SHINEDSHIELDDELIVERED is one of the funniest crossword answers ever. Bravo.
A wonderful puzzle! I was hoping to see a clue that read “Suggested time to meet at Wimbledon?” Tenish anyone?
Very proud of myself tonight. I finished this Sunday crossword in 1 hour and 5 minutes without the help of the Crossword Column, any hints at words or looking at the answer key. This is a first for me. I’m 76 and doing the New York Times puzzles each day keep my mind alert. I still miss the Vertex puzzle which was discontinued last August 29.
@Joanne You should be proud, Joanne, especially because of the wordplay in the theme entries. Whatever you are doing you keep your mind alert is clearly working.
@Joanne Nice going! I'm over 20 years younger than you and I can't beat that time.
@Joanne First time I've posted a time as I usually don't watch the clock, but I came in at 27:43. Was I just lucky or was this "my" puzzle? When people post times here, I'm usually behind the caboose. Yours in puzzlement,
@Joanne I miss Vertex too! It was a relaxing way to end the day after doing the crossword. I tried to find a similar game for Android, but the only ones available at the time were nowhere as complex and satisfying as Vertex.
@Joanne I highly recommend Nodes as a replacement of Vertex, there is an app and a Web version that should be easy to find if you search for "nodes game".
@Joanne I am also doing the NY Times puzzle to stay alert. I am 80 and finished in 1 hour 5 minutes and 36 seconds. A smidgen slower than you due to age. Over the last few years, I have braved the Friday and Saturday puzzles. I am following in the footsteps of my grandfather who did the Sunday puzzle into his 80's.
It’s a little-known fact, but James Bond prefers playing badminton to tennis; it has something to do with the feel of thwacking the object in the game. It may only be a shuttle difference, but to James, it’s everything. Et tu, emu.
@Lewis A most enigmatic post. Or I am a most naive, uninformed reader. I hope for the latter.
@Lewis I’m not sure the shuttle is the most important bit for James Bond…
My collection of 007 bOOks fell on my head. I have only my shelf to blame. Great clue for SILENCER [“Device for cutting bangs?”]. SCRAGGY…. According to M-W a British variation of scraggly, which is the term I am familiar with. Congratulations on your debut, Danny.
@Anita When I looked it up, M-W didn't say that at all! “Scraggy.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scraggy" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scraggy</a>. Accessed 31 Aug. 2025. And according to Cambridge, scraggly means "growing in a way that is untidy and uneven" (<a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/scraggly" target="_blank">https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/scraggly</a>), while SCRAGGY means "very thin and not looking healthy" or "not growing well or thickly" (<a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/scraggy" target="_blank">https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/scraggy</a>). From that, I'd say that the word "Unruly" in the clue ("Unruly, as a beard") would be correct for scraggly, but is wrong for SCRAGGY. And besides, I think everybody in N. America is familiar with SCRAGGY... he's Scooby's best friend! (Have you never asked yourself where the name came from)?
Brutal crossing PERIDOT/KIR/NICOL/EDOM. 😮
@Mr Dave I'll give you NICOL and EDOM as slightly off the beaten path, but PERIDOT is (or should be) known to at least 1 in 12 readers and KIR is standard crosswordese in my experience.
@Mr Dave Yep, that spot cost me fully half my solve time. I was expecting what ended up being “KIR” to be something I’d be able to recognize (e.g. “gin”), and I quickly and repeatedly dismissed “ACK” for 55A (as I haven’t looked at a comic in 3+ decades and see “ack” as indicating acknowledgment, while “ach” could be a cry of dismay). It’s wild — I had the entire puzzle filled aside from the “CK” in “ACK” and spent a solid half hour to get those. (That said, I should have been much quicker to pick up on “CHE”…knowing basically nothing about “Evita”, I mostly ignored that as opaque trivia for a while.)
@Mr Dave For the longest time, I had APLUMB, which gave me NICUL. I had to look that one up and it was my sole lookup, which is a Sunday best for me!
The Sean Connery "quotes" were adorable, the double-o's in a seven were a clever little touch, and some bonus Bond sprinklings throughout - excellent puzzle! Some tricky fillers, but very gettable with crossers and the odd Google confirmation, as evidenced by my under-average time. Top debut crossword. Thanks Danny, shuper Shunday sholve!
Never heard of the kea before. After a quick google I learned they are the only alpine parrot. They look like dragons. They are intelligent, scrappy, and mischievous (many funny antics including throwing rocks at people). New favorite animal unlocked! The list is long. 007 theme was jolly good. I tip my hat to the constructor.
@Becky I’ve heard keas referred to as can openers with wings! And a group of keas are called a circus, a well-earned name. Here are three short videos of the kea’s capacity for problem solving and mischief. <a href="https://youtu.be/bxoCuRuHlt8?si=GwfYOHs2ByWqhe3S" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/bxoCuRuHlt8?si=GwfYOHs2ByWqhe3S</a> 2min 31sec BBC Earth <a href="https://youtu.be/fBdvRCkCNfo?si=HkaUnmQX5oMGsKN5" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/fBdvRCkCNfo?si=HkaUnmQX5oMGsKN5</a> 1min 30sec destroying police car <a href="https://youtu.be/7W7hEUGtv4U?si=Pz6OsaA26SOzlCjU" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/7W7hEUGtv4U?si=Pz6OsaA26SOzlCjU</a> Nat Geo 2min 16 sec
I love the Sunday puzzles. i don't often complete - maybe 50% - but the sense of achievement when I do is worth it. On this occasion I feel I have nailed one of my favourite crosswords of all time. I got the 007 connections quite quickly but the italicised clues were a bit of a mystery until Shined Shield Delivered was unlocked. Totally magnificent and right up there with the best clues I've ever seen (and I've been doing crosswords for 50+ years). I've always felt that I could one day compile a decent crossword myself but this one tells me I'd rather be a solver any day. The level of skill is stratospheric. Thank you for making my day
@Simon I really love your humility and admiration of creators. I am of like mind. I honestly don't think the casual solver appreciates the work that goes into every...single...puzzle.
This was like a layered torte complete with jelly between the frosting and the next layer. What a pleasure. We had puns, Sean Connery, and a connect the dot. How fun.
I mean, it's no STARTREK themed puzzle... (har!!!) but I liked it a lot! I enjoyed the DOUBLEOs and that they formed a seven—very fun! I had a lot of trouble figuring out CANIHAVEASHIP but it finally came to me before I asked it out here. The rest seemed more obvious to me—in a fun way! Had the hardest time finishing up PERIDOT. I am somewhat cocktail literate (MARTINI, yes please!) but did not know that one to SHAVE my life! I finally figured out that the cardinal thing was a sports ball reference and I did know that the Cards are STL. I should have gotten it sooner but I was thinking the Catholic cardinal was capitalized. I looked it up after and it would not be, as I'm sure most of you know, unless it was specifying a particular cardinal. Oops, forgot about that rule. Anyhow, other than that tricksy area, it was pretty fun and smooth sailing. I really enjoyed the theme entries a lot, especially SHINEDSHIELDDELIVERED! My only downers were that I just hate when APE shows up as imitating someone. I will have to dig deep into my psyche to figure out why I dislike it so much, but I did immediately get it. The other one that I cringed mightily about was SILENCER. I know the reason that one bothers me, though... I was hoping it would be something else. The subject of things that go bang has become increasingly unpleasant for me. Ohhh, but I suppose I am tiptoeing ANTLIKE into potentially questionable comment territory, so I will take my leave. Cheers! 🍸
@HeathieJ Using ape that way always feels like a slur of some sort.
@HeathieJ I also go bananas when I see ape as a verb. I hate Oreos more though.
@HeathieJ It's certainly reasonable that Minnesotans would be a little gun shy nowadays, with political assassination (though widely ignored by the responsible party) and with two dead pre-teen school children, and a whole hospital wing of wounded. I sure wish we could APE a dozen other countries that have stopped such gun violence on a dime, using reasonable gun laws. Oh, but here, we claim there is no solution--the only country in the world with these problems, yet they are impossible to solve by the genius of the American Constitution and American public. Oh, gee, I guess I, too, have wandered into dangerous talk.
@HeathieJ As a lover of the Great APEs, I like to see them treated with respect, and this doesn't feel respectful. And it could simply be clued "Great ___." But, of all the problems that beset us, I'd put this pretty far down on my list of concerns. Gun violence is much higher on my list. But I wouldn't let SILENCER "trigger" me. [Sorry! I couldn't resist.]
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome! I'm back! Though I loved the Bond(Bondski in Polish) theme, the main reason I adored this puzzle is that the constructor is a musical-theater writer! That's right-Andrzej(me) now loves musicals. I didn't think it was possible, but never say never. I spent the last few weeks in The Big Apple(whatanappleski in Polish), mostly going to Broadway musicals. I saw 18 of them, including The Lion King 007 times! The Lion King really puts the "musical" in "family musical" but it really puts the 'family" in "family musical" and now I'm determined to have a flock of children just so I can take them to see The Lion King. I'm sure my wonderful wife will come around on this. After all, you only live twice. (Fun fact: Sean Connery played The Man Who Would Be Lion King) The only other thing I've been doing here is going to Mets' games with Steve. I now love baseball!(Never say never, again!) Baseball diamonds are forever! I only wish I could see Jacob deGrom throw his thunderball. A quick note to my many followers on TikTok: I will no longer be singing hymns. From now on, I will only be singing musical-theatre songs(as well as I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General). From Poland with love, so long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, goodbye. Hakuna Matata!!! Love, Anzdrej(really!)
@Andrjezurdum Welcome back!
@Andrjezurdum Welcome to the musicals loving team. Although I can’t help thinking of the South Park episode about musicals, the details are not appropriate here.
@Andrjezurdum and @Ad absurdurururururum This is a hysterical exchange from two impostors pretending to be each other!! Love it!
@Andrjezurdum and @Ad absurdurururururum Forgot to say that it’s the profile pics that gave it away. 😄
@Andrjezurdum Love hearing about your NYC adventures! Welcome back!
@Andrjezurdummmmmmmm What a tremendous delight to hear about your adventures! I mean, the old you was great, but this new you is really something else! It's so impressive how you've opened yourself up to a whole new world (I trust you've watched and sung along to Aladdin by now). You really should have at least seven children and hire a nanny named Maria—a problem that you'll wonder how to solve. A true flibbertigibbet, amirite?! And the thought of you and Steve hanging out watching sports ball together has made my tiny, cold little heart grow several sizes. (Maybe I should see my doctor about that... hmm.
Btw, I really would like to go to a baseball game with Steve L. Nothing absurd about *that*!
@Andrjezurdum I can't tell if you're serious or this is another one of your pranks. Your liking musical theater all of a sudden seems suspicious to me. Baseball I can understand, because I find it much more interesting at the stadium than on TV, so I can definitely see someone converting when they actually see it played in a ball park.
This puzzle was such a delight to solve. The puns were funny and all of the clues for them inspired. SHINED SHIELD DELIVERED says it all. Take a bow, Danny. I'd say you ascended the throne today with some divine help: GODS HAVE THE KING
@dutchiris I loved this puzzle, too. I loved the puns, also. And I managed this puzzle with no cheats! I hope we get more puzzles from Danny Rooney! Please?
@dutchiris "Gods have the King" makes me think of "the angels have the phone box"...
SHINED SHIELD DELIVERED might be one of my favorite entries of all time.
I would say that I’m proud of myself for finishing today’s puzzle, but I suppose it’s more accurate to say I’m proud of my shelf!
What a treat! Seven out of seven MARTINIs
Brilliant! I’m not even halfway done with the puzzle yet, but laughed so hard that I had to come here to comment. The top half was an easy fill, but I was wondering what the OOs had to do with the SH words. Then I got to GOD SHAVE THE KING, and thought, that sounds like something Sean Connery would say — and OMG that’s it! I counted the number of OOs, and true enough, there were 7 of them. What a fantastic tribute to my favorite Bond! I’m now going back to finish the puzzle and savor every minute of this genius construction!
Danny juggled three theme elements, and all three – the connect-the-dots seven, the s-to-sh sentences, and the four JAMES BOND factoids – nestled comfortably in the box. Impressive. I love that the only double-O’s in the Sunday sized puzzle are the circled letters. Elegant. And SHINED SHIELD DELIVERED? Mwah! Oh, all those many years ago, I couldn’t wait for the next Bond picture. I knew his quirks, loved his quick thinking and suaveness, relished the evil of his enemies, and clenched inside through all the hairy moments he faced. My tastes have changed, but it was fun today to relive what it felt like to be me then. A trio of pairs to note: • Two debuts in a row, yesterday and today, by people who have been making puzzles for less than two years. • The consecutive uber-memorable puzzles this week, one by a wife and the other by her husband. • The gorgeous crossing answers today of APLOMB and PERMEATE. Congratulations on your debut, Danny. Thank you for a very sweet outing!
Another James Bond puzzle with a connect-the-dots image – not of a seven, but of another object in today’s puzzle – was made by Elizabetth Gorski, Sunday, 5/25/2008. You can see the completed grid showing the image here: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/25/2008" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=5/25/2008</a> . (Thanks to Jim Horne for mentioning this at Xword today.)
@Lewis Jem Burch also created a connect the OOs 7 on April 22, 2021 ☺️ It was my first favorite puzzle!!
The name’s BOND, JAMES BOND. That is one shweet puzzle. Bravo Mr Rooney. OOseven before DOUBLEO held me up a tad, but did not diminish the joy of the fill. Not the hardest Sunday grid, but definitely one of the most enjoyable. My Dad loved the BOND franchise. I lost count of the Saturday nights spent with him and 007 on the tv. I realised while writing this that I’m now the age my Dad was when he died. That’s sobering.
@Helen Wright I know that sobering feeling. I’m now six years older than my father was when he died (which was over 40 years ago). But against the odds, my Dad is still here, hanging out in my bathroom mirror . . .
@Helen Wright and Eric, I also know the feeling. It was extremely sobering to approach my 46th birthday. Now, at 54, I'm already eight years older than my dad got. Or that we got with my dad.
With JAMES BOND, SEAN CONNERY, NICOL WILLIAMSON, and ETON, I like the chapshtick going on in the box today.
Super fun Sunday solve! I have some gripes with the crossing of NICOL and EDOM with PERIDOT and IONA and HODGES with LEANDER, but your mileage may vary — I know better than to call something a **tick in this here comments section, and also did still manage to solve without assistance. On the flip side, I almost feel like the revealer could have been obfuscated more! When I blind guessed MARTINI, I was so excited to fill JAMES BOND based on a clue like “Frequent drinker of 33D” — was honestly surprised to see how much 111A and 113A bend over backwards to make it clear to a solver. Anyway, I only say this because I loved the puzzle, and wanted to spend even longer with it. A marvelous debut.
@Stephen Natick is in the eye of the beholder
@Banjo Nelson It’s in the eye of the beholder certainly, but it’s also not just “a crossing I couldn’t figure out”
Me to self “hmm, I wonder why there seem to be two themey things going on” Me to self again - “wait, what, he has a lisp?” Me a few moments later “too bad we couldn’t have some EVOO on this puzzle” But it was nice fun without any dressing!
I rarely leave comments, but I had to express how much I enjoyed this puzzle. I raise my martini glass to the author. Cheers!
GOD SHAVE THE KING! (You will need to MOVE YOUR ASH to do that, maybe) I laughed out loud several times while solving this puzzle, and my wife did too when I read the themed clues and answers to her. Brilliant! Our having a soft spot for Bond movies made us enjoy the puzzle even more. (BTW, you will probably have my ash for this, but I think Dalton was the best Bond) Of course I needed lookups for my many unknowns, and I ended up checking the puzzle when I did not get my gold star. It turned out I had one square wrong, at the crossing of PERM_ATE and _RLE. I honestly thought the word was spelled PERMiATE (my Polishness is showing here, because that's how you'd spell the word in Polish to pronounce it the English way), and of course I did not know the writer, so iRLE for their name looked good enough. One thing my wife and I don't get ish "Abbr. on a paper tray" sholving to LTR. Help cluelesh Polish people out, pleashe?
@Andrzej LTR stands for LETTER. It's the standard paper size in the US, as A4 is for Europe.
@Andrzej Welcome back! Looking forward to hearing about your time away and...I think there was going to be a new four-legged addition to the family about this time? I have some new myself on that front. Anyway, LTR is the abbreviation for "Letter" which is size of paper. To the last of my experience in the real world, there was "legal" paper and there was the smaller "Letter". Copiers needed different trays for them.
@Andrzej LTR is the standard abbreviation for Letter sized paper on a printer
Thank you! A5, A4 and A3 are the standard paper formats here. @Francis I'm driving 400 km (which is a long way by Polish standards) to get our standard poodle puppy from the breeder tomorrow. They live near the city my wife comes from so I'll stop on our way back to show the new family member to the in-laws. My father will be helping me as my wife needs to go back to work - she's actually vital to the place she works at, unlike academic layabout me, who still has a month off any proper work 🤣 - I love my life 😍. I keep a journal on holiday - over three weeks I typed over 50 pages of it. It's nerdy stuff, describing not only our experiences but also all the monuments we visited, the history we learned, etc. I emailed it daily to selected family and a friend (just one, since she is the only among our friends as nerdy as us 🤣). I also enjoy reading our journals of vacations past myself - I must have read the ones from our 2011 and 2013 visits to the US dozens of times now. I'm not going to share all of that here though 🤣. Are you getting a dog then?
@Andrzej welcome back! Hope even if you didn’t comment you still got to solve, we’ve had quite a few exceptional puzzles while you were gone. We missed you!
Rule of thumb….do not taunt the NYT crossword editors. Two days ago I joked in the comments about Omoo fading from memory…And today it appears. (I have to assume out of spite) 😀
@Paul Mos def The NYT editors know everything. Every. Thing.
@Paul I also noticed author ERLE reappeared today, haven't seen him in a while.
@Paul It's more likely appearing because of the constructors, not the editors.
A lot happening thematically, but some of the fill made me cry ACK. The simultaneous revival of both ERLE and ERN was almost too much to bear. Thank goodness I knew PERIDOT (which shouldn't rhyme with FEEDLOT), since both KIR and EDOM were unknowns. Knowing BARI helped too. Maybe next week we can learn about LOA, the Lithuanian porpoise who plays chess. Perhaps doing two puzzles in one day is not for me. This one seems to have made me YOHO. In any case, APLOMB is an excellent word.
@Xword Junkie Yes!! Aplomb is one of my very favorite words. Seeing it made me happy!!
@Xword Junkie Lithuanian here--not sure what you meant by your LOA crack... Wondering sincerely. (If that was an attempt at wit, it was not very successful. But not to worry, IMOVERIT.)
Fantashtic debut. Shplendid. That center spanner was worth the cost of admission all by itself.
I'm working on a Sunday puzzle from 1998. At 54 years old and hoping to have an average or better life expectancy, I think I just might be able to finish it. It'll be close, but I'm hopeful!
I said earlier this week when I completed a 5-year streak that I would disclose my cheat rules. So, for anyone who cares, you can tell what kind of streak it is. I actually have a long list, but it boils down to this. When solving on paper in the aughts, I would use any reference book to help. This included Wikipedia. It included most anything short of the answer key. When I began solving online in 2014, I discovered that as long as I didn't do "check puzzle," if I had an error somewhere, the software would alert me but not tell me where. If I found it on my own, even by trial and error, it would give me the star. So I reformed my rules around that as a guideline. This meant not doing anything that was akin to revealing the answer, such as using search terms that would bring up the clue and answer. Other kinds of research, I still allowed myself. As I've become more acquainted with typical crossword fills and misdirects, I've used fewer kinds of help. This streak began about 6 years into my online solving experience and I honestly can't remember how much help I was using at that time. I can say that by now, maybe once a month I can't find a mistake and resort to verifying the spellings of my answers. If I use any word or part of a word from the clue in my search term, I consider that an asterisk in my solve. This streak includes probably four or so asterisks.
@Lynn But realize this streak began about 15 years into my solving experience. And I'm still learning! (For those of you who don't care what rules others use, apologies for the long post. 🤓)
@Lynn Congratulations on a nice long streak!
@Lynn Very interesting set of personal rules. Mine are somewhat similar. Except for the monster Saturday two weeks ago, my cheats are generally trying to find an error. I'm not above running the alphabet on a single square, but if that doesn't do it, I generally have to start checking my least certain answers with google. I generally put a mental asterisk on my streak if I've done either or those in finding the error.
Another great debut so congrats to Mr. ROOney! Silky smOOth but got hung up at the KIR/PERIDOT/CHE/ACK confluence. Almost went down but managed to stay afloat. So I ended up stirred but not shaken. Nicely done.
This was fun. I was moving right along, even had a sense of how the theme worked, but when I got SHINED I couldn't tell why the answer was missing the AND, so my biggest holdup was converting sealed to SHIELD. You'll rue the day you croshed me, Trebek! Thanks!
Besht Sunday puzzle in ages. Evoking the great Sean Connery's acshent-- a complete joy!
All I wanted was a sweet distraction for an hour or two. This Double O seven was pure heaven. Swathi
What an abundance of riches in one Sunday puzzle! Well done!
Why should we drink a well-made martitini? For the shake of it! What an entertaining, cleverly constructed puzzle! Thank you.
SO COOL! This Bond fan loved this puzzle. Thank you, Danny!!
A fun and clever puzzle! Loved SHINDSHIELDDELIVERED but now the Stevie Wonder song is stuck in my head. I thought the “sh” sounds were a hint to slurred speech after a few martinis, but Caitlin cleared that up in her column. Congratulations on a great debut, Danny!
Excellent puzzle, excellenter debut puzzle. (Hey, if "lintier" is a valid word, then "excellenter" is, too. And oddly enough, it's showing as a red underlined misspelled word in this paragraph, but not in the first sentence.) Really loved SHINED SHIELD DELIVERED--that was the last one I got and it was the best of a really good bunch.
Wait! Is it finished? I want moore! Moore, please!
@C Pond Fan of Roger, are we?
@C Pond I was thinking that one of the themers should have been mOOre.
The fun really shtarted for me with MOVE YOUR ASH. When the theme became clear and Sean Connery showed up I was all in. A very special and highly entertaining debut IMHO. Beautifully done, Danny J Rooney! As for 007, everyone has their favorite Bond. I do, too, but I love them all.
I figured out the S to SH part of the theme first and was trying to puzzle out how it made sense, then laughed out loud when I got to JAMESBOND and knew it had to be a Connery reference. Great fun all around, a really impressive debut!
Congratulations on a solid NYT debut, Mr. Rooney! I had fun of writing it up for Diary of a Crossword Fiend: <a href="https://crosswordfiend.com/2025/08/30/sunday-august-31-2025/#ny" target="_blank">https://crosswordfiend.com/2025/08/30/sunday-august-31-2025/#ny</a>
As a Bond fan, I absolutely loved this puzzle. As a Brit I had a great image of millions of Americans trying to solve clues with fake Scottish accents. Brilliant
Great puzzle! I always thought it was “SCRAGGLY” and not “SCRAGGY” so that stumped me a bit
@Greg I took a journey from SCRuffY to SCRunGY before finally arriving at SCRAGGY
The mini crossword 1 down clue is wrong. The movie referred to is about Greek history - the battle of Thermopylae. The answer is to do with Roman culture. In this instance, an aspect of Roman culture that they adapted from the Etruscans. Greetings from Sydney, Australia
Last minute mix-up. The clue was supposed to be: [Wrap on filming "Animal House"?]
@Ado What else would you call what they were wearing in the movie?
@Ado Well, actually they were wearing something from the Warner Bros costume department. A bedsheet, maybe?
This was a puzzle that was double fun.
Yo-ho-ho! I'd say this here puzzle will be a SMERSH hit!
debut?!! woah - unbelievably clever and fun to do!