Hi everyone! Constructor here. I was hesitant to comment because I don't want people to see that I'm reading these and be discouraged to comment negatively if that's how they're inclined! Anyway, as many of you know, NYT typically changes about half of a puzzle's clues, which is roughly what they did here. As always, I think most of their changes made the puzzle much better! That said, a couple of notes you may find interesting:--I didn't expressly reference "Wicked" at all in my cluing, as I wanted to (a) accommodate solvers who knew nothing of it, and (b) have the circled letters be an easter egg for whose who did. I just had the theme answers and circles in green, suggested the animation, and clued DEFYING GRAVITY as "Refusing to obey ... or what the circled letters are doing that makes the starred clues seem to not match their answers."--My clue for NOONEON was "Empty bags?". I certainly *do* know my baseball, and although the final clue was not mine, I should have caught its inaccuracy when I reviewed the NYT proof. Thanks to all of you for doing the puzzle and commenting -- I appreciate all of them, positive and negative!
@Howard N. I thought it was such a fun puzzle and a perfect Thursday challenge!
@Howard N. I second the sentiment from CS! Really fun puzzle. Thank you!
@Howard N. Congrats on the puzzle. I'm a bona fide musical hater who knows next to nothing about "Wicked" yet I enjoyed this puzzle because of how elegantly you constructed it. Kudos 😃
@Howard N. Was “dessert sandwiches” yours? Bravo, if so!
@Howard N. Thanks for a great puzzle! I knew nothing about “Wicked” (though I like musicals), but was able to solve it even though I didn’t know that embarrassingly mispronounced character’s name. Fun Thursday.
Howard, Glad you know your baseball! Pro tip: Don't rely on your own eyes to proofread your own work.
@Howard N. Lovely and understanding comment - thank you for dropping in, and thank you for a fine puzzle. Empty bags is a good, clever, and pretty hard clue. I suspect that and some of the others that got changed would have put this more on the difficulty level I was expecting. Best of luck in making additional fun puzzles for us to gobble up. :)
@Howard N. I, too, have been mispronouncing the name of that Wicked Witch since she first appeared in the puzzle. Ans I note the subtle nod to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Well played, sir.
@Howard N. Thanks for your comment, this was a great puzzle IMHO. I know the editors do change clues but they do give you a chance to proofread which is why I did hang the blame on the baseball clue on all of you—but, yeah, you just missed it, no big deal. I like your idea of not cluing the revealer directly to Wicked although ‘m not sure “Refusing to obey”’ would be clear enough, and with the letters spelling Elphaba they wanted to tie it in directly. In any case don’t let the haters get to you, I thought this was an excellent enjoyable puzzle regardless of whether you like musical theater.
@Howard N. My first thought was that having revealer clue announce that the green circles would "spell out" the name Elphaba made it a bit over-obvious. Better it had remained an Easter Egg, only mentioned in the column, if at all. That said, I don't remember the song "Defying Gravity," and wouldn't have caught the Egg. Was [Small dessert sandwich] your clue? One of the best I've seen for OREO in quite some time.
To answer the question a couple of you had, yes, "Small dessert sandwiches" was my clue. It seems to have lovers and haters!
@Howard N. Have never seen Wicked and don't plan to, but this puzzle was outstanding regardless. Well done!
@Howard N. I’m not a musical hater, but I haven’t seen wicked, and know little about it. I thought your puzzle was great.
Not every baseball inning starts with NOONEON - extra innings during the regular season now start with a runner on second base.
Marc, You beat Steve to this comment!
@Marc You beat me to it! All they had to do was leave out “every.”
@Marc Guess there were no baseball fans involved in the creating, editing or fact checking of this puzzle.
@Marc This one threw me for a moment as well because of the ghost runner rule.
@Marc perhaps neither the constructor nor the editor were aware of the rule change a couple of years ago.
@Marc Yep, kind of embarrassing, especially since all you need to do is change “every” to “most”
@Marc I’ve been loving the post season with NO ONE ON in extras. Was up until midnight watching the 18.5 inning game on Monday. Can’t imagine many of our East Coast solvers made it to the end - but major props if you did!
@Marc Ah, but that's not real baseball. Maybe at this point I should admit I think pitchers should still have to bat.
@Marc well, it’s called a ghost runner, so the real question is “Does a ghost count as someone?” 👻
@Marc The so-called "Manfred Man," in honor of its creator.
My daughter is sitting next to me as I write this. She’s seven, loves Wicked, and *she’s* the one who figured out the revealer! She thought the gravity-defying letters were really fun and was able to read them all on her own… both as written *and* with the “floating” letter. She also loves 80s fashion, and sometimes when she’s getting ready for school, I have to holler “22-Across!” at her from the kitchen (parsed a bit differently). Not joking 😂 Great puzzle!
@Striker You get the star for the funniest post today. I don’t even have to read any more to be sure.
@Striker Wow, great post, and I thought Wicked was something from the past. Glad to be wrong. Sounds like your daughter might just have the xword knack.
If I went to a lecture I knew might be puzzling, but the flyer promised dessert sandwiches, and the "sandwiches" turned out to be a plate of OREOS, I'd start looking for the trickster on the Shortz list.
@dutchiris - Once again, crosswords don't always use strict definitions. They do use puns and misdirects. Oreos have a top, a bottom, and a filling. Voilà!
@dutchiris Yes, that would be disappointing, "dessert sandwiches" brings all kinds of treats to mind, but not Oreos!
Oh, Howard, I can't get my husband to pronounce Elphaba correctly either. He also puts the stress on the second syllable, and it drives me nuts. Did you know the name comes from the initials of L. Frank Baum? Fun puzzle, although I found it pretty easy for a Thursday. Figured out the trick early on, and it helped. The Wicked theme tickled me. Can't wait for the second part of the movie on 11/20! I've seen the show on stage twice and the first half of the movie twice as well. The second half is going to make me cry, for sure. BTW, what's with all the Oreo hate? I'm not ashamed to tell you I bought orange Halloween ones for my little brother's birthday party last weekend, and they were a big hit. Look, I can savor a Michelin star meal and also scarf down a package of Oreos. The two are not mutually exclusive.
@Beth in Greenbelt I can't get my head around how one is supposed to pronounce that name. Elle-PHUH-buh is the only way that comes to mind 🤷🏽
@Beth in Greenbelt So... I figured "who's to say how it's pronounced when it first appeared in written form only". So then I dug up an interview with the author. <a href="https://www.wgbh.org/culture/books/2024-04-10/wicked-author-gregory-maguire-goes-behind-the-curtain-on-elphabas-origin-story" target="_blank">https://www.wgbh.org/culture/books/2024-04-10/wicked-author-gregory-maguire-goes-behind-the-curtain-on-elphabas-origin-story</a> He says that his parents were strict, that a yearly viewing of Oz was a rare privilege and a formative event for him, and that he was devoted to the movie. And yet... here's his comment about Dorothy's dog: "Tata or Titi or Tata, whatever it's called." (15:05) Say what??
How many of you had EMU before ELK and thought, huh, never knew THAT about emus, I'm gonna have to check that out! Don't know anything about Wicked but found this to be a worthy Thursday puzzle. Between Disney princesses and Wicked I'm pretty sure Howard and I enjoy different things. But you know what they say about taste... (that I don't have any!) I'm unfriending "ISH" -- Ish has been showing up way too often.
@john ezra Before ELK, I tried [that other word for a donkey that the emus won’t let me type in] and ‘gnu,’ and then, finally, ding ding ding! ‘emu.’ Then I just threw up my arms—two limbs which have never done any farm work, been on a safari or, clearly, paid any attention in Yellowstone—and waited for the crosses. “Between Disney princesses and Wicked I'm pretty sure Howard and I enjoy different things.” Yes, also that.
@john ezra Would you be happier with ISH if it was clued as "____ Kabibble"? You can file this under "Flotsam and Jetsam, Cultural".
Call me "a sentimental man," but I loved thinking about one of my favorite musicals while solving this puzzle and its fun rebus! No "loathing" from me - it's just "popular"!
I’m reading a book about defying gravity. I can’t put it down. A most enjoyable solve, even if I am a little sick-ed of wicked. Very cool construction and graphics. Well done, Howard.
@Anita Ahhhh... I just got it! Funny punny!
TIL: I too have been mispronouncing Elphaba. Some people want to use τ instead of π in formulas. What! Don’t be messing with my Greek Elphabet.
Ha! I was able to do the puzzle unaided even though it was musical-themed. I have learned the particularly weird name ELPHABA in a previous puzzle - back then I found it a stumper but today remembering it actually helped me in filling a few squares, and correcting llano to PAMPA. Of course I did not know the song, but I did have a few crosses there, so once I realized what was going on with the themed entries, I was able to come up with the title. There were quite a few unknowns for me in the grid, but I dealt with them without googling. For example, I had no idea Washington and the other guys were SOUTHERNERs. I know a bit about American history and it's actors, but obviously much less than Americans do. It also took me a long time to parse NOONEON. For a moment I wondered if noon neon was a thing 🤣. But then I saw it. NO ONE ON! I thought the grid was well constructed. The themed entries not being gibberish is always appreciated. And the placement of the themed circles was quite elegant. I usually don't care about post-solve animations, but today's I found kinda cool. So yeah, I enjoyed the solve. Of a musical-themed puzzle! Ye gods! Who knew such horrible materiał could make for a nice grid 🤣 @HeathieJ I just saw your reply from last night. Thank you for the hug. I actually am a hugger 😃
Curse you, Google autocorrect! One of the mistakes it keeps making is changing "its" to "it's". I usually spot the error and correct it manually, but sometimes I miss it and I end up looking like I can't spell English properly... All those trillions of Google dollars bested by an apostrophe or lack thereof...
Thank you, Google autocorrect, for changing "its" to "it's" and making me look like I can't spell English...
@Andrzej Oh the humanity! As I was solving I thought: OMG Andrzej is really NOT gonna like this one. Then I came here to find, of all things, your positive note describing a successful solve with no look ups. “When pigs fly” is a silly phrase used to indicate something very unlikely to happen. Perfect for your review and today ‘s theme DEFYING GRAVITY. I hope I’m not sending the wrong message. I’m a fan of your posts, especially those regarding Lucyfer and life in Poland (and its history). Comments about our shared solving experiences and whether or not a puzzle is published on the “right” day are great, but I’m really drawn to the more interesting, personal commentary, knowledge and humor shared by many here. Speaking of which…What happened to Francis in Grand Marais? I miss him.
@Andrzej There's no particular set of "musical theaters" here as far as I know. Broadway houses sometimes feature musicals and sometimes run straight plays. I am not a fan of musicals but have seen a bunch, sometimes against my will. "Six" was surprisingly fun. The "it's" thing is so irritating - more so on the rare occasion when it DOESN'T mangle your intent, requiring a triple take instead of the usual double take. 'Tis a puzzlement. (From The King and I)
Ding, ding, ding: a TOAST to mirror symmetry.
What the.... AROAR is accepted in the Crossword, but not in the Spelling Bee????????
@007 I have puzzled over this lack for years.
@007 from an interview with the Beekeeper: "The most common complaints tend to be around words that people recognize from doing crosswords over and over again, that I don’t like to add in the Spelling Bee because I believe it’s a different experience." Here's a link: <a href="https://digital.uvamagazine.org/articles/bee-keeper" target="_blank">https://digital.uvamagazine.org/articles/bee-keeper</a>/
@007 Different game, different editor. Why would you want different puzzles to have the same words? What would be the point?
Glad I was able to solve this puzzle without having to sit through Wicked.
Solving this without any prior knowledge of wicked is, nor the song or for that matter the singer was quite hard. But it was done. Mini brag 😀
I don’t know much about Wicked and don’t really care to, but knowing that Witches fly on broomsticks was enough to tease out the theme. People should remember that these are crossword puzzles, not crossword trivia contests. One of the best parts is figuring out the answer when you don’t know the trivia. My other favorite part is figuring out the “trick” on Thursdays, so this was a winner for me.
@Joe Just realized I should have said “this was a *treat* for me.” Can’t believe I squandered that opportunity.
So many Wicked haters in the comments! I for one thought the puzzle was delightful and fitting to feature a witch the day before Halloween. And if you are a musical hater, just know that many people actually love them, or at least are familiar with the ones that are the top grossing film of a Broadway musical (not exactly niche!) and there's room for all kinds in this world of crossword puzzles.
@CS I love all the musicals. I love "Wicked". Recently, we saw "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and that was great. I love the Star Trek "Strange New Worlds" episode 'Subspace Rhapsody", and have played its soundtrack many, many times. (I won't list all my favorites, well maybe one more, "Little Shop of Horrors", also Halloween appropriate.) This puzzle was great fun, despite my needing six cheats. I was confused, I was wanting the letters to spell out Cynthia Erivo, and then realized, it's her character, Elphaba! The floating letters are cool.
@CS Weird comment. Were you somehow under the impression that people who don't like musicals aren't even aware that others love them? Huh? This is not news to anyone. :)
@CS Speaking of haters, both Dave Barry and John Oliver think Cats aren’t real pets. And both Cats and Dogs are very popular. I think more people have Dogs but those who have Cats have more Cats than the Dog people have Dogs. Not good in hoarding situations, of course!
Really punishing puzzle for anyone who doesn't know Wicked songs. I figured out the letter rearrangement theme but pretty much the entire bottom half was Naticky for me. Lots of trivia proper names and a lot of short phrases crossing them which felt like reaches.
I got through this without knowing anything about Wicked. I was helped by figuring out the green circle gimmick pretty quickly. I thought stacking ARRESTS above ARRAIGNS was a sly touch. Not the trickiest Thursday ever, but fun.
Well I love me a good musical theme, even if it does mean filling in the revealer without a second thought. Fun and well-executed, even if no one involved knows the new rules of baseball, which wouldn’t bother me so much except we will be seeing a third of the comments going forward about it (ok I guess I’m just as guilty). But a lot of interesting non-theme clues. Here’s a very very weird coincidence. I am in the middle of solving an archived Sunday puzzle from August 2016 (literally, today) called “The First Shall Be Last”. As I was solving this I was spacing a bit and thought that that was still the title of this puzzle. So when I saw the first theme clue I immediately said, “Oh I probably have to move the first letter to the bottom to fit the clue.” And of course it worked! How bizarre is that? I imagine it would have been harder without that unintended hint. Last question—anyone have MOSSY before BOSSY? It always (mostly?) grows on the north side so it has a great sense of direction, and it would have been a perfect addition to the green theme.
@SP that is a weird coincidence
@SP I've said this before. Here it is again: The laws of synchronicity and karma act in mysterious ways.
@SP Question - can coincidence *not* feel weird?
@SP Well okay, but we just don't notice all the thousands of times such coincidences do NOT happen. It's fun to experience but really just a psychic "cold reading" effect (ignore the misses and marvel at the hits) writ large. I think. :)
It's interesting to me how many respondents are pooh-poohing the Wicked theme as if the film / Broadway show / book are not worth remembering. It was the top grossing musical film adaptation in history, and the Broadway show was the second-highest grossing in history. Surely it is a significant cultural phenomenon even if musicals aren't your thing. I personally don't like super-hero movies but I do know the basic idea of The Avengers even though I have seen none of the films. If a puzzle theme isn't part of your particular area of interest, why not take it as a challenge and maybe learn something new?
@Dave Munger Why would I want to learn about something I'm not interested in, at all? Something I don't like, in fact - like musicals? Imagine the thing you are really, and I mean *really* averse to, and not without reasons personally perfectly sound to you - would you enjoy learning about it?
@Dave Munger My dislike of musicals far outweighs my desire to learn about them so that I can do crosswords. I just prefer other types of music.
@Dave Munger “Surely it is a significant cultural phenomenon even if musicals aren't your thing.” Ok, so how would you feel if the theme for next Thursday’s puzzle was centered around the UFC, NASCAR, Keeping up with the Kardashians, or the Grand Theft Auto video game series?
The way I groaned when I discovered SOFTC for Left of Center... Ugh. Not a fun crossword for many reasons. On to the next...
Not every inning in a ballgame starts with "no one on". Please keep up to date on Major League Baseball's attempts to appeal to the nations shrinking attention span. Every inning after the 9th now starts with a baserunner on second base. This ensures the game won't go too long. Though I am a lifelong baseball fan that is sick of MLB's attempts to make the game more accessible to a TikTok society, I feel its important that the NYT crossword at least stays up to date on the latest dumb rules. Please don't get me started on how MLB implements rule changes to kowtow to the sports gaming industry. Thank you
@Pete Hayes oh i agree ~ the pitch clock, and putting runners on 2nd after the 9th is just weenie! one of the great joys of baseball was the pace of it sad
@Pete Hayes The recent changes implemented in MLB are just sad. Rob Manfred is the absolute worst commissioner in the history of baseball and it ain't even close. They are destroying the game
@Pete Hayes "Every inning after the 9th now starts with a baserunner on second base." SRSLY? Who thought that was a good idea? I think I stopped watching the game after the strike of 1994, but every time I hear of one of these new rules, I find no reason to come back.
So,...Have never, likely Will never, seen/heard/cared about "Wicked"....so SUE me. Reading from Left to Right gets me EPAALBH, and Yes, my first try I had AAPEBLH because of the right/left business. Neither was enlightening. If I needed reinforcements, I'd RECRUIT. (Is RESTAFF a word?)' LLANO before PAMPA. Amazed by the starred Downs, which worked in an amazing, tricky way. Really nice puzzle....just...well, very puzzling!!
@Mean Old Lady Hand up for llano
Nice to see DASHI. Okay to see OKRA. Didn't need the OREOS. 53 Downs? We don't need 'em. To me, this was a very Wednesday Thursday.
@Barry Ancona enough with Oreos already. How many different ways have such been clued??cute cluing cannot rescue this lazy fill. Do better.
@Robco Right, because every constructor starts out with OREO/S as one of their seed entries. Please feel free to submit your alternate cluing and fill for that corner of the puzzle.
Every inning DOES NOT begin with "no one on" because, in the case of extra innings to break a tie, the extra inning begins with a runner on second base.
@CK from MN Wow. And you're the first one to notice it today, too.
@CK from MN But you can still be the first person to point out the correct meaning of "safety school"! ;)
@CK from MN I came here to say the same thing!
I just love Akron appearing in a puzzle! Even if it's not the primary answer. 😜
@Zed You and me both, Zed. Greetings to my home town!
@Zed I spent Monday morning in the CVNP (hiked the Ledges trail, if you know where that is). I miss that part of the world, at times.
For an easy opening step, regardless of the day you're playing, do what I do: find OREO first. It's as regular as OKRA and SSN, although today the latter was in the clue, not the answer. Now, some days OREO is also hiding in the clue, which brings us to HYDROX , a fill provider when an X is needed. That's just the way the cookie crumbles.
Very cool workout. Or as we say in New England, wicked good!
@MB Growing up in Worcester, we said “wicked pissah”.
22 across in today’s puzzle is not exactly correct. Extra innings, such as the 10th, start with a ghost runner (except in the playoffs).
@John Ranta - I was coming to make this exact comment. Glad there are other baseball fans out there.
22A is technically incorrect for most extra innings now.
@Selective Walrus - You Canadians wish WS OTs started with a man on base, I'm sure.
@Selective Walrus Yes, this clue IRKED me just a bit for being technically incorrect. But it’s baseball, being annoyed about small, incorrect details is part of the game.
I was definitely on the same wavelength as Howard for this one. We saw lots of ORCAS in Vancouver, CANADA and Lake TAHOE is one of the prettiest places in California. I thought the clue for TOAST was clever having just attended my nephew’s wedding this past weekend. My daughter and I are anxiously awaiting the second half of Wicked to be released. I saw Wicked on Broadway with Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth which was phenomenal. The pipes on both of them…SHUE! Crazy talented. The movie with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande didn’t disappoint either. Still catching up on missed sleep between crazy wedding week and insane 18 inning baseball game. My EYEs are SORE 😵💫😴
@Jacqui J also, I have overlays turned on, so I see green squares, but there is no animation in the NYT Games app. I do see the animation in the regular NYT app though.
@Jacqui J Don't know if this is your issue today, but some have said that having the NYT app loaded can interfere with the Games app.
@Jacqui J - I have the animation in my NYT Games app.
@Jacqui J I didn’t see the animation, either. I deleted the Games app and downloaded it again. No difference.
This one just annoyed me. It's not the constructor's fault; I can tell it's well-constructed. It's the fault of whoever decided to flood every store in the country with Wicked-themed merchandise: clothes and toys and drinks and nail polish and cookies and about a billion other objects. I hope to see more from Howard Neuthaler, hopefully with themes that make me less grumpy. (Note: I am easily annoyed.) And I always love seeing cute animations when I finish the puzzle--thanks to the tech whizzes who make that possible! I'm gonna go eat some OREOS and see if that cheers me up.
Is it just me but does this feel like a Saturday level puzzle? Maybe it's because I have not seen wicked, but many of these hints felt more like a stretch, especially the bottom part of the puzzle, one to mention would be Words after "ding, ding, ding" TOAST seems to be too much of a stretch for a Thursday puzzle.
Aubrey, It seems to be an average Thursday for many solvers. <a href="https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2025-10-30" target="_blank">https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2025-10-30</a>
@Aubrey I'm a big Wicked fan and still ended up solving it right about my average time for a Thursday. Loved the puzzle!
@Aubrey Not at all. Seemed closer to a Tuesday or Wednesday despite (or because of) all the bling.
@Aubrey I agree, "TOAST" felt like a pretty big stretch for the clue.
Well call me a musical theatre nerd or whatever you want but the close to the start thrill of finding Elphaba defying gravity made my day.
Ok no that was brilliant. Through and through. EARTH/HEART is your home! Come on!! Even though it is shilling for an upcoming movie, I give it very high marks. 😍
The Times really really wants me to see Wicked I guess. This theme seems to come up far more often than I would have otherwise expected. Glad I remembered Elphaba from the last time. Clever puzzle; enjoyable for a Thursday.
fun fun fun!!! what a great puzzle, so clever, so satisfying! happy thursday, everyone!
when the entire revealer and hints require trivia knowledge, the puzzle really loses its sizzle. not to mention a quadruple natick of CAIRO / GRAVITY / ASTOR / STYNE. an absolute slog of a puzzle.
Charles, If you've never heard of the song, DEFYING GRAVITY can be inferred from the answers to the starred clues. DEFYING GRAVITY is a common phrase, so words crossing GRAVITY cannot produce Naticks. Sorry it was a slog for you.
I didn't know the song. However, just as Barry says, I inferred the title from what was going on with the themed entries. Having a few crosses in the title helped. It really wasn't that hard.
I haven't seen Wicked and don't know the songs, but got the theme as soon as I hit 2D. I don't ever remember getting a theme this quickly. But the obvious answer had to fit into E_H_S, which is what I had from my first pass through the acrosses. Was delighted to see that each of the themers spelled a real word in both original and transformed states, and doubly delighted to see that 45D related to its clue in both forms. This was so much fun that I took time on a busy Thursday to read the column and listen to the song, which was phenomenal.
This is a fabulous puzzle all around, and even if I were not familiar with Wicked, I could have completed it and would've enjoyed it just as much. I'm surprised by some of the grousing; being unfamiliar with the theme/topic of a puzzle, or even actively disliking the subject, has never been a dealbreaker for me. The challenge is in the completion, and an unfamiliar theme makes the solve all the more satisfying. I loved the animation at the end.
It took me WWAAYY too long to figure out the trick of the starred clues. Even though I got the revealer right away. 🤦🏻♀️ Once I got that figured out things were smooth and simple. Except for the southwest corner, which gave me a fit. Longer than average for my Thursdays. But still so much fun! Thanks, Howard! And thanks Deb for BOSSY! That held be up. I love Wordplay! I hope y’all have an awesome Thursday!
I really loved this puzzle. But my animation isn’t working?
@Elizabeth L Not sure if this will fix it, but do you have Show Overlays turned on in your settings?
@Elizabeth L Second try Turn on Show Overlays in the settings.
@Elizabeth it’s only working in the NYT app, but not the Games app for me either 🤷🏼♀️
Clever puzzle, and well executed! I do feel that the revealer held our hand a little too much: naming the Broadway play, telling us up front what the green letters spelled out. Still, I want to imagine puzzles that are so up front about their tricks will get more people excited about Thursdays. They’re fun!
@Stephen P.S., I’ve done quite a bit of math in my life, and had never (consciously) seen tau used to represent 2pi before. Tau is already used for a different rotational concept: torque! I respect the move towards simpler notation, and agree that if we had a time machine, we could simplified a ton of equations (from geometry to particle physics and signal processing) had we made 2pi the constant instead. But there’s no going back. Pi is here to stay.
@Stephen I welcomed all the help the grid design offered. All I know about musicals (which is preciously little) I learned unwittingly from previous NYT puzzles. I would have struggled today had it not been for all the features and hints.
@Stephen It was a big clue, but didn’t stop me filling in ELPHABA across and down at first, making my solve tricker than it needed to be!
@Stephen I can confirm being up front was helpful for new people - this is the first Thursday I've ever successfully solved :)
Such a fun puzzle..... And I felt "wicked smaht" when I finished it!
If anyone ever gave me OREOS for dessert, I think I would cry. I was thinking of petit fours or rainbow cookies, even mini whoopie pies, but OREOS? Despite my severe allergy to musicals, it was the OREOS caused a reaction.
@Nancy J. I cringe a little every time OREO is clued as a “treat.” My husband frequently characterizes foods as “not worth the calories.” Oreos are Exhibit A.
@Nancy J. Totally with you. They are, at best, a snack. At worst, a crossword clue.
@Eric Hougland. We use them as bait for live-trapping rodents. Best use for them.
I learned something new today! Who knew that okra had a different name outside the US. Here I was tearing my hair out trying to figure out what else you would call Ladyfingers, the type of long skinny cookie.
@Cathy Pastry chef here: you could call them "Savoiardi" (It.) or "Cuillères" (Fr.). Wikipedia* informs me that they are also called "Naples biscuits," which I have never heard, even though Naples is no where near Savoy. The batter for them is termed "biscuit [à la] cuillère," and contains eggs, sugar flour, and little else--certainly no leavening or fat. Try gluing two of them together with a little ganache--now *that* would be a "small dessert sandwich"! <a href="https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Lady_Finger_Cookies_(Savoiardi" target="_blank">https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Lady_Finger_Cookies_(Savoiardi</a>)
@Cathy I have heard the term lady's fingers but they are normally called okra in supermarkets around here. I first had them in Indian meals, so I still tend to think of them as bhindi!
@Cathy Hand up for the cookie! And if I had fingers that looked like OKRA, I'd just end it all. Yikes! Ridiculous....why not just call it by its name?
@Cathy Right? I was stuck on tiramisu, the basis of which is coffee-soaked ladyfingers...and OKRA is yucky.
@Mean Old Lady I guess Elphaba's green fingers look like OKRA.
@MOL If you're interested in seeing the puzzle in action and with the colors, you can check it out on xwordinfo.com.
Before I figured this out, I had “slave owner” in 3-down for a bit. Didn’t know what to make of that, since it would’ve been correct but also, I think, a provocation to some.
@Chris I had this as well. In all fairness, to the men in question the two may as well have been synonymous--at least among their own social class.
This was the first time ever that I filled all the shaded and theme squares first. As a gay man living near the Theater District, it's possible I've seen Wicked (Broadway and movie) a few times.