Before I read the comments, I'm assuming everyone is going to say how easy this was, but I'm not gonna let it get me down today. I'm so happy that I got a gold for the first time on a Saturday. :) I solved the Saturday 11/8/2025 New York Times Daily Crossword in 44:34!
@Andrzej Thanks, I appreciate it. :) Unfortunately I went and read the comments. Now I'm just embarrassed and can't delete my comment. :(
@Peter Don't forget to calibrate. "Easy for a Saturday" in no way means easy. First gold-star Saturday is huge!
@Peter Congratulations. This is precisely why I get prickly when I see posts about over-easiness. Every Friday and Saturday there is at least one person just over the moon because they got their first gold star for the day of the week. I don't like to rain on people's parades (well, not most people's parades anyway). Parades on the moon. I'm mixing metaphors. Anyway, you can't help what they served up. It was a Saturday, and you knocked it out of the park. End of story. Please don't feel embarrassed. Everyone here had their first Friday, their first Saturday. And everyone here has a right to be proud of their first Friday or Saturday.
@Peter Congratulations and good on you!!! The comments are always a mixed bag like this... Also, a lot of times the earlier solvers are faster, I think. You did it!!!! ⭐
@Peter Congratulations on your milestone and thank you for sharing your good news with us. I finished in just under your time and that was using the Autocheck feature because I don't have so much time to spend on it today. And I've been doing the puzzle for many, many years. You have every right to be proud!
@Andrzej most negative person? Oh, if you could SEE the comments I never post.....
@Peter Congrats, and do yourself a favor. Don’t EVER fret over how long it takes to solve any puzzle. Let it be a pleasure to savor. Do you enjoy ice cream more if you eat it faster?
@Peter Peter. You did great! Again!! 🙌 If I have one piece of advice for you (or two), it's to trust your gut! And to not be so hard on yourself. I got back to our conversation on yesterday's puzzle very late last night. You had done so very well on a REALLY tough grid!! And then you said "So technically solved, but thanks to several guesses." That, my friend, is being too hard on yourself. Those "guesses" are in fact you working the crosses. And going with your gut. :) Yesterday's thread: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4blvth?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4blvth?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a>
@Peter At some point, everyone here had their first gold star Saturday and it was a big deal for them. Crossword solving is a skill and you just hit a big milestone. Congrats and keep on solving!
@Peter Congratulations, Peter! I'm going to join the other 100 recommendations to your post with my own "huzzah"!
I don't know any puns about a piñata, but I can take a swing at it. (Well, that's just fine and candy.)
@Mike Don't leave us hanging. How did it all fall out?
@Mike At least you had a bash.
@Mike Glad you brought that up; we'll take on the subject and bat it around a bit, maybe catch a break.
@Mike what’s a piñata’s favorite kind of music? Anything with a good beat!
@Mike Some days you post, and some days you don't. It's either fiesta famine.
@Mike Life itself is like a pinata: hit or miss and lots of blind alleys.
It seems a lot of people whizzed through this puzzle. I was not one of them... However (fanfare...) I did get a baseball answer right. at last! 😃
@Puzzled Brit 🎉🎉 fanfare indeed. Celebrate 🎊🙌🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I was going to call the MANSAMU_A/NA_A crossing a Natick, especially since I'm usually quite knowledgeable on Greek mythology. I started to brute force it, but I got to S, it was just egg on my face.
@Steven M. For veterans of the Civilization series of computer games this was a gimme. Fun fact: The clue references his pilgrimage to Mecca when his spending while stopping in Egypt caused chaos in the local economy.
@Steven M. That’s what I thought before I realized that 53D wasn’t about Greek mythology at all! But because NASA is not a proper noun, this wasn’t really a Natick. A misdirect Natick! Brilliant. Of course I realize this is all nitpicking about the definition of a Natick. But as someone who grew up next door in Wellesley, MA, I am always on the lookout for Naticks. I smiled when I realized it wasn’t actually one :)
@Steven M. I felt the same way -- and I have a good friend who is working on the Artemis project!
Wow! Great puzzle. And three days in a row that I destroyed my average, today by more than 15 minutes! It's not often that the stars align to offer me three puzzles so completely on my wavelength. I also did this today: Wordle 1,603 1/6* 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 All the more random because I don't use the same starter word daily. I think I should go buy some Powerball tickets!
@Susan E The world is your oyster.
@Susan E congratulations on the Wordle in 1 🎉👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
@Susan E Congrats on today’s Wordle. I was very excited to get it in 2 but it’s never happened in 1. I think I would remember. 😊
@Susan E I got Wordle in 2 today! Completely by accident.
@Susan E This is hilarious because today - for the first time since the beginning of Wordle - I did not use the answer as the opening word. No joke! 😂 I posted about it here but it's near the top of newest posts.
Fairly fast Friday for me. A few interesting clues, but none challenging. My first thoughts for answers were all correct, and the little "obscure trivia" was gently crossed. There should be lots of happy newer solvers today. Veterans will be seeking a Saturday or two in the archive.
@Barry Ancona You may be surprised to hear me say that I agree with you on this one. Thanks for wishing me well yesterday. That was classy.
@Barry Ancona I'm jealous of people that get the day wrong. I see it as the epitome of relaxation. Well done.
Whenever possible, I try to linger a bit and look over the grid upon completion, because sweet serendipities often pop out, capping off the solve with loveliness, like dessert. Today, for instance: • Contradictory cross of SHORT STOP and STAY. • USA beginning one answer (USARMY) and ending its cross (MANSAMUSA). • GARDEN PATH, which has both a beautiful and ugly connotation. • Lower-case places – DIKE, GARDEN, CANAL, PLOT – balanced by upper-case places IOWA, OAHU, RENO, DHAKA. • PuzzPair© of I SAID (as in “I Am… I Said”) and nearby NEIL (as in Diamond). So, not only a bouncy brain-pleasing solve with answers that pinged thoughts, images, and memories, but also a sweet finish of lovely finds. In other words, a splendid outing. Thank you, Ryan!
@Lewis I had USAR. .. Y and couldn't see it for ages. I haven't actually seen a GI Joe.
@Lewis I like making up clues--either cryptic or regular, just to see what could have been. For GARDEN PATH, I thought "This stroll leads to roses or ruses." Not sure if that counts as cryptic or just tricky.
For once my years of watching sports pays off. I'm still physically recovering from the Wicked puzzle last week. Happy Saturday to all! I must also take a moment to "cheers!" all of the wonderful posters in this forum. The Spelling Bee forum is like being swatted with a ruler by the nun teaching me in 2nd grade, where this forum is like an institution of higher learning where thoughts are embraced. Time for mimosas!
@joepb Interesting, and thanks. I've never gone to the Bee forum, even though I do the puzzle. I just don't see any point. The game is extremely cut and dried. You either find words on the list or you don't. Debating "missing" words seems silly, and I can't imagine what else people would have to say about a Bee puzzle (let alone find something to swat others about).... /used to try to go for Queen but rarely have the time now
Disappointing offering for a Saturday. Seemed very straightforward, with a lot of dull fill and clunky (or much too direct) cluing ("Roquefort, e.g."). Hard to enjoy stuff like ISAID, IHEARIT ("You're not just imagining that tone"), IHADNOIDEA, RARESTAMP. "Shortening for a city that omits 'onto'" for TOR. C'mon. A rare day when I felt the editorial team dropped the ball.
@Xword Junkie I still don't get IHEARIT.
@Xword Junkie I agree completely, and THIS IS FINE.
Despite a plethora of general knowledge (trivia if you will) this one came together very quickly for me. I’m sure some will curse it, and I sympathize, but it just happened to be in my wheelhouse. GIANTSTEPS was a gimme. Although it’s viewed as seminal album in the development of Coltrane’s career, it’s not one of my favorite of his albums. I prefer his Africa Brass Sessions and A Love Supreme. For those who don’t like the experimental Coltrane his Ballads album and his collaboration with Johnny Hartman are sublime mainstream jazz. UPDIKE was also a gimme. His Gertrude And Claudius, a retelling of Hamlet from the perspective of his uncle and mother, is quite clever.
@Marshall Walthew I loved "Gertrude and Claudius". A fine example of a modern master writer connecting with the work of a past master writer. I thought "Gertrude and Claudius" was adulterrific. I'm a huge Updike fan. His sentences are so elegant that he makes me think I can write, until I try to match him. The "Rabbit" series is a astonishing panorama of the America that he and I grew up in. BTW, thanks for the nice note yesterday about my illness. I'm going to thank everyone at some point, if I live through this, but I really appreciate your simple elegance. And this was a golden opportunity to do so. I never use heart emojis except in jest, but I was tempted.
@Marshall Walthew Thanks for the Coltrane plug. I need a easy mellow day, and cuing up hours of Coltrane is perfect.
@Marshall Walthew I'm still puzzled by the widely varying ideas about trivia. Trivia is frivolous, useless knowledge, like what cartoon character is on a cereal box or who co-starred in some '50s TV show. I think the puzzle *should* be made up of general knowledge, i.e. things worth knowing, like literature or capital cities or historical figures. Or even cephalopods! I'm not familiar with John Coltrane's albums but I was happy to see him in the puzzle. And I learned about Mansa Musa. He sounds not at all trivial!
@Marshall Walthew -- With you on "A Love Supreme". Filled with passion, and it feels like there's not a wrong note in there. Sublime jazz.
@Marshall Walthew I hate to try and rate Coltrane (or Miles for that matter) in any way shape or form. The tune "Giant Steps" is seminal as it blew the traditional jazz song form out of the doldrums into a new era. It rebuilt the form away from I-IV's and ii-V-I's (although they are still there). So I would prefer to say that what made Coltrane amazing was his completeness -- we have the re-imagining of song forms (Giant Steps, My Favorite Things), the mastery of the classics (Johnny Hartman and "Ballads") to the more sublime and spiritual ("Love Supreme etc). It's all beyond words!
"Shortening for a city that omits 'onto'" is an utterly horrendous clue. How about "state that starts with IOW" for IOWA? What happened to Saturdays not being clued and filled identically to Tuesdays? I know the answer is "we get more money this way", but come on
@aThat seems harsh. Maybe not the best clue of the week, but it works. btw, a Saturday pb!
@a Maybe some credit for not using [Leafs on the scoreboard].
Some here mentioned that piñata made them think about their childhood parties. It made me think of my childhood parties, as well. My dad, who was very manually adept, would make beautiful piñatas for my and my sister’s birthday parties. He put time and effort into them, while knowing they would be smashed to smithereens within days of making them. He was a quiet man who didn’t share a lot. I think those piñatas were one of the ways he showed us how much he loved us.
@Karen 😀 The magic of crosswords. And yes, that was exactly what he was showing you.
I didn't know MANSA MUSA and wondered who the mythological person NA_A might be. Testing different letters in my head gave a few that sounded possible. When I got to NASA, it was a big "doh!" moment. Otherwise, smooth sailing. THIS IS FINE is perfect in these dumpster fire times.
@Nancy J. 😀 Same with me. I was squarely looking for something from mythology.
First time poster, but felt I had to share my joy of a 365 day streak! And to finish on a Saturday- with no lookups! Thanks to the Wordplay team- Caitlin, Deb and Sam- your enthusiasm and humor have provided the foundations to keep me plugging on. And a shout out to Will Shortz- as I think back, listening to the puzzle master on NPR, and being exposed to KenKen might have been the spark that got my puzzle juices flowing, (4-5 yrs ago)and allowed me to start trying those early week XWords.. then to boldly go to the Thursday trickery- rebuses & tongue twisters 🌪️. And thanks to the lively commenters in this forum- I thought Capt. Q and CLM would appreciate another voice from DownEast. On to the next leg of the journey! Nothing better than Sunday AM latte and croissant and the NYT Sunday puzz. Amiright? Cheers!
@CatsPaws Congrats on a one year streak
@CatsPaws Congrats!! A fine accomplishment! Thanks for sharing! ☺️
@CatsPaws Congratulations!!! And as @SP said, don't be a stranger! I certainly haven't let a lack of yet having a 365-day streak inhibit my blabbing on and on here. 😂 P.S. Perfect use of amirite! Cheers!
@CatsPaws My heartiest congratulations. Chime in any time. I think our northeasternest state is slightly underrepresented.
@CatsPaws Congratulations! And please stick around here. Don't be a stranger. ....
@CatsPaws - Welcome CatsPaws! Congratualtions on your streak. the KenKen is still available in print, and also in the replica edition you can access via PressReader. What part of Maine? A ways north of Bangaw, here.
MANSAMUSAn kind of character. IHADNOIDEA that the lack of THRIFT by one BRO making SHORTSTOPS in a country, dropping a LOTTO gold throughout his STAY, could wreck an economy, but it TSO, because it all ADDSUP. Thank you, Ryan, IOWA lot to your puzzle.
In answer to the question OKAY?, my two-year-old nephew almost always said nOKAY. Impressive early command of the concept of language. They learn incredibly fast, and I thought that one was very cool.
Best thing about this smooth solve is the reminder to dig out those Coltrane LPs.
I feel like I need to apologize to my late father for not realizing that "Red State?" was a baseball, not a political, reference. (I had a major 🤦♀️ moment when I got it.) He grew up in Ohio, and he passed both his love of baseball and his Reds fandom on to me. (While I am still a huge baseball fan, I was wooed away from the Reds by the family I married into.)
@Jennifer 😀 I'm guessing your father was around for the Big Red Machine? Completely mowed down my Pittsburg Pirates year after year. Never completely got over that. Even though I've never been to Pittsburg.
@Jennifer Thank you. As a non-US solver, I was perplexed as to how [Red State?] Led to just the name of a state.
@Jennifer I’m from OH and had no idea 😂 Silly trite sportsball
@Jennifer I could not figure out what the question mark at the end of the clue was about. Ohio is reliably Republican in presidential years so could be clued without it. Your comment helped me understand what the cluer was thinking!
@Jennifer Ah! So that’s what it was! Was confused by the “?” Since I think of Ohio as a Red State politically.
@Jennifer Ah, thank you. I didn't understand that one until reading your comment 🤦🏼♀️
@Jennifer I thought the answer was meant to be parsed as “Oh, I owe”.
@Jennifer Are you familiar with Angell's beautiful article about the 1975 WS between the Reds and the Bosox? I posted earlier. Here's the link to his reportage again: <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1975/11/17/agincourt-and-after" target="_blank">https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1975/11/17/agincourt-and-after</a>
This is one of the most straightforwardly clued Saturday puzzles I can recall, which made it a fairly quick solve. But today I learned about Mansa Musa and what the capital of Bangladesh are.
@Vaer My gimmes were your lessons. Surely my enigmas were obvious answers to you. I just love how different we all are and how these puzzles often allow us all to use who we are to succeed 😃.
@Andrzej Probably. I started to write an explanation of SHORTSTOP, but stopped because I figured there would be a lot of them and there were.
@Vaer Yeah, the difficulty was like a Wednesday or themeless Thursday. That said, really bad language in the clue for 56A. The value of something isn’t worthless, the thing is. The value is zero or low. So “made gold almost worthless” should have been it.
@G The clue for NASA was one of the few tricky ones in the puzzle, and it did not fool me. It also helped that I already had PSAT in the grid when I read the clue. :) And we had a Park Slope adjacent clue today.
Well... not all that easy for me, of course. More than a few answers that were never come to me without some crosses. And... had to look up a couple of things. No big deal - that's just me. And, of course a puzzle find today. A Sunday from April 7, 1991 by Valerie Meunier with the title "Cross examination." LOTS of theme answers in that one, and yeah - each of them crossed another theme answer. Some examples: WHOSSORRYNOW WHATSINANAME WHATSUPDOC HOWAMIDOING WHOSTHERE AINTSHESWEET WHATSCOOKING WHOSONFIRST HOWNOWBROWNCOW HOWDOILOVETHEE WHATSMYLINE Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/7/1991&g=39&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/7/1991&g=39&d=A</a> ....
@Rich in Atlanta I think you are the purest crossword puzzle loving soul in this forum. No arguments about ease. No arguments about plurals. Or how to spell WHOA. You just love studying crosswords. My hat's off. All the way off.
I could never have finished yesterday's puzzle without a few lookups; today's I was able to guess and scratch and figure out bit-by-bit to completion. Some days you get the puzzle; other days, the puzzle gets you. It's the main reason I look forward to weekends now. What's more exhilarating than an empty themeless crossword daring you to conquer it? Thanks for the fun!
Fastest Saturday I’ve ever done. Just me? I enjoyed the puzzle still.
Should have swapped yesterday and today’s puzzles. Today was lovely, but I think would have made for a gentler weekend opener than the torture fest that was yesterday.
In the "TIL" column: When I had AR___ to start 4-Down, I confidently put in ARachnidS, remembering the story of the weaving competition between Athena and Arachne. Even though I knew that spiders aren't cephalopods ("head-foots"??? Try to remember to keep your cephalopods distinct from your gastropods [snails and the like; "stomach-foots"]). But who knew that there were a family of octopuses called ARGONAUTS??? Today I learned. They're awfully cute, as octopus go. Octopuses [sic] are amazing! And while we're on the topic of Greek mythology, I thoroughly enjoyed the "Artemis" misdirect. But don't get me started on MANSA MUSA, great Malian leader of the 14th century, perhaps the richest king that ever lived??? Never heard of him. I'm impressed with the number of commenters who were familiar with his exploits. I certainly need to work on the enormous lacuna in my knowledge of sub-Saharan African history. So, today I learned that MANSA was his title and that MUSA is the Arabic form of Moses (Moshe in Hebrew). That's a start, I guess.
And did anyone else put in DaccA for the Bengali city? A show of hands, please. I just looked it up and learned that the official English spelling changed from DaccA to DHAKA....in 1982!!! Someone needs to get with the times.
@The X-Phile To you or anyone who is fascinated by octopuses, I heartily recommend the documentary "My Octopus Teacher". That is, if you haven't already.
Clever cluing, but this was way, way too easy for a Saturday. C'mon, NYT.
@Laura Yeah I have to agree that this was unusually easy for a Saturday puzzle.
@Laura It seems the constructor and editors were determined to make a Saturday Streak (per the column) even when it wasn't exactly warranted.... Oh well.
@Laura I agree, this was easy for a Saturday. I finished in 9:46.
Quick solve. Cluing was a bit on-the-nose.
Pretty breezy Saturday, nothing too exceptional but nothing to complain about. I enjoyed the clues for ROOTCANAL and PIÑATA the most. Can anyone explain the THISISFINE meme? Is there some double entendre I’m not getting? I’m embarrassed (RED faced) to say how long it took me to understand why OHIO would be a RED state (outside of politics) despite living in the home of the Cincinnati REDS. I guess while cute enough for a crossword I would always say REDS state. Since not much else to expound on for me I will take the rest of my time to extol Paul ANKA. I had the privilege of going to his concert a year or two ago so he would have been, I suppose, 82? I thought it would be mostly to just say I’d seen the guy, I mean how much could a crooner have left in him when he recorded his first song in 1956? Man, let me tell you, it was one of the best concerts I can remember and certainly one of the most energetic. The guy never stopped running around for a moment and belted like he was 18. Plus I really didn’t realize the volume of hits and memorable songs he has written for others decade after decade. Just a masterful guy, and I HAD NO IDEA!
@SP <a href="https://www.meme-arsenal.com/en/create/template/11658195" target="_blank">https://www.meme-arsenal.com/en/create/template/11658195</a> It's like complacency or denial, which ain't just a river in Egypt, if you see what I mean, when everything is chaotically burning down around you.
@SP The "This is fine" meme is about how to a lot of people's perspective, the world is falling apart around them but all they can do is try to push it aside and live their normal day to day lives like everything is normal.
@SP Former fellow Ohioan here and I couldn't figure out for the life of me what the Red? clue was supposed to mean. I'm from the opposite corner, the NE, but still, the team is the Reds, not the Red. I'm with you. Note to others: Ohio is currently a red state in that other meaning, but it was not always thus. For a long time it was a swing state, and the blue-collar workers voted Democratic. That's up until a few elections ago ...
@SP Ha! I solved this with a college FB pregame show on in the background. I thought it was an odd reference to OHIO State's school colors. (Go Hoosiers!)
MANSA MUSA? I think he plays for Chelsea.
Okay, you are the only games community that I participate in and I just have to share this crazy, crazy thing that happened with Wordle. There are no spoilers here! But my mind is just blown! Wordle 1,603 4/6 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Not that impressive, right!? But ever since Wordle began, I chose a starting word that I use all the time. I've said I'm going to keep using this word until it shows up as the answer, which would be a Wordle in one, of course. But today, feeling a little sassy, for literally the first time, I just picked the first other word that came to my mind and went with it, not even noticing in my brazeness that three of the letters are in the same place as in my usual starting word.... No spoilers, but as it turns out, my dream of my normal starting word being the actual answer finally came true today... But of course, I didn't get it until the 4th try. So much for sassiness! I suppose there's a lesson to be learned there, but instead I'm just going to say, cue the Alanis Morissette song.... Har!
@HeathieJ - Ha! I guess you could call that the "stopped clock" strategy - eventually, it's going to be correct. And today was the day you decided to wind your clock. Ironic, indeed!
@HeathieJ Wordle 1,603 1/6 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I got it! Have used the same starting word for three years but once in a while forget to play. Glad my ship finally came in. I’m so sorry you went rogue today. That surely would have gotten a rise out of me!
@HeathieJ And then there's this from @Susan E down-thread... <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4bn1s2?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4bn1s2?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a> All I have to say is: <a href="https://youtu.be/aPVLyB0Yc6I?si=f6Fkpx9J0naeMv89" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/aPVLyB0Yc6I?si=f6Fkpx9J0naeMv89</a> Hugs!
@HeathieJ Ugh. You’re handling it so well! Will you pick a new starting word so you have a shot at a Wordle in one?
@HeathieJ Enjoyed hearing your Wordle experience-- Same darn thing happened to me a few years ago! After that I just started changing up my starting word every time.
Pleasant puzzle. I liked ARGONAUTS and SCATTER PLOTS. Set a new personal best (under 10 minutes). Yesterday I was 6 minutes over my average, so go figure. Difficulty levels are all over and so is my performance :-)
@Sara W. I had “arachnids” to start and finally had to give it up when “bingo” could not be ignored.
@Sara W My Wednesday, Saturday, and Thursday times were within a minute and a half apart. In that order. Not a personal best though--that happened on 2/26/2022.
Thanks to this Saturday puzzle, I now have a new longest 6-day streak. ScatterPLOT and DepthCHARTS are a nice pair of longest answers in this puzzle. Giant Steps and Blue Cheese... something funky, perhaps. Hope everyone had an enjoyable solve.
theres a ripple in the force when this young jedi solves a saturday in 20.
Enjoyed this one a lot, even if I would have liked it even more if it had lasted twice as long :). Smiled when I saw NASA —like @Steven M I was all ready to call “Natick!” before realizing the misdirect. Thanks Ryan. Please get another in the queue — but don’t be afraid to dial up the difficulty a bit!
This was an enjoyable puzzle, but quite easy for a Saturday. I think the cluing could have been more challenging.
This was a very weird puzzle for me. I was done with most of it in Tuesday time, disbelieving how straightforward the clues seemed, especially on the right/Eastern side of the grid. However, the left/West side, and especially the NW corner, came close to defeating me. In the end I managed to fill the grid without googling, and in a time shorter than I usually get on Fridays, but a lot of guesses were involved, and I don't understand some of what I ultimately entered. The column explained R-V guy to me (a quite obnoxious clue, that, IMO), and it confirmed my suspicion about Sport UTE (it just sounds so wrong... But us Polish people rarely shorten words, so most abbreviations feel jarring to me). I have no idea why SHORT STOP is one who's off-base. I had to guess OHIO (and IOWA). Why is it a "red state"? Are Ohio Reds a sport team or something? There was something perverse about using the French "au poivre" and the American misnomer (of sorts) of "entree" in the same sentence. Because surely "steak au poivre" is not a French starter? Roquefort as BLUE CHEESE was a gimme. Before 1989 the shelves in Polish (state-owned) shops were mostly empty, and if there was something for sale, it was of one variety (one yellow cheese, one white cheese, etc.) Democracy and market economy meant privately owned shops with ever improving stock. Roquefort was the first blue cheese to be offered, as I recall. @dutchiris Thank you for the poodle story yesterday 🐩😃. I only saw it just now.
@Andrzej Hi, it's me, the mansplainer. The shortstop is "off base" because he's the only of the four infielders not named for a base--i.e. first baseman, second baseman, third baseman. But the way they array themselves, quite often the shortstop has a big responsibility at second base. Thanks for the emoji yesterday about my being unclean. But I'm terrible at emojis, and so I took it as meaning either "get well" or "my uncle has an infected toenail".
@Andrzej They're wonderful dogs, and yours is a beauty.
@Andrzej certainly some tricky sports misdirects in this one. A shortstop is a position in baseball that plays just off second base. And the Reds are a baseball team in Cincinnati, Ohio.
@Andrzej I’m always so impressed with your ability to tackle these puzzles and solve them!! It’s “shortstop”, one word, and it’s the name of a defensive position in baseball. The shortstop plays between second and third base and so is “off base” although he/she may need to cover second base depending on the situation. Mark
@Andrzej SHORTSTOP is a position in baseball that is located between 2nd and 3rd base, so is literally "off base". Red and blue states are political designations indicating Republican/GOP (conservative) or Democratic (liberal) governments. Entree in American means main course. I believe UTE is more of an Australian term than an American, but one does hear it occasionally. UTE is short word for Utility (vehicle), or one that might be used on- or off-road. Sport Ute would indicate one that's a little "dressed up" or has a more powerful engine and used more for general transport and fun than for work purposes.
@Andrzej You might want to study an authoritative documentary on the subject so you're ready for the next inevitable baseball heavy grid. <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RlllabwmWcc" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RlllabwmWcc</a>
I love this community 😃 Thank you all for the explanations. Now I'll have to try and remember what you said. It's harder than you think - despite Steve L's efforts and my honest attempts to learn from them baseball largely remains a mystery to me, because I've never actually seen a game of it. I could watch one online, but it wouldn't be any good without somebody by my side to explain what's going on. Even soccer - much less complex than baseball - is confusing if you don't know the rules and don't understand the commentary with all its jargon. I had no idea a SHORT STOP would be a guy, or a guy's position. I associate "stop" with buses 😃 @Francis I'm not sure if you're joking so I'll just say it - it was a hug emoji ❤️ @dutchiris Thank you 😃
@Andrzej BLUE CHEESE for Roquefort was such a gimme that I waited for crosses. I didn’t think a Saturday clue could be this straightforward and held out for something I didn’t know about Roquefort.
Hate it when Friday and Saturday are the wrong way round
PIÑATA 🪅 brings up fond memories of birthdays past. Being half Hispanic, we even made them ourselves when I was a kid. Figuring out the theme of your birthday party and then trying to create the perfect piñata to go with it was a fun challenge. I liked the crossing of STEAK and SNEAK. My youngest will take the PSAT for the final time next year. And the best will be empty the year after that…*sigh* Thank you, Ryan, for the trip down memory lane
(To a Frederick Loewe melody) What are those dots, some rising and some falling Random seeming clusters here and there Oh, it’s a graph, I laugh as I’m recalling It’s SCATTERPLOT!
... dedicated to showtune loving Andrzej.
Fun and fast one! I really like the GIANTSTEPS on top of the GARDENPATH, and IOWA and OHIO crossing. My husband is in IOWA this weekend for work, which is not an unusual occurrence with his business. Of course, I'm always SAD when he's away, but IOWA has been very good to us—even if its pigs do outnumber its people. I like that 11D meme, though it feels more and more apt to me lately... I think of that poor little pup often. NOTOKAY. There were very few immediate gimmes for me today so I thought it was going to be a toughie, but I finished almost 30% faster than average. That wasn't on my BINGOCARD but it works out well for me today/tomorrow as I have loads of things I should do tomorrow, even if I wish I could be an IDLER. Cheers to the weekend, however much you're up to! 😊
Nothing interesting to say so here's the Wikipedia article on Mansa Musa if anyone is interested. I believe he is considered the richest person to ever live. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansa_Musa" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansa_Musa</a>
@Lpr That designation always annoys me. First, it assumes we know about all people who have ever lived. Second, it purports to be certain what Mansa Musa's wealth was, and how it compared to the wealth of other people thought history. Third, it fails to distinguish between the (somewhat public) wealth of rulers and the private wealth of private individuals. Surely the richest person to have ever lived was the first one who ever came up with the concept of property and claimed something as their own, for the first time. That person had *all* the world's wealth! Of course, that's ab5urd, but so is the whole idea of measuring and comparing people's wealth over millennia.
@Times Rita "Rough scholarly estimates put his wealth around $400 billion to $600 billion USD when adjusted for inflation and the relative size of the world economy". @Andrzej yeah it is arbitrary. Maybe more accurate is "richest person in local currency when currency existed". He had literally tons of gold and silver. And that was in a time when you couldn't buy a yacht or an island in the Caribbean so what could you even spend it on.
Great to see “Giant Steps,” clued. Made in 1960, just before Trane formed his legendary quartet, it’s a seminal jazz album. I’m sure memorizing his solo on the title tune is still mandatory for aspiring saxophonists. Two other tracks on the album, the gentle ballad, Naima, and the blues, Cousin Mary, also have become jazz standards.
That was a fun and accessible Saturday puzzle. My only doubt was cluing BINGO CARD as an accessory.
I once lived in an apartment in the Clifton area of Cincinnati--across the street from a once-grand mansion that was a FRAT house. One came to the conclusion that a FRAT BRO is something akin to a slime mold, only not as intelligent. (Awaiting stories about your fraternity that helped widows and orphans, adopted stray animals, and shoveled snow iin the blizzard of '75.) DHubby helped me with SCATTER PLOT after I had SCAT and wanted a boost. NAUTILUSi and OCTOPUSi....neither seemed likely. Very surprised that Odysseus went a-sailing on a cephalopod; must have been a big'un! Maybe one had to have seen the ?cartoon?movie clip? Of the dog to appreciate 11D... 59A and 60A...wow. Srsly?? Worth it?
@Mean Old Lady I think Jason was the one leading a stalwart band of octopi🐙
Alas, poor Natick! I knew him not. Ye gods and little catfishes, crossing Mali history with Greek mythology, that's a bit much. YMMV. Otherwise, THIS IS FINE.
Linda Jo, I do hope you're joking; 53D is not Greek mythology. [Overseer...] should be the tip-off to the misdirect.
Re 56A: When I went to have a ROOT CANAL around 15 years ago, the (excellent) dentist offered a large selection of movies I could watch to help me relax during the procedure. I chose Finding Nemo, because I had seen it before and knew I would enjoy it. I totally forgot that the movie contained this scene: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYEQCDt5PYY" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYEQCDt5PYY</a>
@Pax Ahimsa Gethen - Oy! I'm surprised that was available in that particular seting. I had one (1) root canal, over 50 years ago, and I was NOT anesthetized. It was the most painful experience of my life. The dentist insisted I had to be numb and it was all in my head. He was a quack. Years later, after X-ray imaging was greatly improved, an excellent dentist I was fortunate enough to find listened to my story. (He was installing a crown on that very tooth). He examined my X-rays and mentioned that I did have some odd branching or something -- maybe it was nerves coming out the side of the root -- I forget the details -- but he said he could see how it would have been difficult to numb that tooth, especially with the imaging technology available back in the early '70s. If I am ever told I need another root canal, I'm going to have the tooth pulled.
A very fun, quick Saturday! Especially enjoyed “R-V guy?” and “One who’s off-base?”. 👏🏻 Now to go back to solve Friday 🥴🥴
TIL - a whole bunch of stuff. Eventually got everything with the crosses. A few of the long answers fell letter by letter and not in wordy clumps. In the end, pretty much on my Saturday average. As my son likes to tease me, “Crossword puzzles are easy. You only need to know half the answers!” His better half knows ALL the answers. Which is pretty intimidating. To fill her time while waiting for me to catch up, she takes a run at Queen Bee.
Saturday puzzles are always difficult for me, and this one did not disappoint. I feel like I kept the lookups to a minimum, though, so I think it all ADDS UP. Not loving the ROOT CANAL reference, though. Baby Australian Critter had 10 teeth removed yesterday, and he’s still felling the effects. And when he’s in pain, I’m in pain. Maybe we both just need to embrace the mantra: “THIS IS FINE…”
@Heidi I really do have to know: do you really have a kangaroo? If so, how and, I guess, why? I mean a kangaroo is a perfectly wonderful animal, but I would imagine they require no small amount of maintenance. This came up once before and Andrzej gaslit me with a photoshop.
@Heidi Ok, I've decided to go forward. I cannot stand not having a kangaroo is that's what everyone else is doing. I want to be one of the Kool Roo people. A KooRoo, if you will. I've looked into it, and technically kangaroos are illegal to own in Minnesota, but right next door, in Wisconsin, you don't even need a permit! So my first step is to buy a hobby farm just over the border in Wisconsin. Not cheap, but I'm not sure all of my grandchildren want to go to college anyway, so I think I can swing that. Once I've secured a place, I'll let you all know of my next step.
I look forward to some clever misdirection on Saturday so I was a little disappointed that it was quite straightforward. I loved the clue for PIÑATA. Wasn’t familiar with the dog meme so I looked it up. I don’t get it.
@Cyndie It symbolizes denial. It's one of the most apt memes of the era.
@Andrzej No it’s not. 😂 Thanks Andrzej. Your explanation is more clear than what I found.
@Cyndie Speaking of FOMO, I've been watching your "handle" location change across your trip. Now Avignon. Wonderful! 🤩
@G Covid, cancer and worries that no one else would adequately care for our aging pup has limited travel since 2019 so we are making up for lost time! We spent a month in Portugal and Spain on our own and now two weeks on a ship. It’s wonderful.
Good morning! This one was in my wheelhouse. I considered some sort of sculling misdirect for 35A before FRATBRO fell in. My last letter was the S in NASA - a guess! Like others, I was expecting a Greek deity - thanks for a good chuckle.