Every year, around this time, I remember to be thankful. I am thankful for puzzles. These wonderful conundrums allow me to pause and explore truth, beauty, and knowledge. I have always enjoyed the mental gymnastics required to unravel such enigmas, and reading the comments here reminds me I am less alone in my pursuit. Puzzles are alive and well. I am thankful for the constructors themselves. Solving, and appreciating, a crossword is like beholding a radiant canvas, painted by artists who decided to share their gifts with the world (just don't give them the brush-off; that wouldn't be palette-able). I am encouraged by the creativity of these cruciverbalists and the hope and delight they provide. I am thankful for the columnists here who reflect upon these puzzles and help shape this special community. Moreover, I am thankful for writers everywhere who remind us of our humanity and encourage us regularly to lead with peace, grace, and love. I am thankful for wordplay, whether well-worn or punderated. I would even go see a performance on the history of lexicography; that would really be a play on words. And I am thankful for all of you and for how much love and kindness exists in this humble space. I exhort you to continue to brighten the world however you feel called. Empathy can still be cool. With best wishes for a happy holiday season, filled with plenty of pie and puzzles! Mike (PS: Please pass the rolls! I feel butter already.)
Thanks, Mike. P.S.: I knew you couldn't pass up a pun in the P..S
@Mike Well said and I am thankful for you as well
@Mike Nice. Even touches this grinch's heart, a little.
@Mike I yam overcome. I cranberry contain my gratitude for your kind words, much less for your clever buns. Here's to you, Mike, and thank you for all the fun you give us, day after day. 🥂
@Mike - I am thankful for the puns from Mike of Munster. I am thankful for Barry Ancona keeping us on the straight and narrow. I am thankful for the Polish perspective from Andrej. I am thankful for the commenters - regulars and occasionals alike. I am thankful for HeathieJ my erstwhile East Troy neighbor. And I am thankful for easy rebuses.
@Mike Thank you for another pun-filled year. I wish you a happy holiday season, too.
@Mike Am thankful for you. You put the 'pun' in 'Turducken'. . . . . . ??*puzzled looks* ?? . . . . It was a pun. . . . . ¿¿*more puzzled looks*?? . . . Er, a palindrome? . . . *furrowed eyebrows everywhere* . . OK, a non-sequitur!! That's the word! . . Anyway, have a happy Thanksgiving. Really nice post today, and really am thankful for your puntributions.
@Mike Ditto! As always, the voice of season.
@Mike thank you for the daily punniness. You bring laughter to our lives and I really appreciate you.
@Mike You couldn't have said it better! We look for your puns daily and love this community. One, two, and three. May we treasure our holidays and puzzles. Especially the Mega Puzzle!
My nerdy family tree has square roots. (Some parts are real; some parts are imaginary. It's really complex.)
@Mike Bet it did a number on you growing up...
@Mike your nerdy family tree is drawn from the set of arboreal numbers
@Mike Here's a radical idea: in Wisconsin, we could make cheese surds.
@Mike May your circle be unbroken!
MY FIRST SUCCESSFUL REBUS! So happy
@Mina nothing like the feeling of that first rebus solve 🥰 Congratulations!
@Mina Congratulations, former neighbor! Rebuses can be fun once you get used to them. Happy solving, and happy Thanksgiving!
You should be very proud of yourself, @Mina. It's like you began at the top of the rebus solving pyramid. As a rebus lover, I can assure you: This was NOT an easy rebus! All rebuses are trick puzzles, but this trick puzzle had a second trick. And the 2nd trick was well camouflaged by the first theme answer(s). So if you solved this one -- you have a distinguished rebus-solving career ahead of you. I hope you come to love them as much as I do.
Today's puzzle is #2500 in my streak. And that's a square. Coincidence? I don't think so.
@Art of the fudge congratulations! Quite the feat! We are at #1965 today,,,if all goes well, we will hit #2000 on New Years!
@Art of the fudge congratulations on your long streak!! Very impressive 🤩
@Art of the fudge and in the year 45^2 to boot. Nice work.
@Art of the fudge With zero assistance? I guess I think people should add that they don’t even use “check puzzle“. Nothing.
@Art of the fudge, Congratulations! That is one long streak! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
On one hand, the execution of the theme was brilliant, especially the cross of Earth Re-entry and Saturnine (for a sec I was looking for some phrase that had eighty-one imbedded in it). On the other, the cluing and the fill felt oddly uneven, with several in the gimme variety (Elba, for example, or Yabba) -- Mon-Tues level, and then there was Krebs Cycle. The shortstop clue echoed one we encountered In a very recent puzzle, and so lost its novelty -- hardly its own fault; I lay that one at the feet of the editors. But the theme was so beautifully done! Glad I didn't have to enter both numbers in that circle to get the gold, that would have been tedious, especially since I'm no fast worker. These days a lucky scientist is one who a) hasn't had their grant canceled, b) is still employed, c) hasn't been deported, d) doesn't work for, or rely on, the CDC, EPA, FDA, NIH or NSF...
@john ezra Great comment on who lucky scientists are. My great fear is that the answer is "the retired ones".
@john ezra Let's wait until we hear what Andrzej has to say about ELBA, YABBA, and SHORTSTOP.
I would also add that its more likely that a discoverer is not a lucky scientist so much as a hard working one. Case in point is Hans Krebs and others whose years of painstaking measurement and experimentation led to the description of the eponymous cycle.
Speaking of squaring the circle, we just completed 25,000 nautical miles at sea while sharing a 300 square foot space for eight years. Proof that all a pirate needs is a stout vessel and a trusted first mate! Arrgh! Happy Thanksgiving! 🦜🏴☠️🥧
@Captain Kidnap Welcome home, Sailor. What an achievement! The world has changed since you first put out to sea. I assume the "stoutness" included a lot of electronic equipment that had to be kept dry. Did you have to navigate around any typhoons or hurricanes? Could you trust weather forecasts? Any trouble with satellite connections?
@Captain Kidnap wow! Now that is quite the feat. Color me impressed. I think we would all love to hear about your experience!!
@Al in Pittsburgh We are slaves to the weather and do whatever the weather tells us to. That includes staying in port when things are foul at sea. When at sea in the midst of a maelstrom we heave to and let the weather pass on its merry way. Perhaps the best sailing lesson is, toss your ego overboard, Mother Nature doesn't care what you think!
@Jacqui J When we hang up our sea boots I plan to convert our blog into a book. Standby all hands!
@Captain Kidnap, Bravo, Cap’n! Congratulations on your epic journey!
It's a good thing Deb didn't have to write the column today. We know she was told there would be no math.
First Thanksgiving without my husband. We would have been married 43 years ago yesterday. We got married on Black Friday to give ourselves a weekend “honeymoon” at home. Tiny wedding, second for both of us. Cost at most $500. Celebrating quietly with my daughter. So this puzzle was a fun diversion. Didn’t get theme until almost the end, but I grinned when it clicked. SATURNINE is in my vocabulary, but not used much (AT ALL!) in my everyday conversation. I thought, NATURE?? MATURE?? The aha moment was very satisfying. So, perhaps TMI, but I needed to spill, and I feel like I know many of you. I’m grateful for the years I had with Harvey, and for the loved ones who remain — and for this group. Happy Thanksgiving.
@Christine I'm so sorry. First holidays after a passing are very tough. Be kind to yourself.
Christine, I am so sorry that Harvey isn’t with you today. All days are hard when you’ve lost your life partner, but the holidays must be the hardest. Sending Thanksgiving-colored thoughts your way from the other side of the world, and wishing you peace—and more random grins over crossword puzzles. Hugs, Sam
@Christine We are thankful we are a community--more than a list of Comment-writers. Holding you up in thought, pulling for you in these hard days, believing in your strength to go on.
@Christine How bittersweet your note is. How fortunate you were to share over 4 decades with your Harvey and to be able to share your memories with your daughter. In my experience, the loss never stops hurting but you learn to live with the hurt, and other parts of your life become more immediate. I wish you the best of life ahead and the sweetest memories of life past.
@Christine Having lost a spouse in the past, I know that holidays can be especially tough to get through. And I know that unloading that burden by sharing can bring returns that can help ease those feelings. Best wishes to you, and glad you have loved ones to share the memories of the one you lost.
@Christine, I’m sorry for what you were going through on Thursday. There is so much truth in the comments that have been given here. It is a hard experience to go through. I’m glad that you could be with your daughter. Pain shared is pain divided, happiness shared is happiness multiplied.
I knew that someday all the painful hours I spent memorizing the KREBSCYCLE for AP biology would come in handy.
Lin, Yeah, but at the time they didn’t seem so impressed that all I could remember was the name. No gold star or nuthin.
@Lin Me too. I saw the clue and thought they would never put KREBS CYCLE in the puzzle. Then it fit.
Just want to chime in and say that I really enjoyed this puzzle. It's exactly what I look forward to for a Thursday challenge.
I’d put AOLER in the same category as ETAIL as words that only exist in crosswords.
I wouldn't. <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/AOLer" target="_blank">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/AOLer</a>
@Robert Forbes I hear etail. I never hear AOLer
@Robert Forbes I wouldnt, either. "Hey fella, I bet you're still livin' in your parents' cellar Downloadin' pictures of Sarah Michelle Gellar And postin' 'Me too!' like some brain-dead AOL-er I should do the world a favor and cap you like Old Yeller You're just about as useless as JPEGs to Helen Keller --"Weird Al" Yankovic, "It's All About the Pentiums," 1999
Wiktionary is one step above "I heard some guy say AOLer on the bus."
This was a fine puzzle with some nice clues and a twisted rebus. I got taken in by the fact that the two parts of the first rebus were ONE and the same, not two different numbers, and didn’t catch on to the squaring concept until I got the revealer. WISHBONEFORMATION was a gimme for me, as were the other sports clues, although it took me some time to get SHORTSTOP (great clue) because I had vee instead of HEE for a bit. TIL what the KREBSCYCLE is. I just want to wish all of my puzzling friends and colleagues the happiest of Thanksgivings. It’s my favorite holiday because it’s all about food, family and friends and provides a noncommercial respite before the frenzy of the December holidays. With my daughter, her husband and our grandson living in Scotland, and my wife’s family in Missouri, California and Florida, it will be a quiet one for us, but we are fortunate to be able to share it with a dear friend whose family is not available to him this year.
@Marshall Walthew Thank *you* for being such a consistent and important contributor to Wordplay, sharing with us your musical knowledge and experiences. I wish you, your wife, and your friend a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!
@Marshall Walthew Almost everything you said could have come out of my mouth (well, fingers). We don't have anyone living in Scotland, but we live far from my siblings, so we're spending the holiday with our good friends in Santa Fe. Happy Thanksgiving to you and everyone else in the Wordplay community!
@Marshall Walthew when I saw the clue for WISHBONEFORMATION, I couldn't quite remember what it was called, but knew it made me think of turkeys, and thus expected there would be a Thanksgiving theme...
ONE was the first rebus I filled in, which led me to believe that the other rebuses would work for across and down – what a terrific misdirect! I see from earlier comments that I was not alone. I am one who has trouble saying RAWER once, let alone five times fast. I liked the backward subtheme, with a backward SODA to go with “Coke-versus-Pepsi”, a backward GAH to go with OLD, and a backward ELBA to go with FAST WORKER. Serendipity at its finest. Alexander’s notes gave me a highly worthwhile TIL – Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the prestigious Fields Award, the highest honor in mathematics, and the first Iranian to do so. I found the Wikipedia article on her to be very inspiring. Here’s something you don’t see very often in a symmetrical grid – and it’s because of the theme – one answer each of length 12, 13, 15, and 17. So, Alexander, you brought me many extras on top of a splendid solve, for which I’m most grateful. Thank you!
@Lewis If you're not a mathematician you missed your calling.
@Lewis and 12, 13, 15 and 17 are all elements of two different pythagorean triples! too soon?
@Lewis The squares went over my head, too, until I saw the revealer. After I had ONE, then TWO/FOUR, I kept insisting the last one had to be THREE/FIVE. I finally go the music, though.
@Lewis I think when I say them, RAWER and ROAR come out as homophones. But for some, ROAR would be the same as ROWER. And maybe some speakers would separate RAWER into distinct syllables or instead of a diphthong, perhaps with a glottal between the RAW and the -ER?
Ella Fitzgerald, Idris ELBA, LEMON TARTS, and double rebuses. What's not to love? Peace to all.
@Vaer Happy Thanksgiving! This is not post-2000. It’s from Joan Armatrading’s SQUARE THE CIRCLE album: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gh3GOvvP-E" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gh3GOvvP-E</a>
@P'mucker Same to you. Thanks for the song. I was contemplating posting one of the versions of ONE, but couldn't decide on Three Dog Night, Harry Nilson or Aimee Mann, but ultimately decided it was just too depressing a song for the day.
Ways I plan to use this puzzle during tomorrow’s Friendsgiving (my favorite holiday): Pies and more pies: all that sugar blasting through the old KREBS CYCLE! Pies of course fit the theme here because pi are squared. LEMON TARTS? Just another way to do Pie. Saving “I FEEL YA” for my pals groaning over too much pie.
@Cat Lady Margaret Best themed comment ever!!
Time to batten down the hatches and fire up the hurricane lamps. I suspect villagers with pitchforks and torches are on the way. Let them come. I liked it. I thought it was a great idea, and well executed. Nobody can harsh my buzz...oh, who am I kidding...I have no buzz left. Thank you, Mr. Liebeskind.
@Francis Yep we will get some critiques today that will top Roger Ebert yesterday. But admit it, KREBSCYCLE was probably a gimme for you, no?
Oddly enough—or Jungianly enough? I suppose this is synchronicity—I was reading about Saturn last night. I’m in the middle of ‘The Colossus of Maroussi,’ and just a few hours ago I closed the book before going to bed right after Henry Miller’s long philippic on the poor planet. He was detailing his impressions of seeing it through the telescope of an observatory in 1939 Athens: “When seen through a magnifying lens, [Saturn is] impressive to the layman in a way which the scientist must instinctively deplore and deprecate. No facts or figures about Saturn, no magnification, can explain the unreasonably disquieting sensation which the sight of this planet produces upon the mind of the spectator.” Miller then goes on—and on—to detail the particulars of his “disquieting sensation.” I didn’t want to quote the full paragraph here because, well, it’s Henry Miller and chaste as this book of his happens to be, his reflections of Saturn are a bit depressing. But oh, so spellbinding, too, because, well, it is Henry Miller. If you’d like to read the rather long paragraph, I found it quoted in its entirety here in an archive of an old Seattle radio station: <a href="https://www.krabarchive.com/ralphmag/GH/saturn-miller-reading.html" target="_blank">https://www.krabarchive.com/ralphmag/GH/saturn-miller-reading.html</a> I wasn’t sure I was going to like the puzzle because the initial down clues across the top all solved like a Monday, but then Thursdayness happened, accompanied by really interesting entries in the rest of the grid—and I loved it. Happy Tofurkey Day, everyone!
@Sam Lyons Wow! That’s the funniest thing I’ve read in ages. And did you just use the word phillipic?! Happy Tofurky Day!
AOLER? Is this what we’ve come to?
@Julia Yeah I’m not a fan of that kind of strained coinage.
@Julia Perhaps, but I've worked with many IBMers who freely used that term many years ago. It's not some newfangled desecration of the English language. Probably requires an initialism that ends in a consonant. FBIer and CIAer lack euphony. Besides, they already have G-men and Spooks.
Julia, I heard that those early internet users reappropriated the term, and called themselves a ‘oles (or aolers) with pride. (See? Having come to *this* makes having come to that seem not so bad!)
@Julia It’s valid. Us AOLers of course had to distinguish ourselves from those low-class MSNers.
This may have been the first time I correctly spotted (and figured out) the rebus, so that was exciting! 3D had me imagining an alternative world in which the disco ball was DISCOVERED by some lucky inventor with a penchant for partying. His name? DISCOdEREk
As I stated yesterday, I loved this puzzle. Loved loved loved loved loved this puzzle. Loved it. I am ever so grateful to Alexander as well as all constructors for providing my favorite pastime each day. And I truly look forward to this forum everyday. Happy Thanksgiving, Crosslandia 🥰
@Jacqui J i feel the very same way. theres something seriously wrong with us.
LOVED how clever this one was, thankful for finally being able to grasp a Thursday puzzle without hints… for once 🥲
Welcome, Ms Kagan. It's lovely to see you here and hopefully for a long and distinguished tenure. We may get fractious (rarely) but we all love solving. Why else would we be here? Just don't ask what the plural of OCTOPUS is, ans you'll be fine.
@SBK Is the plural of octopus controversial? It shouldn’t be…. Greek root, Greek suffix: octopuses.
@SBK Rumor has it that a scoundrel is going to shout the word "octopi" at a crowded ACPT event, causing wrack and ruin and general devastation.
I've come to enjoy this comment section almost as much as a rebus-filled Thursday puzzle. It's a very small thing. But when you square a small thing it grows exponentially and the product is a rich life. I'm so thankful for clever constructors, the NYT, and the people who appreciate them too.
@Sheridyn Couldn’t agree more. As I was solving I kept thinking “This comment section is going to be a fun read.”
I am totally enamored with this puzzle. The rebuses were a blast and I love that one was included as its own square. Not to mention lots of great fill. This was a delight and so satisfying to solve.
For those wondering what this puzzle has to do with Thanksgiving, it’s obvious. SATURNINE means “glum” which is sandwiched by the same letters in “grim”, the ending to “Pilgrim”. Duh! And wishes for a splendid Thanksgiving to all in the tribe here, for whom I'm extraordinarily grateful.
@Lewis happy Thanksgiving! 🦃🍽
@Lewis May the shimmer of glowing times well spent feed your solving soul. My favorite five Thanksgiving words: Happy Healthy Safe Peaceful Kind
@Lewis Up here in the about-to-be snowy north, Thanksgiving was last month. But every day can be Thanksgiving, so thank you all -- columnists, editors, constructors, solvers (would-be or triumphant) and even the much reviled emus!
I'm extremely thankful for this clever crossword, and for this wonderful community! However, on the off-chance that Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday again next year, I'd like to see a puzzle with TURKEY in all the rebus squares using all the common phrases that contain that word. To wit: DecaTUR KEYring. DecaTUR KEYboard. I gave a non sequiTUR KEYnote speech to the American Absurdists And Octopi Association Of America, and boy are my arms tired. Why is AtaTURK EYeing me like a custard-filled turnip? Is thaT UR KEY lime pie in the banana hammock or are you just happy to see me? And of course the revealer would be AC/DC's classic chart-topper "Daddy's Got a Turkey in the Oven(Let's not Baste It)". Happy Turkey Day, y'all!!
@ad absurdum It appears you've already started your construction -- I look forward to seeing your name in next year's T-Day crossword byline!🦃😉
This was a fabulous puzzle. I'll even forgive AOLER. Using ONE as one of the rebuses was a nicely confusing trick. I had promptly put in WISHBONE and left the rest blank. A few crossers later, I realized it was WISHB(ONE)FORMATION, and (ONE)DGE worked great, so I promptly solved YEARO(FOUR)LORD, but couldn't figure out the across. Same with SATUR(NINE). Down nailed, but couldn't figure out the across. Then the penny (nickel???) dropped with the revealer. Or maybe in the admittedly overdue currency overhaul, the I should thank the revealer for the dime?
I am thankful for rebi, math, the KREBS CYCLE, Alexander Liebeskind, Eleanor Kagan (loved “Ask Me Another”) and Joan Armatrading, whose SQUARE THE CIRCLE contains “True Love,” which is what I’m most thankful for: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTVin57Zkus" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTVin57Zkus</a> Keep loving one another . . .
@Puzzlemucker Joan Armatrading! Thank YOU for the reminder of this wonderful singer and great song. Keep sharing the joy!
I love a rebus puzzle! A double rebus? Double the fun! As for the rebus haters, I say, "Give 'em time. They'll learn to love them, too." But I pity the poor NYT techies, who have to figure out in advance all the way we solvers are going to try to put the rebi into the grid. Still, with a number-rebus, it would've been nice if we could've put in numbers. And it would've made the finished puzzle that much prettier. Hey! No complaints on Thanksgiving. Instead, it's time to be grateful! And I am grateful for the puzzle, for its constructors and editors, and for this, our extended Wordplay family. Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!
LOVED this!!! I've come to enjoy rebuses when there's some kind of revealer, and I'm a math nerd at heart, so this was right up my alley. It's rare for me to get a Thursday with no lookups but that happened today. So satisfying. Thankful for this brilliant puzzle! Happy Thanksgiving crossworld <3
I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, double rebuses are just plain mean. On the other hand, there was a good sense of flow, some really good long words, and some damn good cluing. Well done.
@Red Carpet But it wasn't a double rebus? It was a regular rebus, to be interpreted two ways.
Mr Liebeskind provides a graceful acknowledgement to Maryam Mirzakhani, the great Iranian mathematician who was the first woman to win the Fields Medal. She died age 40. Her story is told in the lovely documentary, 'Algebra's Daughter' (2019). I remember seeing it then and my recollection is that it's pretty non-mathist friendly. If you can find it, watch it.
@SBK Thanks for that tip! I love documentaries on mathematicians. That sentence was true no matter how sarcastic it sounds.
@SBK I also loved the mention of Maryam Mirzakhani. I'm not a mathematician by absolutely any stretch of the imagination, but she's always been an inspiration to me. What she did in her 40 years is more than most of us could do in 40 lifetimes.
I have a small bone to pick with the coder(s) of today's puzzle - I wish the 4mation would have allowed digits in the squared circles. Oh well... Happy Thanksg151ng!
@Jonathan, that is how I filled it out at first: 11, 24, and 39.
@Jonathan Paper and pen. You get to do it any way you wish. As PhysicsDaughter just said, "It's not like you were asked to solve integrals!" (I, myself, am grateful for that!)
My first time spotting a rebus and inserting the rebus - for SATURNINE - no less. A word I've never used but somehow knew. I also somehow knew about KREBS, another word I've never used. Such a good crossword! Sending Thanksgiving wishes to my niece and her family in Elon, North Carolina. I hope one day to spend it with them.
@Jane Wheelaghan That’s where my family is as well, in Elon! Happy Thanksgiving!
Wow! Science and rebus united. Got dinged by emus, so will try again The key parts of the Krebs-Rebus cycle: A series of panicked reactions that break down winning streaks to generate energy carriers (HUH? , SNAFU, NO WAY! U2?) and release FE SEES as a solver-generated posting product. It begins when a puzzle molecule (Across Down) joins multiple molecules to start the Krebs-Rebus cycle, which then goes through Dante's circles of infernal reactions to produce highly active oppositional subscibers and regenerates the fourth-day-of-the-week choler molecule for the next round. Further research is needed. And yes, this little solver has made her homemade pumpkin pie filling, piecrusts, and cranberry sauce, loves a good Rebus, and wishes everyone a safe and peaceful holiday.
It amuses me whenever NYT crossword clues refer to AOL users as "early" users of the internet. The Internet started in 1983 (ARPANET in 1969), and AOL users didn't have meaningful access to it until 1995. I had been using it for a few years by then, (and didn't consider myself an early user), so I remember when the unwashed masses of unsophisticated AOL users were heralded as the beginning of the end of the Internet. A pedantic bit of old-timerism, but if I can't indulge in that here, where can I? Usenet is no more ....
@Yabanci Yep. I started my internet career in the late 80s using command-line connections and seach engines. AOL was actually a late-comer, although I suppose it was a necessary step to get out of the university computer lab.
@Yabanci The internet only really became commercially available to the average user in the mid-90s so IMO AOL-ers were early (mainstream) adopters 🤷🏽
@Yabanci, I also used the internet for work and play before AOL came on the scene. I remember getting the free install disks that came with a short intro subscription. For reasons I no longer remember, I resisted joining up. I was probably offended by the commercialism of something I thought of as pure. But I eventually gave in and used an AOL email address until GMail came along (I switched in September, '04.) It has been an interesting couple of decades.
I’ll put myself in the positive category for this one; I enjoyed it, but I’ll have some sympathy for the naysayers. WISHBONEFORMATION is a pretty arcane sports term, although gettable from the clue; KREBSCYCLE a pretty arcane biochemical term, and only gettable from the crosses if you aren’t familiar—but pretty fair crosses except maybe for ODEON which is bread and butter to experienced cruciverbalists but maybe not to newer solvers. And, there’s math. But I thoroughly enjoyed the theme and thought the theme entries were fresh and interesting. I LOVED the misdirect that the first rebus was the same up and down but not the others; that absolutely sold the puzzle for me. And for all you rebus haters out there, that’s cool, but if your issues are technical I say again, don’t try to shove “three/nine” in the circle or whatever, just put in one number and do the rest in your head, it’ll save you a headache and eye strain.
@SP The first square (being ONE) totally tricked me! Feeling smugly confident, I blithely entered rebus numbers, but it didn't make sense. I got YEAROFOURLORD, but got totally stuck on -ASFOURR-ER. Eh?? Then I spent a second thinking about the revealer at 57A, and finally the light bulb went on. Love that!
@SP yes, these obscure crosses killed the puzzle for me. Shame. Its a good theme.
@SP The KREBS CYCLE is high school biology, or at least it was back in the dark ages when I was in high school.
@SP I got WISHBONE FORMATION partially just from realizing there might be a nod to American Thanksgiving owing to the date of the puzzle and the extra information provided in the clue.
I enjoyed this, even if I found it a bit too easy with the circles. Personally I think it would have been a more fitting Thursday challenge if we were required to find the rebus spots ourselves. Some of the trivia I had to get from crosses but no lookups were necessary. Well, ok, I did use Google to check one thing once I had filled the grid only to be presented with the "So close" pop-up: Not knowing American football I had entered fISHB(ONE)FORMATION. Of course, the cross of RAfER looked weird, but I've seen stranger words in NYT puzzles (Wordle defeated me once with the word "primp", which looks like a letter salad to me - unlike the town of Szczebrzeszyn or the illness rzeżączka 🤣). Still, knowing I had an error somewhere, I went back to that spot. I stared at RAfER and the clue "More cold and wet". Nothing came to me, and I still liked fISHBONE... I was so stumped I actually googled the formation in the end. WISHBONE... D'oh! Still, I don't like that clue for RAWER. Is it about steak? If not, what? And if it is about steak, that's the most unappetizing way to describe a rare one that I've seen in my life.
@Andrzej Raw is a weather description, generally meaning that it's cold and wet outside. So RAWER is describing weather that is colder and wetter than another location or time.
@Gregg Wow, ok. Thanks! How have I never encountered or remembered this in almost 40 years of learning English? 😮 "Surowa/surowy/surowe" (feminine/masculine/neuter) is "raw" in Polish, and we use it much as you do. However, it is never a weather descriptor. We can speak of a *climate* as "surowy", meaning it's harsh, but not of the *weather*. Interesting.
@Matt Yeah, I'm not saying that's not the case, but at the same time it's really hard to accept essentially the same word having a subtly different meaning in two languages I speak. There is something borderline uncanny about it.
@Andrzej I found this online about the history and meaning of a wishbone. Very interesting. I remember as a kid we used to fight over which of us two out of three would get to break the wishbone. <a href="https://symbolsage.com/wishbone-meaning" target="_blank">https://symbolsage.com/wishbone-meaning</a>/
@Times Rita I remember how clueless I was when I first saw a wishbone being pulled in an American cartoon, probably 35 or more years ago. The custom is completely unknown here. Over the years I learned what it meant. Thanks for reminding me with the link 🙂
i’ve never commented before, but this was such a quick & elegant solve for me that i feel obligated to thank the constructor - this theme is definitely in the ranking for my favorite puzzle yet ! i caught on pretty quickly with 9D, and when i put the Q in 57A something clicked in my brain. looking forward to more puzzles (& more math-y puzzles in general !) from this constructor; off to do their old ones now :)
Great Thursday puzzle! Fantastic idea for a theme and rebus!
Very nice. I got the theme quickly enough, and then I realized it wasn't sufficient to help me solve, and I got angry at Alexander Liebskind and at myself, but mostly at Alexander Liebskind, but then I realized it was the depth of my understanding that was insufficient, and through this realization it became sufficient, and my love for Alexander Liebskind grew by leaps and bound.
Fun theme, but I really really HATE it when the biggest challenge to a puzzle is having to try out multiple ways of filling in the dang rebus to get the software to accept it. Does it want both numerals? Just the one you get by squaring? Numerals or spelled out? There's nothing fun about that, it's just irritating. Spoils the effect. Could you maybe code it to accept all of the above?
@WilliamB Pen and Paper, buddy! Although it really was hard to squeeze the whole words in there... (I just used numerals..) Of course, I have never heard of a WISHBONE FORMATION, which sounds like it would hurt.
@MoL It was used more in College football, which is why I thought they'd know it. I can't explain it. I just know I always heard it being talked about when watching bowl games.
Well SATUR(3)^2 is a new word for me.
@Dave K. "Saturnine" always confused me. How could a planet with such a mind-blowingly beautiful set of rings be anything but joyous?
Thanks for mentioning Maryam Mirzakhani. What a life! Gone too soon.
Very, very clever. This is the kind of trickiness I love in a Thursday puzzle.
I am thankful for rebi, math, the KREBS CYCLE, Alexander Liebeskind, Eleanor Kagan (loved “Ask Me Another”) and Joan Armatrading, whose album SQUARE THE CIRCLE contains “True Love,” which is what I am most thankful for: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTVin57Zkus" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTVin57Zkus</a> Keep loving one another . . .
@Puzzlemucker Why is this iteration getting fewer Reccos than the other one?