Zhou is just as thoughtful as you'd expect from her writing. She's a great constructor, friend, and human. I'm so proud of her and grateful to know her! ♥️
"You lent the duck your fine dinnerware?" "Yeah, now there's a quack in it." ("Waddle you do now?")
@Mike We did our duck jokes already last week. I got nothing more
@Mike That happened to a friend. AGAVE some advice and she went off to NOWAY and SKIED and SWAM in her SILLY STRING bikini, until in no time it was no longer an ISSUE and she was SITTING PRETTY. Of course, she was a LOANER, but AMINO harm when I tell you to do the same.
@Mike I once woke myself up by making up a joke in my dream and laughing myself awake (at least I am sure I never heard this joke before! - others may have). The joke was: Why couldn’t the Duck decipher the secret code? Because it was unquackable!
@Mike You've created a Menace to Society here... especially since some of our Regulars are avowed haters-of-puns! I am not of that number, but like The Poor, we shall always have the punsters with us....and a string of comments like this just goose to show you!
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. Place for a castle (5) 2. Medium for some ephemeral art (5) 3. Boos (7)(4) 4. Foreign exchange? (4)(3)(3) 5. Cab driver? (4)(6) BEACH LATTE SWEETIE PIES QUID PRO QUO WINE SELLER
My favorite encore clues from last week: [It may bring out the kid in you] (8) [Departed unceremoniously] (6) CESAREAN ELOPED
@Lewis First time I've ever disagreed with you. #3 and #4 were definitely crimes against the crossword world. #5 wasn't much better. I'm joking of course, but this really is the first time I've seen clues/answer pairs in your list that I genuinely did not like.
@Lewis I really enjoyed 1, 4, and 5 myself (and felt more or less neutral about 3), but I’ve gotta say, I’m a little surprised to see 2 on your list — that one felt like pretty common fare (though admittedly, I haven’t looked into prior usages, so maybe I’m manufacturing my vague memory of having seen very similar entries in the past).
I used to be a chemist. Now I'm retired. That's why I first entered LEGO for [Universal building block]. I suppose my old self could buy the ATOM thing, but I kinda like my new self better.
@Pezhead I entered lego before ATOM as well. Great minds and all that…
@Pezhead @Jacqui J I'm joining the party and I'll bring a lego set!
@Pezhead And here I thought that basic building block of the Universe was the marbit.
@Pezhead I filled all of those via the Downs, and missed seeing the clues... but LEGO blocks were a huge part of our life, thanks to our son (a born engineer....)
@Pezhead But LEGO would be wrong, being the name of the company, not the building block.
@Mr Dave Hard disagree. If you say Lego, everyone immediately thinks of the bricks. It's like Xerox and Kleenex that way: the name of the company had become synonymous with its product
In her notes, Zhou (the constructor) illustrates how crosswords bring ancillary pleasures aside from simply successfully filling in the box. Isn’t that the truth? In her case, it brought her new friendship and bolstered her connection with her best friend. Crosswords have garnered me new friends as well, but I see its ancillary gifts almost every time I solve a puzzle. It pings sweet memories I haven’t visited in ages, and broadens my knowledge. The cleverness and constructing skill lift my mood. The brain workout enlivens me. Then I come here and experience wit, new knowledge, wisdom, banter, different takes on the puzzle, and tales from the lives of others – a slice of reality that is ever fresh, every day. Oh, crosswords are not the meaning of life, but what a sweet supplement, no? Thank you, Zhou, for a fun solve today, where I had everything from a “Is ‘silly duck’ a common phrase?” moment, to Alvin the Chipmunk’s voice, to coming across a lovely quartet of words (DAPPLE, KNAVE, GOBSMACKED, ENNUI). You have had three NYT puzzles, all upper-tier, IMO, and I’m hoping for more. Thank you!
All the elements are in this fine puzzle to construct a sordid story about a hedge fund exec who rumor claimed had a love child with Lady Gaga -- he was a knave alright, thought he was sitting pretty, him with all his lucky charms, having made a fortune from a mysterious company called AXON. But Fate has a way of making those sorts pay: he had driven a loaner ATV up Mt. Etna, having heard that some nut had skied down it successfully. But the ATV started rolling back down the mountain, his head went CONK and then all was inky black. Several ERs later, when he finally swam to consciousness, it was as if his head was wrapped with silly string. "I'm in hell," he thought, if hell was being unable to move, forever, inside a humid crate that kept him alive, as motionless as your average spud. The doctors were gobsmacked that he could even blink. First came the rages. Then the ennui. All he could see was sky through the hospital window. How he would long at night for a gyro fresh off the rotisserie from that deli on Lex, or, if he were feeling sensible, a veggie wrap and a prune juice. And then gad about town, drop names with the doorman at A. Mino's Bar, or drop in at the ongoing orgy at that private club downtown, where the password was "Ask mom." Where could he find the exit? Anyway, great puzzle -- and the sincerity and grace of the constructor's notes is truly moving.If there are any Minnesotans on the staff of the Times, might they play a version called LADY LADY GRAY LADY?
Today marks my first ever 30-day gold streak! 🙌🏼 I can't believe it! I thought for sure I wouldn't make it on Saturday and Sunday. I'd like to thank the Wordplay columnists, this forum, my son for the assists on physics/math and Spanish language clues, Ms. Zhang for a LOVELY Monday puzzle and beautiful notes, and, of course, Ayo Edebiri. DUNZO!
I’ve solved 52 Mondays in a row! I have about half that many Tuesdays in a row. Hopefully, I can keep that one going too!
My heart was warmed by the constructor’s notes. Thank you for sharing!!
A quackerjack of a puzzle for a Monday!
Perfect Monday puzzle and it happens to be 1600th in my streak! Loved the constructor notes. The Art Heist is in my top 5 favorite puzzles as is The Escape Room. Seriously genius builds. The ear worm for today ties together Lady GAGA and KNAVE 😆 <a href="https://youtu.be/bESGLojNYSo?si=B5W_WdJwnjutfHzS" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/bESGLojNYSo?si=B5W_WdJwnjutfHzS</a> Have a great week!
@Jacqui J Congrats on the milestone! That's like a whole lot of weeks! Months, even!
@Jacqui J congrats on 1600!!! my first thought (yikes!) was -- perfect SAT score! 🤣
@Jacqui J, Congratulations! Those are all pretty impressive milestones. Well done!
When I read the clue to 28D, I mistook the em-dash as a second underline, and wondered whether Ms. Dickinson had written: "The Brain SKY is wider than the Sky-sky." But this brings up an interesting point about Dickinson's notorious use of dashes. In the few poems published in her lifetime, editors altered her punctuation to a more standardized form, replacing the dashes with more conventional commas, etc.: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson#/media/File:Emilyrepublican.jpg" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson#/media/File:Emilyrepublican.jpg</a> vs. <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45719/safe-in-their-alabaster-chambers-124" target="_blank">https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45719/safe-in-their-alabaster-chambers-124</a> But starting with earliest published compilations of her work, the poems have been typeset using the "em-dash"—remember when that came up as an entry in the puzzle, not long ago?–or was it en-dash? However, in her holograph mss., the dashes were much shorter - as short as hyphens - or even periods - but quite widely distanced from the letters: <a href="https://www.edickinson.org/editions/1/image_sets/12175264" target="_blank">https://www.edickinson.org/editions/1/image_sets/12175264</a> In fact, Dickinson used a range of lengths for her dashes, which has provided scholars with a field-day for analysis: <a href="https://dickinsondashproject.weebly.com/all-about-the-dash.html" target="_blank">https://dickinsondashproject.weebly.com/all-about-the-dash.html</a> (--'bout-the-dash--no-hyphen). Which only serves to show that Emily's Brain may have been wider than the sky, but the pedants' aren't.
@Bill That's really interesting. The whole artifice of building an interrupting thought in writing is fascinating. I've wander all around the map: from parentheses to dashes to commas to a semicolon (for which I have been roundly condemned). It's all up for grabs, it seems.
@Bill Ha! I'd forgotten to go back and look at it after racing through the puzzle, but I was also wondering what a brain sky was. *looks up* "Looks like we're due for some brain."
Zhou Zhan always delivers. Always. I love anytime I can use the word GOBSMACKED.
i rarely post monday and tuesday and came here with the challenge: i dare anyone to write anything interesting about this puzzle. whose solve, for me, was an exercise in nothing other than noting the speed with which nerve impulses could race from my eyes to my brain and thence to my fingertips without misreads or mis-key strikes. and lo and behold: lots of interesting comments. i like this place.
@Matt I like this place too. It's a nice place, filled with lots of nice people.
@Matt It's about the best place I ever found. I loved it from the moment I found it. Jump in anytime. And that is coming from a noted curmudgeon.
@Matt Another Monday challenge you might enjoy: solve the puzzle using only the down or across clues. That’s been my approach to keeping things interesting on Mondays for a while now (I got the idea from Rex Parker, but I think it’s a fairly common practice).
@Matt Personally, I find the interesting-ness of the comments to be the inverse of the puzzle's "difficulty"/day of the week! I was thinking that exact thought just before opening today's puzzle, in fact. Welcome to the Monday comments! :)
If Zhou hadn’t already won me over with her smart, yet accessible, Monday entry, her love for the amazing Art Heist puzzle would have done it. I think about that one often, too. I also loved the comment about finding friends as an adult. That’s such a special gift, and unfortunate that it’s so rare. Remember when we were eight and could walk up to any random kid and become instant BFFs? Why does growing up make us shy? Maybe if we all tried to make more impromptu connections, the world would be a much happier place.
@Heidi And yet I can remember back nearly 70 years ago in my kindergarten class there was a girl named Elizabeth. She had a hanky pinned to the bodice of her dress, which we thought was kinda creepy, even though paper tissues weren't yet in everyday use. If this were 30 years later, she would have been bullied. But in those halcyon days, we simply shunned her when she'd walk up to ever girl and ask "Will you be my friend?" So it didn't always work. I wish I could remember how we really did make friends so easily. It's so hard now.
@Heidi Do you by chance know the date of the “Art Heist” puzzle?
A lovely puzzle for a cold, dank Monday. The HUMID days of Summer are a distant memory. I was reasonably GOBSMACKED to see GOBSMACKED in the NYT. I thought it was a purely North England expression! Well colour me happy.
@Helen Wright I’m not, considering that the NYT crowd is, or at least is expected to be, mostly well-read and urbane. What I’m surprised about is that there’s no alliterative geographical indicator included. Something like [Flabbergasted, in F—-]. But apparently, you don’t have any cities that begin with F. Maybe that’s why they didn’t do it that way.
@Helen Wright I've lived in various regions of the US and knew GOBSMACKED right off. Not sure where I first learned it though!
I knew GOBSMACKED right off too. I suspected it was originally U.K. I didn't realize it wasn't very old (for an English word), as per OED. <a href="https://www.oed.com/dictionary/gobsmacked_adj?tl=true" target="_blank">https://www.oed.com/dictionary/gobsmacked_adj?tl=true</a>
@Helen Wright I’m a Californian who has also lived in London and Chicago. Now I’m back home in California. GOBSMACKED is familiar to me also, maybe since childhood? But I’d say it does have a certain British ring to it.
Slightly crunchier than the usual Monday puzzle, which I'm all for. I am wondering if in the picture Sam put up are the ladies working on one of the Octillion Cotillion dresses left over from Sunday? Thanks Zhou.
@Vaer I read somewhere(nowhere) that Sam spends about an hour writing her column and ten hours scouring the archives for the perfect picture to accompany it. I am sincerely appreciative of her efforts. (Wasn't Octillion Cotillion Dresses a Katherine Heigl movie?)
This was great! Loved the theme. Thank you so much Zhou! Have a great Monday, y’all!! And a wonderful holiday week. 🦃
So most puzzles have their CHARMS for me; this one was pure reminiscence. LUCKY CHARMS, SILLY STRING and DUCK DUCK GOOSE were all part of my childhood. And GOBSMACKED which I got with just GO. And Bridge on the River KWAI, what a great movie. I’m from Wisconsin originally and OF COURSE Minnesotans could mess up something as simple as DUCK DUCK GOOSE. And to rub it in I’m going to point out that the Packers whipped the Vikings today.
@SP I wanted to add that I loved Zhou’s constructor notes, but she was stepping on a landmine mentioning the Art Heist puzzle. I loved it but if there’s a more polarizing puzzle to set off a firestorm in these comments, I can’t think of it.
@SP "Packers whipped the Vikings today". Boy, did they! It's not easy being a Vikings fan.
@SP please tell me you also think about Art Heist at least once a week??? surely i'm not the only one
@SP It wasn’t until I was almost 50 that I learned that the rest of the country played Duck Duck Goose while I grew up playing Duck Duck Grey Duck. I feel bad for the rest of the country and hope that in time they will come around ;) Great Monday puzzle! Thanks much
RUNS, SWAM, we only needed a BIKE and we'd have had a triathlon! Lovely puzzle!
I know I don't gripe about puzzles often, but I *finally* remember TREY and the crosses were so friendly I didn't need too. Darn it all!! Sorry, didn't mean to be so harsh! Har!! Really liked this one. Very cute theme! Lovely constructor notes, and I also loved the Escape Room puzzle! Easily filled from the crosses but I did not know the Jack was also called a KNAVE. I like that. Maybe I'll pretend to be pretentious sometime and start calling it that in my next high-stakes poker game. Okay, okay, the last time I played poker, we played for Lemon Heads candies. I can't remember the last time anyone thought I was pretentious. 🃏☺️🍋
@HeathieJ "The queen of hearts made some tarts"....remember that nursery rhyme? (The KNAVE heartlessly made off with them, I think.)
I thought this was a very nice crossword, not as easy for me as for some - never heard of LUCKY CHARMS and probably won't be adding this to my shopping list. As a child we had porridge every morning, which I didn't like, but too bad. With my children we were a team Weetabix-no-sugar household. I also had MUM for MOM and didn't realise for a while, not being familiar with poi or TARO. I learnt TREY last week. Small children just love DUCK, DUCK, GOOSE. As a child I played something similar - we sang while one walked around a circle: I sent a letter to my love And on the way I dropped it Someone must have picked it up And put it in their pocket I dree, I dree, I dree ...... (however long you wanted) I dropped it, and you dropped a piece of paper by someone and ran.
@Jane Wheelaghan You’re not missing anything with LUCKY CHATMS or any other oversweetened US children’s cereal.
@Jane Wheelaghan Growing up, we had only unsweetened cereals – except during the month of August, when we went on vacation (er, holiday) and my parents rented a house at the beach. My sister and I were allowed to get one sugary cereal each; inevitably we chose the ones with marshmallows, like Lucky Charms. Out of the box, the 'mallows were little nuggets of crunchy sweetness – but once softened in the milk, they became as bland and tasteless as the dull cereal they accompanied. Looking back, I swear it was those dietary diversions that cured me of ever wanting them in regular rotation!
I am surprised to find that "Art Heist" remains the benchmark for difficult Sunday puzzles (followed only by "A Shot in the Dark," I suppose"--I mean, it was tough, and clever, but there have been puzzles which were tougher and cleverer. For my part, I found Chandri Deitmer's "Star Search"--2021-07-25--to be clevererer than either. But now I want to spend the morning sitting pretty, eating Lucky Charms, and spraying our (fashionably mid-century-modern-furnished) apartment with Silly String. Boy, is my Partner going to love that! Thank You, Ms. Zhang!
@Bill If I had been clevererer myself, I would have written "For my part, I found Chandri Deitmer's "Star Search" to be the pole star for puzzle cleverness." Edit function.
@Bill You know, I meant to inquire: How is SILLY STRING a "toy"??? Is clay a toy? Is sand a toy? Pfft. (SILLY Putty --given to little brother by one of our uncles--went down in history as Worst Gift Ever in our Dad's memory. He never could get it out of the car's upholstery. Is SILLY STRING just putty by any other name?)
Enjoyable Monday. Filled in fairly smoothly, but I didn't catch on to the theme until I was almost done and stopped and pondered. That was a nice touch. Puzzle search today was inspired by our constructor's name. Wondered if there was ever an answer that contained two strings of "ZH". And, that led me to a puzzle that I'm sure most of us had done, but which of course I had completely forgotten. A Wednesday from September 3, 2025 in which ZHUZHUP was clued as 'Fancified' and also as a phonetic hint to the other theme answers in the puzzle, those being... TAMPABEIGE SKIPTOMYLUGE THEDEADSIEGE and BUCKAROUGE Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/3/2025&g=38&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/3/2025&g=38&d=A</a> I'm done.
@Rich in Atlanta Oh... and one more puzzle find, also inspired by a search for ZH. A Wednesday from April 11, 2007 by Bruce Adams. First three theme answers in that one were straightforwardly clued: BACHELORPARTIES MASTERBEDROOM DOCTORZHIVAGO (the one that led me there) And then the reveal: "Apt title for this puzzle." AMATTEROFDEGREE Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=4/11/2007&g=40&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=4/11/2007&g=40&d=A</a> ...
@Rich in Atlanta I thought of the ZHUZHUP puzzle, too.
In this era of constant fretting over microplastics everywhere, I find it oddly pleasant that someone could find the "plasticky scent" of SILLY STRING "comforting". Thanks, @Sam Corbin
@The X-Phile Someone mentioned Play Doh yesterday & I immediately remembered the ‘plasticky scent’ fondly.
@The X-Phile When I was a kid, we made flowers in art class by dipping bent wire into some kind of goo with a sharp, acrid odor. When later I taught arts & crafts at a day camp, the formula had been changed to something way less toxic – but I missed that old scent! (Shudder) Having never been up close and personal with silly string, I was surprised by @Sam Corbin's description!
A delightful Monday with great fill and clues and a fun theme. Obligatory Minnesotan comment that it should be duck duck gray duck, but we’ll let it slide. ;)
RIP Jimmy Cliff. You may not be 20 A any more, but I know you won’t be sitting in limbo for long. <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=54syxp5I8ys&list=RD54syxp5I8ys&start_radio=1&pp=oAcB" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=54syxp5I8ys&list=RD54syxp5I8ys&start_radio=1&pp=oAcB</a>
@Warren Thanks for posting such a great video. I've been busy today and hadn't heard. As is my custom when we lose a great artist, I'll cue up everything by him in my collection and have a memorial "concert".
I think I enjoyed Zhou Zhang’s constructor notes as much or more than the puzzle today. I got a big kick out of Zhou thinking about the Art Heist puzzle at least once a week! In my nearly six years of solving, that puzzle (which I loved) caused more drama and garnered more comments than any puzzle before or since.
@M. Biggen I went looking for a puzzle made by a constructor named Art Heist. The morning coffee must not be working.
Despite what it says in this puzzle and on the Lucky Charms website, the correct plural of “marbit” is just marbit. As one of the fundamental building-blocks of magical deliciousness, when marbit occur in nature they exist as a field of sugary energy. Final word on lucky charms: Yuckyuckgross. But I liked the puzzle.
@JohnWM During the long, cold winter when I was studying for my comps I discovered you can buy Lucky Charms marshmallows sans cereal, and I bought a one pound bag “to put in hot chocolate” but it wasn’t long before I was eating them by the handful. To this day I feel a little nauseous when I go down the cereal aisle, having marbit too close to the sun.
@JohnWM I'm sure when I step on a marbit, dropped onto the kitchen floor, my reaction is not to wonder whether the correct plural is "marbit" or "marbits."
@JohnWM I think you just need to Lego...
@JohnWM Breakfast cereals of my youth: Lucky Charms Sugar Smacks Count Chocula How could my dear mother have ever thought these could comprise a nutritious breakfast? Now shaddup and pass me a Frosted Pop Tart.
Loved this puzzle! Realized it had to do with ducks immediately, but I left the theme empty (and a good thing I did!) until the end. I thought it would be ducks in a row or something like that. But DUCK DUCK GOOSE was perfect. I had some laughs along the way and really had fun filling it in. I love Monday puzzles because, even though I'm retired, and the work I do on Mondays (volunteering in the ER) is entirely my choice, Monday still has that gloomy feel in the morning. The Monday puzzles like today's help to remind me I'm not commuting down I41 at 7:30 am, I'm taking my time to get there by noon, way after rush hour. And, bonus, I can always stop or leave or just quit because it's my choice. I love retirement. Back to the puzzle....SILLYSTRING is a "toy" I never enjoyed cleaning up, but loved watching it happen. I have never heard a jack referred to as a KNAVE, and, in fact, only have heard the word used as a pejorative. (TIL I learned how to spell pejorative.) Well, it's not a perfect puzzle until I learn something! As to the theme: I can remember sitting in kindergarten (we're talking in the 50s, people) sitting in a circle, playing the game, and not realizing that this is how Mrs. Clavell helped to break the ice for all of us first-timers (no nursery school or pre-K back then). We learned social skills and being a good loser. She learned who played well with others and who didn't communicate well. Today, they already know how to read and hide quietly in a closet.
Zhou, your puzzle is a great start to the week. Thanks so much. ETNA I experienced years ago in Italy. LUCKY CHARMS was a cereal I always pined for as a child. Your notes show what a wonderful person you are and you shared that in this magnificent puzzle. Thanks.
Perfect for a Monday! Easy, breezy, fun.
When I first moved to San Francisco I met a fellow Minnesotan who thought for sure I was a New Yorker and I insisted I grew up in Minneapolis (despite NY Jewish parentage). She turned and said, “Duck… Duck…” and I said “grey duck?” I didn’t even know it wasn’t a thing elsewhere!!!! (It was like those WW2 tests for German spies…) Years later it was on “who wants to be a millionaire” as the first, supposedly easiest bottom-rung question: “in the children’s game, what word follows “duck…Duck…”? And “Duck “ was one of the 4 choices (their answer: goose) but that would've been unfair if it were a Minnesotan contestant bec “duck” would’ve been technically a correct answer! Last night I got a text from a childhood friend who wrote, “I knew immediately you could not have written this Monday puzzle!” (I loved it tho! Brava, Ms Z!)
@Andrea Carla Michaels Wouldn’t the correct answer be “grey,” not “duck”? And why don’t you guys spell it “gray” like the rest of the country?
@Andrea Carla Michaels well i can't ask for anything more than to have the Queen of Mondays say something lovely about my Monday puzzle. 🥰 thanks for the kind words!!
My Minnesotan spouse is not going to like this theme.
Goodness! I started to enter CHILD in the 5Down slot, but caught it after the H was in the grid....so as the 6,7,8 DOWNS filled in, HUMOR appeared (which, being a real word, did not catch my eye, until the end of the puzzle (which, in my case, is always a haphazard, roundabout trip)...and CHATE was revealed as the SITTING (DUCK) made its appearance. Which is to say, easy solve except for the part where I was a SILLY GOOSE and confused Across and Down. This happens all the time to me. Getting Right and Left is always an iffy proposition, but usually I get Up and Down..TSK. I am working on a set of quilt blocks that use the same element arranged in four different directions... a very challenging state of affairs. Put me on the prayer list...
@Mean Old Lady I have faith, you'll get it all down pat and squared away.
@Mean Old Lady I pictured a dog napping by a nice, warm heating gRATE. Mom had a travel CRATE for her cats, but it was only used for long car trips.
Ah….. We Minnesotans object to the theme… Here it is pronounced Duck, Duck, Grey Duck. Don’t cha know? Aye? Oofdah!
Darren, The crossword is in The Times, not the Star Tribune.
Oh, and one more puzzle find. Don't recall another one like this either. A Sunday from January 2, 2005 by Patrick Merrell with the title: "What people might say before doing this puzzle." Six 21 letter theme answers: "The optimist" ICANSPAREEIGHTMINUTES "The pessimist" IWONTKNOWANYTHINGINIT "The self-hypnotist" ITSMAKINGMEVERYSLEEPY "The conformist" WHATDIDOTHERPEOPLESAY "The therapist" WHATIDSAYISNTTHEISSUE "The mentalist" NEXTWEEKSLOOKSTOUGHER Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/2/2005&g=23&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/2/2005&g=23&d=A</a> ...
@Rich in Atlanta So we're just upholding a grand tradition!
I just knew "gobsmacked" was going to come in handy some day!! 💃🏻🌟
Okay, duck duck goose is correct. Just going to say that Minnesotans are wrong on this one. I’m not from here, but gray duck just isn’t right. Also, it’s bag, not “bague” that rhymes with vague. I’ve lived here 25 years, and I still can’t stop hearing the accent. Ok Minnesotans, punch me down.
@Bill my wife has lost most of her accent since moving south 25 years ago, but the bag thing is still going strong.
@Bill Ha! I spent the first half my life in Wisconsin, so I can back you up on the duck, duck, goose argument! I don't really hear that bag vague distinction, at least among my friends. Although, full disclosure, the majority of my friends here are transplants as well. But don't push me on whether it's a casserole or hot dish! I'm Team Casserole all the way!
@Bill I must whole heartedly disagree. Although I do realize “bag” can be a challenge. Last time I was at a coffee shop in California asking for a bag, the barista couldn’t understand me and thought I wanted a bagel. Alas, I am proud of my dialect….and of gray duck.
@Bill Maybe it's because I've only been in Minnesota for 22 years, but I need someone to school me on both the "bag" thing and the "duck, duck, goose" thing. I am completely at sea concerning both of them.
Oh, and one more puzzle find. A Wednesday from March 20, 2019 by Erik Agard, Amanda Chung and Karl Ni. Theme clues and answers: "*Insomniac's complaint" ICANTSLEEPAWINK "*Leaving dirty dishes on the counter, say" KITCHENSIN "*Sexy detective" HOTPI "*Works like an anti-aging serum" MAKESYOUTH And the reveal: Liquid evidenced by the answers to this puzzle's starred clues? : DISAPPEARINGINK Here's that L(ink): <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/20/2019&g=16&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/20/2019&g=16&d=A</a> ....
"Jennifer Juniper rides a DAPPLEd mare" is now in my head. It's probably where I learned that DAPPLE was a horse coat pattern. Cute theme and nice notes from Zhou. I, too, think of "Art Heist" every Sunday. Just hoping...
@Nancy J. "Over the river and through the woods.... Step high, my DAPPLE-gray....." My favorites for the Derby (and any other horse race) are always the grays.... but DAPPLED is not really the same as 'spotted'--which was the clue. Ah, well. The double P's for a second made me think APPALOOSA, but No.
@Nancy J. I got no deeds to do No promises to keep I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep Let the morning time drop all its petals on me Life, I love you All is groovy The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) Simon and Garfunkel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-8RljXFSzI" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-8RljXFSzI</a>
Great construction! Clever theme and clues!
First thought at 5D was also animal abduction. Nice one. Thanks
Great puzzle and great column today…wonderful way to begin a week! Thank you nyt and Zhou Zhang!👏👏👏🫶🏻
And another puzzle find. This one mostly just because it's a reminder of some of the quite different uses of strings of letters in various words in the English language. Four rebuses in this. I'll post the down and across answers with the rebus circled. ELT(RAIN)S EST(RAIN)NINGS RE(WIND)S LAUNCH(WIND)OW TEARA(SUN)DER T(SUN)AMI SL(ICE)DBREAD C(ICE)RO Here's the link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=12/23/2020&g=63&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=12/23/2020&g=63&d=A</a> ....
@Rich in Atlanta Whoops - sorry. That second one should be: EXT(RAIN)NINGS ....
Never played duck duck goose… my daughter did twenty years ago. In my neighborhood growing up in the 1960s, we played Duck on a Rock. I just googled that for the first time in my life. Goodness, it really existed, not a weird invention of my neighborhood in Oakland, CA. Maybe led to basketball.
I found this unpleasantly difficult for a Monday. To me it felt like a Tuesday/Wednesday, and I was very close to giving up and revealing stuff in the SE corner. Also, clueing LUCKY CHARMS as a cereal rather than, well, actual charms, is the perfect example of how these puzzles can be way more difficult for us foreigners than for Americans (I swear, if somebody complains *this* is a complaint, I'll think less of them. I'm just stating a fact) Why is an AIDE a *classroom* helper, specifically? I know what an aide is, or so I thought, but I've never heard of it in this context. Or maybe... I seem to know the term "teaching aid" (akin to a hearing aid) - is it really "teaching aide"? Or is this about something else completely? I don't get the CRATE clue. It's mentioned in the tricky clues, but without any sort of explanation. Help a clueless Pole out? I was once told here, I think, what DUCK DUCK GOOSE was, but of course I no longer remember...
@Andrzej A teaching "aid" tends to be an inanimate object (like a blackboard). A teaching "AIDE" is a classroom assistant, i.e. somewhat less inanimate - for some reason, we use the French word for that. Though I can't say I ever went to a school that actually had the budget for more than one teacher in a class.. As for CRATE, that's the metal cage thingy that many people train their dogs to go to bed in. Not sure why it's called a crate, I always associate crates with wood and carrying cargo. Maybe "crate" just sounds nicer than "cage"!
@Andrzej back when I was in the 2nd grade our class poached the extra teacher from the other 2nd grade class next door and from what I remember she was always referred to as a teacher's aide.
@Andrzej An aide is a person. An aid is a thing. So a teaching aid would be something like a poster, a material, an example, but a teaching aide would be a position. Some indoor dogs have crates, which are similar to a doghouse but for inside the house. Some crates are cagelike and have hatches that owners can lock to double as transport. Duck Duck Goose is a children's game in which one person is "it" and taps the other players, who are seated on the ground in a circle, and calling "duck" until they choose one to be "goose", runs around the circle to avoid being tagged by the "goose", and steals their spot in the circle. Lastly, while I understand your frustration with localized clues as a foreigner, I hope you'll find such incidences as opportunities to expand your American trivia knowledge. As a Asian Californian, I can feel rather annoyed by the occasional Yiddish clue.
@Andrzej as to the CRATE clue, it's a red herring meant to make you think of a place where a dog would get "napped" (portmanteau of "dog" and "kidnapped") but the answer CRATE is a place where dogs sleep
Thank you all. So basically, I was confused by stuff I generally knew. Unimagined a teaching aide might be a person who helps the teacher, sure, but having attended several schools over many years I've never seen one, and I also heard American schools are underfunded, so I couldn't imagine an aide working there's beside a teacher. Jorge the Lab had two CRATEs (apparently) as a puppy, and he actually liked them. But c'mon, they were cages, not crates... As for DUCK DUCK GOOSE, it's quite interesting how it's not a thing here. Many games children play are known everywhere around the world, if under different names. As described by @Laura, I've never heard of a game akin to DUCK DUCK GOOSE over here though. I enjoy learning about some aspects of American life and culture with the help of these puzzles, but I will never begin caring about brands and product names (be they American, Polish or Malinese).
@Andrzej Very few classes have teacher's aides, mostly due to funding and lack of availability, since their pay is much worse than the woefully underpaid teachers. However, they're mandated by law in many states and school districts for special education classes.
@Andrzej Pet owners adopted the term CRATE instead of "cage", I suppose, because cage sounded inhumane, as if the pet-owner were sending the poor animal to prison. However, as you seem to know, if a dog is properly trained, it views its CRATE as its semi-private room in the house, somewhere that it feels contained and safe, but still in contact with the world around it.
This puzzle felt like it filled itself :) Very welcome boost for the week! Did anyone solve "Arena for a drag race? (5,6)" from yesterday's Constructor Notes? What an amazing crossword that one was too - beautiful!