Friday, August 15, 2025

Lemonade stand owners have a real zest for life. (I had to concentrate for this one.)

My number lesson from doing these puzzles for years now: Always be willing to erase an answer that’s not working for you. The answer might be right, but sometimes clearing the board helps you see other possibilities. If it is correct, it'll find its way back in. MAGGIE Simpson, I’m looking at you.

I really enjoyed this! Thought I was a bit slow but ended up just under my average. There was lots of switching back and forth between across and down clues until I had my foothold. Held on to MAGGIE way too long :). Some devious clueing there Dena!

Something felt very high society and fashionable about this puzzle. Ritzy. Like an issue of Vogue magazine. Went down quickly but I really enjoyed it.

"Gimme that wasn't" of the decade had to have been ASHLEE for [Younger Simpson sister]. Maggie Simpson has been an infant for almost 40 years, whereas ASHLEE had a three-year run of some minor Top 40 hits about two decades ago, and then dropped out of sight. Wasn't she the one who was caught lip-synching on TV? Deb, it's just AMORE, not AMORÉ.

If I was Lewis, I could find my favorite five clues of the week out of just this outstanding puzzle alone. I truly enjoyed all of my time while completing it. Thanks, Ms. Verkuil.

Man, does Dena take advantage of the six longs. Not only are they interesting, but fresh as well, with three being debuts, two once-befores, and one twice-before. My favorite longs: I’LL DO THE TALKING, CASE DISMISSED, and DOES NOT COMPUTE. Great bones that spark the entire solve. Adding even more zing is the terrific clue set, bristling with wordplay. Along with encores of terrific past clues by others, Dena added luscious originals, including the devious [Rock alternative] for PAPER, and [Source of schadenfreude] for GERMAN. (Sehr GUT on that one, Dena!) And hello? Where’s the junky answers here? Nowhere. This is one beautifully scrubbed grid. Constructing is a science, yes, but also an art. Sometimes all the “good grid build” boxes are checked, but the solve still doesn’t make me go “Mwah!”. Puzzles need that je ne sais quoi magic to really click. And yours does, Dena. Thank you so much for making this. What a splendid outing!

Fine Friday. Thanks, Dena. It definitely hit the spot (if not 51A).

52A Salmon Portland Chase was the governor of Ohio, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Chase National Bank was named in his honor, though he had no affiliation with it. Huh. Read about him in Team of Rivals, a formidable man. Not many kids named Salmon these days.

What a delightfully fresh puzzle! The clues had spark and sizzle. It hit the SPOT. Well, maybe not *that* SPOT, but it was fun anyway.

Lively puzzle with some twisty clues and fine, fresh answers. I had Maggie for younger Simpson sister and had to get ASHLEE from crosses. I also tried primps and stages before STYLES, so the NW took some time to work out. The final snags were 21A and D and 24A which gave me fits, until I tried BESO. Then it became clear that “my word” was my BOND and it was CASEDISMISSED, puzzle solved

At first glance,I realized this puzzle must wait until I’m sober.

I can't believe how fast this one went. I solved it in half of my average time with no hangups other than starting with Maggie at 2A, a fantastic misdirect considering how often the Simpsons TV show shows up in the puzzles, and art at 35A. Once no crosses would work, that was easily remediable. It was really a fun one though! Lots of great clues! My favorite, being a big Agatha Christie fan, was CORPSE, which, being a big fan, I put it on the first round and was so delighted that it was correct!! Also really enjoyed GERMAN for schadenfreude! I have to admit that I had a sense of schadenfreude this week. I feel bad about it because I typically really want the best for everyone, and care about others woes, but there might be one or two exceptions. Ugh, you've all lost respect for me now, I know it! But it's hard to not feel it a little bit of it when the person who brutally eliminated you from your very long time position as an advocate for taking a moral high ground and refusing to do something illegal for the benefit of the company, is eliminated from her position a few years later. Still, I wish I had no inclination at all for schotten freitas... ha! Stupid voice to text, I'm not even going to bother to RETYPE it... 😆 Just have to teach my voice to text to speak GERMAN, I guess. 🤣 Oh well, perhaps tomorrow I will be a perfect person. Har! Also really liked BESO and AMORE... And all the long spanners. Yeah, really enjoyed it!! Very fresh and funny! Cheers! 🍸

This puzzle stands as a testament to its maker’s love for solving puzzles of this kind (i.e., fantastic Friday themelesses). It made me think of Robyn Weintraub, one of my favorite constructors, though the voice here is certainly distinctive. This really was, as another commenter has said, a ritzy-feeling crunchy. Caviar on a cracker, rather than a blini?

Great puzzle. Source of schadenfreude! Small businesses that don't require permits! And the epic Maggie / Ashlee misdirection. Well done!

I met Dr. Fauci at our friends, the Grady’s, Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary Party. He was very nice and modest.

Well done, Dena! This puzzle kicked my keister! That crossing of BESO and BOND was devilish. You wrecked my Friday average, but I loved it.

Couldn't think of any presidents with that name so I naturally assumed the person on the $10,000 hill was Chevy Chase.

Thanks Dena! Loved your puzzle, loved the clues, I laughed out loud when the 'source of schadenfreude' revealed itself. And refreshing to not see Etsy and Oreo. It made me remember how my kids loved to give me the 'this does not compute' line to tease when asked to do something. And there was a flower! There should be more, in the gardening category, gardening is surely as popular as, darn it, sports? Have a good weekend everyone!

New word of the day for me was DASHI. Figured it couldn't be right, but the crosses were solid. Had DIEZ for [X, as in Mexico]. BESO was clever in a different way. "Gift from God" (35D) is the meaning of a whole host of names, including Theodore/-a and Dorothy/-ea, which consist of the same two Greek roots, but in opposite order. Others with that meaning are Jonathan, Nathaniel, Matthew, Hibatullah, Devadatta, Dosetai, Bogdan, Божидар, Diosdado, Dieudonné, and Adeodatus. Was surprised to see 51A in the Tricky Clues, because when I solved, thanks to easy crosses, I totally missed it. Of course, for me, that's not surprising, given what it turned out to be.

That was great!! So challenging but rewarding to finish it. Maggie Simpson…. Aaarrgh! Got me for an age.

Well I made fast work of it but noted the cleverness throughout of the cluing. Will not be surprised if commenters ask for something a little more challenging. For whatever reason the clue for UFOs -- some sky lights -- made me think of that wonderful Frederick Brown novel from 1955, "The Lights in the Sky Are Stars," set "in the near future" of 1997, told in the first person of one man's enthrallment with space travel. It's an amazing, complex novel, with a range of personalities and a complex understanding of the nature of government bureaucracy. In fact, all of Frederic Brown deserves a look -- his sci-fi, his mysteries, his hard-boiled lurid paperbacks. Now I'm gonna put on my rasta clogs and dance: Don't let them fool ya Or even try to school ya. Oh no! We've got a mind of our own...

The Simpson misdirect wrecked me, spent half my time in the NW because I held onto Maggie for way too long. Overall pretty standard Friday in terms of difficulty.

Happily wrote CORPUS into 6 down before I registered the question mark. So fun flipping the last 2 letters to SE!!

"Here's my revised puzzle, Mr. Shortz." "Dope! Did you get rid of 'etui'?" "Case dismissed." As Mr. Shortz would say, dope puzzle!

When a fish bites your heel and it looks like an eel, that's a moray*. Where was I? Oh yeah - typical tough Friday workout for me and had to look up a couple of things but ended up being an enjoyable solve. The usual tricky clues and that just led to a lot of nice 'aha' moments when I finally caught on. Two thumbs up. *And... THATSAMORAY has been an answer in three puzzles, all of them having other similar word-play clues and answers. One example: A Sunday from May 15, 2016 by Patrick Berry with the title: "Exhibit A" Some other answers in that one: AGGRAVATEDASALT UNDERATACK APATCHYHELICOPTER ALOANATLAST CHANGEOFADRESS YOUCANTWINAMALL Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/15/2016&g=46&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/15/2016&g=46&d=A</a> I'm done. ...

One of those days when it is handy to know some GERMAN and also some Dutch, but not so handy to be able to guess/spell ASHLEY... Yet another 'easier than usual for this day of the week' experience, although BOND/BODE and DISPEL took a moment to come to mind. Charlotte the Kitty has taken to bringing a cat toy into the room during the night... then demanding some petting before she DASHes away. Last night was a "two-mouse night" .....I guess we should be grateful they are toys, not CORPSEs.

I thought the comments would be lit up with “too easy.” It was almost a PB for me. But Friday night crossword has become NC17. GSPOT LM(F)AO Makes me question CUPS and HEADSHOTS. Even EROICA made me second look.

Excellent Friday puzzle! Just what I like: challenging. Seemingly inscrutable, at first, the puzzle came together with dogged persistence after first finding a foothold in the southern portion of the grid. Well done!

Wow. More themelesses from Dena, please! If we can’t have a Robyn Weintraub every Friday, this would be a close second. Still fast despite that epic Maggie Simpson headfake— but fast in a good, “that was so much fun I can’t believe it’s already over” way rather than a “wish they ran a Friday puzzle” way. I predict lots of solvers saying it was fast — but very few complaining about it. Thanks again.

I looked at that sea of white and my heart sank. The first six or seven passes netted six or seven gimmes, then miraculously things started to come into focus. Suddenly, it all started to roll and I finished in half my average (not an impressive number, but it's mine) with no look-ups, and for once, no typos. Amazing, exciting, and fun! Thank you, Dena, this was one solid Saturday. I'm looking forward to your every puzzle! (Having said that, I'll probably bomb on the next one.)

Someone here said the puzzle brought to mind Robin Weintraub and I agree. A smooth solve with long answers that were fun and interesting. The Mexico and Schadenfreude clues, fun with a bow on top. Really enjoyed it.

Believe it or not, I'm usually a big fan of absurdity. But not always. One thing that does not compute for me is fretting about the words kids might hear, or books they might read, while students themselves are much more worried about 29A. That's no joke.

Wouldn’t it be cool to see a replay of your puzzle? Entering answers, corrections, and such.

Loved it! Such interesting clues - CORPSE, of course, and BESO. Agatha was mentioned not long ago, wasn't she? A contestant on Desert Island Discs - very long-running UK radio programme - chose her books as his 'luxury' because once he's read them all, he could start over again because he would have forgotten whodunit. I had hesitation over FIBER ( ah! not fibre) and unforgivably couldn't see MATH at first even with the first 3 letters (didn't know SETH) because it's MATHS! The only time being very good at spelling has been a disadvantage to me. This was fast for me, and very enjoyable.

When G-SPOT figures prominently in a puzzle, we should be glad that CUPS refers to the Tarot deck, and not to intimate apparel. And I won't even mention 19-Across and 46-Down. Modesty prevents me from even typing those words. But still a 'climactic" puzzle.

TGIF. "My Word" and X were my last fills, and I really liked them. How many filled in "Maggie" first for 2D?

Wow! That was some workout. Had to scramble all over the grid to get a letter here and a letter there, but everything came together so nicely. The MAGGIE rope-a-dope in the NW almost drained me, but 11A knocked it out for good, allowing me to find my way. Just fantastic!

I held off on Autocheck one more time. The bottom of the puzzle, from the row starting with 26A, went quickly and surely, but the top was hard, particularly the NW corner, except for the easy 3, 4, and 5 Downs. I was pretty sure I had 8D, 9D, 13D, 14D (of course), and 16D, as well as the last four letters BHUB of 10D, and it turned out I was right about those and some Across words they hinted at, but I was finally stumped to the point where I had to turn to the Column. That gave me the 2D name and the Spanish X (I should have had that from my BE__ at 21A!) and was enough for me to finish. But it was another close call. I'll start Saturday in Pen mode but it probably won't last.

I love this puzzle and I'm not even done with it. G-spot for the win!

At first this seemed impossibly hard but somehow it fell into place word by word. A few gimmes like AMORE and PANE helped. I had victim before CORPSE and considered elf HAT vs TOP HAT. but even the easier entries had great clues like EPEE and FAUCI. Thanks Dena, that hit the SPOT!! Some of you mentioned Robyn Weintraub and there’s a charming interview with her as part of the BBC ‘in the studio’ series from 2023. I can’t share a link but if you search for those terms it’ll come right up. The BBC spends a week with her while she constructs a puzzle for the NYT.

For the pearl clenchers, I am laughing my flipping aft off. Laughing/not laughing, because I am trying to clean up my language since moving back to the small-town Bible-belt South. Nice puzzle, fresh with plenty of alternative definitions. BODEs well for future puzzles from Dena.

A perfect Friday puzzle. Very few squares filled in after the first pass but eventually it all came together. A nicely balanced set of clues, too. Nice work!

Good puzzle, a lot of answers that did not go in the direction you expected but still made total sense. Usually when there’s longer answers they are harder to get for me and I need most of the cross clues first. In this case though I got all but one with only two or three cross clues and they gave me anchors for the harder cross clues. Bottom right gave me the most trouble because I had no idea what a glazier is.

Set a new personal best streak at a modest 273 days. Typical late week puzzle where I just stare at empty grid, going through the clues until I see a “gimme” to get the ball rolling. In this case, not so much a “gimme” as a “worth a shot” with ON TAPE at 12D (age helped) followed by PAPER and RETYPED at 20A and 1D. From there it just kinda flowed.

Had to think for a while what an EPEy was, but I emerged unscathed. Nicely done.

My last entry was the B at the intersection of BESO and BOND, and finding it was like fumbling for my keys at two in the morning after a fourteen hour shift. Equally as rewarding, too, when that key turned in the lock.

Having read Ms Sinclair's memoir recently, 1-Across was a gimme for me, so I didn't fall into the MAGGIE trap. After a moment's pause, I figured that the "Simpsons" clue was referring to those singing sisters from the '90s. I remembered Jessica, who dated the Cowboys' quarterback, and after a while I remembered her younger sister. But, it's a bridge too far to expect me to remember that she spells her name ASHLEE and not -EY. But such dilemmas are what make Fridays fun.

Interesting reading the MAGGIE comments. I couldn’t remember Bart’s baby sister’s name (although I assumed that was it) so had to solve on crosses, which probably saved me headache in the long run.

Picture perfect Friday, I thought, with fresh cluing (Eroica aside) and clever misdirects (My Word!, Simpson younger daughter and Source of Schadenfreude.) Lots of fun.