That was unusually difficult for a Tuesday.
@Jim M Glad to know it wasn't just me! I'm typically a pretty fast solver (personal best for a Tuesday is 3:05), but this took me just over double that amount of time — this really should have been a Thursday puzzle.
@Jim M I see many many people agree with you, but I finished in my Tuesday average time.
This is easily the hardest Tuesday I've ever played. Naticks all over the place. Lots of obscure proper nouns like ADOLFO, SARA, IMAN, lots of extremely awkwardly phrased words that still don't make complete sense to me like AT A LOW EBB and every theme clue. A lot of really nichey knowledge like GESSO, ONIONSKIN. This took me as long as a Thursday or Friday but without any satisfying lightbulb moments, not a good puzzle at all IMO.
@Chris Agree 100%- completed it but hated it
@ChrisAlso Agree. Stopped being fun when trying to decipher clues that seem to make sense to "a minority of one- the "one", being the constructor. the constructor.
It is official. I completed the archive today. Total of 11,453 puzzles. Streak at 1847. I’m still not doing Pips.
@Geoff Offermann congratulations! That’s truly quite the accomplishment 🎉
@Geoff Offermann That’s really something, I’m beyond impressed! Way to go!!
@Geoff Offermann I've been gradually going back in time when I'm on airplanes and such, not sure how the heck I'm going to get the current cultural references if I ever get back to like the 80s. Pips is fun but got repetitive quick.
@Geoff Offermann, That's amazing. Now that you've done all those puzzles, what can you tell us about how puzzles have changed from the 1990s to date? What did you notice that might be a reflection of a different editor, different mass psyche, different emphasis on wordplay, rebuses, knowledge bases, etc. ? Other people have described how they see the recent evolution of the Times crossword puzzle, but I'd be interested in your take.
@Geoff Offermann Congratulations! I wouldn't dream of doing all the archive of full size puzzles, but I am having a go at the mini archives. If I do an 'oldie' each time I do a 'newie', in ten years time I might have done them all? Is that math right? Being I'm on year 2016 now? I attempt the Pips. Don't always succeed at them. I had only one error on this puzzle, had PPI instead of PSI. Wordplay article set me straight, "pet in opposition" didn't make much sense.
@Geoff Offermann An amazing feat!
@Geoff Offermann that is amazing! currently trying to do that with connections :)
@Geoff Offermann What a fantastic feat--congrats!! I am nowhere near that number of historical puzzles solved, though I do love diving into the archive and, depending on my degree-of-difficulty mood, picking a "day" and clicking in. And there is nothing more delicious than discovering an old Patrick Berry or Merl Reagle or Robyn Weintraub that I haven't done. It's like a Wayback Machine for NYTXW Mr. Peabodies! Nothing left to do but continue streaking into the future!
@Geoff Offermann we bow down to you! We are at #2006 in our current yellow star streak, but we have many to go before completing the archive!
@Geoff Offermann Wowza. I’m crazy impressed, but does it carry that anticlimactic feeling of finishing a really great book? Now…what..?
@Geoff Offermann Congratulatins! For the effort, and no doubt adding massive tools to your puzzle solving saddlebags!
Horrible puzzle. So bad. I wish I could get my time back.
I did not like this puzzle. RARIN? LDOPA? Two star trek clues? UTERI? GESSO? The theme answers were the most disappointing, I love a good pun but was underwhelmed. I’m getting cranky, need to put myself to bed…
@Ben V I'm a trekkie but this grid still annoyed me...
@Ben V Adding more Star Trek clues would have made the puzzle a little easier for me. Too bad we had PHASE rather than PHASER.
@Ben V RARIN seemed particularly annoying because there wasn't even any indication of a dropped G like an "informal" or other clue. It felt like it had to be wrong.
Not only am I back from beautiful, subtropical Madeira in freezing cold, snowy Warsaw but to add in5ult to injury, I was presented with this puzzle... What was that?! Not a Tuesday, in my opinion. I was utterly confused by the theme, and I found the fill full of unknowns (ADOLFO, ROMO, GESSO, SARA to name a few). I needed lookups, and I actually checked the puzzle in the end when I got the "So close" pop-up and just couldn't be bothered anymore with this unpleasant grid. I'm not saying the constructor is unskilled, mind you. It's just that I personally disliked the result of his efforts, and the decision of the editors to run it on Tuesday. Of course this probably means the veterans loved this, and I'll probably find a slew of "Delightful! I love, love, love the theme and fill!!!" comments below 🤣 PS. How hard is it to properly link the column in the app? I know the NYT IT team is not the best out there, to put it mildly, but c'mon...
@Andrzej That came in between my Wednesday and Thursday averages, even after I generously allowed myself a look up on the baseball player, asked my wife if she'd heard of the supermodel, and checked that the crossing drug and place in Arizona were spelled correctly. I'm not sure why, but I look forward to themed Thursdays, Sundays (and possibly even Wednesdays) but a theme on a Monday or Tuesday makes me sigh in disappointment. Maybe at this stage of the week I just want to fill in answers without having to think about anything else (I know I could do that anyway, but I feel duty-bound to read and understand the theme while completing). Just my personal taste of course!
Add me to the chorus of people who found this strangely difficult for a Tuesday, much more of a Thursday. But the difficulty really isn’t a sticking point — a “hard” Tuesday is still a relatively painless solve. There was just this uncanny aspect to the phrases…worded differently than I’d expect them to be, never coming together in a satisfying way. Different wavelengths!
Wait… how long was I asleep? What day is this? I think the editors may have forgotten to reset more than the year on today’s calendar. I like a challenge, but this wasn’t an enjoyable one for me. ADOLFO/L-DOPA, clunky phrases like THERE’S NO TWO and AT A LOW EBB, the NO-IT-ON gag that took too long to figure out and wasn’t worth the payoff. Plus, RARIN? That word alone almost convinced me that the circles indicated rebuses. Something to indicate a truncation was really needed there. Meh. Maybe I’m just grumpy because of all the time travel.
@Heidi I'm surprised by the complaints about ATALOWEBB. I did some searches and it seems to be an idiom of long standing in exactly that form. I added 'economy' to my DuckDuckGo search and got dozens of results about various industries or national economies 'at a low ebb.' So why is it objectionable?
@Heidi I had pretty much the opposite take on this. RARIN to go was a gimme. The phrases THERE’S NO TWO WAYS ABOUT IT and AT A LOW EBB are in the language and came into view with crosses. L- DOPA jumped out after the last three letters appeared. I always struggle with proper names in puzzles, so wasn’t surprised that the F in ADOLFO was one of the last to fill in.
@Andrzej I'm a native English speaker and have never ever before seen AT A LOW EBB, but as BA would say "it was gettable through the crosses" (and I did not not know IMAN, so that was the last square to fall for me)
Despised this one. The challenging answers felt nitpicky or unnecessarily obscure, particularly for a Tuesday. The theme is great, but the ancillary clues and answers range too dramatically from good to downright bad.
Sam Corbin says she doesn’t like puns At least, only high-quality ones Her work must be painful If she’s disdainful For in the comments there are (usually) tons
@Petrol Have you ever seen what I consider a unique art form of Sam’s creation called “50 puns in 120 seconds”? Google it and enjoy!
I have been completing these puzzles for a long time, and YEESH. Talk about not vibing with a constructor. Every single section had clues that seemed like a stretch to me. Maybe it was an off day, but this was the hardest Tuesday I have ever done by about 1000 miles. Maybe if this had been placed on another day my rage wouldn’t be simmering quite so close to a boil.
Not a bad Thursday puzzle (checks calendar), oh, it's Tuesday...
WHY WAS THIS A SATURDAY-LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY!! I managed to get this one right but it took me 30 minutes. Very tricky!
@Andrew Xwstats.com’s analysis: 🌎 Global Stats Difficulty Very Hard Median Solve Time 10:22 Median Solver 43% slower ⚡9% of users solved faster than their Tuesday average. 2% solved much faster (>20%) than their Tuesday average. 🐢91% of users solved slower than their Tuesday average. 75% solved much slower (>20%) than their Tuesday average. I had a slower-than-average time, too, but although I found the puzzle tougher than most Tuesdays, I didn’t have any trouble with any of the specific entries people are complaining about. The only thing that slowed me down a bit was understanding the premise, with the three sets of double circles and the marquee answer in two parts. There was nothing wrong with any of it, but it may have been better suited for later in the week.
I really enjoyed it. Hope I'm not a minority of one.
THERESNOTWOWAYSABOUTIT: Wordplay was offline… should someone be sent to there SINBIN?
The theme was clever, but 17 proper nouns? On a Tuesday? 25A and 32D also seemed obscure to me. Had to look up one of the things I had never heard of to solve it. I’m sure others found it delightful. I did not enjoy it.
@Cherry 25A? Did you means 22A? I didn't like 32D, AT A LOW EBB, either--isn't "low ebb" redundant? But I guess people say it.
Late to the comments and astonished at all the griping and grousing. The puzzle was a little starchy for a Tuesday, but not the brain cruncher everyone is making it out to be. IMAN is a gorgeous Somali-American model, married to David Bowie for almost 25 years, until his death, but of course you wouldn't know that unless by some miracle you knew who David Bowie was. Poetry is tough, but SARA Teasdale isn't, and ONIONSKIN paper? Was it really that long ago that ago? L-DOPA was the drug that Oliver Sacks used to revive patients from years-long comas ("Awakenings" movie was about that). The puzzle was peppered with references that were a bit off the mainstream, but not enough to warrant such screams of agony. I thought it was fun, and the only letdown for me was that the theme turned out to be kind of dopey. I'm looking forward to your next puzzle Mr. Coulter. Come back soon.
@Michael Are you new around here? Dutchiris is a longtime, valued commenter here.
@dutchiris - I too thought the puzzle was a good one. I was happy to get a lot of the 'difficult' fills. One question - not sure I know what the theme is. I'm serious... No It On x 3? Please clue me in. ("kind of dopey").... ?? Thanks!
I think I needed more lookups on this one than I do in a Thursday puzzle. Infuriatingly strange phrasing of answers, too many obscure names, extremely niche knowledge required. Boo.
Hey, when the theme finally hit me, when I finally saw it, I inwardly shrieked a huge “Hah!”, inwardly stood up and bowed deeply. This was an ultra aha, in the cream-of-the-crop peloton of ahas for me. How word-playful is that – taking THERE’S NO TWO WAYS ABOUT IT literally? That, for me, is top-class fun. That, for me, is a happy button that doesn’t get pushed very often. When that happens, I don’t care about any nits in the box that may come my way. I am won over, smitten, highly grateful. Then I read his notes where he mentioned his “latest novel”. So I looked up his name; there are several writers with the same name, and I wondered which one he was. I looked at his first NYT puzzle notes, and there was the answer (in case you too were wondering): “I'm a retired Biology professor ... setting a world record for most novels never published (35 and counting.)” When I woke up, it was Tuesday. After I finished the sterling puzzle it was a Very Good Tuesday. Thank you, Paul!
@Lewis I felt like the theme was just reaching a little too much to be clever. To each their own.
That was insanely difficult for a Tuesday. I got most of the proper names right away (UHURA, LEVAR, ROMO, IMAN) and still struggled mightily. I ended up having to look up a couple entries to make sure they were a thing (GESSO, ADOLFO). The longer phrases were the hardest part, and it didn't help that two of them were part of the theme. A MINORITY OF ONE? SET IN OPPOSITION? AT A LOW EBB????? I'm not sure any of these are "in the language," and if they are, they're very rare. I don't mean to PAN this puzzle, but I just didn't enjoy it. I could've used an Oreo or two.
@Katie All those phrases are in the language for me. Must be an age or wheelhouse thing.
@Katie For AT A LOW EBB, take a look here. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4cupcj?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4cupcj?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a>
I say WITH (NO) HES(IT)ATI(ON) This is one fantastic theme!
And a fine puzzle to go along with it. Harder than the usual Tuesday, of course, but it shouldn't have been so hard that when it dropped it broke the link to the column and comments. I would have liked to thank Paul for this treat last night.
LDOPA to all the comments about this—- Not only is it a common drug name used in media, books, the world, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it numerous times in the NYT crosswords. Great puzzle.
@Alexia LDOPA was considered a miracle drug....in the 1950's. It's not one of the things I found annoying.
@Alexia I just looked at XW info…LDOPA has been used 24 times in the crossword, 23 of them in the “modern era” and one time previous, on October 17, 1993. The most recent before today was May 5, 2022. I am a relative newcomer to the puzzle since I just started doing it in 2018, when I retired, but over that period, it’s appeared five times…three of those in 2019.
@Alexia I wasn't sure how I knew L DOPA but thought maybe I heard in the film "Awakenings." Wasn't that the drug the doctor, played by Robin Williams, gave the catatonic patients?
@Alexia My nit with LDOPA is that there was no hint in the clue that they were looking for an abbreviation. The first things to come to mind were Sinemet, levocarb and levodopa before I realised that it had to be LDOPA. the brain is a wondrous machine and although it was the 4th answer to come to mind, the processing time to go through that list and figure out what fit, with no crosses, was still about 2 seconds.
Always pleasantly surprised when a Tuesday makes me sweat a little. The more difficult than "normal" Tuesday is much, much preferred to the Friday or Saturday I can finish in "Tuesday" time.
@Bill in Yokohama To me an overly hard Tuesday is no better than a not hard enough Friday 🤷🏽
Unlike so many others, I have no problem with rarin. It was a gimme for me. I have heard, and used, the phrase many times in my life. I have never heard it with the unabbreviated raring. It's always been rarin to go, so I don't think the clue needed anything to indicate the dropped g.
Doug, [(stoked)] in the clue was the signal (for those who needed or wanted one).
All the hate is warranted. The absolute worst puzzle in ages… When the Word play column starts out with: “I don’t think I’ll ever understand what went on in his brain to get us here. Is it silly or brilliant?” You know you are not alone in scratching your head.. Theme is trash. That is on the constructor. So many obscure word usages. ATLOWEBB? LDOPA? ADOLFO? This is on the editors. This puzzle should be on a Thursday-Saturday. ESPECIALLY with such a sloppy theme…
This puzzle had several clues I knew because of my dad, who had a tv business. I knew UHF due to the antennas I helped him install. He liked to “water witch” and I loved watching him do it. Alas, he also developed Parkinson’s, so L-dopa popped into mind quickly, although I knew about it from various science courses. I miss my dad. He had a saying for every situation and so I often recall his words.
@Sue I love these details about your dad and I’m sorry for your loss. I remember those odd UHF antennae we once had, fastened to the back of our sets, those thin wire circles. BTW, your story about your dad put me in mind of a sentence I read not long ago in Checkout 19 (Claire-Louise Bennett): “She could see him, she could really see him, now that he wasn’t here, and very slowly she began to draw his face on the page in front of her… He wasn’t absent—she wasn’t remembering him—he was here—he was right here, moving through her mind…”
@Sue what a lovely comment, which now has made me embrace this puzzle. I’m sorry about your father, and glad for your memories.
Not much enjoyable about this puzzle at all. So many awkward fills
Do all of you complain about everything in your lives as much as you complain about the crossword every day? Seems like a NO WIN SITUATION for the constructors given how often the commenters PAN their work. Anyways, this puzzle was fine. There were a couple of clues that were tricky or answers that I’d never heard of before, but nothing that couldn’t be worked through.
@Abe - I swear some people are not happy unless they're nitpicking -- usually unfairly -- something they, themselves, could never construct: a crossword. It is, sadly, where the entire internet seems to be these days -- filled with whining and petty grievances.
@Abe Thank you for this. I am generally equal parts awestruck and grateful for constructors. I cannot even imagine how they accomplish some of these puzzles. I'm hesitant to get too critical even if I don't gel with the puzzle...just chalk it up and move on to the next one without getting annoyed about it (sheesh 🙄).
@Abe Just imagine what it would be like if constructors took it to heart every time their creative efforts were criticized. A barren wasteland of boring puzzles.
@Abe Loved your post. I am always amazed at the posts so full of rage and so completely devoid of anything resembling manners. I would love to ask some of the most regular and egregious hate posters here how they would feel if the comment was about a puzzle created by one of their kids, or their wife, or their parents, or anyone they cared about. That is if they care about anyone. Constructors are people, too, and they don't deserve the level of vitriol that a few people here throw around.
@Abe Thank you for saying it. The cruelty in the comments is depressing to me. Not everything is for every person and it's not a crime you need to attack someone over.
@Abe I think most of the complaints were that this was too hard for a Tuesday. If it had been run on Friday things would be much calmer.
Guess I’m old and a geek since I know what UHF (and VHF, AM, FM, etc.) stand for. I paused to think about how many people have never even heard of those terms!
@David I was a ham radio operator starting in the eighth grade, in 1966, so all these initialisms are almost like native speech to me. (In North Carolina, as a matter of fact!)
@David The same folk who may not have: Walked up to a television set to turn a knob, or Got tangled in the wired TV remote control! 😉
This was probably the hardest Tuesday puzzle I’ve seen. That alone doesn’t make it a bad puzzle but difficulty caused by a disguised theme and obscure clues does make it bad. How does anyone know who designed Nancy Reagan’s dresses 40 years ago? And “no two ways about it” is a weak trick.
@kjc We were alive 40 years ago and read the NYT. Unlike many this puzzle was in my vibe; done in well less than my average Tuesday.
Probably the worst puzzle I’ve had to do in recent times. Not fun and lacking in any payoff. Whack.
I had a lovely time doing this puzzle. Didn't get the NO-IT-ON trick until I was staring at the completed clues' circled elements. I still keep reading it as 'notion' backwards. Lots of excellent fill. Knew L-Dopa from the great Robin Williams film "Awakenings". Glad to see SINBIN -- elbows up, my fellow CDNs! It's getting pretty crazy in the neighbourhood. I used to use pink ONIONSKIN for my carbon copies; onionskins used to be functionally equivalent to carbons. This was fun! Thanks to Mr. Coulter.
Had to close out of the app a couple of times to make sure I didn’t accidentally click on an older Thursday or Friday puzzle. Sheesh! So many far too tricky clues for a Tuesday. Parkinson’s drugs? Amniocentesis? C’mon now!
This was not a Tuesday puzzle. More like a harder Wednesday puzzle.
The GamePlay link is broken … again!
A fun theme that did not weigh up for the fact that this was absolutely tedious to solve.. with all the abbreviations, acronyms, and names. Sigh.
I don't know what's wrong with me but I couldn't solve this one even with the hints from the wordplay column. Been a long time since I've gotten snagged on a Tuesday.
@Dave There's nothing wrong with you. It was just a hard Tuesday.
I found this puzzle pretty hard but I like hard puzzles. I think it's important to distinguish the puzzle's value from the day on which it ran. I concur with the many who felt it was too hard for a Tuesday but that doesn't reflect on the quality of the puzzle itself.
@Teresa I've only been doing these for about a year, so the whole concept of days of the week and puzzle-types is lost on me. I liked this one but had to turn on auto to finish the 30s section. But Hooray for more sports clues. They're my only savior.
Total slog, unusually so for a Tuesday. Absolute groaner of a theme.
Oof… that was a ROUGH Tuesday! Totally not in my wheelhouse- seemed to be a lot of Star Trek and sports trivia, which is like a foreign language to me. Hardest Tuesday for me in a long time…way above my average. I found it hard to find a foothold and I didn’t understand the theme, even after I got the revealer. Oh well…on to Wednesday! Hopefully it’ll be easier on me.
@Joy same here! And thanks Joy, I came here just to see if I was the only one in this position :)
I am not amused. This is NOT Tuesday material.
I kind of wish I never did this puzzle. Not the least bit enjoyable. Maybe next Tuesday..