Take note, everyone, that in order to avoid the issue of "and sometimes Y," Marshall left Y out of the puzzle altogether.
The reference to Wheel of Fortune also made me consider that "y" would not be used since it is not one of the vowel options you can buy on the show.
WOW!! What a great Tuesday. The revealer was easy to get and instantly made the puzzle so much easier, but at the same time, once I got the revealer, I marvelled at the puzzle for the rest of the solve. What a feat of construction! And such great spanners for a Tuesday! The constructor deserves many kudos, especially for MEDICINE CABINET.
Incredible construction and a fun puzzle to boot!!
4 spanners with that theme is very impressive, this will be a top contender for crossword of the year. No overly tricky clues, obscure tricia or excessive crosswordese. Just a fun puzzle
@Kyle I can't disagree. This was excellent, comprehensive, and surprising work. High art in the crossword world.
Stunning to look back at the grid on completion. The "wowed" in the center sums up exactly how I feel about this clever construction. Well done.
@JBW Yes!! WOWED crossing VOWEL. Terrific feat, and so fun to solve! Hope there are MORE TO COME LATER like it soon!
I'm rarely impressed by a puzzle's construction but this one wowed even me. Knowing every other letter in the grid would be a vowel actually helped me to fill it, too - which was welcome, as I found the fill quite hard for a Tuesday (as usual in my case, due to the inclusion of quite a few names and brands unknown to me. I desperately wanted OLETA to be OLEnA). I still completed the puzzle in my average time for this time in the week - hats off to the constructor for managing to show off their skill with no detriment to the solving experience: the two often do not go hand in hand.
@Andrzej Well said, especially the last part
@Andrzej Agree I think I would have been lost without knocking half the letters down to a 1 in 5 choice. I have never heard of Hi-Liter markers… until now, but it was easy to guess with the vowel trick.
Another comment... @Steve L noticed that there are no Ys in the puzzle, to avoid the confusion of whether a Y is a vowel or consonant. I noticed something what cool. The constructor managed to maintained the pattern from one word to the next, as well. Between words, the empty black squares continue the pattern as if there were letters in them. For example, CASA_EDAM. The _ would have been a constant. It's like that all the way through, both across and down. And in the two places where there are two black squares together, the pattern still holds. UTILE_ _MUNI.
@Beth in Greenbelt Oy. Someday I'll leave a comment without typos. Today is not that day.
@Beth in Greenbelt And one more thing... The revealer is in the exact middle of the grid.
@Beth in Greenbelt Actually it would be impossible to construct a crossword with alternating vowels and consonants in every word without also doing what you noticed (i.e. the empty squares "maintaining the pattern"). You can use what's called "a parity argument" for this, but just to illustrate: let's say you have something like this: 1x2 345 Here 1 is the last letter of one word, x is a black square, 2 is the first letter of the next word, 345 are the three letters under 1x2. If 1 is a vowel, then 3 must be a consonant, so 4 must be a vowel, so 5 must be a consonant, so 2 must be a vowel. (To be precise, you can't avoid this unless the crossword is broken off into several disconnected parts by the black squares, but that is against crossword construction "rules".)
@Beth in Greenbelt I was 43 or 44 when I realized Y is not always a vowel in English, and only because somebody mentioned it in these comments. In Polish it's only ever a vowel.
@Beth in Greenbelt If you look at the diagonals (in either direction), you'll see that they're either all vowels or all consonants.
WOWED, I’m just WOWED by this theme and its execution. Even the idea of imposing a formal restraint on every single square in the grid is daunting. To implement that theme across four spanners, with a bare minimum of crosswordese, is truly impressive. But to finish off the meal with a few choice mignardises like crossing [bonds tightly] with [local bond] and two members of [Santa’s team] —that’s real class. Take a MIC drop Mr. Herrmann!
As your resident alphadoppeltotter, a role I’ve inexplicably taken in the past eight years, it is my duty to inform you that the puzzle has an unusually low number of double letters, at zero, where unusual is any number less than five. Since I’ve begun my service to you, this has never happened before. Alas, this feat comes with an asterisk, as it is theme related, and cannot count as a record. May I add that my labor was exceedingly and refreshingly light, a well-earned vacation, if I may so boldly say. I remain your humble servant, ever on the alert.
@Lewis: okay. Now, give us the report in your secondary role of “alphadoppelganger” - a new role assigned to you by Steve L. 😉
@Lewis Take a look at the fourth thread last night. Sorry I misremembered your title, though.
@Egad! The alphadoppeltotter did see it and respond to it, but I see the the response did not appear. He said that he was gladdened by the light labor, but a bit saddened, as the experience left him feeling a bit useless. He was much obliged to you for thinking of him.
@CatLady Margaret -- It is a little known fact that "alphadoppeltotter" is a shortened version of the cumbersome "alphadoppelganger spotter-totter".
@Lewis, Bravo! And thank you for your service! 😄
Hats off to the constructor for an impressive crossword, and hats off to me for my 500-day streak!
@Turing Congratulations!
@Turing, Woohoo! 🎉 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻! Congratulations on 500!!
@Turing That is impressive. Congrats!
Utterly impressive how one can construct a crossword under this constraint, while making it accessible enough for a Tuesday and not having overly difficult fill.
@Wade H And without a ton of crosswordese and 4 spanners. Extremely clever and well made puzzle
Maybe the best puzzle I've seen all year. Really impressive construction, right level of difficulty for a Tuesday, great revealer and FOUR fifteen letter entires? And no Ys?
Marshal’s first Times puzzle (Tuesday, 1/16/24) had a knock-me-over-with-a-feather theme, and if you haven’t done it, I suggest you put your life on hold and do it now. In just two puzzles, he has established himself as a masterful grid manipulator. I have no idea what he will come up with next, but you can be sure when I see his name atop the empty grid, I will cocoon myself, put a “do not disturb” sign on my door, and jump right into it. What struck me and stays with me is that Marshal tooled around with this puzzle for more than a year before submitting it. I find that persistence and drive for excellence powerfully inspiring. Bravo sir! Wowed and inspired and eager for more. Now that is one lovely place from which to springboard into the day. Thank you for this, Marshal!
@Lewis The January 2024 constraint was even more difficult to implement in both directions at once!
Interesting. Thought this might be one of those ones that was more fun for the constructor than the puzzler, but this is pretty remarkable to look over at the end. I can only imagine the limitations this places on your word list when building...
Our inexplicably self-appointed alphadoppelganger, Lewis, will sadly find that the number of double letters in this puzzle is exactly... Zero.
@Steve L -- Astute. Your resident alphadoppeltotter feels refreshed after an easy day of alphadoppeltotter work and useless at the same time. Comment to come later.
Wow, insane construction! Very impressive
BRILLIANT! Excellent Tuesday puzzle. Or should I say it was…dIvInE!
Wow, a memorable, rad, and epic one! Very solid! (That's as long of a review as I could muster with the same vowel/consonant pattern! I was upset "impressive" wouldn't work!!!)
@Lisa B Almost! "Memorable," "and," and "very" don't fit. (Steve L pointed out there were also no Ys.)
One of the down columns gave me an idea for an awesome new show: "EMINEM!: VICE COP!" Every episode ends with the bad guy saying, "I'll beat the rap, Eminem!", who replies, "Oh yeah? Let's see you beat this rap!" Cue epic rap battle. Roll end credits. I wonder if our constructor wrote the clue for Eminem-"Nobody wants to see Marshall no more". Very funny, Marshal!
Wow quite a feat of construction! Really liked the fact that there wasn't much crosswordese despite the constraints of the theme and that the difficulty level seemed just a tad higher than most Tuesdays. Nicely done.
Okay I liked it! A fun exercise for a day of awesome joy. (Joy things: I got invited to beta the new Procreate, which probably means they're close to release because I'm nobody but it's still fun; I did a Trader Joe's run and got yummy things; and now a metaphorically yummy puzzle, whee! Also I couldn't resist doing a sentence in CV-alternating format to match the puzzle.) Nice job.
Dangit I just noticed "exercise" breaks form. Sigh.
I am insanely impressed with the creation of this puzzle. Alternating both across and down, with four full grid spanners, and not chock full of boring crosswordese. Well done!
We had a hero today. Spanners in a Tuesday puzzle? A BIT OF AWESOME, NO?
@Grant "We had a hero today." I see what you did there.
This puzzle supersizes my high regard for constructors. I’m delighted to see so much positive feedback for Marshal Herrmann’s extraordinary work. It is IMHO the most memorable Tuesday since I began solving in 2020.
Impressive feat of construction, and I will add to the chorus of wows here. I realized the theme only on solving the revealer, and am impressed by the four 15 letter spanners. Nice puzzle, and I enjoyed solving it.
I liked it a lot. I was 'avin a time wit it!
Wow! Amazing crossword with such a tight and well-executed theme!
A Tuesday puzzle that was elegantly constructed and fun to solve—they don't get any better than that. The puzzle Marshal Hermann had to solve himself to find words and phrases that would meet the criterion he chose to place on the fills is impressive all by itself. I'm going to do a celebratory dance in honor of your dazzling achievement, Marshal, but I can't decide on a HULA or a HORA.
Two things that shouldn't be possible: 1. When the soloist with the symphony (usually piano or violin) plays a four-movement piece from memory (no sheet music!) 2. Construction of a puzzle like this take that, AI!
@Cal Gal Regarding your #1, here’s Hilary Hahn playing the entire Sibelius violin concerto *without* the orchestra! <a href="https://youtu.be/Spq-xDDsEo4?si=XwrvJTotNSGSydSh" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/Spq-xDDsEo4?si=XwrvJTotNSGSydSh</a>
Joining the well deserved chorus of wows. I thought I found it a little trickier than the average Tuesday as I’m currently battling a bout of ill health, so it was encouraging to read the general tone was one of ‘tougher than average’. I must be getting better (pauses to cough up a lung).
@Helen Wright Sorry to hear that you haven’t been feeling well. I hope you feel better soon.
@Helen Wright I’m sorry to hear that and hope you bounce back soon.
This was a great crossword, even better because quite a few people thought it was hard - and I didn't! This doesn't happen often, this may even be the first time. Even though I didn't know ERIC, IDA. OLETA or MOC, the revealer revealed and made it easier. It still took me 40 minutes, but that's usual.
When I discovered the vowel thing,I realized that some folks are much further and deeper into word and language interplay than I will ever be. Remarkable to have that level of structural command over an entire grid. And with less than 60 clues, which is a sign of a brainy, challenging 15 x 15 puzzle.
Took me back to when I had regular struggles with tuesdays. Thanks for keeping me humble!!
I VOWEL always remember this Xword puzzle.
I rarely comment, but had to join the chorus of wows. What a great puzzle! Also, does it say something about me that my first thought when reading the clue for 1D was proctologist?
@Doug Ha ha! My first thought was Chiro, even though I knew it shouldn't be an abbreviation. That made me think of Eddie Izzard: <a href="https://youtu.be/wc534eAmyrw?si=owmxZd5HtNrXFrJf" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/wc534eAmyrw?si=owmxZd5HtNrXFrJf</a>
Kind of disappointing for the OREOphiles among us, eh? Seriously, this was fun and an amazing feat of construction. Thank you!
@Jack McCullough Funny that’s the first thing I thought when I got the revealer. No OREO or ETNA today. Was expecting an OPI though that didn’t materialise.
@Jack McCullough It was kind of like an OREO puzzle due to it's binary nature. No gray area here. Wait...that sounds familiar. Help me out here...don't leave me stranded.
@Jim Did you solve the Mini? I laughed out loud having just finished Strands.
I guess I'm the only one who had this experience: When I got to 35A, I only half read the clue and promptly filled in VOWEL and didn't realize this was the revealer clue. I finished the puzzle and decided there was no revealer and spent quite a bit of time looking at 14A, 17A, 52A and 56A trying to figure out what the phrases had in common. Came up with nothing. Then I decided the NYT ran a themeless puzzle on a Tuesday. Finally, I looked one more time at the clues and noticed the rest of the clue for 35A and saw how exceptional this puzzle was. I can't really think of an excuse.
@Nancy J. In the words of Forrest Gump, ..it happens.
@Nancy J. But you're to be congratulated on taking the time to figure it out for yourself. If it had been me, I would've gone to the Wordplay column after a minute or two, and would've had to give myself a (CarTalk-style) dope slap.
This is definitely a candidate for POY. I had to guess the crossing of AVEDA and IDA. D or R? Don't worry I won't say that word that starts with N. 😂
Mr Dave, (1) Definitely a candidate for M-T-W POY. (2) No loss not knowing cosmetics brands IMHO, but I'm disappointed -- but not surprised -- that you didn't recognize IDA B. Wells.
Trickier than the usual Tuesday but well constructed
Incredible crossword. Loved the simple elegance of the theme and the long spanners. Rarely am I wowed by a Tuesday but this definitely did it!
One of the most fun puzzles I've done. Once I got the theme clue in the middle it was just pure joy building and building as I kept solving and seeing the theme play out.
I notice that (at the time I'm writing this) both commenters who tried to make a comment with alternating vowels and consonants made a mistake and broke the pattern. Makes one appreciate more the difficult task the constructor set himself. And he had to worry about all the crosses. And he managed to do it all without a lot of arcane fill.
Simply amazing. I mean, wow. A bit harder than a normal Tuesday (my solve time was twice my Tuesday average), but it got easier once I got the revealer.
Definitely a bit more challenging than most Tuesdays but well worth it for the pleasure of solving! This one was a real treat
@Dani XWStats lists this puzzle as Very Hard as of 5am ET: 🌎 Global Stats Difficulty Very Hard Median Solve Time 8:16 Median Solver 18% slower ⚡21% of users solved faster than their Tuesday average. 5% solved much faster (>20%) than their Tuesday average. 🐢79% of users solved slower than their Tuesday average. 45% solved much slower (>20%) than their Tuesday average.
As impressive as it is to have all the words with alternating consonants and vowels, it's even more impressive that the pattern holds true across all the blank spaces as well! In both directions, even when there is more than one blank adjacent.
@Bruce It has to. Having spaces from end to end, not matter the level, forced the alteration everywhere.