I started my crossword journey 2 years ago and fell in love with the solving experience even though I didnt know much about the rules, rebuses, or the relevance of a question mark at the end of the clue. I had no idea that I'd hear a about Oreos or Brian Eno at least once a week. I'm proud to report that I breeze through Monday and most Tuesday puzzles. Wednesdays can be tough and I still need lots of help with Thursday and beyond. I'm still improving and feel confident that I can breeze through a Wednesday in the next year or so. I began reading comments last year when a clue made me laugh out loud and I wanted to see if it made any others chuckle. I was shocked to see that many solvers had very strong opinions about puzzles, their creators, and would get angry if something was too easy. I was seeking community and didn't find that. It was disappointing and I felt judged by strangers If you're reading this, know that I consider all of you solvers part of my community. I bow down to you wordsmiths with decades long solving experiences who can slay a Saturday puzzle and I extend a warm welcome to anyone who still has to search online for clues on a Monday. I hope we can continue to learn and grow together while being respectful of our diverse solving experiences. Go ahead, gripe if you want, but I'll be over here having the best time solving crossword puzzles.
@David J HEAR, HEAR. Thanks for your comments. I hope you make more of them.
@David J this was so lovely and refreshing to read. Got me a little misty.
@David J Thank you, David! You’ve summed up my thoughts, especially in recent months.
@David J Thanks for saying this. I think that the number of Recommendations that this comment received shows there are many who feel the same as you do. Probably more than most people who comment on the forum realize. I tried to say before, but apparently didn't express myself well, that the people who speak up the most don't always represent the majority. Thirty-something years ago I lived in Tallahassee when a local TV station held a phone-in survey about whether people thought the city should have a professional hockey team. The station reported the results by saying that 99% of the people thought they should get a hockey team. (I doubt that 99% of the people in any city care about hockey.) It's usually the people who feel the most emotional about a question who are likely to volunteer their opinion on the issue. In most situations, these are the people who are most upset about how things are. Also, people who are most confident about their crossword solving ability are most likely to be confident about their ability to judge the quality of a puzzle. This means they are most likely to comment on a forum about specific puzzles. With no disrespect intended toward anyone, I just wanted to share a couple of facts that might lead someone to overestimate how common their view is among all those that care.
@David J. Now I want to know what made you laugh outloud. My favorite clue was "Little sweater" the answer was PORE. Like you, I find Monday and Tuesday puzzles more enjoyable. I have the digital version of all the puzzles and am currently doing all the Monday puzzles from 2008! It's a trip down memory lane as many of the clues are current to that time frame. I would encourage you to check it out. Only puzzles I try to best my time!
@David J just want to say that I agree. I've been doing these puzzles off and on for a few years now, and this comment section is dominated by people who I guess want to feel smarter or superior to people. If you dislike a puzzle or clue/entry at all, someone will quickly reply to make it clear that you are just not smart enough and imply that you have no business doing crosswords at all. I've never wanted to comment here because of how mean spirited this comment section is and has been for years now. It made me wish we had a block feature here because a small number of unkind people have consistently made this a very unwelcoming space.
This was not my favorite puzzle today. Way too many proper names and trivia and anyone not a fan of particular movie genres needs to fill spanning clues almost entirely with crossing clues. Then TRANK should have been TRANQ. And a bunch of other clues just didn't make total sense to me after getting them. REV? DOTER? Not the right clues for those answers. And SLEEKEN, really? That feels like something you would try in Spelling Bee after getting Sleek but not really expect it to work. And OGREISH? Just a frustrating puzzle for a Wednesday.
@Chris Yes,totally agree! Such a frustrating mix of proper nouns and clunky fill.
@Chris, I didn’t know any of the sequel movies, but the phrases in them were easy enough for me to get once a few letters started filling in from the crosses (other than ___DDYSREVENGE, which, for a while I thought must have something to do with DADDY…, until the lightbulb lit. But I wholeheartedly agree with you on SLEEKEN, DOTER, TRANK/TRANQ and OGREISH! I was glad to see Sam’s comments along the same lines.
@Chris I went to ngram; apparently TRANK was more common than TRANq until about 2005. And SLEEKEN had quite a run in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I didn't love it, but it's apparently a word.
“Wee sleeken cowrin ogreish beastie” Thus reads the first line of “To a Mouse II” by Robert Burns.
@Cat Lady Margaret When my wife and were on vacation in Scotland many decades ago, we went to a medieval feast and learned we had been selected as the laird and lady for the event. Having been told we would be asked to make a few remarks, we came up with the idea of announcing to all the guests a poem we had composed. I began: Wee, sleeket [ — not sleeken — ] cowran, tim'rous beastie, / O, what a panic's in thy breastie!" When I pronounced the last word to rhyme with “testy”, a mighty roar went up as the multitude shouted, as if on cue, “it’s ‘breesty!’ “ (We were left tim’rous and cowran, to say the leastie.)
Cat Lady Margaret, And even back then, readers were aseethe at the use of two such archaic words.
@Cat Lady Margaret As Strudel Dad noted, it's sleekit, not sleeken. But even if it were sleeken, the poet used it as an adjective, not a verb.
Amy and Strudel Dad: I must protest that of course I know the original is “sleekit”! But, this was To a Mouse, the sequel, and, a joke. It’s OK, I usually have to explain my jokes to my SO - am used to it!
A proper Wednesday-strength puzzle, a bit bumpy (needs to be sleekened!) but getting symmetrical sequels of the right length must have been challenging. I made the mistake of looking at the whole design for the "grid art" and therefore completely missed what was right in front of me, the "II" representing sequels. What I saw (maybe micro-dosing would have helped) was ...A) Alysa Liu spinning on the ice in her gold medal performance...B) The undercarriage of a car with its doors open...C) A cubist NBC peacock standing on one leg...D) An ogreish Omahan who kneels on bended knee while exposing himself...E) The answer to who killed JR Ewing...F) Two barbells and assorted body parts. To Sam Corbin's comments on the comments. I haven't myself made many ad hominem attacks lately (I reserve that for certain Opinion writers in the NYT who continue to seek new lows of pseudo-punditry and whataboutism) so I know Sam's not gettin' on MY case, nothing I need to sleeken at the moment, but I do see some commenters as a turnoff, condescending, correcting people a little too readily and with a kind of humorlessness and egotism I dislike. If there were spats, I didn't notice. Probably a reflection of what's going on in the Outside World, too. The negativity out There can osmose, nay, permeate, every aspect of our lives, including in Here, our safe space. It's forgivable. Or is Sam saying stop grousing about easy puzzles? Not gonna happen!! [Tiny hippie grandma?] Micro-dosing micro-doter
@john ezra I wondered if she was saying to stop grousing about easy puzzles, too. I can't be quite so sure I'm not one of the people she's talking to, as I can be acerbic when I feel the comment deserves it. Maybe I'm wrong to do so. But I think you are onto something about the outside world. We are in a Dick Cheney mind-set of "You're either with us or against us." I don't think the world is really that simple--it would be nice if the enemy of our enemy was *always* our friend, but it just ain't so. That's black and white thinking, and I think we're all being pulled towards it these days. The whole puzzle difficulty debate is really shredding me and my enthusiasm for the forum, just as the debate in the wider world about more impactful topics is shredding me. I don't think I'm alone. But I have no idea what to do about it. It hurts too much to laugh, and I'm too old to cry.
@john ezra I've started reading the papers, looking at newscasts, more and more aware of a sense of detachment, the dangerous result of helplessness. There's only so much helplessness you can endure before you start not to care, and caring is the only way we're going to get out of this mess.
@john ezra Should I change my name to MicroDoterGrandma? Nothing micro about our doting level, though. I am just fine about DOTER, for the record.
Sequel and ye shall find.
When does the LSD usage become a cry for help?
@Julie I know that some people seem to think there's something significant about the recurrence of LSD in some recent puzzles, but keep in mind, they're all written by different constructors. And, as per my reply to the first comment tonight, there were a heckuva lot of common crossword fodder in this one. (See also: SOU, SST, APSO, ANON, ESE...)
@Julie - The only place in my life where I encounter references to LSD is in the NYT crossword puzzle. It is weird.
@Julie I imagine 3-letter all-consonant words are really useful to constructors! I'm guessing that's also the reason I tend to encounter a certain Japanese conceptual artist, or the actress Ms. Edebiri, more often here than anywhere else.
Aww! Thanks for saying this Sam! I have missed the old comments before people started talking about how easy things have gotten! I hope everyone reads the column today. Important reminder in there.
@Lauren Ford Wordplay II: Let the Good Times 'Comments'!
Thank you, Sam, for your efforts to make the comments section more civil. And thank you for pulling Deb into the discussion. I, of course, loved Deb’s warmth, humor, humility, kindness, and puzzle savvy. But she also had a less obvious superpower – she kept this forum in line. When a commenter uncivilly attacked another, or the constructor, or anything, actually, Deb would step in, and in a reply to the commenter, in a kind but subtly stern way, often with humor, she’d let that commenter know, “Not here, buddy.” She was a master at this. Oh, she welcomed opinions from all sides; it was never about that. It was simply about civility. She actually encouraged those who crossed the line to please return, just in a more kindly way. What resulted was a rarity in commentary forums – a sounding board where ideas of all stripes were accepted, free from nastiness. Thank you, Sam, for stepping in today, for in a way, moving toward filling Deb’s shoes on this. Thank you for working toward keeping this a special place.
@Lewis I may have said this years ago, but I so appreciate the very specific Lewisness that you share with us every morning. Your insights as a solver, a constructor and possibly the greatest fan of the puzzle *ever* brings daily lightness and positivity. I so appreciate you!
@Lewis Excellent point. Deb had a deft touch, and could …gently apply a bit of elbow to the ribs when needed. FWIW I suspect Sam has such a knack. I say Sam for commentator!
I appreciated Sam Corbin's comments about the tone in the solvers' comments. Because of how negative they've been for a while now, I stopped reading them and stopped contributing. I was flagging comments, but that didn't seem to work, so I figured there was no recourse. I think the NYT could moderate a bit more assiduously.
@Manhattan Me too! I used to enjoy reading & commenting, but for a while now it’s just felt like they’ve all too often been an opportunity for some people to lord it over others. It’s not a great feeling.
@Manhattan You shouldn't flag comments just for criticizing a puzzle, please save it for actively problematic users
@Manhattan even though I don't love negativity, why should NYT "moderate" contents for their tone? That's akin to censorship. Wait...that IS censorship.
@Manhattan Please do not flag a post just because you disagree with it. Wow.
First, thank you Sam for your timely words. They are a good reminder that we should be able to reflect on our experiences without putting down anyone else’s. I thought this was an extremely well executed grid and theme in my opinion. There’s the grid art—then the excellent theme material. I personally appreciate that the themes were all gettable on crosses but none of them were obvious or gimmes (to me at least and I do enjoy movies). I thought this was a class A grid as well. I had no issues with TRANK or DOTER. Yeah, SLEEKEN’s a little clunky, but perfectly legit. And I actually love OGREISH as a word. And in the meantime look at the medium sized stacks in the corners. All this while crossing 4 long theme entries and maintaining the grid art. That’s not easy folks. Steve L I hear you, there was a bit of straightforward clueing for some of the short entries. But I thought it wasn’t overdone for a Wednesday and still decently crunchy for me. Thumbs up from me.
@SP With you on OGREISH. And I think I know why. Because both OGRE and the suffix are rooted in the Anglo-Saxon side of English (née Angle-ish). If it had been OGRE-esque or OGRE-ous (with Latinate suffixes), it would have been like two left shoes. Enjoy your cruciverbalisation.
Re Wordplay: Well said Sam. This community doesn’t have to devolve into the chaos, negativity, and division we experience on other online platforms. The choice is ours to make.
What did you do to the phone app?! Now I can’t go between the column and the puzzle! This is NOT an improvement!
@Kris H My workaround has been to keep the puzzle grid in the app and open Wodplay in a browser, making it easy to toggle when reading comments. I hope this helps. P.S. You're right; it's not an improvement. Now, an edit button would be, no, never mind, silly thought.
@Kris H (Second attempt, with emu decoy for word "$ill¥") My workaround has been to keep the puzzle grid in the app and open Wodplay in a browser, making it easy to toggle when reading comments. I hope this helps. P.S. You're right; it's not an improvement. Now, an edit button would be, no, never mind, $ill¥ thought.
@Kris H Open your browser to the main games page ( <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords</a> ) and bookmark it (save to favorites). Then click on the link to Wordplay below the crossword icons. Next time, just open your browser to your favorites, and it will be there.
@Kris H works ok with the NYT games app. Link opens the separate “NYTimes” app, on iOS at least.
Sorry Sam, but I think you've got things wrong here. In my experience, the recent spate of excessively easy grids has only very rarely explicitly sparked ire toward or attacks on the setters. And when it has, the commenter has almost always been quickly corrected. Indeed, most of us bend over backwards while lamenting the state of affairs to express our appreciation for the cleverness of the construction of the grids. Our disquiet is with the editors and with what seems to many of us a very obvious and intentional trend on the Times' part to simplify the solutions with much easier clueing over the last many months. I found your comments essentially exhorting us to be kinder in general, and to the setters in particular, patronizing in their deflection from what is actually being expressed here. "Today's puzzle was too easy" and all variations thereof have absolutely nothng to do with the constructors or their efforts. The final product we see and solve is determined by you guys. I think you must know this. I am a big fan of your columns and would like to state that my objection to today's is proferred with respect and admiration for your work here.
@Matt I agree with you up to a point; but the recent pile-on of comments about the (perceived) shift in puzzle difficulty level (e.g., “This Friday puzzle felt more like a Monday, I completed it in 1:17”) have been taking on a humblebrag quality that can start to feel condescending to mere mortal solvers. I think that has contributed to the growing vibe of negativity in the comments section. I don’t disagree that there may be a shift in difficulty going on, but I’d also like us all to keep in mind a couple of things: (1) Change is inevitable from time to time. I’m sure many solvers were aghast at the fresh sensibility Will Shortz brought to the puzzle back in the 1990s (has it really been that long?). Maybe this caused some solvers to bemoan the state of affairs, but I’m sure others felt seen and the world kept turning. (2) Making the late week puzzles a bit more accessible (If that is indeed an intentional strategy) is not necessarily a tragedy. While I, too, would like it to be tempered, I would prefer to see the solver base grow and the puzzle thrive rather than, say, watch the crossword go the way of the old NYT chess column. Many thanks to the constructors and editors who provide us daily with these excellent, entertaining puzzles.
@Matt I completely agree. The NYTXW has a reputation as the gold standard of puzzles,m. The dumbing down of the weekend puzzles in particular in recent years has been obvious. It is absolutely an editorial decision - see last Friday’s column where the constructor gave several tricky - and clever! - clues for SURPRISE PARTY that were rejected for a pretty easy one. As subscribers,we have the right to complain about that. My issue isn’t with the constructors, but with whoever has made the decision to not keep Fridays and Saturdays to their previous standards.
@Matt I agree. I also wonder if the Wordplay column was started around the same time the puzzles got less challenging - ie all part of the same Times strategy. The stated purpose of the column is to help those who need encouragement, which is fine, but makes it an unwelcome venue for expert critique and commentary - which is unfortunate.
The Wordplay blog (later column) has been around for more than a decade; the puzzles only started getting easier a couple of years ago. Early Wordplay discussed the puzzle, and commenters discussed the puzzle. There were few, if any solving tips, and the comments rarely if ever mentioned solving times, and never mentioned streaks. As more non-NYT readers started doing the crossword, Wordplay evolved into a helping hand for new solvers, and the comments devolved. Go back and look at Wordplay and the comments from a decade ago; you can't miss the difference. I posted a link to one such here a few days ago.
After reading some of your responses to Sam’s comments, I feel the need to respond again and be very clear. I don’t believe that complaining about the lack of challenge in a puzzle is a priori unwelcoming. I am certainly not being “judgmental” by doing so (even if you take it that way) nor is it about elite “super smart” people who want the puzzle catered to them. It’s the opposite—I have only respect and praise for those who are embarking on their crossword journey. I think you are all super smart if you are attempting it and coming to the comments to grow and learn. And I know lots of people who are super smart—certainly smarter than me—that don’t have the inclination, patience or the experience yet to finish a late week puzzle. Solving NYT crosswords is a skill like any other that involves lots of elements, not just trivia knowledge—understanding word patterns, recognizing common conventions, lateral thinking, even learning crosswordese which is a regrettable but necessary part of construction. It’s not for everyone but I firmly believe that EVERYONE who wants to can hone those skills and continue to get better. It shouldn’t just be “can I finish the puzzle by myself” and keep my streak. I would be delighted if every Saturday there is something I can get only by crosses or even something I had to look up because that is how I learn. (Continued below, sorry to be long winded but I am clearly passionate about this)
@SP (Continued from above) I agree with Sam, we can all try to be more respectful of everyone’s solving experience. But I will continue to express my opinion about the challenge or lack of challenge in a puzzle without demeaning anyone else, including the constructors, because I think it is mostly on the editors to make sure the day and level of clueing is appropriate. It is extremely rare that I see what I would consider a “bad puzzle” accepted here in and of itself. And I promise I won’t disrespect you for expressing your own opinion about whether your solve is too easy or too hard. BUT I may still step in and give my 2 cents if you add or imply that a puzzle was bad or shouldn’t have been published at all because of it. I have too much respect for constructors to let that go. I will do so in a respectful way but still have the right to respond with my own opinion. Enough said? Thanks for listening.
I feel like Sam has missed the main complaint we have. It's not that we feel the puzzles are of poor quality. And we try hard not to insult the constructors. The issue is that the puzzles have gotten noticeably easier. This quote says it all: "everybody, regardless of solving skill or experience, needs to feel welcome." The fact is that people of a higher skill level no longer feel welcome here. The puzzles are getting easier, and our concerns seem to be falling on deaf ears.
@Katie I suspect that the marketing folks at the Times do their homework. I’m sure they analyze the stats around how many people do each puzzle, the time they spend and whether they come back. If the puzzles are getting easier it’s because that’s what the subscribers want. The folks in this comment section are not a representative group - it’s a bunch of extra smart people who are interested in the theory and mechanics of the puzzles, not just sticking letters into the grid. Obviously there are great insights to be gained from the commenters, but I suspect that the numbers are what will set the editorial decisions.
@Katie I don’t think that’s what she means. I think she means we should be respectful of people’s opinions whether too hard or too easy and not personally attack people which happens sometimes. I don’t think she means we can’t post our own opinions even if we are complaining about the challenge. At least, I hope not. It seems that sometimes less experienced solvers take it personally sometimes because they feel like we are being elitist or that they will end up having less access to harder puzzles if the difficulty got ramped up to earlier days. If so, that’s their own issue and we still have a right to our opinion and I will continue to voice mine. But I don’t think that’s what Sam was addressing.
@Katie Maybe I haven’t been doing this as long as some of you, it’s been about eight years or so, but I definitely notice that my skills have grown and improved which is what I attribute to the puzzles seeming easier. But I’m also enjoying them so much more. Especially Fridays and Saturdays.
@Katie, I think what you're missing is that saying that and the way in which it's often says makes other players feel bad, not the constructors. And when players who feel unwelcome due to being new to this speak up that it's unwelcoming, they're essentially told to be quiet, or accused of trying to silence others. I don't get the sense the NYT intends the comment section to be a space of providing focus group type feedback on the quality of the puzzle. It's intended as a space for community. If you want to be heard, I think your better shot might be the "Feedback" button, which you can access from the ? at the top right of the crossword page. I'm not saying that you shouldn't feel able to complain about the puzzle, but I'm not sure this is the effective place to campaign for change.
A bit of trivia as to OMAHANS being close to Iowa. In general, Iowa is east of Omaha , separated by the Missouri River. However, the town of Carter Lake, Iowa, is the only part of Iowa that is west of the Missouri and is completely surrounded by Nebraska. The Missouri River flooded and the channel moved, creating the Iowa enclave. So to go to Carter Lake, IA from Council Bluffs, IA, you have to go through Omaha. Since Carter Lake was isolated from Iowa law enforcement and Nebraska has no authority over an Iowa town, Carter Lake was known for gambling casinos in the 1930'sand 40's, which were illegal in both states.
@coloradoz Went to look at the map... Wow, that's some state boundary! Thanks.
@coloradoz Well, just when I was thinking that I had to rush through reading these comments and get off the computer to do some work around here, then comes your rabbit hole of Carter Lake, Iowa...so, off to Google Maps to take a gander, then to Wikipedia to learn about rivers changing course...and now it's an hour later and I'm still getting nothing done. I am going to ignore Sam Corbin's admonition and curse you.
@coloradoz there's a park in Memphis which maps out the length of the Mississippi River. When I visited (at least 15 years ago) I was struck by how many times that happened - parcels changing sides because of flooding in the river. Didn't know the detail you described though - a fascinating tidbit.
@coloradoz Way back in the 1830's Independence Missouri was a thriving river port. Then the Missouri river moved and the town lost its port. The 'old-timers' blamed it on the new Mormon settlers -- who were not liked for their anti-slavery views. They were run out of town. Did you know it was legal to shoot a Mormon on sight in Missouri from 1837 to 1976!! Someone realized the law was still on the books and it was finally changed.
@coloradoz Fascinating, as Spock would say. Where else but Wordplay can one fortuitously learn about history like this and Sue's reply to it?
I enjoyed the puzzle, yet feel like a complete doofu$. I thought our constructorhad invented the possible sequel titles, and I was laughing myself $ill¥, reveling in his amazing sense of humor! 🤦🏻♀️ It really just goes to show how highly I think of constructors and their creative abilities. Thank you, Mr. Stillman. Great puzzle!
@sotto voce That is really funny! Now I want a sequel puzzle with fictitious movie titles!
@sotto voce Had this same thought until late in the solve. I think I saw the originals of one or two of these, but none of the sequels. So was quite a difficult start. Had to rely a lot on the crosses. Good challenge for me.
@sotto voce That's hilarious. Part of what made the puzzle work for me is that even if you didn't remember the names of the sequels, as I did not, you could glimpse them with wordplay if you knew anything about the movies (e.g., that Freddy is the villain in Nightmare on Elm Street, that Sister Act is a comedy about nuns, that "here I go again" is a "Mama Mia" lyric, etc.). I did rely on crosses mostly for Home Alone 2. I must have blocked that one out because of its cameo appearance of everyone's favorite New Yorker....
Journey. Safari! I’ve been away from the comments lately, as our *big* trip is in two days, and my head is spinning, overwhelmed, and quite anxious. Hubby thinks it’s so odd. Fun vacation? Yippee! But us Swedes have a word for it- resfeber, the mixed feeling of excitement and nervousness just before a journey, when you are happy about traveling but also a little uneasy. I’m fearing the unknowns. Very excited. Terribly nervous. But I’m bringing my iPad ( and therefore, all of you) with me, as this is a security blanket- *you all* are a security blanket with a puzzle on one side, and companionship woven throughout. Thank you for that.
@CCNY Enjoy your trip and the wonders that will unfold along the way!
@CCNY The German Reisefieber actually functions as a loan word in Polish, meaning exacly the same as the Swedish resfeber. I often experience it, but only up until I actually step out of my home on my way to a vacation destination. Have fun!
@Sam I agree with you that we commenters should strive to be civil to one another, and especially to our hard-working constructors. But most of the negative comments that have proliferated here in the past year have to do with the "EASIFICATION" [I thought I'd try my hand at creating new words] of the puzzles directed at the puzzle editors and their superiors. And to this (justifiable) complaining, there has been no adequate response.
@The X-Phile Sorry, Vijay K. Bhatia beat you to it, in 1983: "Simplification v. Easification--the Case of Legal Texts" (in *Applied Linguistics*, Vol 4, issue 1) Still, surprised it hasn't appear in the puzzle, with all those cross-friendly vowels. (On your main point, I thoroughly agree)
TRANK and TRANQ are both used, with the Q version more common, but only in the past 20 years. Either is valid for the puzzle. <a href="https://tinyurl.com/ytyb9yz8" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/ytyb9yz8</a>
@Steve L FWIW, I’ve never run across either. Must’ve missed it as I watched all those Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom episodes.
Begging the NYT to stop making changes to the games app that are instantly widely unpopular. Please, no more.
@Jack Seriously. I hate that it opens in the app now instead of a new tab. I can’t reference it as I play.
My favorite part of today’s puzzle, was trying to figure out how the grid art related to the theme answers. I had figured out that the answers were film sequels, but couldn’t see what they had to do with those two I’s in the middle. It is amazing how something can be right in front of your eyes, and you just don’t see it. Let me give you an example. I wear a lovely chain around my neck, but its clasp, which is miniscule, is a pain to undo with my stubby fingers. But I put up with it for many moons because I love the chain. One day, as I was taking a teeshirt off, I made an incredible discovery. The chain came off with the teeshirt! That is, I never had to undo the clasp; all I ever had to do was pull the chain over my head! Some things can be right in front of your eyes, and you just don’t see it. And today, I just didn’t see that those I’s made the Roman numeral “2”. Learning that brought a terrific "Hah!," and my mighty efforts to crack the riddle gave my brain the work it loves. A marvelous “I” opening experience for me, Jeff. Thank you!
BTW, the word-nerd inside me loved seeing both OWING and EWING in the box, not to mention KNEELS and SLEEKEN, because all the letters of the former fit into the latter.
@Lewis a FB friend recently posted "using daughter's laptop how do I scroll using just my fingers?" I nicely replied with detailed instructions for scrolling with a touchpad. The response? "I ended up just getting my mouse and plugging it in!" Gave me a good laugh.
Thumbs-down on moving Wordplay to inside the app. Much prefer having it in a separate browser.
@Rob Open your browser to the main games page ( <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords</a> ) and bookmark it (save to favorites). Then click on the link to Wordplay below the crossword icons. Next time, just open your browser to your favorites, and it will be there.
@Rob - I open Wordplay now thru the main NYT app search function, but it's a pain to have to do this to get the Wordplay and the puzzle both open at the same time. Dear New York Times: The Wordplay column and the Crossword crossreference each other!!! WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO HAVE THEM BOTH OPEN AT THE SAME TIME! And yes, I am yelling. Please don't have obviously non-users make changes to the Puzzle app! - Jennie M. Ehrmann
@Rob Not to mention it doesn’t respect the “dark mode” setting, making it blindingly bright to dark mode users.
Good column today, Sam. I know I'll try harder to say nothing if all I can think of is snark. And heaven knows I'm tired as heck of the repeated complaints. I hope that all solvers and constructors feel welcomed here. There are some brilliant regulars who I like hearing from, and the fun banter is priceless. Thank you to all who make me smile here. I liked this puzzle. It really helped that I didn't know the Part II movies, other than vague bell-ringing. I was stuck in the NW, absolutely confident about SAFARI, but stumped and questioning it over a few of the downs. Actually I was stuck on each corner for a while. Whoopi Goldberg was buckin and kickin the habit for a bit, and that kid was briefly fost in NY. Jeff Stillman's comments were interesting, a window into the process. But I think he might have given us too much credit for the nuances of which sequel to pick! Puzzles with grid art are often contrived, but for me this one walked the line between forced and fresh, staying on the fresh side.
@Nora This is the fIrst time I'm leaving a comment, inspired by both the lead-in "manners" part of the essay and by nora's reference to the "NW" part of the puzzle. I knew immediately what she meant (the upper left hand corner). I had to laugh though, b/c my husband and I, who met during our surgery training, call that the RUQ (right upper quadrant) as we would have called the upper right hand part of the abdomen. (although we see it on our left, it is the patient's right). We all bring our own unique lives to these puzzles, which is the best part. My husband and I just started doing the puzzle together this year each morning (because I'm retired now and he is working part time). After 30 years together, it is only through the nYT puzzle that I learned that he can't spell worth a damn.!
I share with other puzzlers and Sam Corbin that some of the answers were ungainly at best: SLEEKEN, OGREISH, DOTER. But I’m glad that my love of movie sequels finally came in handy — usually people just cough and change the subject.
Re: Puzzles being easier nowadays—I’ve been working the NYT crosswords for over 50 years, and I find them harder now, if anything. The biggest change over the years isn’t “easier” or “harder,” it is that they use a lot less crosswordese (which is good) and a lot more current pop culture, which for me is definitely NOT easier! There is also more wordplay, which I suppose some would find easier and some harder, and which I find a good stretch for my brain. Just my observations, and now I’m done.
NEGRONI? Yes please! I’ll take two (II), it’s my favourite. As for the movie selections, give me the MEL Brooks. And the Monty Python. “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” was stuck in my head recently, absolute banger!
On my XXth orbit around the sun, I was sincerely hoping for something better and more rewarding. Instead, I was halfway done the puzzle and felt ugh because of all the forced, inelegant fill. OGREISH? SLEEKEN? GEES? And the most egregious TRANK (which of course should be tranq, short for tranquilizer). Yes I got the theme, and I was fortunate that these were all films with which I am familiar. But I took no satisfaction or pleasure in completing this puzzle (which was at Monday - Tuesday difficulty). At least on my birthday, I get a puzzle shout out (KNEEL - my pseudonym on social media). I rarely say this, but this is one puzzle that should have been outright rejected for the sheer amount of forced fill for the sake of a meh theme.
@DocP Overall, I enjoyed the puzzle. I always think it is cool how the creator can design the blank spaces in addition to the puzzle itself. That said, I am inclined to agree with some of your issues. I was disappointed in “trank,” particularly. I have never seen it spelled that way. “Sala” also bothered me a bit since a hall is not considered a room. This could just be a misunderstanding due to my high school level Spanish, though. The other words I was willing to look past. Weird derivatives of words seem somewhat common in crosswords, but I agree this one had several.
@DocP First of all, happy birthday! The fact that I know you're 20 informs your complaint about TRANK and my reply. A quick Google Ngram search shows that TRANK was the more common spelling until (get this!) twenty years ago, when the two spellings crossed paths and TRANQ became more popular. It's therefore not surprising that you find TRANK strange or wrong. But it's a legitimate, now less common spelling, and as we know, being less common doesn't exclude it from the puzzle. <a href="https://tinyurl.com/yeyn4p7y" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/yeyn4p7y</a> Enjoy your day!
@Steve L TRANK looks like such a travesty though... Obviously I had entered TRANq, and only changed it very reluctantly when it became obvious it just would not cross. On a more personal level, I appreciate how the existence of TRANK, and its one-time popularity, is an admission by native speakers of how little sense English spelling makes 🤣
@DocP Happy Birthday!!! As far as TRAN(k or q) is concerned..one of the first lessons in filling in crosswords was the lesson of restraint…today I applied that lesson by filling in TRAN and letting the k or q take care of itself. So much less frustration that way…Have a great celebration and keep in crosswording! 🎂🎉🎈
Loved it. These movies were so much in the zeitgeist of their times that having seen none of the originals nor sequels, it was still eminently doable for me with the across clues. Very enjoyable Wednesday.
Well, that was snappy. Nice puzzle. Felt fun at all times.
@Dan If by "snappy," you mean "Monday-level easy," I agree. This one started out promising. At least [Swahili for "journey"] made me think. Well, I think I know two Swahili words. Since UHURU means freedom (whence Lt. Uhura), it had to be SAFARI, which makes sense. (Plus, UHURU is one letter short.) But then, the retreads settled in, with no effort to be fresh with the cluing. The eye affliction is never conjunctivitis. It's always a STYE. When you're unable to decide, you're never wishy-washy. You're always TORN. And a schism is never a divide; it's always a RIFT. And a dozen others. Sigh...
Weird twisters wordwise, ogreish in fact. If you come up with a fill and then think, "Nah," it's probably going to be "Yeah," So relax, knock back a Negroni and go with the flow. (Solicitors are respectful?)
Presumably the solicitous ones are...
Thanks to Sam for reiterating “please be kind.” I think we all need that reminder on a regular basis. While I’m always amazed by folks who construct crosswords for my daily amusement, I fear my mileage varied today. I didn’t get the theme, even after I solved the puzzle. I may have just checked out because SLEEKEN made me sad. However, that!s just me: props to all of y’all who got it, enjoyed it, and solved it! Y’all have a lovely day and take care of one another!
Good morning! My $.02 worth. (Can we even have that, now that the penny is gone? Does it have to be my nickel's worth?) I think commenters ARE civil to one another for the most part, and are very respectful of the constructors. The one time someone attacked my comment on a personal level, several of you lovely people came to my aid. A large segment of the community feels that the NYT has been making the puzzles easier either via clue wording, or simply accepting easier puzzles, and I have to throw in my lot with them. All it takes is a trip in the way-back machine (AKA the archives) to see the truth of this.
@Amy Take a look at the comment above from "Mike Hunt" (never heard that one before) about the constructor. Very rude, in my view. But, I do agree with you in general, there are many supportive people here, and I do appreciate reading their thoughts and suggestions.
@Amy, agreed. I was going to ask this. I like to do the archived Sunday crosswords, and they were definitely harder in the past.
Sam, thank you for your column intro. I hope it will remind all of us to be kinder to each other. Along with others, I will assume you are referring to some of the more direct criticism of fellow commenters, which I have seen often, and not the recurring theme of the late-week puzzles getting easier. Those of us who look forward to a challenging puzzle only have two days out of seven: Friday and Saturday (plus the typically twisty, but not necessarily difficult, Thursday). Isn’t there enough with the easier early-week puzzles (plus the Friday “easy mode” clues in the newsletter and the recent addition of the Midi) to attract and retain the newcomers? That is all we are asking for, is for the editing team to give us those two days that we all look forward to. There are five remaining days for people who are newer in their solving journey (as we all once were). I agree with several other comments I have seen today, that almost all of the complaints have been careful to applaud the work the constructors while pleading with the editors to give us back our two days of challenging puzzles.
This one was really fun! I eventually had to break down and google some of the movies, because I figured out the theme but I just did not know the movie titles. I'm looking up less and less though! I want to say thank you to Sam for the comments in the column today. To be honest, as a newcomer, the comments section can feel really unwelcoming. It's discouraging to struggle with a puzzle and then check the comments and find others thought it was so easy they never want to see such a puzzle again. But I understand that people who want harder puzzles have a right to share their opinions. Everyone just wants to be heard, at the end of the day. I stuck around because, weirdly, I just love this forum. I love hearing what flowers are blooming in Mississippi or about life in Minnesota or learning about parks in Poland. I tell my friends about what I see in the comments and I always get the same response: "What are you doing in the NYT Crossword comment section?" or "The NYT Crossword comment section has a comment section?" But I check every day to see what the regulars are up to. It's such a weird little space in the post-forum internet, I love it. I could give a masterclass in complaining, but I try not to here. It just doesn't need any more of that. If you're new and you feel unwelcome: Don't worry. You'll build skill. If you share your accomplishments, at least a couple people will be glad to cheer you on.
@Joanie Really nice post. I very much hope you and all that read your post will take heart. I know how discouraging it can be to give every bit of everything you've got, just pull through a puzzle, and find that others thought it was simple. Like stumbling past the finish line when everyone else is already there, relaxing and sipping on a beer. What I often fail to remind myself is that no matter what the arena of achievement, there will always be those who are much better. It's a byproduct of sharing the planet with 7,999,999,999 other people (approximately). Thanks so much for your post.
Nice theme and especially clever to make the grid itself the revealer. The result: a very enjoyable puzzle. I understand that this unusual grid made it necessary to have a lot of three- and four-letter words, but the constructor did a nice job of keeping the fill fresh. The nit(s) du jour: DOTER, SLEEKEN, OGREISH. Even upbeat Sam called out two of these!
@The X-Phile Sleeken the ogreish doter, please. (It's so frustrating trying to enter some of the words from the NYT crosswords into the Bee...)
Franchise movies and grid art. Can there be any two puzzle themes less likely to appeal to me? Less likely for me to "get"? I looked at the grid and what did I see? I saw two large capital "I"s, plus one right-side-up capital "L" and one upside-down capital "L". The clues made no darn sense. But wait! "Sister Act" is the one film I saw, the only one that's not a horror flick. And I think what's coming in now is BACK IN THE HOUSE? No, wait, it's ringing a bell now -- it's BACK IN THE HABIT. Which was the SEQUEL to Sister Act, right? So they all must be sequels, right? Aha!!!! It's not two capital "I"s. It's the Roman numeral II. As in Part Two!!! As in sequel!!! I forget my usual dislike of puzzle themes based on pop culture. I forget my usual dislike of grid art. This puzzle has given me a big Aha Moment -- so it can't be all bad. Right? A lot cleverer than I thought it was while I was solving it.
@Nancy I wouldn't call either Home Alone or Throw Momma From The Train a horror flick. Both are comedies.
I struggled with this. I didn't know any of the names of the movies despite figuring out the trick half way through which made it slow going. Many of the clues seemed off is some way and the answers forced. Sleeken??? Seriously? And it's tranq, not trank. I didn't feel the joy of discovery, more the resignation of 'ok, I guess that works, sorta.'
I hear that the Barbie sequel will get more serious, and be titled based on the main characters’ full names: Barbie II: Barbara and Sleeken
@JohnWM You should construct the puzzles!! Very funny!
@JohnWM I'm imagining the grid art.
As I encountered various spots in the puzzle, I anticipated a lot of early comments, and Yep, already nearly 200. Here we have my response to this solve: "See grid art" usually means there IS some "art"...but not always, apparently. Of the movies referenced in the clues, I had seen "Home Alone" and "Sister Act"; I fell asleep 3 times trying to watch "Mamma Mia!" So I gave up on that one, and Anything with "Elm Street" is not worth my time. I guessed that these were sequels, not having seen ANY of them. Well, okay....perhaps even crummy movies deserve their day? Maybe there is something redeeming here..... But No. There is the little matter of the Constructor's Taking Things TOO FAR: TRANK....the NYT Puzzles have included TRANQ in the past; Jeff's spelling seems questionable. OGREISH...a nonword that might pass if a dash was permitted... but those are not legal in CrossWorld. And worst of all: SLEEKEN. My first entry in this solve was 46D WERE, followed by 47, 48 and 49A. I looked at ---EKEN and thought, "Oh, surely not!" But, alas. That is just absolutely awful. Where's an attack of AMNESIA when you want one?
@Mean Old Lady I had forgotten TRANK. That was almost as bad as SLEEKEN.
Sam,.thank you so much for your comment. Things have gotten so negative, and I've been made to feel so stupid, that I've almost decided to stop reading the comments page. Ask me anything about the Russian tsars or the American revolution, and I'll know it. Bu7t at the age pf 76, I am clueless about modern music, movies, technology, etc. Again, what is easy for some is hard for others, and vice versa.
@Marcia Fidler Amen. And... nice to see someone else who is trombones years old (oh - and in just a few months I'll be... Sunset Strip. And... please don't go away. We've gotta live through it. ....
I really gotta start doing early week puzzles again. Man, they stress me out. I know I should do them fast (because I am that good…). But the tick tick tick just pounds in my head. Honestly. Friday and Saturday are way more relaxing. No expectations. No proxy for smartitude. Though once again, today’s solve was a little slower than last Friday or Saturday. I see the two I’s, but couldn’t make sense of them. Thankfully I never needed to, until I finally finished. Not a fan of TRANK, though I can’t say I’ve ever read that word. Just heard it. And assumed it would be spelled TRANq. Nice Wednesday, methinks.
@Weak I have sadly never seen this franchise. But I’ve always been enamored with the movie title. “Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo” I think it is the greatest movie title of all time, sequel or otherwise.
@Weak TRANK when a K is needed (13 times); TRANQ when a Q is needed (6).
@Weak - I feel the same way about Wednesday vs Friday and Saturday. Later week puzzles stand out in the open, challenging me. Wednesday hides in the tall grass, waiting.
@Weak I remember "trank" from the 80s. I think it was part of the hippie/drug culture in the sixties and seventies.
Hmmm…TRANK? I always thought of it as TRANQ, as is tranquilizer. I looked up TRANQ and it appears to be something scary that happens to humans who take veterinary tranquilizers mixed with fentanyl. Times they do change…
@Isabelle Wow. That is next level. I admire and feel so so so so sad/ scared for those that need to be that creative to get their fix.
@Isabelle I knew that sounded familiar. I remember reading this sticker a while back. It is beyond sobering. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/health/medetomidine-withdrawal-symptoms-treatment.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/15/health/medetomidine-withdrawal-symptoms-treatment.html</a>
"At some point, I’m going to insist that constructors stop this freewheeling use of “-er” to turn verbs into nouns." Here, here.
@Bill You might as well add"-ish" to the list.
While I solved the puzzle fairly readily, the grid art did absolutely nothing for me to help. The only thing I could think was possibly a Clue board game.... Ooh, ooh, a Clue crossword murder mystery! Someone do it!! Pretty please! So, a rare solve when I did not understand the theme at all. Maybe that's not considered a solve then? 🤔 Maybe if I'd have known that there were sequels to those movies, I might have gotten the Roman numeral bit, but it's all good either way! May the crossword odds be ever in your favor!!
@HeathieJ Like you, I solved the puzzle pretty easily, in less time than normal for a Wednesday, but never got the theme. I couldn’t see the two I’s even when I squinted, so I was never going to make a connection to sequels. Good at some things, bad at others.
I’ve always associated LOYOLA with Chicago, not New Orleans. Also SLEEKEN might have been a bit much. While this puzzle was far from my favorite, it took me far too long to understand the theme.
@Tommy Right? TULANE is the university I associate with New Orleans, and it fit in the squares. I had no idea there was another LOYOLA.
Oh well, I missed the point. I thought the iBeams were some nightmarish street roundabouts. I enjoined it very much nonetheless.
This one was/felt different. I liked it.
Well I didn’t figure out the theme, but that made the puzzle more fun. Very enjoyable romp, although I didn’t care for SLEEKEN. If that’s really a word, it oughtn’t to be, at least in my book. Overall a Wednesday to savor, much like the NEGRONI cocktail featured in the puzzle. For me the NEGRONI is the ideal pre dinner cocktail: simple to make, pleasing to the eye, and with a complex flavor profile balancing bitter and sweet elements, with a hint of juniper from the gin. It’s light enough not to dull the palate and the bitter flavors actually serve as appetite stimulants. Highly recommended, especially with a really rich sweet vermouth like Carpano Antica.
@Marshall Walthew Campari on the rocks with orange is nice too.
@Marshall Walthew I always add two dashes of orange bitters to my NEGRONI. May not be classic, but my-oh-my it's tasty!
@Marshall Walthew You make it sound like quite the experience. Never had a NEGRONI, rarely had a cocktail. When you don't drink much - a cocktail before dinner would make me too tipsy to eat!