That's the first time the constructor's notes have made me tear up. Writing from Minneapolis, the message about joy returning fully someday really hit me. Thank you for that. I wish you continued recovery and more joy this year.
@Absolutely Delicious Someday joy will return, maybe. If it does, it will be because of people like you.
@Absolutely Delicious Me too. I really needed to hear that message of hope right now. Thank you to the constructor, and best of luck to him and his husband.
All of these _”finished in X time”_ comments remind me of one particular classmate in college… Who would sit in the first row of the lecture hall and upon receipt of his graded exam audibly proclaim (with performative dismay) how close indeed the score was to being 100%. This was followed, without fail, by a furtive glance backwards to the rest of the class. I certainly don’t mean to imply the commenters herein are anywhere near as insufferable though ;-)
@Mishlev that scenario is a tee-up for a prepared snappy comeback. Did no-one ever bite? "Never mind, you'll be a total dork one day." "Rats! So close to someone caring." "Too bad. I'll go cancel the parade."
@Mishlev I would like to say without fear of contradiction by friend or foe, that I am, at the very least, that insufferable.
@Mishlev If I PR on a puzzle, I just share that fact, rather than the time itself. All that matters is how I've done relative to my previous efforts.
I'm sorry for your losses in the LA fires Nate, but very happy you've found resilience. Thanks for the puzzle, I hope there will be more.
When I was done, I looked to see if there would also be a voice inside the revealer. I assume it's unintentional, but I smiled to see DEVO. Whip it good!
@mnemonica When that song came out I was supervising a group of student workers in a college bookstore. When we were in the process of sending unsold texts back to the publisher and "Whip It" played on the radio, my crew would sing it out loud, substituting "ship" for "whip."
Nate, Rarely do I wish I'd read the constructor's note *before*I solved. The whimsy of this puzzle against the backdrop of your ensuing year are a sobering, tragic, and ultimately somewhat hopeful image. So happy to think of you arranging your new home, with all the promise, potential, and endurance it represents. Thank you for sharing your puzzle and your story.
Nate, that you submitted this puzzle one day before the tragic fire – what an illustration of how fortunes can change in an eyeblink. My heart goes out to you and your husband, and may the healing continue. Your story made me stop, really stop, and think about being more grateful about what I have as opposed to what I wish I had. Thank you for that!
Thanks, Nate, for some puzzling joy today! Blessings on your new home—may there be many good things ahead for you and your loved ones.
This was one of my quickest Tuesday solves, faster than many Mondays. The theme was fine, but I don't quite get what an INSIDE VOICE is. Is it how you speak inside, as opposed to, say, shouting at a playground? Dunno about the US but over here children - and adults - are not encouraged but required to keep quiet at libraries, and even whispering is frowned upon. TOTES reminded me how surprised I was for decades each and every time I saw American shopping bags in films and on TV - made of paper and without handles 😮 Especially the latter seemed so alien, and so inconvenient! Every time I saw them I thought: How do you carry several of those home? And sure enough, struggling with shopping bags has become an American TV trope, hasn't it? It's not like our alternative was perfect, mind you - our shopping bags might have had handles, but they were plastic, and they contributed to pollution. These days single-use plastic shopping bags have been legally banned though, and we all use totes. Sturdy, thick, plastic bags in bright colors, with logos and text in English, German or French, were smuggked into Poland from the West, and people considered them luxurious goods in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. We called them "reklamówki", literally "the things with the ads". People usually had only a few of them, if not just one, and it was a sad day when they finally tore.
@Andrzej Strange the memories that float up, like "it was a sad day when they finally tore". My much lesser deprivations were simply of frugality in grad school. Like using the same lunch bag over and over, till it was a pile of flimsy leather. Or fixing a pair of shoes rather than buy a new pair (is that even possible anymore?)
@Francis It sure is over here - we still have some traditional cobblers, and there are specialist shops that resole trekking and climbing shoes with highest quality materials, including vibram. Sadly, most people just throw away shoes rather than repair them. The Western shopping bag thing was about scarcity rather than about frugality, as such. Stuff from the West was sought after but hard to get. There were so few single-use things in my 1980s childhood! Throw-away culture has turned out to be one of the few changes for the worse brought about by market economy.
@Andrzej correct, it’s inside voices as opposed to shouting outside, not talking to the voices inside.
@Andrzej It is such an American TV trope that I complain at the TV every time I see it. Still no idea whether it's real or not, though my theory is that Americans in the suburbs have to drive everywhere so really all they need is a way to get grocery items from the trolley (shopping cart) to the car and from the car to the house. The car to the house section being the inevitable stumbling block of any American TV housewife requiring a fortunate/unfortunate meeting with a hero/villain on the street. But I mean, how hard is it to put a couple of handles on your paper bag?
@Andrzej Around here, most people started using reusable totes once the markets started charging for disposable bags. Not much, but enough to tweak the conscience.
@Andrzej at the counter in the library.... <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgxbx9HoGUw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgxbx9HoGUw</a>
@Andrzej I lived in Hamburg, Germany in 2005-06 and still use 2 canvas shopping bags i bought there. Stores didn't have free give-away bags at all. But my two favorites are ones I got a drug store in Durban South Africa where we lived 2020-22. They are sepia photos -- one a giraffe and one a rhino. Our city in California, Palo Alto, banned one-use plastic bags from stores several years ago, and now the rest of the state is finally following suit. But we were also one of the first places to ban smoking in public spaces -- over 40 years ago. I agree this puzzle was a little easy. I did it in Monday time, and didn't really get the theme until after it was all done. But I work at an elementary school where "One, two, three, eyes on me" and "Use your inside voices" are heard regularly.
My favorite answer is INSIDE VOICES, which threw me back into elementary school, where teachers admonished us to use them as we walked in a line to the library, and if one of us spoke too loud while there, the teacher would sternly repeat the phrase. Then I fondly flashed on – actually saw in my mind’s eye -- the two elementary school teachers I adored. That was followed by vivid elementary school memories, such as in second grade, when my teacher and another teacher were flirting. All the kids tittered about it, and I was proud to be chosen to relay her love notes to him. Crosswords, they wake things up, no? In today’s puzzle, I like how the circled singers connect both words of two-word phrases rather than being simply embedded in one of the words. I like the cross of IAGO and the homophone of “vain”. I also like the abutting of high and low art with SONATA and SMUT. So, Nate, your puzzle was simply a lovely interlude beautifying my day. Thank you!
@Lewis Thanks for the memories - yours as well as mine. You reminded me my 5th-8th grade geography teacher flirted with the PE guy. Three decades later I can understand why, even though it puzzled me at the time. I also have loads of memories from school libraries... No talking allowed!
@Andrzej My fifth grade teacher was very special. She was so kind and made me, a very shy, anxious child, feel I mattered. The PE teacher was a young guy, very handsome and fit. He started dropping by our classroom, on quite a regular basis. They would simply chat for a few minutes, but even our naive eyes could see it. I don't know if they ultimately married, but if they did, I hope they had a very happy life together. By the way, the puzzle! Fastest time ever, zipped through it.
@Lewis Salute to the Wizard of O's for giving us: WHAM-O HBO IAGO SOLO SPEEDO OH SO fabulous. Thanks.
@Lewis Well, come on then! What did those notes say? Surely you read them, right?
A fun puzzle and an incredibly poignant constructors message. Wishing you all the joy in your new home, and know that you brought me joy with this solve today.
The constructor notes for this one are amazing! Congrats on your new home and thank you for a lovely Tuesday morning! Both the puzzle and the notes are some of the many reasons why I do the crossword.
My first puzzle without a single lookup, and a new best time!
Very nice puzzle. I would have preferred to see it next Monday. Doing yesterday's puzzle again a la Groundhog Day might have taken me longer than doing this one.
@Barry Ancona Actually, Tuesday's puzzle took me 26 sec longer than Monday's, in keeping with the progressive difficulty of the week. Still, this was a Tuesday best time for me.
@Barry Ancona Speaking of Groundhog Day, here's an anecdote. Today at Bible Study, I used a joke of sorts from yesterday's comments. It had to do with a little girl's answer to her pastor's question regarding the significance of Easter. The one where she said, " Jesus died for our sins on the cross, then was put in a tomb, with a rock across the opening, when he came out, he saw his shadow, and went back in, because there was going to be six more weeks of winter. :)
Wow. A really enjoyable puzzle made poignant by the constructor’s notes. I’m glad you’ve finally found a new home to hopefully regain the joy you felt when you made this grid.
Quick one today, though not approaching any records for me, as I don't really try to beat my best times, and just enjoy the process. Given the Constructor Notes, I find it a tad ironic that the puzzle contains not only FIRE, but BURNT; OVENS; and OWNERS REGRET. I'm glad to hear that times are better, and that the important things (yourself and your husband) made it out safely and that you are getting re-established. Fun puzzle, seeing the singers within the theme answers made me SMILE. Thanks, Nick!
Finished skimming the comments in PB time!
@ad absurdum Your comment would be more meaningful to the rest of us if you could tell us what you liked and/or disliked about the other comments.
Nate, like many others I was moved by your experiences of the last year. I can hardly imagine what that turmoil must have been like. Your puzzle was a delight to solve, with the memories it brought up of elementary classes and teachers, “saying uncle,” tossing frisbees, hearing Elvis as a teenager, etc. Solving these puzzles has become more than mental exercise… it is all about our shared humanity. Thank you for being part of that. Best wishes on your continuing healing journey.
So glad that acceptance of this puzzle brought a lift of spirits to you, Nate. The puzzle was very enjoyable to solve. Best wishes for a better year in your new home.
Kramer: What's today? Newman: It's Thursday. Kramer: Really? Feels like Tuesday. Newman: Tuesday has no feel. Monday has a feel, Friday has a feel, Sunday has a feel.... Kramer: I feel Tuesday and Wednesday...
A fairly diverse group of voices inside the words/phrases. Elvis was a truly great singer in his youth. Those Chess recordings, man, he was FIRE. And Adele has a great set of lungs. I love it when she shifts into top gear. T Pain with his auto-tune is a little hard to take, but as far as "voices" go his is extremely recognizable even if it isn't organically his own. And Kesha, formerly Ke$ha, while I don't go for her music I've kept tabs on her and find her immensely relatable, even if I have nothing in common with her: she was extremely hardworking as a musician and songwriter from early on, and her work ethic and ability to keep changing shape and keep putting out albums, podcasts, writing songs, collaborating, doing benefits, tours, specials, while getting sued by this person or that studio, while doing all the rash and ill advised things stars of her ilk do, is a source of admiration and inspiration for me: what a dynamo. Still I'd have liked a few more voices to have been jammed into this grid, like maybe six or eight total. A foursome feels a little lonely. Good to see some ancillary voices here, in Eagle (as in Joe Walsh, Don Henley, et al.) -- all originally recruited by Linda Ronstadt to be her traveling band, and all blessed with good outside voices. Been thinking about their no. 1 hit "Lyin' Eyes" recently. Wonder why? And "Smile" - Brian Wilson's late masterpiece. And The Strokes, who, having listened to it, can forget Julian Casablancas singing on This Is It?
@john ezra The Eagles are great. I recently binge-watched their music (and bios), especially Hotel California and Take it to the Limit. It's hard to get those songs out of my head. To the puzzle maker: sorry for your traumatic loss. Will things be back to normal??? Ever? After Armageddon? I can't imagine living through the conflagration. Best, best of luck in your new home.
@john ezra Yes and Wham! could be included in your list, and a single Car.
@john ezra "Lying Eyes" was the first Eagles song I ever really heard, lyrics-wise. What a clinic on word efficiency to describe an awful situation!
Nate, thanks for a fun (quick!) Tuesday. Your constructor notes made my heart ache. In northern CA we are all too familiar with wildfire devastation. We know many who lost everything here and in LA. Your notes really capture the depth of that loss and the ongoing trauma of recovery. I hope you and your husband find much happiness and joy in your new home. When you feel up to it, please send more puzzles.
This was so enjoyable. Thank you, Nate. I’m so sorry for your loss. May you and your husband continue to heal and discover many joys in your new home. Very best wishes.
Long time solver and lurker here, first-time poster, pushed into my first ever comment by the thrill of achieving my all-time PB for any day of the week today: 3:47! Just one of those days where almost every answer I put in on the first run turned out to be the correct one, requiring basically no changes at the end. Great theme and great early week puzzle! My thoughts go out to Nate for what must have been a horrifically challenging year.
@Sam Well, congratulations to you on an astounding time. Don't lurk! We don't bite, most of us.
@Sam Welcome, congrats, and g'day, Sam. We've got a few Sams floating around here, so you may end up with a nickname. As for biting, not usually. 《GROWF!》 But sometimes... 😁 Hope to see you post again soon.
Thank you, Nate, for a very fun and clever Tuesday solve! I wish you and your husband all the best as you settle in to your new home -- may all your INSIDE (and outside) VOICES be happy ones!
Wow, Nate. Sorry to hear that you lost your home last year. We knew several people that lost their homes during that time 😢 So glad to hear you have found a new home. As for the puzzle, it was truly on my wavelength. I hadn’t thought about TV GUIDE in years! I liked the variety of music artists for INSIDE VOICES. Thank you, Nate. Looking forward to more from you.
First time the constructor notes made me swallow my review of the puzzle. Had nothing BAD to say... Still... New experience. Sorry about your house.
This was a fun puzzle. Thanks, Nate. Wishing you and your husband complete recovery on all levels. Peace to y’all. Have a great Tuesday.
Dear Nate, my household and I were on fire with your crossword tonight, but in a good way. Tunnel vision slowed us down but we still came within 18 seconds of our best Tuesday time every. My puzzle-solving prodigy of a daughter was moved to tears by your constructor's note. Thanks for making this small piece of our daily routine such a pleasure tonight. All the best to you and your husband as you settle in and keep marching down the pathway of recovery!
Quicker solve than Monday’s, but still satisfying. And sometimes it’s good to have an easy early week puzzle, to get those muscles flexed for the Friday/ Saturday workout. Congratulations on rising from the ashes, Nate. I hope you use that Phoenix energy to build a triumphant new life… and hopefully some more awesome puzzles.
I’m so glad you and your family are safe, Nate. Love the puzzle, looking forward to more.
Wonderful Puzzle…fun solve without google…sending so many Blessings to this constructor and family after such a rocky 2025!♥️🦋🫶🏻👏
Well, that solve sure was FAST. But I'm not furious about it! I wouldn't even mind a sequel. Or eleven** of them, even. **I checked. They've actually made that many Fast and Furious films!!
My time was 35% faster than my Tuesday average, so I'd say this was one of the easiest Tuesdays in recent memory.
Fun but easy Tuesday, more like a Monday. Might have been a PB except one time I solved a puzzle when I was off Wifi and when I got back on Wifi it gave me credit for a 2 minute solve which is now my "Record". Very good clues though.
@Chris I have a record of 5:21 for a Saturday! Not sure how that happened, since my average is about 40 minutes. That's OK. I don't pay a lot of attention to times. But I do laugh a little when I see that 5:21...
The weather VANE on our boat house is shaped like a great blue heron, actually. It can be confusing when the genuine article decides to sit up there.
@Grant A few of those birds frequent our shoreline. They are very beautiful yet very scary creatures and remind me of how thankful I am the pterodactyl is extinct.
Thanks for such an enjoyable puzzle, Nate. Every best wish to you and yours as your new home comes takes shape.
Very enjoyable puzzle, Surely, I can't be the only one who put GRADELEVEN for 30D
@CH That was my one error too. I didn't read the crossing clue at the bottom until I got to it after failing to get the happy music.
Huh. Well. I love a good challenge, but sometimes an easy win is just the thing needed to kick off the day. Thank you, creator. Cheers.
Not to sound like a broken record, but I too would like to join the chorus of those who broke records today. Now, who else is going to volunteer to help clean up all those nasty, sharp shards of broken records littering the floor? What a mess! OUCH!
Fun one today, and for those looking to challenge yourself on the easier solves, try solving by only doing across clues, not looking at any down clues. Today was the first time I was able to do it on a Tuesday puzzle. :)
Dear Nate, Thank you for a lovely puzzle, which did indeed give me joy. I am so sorry to hear about your losses in the fire, and am hoping that you continue recovering from that trauma and finding new joys.
65 Across is technically wrong. Zero raised to the zeroth power is undefined and not ONE. This is one of the considerations that leads to the concept of limits, and later on, differential calculus. Similarly, infinity raised to the zeroth power is also undefined.
@Prithwiraj Yes, but zero is just one tiniest, infinitesimalist piece of the entirety of the real number line, so it's outvoted. I jest, of course. This clue/answer is just another wonderful example of the way that crosswords lead to fascinating conversations. And infinitesimalist really is a word. You don't have to check me on that. Your can trust me.
@Prithwiraj Infinity is not a number; it's only something that can be used as a limit or concept. Maybe you meant: The limit of x ^ 0 as x goes to infinity is undefined. (Which is news to me.)
Parading my ignorance: I was curious about IAGO and wondered idly if Shakespeare had made the name up. How embarrassing! It is cognate with the Cornish name Jago and with Jacob and Spanish Diego (hence Santiago! -- why did I not think of this?) and was the name of a string of kings of Gwynedd (in Wales) hundreds of years before Shakespeare. Wikipedia mentions that there have been a bunch of soccer players called Iago, and says it was the pen name of Britain's first and longest-serving Prime Minister Robert Walpole. My favourite line from Iago in Shakespeare's Othello was the one that surprised me most, because it contains a phrase that I had assumed was modern fratboy slang, when he tells Brabantio: "I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs." Who knew?
@Petrol 😂 Shakespeare was no prude! I wonder if it's always been true that every generation thinks it's discovering new and astonishing things about an ancient act that hasn't significantly changed for a thousand generations.
@Petrol Yes interestingly Iago is straight from from "Saint Jacob" ("Sancti Iacobi" - "Sant Iaco"), which transformed into more common names like "(San) Diego" and "Thiago", moving the final consonant sound from saint to the beginning of the first name. Usually called Saint James in English, an apostle with a pretty wide variety of apparent names across languages.
@Petrol I remember this image in high school driving me to read more Shakespeare.
OoooooKay! Of course I knew ELVIS, and I've heard of ADELE. I had to revise SOLE at 34A, but other than that, this went quickly. Nate Cardin...hmm. A parent, a teacher, or both? I've never seen a SHAKE SHACK...?California chain? Not that it matters; if I'm going to eat out, it won't be at a burger joint. Springerle update: five dozen cookies in the freezer. A number of them don't have the perfect impressions I wanted, but oh well. Might have to re-assess this "hobby"--does my passion for anise flavor outweigh the struggle? I could, after all, just use David Connell's wonderful recipe for plain anise cookies... Oh, the puzzle--the crossword one! Over too soon, but spanning the years of WHAM-O and ELVIS to modern ACER and KESHA. Well done. Thanks.
@Nate Cardin I'm back after reading your Constructor Notes. A close friend (one-time teaching colleague and working artist) lived in Altadena and was burned out, escaping with her important papers and the cat. She lost everything else (not least her business, her stock, her supplies...) She "refugeed" to Oakland and has recently mentioned PTSD ... so many stories. I believe people are ultimately resilient in the face of life-changing tragedy.....though working through it is an on-going task, not a straightforward path. All good wishes in your journey.
MOL, The first Shake Shack was in Madison Square Park (in Manhattan). It has spread out over the past two decades or so. <a href="https://shakeshack.com/#/orderSetup/pickup" target="_blank">https://shakeshack.com/#/orderSetup/pickup</a>
@Mean Old Lady I've never seen a Shake Shack either - there's one by the mall, but I avoid that place like plague. Their stock was big news last year, as everybody started short selling, and it dropped like a stone.
@Mean Old Lady Useless info you didn't ask for: There was a restauranteur originally from St Louis who, among other brands, started Shake Shack. In the 50's - 70s a very popular burger joint was Steak n Shake - that prominently advertised grinding daily in their own comissaries using steak cuts of beef. And a long time local treasure was Ted Drewes' Frozen Custard. Pretty sure Steak Shack is a tribute to the originator's childhood.
@Mean Old Lady Thanks for the springerle update. I can't stand anise-flavoured anything but it's clear that many love these treats. Can you imagine announcing to friends and family that this is 'the last batch'? The wailing, the gnashing of teeth! "Homemade" and "lovely" are goals worth pursuing while you can.
Record Tuesday time on this one. Thanks for the birthday present! (Turned 56 today, and feeling every bit of it.) Many condolences to the constructor for losing your home in the fires.
Thanks Nate, terribly sorry about your home, but wonderful you’ve moved to a new one. Wish you all the best fortune there. Juliana, often the clues and answers cause me to hear and recall memories… today it was 39D and Sister Mary Elephant of Our Lady of 115th Street. Back in 1972 we’d sit around on somebody’s living room at all listen together. From today’s perspective, when everybody lives and listens in their own little pods, 1972 feels a warm, happy memory to me.
@sonnel I'd forgotten Sister Mary Elephant! Now I'm laughing to myself remembering. Thanks for that!
Nate this was a very enjoyable puzzle, clever theme. I’m sorry to hear about your home. In another of those funny coincidences my nephew who is visiting from Israel just today asked me about this idiom and where it came from; I had no idea of course, another one of those funny things that came into the vocabulary whose origin is unknown (at least as far as I could research)
Loved this puzzle, Nate. It’s so satisfying to watch all the answers cascade like dominoes. I’m wishing you many more joys in the future.