Nit Warning: Quartzite is not harder than quartz. They both have a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale. For more detail, quartz is a mineral, and it defines hardness of 7 on the scale. Quartzite is, in modern geology, metamorphosed quartz sandstone, so a metamorphic rock. Quartz sandstone is sandstone made up almost exclusively of quartz grains, plus quartz cement in varying degrees, so a sedimentary rock. (Quartz sandstone is called quartzite sometimes, but that's not currently cool, and only muddies the waters.) If you take quartz sandstone and squash the heck out of it, you wind up with quartzite. Squashing it, though, doesn't change the hardness of the quartz that both rocks are made of. Squashing gets rid of the holes and recrystallizes some or all of the quartz grains, but it's still quartz, and the hardness of that is 7. Countertop manufacturers are known to exaggerate. In case anyone wants a better example for 28A: like graphite vis-à-vis diamond. Both are carbon, but wow are they different hardnesses!
@Nora That's exactly what I thought to be true, and I was just about to post a comment, asking a geologist to confirm this! (Are you a geologist?--rank amateur here.) And your explication of the matter is wittier than anything I would have come up with. Thank you!
Gotta lava geologist! (A child magically spawned somewhere, seeded by my stooping to dad joke puns)
@Nora Quartz countertops are not 100% quartz, they contain polymers and resins combined with crushed quartz to create slabs with a uniform appearance. Quartzite countertops are cut from natural stone. Perhaps the manufacturing process and additional materials added to quartz countertops do make them, in fact, softer. I’ve had both and haven’t noticed a difference in hardness or durability,, but I much prefer the natural look of quartzite countertops as opposed to the manufactured look of quartz countertops.
Nora, I think the clue refers to the "countertop" products, not the "natural" products. "Registering between a 7 and 8 on the Moh’s mineral hardness scale, quartzite is slightly harder and more scratch-resistant than quartz (a 7 on the hardness scale)." <a href="https://www.bobvila.com/articles/quartz-vs-quartzite" target="_blank">https://www.bobvila.com/articles/quartz-vs-quartzite</a>/
@Nora Dang! I wish I had seen your lovely comment before I submitted my own. As a geologist myself, albeit a retired one, I felt honor-bound to quibble about the idea that quartzite is HARDER than quartz. I'm pleased to see that I wasn't alone. You have the advantage of a few time zones on me, but we saw the same error.
@Nora This is interesting. The graphite vs. diamond comparison got me thinking: Graphite is similarly made up of constituents. Sheets of graphene. The hardness of graphene is very difficult to characterize. It's anisotropic AFAIK. I wonder if the graphine sheets would be considered a different material to a geologist or if graphite is considered a mineral (?) as a whole.
In the spirit of Greenland and Iceland bring the same place, and ditto Armenia and Albania, I’m proud to announce the new location of HANOI on the Red Sea. Middle of the night solving is fun in an interesting way.
@Cat Lady Margaret Greenland and Iceland... every time I think this can't possibly get more humiliating...
@Cat Lady Margaret, don’t forget about ‘Aberbijohn.” My word, he is such a global embarrassment.
Oh man, how fun was this? Wordplay everywhere, answers with verve, riddles galore, areas of whoosh, areas of brain-loving chip, chip, chip. A yes puzzle. Yesses popping out of me again and again. Huge inner fist pump for [She’s out there!]. Smile bursts at OH PUHLEASE and BEDROOM EYES, and even at the classic sweet dook (GOON). Wordplays such as [One setting on speakers?] and [Out of joint?], and, for me, a terrific misdirect – [Rigi of Switzerland, e.g.] – which had me wondering for a bit if this Rigi was a designer or a company name. Next-to-each-other PuzzPair©️ of GRAY and SMOG. Childhood Erector Set memories elicited (Hi, @Marshall Walthew!). That dead-on perfect quote by BASSman Charles Mingus re CREATIVITY. Lovely short answers HEFT and PREEN. The talent to get all this in the box! One impressive gratitude-evoking build. You know those performances, where at the end the audience bursts up as one in a rousing spontaneous standing-O? That’s what your puzzle was like for me, Joyce, and that’s exactly how I felt at the end. Brava, Joyce, brava!
@Lewis No salute for the music section? I give you ALTOs, BASS, TUNE, OCTET, and a 'dulcet' clue at 20A. Lovely CIARA on LEAD, the BOYS from the backstreet, TAP SHOES syncopating down in front, and to make it all possible, Mr Mingus's CREATIVITY. Take a bow!
@Lewis Bet puzzle of all time for me--about 40 years of solving. This was especially enjoyable given how often the last couple of years I constantly eyeball at the rap and current slang and techie term clues. Give me clever wordplay any day over pop culture drivel.
I like my GRAY hairs, and refuse to cover them up. Except with a hat. Wind chill is currently -40, and I'm trying to work up the courage to get to the rally in Minneapolis later. Plan is to wear three pairs of pants.
@Katie good for you! Thanks for standing up!
@Katie Right on, Katie! Stay safe, stay warm, stay strong.
@Katie Are they grey hairs or GRAY hairs? That always trips me up
@Katie The GRAY hairs in my beard helped keep me warm today. Good luck with the rally and with all of your pants 👍
@ad absurdum Excellent. Perhaps not culturally acceptable though?
@Eddie Hey, look, everybody! Eddie's back! Hi, Eddie! How the heck ya' doin'?
@Eddie emus seemed to have devoured my reply. Can't remember what it was other than it's good to "see" you.
@Eddie Me too, Eddie! With no help from easy mode, either. I think that’s a first for me on Fridays. Welcome back!
Don't tell me how to look at my sundae
That was super enjoyable. No clue was too easy or too hard. I like when there are not s many proper names.
To be honest, I don't buy that 'out of joint' is a workable clue replacing 'out of [the] joint'. I know it's supposed to be a misdirect, but it crosses some invisible line in my head between ambiguous and just... wrong. I guess that's why I'm not an editor.
@Henrik I think that's a decent point. Depends on where those lines in our heads are, I guess.
@Henrik Agreed. I thought it was both clever and wrong, simultaneously.
@Henrik Despite Sam's column, perhaps that's why the stretchy-grammar clue [Out of joint?] has a question mark, while [They really click as a pair] doesn't--a pair of tap shoes do click, literally and grammatically.
Sam, Strictly speaking, "out" doesn't refer to sexual orientation. It refers to the public availability of information about one's sexual orientation. If a person is not "out," their sexual orientation isn't different from what it would be if they were "out."
@Steve L She is "out" in a Lesbian bar in two senses. She is going "out" to bar--and she is presumably "out' as a Lesbian to the other people in the bar.
@Steve L - your comment fails to recognize persons who are not out to themselves.
@Steve L oh I took the phrasing in the column to mean being out about one's sexual orientation. But it's not worded clearly, for sure.
@Steve L. If she is in a -ESBIAB BAR the she is definitely out.
@Steve L A woman who is out is far more likely to frequent a lesbian bar than one who is still in the closet
@Steve L pretty much what I’d thought. Lesbian friends where I’ve lived haven’t “a bar” but they’ve still been the people I loved as friends and also not known to me as “out”.
I had entered (u)HPUHLEASE, that "u" coming from the cross of S(ure). Once I realized another entry around there would be [normal word the #%@# emus won't let me post even though it's in the puzzle] BAR, I knew "sure" was wrong though. I kept looking at SuLe and eRE the patriarch, and I was so confused i finally looked up the latter. DRE... So "SuLe" would actually be SOLD, and uHPUHLEASE ended up being OHPUHLEASE. That was a horribly confusing tangle of words and a name, for me - a slangy expression in the vicinity of a proper name, ouch! The fact Americans appear to use uh, oh, and aw interchangeably will apparently always remain a source of confusion for me. So yeah, I needed one lookup in the end to solve this. I generally found the puzzle quite hard, but in an enjoyable, Friday way. There were very few gimmes, but ultimately (almost) everything proved solvable, for me. I know ZITI from "The Sopranos", and HAUNT for a bar from "Castle". Pop culture can be educational! For some reason I've never seen ZITI in Poland, even though many varieties of Italian pasta have been available here for over 35 years now, and I'm the shopper and cook in the household, so I know what shops stock. I can't remember ziti from Italian restaurants all over Europe, including Italy, either. Is it used exclusively in Italian and Italian American home cooking, maybe?
Isn't it a scandal the automatic moderation apparently filters the L word for women who love other women? My initial post was withheld, and removing the L word did the trick - the edited version posted instantly. I hope it was a glitch rather than policy...
@Andrzej Well we're happily on opposite sides again. I found it too simple all around. Ziti's rather boring so maybe not so prevalent on restaurant menus - but here it's on just about every cheapish buffet with Sternos and foil trays. The "please" mashup was annoying here too - it really is just random and sort of a copout really. I omitted the L word from my own earlier post - I knew the E.M.U. filter reliably has reactions roughly 70 years behind the times. Downton Abbey language might pass muster. Maybe.
ZITI is a pasta shape, originating in Sicily as per Wiki. Baked ZITI is dish using the pasta shape in its creation.
@Andrzej You may have figured some of this out already, if so, please excuse the re-explaining. DRE is short for Andre. And I don't expect you to retain that as the name of a TV show character. PUHLEASE is a drawn out way of saying please. And if there is some kind of ridiculous or exasperating situation going on you might say OH, PUHLEASE in reaction as in Give me a (pick an expletive) break. OH would be the proper way to begin this phrase. (Cue the people coming out of the woodwork to say they use the other interjections.
Mon CHER - are BEDROOMEYES not a French letter opener too, say?
@Your Fired Brilliant! I see you have a condominium-mind
@Your Fired the anti-bomb French Letter reggae <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuJ8PP1Icfw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuJ8PP1Icfw</a>
@Your Fired Only if things have become like quartzite vis-a-vis quartz
Really great chewy Friday. Wasn't a stumper but lots of little epiphanies and joys tucked throughout the grid. Happy Friday, and solidarity to all those participating in the general strike in my city today.
I was SOLD on this puzzle when I saw all the fine, fresh entries, and it went down EASY. BEDROOMEYES, PRESSONNAILS, and LESBIANBAR look like the building blocks for a spicy story. And I had a twinge of nostalgia seeing ERECTORSET, one of the signature toys of my childhood. Although, truth be told, I don’t remember ever building anything very impressive with my set. I have to confess that I first wanted ruby slippers and then castanets before TAPSHOES
Its always funny to me how sometimes the "tricky clues" in the column are the ones I already knew, leaving me helpless and alone to work out the rest hahaha
Just your daily reminder you have only a couple days left to vote for the best puzzles of 2025...The GRIDDIES! Ballot is here, and anyone can vote: <a href="https://form.jotform.com/260176984868173" target="_blank">https://form.jotform.com/260176984868173</a> Ballot now has the top five in each category: vote for ONE in each and press submit...and you're done. No personal info or emails are needed, it's completely anonymous. Vote here now! And vote there later!
A perfectly pleasant Friday puzzle, though I got in some trouble down at the bottom. RIP VAL Kilmer. You'll always be Madmartigan to me. And speaking of TAP shoes, here's Savion Glover and a few others demonstrating their use. <a href="https://youtu.be/B5IEXGFi--0?si=SDQ4-JYmql8MjPso" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/B5IEXGFi--0?si=SDQ4-JYmql8MjPso</a>
@Vaer Thank you for sharing the link. It’s 11 degrees here, on its way to 1. We have somewhere between three inches and 500 inches of snow in the forecast…but this warmed me up.
@B I noticed it too, but didn't want to use up my weekend allotment of Sheeshes. Between blurry vision due to allergies and recalcitrant autocorrect, I'm doomed.
I convinced myself there must be a tradition of funeral lyres and was considering whether I ought to stick that in my death paperwork. Because I had nil first, not ZIP. But maybe I'll add lyres in there anyway just to give myself an air of postmortem mystery-- "what on earth was she thinking? Why lyres? What else didn't we know?" Ha! Fun puzzle! But I don't understand 54 A. I know it rhymes, but why is it apt?
@Leontion You "pad" your resume by adding more stuff to it....
@Leontion Ok, I confess, I have a soft spot for dark humor and your post just cracked me up! "But maybe I'll add lyres in there anyway (...) 'What else didn't we know?'" ROFL!
@Leontion Funeral lyres, that is brilliant! (I also had "nil", figuring ZIP was too close to the clue word.) I'm trying to busy myself with death paperwork this year, being old enough, at least in the opinion of my siblings. I'll toss in a request for lyres at my funeral. Let 'em figure that out.
The 10D clue is [Peach or plum] for HUE in today's L.A. Times puzzle. But sure, there's no conspiracy afoot.
@ad absurdum As a person who definitely is not in any conspiracy, I can confirm it was not my doing. Really. Trust me.
@Andrzej Sounds like you're just quoting verbatim from "The Conspiracist's Definitive Guide to Denial and Kitchen Remodeling".
@ad absurdum Thank you, Al. 🤨
From BaDROOM EYES to Maracas (drat) to THIS ONES ON ME, which I confidently wrote in, then IN A BURST OF CREATIVITY, almost immediately took out, put back, almost took out (OH PUHLEASE), I ZIPped through the puzzle, and what seemed like YEARS LATER, finished it up. Tricked by EASY fills I didn't fall for, I made it HARDER instead, I felt like a GOON by the time I was done, but TGI Friday. As Chief Dan George said in his memorable performance as Old Lodge Skins in "Little Big Man," sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn't. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLso0ZBqOi4" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLso0ZBqOi4</a>
Definitely an on-wavelength experience for me. Most of this puzzle fell together pretty easily, although I had a little difficulty in the NW corner. It took me a while to catch on to CHER (clever clue!) and I’m still don’t understand why the essence of any matter would be a NUB. (“Rub”, maybe? As in, “that’s the rub”?) But I enjoyed everything else about this puzzle. Any time I see Broccoli RABE, I think of Stephen Colbert. Anyone want to hear a little a cappella? (The Office fans will know.)
@Heidi Third definition: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nub" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nub</a> The nub of the matter is that...
@Heidi Think pencil nubs -- the last resistant piece that is left over when everything else has worn away. (And I refuse to make the obvious Minnesota analogy, though it leaps off the page!)
This one was tricky for me, which is not a complaint. I love a challenge. (I'll be curious to see the stats on whether my opinion is a minority one.) The solve was complicated by my putting in SmAll CHANGE and NUt for "Essence of the matter". I could make no sense out of LESTIANBAR. I was surprised when I put in the B in NUB and got the ta-da music. I had to pause to understand the answer at 17-Across and to finally get the clever misdirect of the clue. (Although it makes me wonder if she's not "out" when she's not there?) Fun puzzle. Thanks, Joyce Keller.
The X-Phile, Stats (FWIW). <a href="https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2026-01-23" target="_blank">https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2026-01-23</a>
@The X-Phile SmAll CHANGE for me too, but I did have NUB. Still couldn't see LESBIANBAR for quite some time, since I was unsure about some of the other crosses.
I normally solve alone without any hints or look-ups, but if there's a clue I'm fairly sure my spouse knows the answer to and I don't, I sometimes ask him. As he is an avid skier and has frequently visited and skied with family members in Killington, I asked him for a four letter word describing 16A. He thought about it, then gave me an answer that didn't fit. He said there are seven mountains in Killington, and started to look them up. I said nevermind, and figured it out myself. This is why I solve alone. :-)
That was a good puzzle, but I do have to quibble about the notion that quartzite is HARDER than quartz. First of all, quartzite (a rock) is made up of fused quartz (a mineral) grains. It's the same stuff. Second, hardness is a mineral property defined as resistance to scratching. You can't apply to a rock, although you can apply it to separate mineral grains in a rock (in which case, see my first point). Third, you might argue correctly that quartzite is more resistant to breakage than quartz, because the fused, interlocked grains stand up better to crushing. But that property is not called HARDNESS; it's TOUGHNESS. So, [Like quartzite vis-à-vis quartz] is a misleading clue for HARDER. A more interesting pair are diamond and jade. Diamond resists scratching much better than jade (so it's HARDER), but it fractures much more easily than jade (which is extremely TOUGH).
@StevenR Thanks for the little geology lesson!
@StevenR That was really interesting.
@StevenR Nicely put! And your explanation of hardness vs toughness is great.
Gracious heavens, it certainly is FRIday. My brain feels a little fried around the edges. Despite having raised two engineers, I must confess that an ERECTOR SET was never one of the gifts we got for our kids. (Grandpa sent a Meccano set--the British version of the Erector set, and something he himself must have craved as a youngster--but Legos had already fascinated our son, and PhysDau was into model horses.) Engineering is about more than buildings; DHubby says it's "practical applications for physics" --but that doesn't cover the work of a "software engineer".... (more brain-twister material!) I was "completely convinced" of SURE for 1D, and I thiink of an APSE as rather more than a "niche." Started to run the alphabet for 28D: HU? Duh. Revlon makes/made perfume? Our son advised me that his bear had PRESS-ON claws. Beware!
I also got stuck at SPARECHANGE for SMALLCHANGE for far too long. I blame waiting too long for coffee! Yup. That. 🤣 Perfect Friday fodder. Thanks!
Late comment. Couldn't help but wonder about an alternate clue for HUE. Well... multiple times in the pre-Shortz era but only twice in the Shortz era (out of 114 appearances). What am I talking about? Well - here's a true story from one morning in Vietnam. We had arrived by chopper on a firebase late one evening. The next morning after we got up, one of the guys looked out to the east and said, "Oh! You can see the ocean out there." And... one of the other guys said, "Really? Can you see Hue out there?" And he replied, "Oh yeah - way, way out there." ...
Rich, I trust you've shared that one with your new neighbors.
"Digital applications" for PRESS-ON NAILS is such a fun clue/answer pair! Very clever wordplay.
A great Friday, imo. A little bit of pop culture, a little geography. It took me a little under my average time to complete—not a record breaker, but very snappy and fun. I rode my first e-scooter this past summer while on a weekend trip to Rome. Let me tell you: e-scooter + cobblestones = the worst teeth-clacking, bouncy, terrible ride. I switched over to an e-bike as soon as I could find one.
"She's out there!" was a hoot! Got caught by Heft/Free but otherwise fun Friday. Now to prepare for Freezing Rain......looks to ba a milestone re southern winter storms....def not a frozen treat!
How many times have I been stuck in one place, finally figured it out, only to discover that a letter I had originally entered correctly somehow got changed by the time I got to the end of the puzzle? Too many, that's how many. I was so certain it was broccoli raab, totally forgetting how to spell it. Finally came up with GENES as a possible answer for 6D. NUt instead of NUB was a problem. "That" instead THIS for 5D. The NW had me stumped for a good 20 minutes. 17A, once I got it, was pure genius. The music was never so SWEET, as it was today. (Took 43% longer than average thanks to the NW, otherwise probably would been slightly under average)
@Jim "Broccoli raab" is a common spelling of the vegetable, just not the one used here: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapini" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapini</a>
@Jim You didn'f "forget how to spell it." You spelt it correctly, but Joyce K wanted an alternate (newer) spelling.
Great puzzle, some very enjoyable clues.
For some reason, I was pretty much on the constructor’s wavelength today, once I found a toehold in the south, and finished about 40% under my Friday average. Appreciated the Mingus quote…in part because it made me realize I needed to listen to him today, which I am now doing.
My poem from today’s puzzle <br> <br> a/ is it enough to say <br> i carried the mountain <br> for there i carried it <br> forward on feathers <br> (red feathers black <br> feathers) to the mouth <br> of the sea <br> there near <br> d/ your body <br> i settled <br> perhaps completely <br> …i do like it there... <br> perhaps i’ll make a shrine <br> to the long moments <br> long listening <br> the shrine <br> to your <br> d/ oh honest <br> eyes <br> <br>
@Peter Valentine What a great contribution to this forum! I'm dumb as a bag of rocks when it comes to poetry, but I still like how my brain feels when reading your poems.
I’ve had a gold star streak for about two years at this point, and this is one of the more difficult puzzles I’ve encountered. Something about that west section, not knowing BEENE or the notion of an ERECTOR SET (I had “tRaCTOR SET” for so long because it’s the only word I could think of), not being aware of the phrase “BEDROOM EYES”, not knowing if quartzite was harder or some other adjective, knowing liaRS also fit for 32A and that a handful of things might work for 28D…phew. Anyway, I got there and did enjoy this one a lot! Just surprised at how much of a personal workout that last bit was.
Definitely some CREATIVITY in this one! I hope the folks who wanted Meow Mix from other day to be a place on Houston Street will enjoy seeing 17A today. BOYS can go to 22A. Nice one, Joyce. Thank you!
@Barry Ancona Is that what we're here for now? I am surprised.
@Barry Ancona That was the first thing I thought of when I saw MEOW MIX in Thursday’s puzzle. My favorite name for a l*s*i*n bar ever, and there have been so many great ones.
Thanks, Joyce! This was an exceptional Friday IMHO. As usual, the comments reveal that not everyone agrees, but for me it hit a sweet spot. I fought with it here and there, then it all fell in place after taking a break. Reviewing the clues and answers, I felt like it was even more fun than I thought while solving. @Francis I understand your current puzzle anxiety. I often feel it before opening Thur, Fri, and Sat. Hang in there. We don’t want to lose you, if for no other reason than you are devastatingly handsome.
@M. Biggen 😂 I dearly hope I won't end up disappointing you terrible.
Not to steal Ms. Keller's thunder, but, while PRESSONNAILS may have been a debut, PRESSONS appeared in a Sat 26Jun2021 puzzle by John Lieb and Brad Wilber, with the clue [Digital applications?]; which is why that was a gimme, one of the few! Still, for persons that have been solving for less than five years, that is some excellent wordplay!--remember it, along with the fact that Stonehenge is a [Classic rock group]. Spent way too long looking for Ms. Goodbar:-(
Typical tough Friday for me and a good long workout. Had to cheat just a bit, but mostly it was getting enough crosses for something to finally dawn on me. Ended up being an enjoyable solve. And... my puzzle find today. A Thursday from August 1, 2013 by Timothy Polin. Hard to describe this one. The 'reveal' was: "What the three set of shaded squares in this puzzle represent." PHYSICSFORMULAS I'll give a couple of examples with the shaded squares in parentheses. And... in each theme answer there was one shaded section above another. 17a - "With 22-across, fail to cope with difficult circumstances." And the, 17a answer was: CRACKUNDERFORCE and FORCE was above 22a, which was AREA. So it was was FORCE/AREA which was implied to represent 'PRESSURE' One other example: REDUCEDISTANCE ________TIME So the implied answer was REDUCESPEED And there was one more answer that ended with MASS above VOLUME which was implied to mean DENSITY. That answer being POPULATIONDENSITY. Odd. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/1/2013&g=28&d=D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/1/2013&g=28&d=D</a> I'm done. ....
@Rich in Atlanta Typography /formatting for the clues must have been infernal!
We just got "brushed" (unsolicited package from Amazon) with PRESSONNAILS yesterday, now today's clever clue. Never seen a pair before. Baader-Meinhof comes to mind.
What a fun puzzle! I love the witty clues. I only needed one 'easy mode' clue, which featured the name of a more well known Alp. Please? More like this? Please?
Easy Mode clue for 24D? I didn't recognize Rigi either, but I was nevertheless able to cross the ALP.
Add me to the delighted crowd. The NW was last to fall because I was “sure” I was correct on 1D. So, my two favoritely clued answers, OHPUHLEASE, and LESBIAN BAR were the last to fall
Is Meccano really not better known than the American branding? Who knew peach or plum could make one 3x3 section so tricky, tried pit and pie first. Glad 17A was editor enjoyed but imo, it hits a bit… gauche?
@Paul Not among older Americans. I've never heard of Meccano. Apparently, Meccano merged with Erector in 1990.
@Paul Another oldish American here who had never even heard of "Meccano" until your post. I was hoping for Tinker Toy though.
Paul, The ERECTOR SET was created in the U.S. by A. C. Gilbert, and his namesake company also sold American Flyer S-gauge model trains. In the 1950s, they had a street-level display of both product lines in their NYC "toy district" showroom across from Madison Square Park. The company was gone by the end of the 1960s.
This one just sparkled with fun(ny) clues - thank you, Joyce, please keep 'em coming!
It's sunny but below zero outside. I dropped my daughter at work, then came home to my easy chair, chocolate Long John, and coffee, to tackle a Friday puzzle, and what a treat it was. [Out of joint?] and [Say "I do," say] are great clues that had me thinking for awhile before the light bulb came on, and OH PUHLEASE is a wonderful answer. I enjoyed this one a lot. Thanks for the fun!
therein lies the NUB? That one rubbed me the wrong way.
@Jerod same ... I still can't figure out how that one works ...
@Jerod pretty straightforward use of this definition I thought <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20nub" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/the%20nub</a>
An old fear is raising its ugly head. All my life I've had an almost insurmountable fear of failure. Yet, somehow, it didn't seem to effect me in approaching crosswords. Until a week or so ago. After sailing through week after week, I face-planted on consecuative days: Wednesday and Thursday (grade inflation). That really took the wind out of my sails. Since then it's been really difficult for me to even open up a Friday or Saturday. I fear my fear of failure has showed up for crosswords, too. Is there a mental health expert in the house?
@Francis I suggest the stress of your city's plight is making it hard to concentrate on the puzzles. Paraphrasing Thomas Mann in The Magic Mountain: A man lives his own life, but also the life of his epoch. The deficiencies of his epoch lead to physical problems. One needs moral remoteness or robust vitality to cope. Mann then notes that his protagonist has neither.
@Francis Feel free to fail and tell us why - I'll gladly laugh at you for it. Motivation enough? 🤣
@Francis. I too find hesitation in opening up the Thu-Sun puzzles. I’ve noticed that feeling pessimistic about the puzzle is correlated with longer solving times. I did only Mon. and Tue, new and from the archives, for about 6 months… Sep- Apr 2025. Since Apr. back to all 7. Recently I’ve been working backward through the 2025 Thu-Sun, Apr, Mar, Feb… just yesterday got really stuck on a Feb. Fri. Was convinced I’d never get it. Decided to just open it once every day for a while and stare at it. The 24 hour time for completion is long past, just going for a blue star. It worked… one day one word in one stubborn corner came to me, couple of days later another word in another corner just came to me. Got it done in about 90 minutes on the crossword clock. So I tell myself, like on today’s Friday, which at first review, I could fill in only about 5 words, that I for sure I will complete it, if I put it down and out of my mind a few times… that 100% it will all come clear to me. I visualize leaving my gnawing doubt off to the side before opening the puzzle. I was sure BarROOMEYES was 22 D (line from For You Springsteen song) then after going away for an hour and reopening BEDROOMEYES just stared back at me and I fixed it, and suddenly that part of the puzzle filled. Finished in 45 minutes on the crossword clock today… with a couple 1 hour gaps. Felt at first it would take 2 hours. Putting it down and coming back, doing a mental reset, seems to help a lot.
@Francis We don't need a professional to make THIS diagnosis.....
@Linda Jo - ROFL (Rolling on the floor laughing)
Got stuck for several minutes fixing the SE corner. VAL Kilmer played Jim Morrison, who has the same last name as Van Morrison, thus Van Kilmer. Sheesh!