Wow, you had me at SPANISHRAMADA. This is probably my vote for puzzle of the year. Not just for the theme, which was funny, complex, witty and had no duds at all. But just look at the rest of the fill. You had seven great long themes like this and still had room for two great 14 letter additional entries? Right next to ZOLAESQUE and SUCCEEDED? Are you kidding me? Very little glue, clever clues, perfect amount of challenge, I have nothing but praise and amazement for this one. Only disappointment—would it be too much to ask “ringmaster” to clue to FRODO in a puzzle with Sam GAMGEE?
@SP I started with FRODO for [Ringmaster], too, and had UTE for ATV like Caitlin did, too. But FRODO is about as deep into LOTR as I get; I got GAMGEE on crosses alone.
@SP I started with FRODO and then moved to BILBO, which I hung onto for far too long before EXOTICA made me rethink the ring.
The dressmaker's new creations were the talk of the gown. (I've used A-line like that before.)
@Mike you are unbelievable. Never have you been stumped with your wordplay. I look forward to your opus every day.
@Mike Nickname for that memorial in India? Decolletage. (Off topic—I won't Agra with that, she said ruffly.)
@Mike. Sew funny. You keep me in stitches!
@Mike you’re killing us with these puns! (Which makes me think you know where the bodice is buried)
@Mike The dressmaker's economic policies were lacy fare.
@Mike In the words of Scarlett O'Hara, "Needle-dee-dee!"
@Mike You seem to be following a pattern. Could lead to a skeindle.
@Mike I'll bet you had to hem & haw to come up with that one. Your reply- " sew what," :)
(Second try. Changed a word.) The EGOCENTRIC MODEL was having a terrible month. She was supposed to do a photo shoot at a SPANISH RAMADA, but the promised OCTILLION DRESSES were nowhere near - a million at best. Next she was to appear on an episode of DANCING WITH THE TSARS, but Alexandra Feodorovna made her use the LESSER OF TWO VEILS for her big scene, and ruined it. Finally, she was introducing a new wellness nectar to her followers, but when she poured a glass on TikTok, what came out was an unappetizing UNCLEAR POTION. What to do?? ACME TO THE RESCUE! Her agent ordered a package of Acme brand dehydrated potion clearance tablets (with added vitamin E) and she was able to make a new TikTok, as well as more money promoting the tablets.
@Cat Lady Margaret ACCURSE you, Alexandra Feodorovna!
Yes. A thinking person’s Sunday. Thanks, Trenton.
@Sam Lyons Samantha, j'accuse! :-)
@Sam Lyons Thanks for insulting me indirectly 🤣 (I struggled today and didn't enjoy it)
Very amusing and some great cluing. Hard to think of other examples and I haven't tried Trenton's three other examples in his notes yet. Hmmm: [What is required to make a lot of syrup?] MAPLE RESOURCES I see this one has a full alphabet too, what are those called again, pangrams? Someone was complaining yesterday that having two pangrams in a puzzle was virtuoso but came at the expense of a good fill. But when someone is the champion Scrabble player of Ohio, he can make it look easy!
OK, here's a very awkward double one that needs some tinkering: A teen can go to bed free of zits and _____ _____ covered. ARISE ACNE The snake's feelings after biting Cleopatra? ASP MORALE
I would watch DANCING WITH THE TSARS for the outfits alone.
@Becky Good to see you've got the crossword out of the way early so you can pace nervously up and down for the next seven hours. COYG.
@Becky And at least time when I knew it was the Russian rulers I didn't have to guess: Czars? Tzars? aha! TSARS! It's really ЦАРИ. When we lived in St. Petersburg we laughed at the tourists asking about a good 'Pectopah'. In Cyrillic the P sounds like English R, C is always an S sound. So it is pronounced Restorah.....
A thoroughly amusing theme. DANCING WITH THE TSARS is brilliant. I especially like ZOLAESQUE. 'Z' was my final entry after thinking of the suffix for CIVIL. Nice twin clue and proximity of POST ITS and NOTES [Little reminders]. Thanks, Trenton, that was fun. It reminded me of a lovely vase I bought in Athens with a deer engraving. I call it “Doe on a Grecian urn”.
And if that deer participated in a marathon in Olympia it would be .... DOE ON A GRECIAN RUN
A celebrated weasel might be the STOAT OF THE TOWN.
@patk Nice, but it doesn't fit the theme, which was to have the second letter switch places with the first.
An entire thread about the use of the answer at 74A was taken down, even though I'm not sure why the discussion of a specific word from the puzzle's appropriateness was considered offensive. I wrote one more comment that never got posted. I kept checking back, and at one point the entire thread was gone. So here it is again, redacted as necessary (good thing I save most posts before refreshing): The point here is, of course, that using "Jεω" as an adjective is only pejorative because of malicious intent. And I would rather not have my demonym hijacked by bigots for nefarious reasons. I'd rather call someone a good Jεω than "a good Jεωish person." The latter is clunky and silly. I'd rather say that an observant Jεω doesn't work on the Sabbath, rather than "an observant Jεωish person." I'd rather say that a Jεω knows what to call him or herself better than a non-Jεωish bigot. And I'd also say that a Jεω who insists upon substituting "Jεωish person" for all of the above is actually appeasing all of the intolerant, narrow-minded haters out there. And it unfortunately does happen sometimes.
@Steve L Can we not say Greek? Italian? Buddhist? Catholic? Are all these now forbidden? J/e.W is not offensive. Is it?!
@Steve L I read the first post and can't understand why it was removed. Also, I loved what you and SP had to say about this in the other thread. I'll also admit that it made me slightly uncomfortable in the puzzle b/c I do know that it's too often used pejoratively, and I wondered if it would be taken that way by Jεωs—I would never want to accidentally appear to be using it in a bad way so I've tended to avoid using it like that and deferring to Jεωish. You and SP have me reassured on that count and I appreciate it. Especially you saying that not using it is appeasing the intolerant haters. Much appreciate this enlightenment.
@Steve L Well said and very appropriate. Thanks for speaking out.
@Steve L Very well said, and kudos for sneaking those epsilons and omegas past the emus.
@Steve L I really appreciated your contributions to that deleted thread. If only I could paste the “pour one out for the homies” meme here…
I think egocentric model may be one the more enjoyable answers in a long long while.
Regarding those OCTILLIONDRESSES being "billions and billions of boutique items," I would note that it takes an awful lot of billions to make an octillion--in fact (in the American system for large-number nomenclature) a quintillion of 'em!
@Paul You're gonna need a bigger boutique.
It is a puzzle like this that first made me love doing crosswords. Each theme answer made me chuckle. The entire grid was a joy!
Whenever I see ZOLAESQUE, I’m reminded of the scene of the finals of the Stamford Crossword tournament in the documentary Wordplay when Trip Payne exclaims “Oh, Good God!” when he finally deciphers it (then clued as [Stark and richly detailed, as writing]). Counting today, it’s only happened once, but that’s something.
@Steve Haha! I don’t remember that scene but now I’m tempted to go back and watch the movie, which was great and, I believe, inspired this column’s title.
@Steve I was there, upclose and personal. It was a hoot!
@Steve I remembered that instantly, too! And smiled...
Another of those puzzles you can hop around in and the fills you skipped over emerge. I was delighted when puns started jumping out, ENAMORed by every one, and laughing out loud that you could SQUEEZE so many in. This was a honey of a puzzle, Trenton, just right for a Sunday. Thank you.
Oh, so good to see Trenton back after a long absence. He was prolific for a period, with nine puzzles in 2019, and eight in both 2020 and 2021. I love his craftsmanship and the high bar he sets. Look at today’s puzzle. Sure, it’s easy to find words that become other words when you flip the first two letters, if they’re short. Even in today’s puzzle there are non-theme words that do that – ACT, IRA, NOE, EMTS, USB, AWS, REN, ITT. But try coming up with longer ones like Trenton did, i.e. RAMADA, COTILLION, OPTION, and GEOCENTRIC. How did he do that? Wow! Then he had to make phrases including those words, phrases that fit symmetry, that is, the seven theme answers had to include three pairs of entries, each with the same number of letters. Double wow! And, for me, there was more to love. Lovely answers (MIFF, ACCURSE, FINITE, ZOLAESQUE, MADAME TUSSAUDS, PERSIMMON), a sweet dook (REDANT), a TIL (HEAVE TO), and a rare-in-crosswords five-letter semordnilap (STRAP). I started this puzzle with a smile, Trenton, when I saw your name, and ended it the same way after a splendid outing. Thank you, and please, don’t be a stranger!
@Lewis You forgot UNCLEAR/NUCLEAR (the hint was "Twice!")
[Hide-and-seek in an old Victorian home, say] A GAME OF NICHES
Very inconsistent with very questionable obscure answers and/or made up phrases to fill the grid. This whole week has been sloppy puzzles.
@Darren Between the Bee and CW this week, I swear NYT is trying to crate and oust us.
I am in a real slump. The second day in a row I just struggled and muttered and complained about how I couldn't get two answers next to each other that I was confident in. I stared forever at first three letter of 28A. Finally settled on the correct answer of OCTILLION DRESSES. Had I saw that "cotillion dresses" would be the corresponding trick word, I would have been confident. But I didn't and I wasn't, and I could not find my error. So I accepted the blue (again), and it turns out the only error I had was nowhere near where I was looking: 116A I had EeSES rather than ESSES. Maybe I need a break. I've had less fun this week than ever with crosswords, and I'm getting to dread when the puzzle drops. I thought it was an decently constructed puzzle, but it was like walking through waist-deep muck. And anticlimactic to only get a blue star. God how I pity me.
@Francis. Friday, Saturday, and today were super hard for me… this one 91 minutes; Friday was 71 minutes and Saturday, 74. I kinda dislike the time spent alone, and the near addictive hold the puzzles get on me. I kinda like the way answers suddenly pop out of nowhere into my mind, unexpectedly. Somehow the less I worry or feel pressure, the more freely the answers flow. But I’ve wanted to give up or google, just because it takes so much time to finish. I’d say go that way! I only did M-W from the archives for 6 months or so, instead of Thu-Sun. Was a lot of fun and built up my knowledge of fill and the gestalt. Well good luck!
@Francis The crosswords are for your pleasure. Solve them any way that works for you and just enjoy spending some time with words and phrases. Sometimes you're having an off day and sometimes it's the puzzle that's off, but if you get stuck, it's your puzzle and do whatever you feel like doing to get it done. Coming back in a few minutes, an hour, or the next day, with a fresh start, can work wonders. You know all of this, but you may need reminding! Please don't give up. There were some puzzles this week that generated a lot of teeth-grinding for everyone, and for heaven's sake, don't take it personally. We would miss you too much if you just walked away.
@Francis 6 hours post-solve and the keyster between my ears is still sore from that beating.
I must admit that sometimes I scoff at people (including at myself) who complain that their comment has been emu’d. But, but, still, I’m a little bummed. Here’s an abbreviated version. This would almost (sorta, kinda, not really) work if only there were a famous ode to Spoonerisms. “Best Oklahoman expressions?” / TOP SOONERISMS. Great to see Trenton Charlson. Hard to believe it’s been almost 5 years. So many elegant entries in addition to the clever themers. TRIASSIC PERIOD, PERSIMMON, ZOLAESQUE . . . Delightful puzzle.
I guess I should give the set-up to the above: Me contemplating posting about this puzzle: “I bet I can come up with a brilliant themer! It’ll be easy. I won’t even have to use Google for help. Hey, wait a second. Would Google” work? OGOGLE . . . Isn’t there a Native American tribe with that name. OGOGLE SEARCH. Love it! Now I just have to think of a clever clue. Oh, wait, what’s that? It’s the Oglala Lakota? OK, OK, no problem . . .” Several hours later: “This would almost (sorta, kinda, not really) work . . .”
Someone who got you in a heap of trouble? SUED CAR DEALER (My fave was the “lesser veils” one.)
@JohnWM "Heap of trouble" is the icing on this nice cake.
I don't know if it was a clerical error or what, but I was hired as a cruise director for the Spanish armada. I knew something was wrong when I learned that our only guests were Florence Henderson and Charo. But it seemed exciting and new so I set a course for adventure. I wonder where my good friend Gopher is now.
Today I learned that PASEO is recognized as an English word. I knew it from Spanish and saw that it fit, but I resisted it until proven overwhelmingly by the crosses because the clue did not suggest the answer would be a foreign word. So I looked it up in Merriam-Webster, and there it is! Another of the many Spanish loanwords English. Loved the puzzle, by the way, especially DANCING WITH THE TSARS.
Departing NYT columnist Deb Amlen is referenced in one of today's Washington Post puzzles by Evan Birnholz. A worthy tribute.
Trenton Charlson once made a puzzle in which the only vowel in the answers was the letter I. I mention this because it gives me an excuse to bring up a 1994 Sunday by Cathy Allis in which the only vowel was E, and which had one of my favorite puzzle titles of all time: ELAND.
The themers were very funny, Trenton! And I don't think there was too much EXOTICA in the fill. Hope all have a good time. Waiting for commenters to come up with more themers (which will not have to cross anything).
As soon as I saw the first themed clue I realized the trick today would be about groaners. That always demotivates me. I just don't find dad-joke-level wordplay funny 🤷🏽 Parts of the puzzle seemed Monday-easy. However, in places the grid resisted me, and not being in the mood to struggle with it I just checked it, and then enabled autocheck. Personally I didn't like this at all. That being said, it probably wasn't a bad puzzle, unlike yesterday's. I just didn't vibe with it at all. Come to think of it, I think I know what irked me most. I can't stand John Kugelman grids. His themes are almost always groany, and his fill invariably stumps me. For some reason, the editors love him. He's had, what? 20 Sunday puzzles over two years? Way too many, whatever the exact number is. Anyway - the first thing I do when I open a Sunday puzzle is check whether it's not a Kugelman. If it's not, I sigh with relief. Today I got a Kugelman from Trenton Charlson... I dared hope I would have fun and I was let down 😢
@Andrzej And in contrast these are my favorite themes, if they are well done, as was this one. I suspect I’d be on your naughty list of crossword creators too, although it’s been a few years since I published.
@Andrzej Well.... hmm. Revealing... A blot on your otherwise-admirable character. We shall just move on quietly and let a curtain fall over this sad scene... Tomorrow will dawn, and 'twill be a better day!
@Andrzej Wow. That's an odd, grumpy-mood take on a very good, Sunday-esque puzzle. The first thing I do when I open a Sunday puzzle is make sure my coffee mug is full, sit myself in a comfy spot and enjoy the large, clever grid before me. I've been overheard giggling aloud, and today brought a gleeful "Aha!" when I jotted DANCINGWITHTHETSARS" without a single crossing helper. I'm sorry your day was marred due to a passing resemblance toward the work of a puzzle-maker with whom you hold a grudge. Stay in the moment, man. Life is short.
Never seen CRATE used in this way, but if it means a hunk of junk then it’s apt for this slog of a puzzle.
@AGW also was next to obscure trivia (TESH), both of which forms a key part of one of the theme spoonerism. Somehow had to guess the boutique items = cotillion? If only there was any other way to indicate cotillion would be spoonerized in the clue itself instead of making me guess large numbers and eventually get the correct answer while feeling no satisfaction. Hardly a clever puzzle when the wordplay is extraneous to the clue altogether. Most of the rest was ponderous but this section was egregious, and easily fixable with better clueing. I'm ok not loving every puzzle but please editors clean these up
@AGW You do realize that the only thing you’re sharing in a comment Iike this is your personal feelings, right? And in this specific comment, you have clearly communicated that today’s puzzle *hurt* your feelings. If that’s all you’re going for — don’t mind me . But if you’re trying to share a critical opinion of any substance, it would help if you added some details. For instance, what are a few of the entries that best illustrate the defects you found in the puzzle, and what was bad/unclever/unfair about them?
@AGW Same. For a Sunday, could have been less obscure.
A fiasco is bigger than a SNAFU.
@Petrol The clue is "big fiasco," not "bigger than a fiasco." And, given what the acronym stands for, I'm not sure that a fiasco is necessarily bigger than a SNAFU anyway.
@Petrol Agreed. A SNAFU is by definition something relatively small and literally "normal". I didn't love that clue...
@Petrol My preference is SNAFU - situation normal, all fouled up. Feels like life.
@Petrol SNAFU may be used for trivial events now, but the meaning of the acronym, and how it came about as explained to me by a vet, would indicate something at least as big as a fiasco and potentially worse.
My car is parked on NOE and I am drinking a PERSIMMON smoothie, does this still count as an unassisted solve?
As long as you don't drop TROU.
I wonder if anyone else screwed up the northeast corner by putting in tEnD for 18D. I had the E and the D, so it seemed pretty logical. So then I have tOoTRUE which kind of makes sense, but then 12D is AoO_EN and all I could think of was the Australian Open. So 25A is SnEp??? I don't think so! Being up is one thing, the caffeine kicking in is another. I went through all the comments in search of enlightenment but nobody seems to have had the same problem. Finally AWOKEN, I realized I had 18D all wrong. HOWTRUE! SEEK and ye shall find. Otherwise, I am glad to see Trenton Charlson again. Who else is going to construct a puzzle with entries like MADAME TUSSAUDS and TRIASSIC PERIOD? Loved the photo of the executed murderers at Madam Tussaudis, by the way.
@Roberto TEND and TOOTRUE had me in a chokehold for faaaar too long.
Wow! A fun puzzle but I found this one HARD for a Sunday! This easily could've been a Friday-Sat. puzzle. Oh well, maybe my brain wasn't awake yet. More coffee!
early signs are that we liked this one! Let's see if it holds.
This was fun! Thanks, Trenton! Happy Sunday, y’all!!
Clever, albeit inconsistent theme. Stick with either "second in commanding" the first word of the answer or the second word of the answer. Spanish RAmada COtillion dresses Crosswords - particularly Sundays - should be consistent. Spent too long asking myself what a PSanish ramada would be because I got OCtillion dresses fairly early through the cross clues, and continued to try to answer the theme cluse by swapping the first two letters of the answer phrase (because second in command means second letter swap...makes sense). I suppose if I had gotten Spanish RAmada first, I would have spent my time swapping the first two letters of the SECOND word (again, second in command). Because the theme title could apply either way: swap first two letters of first word, or swap first two letters of second word....maybe there should have been theme answers that swapped the second word for the first word....of the first letter of the second word with the second letter of the first word....see how clumsy it is when you don't stick to a consistently parsed theme? This could have been a great puzzle...but to me it's just lazy if you can't stick to a specific and consistent theme.
Wendy, The theme was consistent, it wasn't as rigid as you might have liked. In the themers, the first and second letters of either the first or last word -- and in the last themer, as clued -- both the first and last words -- are switched. The lack of rigidity added to the puzzling nature of the puzzle. Sorry it threw you.
@Wendy Lewis gives an interesting explanation for why this theme, as is, was so tricky to construct: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4c0rn4?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4c0rn4?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a> I always learn something new about the art of puzzle construction from reading his posts.
@Wendy I shared your reaction to the theme, that it was inconsistent - as you said because the letter reversals occurred in different places and also because the nature of the answers was different. e.g., a common phrase (lesser of two evils) versus a tv show (dancing with the stars) versus an item (cotillion dresses). That said, my guess is that making this theme work at all was very difficult - and more consistency may well have not been possible. But I do agree that the lack of consistency made the solve less satisfying for me, both during the solve and on completion. I was surprised to find that reaction not more widely shared, but it appears it was not.
@Wendy You are quite right and arguments to the contrary are skirting the issue. The theme was inconsistently applied and this detracted from the puzzle. (second attempt past the emus)
A reprise of one of my all-time favorite answers! 2 results for ZOLAESQUE from Modern Era puzzles: Sun Nov 23, 2025 72D Reminiscent of a certain French author's work Trenton Charlson Fri Nov 20, 2009 4D À la the founder of literary naturalism Alan Olschwang
I mean, Kafkaesque has been a cliche forever; when does one get to hear or see ZOLAESQUE?
@Barry Ancona Yes, EMILlion thanks to Trenton for this one!
@Barry Ancona Don’t sleep on its appearance on March 13, 2005 in the final round of the 28th Annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford, Connecticut. That particular year was quite a bit more prominent than most years, as it was featured in the documentary Wordplay. In the climax of the documentary, it’s clued as [Stark and richly detailed, as writing]. It doesn’t show the other cluing for easier difficulties, but I’m sure resourceful people can dig them up. In any case, it’s a good excuse to rewatch the end to Wordplay!
What’s not to like? I got the gold star with zero flyspecking and enjoyed noodling out the theme answers along the way. Also, a rare top to bottom solve. Even so, it was still crunchy enough to be a fun romp and not just putting in my time.
Just wondering: I posted a comment questioning the aptness of the answer JEW as an appropriate answer for the Sunday puzzle. The comment generated a vigorous exchange of comments (up to 8), but then the entire “discussion” was deleted. I do understand the sensitive nature of this discussion, and I appreciate the paper does not want to encourage inflammatory dialogue (especially in the puzzle section!), but I felt it was odd that the conversation was summarily deleted without an explanatory note. Open discussion is now more important than ever. tc
@Just Saying There are never notes about why things are removed. I read that post and can't understand it's deletion. Steve L started a new one referencing it at the top of this section.
"I felt it was odd that the conversation was summarily deleted without an explanatory note." Just Saying, You must be new here.
Gamgee Paseo... No idea that "e" was the missing letter. Liked the wiley coyote clue the best. Whether this puzzle was someone's first or thirty eighth one doesnt matter to me, as such a fact neither adds or subtracts from the solving experience. But the other puns were pretty funny too.
@Robco Wiley nearly killed me. Last to fall, as I spent at least 10 minutes tinkering with the crosses. I was positive that the switcheroo was in 'rocket' which I was also positive was the middle word in the phrase. When I was forced by the crosses to replace 'rocket' with ?O??ER, I had a whole new set of mistakes to work through. Sigh.
@Robco PS What's PASEO doing in there without a foreign language signal in the clue?!
Really enjoyed that. Hit the theme with SPANISH RAMADA, the Armada being History 101 for us Brits. The hardest to work out was 28A as Cotillion is unknown, but I guess it’s the equivalent of the Debutantes presentation to the Palace? Fortunately long since ditched, *cue general grumbling about class structure, to the tune of God Save The Queen by the S** Pistols* Where was I? Oh, the grid. Yes, there was rather a lot of three letter glue, but any puzzle that has Sam GAMGEE, absolutely the (working class) Hero of LOTR gets my vote. Happy that it was a straightforward Sunday, as we’re rather suffering the after effects of a splendid company Christmas party on Friday. Yes, I know that’s two days ago, but hangovers don’t improve with age.
@Helen Wright The other day, my lunch order came to $10.66, and I automatically said, "Battle of Hastings." I got a blank stare from the cashier.
“Many” a Yeshiva student? Who else would there be in a Yeshiva?
@Anonymous there are, in fact, yeshivas which reserve spots for non-jews to learn about judaism. the pardes institute here is one such.
Yeshiva is capitalized in the clue. I live one block from Yeshiva University's Cardoso School of Law, which has a very diverse student body.
@Anonymous You'd be surprised!
Very clever theme. I really like it.
Though I did GOPAST my average time by 22 mins, I HELD on as I wondered, CANI really do this without any lookups? "Yes, you can, Sebastian", I thought. HOWTRUE that was because I SUCCEEDED!! Crossword CRED accrued. Let the AWS commence.
I like OCTILLION DRESSES, LESSER OF TWO VEILS, EXOTICA, and POSTITS then POSITS. Good Sunday!
A very fun puzzle! I love the wittiness of the long answers. I only had one wee cheat, caught by careful perusal of the answer pdf. I had 'oxy' for 'OXO'...yes, my crossing answer made no sense!
@Joan OXI Clean is a stain remover. OXO makes kitchen gadgets. OXO is also a non-winning tic-tac-toe line.
Oh man… loved this one. Great clues and fun entries. Well done and thank you.
Haven't seen this byline in a while--I believe his last puzzle was seen in the TRIASSIC PERIOD! Welcome back, Trenton Charlson :0) I stared at the SPANISH RAMADA and, unenlightened, soldiered on... It was DANCING WITH THE TSARS the tipped me off. The most difficult to untangle was the 79A themer, but all of them were fun...and unexpected! There was even a "double-whammy"! Nice start to the day... doing some T'giving prep today. Already made the cornbread...speaking of which, David Connell always liked that recipe for "corn pone," but we haven't seen him here in a long while. (I recently heard from "PecanTart"...who is also MIA nowadays. Sigh.) Okay, to all who are braving the highways, rails, skies, and waters-- stay safe!
@Mean Old Lady Cornbread stuffing - yum! Happy Thanksgiving! 🍁
Such fun! Dancing with the Tsars was my FAVE!
Very impressive! Doesn't feel forced or cutesy. Sadly even the wily constructor of this gem couldn't escape the ORCA.
Triangle before LANGUAGE at 2D