS.
@Mark a taste of honey, tasting much sweeter than ale....
@Mark 99.9% of the time, I am firmly in the eye-rolling camp when it comes to the “corrections” people post on here, especially later in the week — almost all of these complaints essentially boil down to something like, “the way I personally construed this clue has such strong appeal that I shall now argue against the constructor’s own construal, and refuse to seriously entertain other solvers’ explanations as to why the entry actually works just fine as printed.” But yeah, I read 23D as clueing ALES as something that’s less sweet than…one specific type of ale? Can anyone make it make sense?
@Mark - As a (formerly?) frequent eye roller, I agree with you -- this is one of the rare occasions when a complaint about a clue and entry is valid. Well done!
"How's the furniture business?" "Pretty good sofa!" ("At least it's not a wild goose chaise!")
@Mike How do I couch this.... I'm just glad you got that off your chest. ____________________ Jesse Goldberg 8/28/2024 for Puzzle of the Decade (emu filler)
@Mike That came out fast. You really had your futon the pedal. I really find your posts divan.
@Mike Your puns tickle me so much, you might say it’s a kind of fun-itcher !
Mike, Your puns will play in Peoria, but the sofa joke won't do in Davenport. (That's a Rock Island line.)
@Mike Let’s just table this discussion for now.
@Mike I'll have a glass of cabinet while I think about that one. It will help me console myself.
Whoosh! Very proud of myself for finishing (I thought) in under 10 minutes despite it being 4:30am. Screeching stop! Not getting the happy music and spending the next 3 whole minutes combing the grid for errors. Finally walking away for a few minutes, summoned to resolve existential angst afflicting the cat just then. (My husband has an uncanny talent for sleeping through all manner of existential angst.) Feline feelings soothed, returning to the grid and—sheesh, finally!—beginning to question my answer to [Alley oop]. I guess y’all don’t call it bUTTERBALL after all.
@Sam Lyons Oh wait. I just got that clue. Good grief it took it a long time for the penn… er… pinsetter to drop.
It felt like a good Saturday puzzle, but for me it was too difficult to finish without several lookups and autocheck. As a foreign solver, I face some frustrating challenges. Take the string and knot record-keeping device. I learned the name as a pre-teen. I was fascinated by the Inca. I studied them for a long time, inspired by the very sad story of the fall of their empire and destruction of their culture at the hands of the cruel, avaricious and bigoted Spaniards ("Let's torture, rob and klil these people for Jesus!"). I learned about their gods, their cities, their culture, and, yes, about their record keeping. What's the problem then? Shouldn't QUIPU have been a gimme? It was, but... I've known it for decades as kipu, because that's how we spell it in Polish (it sounds the same as your version, which I was unfamiliar with). So my gimme really wasn't a gimme. The discovery of a kipu (well, quipu...) at the castle of Niedzica in Southern Poland in 1946 is one of our historical mysteries. You can read about it in the Legend section of the Wikipedia article on the castle: <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niedzica_Castle" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niedzica_Castle</a>
@Andrzej I learned it as QIPU so we all deal with transliteration somewhere.
@Andrzej I had not a clue on QUIPU. Never heard of it, I am absolutely sure. I'm not ever quite certain I've heard of the concept. Introspection time. I find it interesting that you took such an interest in the existing civilizations that the European invasion overthrew. Somehow I can't generate much interest, and I wonder if the reason I can't is that I find studying those lands I now occupy very viscerally disturbing. Why? I dunno. It's like the previous residents of a place you are living. Do I really want to know why they're gone? The right would mock my "guilt". The left might fault me for lack of interests in their cultures. I feel a little alone on the topic. Anyway, I'm impressed with your interest in the topic.
@Andrzej Since it's not pronounced kwee-poo, quipu is probably the Spanish spelling that was adopted into English.
I started this puzzle at 10pm, on the floor in the hallway, sitting next to my trembling dog. I continued this puzzle at 1am, outside a closet, promising my dog that this terror would eventually end. I fell asleep at 3 am, to a continued barrage of pops and crackles. I finished this puzzle at 9am, while my dog finally got some rest. I hate fireworks season. I liked this puzzle.
@Heidi I had to put my dog down earlier in the year. The fireworks reminded me of what you went through ( I had the same experience for the time we were together). I bet they had NO FIREWORKS rule in Dog Heaven.
@Heidi Gah! Last night was terrible and tonight probably will be as well with firecrackers. My heart aches for your, Lewis'ses's and everyone else's dogs.
@Heidi I was up all night checking my phone for flash flood warnings, which are all around us here in Central Texas. My dog was up with the fireworks. It was a terrible night, and still raining. We are on a high ridge but it will be hard to go anywhere today. The NYT puzzle was a good distraction but lots of obscure stuff (to me anyway). Please pray for our state and for the families who are dealing with the unthinkable.
BUTTERBALL. And Ira Glass. That was my uncanny valley for today. (I always like a little uncanniness in my puzzle)
@Cat Lady Margaret I thought of Philip Glass at once, but I didn't realize he had written an OPERA... I looked him up (he's 87... and a reminder that if you want to "age well," you should smile. Often.)
I always learn new facts when I do The NY Times CW. Didn't know about the Quipu, Uncanny Valley, or Queer Theology. A week or so ago, I learned about Pistol Pete and watched videos of his incredible basketball technique, listened to interviews of players I know talking about him. The puzzle is a window into unexplored parts of the world. I love it!
@Jane I fully agree with you. I have found so many musicians I’d never heard before. Listening to some YANN Tiersen as I write this…and I love the phrase UNCANNY VALLEY, which I’m about to research.
This was not what I would exactly call an epic game, but the clues were crafty and the fills were fun, and it was in no way rinkydink. I had to peer at at that uncanny valley of queer theology to be sure I was not getting lost in the sofa covers, but I got the idea and when it was time to stop I realized that I'd had a lovely time and would have liked to spend even more. Thank you, Tracy, for a classy puzzle. Your professional expertise shows us how it's done.
A capital-P Puzzle, riddles galore. Seven no-knows. Plenty of wait-fors (clues yielding several answers). Even [Fencing option] – are we talking the sword sport or area enclosure? I love things like this that set me behind in filling out a grid, hills to conquer. What results are oho’s and aha’s and TILs, those Crosslandia carrots that keep me coming back. And the sweet feeling at fill-in that it was well-earned. The stars of the box today are the horizontal triple stacks in the NE and SW. First, they are remarkably fresh – all NYT debuts in the NE, and in the SW, two debuts and one once-before. Second, they are so varied! Can you get more disparate than SOFA COVERS, ART THIEVES, and UNCANNY VALLEY? Or QUEER THEOLOGY, GUTTERBALL, and LITERALIST? Mwah! I liked UTTER crossing UTTER in the SW. I loved what happened when I saw HAIRY abutting ELSIE – my brain shouted “When Hairy met Elsie!”. (Hello, Meg Ryan fans!) Needless to say, Tracy, I relished your first-class creation. Thank you so much for this!
For those wondering, after my post yesterday, it was not a good night for our terrified dog Teddy, as the fireworks in our ambitious neighborhood went on past 3:30. But, bless his soul, today is a brand new day, and he's eager and spry as always. What a champ!
UNCANNY VALLEY is not to be confused with the UNCANDY VALLEY, a summer camp between the hills for sugar-addicted children.
@Jonathan uncandy valley is that section of the neighborhood who thought it was acceptable to give out apples at Halloween.
Very tricky but I got it with no lookups after 2 hours and four minutes. Truly Saturday difficult.
@Laura Stratton. I’m so glad others take as long as I do and just stick with it to the end. We get hours of fun instead of just a few minutes.
Favorite clue: 8D: it's a Straight Shot. I was sitting there with KA at the end, preceded by a possible D for cads. And I was thinking to myself, nothing the on dka. When I finally solved it I grinned. Nicely done Tracy!
@Daily-Solver It's always interesting to see how similar our experiences can be.
Maybe we need a natick-like term for a cross of two foreign words like OSSO and CHASSE. Other than that, an enjoyable test. That clue for GUTTERBALL is my favorite one in awhile.
@Jamie OSSO is pretty common crossword fill, although it's more commonly clued as "____ buco". Not too surprising to find a trickier clue on a Saturday.
@Jamie Yeah, just say "tough cross". That will keep the Natick Police in the donut shop.
@Grant Also, porters are not necessarily sweet...
@Grant Aye! And good for what ails ye!
@Grant Came here to say the same thing! Great puzzle but this particular clue should have been caught by an editor…porters are certainly not lagers, at any rate.
@Grant I know, right? It’s brewing 101: there are two kinds of beer, ale and lager, depending on whether you’re using top fermenting or bottom fermenting yeast respectively, and every other type is a variety of one of those two.
If they gave you 5000 guesses -- and you had UNCANNY something-or-other -- would you ever guess VALLEY as the 2nd word? Me neither. This is certainly one of the oddest phrases ever invented. I can understand something like UNCANNY HUMANITY or UNCANNY REALITY. How about SPOOKY DETOO? UNCANNY VALLEY is so anti-intuitive that I'm predicting it won't have staying power. Unless, of course, it's been around forever -- and it's already proved it has. Back to the rest of the puzzle. It's a NIFTY Saturday, lively and well-clued. Colorful fill like TONGUE TIED and RINKY-DINK. Nice clues for CADET BLUE; CHASSE and GUTTER BALL. Liked how HISS and TSKS were clued the same way. Not too many names. QUIPU, which I'll remember for less than 5 minutes, was fairly crossed. Hard in places, easy in others, and very enjoyable.
Uncanny Valley is actually a fairly common term- I got it on my first pass, but I can definitely understand how it might be tricky for someone not familiar with the concept. It also wasn't the best way to clue it, but a quick google search yields some excellent explanation.
@Nancy the "valley" part of UNCANNY VALLEY makes more sense when you see the associated visual - with "human likeness" on the x-axis and "affinity/positive feelings" on the y-axis. wikipedia has a graphic i found helpful: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley#/media/File:Mori_Uncanny_Valley.svg" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley#/media/File:Mori_Uncanny_Valley.svg</a>
Did TONGUETIE remind anyone else of Twin Peaks? -- <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLiGZ0a8pHM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLiGZ0a8pHM</a> Great puzzle with some utterly fresh entries and two new-to-me animal varieties, the COOLANT and the PEERAT. I now present to you UNCANNY VALLEY by Johnny Flynn(co-written by Robert Macfarlane): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgXHqhkNMOw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgXHqhkNMOw</a> (If you're not familiar with Johnny Flynn, that's on you.)
@ad absurdum If the PEERATs get into your cellar, you just have to move. You'll never completely get rid of the smell.
Loved this puzzle. Don't have time to read the other comments right now, so I hope I'm not repeating others too much. Getting ready to go into NYC to see Hadestown. We've been listening to the cast recording for a couple of weeks and really getting excited. Here's a snippet from the "Glass production," "Akhenaten" that my sister and I saw broadcast live to movie theaters a few years, featuring the incredible counter tenor Anthony Roth Costanzo. <a href="https://youtu.be/JG33g_ELdeM?si=-DhlZ9W5hRB63TQG" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/JG33g_ELdeM?si=-DhlZ9W5hRB63TQG</a> I'm surprised UNCANNY VALLEY is a debut. That was my initial foothold for this puzzle. I loved the misdirecting clues for GUTTER BALL, ART THIEVES, and LITERALIST (although that last one I don't really want to think about) Have a great weekend!
@Beth in Greenbelt It's a sad song. We're gonna sing it anyway.
OK. OK. Look as a gay seminary graduate, I'm going to like any puzzle that includes QUEER THEOLOGY. But this puzzle, Friday's, and Thursday's I simply burned through. Either I have just been on the same mental wavelength as the last three puzzle constructors, or the NYT crosswords simply have not been challenging enough this week. Frankly, I'm not that good. I struggled more with the LA Times this week. C'mon, Will, up your game. (Famous last words when the Sunday puzzle leaves me in tears...)
Jim, I'm sure your connection to one of today's seed entries gave you an advantage in what xwdstats.com is showing to be an Average Saturday, but Friday and Thursday both show up there as Easy, so you are onto something.
@Jim or a secret third thing - you're getting better at crosswords!
I thought this was a terrific puzzle, even though I had an awful time getting a toehold. I found it quite chewy, with some weirdness sprinkled in, and was surprised when I didn't exceed my average. Congrats Tracy!
Not bad. I think the clue for SLUE should have had a (var.) note. But overall, this was solid, and I liked the UNCANNYVALLEY entry, and the clue for GUTTERBALL. 8/10
One of my favorite constructors. Typical tough Saturday for me and had to look up some things, but ended up being an enjoyable workout as things finally dawned on me from the crosses. *One puzzle find today was inspired by 36 down. Dawned on me that... YALLCOMEBACKNOW is 15 letters, and... yep - it was in one puzzle. A Monday from February 4, 2008 by Dave and Tracey Mackey. The two other theme answers in that one were: DONTBEASTRANGER (also 15 letters) and DROPINANYTIME Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/4/2008&g=59&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/4/2008&g=59&d=A</a> I'll put my other puzzle find in a reply. ...
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: a Friday from March 29, 1996 by Cathy Allis. The theme clues and answers: "Ditty about a retired city official?" THEOLDGRAYMAYOR "Some horses?" NEIGHERDOWELLS "Howling leader of the Miracles?" SMOKEYTHEBAYER "Do a veterinarian's task?" BEWEIGHEROFDOGS Here's that Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/29/1996&g=43&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/29/1996&g=43&d=A</a> Might put another puzzle find in another reply. ...
SlipCOVERS? SeatCOVERS? SOFACOVERS! Otherwise, a quickie. Now for some NEATVODKA. Cheers, Tracy.
Wow looks like I’m first. I enjoyed this puzzle, top half seemed easier than the bottom to me. Big fan of the GUTTERBALL clue. Took a while to figure out the VALLEY part of UNCANNYVALLEY, I guess that’s the dip in the graph of human responses to robots as they get more lifelike (we don’t notice if they are perfectly lifelike, and don’t mind if they are not lifelike, but get freaked out if they are almost lifelike). I learned a few things today which in my mind is a great addition to a puzzle.
I really wanted 41A to be "lucky", as getting Wordle in 1 is ... well, lucky. But YALL disproved that immediately. (Not a quibble against the clue! Just where my brain went first. 46D for some reason made me think of abaci, though a) the singular form didn't fit and b) abacuses didn't use knots. But QUIPU got dredged up from the corners of memory so I didn't have too much trouble there. Had trap before DELT but I was pretty sure 24D was HAND. NIFTY puzzle but I had to hunt for a couple of what turned out to be sneaky typos, those UTTER CADS.
This was a good workout. The upper middle caused me lots of trouble. YANN Tiersen was unknown to me and UNCANNYVALLEY did not compute. For some reason I tried orethieves, instead of ARTTHIEVES, thinking maybe there was some linguist basis for treating oil as an ore. So I sighed with relief when that section finally revealed itself to me. Alas there was a typo somewhere that was holding me up, but when I scanned the grid, everything seemed right. A more rigorous review revealed that I had blob instead of GLOB. I’m so conditioned to solve by crosses that I had just accepted butterball as a valid answer for alley oop because it looked reasonable, even if didn’t know why it made sense (see UNCANNYVALLEY above). Face palm when I caught my mistake and saw that the alley oop was quite clever. This one was certainly no slam dunk for me.
TIL about UNCANNY VALLEY. For those who haven't looked it up the VALLEY in question refers to a dip in a graph, on which "human likeness" is plotted against "affinity". It's been hypothesized that as an object become more "human-like" us humans will have a greater affinity to it, but at a certain point we become freaked out and affinity drops sharply...only to shoot back up when the object becomes extremely life-like. Though originally hypothesized and named in 1970 (according to Wikipedia), it still maintains its status as a hypothesis. Proof is hard to come by!
The creepy CGI humans in “The Polar Express” movie are all the proof anyone needs. <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-disturbing-valley-robert-zemeckis-polar-express" target="_blank">https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-disturbing-valley-robert-zemeckis-polar-express</a>/
How UNCANNY that I had just read the recent Atlantic article about the QUIPU: <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/05/decoding-ancient-incas-writing-system-khipus/682814/?gift=9PmITfHok9x1rLOJaHU0G5mmQoRQKaHLqrOG9R0ZYhM&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share" target="_blank">https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2025/05/decoding-ancient-incas-writing-system-khipus/682814/?gift=9PmITfHok9x1rLOJaHU0G5mmQoRQKaHLqrOG9R0ZYhM&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share</a>
@John Carson Thank you for the info about The Atantic article.
@John Carson Indirectly related, but I'm reminded of Ranger School, where we used knots for keeping pace count. Every 100 paces equaled one knot, or whatever your pace count was to reach 100 meters was one knot. Beads were also used, but you'd have to buy them. I guess they use GPS now, who knows?
50 across is what crosswords are all about. Brilliant.
@Dave agree - that one had me stumped forever, especially since I had “QUEER IDEOLOGY” and “DICEY” for 46A and 48D respectively. Painful but brilliant.
Really enjoyed this one!
what if i started using a QUIPU to track my personal finances…🤔
Yann Tiersen's contributions on the Amélie soundtrack are a joy!
Oh, Tracy, don't tease me with hamantash then throw me an ONION ROLL! Otherwise, it was an enjoyable solve.
@Nancy J. I was thinking RUGELACH! Man, it's hard to find good rugelach around here.
Shall I record on my QUIPU the obscure names URIE and YANN? Vote for one: Let's knot! ___ Let's not! ___
@Henry Su All of the above! And let’s also knot/not add ‘neat vodka’, ‘slue’.. or at least half of today’s cluing.
It's good to see you, Henry Su! Let's not!* *Can't get cross when they're fairly crossed. *STAR KEY
I thought I was breezing through this one. Was well over half done in 10 minutes. My final solve time was over 30 minutes. Alley opps and glass production really tripped me up. I didn't know QUIPU, so I thought maybe OmERA was the historic name for a glass blower. Took me a while to realize it meant Phillip Glass. It took just as long to realize that alley oops were bowling mistakes, not basketball assists. I was able to work out QUEER___OLOGY, and I really wanted those three squares to be ETYM, but obviously that wasn't it. Struggled with those crossings too for a while. And I had STARtat for 34A for far too long before I got NEATVODKA
@Steven M. Had never heard of Phillip Glass, but had a crossing “p” so my mind went to opera as in opera glasses, even though it didn’t match the clue. Lucky guess!
Not an easy one for me, but satisfying to solve. Blob vs glob was my downfall. I was thinking of an alley oop in basketball, but butterball made no sense. Tried glob then the bowling reference hit me. Kinda clever clue! Although butterball could also relate to bowling as I’ve had a few balls slip off my fingers straight into the gutter. Happy Friday!
@Valerie Ditto that! I don’t even know what an alley oop is… I guess it’s an American thing….
No, that wasn't too easy. But clever and fun -- especially alley oops.
Nothin’ RINKYDINK about this one. Did *not* know (as in, never, ever heard of) a few, which is fabulous. Cause, now I do. Thank you Tracy! But, 🙋♀️ I have a question. [ Keeps greasing the squeaky wheel? ] Is that a double-misdirect? A triple, even? This comes up quite often in late-week puzzles. The question mark, the answer… If I’m already reading every clue from a twisty angle, the straight-forwardness throws me! Sometimes I have to struggle to read clues in the “obvious” way, because it’s a late-week and I’m so suspicious. Like watching a whodunnit. Every single character seems shady. So, when it turns out it really *was* the creepy butler… Wha..? When I realized it was REOILS, my head just spun around. Cannot possibly just be me. Right..?
@CCNY I did the same thing, held out for quite awhile trying to think of something twisty. My head tried to spin but I think my neck must be, um, rusty? Hey, at Rice University, it really *was* the butler. I don't have the heart to put the links here (they are kind of gruesome), but if you look up the story of the founder, you can read all about it. First thing they told me when I visited the campus.
Former AP World History teacher here: thrilled to see "quipu" in the crossword. I knew it immediately, but I suspect that was a tough one for most folks.
If QUIPU hadn't had five easy crosses, I'm sure there would have been many complaints. As it is, most of the comments on it have been about variant spellings (not surprising with transliteration from Quechua).
@Beth R I actually had a picture book about the QUIPU as a kid, but I couldn't for the life of me remember the word. I think the book was on Reading Rainbow.
That was a very tough Saturday for me, but in a good way. So many unknowns, plus a few ‘I know it but can’t recall it’ ones. UNCANNY VALLEY was one. I got the first bit, but needed all the crosses to reveal the dip. Cue head slap. A fair few misdirects too; clot/blot/glop. Lord before LADY, Advil before ALEVE, though I’m quite proud that I know two medicines that don’t exist in the UK. Despite my struggle with the puzzle and needing a fair number of look ups, I think this is a perfect Saturday grid, a real brain stretcher. Sigh. We’re supposed to get rain today. Nothing but slightly damp air is what arrived. The land is rapidly turning into a dust bowl. This is supposed to be the wet, green Island, where it always rains. What’s happened? *insert opinion on climate change here*
@Helen Wright. I am right on your wavelength on this puzzle. Heading to hot Italy tomorrow, also share your feeling on that.
This puzzzle certainly introduced me to a stack of new IDEAS and vocab terms. Tracy the Tricky was in full flight! For 10D Blanket, I had COVER UP (off the P from Father Marquette) so that was a mess. I knew the Italian for Bone and the Boston paper, but since I had a year of TYPING instruction in 10th grade (it was very thorough) I knew the asterisk meant SEE NOTE. No one, especially not the teacher, called it a STAR KEY. I still don't. And the book titles! Did they sound like B ROMANCE novels to you, too? My final act was to change the B in BLOB to G in order to make sense of "Alley oopS"...(?Alley Oop was a BUTTERBALL? I just thought he was strong!) Apparently I spent most of the puzzle in UNCANNY VALLEY...(Where? What?)
@Mean Old Lady After a dozen tries, this published. Is it because I separated B from ROMANCE?
MOL, Likely nothing to do with content; just a random glitch. When I posted shortly after 10 p.m. yesterday, I received the confirmation email, and I stayed around to see there were 6 comments reported in the column but none had appeared in the comments. Not sure when those early posts finally became visible.
MOL, Nothing about the content IMO. I've had that happen with completely innocuous posts that were finally accepted -- unchanged -- after multiple rejections.
ART THIEVES is a fine tip of the hat to 2024's Sunday Puzzle of the Year.
@Barry Ancona 2024 Sunday Puzzle of the Year? The infamous "Art Heist"? Who voted? A (not quite) random sample of three consecutive comments, with handles removed: FINALLY finished this puzzle and glad to see I'm not the only one dissatisfied. The disappointment I felt when I realized the rebus entries only worked one way… definitely one of my least favorite puzzles ever. 12 Recommend That puzzle is the water at the top of a ketchup bottle. Gross. 24 Recommend This is the worst puzzle I've encountered after completing hundreds. It was terrible and it ruined my day. 20 Recommend
Everyone who reads the comments was eligible to vote, so either the haters changed their minds or they didn't bother to vote.
@Xword Junkie. People either loved or hated it. Folks seem more likely to post a comment when they hate a puzzle, but there were also about as many comments that day from folks who loved it. If comments do skew negative, and they were about 50/50 that day, I figured in reality the lovers outweighed the haters. Although there was no way to get an unbiased sample, I was not surprised when it won POY.
Online drive-by hater reccos don't vote. Too bad that's not true IRL.
@Barry Ancona I remember solving "Art Heist", but needed to locate my original comment to remember how I felt about the experience. Apparently I wasn't a fan: "Solved it unaided, but took me more than an hour. It was certainly puzzling, though I got the theme and even used the secret message I WAS FRAMED to help me finish, since I wouldn't otherwise have gotten THECW. A brilliant construction, which, like so many brilliant constructions, didn't make for an enjoyable puzzle (for me). The theme was awfully complex; needed my PhD in pure mathematics to make it through this one. Hope others enjoyed this one more than I did."
@Barry Ancona Nice connection! Oh, how I loved that puzzle!! So fun!! Also really liked the clue for ARTTHIEVES today!!
The "Glass production" clue made my day. Gonna listen to Songs From Liquid Days, a collection of songs composed by Philip Glass with lyrics by Paul Simon, Suzanne Vega, David Byrne, and Laurie Anderson. Sung by Linda Ronstadt. Sublime.
I thought it was quite challenging but finished in a reasonable time . It was only when I'd finished and was then looking at neatvodka for a little while that I realized what it was lol.
New Saturday PB. I choose to believe that I am that much smarter than the last time I set a PB vs this puzzle being on the lower end of the challenge scale.
Nice Saturday puzzle, about 10% under my average. My only nit is, 23D. It reminds me of Moss in The IT Crowd. <a href="https://youtu.be/NdREEcfaihg?si=Nl3Lx3mcPNcsMhJ3" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/NdREEcfaihg?si=Nl3Lx3mcPNcsMhJ3</a> [Porter _is_ ale!]
@Paul Oh my gosh, a fellow crossword lover who can quote the IT Crowd AND asserts Porter is ale? I feel less alone now.
I enjoyed this one. SLUE I spell slew, and know nothing about improv and UNCANNY VALLEY!? What an amazing concept. Despite not knowing CAREY, PERE or any EPIC GAMES, or CADET BLUE (or Kelly green), URIE or YANN, I found the crossers extremely helpful there. I only revealed URIE - couldn’t guess. I was sure it was glitterball, and it took a few seconds of thought to work out the meaning of gutter. My attempt at bowling led to every single ball going into the gutter. I was better at hockey, on a field, not ice. Yes, nice one.
@Jane Wheelaghan Another case of two countries divided by a common language. In the US (actually, all of North America), hockey, unmodified, refers to ice hockey. We do have field hockey, but it's always modified as such. Field hockey is a girls' game, generally speaking over here, but I once had a female student in the Bronx, not a hotbed of hockey interest of either kind, who was a hockey player. Ice hockey, that is.
This was a tough one. So many new words to me. Great for a Saturday. Now let’s see if I can remember any of these new things. Thanks!