One of those puzzles where the first pass through you get barely anything, but then things start falling into place one by one...before you know it, you're done! No frustrating bits. Great puzzle.
@Allison Yes, it really was! I had nothing but LAH after the first pass and I was like, uh oh 😂. But then it all somehow fell into place!
@Allison Right, tough but fair. I only had two gimmes, plus a good guess with SANTA MONICA PIER. Didn’t know any of the trivia but got 60% through before doing one lookup concerning eye charts.
@Allison exactly my experience! I really had to work the crosses to get anywhere. When I got to about 60% done the rest fell into place rapidly and I ended at about 75% of my average time.
This crossword is one for the books! Congratulations to the one and only talented Nick Maritz on such a thrilling puzzle. Not only did I let out a number of hearty chuckles upon reading his witty puns, but I must also say that I enjoyed the debut of the iconic Santa Monica Pier in today's crossword -- my birthplace and favorite town to party it up in. In addition, as a partially Italian classical pianist, the references to music and Italian themes are stellar. I also love how the grid looks like the ferris wheel at the Santa Monica Pier, one of my favorite rides! Side note: Nick Maritz is really cute and also my boyfriend...
@Milaena Awww. I was reading your comment and thinking, “Wow, she’s perfectly on his wavelength” and lo and behold… Glad y’all found each other!
@Milaena Seems like a lot of effort to devote to getting your perfect...grid. 😁 Best wishes to both of you.
Challenging, continually engaging and enjoyable. When I started, I thought I was never going to get anything. Then it slowly came together. Very enjoyable! Thank you!
@Rodzu had the same experience- really fun puzzle.
"Hey, tree, is that a new coat? I'm lichen it!" ("Yeah, but it trunk in the wash.")
@Mike Guess it messed up the branch dressing.
@Mike You canopy serious! (With apologies to John McEnroe)
Mike, By Neanderthal’s Beard! Your puns always bole me over!
@Mike " Now for ten years, we've been on our own, and moss, grows fat on a rollin' stone."
This grid showcases the art and science of making a Saturday puzzle. It’s an uber-low word count grid (66), low black-square count (33), with hardly a hint of junk. This isn’t simply done with a computer program; it’s a process marked by edits and choices, by erasing swaths and replacing them, then doing it again and again, until the box shines. There are interesting and colorful answers woven in, beautifying the grid: INCUBI, BASS LINE, AEGIS, SCRAPES (as clued), SANTA MONICA PIER, CHIGNON, LICHEN, even SALAMI. Just making these things happen requires high skill – there’s your science, with a generous helping of art. The cluing is an art in itself. There have to be enough toeholds to keep the solver motivated, but that must be balanced by riddles, vagueness, arcana, and misdirects to get the solver doing the luscious work of Solving. If there are too many toeholds, the solver feels cheated, if there is too much toughness, the solver feels frustrated. To find the sweet spot, the right balance, well, that’s an art. No puzzle will please everyone, but a high-quality puzzle will please most. That’s what I believe Nick made today, and to debut with this puzzle is remarkable. IMO, high props are in order!
Lewis, Nick certainly has made a high-quality puzzle, but the editors have written or permitted too many easy clues, and many solvers are finding this less than a usual Saturday challenge even by current standards. "44% solved much faster (>20%) than their Saturday average" <a href="https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2026-01-31" target="_blank">https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2026-01-31</a>
@Lewis There is always some push-me/pull-you between the cluing and answers. Challenging solvers with clever clues or testing knowledge for answers can be a delicate dance. You've described the steps beautifully. When a constructor combines Sid Vicious, NEANDERTHALs, INCUBI, GENIEs and Thomas Jefferson with a classic BASSLINE, I'm in. Great debut, Nick Maritz
I’m still relatively new to crosswords and have only been regularly completing Saturdays for a year or so now. I’m always amazed when a puzzle like this comes along where I think I’m absolutely NEVER going to get it, and then one corner gradually opens up and soon enough I find I’ve finished the whole thing with a decent (for me) time - and, more importantly, thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. I’m completely in awe of the skill involved in this kind of construction!
This was just a nice puzzle full of fun entries and a lovely grid with only a few, but strategically placed black squares. I got on a roll when I had enough crosses to recognize SANTAMONICAPIER and it’s ROLLERCOASTER. When I finished I was surprised to see I had finished quite a bit under my Saturday average. A tip of the hat to Thomas Jefferson for bringing us VANILLAICECREAM
@Marshall Walthew Yes, Thomas got the scoop, when he was across the pond.
I wanted the answer for "Evil spirits" to be ROTGUT
Remember our mantra, y’all, bestowed upon us by our beloved St. Deb: “Your mileage may vary.” Regardless of whether we liked the construction (I did) or the clueing (I did), we really have to give props to anyone who can debut with a Saturday puzzle. That’s a feat worth celebrating. Well done, Mr. Maritz: I thoroughly enjoyed your debut puzzle, and I hope to see you back for many more!
@Barb Prillaman --- I'm amazed that anyone can fill in a grid with clueable strings of letters at all, let alone this delightful offering. Seriously, every puzzle seems like a minor miracle to me.
Pyroclastic Flows are deadly avalanches of volcanic ash that flow down the sides of volcanoes during an eruption. They can move over 60 miles an hour, destroying everything and everyone in their path. The eruption that destroyed Pompei was a pyroclastic flow. L
@LarryF As a child I was obsessed with volcanos. "Volcanic slag, often known as scoria, is a dark-colored, vesicular volcanic rock (commonly basaltic) formed from gas-rich lava cooling rapidly, typically during explosive eruptions. It is characterized by high density with large, visible vesicles (bubbles) and thick vesicle walls. It is distinct from industrial slag, which is a byproduct of metal smelting. " The nerd-child in me got a kick out of the movie Dante's Peak, and I just went back and watched the eruption again. The deadliest eruption of the 20th century was Mount Pelée on Martinique in 1902; the town of Saint-Pierre was obliterated by a pyroclastic flow, and pretty much the only person to escape unscathed was a prisoner locked in a windowless underground jail cell. Fatalities were estimated at more than 29,000. Mount Semeru erupted in November of 2025 with pyroclastic flows which were caught on various cameras. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/world/asia/indonesia-mount-semeru-eruption.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/world/asia/indonesia-mount-semeru-eruption.html</a> Dang! I forgot to hit "submit". Sorry so few will see this.
Nice puzzle. I'm 71 and had a good laugh when I figured out the answer to 56 across.
@Ed thanks I'll go back and look up the clue as I'm also 71 and I don't remember 56 across was.
@Ed Well, there is a chance you (and I) have some Neanderthal DNA: <a href="https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/06/lingering-effects-neanderthal-dna-found-modern-humans" target="_blank">https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2023/06/lingering-effects-neanderthal-dna-found-modern-humans</a>
I trust this will show up as an EASY Saturday; I can't be the only one -- or even one of a few -- who flew through this one. Oh, I enjoyed it -- thanks, Nick - but I renew my call to have Wednesday be a swing day, to include easy themelesses. -
@Barry Ancona I bested my Saturday average by a few minutes while solving in a rather difficult location—on line to see a show. So I’d say it was fairly easy to me.
@Barry Ancona I like your idea about Wednesdays! I hope the editors will consider.
@Barry Ancona Not here. Just a titch longer than average.
@Barry Ancona id be curious to know which entries you considered as obvious or in your knowledge base. Not knowing US important historical facts such as opening of piers or flavours of ice creams made it quite challenging for me. Certainly not a Wednesday here but it’s good to see that Andrzej is happily in the Barry camp. 😀
26% faster than average for me, but only because my co-solver, who is 14 years younger, helped me a lot. SANTAMONICAPIER for one.
@Barry Ancona I took a very rudimentary look at Saturday solve times. It's not hard to see that there's a distribution there; some are relatively long, some short etc. I don't see anything wrong with variety.
The instant I saw the clue for 12A I thought, PEDIATRICIANS, but then I thought, "Maybe pediatric-something, pediatricians is too short for such a long entry." Well glad I typed it in anyway because it turns out that some words are longer than they seem in my head. I was totally on the same wavelength as the author today. One of my fastest Saturdays ever.
According to a lab analysis, I have more Neanderthal DNA than most anyone. Yet, I was still able to finish this puzzle in good time.
@Mark So easy a cave man could do it.
This was my first time playing a Saturday crossword (I’m a newbie). The wordplay was so fun! I remember getting 27-A even though entering it as an arbitrary guess and being shocked that I managed to enter the correct clue.
@Leon S. Well done! That one stumped me for quite a while. I kept thinking of answers along the lines of Juilliard or Cazadero or Thornton. Then gradually 14D filled and palm slap to forehead. Love that feeling.
@Leon S. I wanted something like SOUND or VOICES... I seem to approach music thinking of the instruments and composition rather than other aspects. BASS LINE? That's how you catch supper.... Or a rock group would think that way, maybe.
Is there a word for the little Saturday morning fist pump and woo hoo that slips out when you land a clean solve on a puzzle you found rather difficult? The “woo hoo” that, even though it’s a quiet one, still startles your wife a bit and makes her face the day with the realization that she married a crossword nerd? Hope she doesn’t tell the other baseball dads. Time for 10U tryouts.
@Striker I call it a “Satur-yay’! I loved this one! (And my spouse just shakes his head. He does not understand the pure joy of a Saturday solve).
Took a few passes to get a toehold, but I still finished it 10 minutes faster than my average. Somehow chewy and easy at the same time, probably because the long answers came quickly to me.
Feeling so happy for Lake Superior, ERIE gets all the glory around these parts...
Poor Ariadne! A girl from a family whose women habitually make poor romantic choices--her mother fell in love with a bull--she fell head over heels for the Athenian prince Theseus, who had come to Crete expressly to murder her brother-in-law, Asterion*. She helps him do so--that whole bit about the labyrinth and the spool of thread and all--and, afterwards, now being obviously persona non grata at Cnossos, fled with Theseus back to the mainland. On the way, they stop for a little R&R on the isle of Naxos, to picnic on the beach, eat a little vanilla ice cream, and ride the pier-side roller coaster there. All that excitement, and the crash from the sugar-buzz, makes Ariadne sleepy, and, waking from her nap, she discovers that Theseus has left without her. Was he as cad, or merely forgetful? Opinions vary. In any case, he later marries her sister, Phaedra. Ariadne is justifiably distraught, and even considers suicide. Lucky for her, she receives some solace from one of the amusement park carnies, who offers her some refreshment stronger than sweet cider, and turns out to be none other than Dionysus, God of Wine, in disguise. So I guess not poor Ariadne after all . . . *As I mentioned a couple days ago, Asterion, aka the Minotaur, has always seemed to me a tragic figure in the whole affair. Say their name.
@Bill Here's Aridane's lament from the parking-lot at Naxos, the only surviving bit from the otherwise lost opera *Arianna* by Claudio Monteverdi, here sung by soprano Maria Théoleyre, who appears to have a bit of difficulty with furniture. But check out the threesome, including theorbo, on the bass line! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7aMcqdsf64&list=RDb7aMcqdsf64&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7aMcqdsf64&list=RDb7aMcqdsf64&start_radio=1</a>
@Bill All I know about Theseus is his penchant for relentless ship renovations.
@Bill Whoops! Asterion was Ariadne's half-brother, not brother-in-law!
Quelle disappointment when that French dessert didn't turn out to be something really exciting like a Bombe Glacee, a Coupe aux Marrons, a Profiterole or a Charlotte Russe. OTOH, the first three can't be made without VANILLA ICE CREAM, so there's that. And if the dessert itself isn't very interesting, the clue certainly is. The clue for PEDIATRICIANS is clever-ish, but not clever enough, in that I saw it immediately and it ushered me into the North section. Puzzledom's favorite chess player TAL was another slam-dunk. Otherwise the top section would have been much harder, since I was looking for a climbing sport or a wrestling sport at 1A. And these days, with all the contemporary slang, "Peace out" can be just about anything. Somehow this seemed harder as I was solving than it seemed after I was through solving, if you see what I mean. All things considered, it wasn't really that hard as Saturdays go. But the stacks were lovely and I found the puzzle engrossing.
@Nancy I second that emotion right now! I have some Clement Faugier chestnut spread in my cart at Amazon already, gearing up for a delicious Coupe aux Marrons--one of my favorite desserts. I had my first Coupe aux Marrons at a restaurant called Le Marmiton when I was a wee thing--with my parents in Manhattan. Yum. Yum. And yum.
@Lucky 13 -- It's one of my favorite desserts too, if not my absolute favorite, and I haven't seen it on a menu in 40-50 years. Meaning I haven't eaten it in 40-50 years. And now you're telling me that all I have to do is order this (only $10, can you believe it?) Clement Faugier item from Amazon and put it on top of VANILLA ICE CREAM and...voila! ???? C'est formidable!!!! But I shouldn't know that. Keeping ice cream in my freezer is a real Achilles heel. A certifiable no-no. A surefire way for my glucose numbers to spike. Not to mention the Clement Faugier chestnut concoction which sounds both wonderful and very, very sweet. So what I say is "Get thee behind me, Satan!" Fingers in my ears. LALALALALALALALALALALALALA :)
Don't do this puzzle when you're hungry, or you'll enter brioche rather than chignon.
A perfect Saturday puzzle! A first pass that triggers feelings of despair that slowly opens up on the second pass until a lightbulb or two go off. Really, really enjoyable. Very minimal junk fill, a pun here and there, some interesting facts, nothing stale. I would love to see more work from this constructor!
The Sex Pistols were famously dropped by their record label after an appearance on a TV chat show, that descended into a profanity-laced donnybrook. To be fair, the presenter was totally winding them up right from the start. Anyway, every time EMI appears as an answer I sing that song to myself, and here it is in the clue! I think that's a first. "Hello EMI, goodbye."
@Grant EMI (and LAH) were the only fill I had for what felt like an eternity! I mentioned the song to my partner, who promptly began belting out the lyrics over breakfast this morning. A blessed gimme and toehold into the puzzle!
Okay, I will admit it. Every time I see a new constructor, my heart drops. Here we go, I think, rap groups, current slang, recent movies, and Star Wars or Star Trek. But not this debut. I guess when PEDIATRICIANS popped right into my head I though it would all be this easy. Not quite. But a nice amount of trivia made it a fun solve. I got SNELLEN with just two letters; I know that's an answer that was always somewhere in my brain (along with the Brannock Device), and besides, I had to look at one at the beginning of the week for my deteriorating vision. Loved the way SANTAMONICAPIER played out after just a few letters, as well as ROLLERCOASTER. I did goto the pier once on a short trip to L.A., but just to have dinner in the mall across the street, so not actually a visit to the pier. All in all, a delightful puzzle that was just hard enough to make it a good solve, with some very nice, fresh answers.
@Times Rita, Waiting for “Brannock Device” to make its way into a crossword.
(This comment should be read with a poor attempt at a British accent, speaking down to the plebs who have gathered round to hear my wise words...) For twelve delicious years, I owned an ice cream parlor with my husband. A micro-creamery, if you will. We made our own, and it was the most decadent cream on the planet. Ergo, I am obviously an *expert* in all things ice cream-y. That said, I can detect a true aficionado by what they ask to taste. Vanilla. Vanilla is the answer. Pared down to its essence, the cream will tell you its worth. And, what it is not. [CC backs away slowly until finally disappearing into a mist]
@CCNY Talk about magic that works...
@CCNY Nothing beats a good vanilla, especially an eggy French vanilla. And don’t try to start about chocolate on top of a nice hot apple pie.
We wimpy southerners are dealing with another wintry cold snap (scorm?) and forced to hunker down. I'm not partial to hunkering, sorry. I'm assuming arr = arrangement in sheet music? I wanted the Lord's Prayer solution to be padre. It was to my surprise was when it turned out to be in Latin, and not Italian and definitely not Espanich or Francias. Here's what I didn't realize: Pater Noster also historically refers to rosary beads, named after the prayer's opening. Not being Catholic, I had no idea, although rosary beads are not new to my vocab. My wife worked in the Abrams Building in Frankfurt back in '88, or so. In between floors were devices called Paternosters, kind of intimidating looking contraptions. They're continuous loop elevators that one leaps on and off at will. Here's what else I never knew: The name Paternoster elevator is called as such because of its design of a loop, similar to rosary beads. Now I understand the name, as I remember calling on the Lord's name several times as it rounded the top floor for the descent. Similarly, while rounding the basement level for the ascent.
@Jerry Cool! W4ikipedia has a good entry on paternoster elevators and there are several YouTube videos. Over 300 left in Germany and quite a few in Prague. (None cited in Warsaw; sorry @ Andrzej. Not legal to build new ones.
Took a while to get really started but going over and over works. Loved the spanning entries. They were all well clued. Especially liked the clues for PEDIATRICIANS and NEANDERTHAL. Thanks, Nick for a great puzzle. Happy Saturday, y’all!
When I first opened it up tonight, I stared agape at the grid. It was so open looking and a bit intimidating to gaze upon. I don't know how to talk about grid design, but sometimes one just really hits me as lovely to look at. 🤷♀️ Anyhow, another nice puzzle today! Very enjoyable! I went through this one (Saturday's) significantly faster than Friday's (today's), which was a good bit faster than my average Friday. Anyhow, so my Saturday solved way faster than my average Friday. Wow! Oh dear, I feel like I'm Steve Martin in The Jerk talking about how much time he and Bernadette Peters have been together! Har!! Lake SUPERIOR is a place of such joy and peace for my husband and me, so I enjoyed its inclusion today. It's so beautiful and raw!! It's also fun to think how I've been in both of the largest freshwater lakes in the world—both by area and by volume. I'm a lucky lady!! Anyhow, though a bit fast, both puzzles I did today were a lot of fun to do though—and I now have more time to start binging Schitt's Creek again... A sad and way too soon ADIOS to the incomparable Catherine O'Hara. 💔🌹💔 A good Moira compilation, though I'd have added a fold in the cheese reference and Moira as a crow! <a href="https://youtu.be/75HX7RJCJ_8?si=aoC1SxvLXA4YHRSV" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/75HX7RJCJ_8?si=aoC1SxvLXA4YHRSV</a>
@HeathieJ Nick is a true artist. I really love that the grid looks like the ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier, the marquee answer!! 🎡
@HeathieJ CBC was running a lot material about O'Hara's grest career. They ran the whole 'fold in the cheese' routine which I loved. My favourite part is her role in 'Waiting for Guffman', closely followed by 'Best in Show'.
Great puzzle, and liked the fun fact about vanilla icecream. Congrats on the solid debut!
@CB I knew it was ice cream immediately but the need to insert vanilla threw me off for a few seconds. It didn't seem necessary or particularly fair. (Although I'm probably biased because I find vanilla a dreary waste of calories.)
@CB Fond memories of the Dolly Madison brand always connected ice cream with our Founding Fathers, but it was nice to learn of Jefferson’s role in bringing “French Vanilla” to our tables. (It’s funny how much influence marketing and advertising tropes have on our subconscious mental associations.)
A puzzle about my neck of the woods? Yes please!! My niece had her 8th birthday party at the SANTA MONICA PIER! I think it was the best birthday party I’ve ever attended. I’ve mentioned that my husband works for UCLA Health. My kids have spent an inordinate amount of time at the Specialist PEDIATRICIANS at UCLA Santa Monica Hospital (specifically Orthopedics). Between my two youngest, they broke their wrists 8 times and my daughter’s foot three times in their chosen sports of snow boarding, lacrosse and Irish dance. We were on a first name basis with the entire staff 🤣 PEDIATRICIANS also made me want to say HOLLA to @SP, one of our resident constructors on our forum!! This puzzle was really speaking my language, so thank you, Nick and a hearty congratulations on your most excellent debut!
@Jacqui J my daughter also spent time on Lake SUPERIOR this past summer through her camp in Wisconsin (Minikani). Her group kayaked to three of the Apostle Islands and stayed overnight at the any one. Truly amazing experience. She will be a camp counselor in training starting this summer at Minikani ☺️
A really satisfying brain-tickling puzzle for a Saturday. It’s exciting to me, a longtime fan of the NYT crossword, to see new puzzle creators who bring the good stuff. Thank you!
@Scorm Please, Sir or Madam: What is a SCORM? Thank you!
Once again, got the puzzle mostly put together, no big concerns... ...and then... No music. Looked everywhere, finally had to fall on the show-puzzle sword, only to find that the eye doctor is not SPELmaN, that a pyroclastic material isn't SmoG, that SALoMI is not the way salami is spelled in Milan, and that the Sex Pistols (could never stand any aspect of that group) were not hating on aMI. I sure am blue.
@Francis And now I am bluer, having read all the "too easy" comments. At my age, one is always on the lookout for more signs of failing cognition. I need an attitude adjustment.
@Francis First pass through and EMI was one of the only ones I knew. Now that song is in my head. Loved the Sex Pistols.
@Francis There are some that everyone thinks are super easy and they were super hard for me... It happens. Please don't be blue! There's more than enough to be blue about as is! Those crosses were tricky for me too but I did feel confident about SALAMI and had good guesses on SLAG and EMI. They were my last fills and I wasn't confident. I also got a little caught up being overly thinking that papER for hot off the presses, so I had to unwind a little mess there. So even though most of it went fast for me, there were trickier little parts.
@Francis, Like others have said here, I really don’t think it’s you. I’m sure I’m not the first to one to have a noticed a pattern to the comments. The early ones are, naturally, made by folks who have finished the puzzle quickly and may have found it somewhat easy. Praise for the constructor(s). Then come the complaints: too hard, too obscure, unfair, canceling my subscription, yada yada yada. Followed by latecomers like myself, and those who took their own sweet time diving, thoroughly enjoying their discoveries and learning experience and quite proud of doing a hard puzzle with few or no lookups. Kind of a sandwich if you will. You’re fine. 🫂
@Francis aw, some days are like that. Snellen should have been a gimme for me considering the chart gets used many times a day in the pediatric clinic where I work! There's nowhere convenient to put it out of the way, so I wait until the kid is at the end of a line then say "sorry!" as I dart past. Waiting for the day when one of them says "j m o old woman r" lol. I got hung up thinking the chef had to be Sue for sous chef and that caused a cascade of confusion!
The grid without the many long entries looked scary, and I felt dejected once I saw that several of them were trivia-based. However, while the first across pass yielded little, the down one was quite successful. It gave me enough crosses to get the spanners. I was finished in Wednesday time, and over two times quicker than yesterday, so either this was very easy for the day, or I suddenly became a genius - but we know the latter can't be true 🤪 It was an enjoyable solve though, if not quite what I expect of a Saturday, difficulty-wise.
With the many long entries' Not "without"... Why did autocorrect do that... its ineptness boggles the mond.
@Andrzej Without... Autocorrect outdid itself. *with* the many long entries (...)
@Andrzej you’ve evolved into a crossword genius although I suspect that in general IQ and ability to do this puzzle are not correlated. I would be quite surprised if many found it easy but then again … I’m just glad to complete any puzzle without hints.
Now that I've had some time to get over yet another blue star, just *one* day after... Start again... I've had some time to think about how I behaved earlier when I couldn't get the gold star... Naw, no one's going to believe that. Despite my Biblical disappointment....this is really hard. I blue this one (pun unintended), yet I felt blessed by a clue so perfect for me I couldn't believe it, about the largest freshwater Lake by surface area...I looked out my window and saw SUPERIOR. Earlier in the day I heard some waves from it. And I also have some fond feelings about the SANTA MONICA PIER (which is a whole other story). So, even being given two loooooong answers, I still couldn't get past that SmoG....let it go, let it go.... Breathe deeply and think of eels.
@Francis Is it me or is that Lake Superior eel giving you bedroom eyes? And... are they blue?
@Francis Not long ago the city in which I have lived for decades and in whose language I am fluent was clued here as "City which translates to Spring Hill," or very similarly to this, and I remember staring stupidly at this last-to-fall fill, even with a few letters already cribbed by crosses, for several minutes before TELAVIV finally bit me. You are being too hard on yourself, in my humble opinion. Not that you'll change. None of us cogitates as crisply as twenty years ago. Sic transit gloria mundi.
@Francis Yes, let it go. I gave up on streaks after I reached 365, then realised I’d rather allowed the tyranny of the streak to control my daily activities. Now I fill the puzzle at my leisure, sometimes not even on the correct day! 😱 How lovely to be able to see water from your home, SUPERIOR or not. We wanted a home by the sea, but on our small island the land is either snatched for holiday caravan sites, or is priced way beyond our means. Still, I look out over green countryside, not a bad alternative.
Excellent debut puzzle, Nick! Anyone else pick up on the serendipity of Monica SELES above the SANTA MONICA PIER? Is that what Lewis calls a PuzzPair? Five pm and it has started snowing here in South Georgia. Not sticking, but snowing.
@Linda Jo It's been snowing up here (I'm in Milledgeville now) for a while, but it just recently started to actually accumulate. We'll see. ...
Linda Jo and Rich, I just checked, and the peach trees are not in my back yard, nor are they blossoming, but hopefully soon ;) Keep warm.
@Linda Jo We’re getting arctic blast winds off the lake. The snow didn’t stick earlier, but that has changed dramatically. We’re in full-blown winter weather. 🥶 If you have any plants or animals you don’t particularly care about, go ahead and put them out. 😋
@Linda Jo I also liked ADIOS / HOLLA (I know, not both Spanish, but close!)
A richly clued puzzle, from Midas to ice cream, a roller coaster variety of fills, with those golden moments when you crack a clue and a corner suddenly almost solves itself. It was no picnic, but never boring, and I got it done. I'm reminding myself that even the Neanderthals were not as dumb as we thought they were. Nick, this was a dazzler of a debut. Thanks for the ride!
@dutchiris This was posted 01/30, not an hour ago, and is appearing only now because the Emus had found a word in it that had to be investigated. Sheesh.
The pier (of course) was a complete unknown, as was the roller coaster, and I love roller coasters. I've been on the 1914 wooden one in Copenhagen. I didn't know the eye chart had a special name, and I wore glasses from age 14. You are all so knowledgeable! I thought at first the lake must be Baikal, but I found out it's only the oldest and deepest. PANERA? Nope. The ice cream? Never. Peace out? (What?) I appreciate the wordplays (like CIDER) and still enjoyed it all.
Quite impressed, Nick. What a debut. I look forward to many more.
Stabbed by the emus once again. I always write comments directly in the box, and unless I happen to highlight and copy it before I move on, a comment is gone forever when their tender souls are offended. The only possibility in this one is a word so mild it makes most of our crosswords look like Sunday school lessons, so it will probably eventually appear. Not deathless prose, but hey, I took the time to write an inoffensive comment. Maybe they could reprogram their A.I. to make it a little more accurate.
@dutchiris, I’m right there with you today. I don’t get emus very often, but it happened today after I penned a rather long heartfelt comment to @HeathieJ that I could never hope to recreate faithfully. No idea why it might have been embargoed. I’m hoping it surfaces eventually.
@dutchiris The emus aren't always evaluating content, sometimes they burp it out before even tasting it. So don't waste too much time wondering what you said "wrong". Remember, what we call the emus, is the comment moderating system for the whole NYT website. It is not designed for the high level of discourse and repartee that we wordplay nerds have here. I think sometimes things get caught in the craw if there is a lot of commenting activity elsewhere in the system. Or if it's just a high volume of traffic on the internet servers.
Beauteous! There were just enough toeholds to keep me motivated, with the rest being so fuzzy that I had to memory-dig, had to leave the brain alone to let the subconscious kick in, and had to make stabs and see what happens. That is sweet work, punctuated by pings of delight. I left the puzzle exuberant -- what a gift! Memorable moments included dragging SNELLEN and CHIGNON out of my memory, as well as the flashes that came as I cracked each of the long answers. I also loved the NYT-debut grid design with its photo album corners and dearth of scattershot black squares. It's exciting to come across a new and talented Crosslandia voice on his debut, whetting my appetite for more. This was, for me, a sweet, sweet Saturday, Nick. Thank you!
Loved today’s crossword. It’s rare for me to solve a Saturday puzzle without any lookups AND 25 minutes faster than my average. I refuse to think it was an easy solve, I’m just a lot smarter! 😎
@Sebastian It was not easy; I think you may be justifiably proud of yourself!.
Tough and humbling. Good ego check.
Truly a lovely, fun, sparkly debut. Two thumbs up! Stay warm all.
As a pretty good, not great, solver I loved the puzzle and was proud of my almost perfect solve. Kudos to those who found the crossing of Snellen, slag and emi “easy”. Not me.
Just came to say I did no word checks this Saturday. Also liked the puzzle done by a Pianist!
I thought I was done very quickly (in about 1/3 my cumulative average) and then got stuck. Just stuck. In the top right corner. For some reason I came up with MusiC for something that works and got myself all messed up for about 12 minutes. And I know I've heard that Vonnegut saying. When it hit me, it was one big DOH! So I finished in under my usual time but it felt hard. Either I need more coffee or I'm just distracted by other things. Stay safe you guys.
@Lynn I also had MUSIC! and then I could not figure out EMI for the life of me. also had ICE CREAM at the beginning but finally figured that one out.
Tough one for me, as Saturdays usually are. Definitely did some “research” here and there, but many of the long across entries came to me more easily than some of the short fill. My last trouble spot was SNELLEN crossing EMI. I looked up Mr. SNELLEN who was completely unknown to me. With no knowledge at all of the Sex Pistols’ music or their label, I somehow managed o get aMI in there in place of EMI. 🤦🏼♀️ But all’s well that ends well is my motto, so I’m happy. At least as long as I spend more time on puzzles than listening to the news. Looking at the happy birds on my back yard feeders helps too. Now I’m going to head out for a long walk, which is another thing that helps me cope. Stay safe everyone 🙏🏻
Intimidating looking grid. Filled bottom up. Would have never gotten 52A so easily, except when I saw the clue 55A which referenced an attraction on 52A. I filled in both immediately with no crosses. I love clues like 24A. “Deliberate”. Don’t know what they are called. But I’m not smart enough to figure them out immediately. I was thinking “thinking about something” Good wordplay. Fair Saturday. Maybe could been a Friday? But it was a challenging fun solve. Thank you constructor.
@Weak Also an unusual bottom up solve for me
A very tough puzzle for me. For the longest time I thought it would end up in failure. Who’d have thought that the opening of a pier would be a historical event. Got there eventually. If you accept AEGIS then Paediatrician is misspelt 😀
@Ιασων I tried to reply three times now and emus ate it every time. I have no idea why. Check out the description below the Lucek pic: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/NT9rPjT" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/NT9rPjT</a>
@Ιασων AEGIS is loaned entirely into english so retains the greek spelling. PEDIATRICIAN is an english word derived from greek roots so uses english spelling rules, particularly of the american dialect, since the nyt is an american company. and if we wanna get really pedantic, they’re both spelled wrong because the greek is αἰγίς or παῖς, both using iota, not eta or epsilon.
@Ιασων AEGIS is known to me as a guided missile system for fleet defense. (My father worked on that project.) And of course, it's Athena's shield, But some times it's EGIS in the puzzle. To be honest, the clue had me thinking of paying "protection" money to the mob.
Caitlin, I have regularly defended your choice of lead (or is it lede?) photo for Wordplay, which appears in the bottom left corner of the puzzle page, for those who solve on-line on a pc; but for anyone (not me) who might recognize the roller-coaster at Santa Monica Pier, today's photo is not one, but two, spoilers.
@Bill She doesn't seem to care 🤷🏽♂️
@Bill Yesterday's from Sam seemed shockingly on the nose from that columnist. Mind you, I only see the column after solving (or being hopelessly stuck in) the puzzle. Rather too straightforward nonetheless, IMO. And now come to find out – by way of a guest columnist – that the column is in fact edited-! Makes me reassess letting editorial errors slide when I (and others) assumed an author going it alone... 🤷♀️
@Bill Is this really an issue? I have to scroll down a lot to see the photo. I only scroll down enough to center the grid and then there are no (potential) spoilers until I want one.
@Bill I still don’t get why you can’t just zoom to 110 or 125% to get rid of the photo. I keep mine at 110 and don’t have this problem; not sure if I’d even have it at normal size. But 110% is best on my screen for all of the NYT, because they have ridiculously wide margins.