The HERE trick lifted this puzzle from ordinary to spectacular. That was one terrific BUTWAITTHERE S M O R E moment!
@Lewis In my haste to get my Fiend review up and move on to cooking dinner, I missed that the drop-offs are all from HERE. Thanks for pointing that out. (My apologies to Caitlin Lovinger, who probably mentioned this in her column (which I've not yet read).)
BIG sigh of relief on 46A ["My life is over"] At that point I had IMxUxxED. My first guess was not IMRUINED. For a minute I thought the NYT had completely become unravelled after yesterday's "screws" and "nails".
@Francis Are you the type pf person who always tries to enter swear words into the Spelling Bee? Because I am.
This puzzle was joyful. There was no cutting corners!
Well, the star of the puzzle, to me, is the word HERE. I remember thinking, at some point during the fill-in, that this was simply a rehash of a crossword tricky-trope: the turn-down or turn-up of an answer. It was well executed, but rather ordinary and disappointing, coming from the two pros that made this puzzle. Until HERE. That changed everything. It changed the revealer from just signaling a downward turn to making it marvelously specific. It brought the amazement that comes when seeing something that was right in front of my eyes, but was blind to. Plus, my appreciation for the skill behind this build soared. That HERE constricts so much -- the words that can come above and below it, and the number possible theme answers and dropping words. That on top of how those dropping words constrict the surrounding answers. Wow! As cream, there was the marvelous SMITHEREENS! Totally charmed by your puzzle, Rebecca and Michael. What pros you are. I loved this. Thank you!
Lewis, As I noted elsewhere, it is an amazing feat of construction. I wonder how many solvers used the HEREs while solving, or even noticed them post-solve before turning to Wordplay or other commentary.
@Lewis Thank you for this. I totally missed "here" even though I saw the starred answers went across then down. Now, I agree, mind boggling construction!
Well, that was SOME puzzle! I really enjoyed this one. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone. <3
This has been a good night. First, I caught onto the trick very early. I was uncharacteristically sharp when I saw that TEACHEREDITION turned a corner quite beautifully. And I had it! After that, I was filling things in quickly, all the while thinking this was going to another example of "too easy", and was feeling a little bad for those wizened solvers who are constantly on the lookout for a real challenge. But it seemed to be ok with them, too. But I didn't get the music when I first finished, and I spent probably ten full minutes looking for the error, with was the dRIER/dEEDTEA. It felt like a little gift from the cosmos (in particular, from the Great Attractor which pulls thousands of galaxies in the Laniakea Supercluster) when I saw that W made everything even better. W is a Wonderful letter. As I learned from Sesame Street, without W a Waffle is just affle. (More of a sound joke that a written joke, but everything here is way above average with wordplay.) Cheers, everyone. Off to make some WEEDTEA.
@Francis Ditto with catching it early, only for me it was mothere.......
Rebecca, Your puzzle was great, but, more importantly, we want to that you and your coworkers for your amazing work! Our 30-something daughter is currently in treatment with one of your products and her cancer is responding dramatically. Please share with your coworkers how absolutely grateful we are that you are saving her life.
@Steven W. Kick-ss crossword constructor and cures cancer. Gotta be a special Nobel prize for that.
Such a delightful puzzle! Impressively clever without (imo) being heavy handed. Bravo!
My first thought was IS THAT ALL THERE IS, until I realized that all seven phrases literally went downhill from HERE. Excellent! And what a great debut of the revealer. Nicely done, Rebecca and Michael.
For “middle of the night woe”, I originally had LEG CRAMP. Then, reviewing the puzzle, I see so many other possible midnight woes that could disturb your sleep: LOOSE ENDS ARM RESTS “I’M RUINED!” ARSENIC FAT CAT(s) CONDOR (!) SEDITION “IS THAT ALL THERE IS?”
@Cat Lady Margaret My first guess was BADDREAM
@Cat Lady Margaret count me in team leg cramp
Michael and Rebecca, what a pleasure. Thank you.
I was defeated at the corner of WEEDTEA and WRIER. I had "DRIER" and DEEDTEA, which I figured must be some brand of THC tea. Oh well.
@Jamie Yeah, that was the error I had that I looked very hard to find. It was only when I realized WRIER and dRIER were synonyms that I finally got my training treat.
@Jamie and @Francis That was my last square, too! 8 minutes flyspecking due to that rotten D.
@Jamie I got WRIER (though I had WRYER for a while, which I will insist is the correct spelling), but, being an aged dork who has never been cool, I entered WILD TEA, thinking "Yeah, that sounds like the kind of cool neologism some hip youngsters who are all into the reefer might come up with." I genuinely felt a bit disappointed to realize it was actually just WEED TEA. So uncreative! C'mon, cool young people, do better.
@Jamie That was the pot hole that I bottomed out on also.
Just the right level of difficulty for a Sunday. Perfect!
On Tuesday, unless I get flattened by an early week puzzle, I should hit 2000. If I make it, I may post a bit about my solving saga next weekend. I'm not a purist and will (again) disclose my cheat rules.
Caitlin may not have seen this trick before, but Jim Horne at xwordinfo.com has, and wrote: "Answers that turn corners in the grid is old hat by now, but 73-Across is superb justification." I enjoyed the revealer too, but I knew what to expect at the first themer from reading the puzzle title. I hope newcomers will have the same thrill I had the first time an answer turned a corner, and that old timers will have some appreciation for the execution here, even if the other shoe dropped years ago.
@Barry Ancona Before I had a subscription (that is, before my wife wanted NYT recipes) I had to rely on the the few freebies the NYT doled out. I was afraid of Thursday through Saturday, but I tried a Thursday that had this kind of gimmick. I was verklempt. Totally verklempt. I verklempted, then I verklempted some more.
Barry Ancona, “the execution here” Yes, we were hanging on every word, by the end.
Barry Ancona As newcomer, I definitely did not get a thrill.
Argghhh! I had a typo somewhere, and it took me 10 minutes to find it! Other than that, nice puzzle.
@DQ I had a typo, too. So as I usually do, I grabbed my phone. The List Display in the phone version of the Games App makes it much easier to spot those mistakes.
@DQ So you had a "m-i-t-s-a-k-e" that had to be RESPELLED?
This was a constructor’s tour de force, and enjoyable to solve as well. I figured it out once I got the revealer (and had a hunch before that) and it did make it a bit easier to be able to automatically add HERE at the end of the theme entries, but this was still an appropriately level of difficulty for a Sunday and deliciously fun to figure out. And again, this was no mean feat by two veteran solvers, a ton of theme material but all fresh and nothing too forced in both directions—and I loved the ending ISTHATALLTHEREIS because I certainly would have been ready for more. A few other thoughts: I had BUM for “rest area” at first and SEAT and REAR for “Bicycle setting”—I guess I got TUSHIE on the brain. I couldn’t help but think of the recent UNDERCOVER BOSS puzzle when I saw NABOB and considered how appropriate CHI(NA BOB)SLED TEAM would have been for that puzzle during the Winter Olympics. TIL Mar 10 is MARIO day, how fun!!! Appreciated a lot of the fresher clues for the shorter entries today, like “It’s pressed for cash” and “Calls to task” and “in hot water”. Don’t know if they were original but seemed so to me. Lastly two of my solving bugaboos today—ELASTIC or PLASTIC? WRIER or DRIER? And also WITS or BITE for sharpness?
@SP ELASTIC seems to fit the clue [Stretchy] better than plastic. Plastic may be bendy or twisty, but stretchiness doesn't seem to be to be a defining characteristic of it.
@SP Wryer v. wrier caused a bit of an issue but it all worked out
@SP Didn't you think the on-the-nose gimme of a revealer spoiled the theme? I got it instantly and it handed me the theme on a silver platter.
@SP @Andrzej Between "too hard" and "too easy", there's no pleasing some people. Got to enlarge your "Goldilocks" zone.
@The X-Phile Having a clever, complex theme like this and then giving it away in the most straightforward way possible seemed quite strange 🤷🏽♂️
Perfect Sunday puzzle IMHO, though I managed to miss the HERE component until I read Caitlin’s column (despite the obvious clue in the puzzle title). D’oh! For me, that clever trick elevated the construction such that I did something I rarely do once the gold star is in place—I went back to the puzzle just to look at it. Thank you, Rebecca and Mike!
Fun puzzle! This is why I subscribe and come back every day. Always fun to have to figure out the trick, and then have the trick help with solving the toughest part of the grid (for me, the NW today).
Whew (again). Took me a good long time to tumble to the trick and I was really puzzled until that happened. Still a good long workout even after that. But... really clever piece of construction. 15 letter answer that dawned on me today was... NATTERINGNABOBS And.. that's been an answer in two puzzles. And... my puzzle find. A Sunday from January 31, 1999 by Manny Nosowsky with the title "Gaining weight." Some theme answers in that one: WALKTHEPLANKTON TRASHCANTON THEFAIRSEXTON CROWNPRINCETON STANDPATTON MINIATURECARTON Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/31/1999&g=113&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/31/1999&g=113&d=A</a> ....
@Rich in Atlanta Do you remember who came up with that goofy phrase, "nattering nabobs of negativity"? A real classy guy, as it turned out.
@Rich in Atlanta My Brother, our thinking is aligned yet again! I guess folks like us never get over our exposure to a Spiro Agnew. And other crooks. Hope you are doing well! I miss Manny Nosowsky! I wasn't doing Xwords (except sometimes a Sunday from The Plain Dealer, with help from our High Schoolers--a senior and a sophomore.)
Oh, this was very enjoyable!! And I was even helped by figuring out the theme about halfway through. I was a bit slow getting the revealer, but loved the aha I felt when I got it! I was stoked to be able to put SEDITION back in. I'd taken it out when I filled in TEACHERS at 40A. I know the clue is singular, but I thought of it as TEACHER'S EDITION. I practically sprinted back there once I cracked the revealer. Kind of crazily, I confidently put CHEWOff at 10D, until I was happily forced to take it out. What the heck's a CHEWOff!? Is it like a hot dog eating contest, only you have to chew as many pieces of gum as you can without stopping? Hmm. I'd last about 30 seconds in that contest. Not a gum chewer am I! Extra fun one!!
@HeathieJ I'm sure there are examples out in the wild that make TEACHER EDITION acceptable, but "teacher's edition" sounds more in-the-language to me.
Don’t laugh but I thought sac fly was an insect. Clearly I don’t follow baseball hahaha. Fun one!!
@BH If it were, it sure sounds unpleasant.
@BH My problem was 3 possible answers. Had OUT, then RUN. Got the ERT for BERT and finally knew I needed RBI.
I knew I was in for a treat when I saw the byline with two construction superstars. I drank it up and it was GOOD TO THE LAST DROP! What kind of wizardry was that that made all the themers drop after the word HERE? Astonishing construction chops. Bravo to both, Rebecca and Michael, and thank you so much!
Once I grasped the trick, this went fairly quickly for a Sunday, and I mentally placed the puzzle in the "pleasantly clever" category. Then I read Caitlin's column and realized I had totally missed the HEREs that signal the starts of the downhill tumbles, at which point the puzzle went from clever to OMG! What an amazing feat of construction!
It is an amazing feat of construction. I wonder how many solvers used the HEREs while solving, or even noticed them post-solve before turning to Wordplay or other commentary.
@Barry Ancona I noticed it and I'm neither very bright nor observant 🤷🏽♂️. First, the revealer gave it away, and second, the word HERE was right there before my eyes in every themed entry. I'm surprised some solvers did not realize this.
I turned all the corners on this one, but sometimes too soon, and had to back up, rethink, and RESPELL. For instance, what is "offinterest"? Well, it isn't, but I seem to have an AFFINITY for blowing things up out of proportion and thinking I'M RUINED. After I settled down, I was having a wonderful time when I entered IS THAT ALL THERE IS and suddenly it was over! Michael and Rebecca it's still Valentine's Day where I'm solving, and I hope you're both having a stellar one. It's our 42nd anniversary (56 years of being together), and the puzzle was perfect for a lazy afternoon (Hub was dozing). Thank you!
So it *is* possible to have a Sunday grid with a theme other than a set of groaners. Nice. That was quite a cool trick. Or it could have been: the revealer was clued so directly it was an instant gimme and it pretty much spoiled the theme, giving it to me for free. Sigh. As for the fill, this being Sunday I couldn't be arsed to deal with all of the trivia and flyspecking so I quickly checked the puzzle and did a few reveals. I have no regrets there. Poland's most recent CENSUS was done during our latest illiberal, autocratic period (2015-2023), characterized by nationalism, xenophobia, religiosity, disregard for science, corruption, nepotism, discrimination, and all the other stuff sadly known to modern Americans. It was a criminal offence to refuse to take part in the census, but I did all I could to show how I felt about it and its organizers - for example, in the field for nationality I chose "other" and wrote in "European": take that, anti-EU nationalists!
@Andrzej It finally showed up! Exactly as you had it in IMGUR.
@Andrzej I had a very different puzzle experience than described in your first two paragraphs—I loved it—but I’m becoming unfortunately much more familiar with the experience described in your third paragraph.
@Lynn A welcome surprise from the moderators for sure. The people at the NYT have more sense than the bots.
A chorus of HERE HERE for this construction. Nicely done.
Okay - the most amazing puzzle I've ever encountered. A Tuesday from November 5, 1996 by Jeremiah Farrell. That was the day before the presidential election. Two seven letter crossing answers (39a and 43a) across the very middle of the puzzle separated by one black square. And... the clue for 39a was: "Lead story in tomorrow's newspaper (!), with 43 across." And the answer to 43 across was ELECTED. But the answer to 39 across could be either... CLINTON or BOBDOLE And both of those worked with crossing down answers. A couple of examples. 39 down: "Black Halloween animal" so... BAT or CAT 40 down: "French 101 word" so LUI or OUI Other down crossing alternatives... BRA or IRA OUI or LUI YARD or YARN BITS or BIOS BOAST or BLAST NRA or IRA Just amazing. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/5/1996" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/5/1996</a> ...
@Rich in Atlanta -- According to XwordInfo, that is the most famous NYT crossword. It was one of the first Schroedinger puzzles (that term coined by constructor Joon Pahk)
@Rich in Atlanta That was my 16th birthday.
@Lynn 45 is the new 35? I haven't *felt* young for quite a few years though.
Very clever one today! When I suddenly figured out the trick, I F E L L out of my chair. ** ** No puzzlers were harmed during the completion of the crossword.
I had an unexpected advantage. My husband was watching the women’s Big Air Skiing competition at the Olympics while I solved. I’d look up occasionally and that’s definitely a case of everything being downhill from there. And what a hill it is!
HERE HERE! Nice puzz. Two thumbs up. Now I'm having coconut cream pie for breakfast. (In a good way. Not the sad-morning-pie way.)
Gah! I missed it!!!!! So glad I went to the blog first, before writing this. Sure, I saw all the DOWNHILL answers. They were already given away by the unfortunate title, GOOD TO THE LAST DROP, which unnecessarily makes an already easy puzzle even easier. But I missed all the HEREs. Even after seeing the wonderful revealer, I missed the pun. Sometimes I feel I'm the most visually unobservant person who ever lived*. The HEREs are what lift up this downward-headed puzzle and give it real shine. It's a very clever revealer in a very well-executed puzzle. It's quite easy -- a good Sunday puzzle to give to a novice solver, I'd say. It will introduce them to both puzzle trickery and puzzle wordplay without discouraging them. In their case, the giveaway title will be an added plus. As for me, I found this an entertaining puzzle to solve. * Re visually unobservant: One of those Nancy Guthrie crime scene videos in extreme closeup showed what some experts were calling perhaps a scar right under the wrist. It's not that I said "What scar?". I'm sure at least some of you did too. It's that I said "What wrist?" You don't ever want me as a witness to anything. Not anything, ever.
@Nancy I missed the HEREs too, until I read the column!
@Nancy As a novice solver (started in October), these tricks are still just irritating. The title is not the easy helpful pointer that experienced solvers seem to think it is. The revealer is not particlularly useful either, I certainly didn't get it. I've gotten over the "discouraging" phase, but they certainly do not add to the enjoyment at all.
I've always been confused by the revealer. I know what it means, but going downhill also means easy, or getting easier, and I've always wondered if it has two meanings/how others use it. If I use it, I usually mean getting easier from here, and nobody has ever corrected me.
@Bill in Yokohama me too. Downhill means you can coast the rest of the way. Never knew the “getting worse” meaning
@Bill in Yokohama It has at least 2 meanings. The one you mentioned is like "we can just coast now, because the hard work is done" A second one is "you've reached peak condition, so it can only get worse from now on". Often said of someone in their twenties (or thirties, or fourties) by someone 10 years older.
@Bill in Yokohama I’ve heard it both ways, but typically I I use it to mean things are getting worse
@Bill in Yokohama Oh, yeah... Just like the 'golden years'. They're fun (NOT). Don't rush to the summit and go "over the hill". :)
@Bill in Yokohama It depends on the context. “Once I figured out that clue, it was all downhill from there” =easier. But I mostly see it used as a negative: “The comments section went downhill after they changed the format” or “Everything’s been going downhill since that carrot took office”. Because while traveling a downward slope may be easier, it can also mean you’ve already peaked, and unless you change paths, you’re headed toward the bottom.
@Bill in Yokohama I agree. Going "down hill" is always easier. I have never heard of downhill meaning "after the peak".
This puzzle was the bee's knees. Brilliant theme execution and revealer. Was I transported elsewhere through the multiverse of crucigrammatic space-time? No. Was I delighted? Yes, I was.
Based on the constructors’ note, I’m guessing that when Mike pitched the theme idea to Rebecca, barely had he BENTHERE A R and immediately it CAUGHTHERE Y E When I finally spotted it, you could have knocked me over with a feather edge.
Incredible puzzle - very fun, required the right amount of effort, and a very enjoyable revealer. Top class!
What a cracker. The sparkling fill, the amazing ability to develop a theme and clue system that has HERE in each appropriate place. I got the trick with Gaia; knowing it had to be MOTHER EARTH, but how to fit it all in? The down crossing was the lightbulb moment. I raise my chapeau. Very well done indeed.
Technical nit: it would have been helpful if, when 73A was selected, the seven italicised clues had been highlighted (as things like this usually are). Finding the italicized clues meant putting on the reading glasses. But I loved this puzzle! A perfect Sunday experience and the theme, once discovered, was a delightful aid to the sneaky 7. Mic drop!
@Don H totally agree on the highlighting. I found today’s italics hard to read (using an iPad) and the highlighting would have been a big help.
Kicking myself. Missed the HERE, simply turned downhill at the end. As a result had ETHERiAL crossing DiAL (93A 89D) convincing myself that the latter had something to do with telephoning. DOH Took a full fly speck to get it.
Funny that my brain fart today resulted in "blasked" because I initially put "Soho"... perfect place to get momentarily confused! On another note, enjoying what I hope is an intentional gathering of words like FATCAT, NABOB, SEDITION, and maybe even MARIO. Or it could just be my version of seeing a face in burned toast.
Enjoyable puzzle. Found it easier than most Sunday puzzles, but still fun to complete. Once you realize how the theme of the puzzle translates to the answers, it’s pretty straightforward.
WRIER may be a word, but I don't think I've ever heard anybody say it or read it anywhere in my life! I think I'd rather say: "This one is more wry than the other one!" (By the way, Word Spell-check is now correcting me and not letting me say "more wry.") What do you think? I think Word Spell-check is changing our language in a lot of ways--by insisting on its way! Also by the way, from the comments, I am getting the idea that a lot of people are uncomfortable with "wrier" and find it clumsy and unaccustomed to use. A lot of solvers got stumped at that answer.
@lucky13 This bakery's bread selection is... more pumpernickel?
@lucky13 It's ok in a crossword, I guess. Lots of weird stuff shows up in crosslandia. Construction is hard enough as it is without making it impossible by requiring only commonly used words.
@lucky13 Aaargh! I had "drier," which was the cause of today's flyspecking episode. I came here looking for a translation for "dEED TEA," having no toehold in the THC-loving culture. Again, the comments preserve my sanity for another day.
All right, slight nerd moment - I caught onto the theme immediately (for MOTHER EARTH) but that’s all thanks to Asimov. Yes, _that_ Isaac Asimov, of the I, Robot fame. In addition to being a prolific author of science fiction he frequently ventured into other realms, such as a fascinating primer on the etymology of Greek words that came from myths. While it is intended for kids, I would recommend *Words from the Myths* for all ages. And while you’re at it, Asimov’s *Treasury of Humor* is also a must read. And who knows, it too could help with a crossword in the not-so-distant future ;-)
@Mishlev I read so much Isaac Asimov when I was a teen. I loved his fiction, but I especially loved his telling of science history. One of them that comes to mind was how one could say "Para dimethyl amino benzaldehyde" to the tune of "The Irish Washerwomen".
@Mishlev P. S. Here's a great version of the song, if you don't know it. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuMDjNQrdjY" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuMDjNQrdjY</a>
@Mishlev Having read a lot of Azimov SciFi, I was astonished that the textbook for High School Physics was written by him. He was a polymath, with over 500 books covering everything including Shakespeare. He was able to make complex ideas understandable. Like "Foundation" Thanks for reminding me! Have to go look that one up.
He was also an accomplished snake wrangler, organist, pole dancer *and* hagfish wrestler. Amazing.
First time I have solved the revealer before any of the theme answers, and knew immediately what it was telling us to do.
My comment did not make it past the filter so please find it below the pic linked here: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/13Wjrpm" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/13Wjrpm</a>
@Andrzej Loved the passive resistance on your census.
@Andrzej P. S. Your post on the imgur had a typo...instead of "asked" you wrote "αrsed". Could have been your emu problem.
@Andrzej While your use of the word αrseδ does occasionally get by the emus, I'm with Francis on this one. After all, you're the one who taught me about cutting and pasting Greek letters here.
I'm past trying to figure out what the emus object to. They seem to be fine with arse so it must have been the political-adjacent words that triggered them.
You're probably right but TBH I'm tired of tiptoing around words that might offend a puritan 19th century kindergarten teacher.
@Andrzej - US census every ten years is used to apportion representatives in our Assembly, the Congress. How are members of your Assembly Sejm apportioned? Wikipedia doesn't say (based on a quick skim). What else is your census for? The tax rolls like in Roman times? The census is necessary, even if the the additional questions may not be.
@Andrzej Copernicus, Marie Curie, and now Andrzej. Boy, those Poles are clever!
@jennie Data from the census is used for all sorts of things - establishing population numbers and geographic distribution, basic quality of life indicators, etc. The population data may influence how the number of seats in Parliament is divided between districts. Of course it's necessary, but if you lived here as a liberal citizen between 2015 and 2023, you'd understand why I felt it necessary to resist the government even in symbolic ways, like letting them know not everybody identified with their vision of what being Polish means. @Steve L 🙄
@Andrzej Census-taking fun: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbuy4zxBoPk" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbuy4zxBoPk</a>
Didn't fully appreciate the theme until after finishing the puzzle, when I finally noticed that each of the seven thematic horizontal entries ends in HERE, as does the fitting revealer. Was then disappointed that six of the seven themers actually ended in THERE, while the one that didn't (TEACHERE) yields the awkward TEACHER EDITION and not "teacher's edition". Liked a couple of the themers in which the downward portion was substantial, but, all in all, didn't find this one all that interesting. As I'm sure others will note (MOL, I'm counting on you!) DEAGED is a horrid "word". Highlight for me is BEEN (clued with "It's ___ real") adjacent to ETHERE(AL). Can't wait to try out "It's been ethereal!" in some future conversation.
@Xword Junkie FEATHEREDGE was very weird to me, but I've never been very clever with PhotoShop. I guess you might use that to DEAGE a picture, removing wrinkles and such for a dating app. But why would you do that? They're going to see your real face eventually.
113A. What a proud day for all of Fort Collins. We can now move on from balloon boy.
Is WEEDTEA Good to the Last Drop? (Asking for a friend)
Very cool puzzle. I’m always impressed with how the constructors come up with such neat tricks. Well done!