Very fun until I couldn't figure out what I did wrong. Seriously, NOT allowing the rebus? Spent half my time trying to find where I erred. Grrr.
@Teresa Same! Quite disappointed when I saw I had in fact solved the puzzle but it counted the rebus as mistakes. Otherwise, this would have been my first four day streak...
@Teresa What rebus? Seriously, what are you guys talking about?
@Teresa Same. Finally gave up and broke my streak.
@Teresa If it were a rebus (multiple letter entry), it would not work on the down clues. You need to notice that and conclude that it can’t be a rebus. It’s part of the puzzle.
The fact that this is one of the most upvoted comments (though it’s still a bit early in the AM) is absolutely wild 🤣
@Teresa If you put in a rebus, you solved the puzzle incorrectly. The theme was "fallen angels," not "angels in a box." The "angel" of the theme entry is supposed to "fall" down the down entry. A rebus would not fit the theme, and therefore would not be accepted by the app.
@Teresa I literally spent half my time trying to make sense of this comment. Then I spent the other half of my time trying to figure out how it became the most recommended comment.
A lot of quibbles from people here. I just want to say I loved it. Well done Joe.
Oh, I’m a little sad, I first thought “Game point?” solved to ANTLER. Ha!
@Linda That was my instant first guess, too. I thought I was so smart for thinking of that so quickly.
@Linda Me too, that tripped me up for a while!
Cute but I wanted more than three, and also was disappointed that only TAO of the three was a legit word (perhaps there is someone among the 8 billion on this earth named BRAINA -- if there's Briana, why not Braina? -- or the surname LOSAES ...). I mean, surely Evangeline has a place in this puzzle. Surely Wrangel Island! Surely we can find a column on which to place Fra Angelico and his compatriot Michelangelo. But I do like seeing Angela Davis. Talk about an afro. Talk about body. What a great human being. Link to an image of her beautiful head below. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Davis#/media/File:Angela_Davis,_1974.jpg" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Davis#/media/File:Angela_Davis,_1974.jpg</a>
@john ezra I like BRAINA! I wouldn't be surprised. Heck Oprah became pretty famous with a misspelled name. It was supposed to be Orpah, a biblical name.
@john ezra Not an Angela Davis fan! One August day in 1970 my husband and I showed up at the Marin California County Courthouse to get our marriage license. The parking lot was full of police, etc. Friends of Angela Davis were there shooting up a courtroom trying to free one of their friends who was on trial. They killed a DA and paralyzed the judge.
My five favorite original clues from last week (in order of appearance): 1. First impression of a new video game? (5)(6) 2. You can't cut through it (3)(2)(3) 3. Shelters some look to when duty calls? (3)(6) 4. Establishments where smoking is allowed (3)(6) 5. Takes off-road? (7) START BUTTON CUL DE SAC TAX DODGES RIB JOINTS RECALLS
Ive been deep in the archive lately, doing ThFSs from early 1994, and let me tell you....anyone whining about how easy one of these late week puzzles is, go back and do some from the 90s....you will be humbled.
@Bandit Working through the archives has enriched my solving skills. You? Although they can be daunting and dated, don't you smile when you run past the same clue being used in 2026? The more things change, the more they stay the same.
@Bandit I do. That's why I whine about these. I miss when they offered any resistance at all or were willing to reference anything other than the most recent, most mainstream pop culture possible - it was nice to actually learn something from doing these. The easiness and enforced restriction is a drag
So this was a tight clever theme. One could argue about its reliance on proper nouns and whether somehow the fill should create an existing word or phrase (probably impossible in this case, and neither of those really bothered me). And the rest of the fill/clues might have been a little easy in terms of challenge but pretty good in my opinion. I’m going to be very specific in my critique and again it’s on the editors: Why hand this theme to us on a silver platter? I was pretty well stumped in the NW and feeling, great, I’ve got a puzzle on my hands. And then: Mad scientist in a 1964 Kubrick film? Second most populous US City? Are you kidding me? Two gimmes and the theme is ruined? Why not just say Fictional 60s mad scientist, at least, and some clue for LA that isn’t immediately obvious? Top it off, the revealer. Not that it wasn’t obvious already, but if it weren’t, “heavenly outcast” is pretty much a direct definition. Maybe clue it just “Lucifer, for example?” Or something remotely less straightforward? I’m sorry, just those three changes would have elevated this puzzle immensely for me and I just don’t understand why. On another note anyone else wonder if a DORAPHOBE is afraid of FUN? ‘Cause Dora the Explorer is pretty fun.
@SP I thought a DORAPHOBE would be afraid of foxes
@SP my experience exactly.
@SP Hear, hear! The fill made the whole thing kinda sad. Silicon Valley investor brought down by scandal? Victoria's Secret model tripped off the catwalk?
@SP Shouldn’t a DORAPHOBE be afraid of explorers? But otherwise, yeah. I hear you.
SP, And in truth, the platter looks like it’s silver plated.
A line I love from Dr. STRANGELOVE: "Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is a war room!"
@Lewis "Women sense my power and they seek the life essence. I do not avoid women, Mandrake. But I... I do deny them my essence."
@Lewis *the* war room, but yeah
I loved this!. (Though I confess that my first try for "Game point" was Antler, which made me chuckle, but after realizing the answer is ARCADE I had to retract the chuckle.)
After thought re "turpitude": I first learned of this word in high school in news reports about some teacher somewhere who was being investigated for "moral turpitude". Being found liable for this would have allowed the district to fire him. So I assumed all my life that the word meant "malfeasance" (which if in the "moral" category probably referred to something sexual). I had never known it to mean PURE EVIL. So ... now looking it up in real time ... apparently it ***doesn't*** mean exactly "pure" evil. It just means "evil", or "depravity", or "corruption". The "pure" qualifier is, I suppose, fine for a crossword. But the "pure" sense is not inherent in the meaning of turpitude.
@Dan Ditto for me on antler, and I was so proud of myself!
@Dan it does seem to be beyond standard evil, some kind of qualifier fits the definition better. Turpitude comes from Latin turpis, meaning "vile" or "base." The word is often heard in the phrase "moral turpitude," an expression used in law to designate an act or behavior that gravely violates the sentiment or accepted standard of the community. A criminal offense that involves moral turpitude is considered wrong or evil by moral standards, in addition to being the violation of a statute.
This was a brilliant puzzle, so I don't think I'll read any other comments today (busy day in any case, handbell practice and so on). Sometimes when I really love a puzzle and have struggled just enough to find a solution to what is going on in the constructor's mind . . . well, it just a bit unsettling to see complaints. And somehow there are always a few who just hate a given puzzle. I'm so grateful to Joe Marquez, and to the whole team. I love Sam's comments as well. Thanks you guys :-) Off for my daily walk now in the glorious sunshine and cool weather.
I liked this puzzle fine. It could have been better/crunchier, but it was a clever idea, reasonably well executed. It strikes me as amusing, however, to see people complain about rebuses *not* being accepted. I guess, in addition to the rebus haters, we have people who want to see rebuses where none exist. There are no rebuses here. The ANGELS are FALLEN. It might be amusing to come up with "boxed" or "square" ANGELS, but that's a puzzle for another Thursday. As for those who are wondering how LOSAES and BRAINA are words, please read the column before coming to the comments.
@The X-Phile I was one of those complainers. Then after a closer look I got it. I admit I was being a little thick. Not enough morning coffee perhaps.
@The X-Phile The angels are indeed fallen, and I’m fine with no rebuses My only nit to pick is it would be nice if the remainders formed a word or expression somehow. Other crosswords do that. It’s immensely clever and I find it more satisfying.
@The X-Phile @heironymous Yes, and it would have been nice if the ANGEL of the revealer had also been a themer, but I'm not a constructor, and I recognize that it would have been very difficult to make such a puzzle
A pleasant and very gentle Thursday puzzle from Joe Marquez. Wednesday seemed Tuesdayish; I think this would be a fine Wednesday. I guess we have wait a bit longer for PUREEVIL.
@Barry Ancona Agreed. Seemed like a Wednesday and my time (slow as I am comparatively to you and others here) reflected this.
Breezy. 10% faster than my Wednesday average.
I finished a minute faster than yesterday. Also faster than the xwstats Median Solve Time, which is pretty rare for me.
Well, that was something in a non-rebus Thursday kind of way. Sometimes luck and head-scratching only take you so far . . . Rescued that gold star after flyspecking and landing on PUREEVIL - as ANGELADAVIS didn't come to mind until the alphabet run solved the mystery of PUREERIL. Isn't that a laundry detergent, or a hand sanitizer? Boy howdy, you'd have to wash my mouth out with some Purell - sussing out where one hinky letter was hiding. It's Thursday eve, folks. The world ain't perfect, but it's what we got - try to smile and keep one foot in front of the other. Happy Solving, all.
@Whoa Nellie Is it merely a coincidence that PUREEVIL and ANGELADAVIS were crosses? O-o-o-h-h... spooky😁
Well, I love the crossword mind that came across FALLEN ANGEL and thought “Crossword theme!” I love the theme answers in which the ANGEL doesn't come from the word "angel" -- CHANGE LANES, TANGELO, and STRANGELOVE. These are hard to find. There’s “evangelist”, which post-puzzle exploring tells me is not an outgrowth of “angel”. What else? I also liked the musical references in the box – MAHLER, LENTO, SNARES, ARIA – not to mention COUNT (which triggers “Basie” in my mind) and column five, which contains two answers that can be wrenched to have musical meanings – DE NOTE, and A TONE. Finally, I loved [Be important], a non-tricky clue that perfectly describes its answer, yet it stymied me but good until the crosses revealed COUNT, upon which I was washed over by a huge aha. Great moment for me. Much feel-good from your puzzle, Joe. Thank you for making it!
@Lewis In this age of discontent Lewis, your comments are always an inspiration for me, surely forestalling my expiration date.
@Lewis Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but, if "evangelist" isn't a daughter of "angel," it's certainly a first cousin: both come from the Greek verb "angello," which means "to bring a message." "Angel"=messenger (of God), "evangelist"=one who brings *good* ("ev-"=good) news (of the *Gospel*--which in turn, also means "good news.") In fact, I doubt that you could find a single word with the string A-N-G-E-L which doesn't derive ultimately from the Greek root, save the portmanteau "tangelo."
@Bill -- Maybe there's another strANGELy enough.
Sorry. I’m spoiled I know. But that was just too common a Thursday trick. And if the puzzle is going be based on something like that, then you gotta ratchet up the clues. I mean “second most populous city in the US”. That’s a Monday-level clue. But in this case, it just gives away the trick immediately. On the editors. Not the constructor. It might have been a Thursday grid. But the clueing turned it into a Monday. It would have next level to have the themed across entries be real words. TAO. Nice. BRAINA. Close LOSAES. yuk. Anyway. I appreciate the puzzle for what it is.
@Weak Saw the city clue and guessed the theme right away. Sad.
This feels like one of those crosswords that was more fun to construct than it actually is to solve.
Clever construction, could've used tougher cluing, but fun. I once knew an Angela Davis, but not the Angela Davis. Went down a rabbit hole with turpitude. I've never thought of it as pure evil. Always heard of 'moral turpitude', but did not know that as a legal concept, moral turpitude is not so much about sexual/social morals but is more concerned with honesty, responsibility, and duty in business/legal/civic matters. The distinctions get rather arcane and arbitrary. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_turpitude" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_turpitude</a> Turpitude of all types has been too much in the news of late.
@Linda Jo Wasn't moral turpitude the underlying charge in the Scopes Trial? Sorry, I don't have a copy of "Inherit the Wind" lying about, but it sounds right. Great expression, though. And then there's "pulchitrude," which sounds like something similarly bad, but actually means beauty.
Should have allowed ANGEL as a rebus in the A square to be correct. Hunted for an error for a while only to check and have that be wrong.
(1) A rebus must work both Across and Down. More than one letter in those A squares would not have worked Down. (2) The revealer -- 26 Down -- told you what to do.
@Jesse There are others out here who agree with you but respectfully, I don't really understand why it would be a rebus. The revealer referred to fallen angel and so that means the angels have to fall... Otherwise they would be squished into a box angels. And I'm pretty sure that's not in the Bible. 😏 Also, one wouldn't be able to complete the down answers without angel spelled out.
My better angels must have been looking out for me tonight, as I caught on to the FALLENANGEL trick fairly quickly. Not as challenging as I had hoped, but fun nevertheless. Any puzzle that includes Doctor STRANGELOVE is ok in my book. I learned about ANGELADAVIS back in my college days through the music of Ralph McTell. There’s a reference to her in his song Zimmerman Blues. All these years later the song and she helped me out with the puzzle.
@Marshall Walthew I've been referencing Dr. Strangelove a lot in recent weeks, unfortunately, so it was fresh in my mind for the crossword. Siliver lining, I guess...
@Marshall Walthew Do a concert for Angela <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1SuoBDDlEU" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1SuoBDDlEU</a>
I made this far more difficult than I needed to. I caught on quickly (or so I thought) and entered ANGEL as a rebus in the across squares where the A belonged. I didn’t get to the revealer until going through the downs and my rebus entries weren’t making sense. I tried ANGEL/A up until i noticed that ANGEL was also spelled out in the downs. Then I got to the revealer 🤦🏼♀️ then erased each one and changed to an A 😆 Nice enough theme. Must have been on the same wavelength as Joe because I was looking for Maya Angelou in the grid 😉 Thanks, Joe!
When I started the puzzle in the NW corner (where else) I was geared up for a Thursday, rife with rebuses, so failed to spot the easy fills. Dropped down and all of a sudden I was writing away. After the puzzle was done, I kept looking for more Los Angeles(es) or something, and finally got it that the theme was just the three downward ANGELs. So this time, simplicity was a trap and I was the one to FALL for it. Thanks, Joe. Dr. Strangelove is one of my all time favorite Peter Sellars' roles, and I start grinning every time I think of him. (Not so funny now, with the drone factor.)
It may be possible to arrive at the comments section without scrolling through the Wordplay column; if so, I don't know how. But every day, so many commenters seems to have accomplished this. Slow down and read it, folks. The columns often ask and answer the same questions that get (mis)posted here, and besides, it's usually a fun read.
Either I'm getting way faster or the puzzles are getting easier. I solved Wed. and Thursday in my typical Mon / Tuesday range.
Meh, not for me. I love a good rebus if I’m remotely expecting it, but I usually cant stand these sorts of trailing letter themes and today was no exception. Especially when the actual answer to the clue isn’t even a word. Also the clueing seemed a bit easy for a Thursday, but I appreciate that it’s tough to tune the difficulty of a puzzle. Love Dr. Strangelove though.
@Logan I think it's actually not so tough to tune the difficulty. I've never made a puzzle, but I know that first you make the grid/answers, then you write the clues. You can make those clues crazy difficult, super easy, or somewhere between.
Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the War Room!
"Braina?" "Losaes?" Another crossword that drifts too far for my taste into the realm of "the gimmick is more important than the puzzle's integrity." I get the gag. It's not that compelling a gag, but it's fine --- IF the resulting words mean anything. I cast my gaze upon my completed puzzle and ask "What are these absurdities and how did we all get here?" It's a tragedy from which I may not recover,and it only seems to be a trend that is growing. I weep for the children, for tomorrow and tomorrow's solvers may face grids with no meaningful words at all, yet a really solid gimmick. This will lead to the breakdown of civil society and the erosion of table manners. Can we not just eliminate some of these overly gimmicky newfd puzzles? Now you're thinking "An error was made, surely 'newfd' is not a word." Ah, but you're forgetting the gimmick. See how it feels??? Ha.
Asher B., Right angle, wrong ‘g’ sound and spelling. And I say that as an actual Newf. :)
Bring back HARDCORE Thursdays. We need a ROAST in the comments. I nominate Matty boi. @Matt Bodø/Glimt, ENCORE! Whole LOTTA Red hits different.
@Becky boooo to red and the Gooners :P From a frustrated Spurs fan :'(
I recall seeing "Dr. Strangelove" at the movies when it came out. I have no idea how or why this happened, because I rarely got to go to any movies, let alone movies as infamous as "Dr. Strangelove". Maybe the adults were parking us for a couple of hours. Anyway, at the age of 11/12 the movie was a total mystery to me. The first farcical satire I'd ever seen, but I didn't even have a category for it. But it was about my most fundamental fear at the time: nuclear war. As the years went by I came to love the brilliance of the movie, one of Kubrik's finest. Then again, my opinion of "his finest" only lasts until I think of another of his.
@Francis Kubrick's ... nothing like paying homage to a guy and spelling his name wrong.
@Francis It's a minor mistake. Given that you can't correct errors once you've submitted a comment, it's easy to oversee a misspelling until it's too late. A lot of my mistakes get corrected only after I see the complete word and it immediately looks wrong, and if you've already hit "submit" there's nothing you can do about it short of submitting a correction in a second comment. Coming after people because of it is just petty. I've been a Kubrick fan since I was a teen. I've seen most of his movies multiple times, read books about specific movies, argued with people on Reddit about some of them ("The Shining" had me in an epic battle with a whole subreddit of Steven (or is it Stephen? I honestly don't know) King fans)...snd yet I'm not sure how his last name is spelled. I may have screwed it up myself in this comment. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, though.
I FRICKING loved this puzzle!!!! Mainly, because for me, the difficulty was there, and early on in the puzzle to me, this seemed like it was going to be unsolvable (without lookups) until the theme clicked. Then, I was able to get the three (themed) down answers which helped me fill the rest. These are themes I like. Themes, that while being difficult; actually help you solve the puzzle. Not just some obscure, arbitrary thought in a constructor’s head, that has no bearing on the rest of the puzzle… Bravo!!! My favorite puzzle of the year so far.
Loved it! I knew the game was afoot at '2nd largest city', then going clue by clue, wait for it.... ha! Very satisfying.
My forecast for the commentary surrounding this (highly accessible) puzzle? Cloudy, with a strong chance of _But if only LOSAES and BRAINA were actual words!_ Ciao for now.
@Mishlev Excellent predicting. What are you doing next February 2nd?
Today's XWP couldn't have been more made-to-order for me without having Leapfingerprints all over it. A. I was in NewHaven back in the day of Wm Sloan Coffin when Doonesbury was just a newbie strip in the Yalie Dailey, and ANGELA_DAVIS came to town with her yard-wide AFRO. O MAN, and Huey Newton, also B. I'll rewatch DR_STRANGELOVE every time I POSSE-bly can, it never gets old. How tickled I was when I realized the bombardier was James Earl Jones in an early role, recognized just by That Voice! C. Followed Peter Sellers since the Gong Show, even unto The World of Henry ORIENT, where he's stalked by two tweens who find him SEXY although he's TUCCI-zee for words. D. Wonderfully inclusive to find the Buddha GOTANA consorting among all the FALLEN_ANGELS. There were plenty of places to scrabble but the only place I *really* gave my BRAIN A SIESTA was where I had DVORAK precede MAHLER, just because 6 letters fit, ach du lieber! Y'all are cherubs for allowing me space to unload, especially since UNO how I tend to rAMBLE. Nicely done, Joe Marquez!!
@Leapfinger Good to see you back in the column, Leapy.
I liked the puzzle, but was it Thursday level? My average is around 20 minutes, yet today's puzzle was over in a new PB of 6'25". Meanwhile, the US DST change means we get the puzzles an hour earlier in AEDT (1pm, day of), and another hour earlier when we finish DST in a few weeks (12pm), so I guess I'll have to take my lunch break earlier. :)
Fastest Thursday ever for me, in about one-third my average time. I enjoyed the puzzle, but it should have been on a Tuesday IMO.
Had me going for a while. Thought this must be a rebus puzzle and did that and no happy music. The ANGELS are fallen instead. Clever. Agree this was a pretty easy Thursday but i enjoyed it. Fun cluing. Well done
How to do a rebus puzzle without doing a rebus. Clever!
The hard part for me was seeing that the ANGEL was a pure rebus in the Acrosses and written out in the Downs. Once I saw that, though, everything got much easier. I should have thought of FALLEN ANGEL immediately, but it didn't occur to me until I saw the revealer clue. Very cute! The theme answers are beautifully embedded and I had fun with this one. My "drawing" of the rebus ANGEL was very perfunctory. No real body to speak of, much less wings. A round filled-in dark circle for the head and a stick for the body. Sort of looks like...is that a half-note? Never mind: It's a prompt for me and it's more than good enough. Re BRANGELINA: Is the portmanteau name of a celebrity couple one of the great inventions of recent times? Just imagine all the previous generations that didn't have these to savor. SO SAD. Let me coin a few belatedly: BOGALL LAWRIAN ELEANIN TREPBURN RICHBETH LENONO You're welcome.
@Nancy Ha! I drew little stick angels, too. Not really a crossword rebus, but a little pictorial memo on the paper. A halo, round head, triangle for the robes.
@Nancy Bogart (Bogey) and Bacall ____ Eleanor and Franklin Tracy and Hepburn Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor Lennon and Ono I get a B+?
It's funny how I mentioned the invention of Gore Tex yesterday, and it turned up as an answer on Jeopardy! last night, in the context of a serendipitous discovery. I know the show is taped weeks in advance, but what the actual? Fine Thursday gimmick, STRANGELOVE was one of my first fills, so no problem linking it with LOS ANGELES. "Mudslide or hurricane" for DRINK was amusing. Also, a prairie fire is a shot of tequila and Tabasco sauce.
@Grant - I noticed that, too. Seems Alex's time machine is still at work!
Cute idea, but I think the fills are kind of ugly, tbh.
Interesting theme, and happily there were no circles to indicate where the three FALLENANGELs were located. Would have been especially nice if each of the three horizontals that made use of a "fallen angel" became a word in its own right (as TAO did, but not BRAINA or LOSAES). But that might well have been impossible to pull off. Immediately entered OMAN (incorrectly) for "Mideast's Gulf of ___", so it was enjoyable to be able to enter OMAN (correctly) lower in the grid. Having one of the angels "hidden" in ANGELA was a bit disappointing. Would have been nicer to have that "angel" better hidden, as the others were in CHANGELANES and STRANGELOVE. All in all, a fun puzzle, but I wonder if the theme could have been handled a bit better. (Not by me!) [By the way, the delay between finishing the puzzle and receiving confirmation of success that I reported earlier in the week seems to be gone, at least for me. So perhaps that bug has been squashed.]
@Xword Junkie Pretty much the same reaction to the puzzle. Good; could have been better. As to the lag between solving and "hearing the music", I, too, had been experiencing that annoyance, and looking around to see if I had missed something. Today, the music cam so quickly, that I got the feeling that it could barely wait until I entered my last letter. Funny!
@Xword Junkie I agree with all of this, except at 10A I speedily entered ADEN, since that city appears regularly enough in the crosswords. Then the 10D clue was so straight-on-the-nose obvious and I had to think elsewhere! I too noticed the confirmation notice lag has been fixed, as of this puzzle. Yay! But now an old bug has cropped up again, where the grid gets wiped clean after an extended pausing. 🤦♀️
Like many I was confident this would be a rebus but I liked the mechanic. Feels like a long time since the last rebus, no? Anyway, a good puzzle should make you feel clever when you inevitably solve it. This was a little on the easy side (10:01) but the “aha moment” was good.
Jamie, Last rebus: Wednesday, February 25.
Finished 30 minutes faster than my usual Thursday. Delighted!
I put my ANGELs in as rebuses and that was evidently not correct. Took me forever to figure out how I had gone wrong! Ugh! Great puzzle otherwise.
Agreed! Quite annoying that they didn’t allow the rebi as valid entries to be honest…
@Lisa Marshall I did that, too. Felt silly, but I've been trained on REBUS THURSDAY and I was determined to make it work. I posted a Comment, which got a bit long because I added a tale of my morning (interrupted by DHubby's "emergency") and it's not any longer than Bill from Detroit's submissiion, but MINE got flagged and you may never see it. Readers, arise!!
@Lisa Marshall But didn't that wreak havoc on your Downs? Dr. STR[ANGEL]NGELOVE???
I apologize in advance if all my PELE fan-girling posts all get posted later. Emus hate me today. There was a clip with a montage. It was cool. Whatever. I don't even care. It's fine. I'm *definitely* not grouchy.
Fantastic puzzle!!! Only got caught up trying to enter a rebus answer when i didnt even need to. I loved it. :))))
Please just give us crosswords. This kind of thing is awful, no fun at all, and trying too hard to be clever. I want to do a crossword puzzle. That's why I'm here.
@Candice Thursday (and sometimes other days) tricks are here to stay. You have a decision to make .
@Candice Jeeze Candice, If you've been solving for any length of time, you should have figured out by now that Thursday's almost have some kind of trick. Maybe you should just skip them.
fallen angel but you keep the "a"? didn't really make sense to me. more like fallen ngel.
@Asher The word angel falls down instead of across. This much seemed simple and consistent (despite the flaws of leaving garble in the grid and the ease of the fill).
Pluto is no longer a planet, Chicago is no longer No.2 city in the US... Things I've learned growing up is no longer true and I have no idea who Playboi Carti is. Upon filling 26D, yet another relic of my youth came to the forefront and it is now an earworm. Is it just me or did anyone experience that tune by Alphaville of the same title begin to play in your head?
@Heidi Giants Stadium is in NJ, South Carolina is the real Peach State, Columbus did not discover America, North Carolina is not the birthplace of flight, Elvis is not dead and wrasslin' ain't real. 😋