Fun theme! Well done, Stella. [Who's the girl Sandra that was in Grey's Anatomy, precious?] OH, DEAR
@Anita what Scrabble letter did you pick up, gorgeous? I GOT U BABE
"Are you still adding numbers?" "No, I'm on sum-mer vacation." ("Try subtracting. You can make a difference!")
@Mike I have read your comment but I’m not sure what I am supposed to take away from it. Don’t want to be negative. But I have nothing to add either. So I’m kinda non-plussed. (Perhaps some other commenters can think big and get more out of it?)
@Mike Sub-tracking: squeezing more houses into a specific piece of land!
@Mike Puns can be divisive. They only appeal to a small fraction of the populace.
@Mike Spring break: a great time to take it easy (since my watch stopped). Fall trip? Ouch!
@Mike You are so above-average! You might try another mode---something meaningful that you might use in your future life...
Mike, You stopped your series just when you were getting hot? I had to change my strategy -- abacus I ran out of fingers and toes.
[What was that Russian autocrat Peter’s nickname, angel?] THEGREATPUMPKIN
@Lewis there was me thinking it was IVAN I, DEAR or even IVAN (TERRIBLE) I, DEAR
“What’s that wood thingie behind the sheet rock you want me to nail the picture to, honeybun?” “Stud, muffin.” (This is a snippet of a recurring dialogue in… er… a house we’ve heard of. The names have been changed to protect those who can never ever remember construction terms no matter how many times their husbands patiently reeducate them. Also, to sound more sickly sweet just for fun.)
@Sam Lyons Aw, this one is cute. What am I when I am sad? MELANCHOLY BABY.
Maybe it's just me, but I found this to be on the tough side for a Tuesday. My completion time was closer to Wednesday/Thursday. YMMV!
@Michael Weiland Same. About a minute over my Tuesday average. The themers mostly worked for me, but my early tries mainly led to credible errors, such as sped for TORE heed for OBEY. I got SKULL quickly, but I kept wondering if it was going to turn out to be MRYUK.
What's the "IT" color this year? BROWN, SUGAR.
@lucky13 You are on trend. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/fashion/brown-fall-fashion.html?unlocked_article_code=1.tU8.R7rV.HErftXzBqrb3&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/fashion/brown-fall-fashion.html?unlocked_article_code=1.tU8.R7rV.HErftXzBqrb3&smid=url-share</a>
@lucky13 That gave me this morning's earworm! <a href="https://youtu.be/hxXV2UftL7Q?si=JHTkJlsFogB5Xk-x" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/hxXV2UftL7Q?si=JHTkJlsFogB5Xk-x</a>
I enjoyed this, tight theme. Never heard of ALFALFAHONEY but I’ll take it. Never heard of YASSIFY either but I’ve heard of YAS Queen so I’m guessing that’s related? In any case great new word for me (also IDLI). Fun fairly crunchy Tuesday. What do people wear on St. Patrick’s day, love? GREEN, BAE.
How can you not adore a puzzle radiating love in clue and answer? Such an original and fun theme from a pro who’s had spark-filled puzzles in the Times for 21 years. Speaking of love, I loved uncovering those beautiful side-by-side nines CAMERA SHY and ERUDITION, not to mention unknown-to-me YASSIFY, whose playfulness energetically pressed my happy button. That word, by the way, is serendipitously emphasized by having its YASS crossing a backward YASS (of ESSAY), and having its end echoed by FIE. The word BEAN has just been ordinary to me, like “desk” or “sock”, but has started taking on a sweet cuteness vibe after last week’s TOE BEANS and today’s BEANIE BABIES. Your puzzle, Stella, was a mood lifter of the first order – thank you!
Woo hoo 16 min without googling. I know it’s a Tuesday but I can be proud 😊
A card isn't an indicator of a penalty in soccer. A player can get a card anywhere on the pitch for a foul. Similarly a player can get a penalty without anyone receiving a card. The referee will point to the penalty spot to indicate a penalty
@Dave Agreed. This clue is simply incorrect and misleading.
@Dave Quite a head scratcher for me too. I had to ask DH, who just laughed and said the clue was *NSFE*
@Dave Sounds like the old world has been heard from. I don't know why y'all can't get it straight that America now overrules you on all of this, even in your own sports. It's Truth, Justice, and the American way. (do I need a "/s"?)
@Dave Yeah, this was maddening. 'Penalty' in soccer doesn't mean "any time a team or player is penalised", which seems to be the meaning here.
@Dave I had to pause at that one for a minute, but I’ve learned to expect some occasional imprecision in crosswords, and since I had the C, I grudgingly entered CARD.
@Dave Precisely. I had the C and the A so I entered “CALL”, which — when made by a referee — does in fact always precede a penalty kick, whereas a card does not.
@Dave At this point, I've learned more than I've ever cared to know about soccer penalties, fouls, cards, kicks, etc.
@Dave Over here, penalty = foul, especially if one does not follow the Beautiful Game.
The clue in 25D is wrong. Many penalties are awarded without a card being shown and many cards are shown without a penalty being awarded.
@Michael Exactly! Came here to say the same. A penalty is a specific decision from the referee for a foul in the 18 yard box, not a generic term for a (cardable) foul anywhere else on the field.
Michael, The clue and answer are fine, because crossword convention does not follow FIFA laws. In Crosslandia, if a card *might" indicate a penalty, the clue is valid. All cards need not lead to penalties, and all penalties need not result from a carding.
@Michael that's exactly what I came to say. Cards and penalties are far from synonymous. Unless you're taking a more generic definition of the word "penalty' as a punishment because in that sense, cards are a way of penalising players.
@Barry Ancona cards don't indicate penalties at all. You can have a card without a penalty, and a penalty without a card. It's like cluing STRIKE as "Indicates an out, in baseball".
The only question is whether the clue — "Indicator of a penalty, in soccer" — is accurate for CARD. Since a card *is* an indicator of a penalty in soccer, the clue has no problem at all.
"Getting a puzzle in feels harder than getting into Harvard these days!" The Harvard acceptance rate for college is around 3.7%. Do we know what the NYT crossword acceptance rate is?
@Mike I thought I saw on some forum that they get ~150 submissions per week. So at 7 puzzles published per week, that’s ~4.7%. But defer to those who have more accurate sources!
@Mike Well, look at the bright side. You stand a better chance at NYT accepting your Crossword than a shark attack, a lightning strike or an airline disaster. How’s that for logic?
@Jerry And way better than winning the lottery -- even a small prize!
I had "Alphalpha, ROMEO" before ... Honey. I'll take Yassify over Zhuzh any day of the week!
FWIW - Stella has a website where she has been posting her own puzzles for many years. Formerly called "Tough as Nails", it now goes by "Inteltainment", and can be found at: - <a href="https://toughasnails.net" target="_blank">https://toughasnails.net</a>/ For those who routinely complain that the NYT Friday and Saturday puzzles are much too easy compared to years past, they ought to check out her site. As the former name of the site suggests, they are among the tougher crosswords around (albeit with a different vibe than NYT crosswords).
@RichardZ I've done a number of Stella's independently-published puzzles, though not in a while. I concur with your assessment of their difficulty and vibe.
A card does not indicate a penalty in soccer. Penalties are kicks from the penalty spot. It's possible to have a penalty without a card and very possible to have a card without a penalty.
@Gabo a card is a penalty for a foul. It's not necessarily a penalty kick(penalty in football lingo), but it is a penalty(general use of the word).
@Gabo I wanted to write something similar but then I thought, hey, a card is literally a penalty (for a nasty foul), and also, when a penalty kick is declared, the offending player is usually carded. The clue works.
The cluewriters did their due diligence in cluing 13D to the Big Dipper--an asterism--rather than the Great Bear, or Ursa Major--a constellation. A constellation is a defined region of the sky, which contains innumerable stars, visible and invisible; and asterism is a visible pattern of stars, which may be part of a constellation (the Big Dipper), or span across several constellations (the Summer Triangle). But the clue is not completely accurate: the star Mizor, the second from the end of the "handle," has a faint companion, Alcor, which would bring the count to eight. The ability to differentiate Alcor and Mizar was used as a vision test, among pre-optometrist cultures. Some fun reading today on the asterism's interpretation across various cultures. There seem to be four common traditions-- either a bear, a dipper/ladle/saucepan, a wagon/wain/chariot, or a plough. In some cases, the wagon has a specific owner: Odin, or Göncöl. But there are some other interpretations as well: the Sami, who knew of bears, but probably had little use for plows or wagons, saw it a bow; and the pre-Islamic Arabs saw it as a funeral wagon, but heading in the opposite direction, with the stars of the "handle" representing the mourning daughters of the deceased, following it. The pragmatic Romans saw it seven individual oxen ("septem triones"), which gave us the adjective "septentrional," a fancy word for "north," for those who want to air their erudition. I did the work, so you don't have to.
@Bill A little cultural insensitivity on my part: a (traditionally) nomadic, pastoral culture like the Sami would have little use for plows, but a great deal for wagons. Anyone of Sami ethnicity please correct or confirm.
Lucek the puppy, true to his wolf ancestors, gnaws on the blood-soaked bones of his enemies: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/GnvAvVb" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/GnvAvVb</a> 🤣
@Andrzej 😂 I would dearly love to know a detailed history about how humans and dogs evolved together. He's pretty good sized for a puppy. I guess I'm used to small breeds, but I think he's bigger than our two--together.
@Andrzej Aargh, I have FOMO. Imgur clearly isn’t supported in the UK, as I get a basic ‘computer says no’ message every time. I'm doomed to never seeing young Lucek grow to conquer the world.
@Helen Wright A basic VPN should solve all your geoblocking problems. I subscribe to one, from Avast I think, to access sport content on YouTube without ridiculous restrictions. You can try it out for free, I think, and other providers offer VPN functionality for free up to a certain data cap. I can't share those pics via my OneDrive or Google accounts as that might reveal my full name, which I'm trying to avoid. @Francis Yeah, people who know about poodles keep telling me he's big even for a standard one. I have pics of his grandfather - a magnificently huge beast he is. It's cool though - my wife and I love big dogs.
@Andrzej Lucek has the face of a wise old soul.
A tad crunchy in the middle for me, but otherwise a straightforward Tuesday. The Mexican stand off between the Alpacas and our Shiba came to a head; the dog got in their field. There was running and barking, though he only wanted to play. Lacey, the eldest girl, decided she’d had enough and turned on him, legs kicking. The other three joined in in sister solidarity. I got between lashing camelids and now terrified small dog, scooped him up and was firmly escorted to the gate by 4 furious ladies. I now have a series of new bruises on my calves, plus one on my derrière (thanks Willow). The dog has been very subdued since.
@Helen Wright You're my hero. I hope I'll find myself doing equally awesome things as I discover my true self as a mature 😃
@Helen Wright I guess the EMU got you.
@Helen Wright Holy cow! What do y'all think your doing up there? This is like "All Creatures, Great and Small" meets "Monte Python".
@Helen Wright Who can resist a story describing sister solidarity and furious ladies? That could even describe today’s photo, if the photographer threw a BBQ rib in the room. Your alpaca ladies were telling your Shiba, “Let me show you how the animal kingdom REALLY works!” Very nice story, Helen. Please stop collecting bruises. 😋
As an ardent football (or for y'all, soccer) fan, I'm surprised by all the comments criticising the clue for 25D. I read 'penalty' as in punishment, got the clue without issue and it never even occurred to think of 'penalty' as a spot kick. Getting a red card is the ultimate penalty for any player to get in a game, after all.
@Lauritz I am not in any way a football (soccer) fan and also got it right away without issue...
@Lauritz I may not be a huge football fan, but my wife is, and I've been watching games with her for a long time - I'm with you on this.
@Lauritz I agree it’s perfectly fine for a casual clue, and certainly not misleading, but I don’t at all mind getting educated about the technical subtleties of a clue just as we were the other day about checkmates in ENDGAMES.
Back from a long hiatus. Parenting an elderly parent is not fun. I did puzzles in the local Gannett newspaper while there, but that's not the same as being here in the NYT puzzle community. Merely okay, sweetcakes? JUST, DESSERTS.
I think SCRIP for prescription is a little tenuous. In the English-speaking world we use SCRIPT. (I'm not familiar with the Americanism.) Regardless, SCRIP is a valid entry. A more apt clue would have been something to do with paper records related to securities trading, ergo, scrip.
@Andy Well, today we learned that the USA is no longer part of the English-speaking world. We got a little too extravagant with slang and loan words, and this language the majority of us here speak has calved off from English like an iceberg. Now we need a name for it. It can't be "American," because, since America includes Central and South America, that would more appropriately be the many versions of Spanish used on this side of the Atlantic. I'm open to suggestions.
@Andy It definitely should be “script,” unless it changed recently. “Scrip” is like a placeholder for money. I can’t find any authoritative source defining “scrip” as used in the puzzle. Looks like a rare error to me.
@Andy I won't find fault with SCRIP as a shortened form of prescription, but I'll add that my mail-order Rxs come from Express Scripts.
@Andy I dunno, I've always known it as SCRIP, both from medical visits and my relatives who are doctors. The way they tell it, "script" is a result of mis-hearing the correct wording.
@Andy It's druggie slang. Corrupt doctors sell SCRIPs for opiates and such, in return for cash. Addicts are not known for strict adherence to the King's English. (Not speaking from personal experience, mind you; I learned a lot of things when I served on a grand jury.)
Came here for this comment. As a pharmacist I’m embarrassed to say this was the last one I filled in to solve because it’s always been script in my education and workplace, glad others were thrown off. I was like, four letter word for order from doc, abbreviated most likely with use of doc… labs? I suppose that’s an abbreviated. I do remember complaining in the comments before that as a harpist, the constructor used a term harpists would never use and I got a reply saying “the constructor used a term YOU would never use” so tomato, potato. Still had fun!
@Andy As an MD, I've only ever heard it, written it, or seen it written as SCRIPT. SCRIP without the "T" puts me in mind of a company town's local currency.
Soccer ref here. Please indulge me as I can finally get pedantic about the NYT crossword. The clue is simply wrong. A card is an indicator of an OFFENSE (some violation of the laws of the game) that is significant enough for the referee to issue a caution (yellow card) or sending-off (red card). The laws provide detailed lists of the kinds of offenses that qualify for each category of card. A PENALTY kick is awarded for a direct-kick offense committed by a player in their penalty area. Again, there is a defined list of direct-kick offenses—i.e., offenses for which the resulting restart is a direct kick. As many others have noted, you can have a penalty kick without a card (carelessly tripping an attacker inside the penalty area, for instance) and a card without a penalty kick (recklessly tripping an attacker outside the penalty area, say). Within soccer, "foul," "offense," and "penalty" are not all synonymous with "some generic bad thing that a player did." Each has a distinct definition. And no one involved in the game uses the phrase "penalty card," despite what Wikipedia and other websites might say. To do so would cause confusion. All in all, in the opinion of the referee (ITOOTR in ref lingo), this clue deserves a yellow caution card for a careless offense.
@Ernst the Junger this was definitely a puzzle where the more you know about a thing, the harder it was because it was easier to overthink than get the common wisdom. It happened to me with muscles - I couldn’t figure out the “outer arm muscle” clue, because I was thinking anatomical position. I had “delt” written for the longest time, because triceps are posterior not lateral. It was literally my last clue. I’m a massage therapist. If your triceps are always your “outer arm” and not behind you - please warm up (showers and hot baths count!) and stretch your pecs! Put your forearms up in a W against a doorframe and lean in. Your back muscles between your shoulder blades will thank you, and so will your rotator cuff muscles!
VAR has reviewed and reversed your comment. (1) The laws of FIFA do not apply to the Crossword. (2) Welcome to the "experts don't say that" club.
@Ernst the Junger You may be suffering from TCS (Too Close Syndrome). You are very well versed in the arcana of soccer terminology. But you can't escape the fact that in everyday usage, the word "penalty" has a much broader meaning. One would probably acknowledge that "sending off" a player (what every other sport calls "ejecting" a player) is a penalty in that sense. He or she can't return to the match and cannot be replaced. That is a severe penalty.
As I posted last night, the clue and answer are fine, because crossword convention does not follow FIFA laws. In Crosslandia, an answer need not be valid for every case of the clue, and vice versa. A card *might" indicate a penalty, so the clue is valid. To be valid, all cards need not lead to penalty kicks, and all penalty kicks need not result from a carding. I enjoy both soccer and crosswords.
I was surprised to get the victory jingle because I thought for sure I had two mistakes to clean up. So then I thought, "Well, I just learned two pieces of modern slang: YASSIFY and CAME RASHY". Especially funny (when I figured out my actual mistake) since my wife is a photographer.
"Say, what was that movie about the VW Beetle, Darlin'?"... "HERBIE, LOVEBUG" "Umm, the crossword wants a 4-letter word for 'tractor-trailer. Any ideas, Honey?" ... "SEMI, SWEET" "How did you feel when they forgot your birthday at the office, Sugarbear?" ... "FROSTED, CUPCAKE" "How are you preparing for Hallowe'en, Babydoll?" ... "CARVING, PUMPKIN" Happily, we're a day past TRISkaidekaphobia, and now grateful for the monosyllabic ERA when EMU EASES EARS. THAT's SO enough out of me, having SCOUTed the SCENE for the SYNCing SCENT of YASSIFication, with a 'period' of abject confusion when I CAME RASHY all over. Closing with thanks to StellaZ from one who grew up with the Oxford comma, for the RIGHTNESS of her punctuation.
@Leapfinger impressive comment!
Losing my mind seeing YASSIFY in the nyt crossword. Fun puzzle!
A fun one today but especially appreciated all the useful links in the comments below. [But, why can't we, love?] FORBIDDEN, SWEETS
I LOVE Stella Zawistowski's puzzles and was thrilled to see her name this morning. They're always so lively and she draws her fill from all over the place. There really is something for everyone.
@Nancy J. Btw, Zawistowski is a distinctly Polish name. However, in Poland Stella would be called Zawistowska, as our language is gendered and -ska is a typical ending of female names. If that were my name, I'd be Andrzej Zawistowski.
@Francis Emus objected to the first - perfectly civil - version of his post. Trying an edit. ---------- It's our default so there is nothing fancy about it to us. When English speakers laugh our table is a boy and our wardrobe is a girl, we just shrug. To us the concept seems no weirder than how one pronounces English - to us the way you write it down is loco. These letters should not be making those sounds 🤪. Do you find baseball annoying because your culture groomed you to follow it? 🤣
I usually don't know how the picture with Wordplay connects with the puzzle. In fact, I usually pay no attention whatsoever. But I certainly paid attention to this one. And I don't care how it connects to the puzzle.
@Francis Maybe you didn't know, but you can find many more stimulating pictures on the internet, equally unconnected to this puzzle! Enjoy and thank me later 🤪
@Francis Well, we're seeing the backs of all these ladies, so I guess it's a photo of "Back talk".
Stella's comment in her notes about the difficulty in getting a puzzle published in the NYT these days validates the comment I made the other day about the diminishing appearance of established constructors compared to the newbies, who are paid less. But I'm glad this puzzle was accepted. It was fun, so thanks. Stella.
@Times Rita Sounds like Gresham’s law applied to crosswords.
Insistent comma gonna get you!
@Glenn Kubish But we'll all shine on.
This took me longer than usual, but I’m watching the Dodgers and Brewers game, so slightly distracted 😜 I grew up in LA, but I lived north of Milwaukee for a few years, so it’s exciting for me 🤩 As for the puzzle, it had an endearing theme which I caught onto by the the second themed answer ALFALFA HONEY. I went back and fixed SUMMER timE to SUMMER LOVE. Last fix was YAlSIFY to YASSIFY. New to me, but it made sense when I thought about it. Welcome back, Stella. Don’t be a stranger, boo 👻
@Jacqui J I thought it was too late to comment again on yesterday's ridiculously question to you on why you took your husband's last name when you got married, but wanted to say, and I think you'll well agree, that marrying into ila J last name is pretty great!!! ☺️ And I also made my former last name my middle name. J high five!!
Not often that two entries in a grid are unknown to me, especially on a Tuesday. But YASSIFY and IDLI seem to have done the trick. Seemed like a rather minimal theme, but I liked all four of the long verticals, especially the symmetrically paired RIGHTNESS and ERUDITION. Nice Tuesday puzzle, which took me almost two minutes longer than average to complete.
Oh, my! I'm on the Internet a lot, but as a fuddy-duddy, I'd never heard of "yassify" until today! While I generally love learning a new word from The New York Times games, I'm not entirely certain that I really want to know about yassification. Sheeesh! Thanks, as always, for a fun puzzle!
Adored the puzzle, sweetie pie! 🥰 I've never encountered IDLI in the wild, so I expected some flyspecking when the happy piano surprised me.
@Matt I’ve never heard of it either. I’m not the most adventurous eater, but I usually know the names of popular good stuffs.
@Matt I meant to say last night, there is a decent amount of South Indian cuisine in and around PVD these days, if you decide to go on a hunt for IDLI in the wild. :) One I like is Kinnera, in Lincoln. And while I haven't tried them (yet), any place with Chennai in the name – like Chennai Tiffin or Chennai Express – should be explicitly South Indian cuisine. (Chennai being the capital of Tamil Nadu state.) NB: My family lives on the South Coast (MA-RI border) and my partner was born in Chennai, so I know about both!
Fine puzzle which definitely humbled me. The POMES/YASSIFY cross was my one of my big problems. The other is that I just had to try to get a P into ALFALFA, which was stupid of me. I think this is karma. I'd like to make an admission. Yesterday, late in the day, way down in a reply thread, I made the statement that not one in 10000 Americans could do a Monday NYT puzzle. Hanson called me on it, as well as someone else. I deserved to be called on it. I was being something which rhymes with lick, and something that rhymes with dastard.
@Francis Well, now I need more context. I don't know if you can link to a comment, but could you let me know who made the original comment in the thread so I can find it? So curious!
@Francis You were being a _ick, but yesterday’s puzzle had some answers that would have tested many a person (HASTYPUDDING, LEMMA, SEIS, DOASET, ANTONYM, LEGATO.) Other Mondays have had a more limited range of words. I’d say it’s 1/10, but that’s if they stay with it after the first pass.
@Francis I prefer you as a rascal rather than an icky _ick!
Hmm, agree that it feels like a Wednesday as opposed to a Tuesday. Didn’t know YASSIFY until now. That’s a generational gap. However, generationally this was all over the map with Alfalfa from little rascals, beanie babies, and summer love (60’s or Grease)? I was trying to figure out 47a. —— sare? I had the break in the wrong place. Enjoyed it otherwise
A couple of people wondered about the connection of the picture at the top of the Wordplay column to the puzzle. I believe that is a picture of Victoria Secret models, which are often portrayed as angels and if you scroll to the bottom of the column, Sam has inserted a heading, Fallen, Angel, which follows the logic of the theme answers. Nicely done, Sam
I'd say even more nicely deconstructed, Vaer! As many have noted, when Sam came on board, she was a literal game changer when it came to column-photo selection. Caitlin and Deb pick wonderful AAA (almost always apt) photos, but figuring out the aptness of a Sam photo is a game in itself.
@John Ezra Except maybe not Victoria's Secret models, if you look at the photo's credits, but along those lines.
@Vaer <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AsYmHoetXms" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AsYmHoetXms</a>
I quite enjoyed this. I understood the theme on the first themed entry, but that did not mean the other three were a gimme. I'm not familiar with Little Rascals (other than Francis's granddaughter and Jorge the Lab), so I needed a lot of crosses to deal with ALFAALFA. At least I knew that as a plant name. It has always intrigued me. Alfaalfa - isn't it a superbly weird word? I love how crazy it looks and sounds, yet is considered perfectly normal. There is something poetic about the fact 😃. You would recognize its Polish name from alfalfa's English alternative, lucerne - we call it lucerna. Another problem with ALFALFA for me were its crosses, or rather the tangle of a few unknowns around that spot. YASSIFY, RIFF (as clued today), and FIE were all unknown to me, or not obvious, anyway. In the end I dealt with them without lookups though. Being totally unfamiliar with YASSIFY is probably down to my not being on any social media and not having children. That reminds me! I recently learned SIGMA from a NYT puzzle. I actually had an opportunity to use it in my 1st year uni class full of young gen Z-ers 😃 One thing I didn't like in the puzzle was the clue for LADY. That's not a title, is it? It's just a form of address for a titled woman, a countess, say - or am I wrong? It worked as a clue, I guess - it was a gimme - but it felt inaccurate to the extent of being wrong.
BTW, the internet tells me alfalfa is cultivated in Poland, but apparently on a small scale. I can't recall ever seeing it here. My father grew up in a rural setting before moving to Warsaw. When we visited his home village, and also on our family holidays in the country, he would always teach me about crops and farming, to educate the city kid about another way of life. Lucerna never came up. Also, Poland is major producer of high quality honey. Most of the honey sold here is artisanal, made locally at small apiaries. Our varieties of honey are countless: linden, acacia (from false acacia), raspberry, goldenrod, rapeseed flower, honeydew, etc. I've never seen alfalfa honey for sale here though.
@Andrzej I had with fAlSIFY for too long. I think you'll be in good company (in addition to me) with that one! ☺️ Also, I'm really glad you enjoyed this one but somehow I think you're also going to enjoy knowing that I really didn't like it -- at all. I found the theme weirdly cringy. Can't really explain it but I just kept feeling ewwwww about each one. The only thing that amused me, and I'm otherwise feeling highly cheerful this happy day, was the dook of COME RASHY. 😏 Go figure, eh!? 🤷♀️
@Andrzej Lady is certainly a title. From wiktionary.com: An aristocratic title for a woman; the wife of a lord and/or a woman who holds the position in her own right; a title for a peeress, the wife of a peer or knight, and the daughters and daughters-in-law of certain peers.
@HeathieJ 😃 It's good to stay in touch with your feelings, and occasionally embrace the hate 🤣. I'm happy for you! So yes, I did enjoy the fact you didn't enjoy this, or rather, that you had it in you to let us know 😄 @Matt Thanks. Now I'm glad I wasn't adamant about this 🤣
@Andrzej I'm looking at some social media on a semi-regular basis, and I sometimes edit my photos (but not to distort), and I've never heard of YASSIFY as the name of a process.
@Andrzej I salute you. Doing a crossword, and a NYTimes crossword, in a language not your cradle-language, is extremely brave!
This one seemed a bit tough for a Tuesday…though I finished about 25% under my average time, there were a couple I had no idea about (YASSIFY, IDLI) and a few I had to back into since I wasn’t on the constructor’s wave length. Yet, I appreciated this once I finished (honestly surprised when I got the star and the tiny tune of triumph). About ALFALFA HONEY…this is my own little moment of synchronicity but last night I (sadly) finished a re-read of E L Doctorow’s Ragtime, which ends with an allusion to Little Rascals.
So....late to the party, but DHubby was under the weather after a rough night (unrelated, we think, to the ER visit) and so the morning rituals were left to me. Thank goodness he did feel well enough to make me a cup of coffee, and he certainly still has an appetite, even if I have reduced it to "Soft, low residue" (whilst secretly adding pepper and forbidden fruit to my own plate.) Off to the PCP at 1. Oh, the puzzle. Finally got to it...gave it a stern look at 23A, and I am sorry to learn that YASS, Queen MOL, the word in the puzzle is YASSIFY (no relation, I'm guessing.) It doesn't belong in a puzzle that also features ERUDITION, methinks. Is there an echo in here? Yesterday FAST FOOD, today BEANIE (BABY)... Nice puzzle, I reckon. Low on SKULLduggery. FANG you very much...and see you tomorrow....
@Mean Old Lady LORE only knows what kind of SKULLduggery can emerge when two (count them, 2!) MOLs are at it together, FANG you very much. So much the similar, as I was IDLI looking over grid. Hope the DHubby is in recovery phase, and permit me to add that I don't think you need any added pepper. We can discuss fruit at some future time, YASS indeed
A comment late in the day, but I thought this was an excellent puzzle, especially for a Tuesday. Not a puzzle that one could fill in by rote, which often happens early in the week. It had some zing. Finished in a minute over average and enjoyed it.
I've long thought an Rx should be called a SCRIP for short, but have almost always found the word "script" used instead.
@Dan One of my closest friends used to manage a drug store (slash pharmacy slash chemist's, depending on your country of residence - mine happens to be Canada) and she always said SCRIP.
@Dan this one surprised me! I've never seen "scrip" used in Australia in reference to a prescription, only ever script.
@Dan I am scratching my head that I've practiced medicine for 29 yrs and have yet to hear a patient or colleague say "scrip" for prescription. Or "script", for that matter. But I'm peds, so maybe it's a generational thing. I've often heard "perscription", to the point I've wondered if it would become an alternate spelling one day.
Great puzzle! I was stuck for a bit, until I realized that 42A ended with "DARLING," not "LADY" (due to the Bridgerton clue). Was a wee bit trickier than usual, but still a great puzzle nevertheless!
I am now a Stella fan. I usually miss or ignore the theme but this one leapt out at me and I filled them all in right away, allowing me to almost halve my average time.
Great Tuesday puzzle. It was fun, and just the right level of difficulty. The theme entries were clever but silly. We can always use more humour these days. Had never heard of "yassify", but the crossing words gave it to me (yass, they did). More from this constructor, please! The Mini was also a treat, with a theme (vroom!). My partner has been attending car races since the horse and buggy days (not quite), so that made it all the more fun. Minis should be a tasty little appetizer before the main puzzle entree.
I don't know what everyone is complaining about. I enjoyed this one, even though it seemed a bit later-week than Tuesday. Nevertheless, I beat my Tuesday average!
@Paul M Mostly the soccer clue, it seems.
@Paul M I didn’t beat my Tuesday average. The Monday/Tuesday divide for me is that the number of 50/50 answers (could be “a”, could be “b”) is greater on a Tuesday. Not necessarily harder, just more opportunities to go astray. I consistently guessed the wrong answer today and the timer just kept running.
I LOLd to CAME RASHY in the column. I think that's a perfectly good reason to avoid the limelight. :-D
The brouhaha about the soccer clue is understandable, but it's just nomenclature. A red CARD in soccer means ejection--"sending off," as they call it--which is, in the wider world, a serious penalty. You have to leave the pitch, you can't go back, you can't be substituted for. In any sense of the word "penalty," the player is severely penalized for their actions. The fact that the "Laws" don't categorize this as a "penalty" is irrelevant. (Yes, in soccer, the rulebook is call the Laws.) It's like saying that the US consists of 46 states, not 50. Four of the constituent members of the US--Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky--officially call themselves "commonwealths," not "states." But to say that they aren't states is disingenuous. They have state police and state universities. By any measure, they are states, even if their constitutions call them something else. And we're not the United States and Commonwealths. Soccer is notoriously an outlier with regard to terminology: they play on a pitch, not a field; they start (and often end) with a score of nil-nil, not zero or nothing; they play a match, not a game; they wear a kit, not a uniform. And its clock counts up, not down, and doesn't stop when the action does. So is it not a field? Is a match at nil-nil not a nothing-nothing game? Is a kit something other than a uniform? So why wouldn't you consider an ejection a severe penalty?
@Steve L Calling football (soccer) an outlier sounds so weird to me. Your American sports are so exotically arcane! To me they are alien outliers 🤣 But you're right about the clue. Linguistically it made sense. Football experts won't agree, but as an expert in another area, I know when I'm just being a pedant when discussing certain things. The weird CARD clue was a gimme to me, so it worked. Nothing else is needed in a crossword.
@Steve L nomenclature matters. When you are late to a party you don’t tell the others what the rules of the game are. We are in this forum solving a US puzzle and there is much forgiveness for poor spelling and bizarre baseball acronyms. But that is fine because it is your dialect and your game. Be courteous and simply accept that in the language of association football a card is not a penalty. Nobody calls it that. The NYT editorial team erred. It’s not a crime but it was an error. Thanks