Oh wow, what a trip! That's what I call a Sunday puzzle. You totally need to understand the theme in order to figure out the roundabout entries because of the “unchecked” squares, which of course are checked by the trick. I caught on with MICHELLE, MICHELOB and MICHELIN MAN. It was off to the races from there. Thanks, Michael and Oliver. That was so much fun! You get my vote for Sunday POY.
Never been happier to go way over my average time. This puzzle was a masterful creation, and a pleasure to solve.
@Dave S Totally agree. Good to know that someone else in Ottawa was solving this at the same time as I was!
This has been the best Friday, Saturday, Sunday run in a very long time. Has someone been listening to our complaints or is this an abberation? Time will tell. I love a puzzle that forces you to understand the trick. No, "I finished the puzzle, but have no idea what's going on" today. The way it should always be, in my opinion. Welcome, Oliver. I hope to see more from you.
When I drew a perfect circle, I got a round of applause. (I would try it in 3D, but I sphere the worst.)
Mike, You're all square with us.
@Mike Even though that one threw me for a loop, it does ring a bell.
@Mike Reading your amazing puns is the part of my morning that i like to think of as the “awe bit” (This just came out, sorry - i didn’t planet!)
@Mike I guess you've been inCUBEating that for a long time. I'm not CONEa say anything more.
The constructors write: "We were told that the test solvers found the gimmick clear enough without the extra help, and we hope that this was your experience as well." Schlossbergs, It was my experience too. We'll see how many solvers agree. Thanks for the enjoyable spin(s) around town. P.S. I hope those who had a hard time figuring out the themers will still find some SILVERLININGS.
@Barry Ancona It took this solver a minute (or two or three) to catch on, but I'm glad the editors gave us the challenge!
@Barry Ancona Took me a bit of time to get the hang of it. But I love a challenge and this was one for sure. Thanks to the constructors for a fun Sunday morning.
So…I don’t like to brag. But. I just had a cosmo here in Paris where I’m ON VACAY. Ergo- (I think you’re picking up what I’m putting down) the puzzles are about…*me.* I didn’t see that coming either, but here we are. In a roundabout way. But, guys. I want you to treat me like I am an average person. (And I’m not even gonna *mention* that I saw a picture of Michelle Obama today. It’s beyond eerie.) [ *shiver* ]
@CCNY Since you’re in Paris, I’d follow that cosmo up with a fine ARMAGNAC. When in Rome…
Can you get good bagels in le Marais?
@CCNY Magnifique. Just be careful when entering that big roundabout.
@CCNY Springtime in Paris! I'm so jealous... and happy for you! Have a wonderful VACAY!!!
Definitely tough, but fun. This is the longest I've taken on a Sunday puzzle in over 5 years. I feel like I earned a cookie.
Once I changed SOUPCAN to MARILYN things clarified.
@Charles Peterson Me as well. I knew it was one of those two, but went with the soup first.
When I opened it: Ughhh what is this?! When I started filling it in: Oh this is so clever!! I loved this puzzle! What a creative, unique idea. And I laughed out loud at UCLA 😆 Can't believe I've never heard that joke before
Saw the roundabouts, but had to remind myself that I had to turn right on entry instead of my usual left
@Patrick J. I had the exact same problem - takes a long time to unlearn my Australian instincts!
@Patrick J. driving on the left is always a little nerve-wracking for me, but my first rotary was especially tough.
@Patrick J. Even as an American, I encounter more roundabouts when traveling overseas than here so I also instinctually tried going left in the puzzle and got confused too 😂 I especially miss the Australian roundabouts where people use their blinker to tell you which exit they’re taking 😁
Greetings all! I’m repeating the plea to have the navigation changed so that one can, once again, toggle between Wordplay and the puzzle on a phone. It’s incredibly inconvenient to have it all in the same window. Please recommend, fellow solvers!
@Laura W and it doesn’t respect dark mode either
@Laura W Venting here doesn't help your cause; we're fellow commenters, not the NYT tech crew. If you really want to reach someone, email <a href="mailto:NYTGames@nytimes.com">NYTGames@nytimes.com</a>.
@Laura W you can sort of toggle on the main nyt app
@Laura W install 2 copies of the app??
@Laura W. If you install the puzzle app and the news app, you can toggle between the two.
Anyone ever had the fun experience of doing a roundabout like this: MARTINITINITINI GLASS? Maybe while your passengers are shouting instructions? Maybe one of those that has an inner circle and an outer circle?
@Cat Lady Margaret Yes! That’s a perfect illustration of missing the exit and going around again…and again.
Lovely puzzle. Enjoyed it a lot though I almost had a head-on collision. An Indian driver, I took a left at the round about Saw the headlights coming at me and said look out! I was a bit shaken and stirred And then I quickly inferred I was going the wrong way, without a doubt
@Pananjady Swathi Bravo! Reminds me of the man who drove home the wrong way on the highway, prompting widespread news coverage. When he arrived home, his wife exclaimed, “I’m so happy you got home safely! Someone was driving the wrong way on the highway.” He replied, “One? There must have been hundreds!”
I love the backstory, that this was crafted by a father and his teenage son. And it’s not a case of the son throwing out a suggestion here and there and basically being credited as a NYT constructor as a gift from Dad. No, Oliver’s role – writer of the program that generated the theme answers, played an integral role. Just an incredible grid build, from having the theme clusters be symmetrical, to having five (!) of them, to having the four answers of each roundabout come from different etymologies. Wowwowwow! But that’s not all. There were seven lovely NYT answer debuts, including four that begged the question, “How could these never been in the Times puzzle before?”: TRAILHEAD, MARTINI GLASS, MICHELOB, and MICHELIN MAN. Plus, the funnest word I’ve run into in a long time – LAMINANO (25D)! Yes, it’s meant to be read from south to north, but forget that. It’s a new word, it’s fun to say, and it means “a thin layer”. LAMINANO! Bravo, Michael and Oliver. Bravo squared. This was for me a fun and satisfying tour de force. More please, and thank you!
Us old folks just scribbled in DRAGNET immediately.
@Frank "Just the facts, ma'am."
I’m stuck at the hospital watching over my dad, and I desperately needed something absorbing to take my mind off things. This was a truly delightful distraction. I thank the constructors for making a bad night a tiny bit better. Ya gotta nother one?
@Amy K Best wishes for his speedy recovery and check out the archives in the meantime. The Schlossberg's next one will take a while...
@Amy K Best to you and your dad.
@Amy K Hoping today is a better day for you and your dad! Sending best wishes!!
Pretty fun. UTMOST instead of ATMOST cost me probably ten minutes lol. I guess I need to learn my Indian flours.
@Logan. Yes. DOOKED myself there too, except I knew ATTA.
@Logan Exactly the same. I found myself staring at Utta before it hit me
@Logan, after seeing ATTA many times in the past, but never remembering it, this was the second time in the last week that I filled it in immediately. It has finally stuck in my brain! (Along with 84D’s ALTA.) That’s the fun of doing these puzzles. With practice, those clues that seemed impenetrable in the beginning become gimmes.
@Logan ATTA is a piece of crossword glue which shows up regularly. It's often clued as ATTA boy or ATTA girl, but the flour clue appears fairly often as well, so put it in your pocket.
What a great puzzle! Maybe my favorite to date??? It was challenging the entire way through without feeling un-fun or sloggy, and the moment I finally got the entirety of the gimmick I was quite charmed. Well done for making me enjoy a Sunday xword!
I admit I hesitated momentarily before entering the comment section today just in case the drama department was not pleased. But I was delighted to find overwhelming positive feedback for the Schlossbergs and this remarkable Sunday puzzle. (Not to mention father/son constructors and 15-yr old Oliver’s debut. Imagine!) I thought the roundabout trick was fabulous. Can’t imagine the construction process to fill all five roundabouts. It took me way too long to see how all the exits worked, but once I got it I thought this definitely should be on the list for Sunday POY. Thank you Michael and Oliver, editors, emus, Caitlin, and all commenters. Most amusing to me was LOVED IT! followed immediately by HATED IT! I’m generally a lover not a hater so I give the whole experience two snaps up.
Too difficult. Did not enjoy it.
@Rachel118. Considering the time of your post, did you even try to like it? If you give up that quickly you won’t ever experience the pleasure of the aha moment which is really what it’s all about.
Spare a thought for those of us who drive on the left, but that was 88 minutes of fabulous!
@Dan As someone who normally drives on the right, my encounters with roundabouts while driving in Ireland were the hardest part of making the switch to left-side driving. I understand your struggle with this puzzle.
"Thanks for doing our puzzle!" you say? No, dear sir, thank you both for creating it! Work of art and definite POY contender for me! Figuring out the mechanics of it was the cherry on top of a stellar puzzle. (And it even has its own theme song! <a href="https://youtu.be/cPCLFtxpadE?si=D8SQrGG_d65j0wkJ" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/cPCLFtxpadE?si=D8SQrGG_d65j0wkJ</a>)
So I'm not a fan of roundabouts. So much so, in fact, that I decided to take a Lyft to today's NO KINGS rally in town rather than cope with a particularly daunting cluster between my house and my destination. Things were going swimmingly and then -- cruuunch! My poor driver got sideswiped by another car's ill-timed lane change. No one was hurt. Both cars sustained a bit of damage. It just took several tense minutes to figure it all out. And I did arrive safely at the rally, although a bit later than planned. I applaud the verisimilitude of this puzzle. It recreated the roundabout experience with amazing accuracy. (Seriously, though, very clever puzzle. I'm just an old fogy with a terrible sense of direction.)
@NovelaMaven Ugh! I'm so glad that no one was hurt! I understand that roundabouts are preferred because even if there are more frequent accidents they're generally less dangerous or fatal. I don't know if that's true, but that's what I am told. My family is all in the Milwaukee area, so over these many years driving down there to visit, I've noticed the ever-increasing number of them down there. So far they're still outpacing us up here, at least in my area, but absolutely I'm with you about them. Glad you were able to rally and get to that rally!! 🚫👑
@NovelaMaven Good to hear no injuries. Folks drive wonky without traffic circles! Right there with you on roundabouts. To that, add driving on the left in the UK, and madly entering whilst trying to read the hodgepodge of signage! (It was a sea of snakes with pointed arrow heads for the first few weeks) That was a really bad novela!
Too easy? Too hard? Who cares? This was really fun.
Fantastic Sunday-worthy theme and gimmick. I had no idea what was going on...until I did. And then I solved in awe of its cleverness. That's a Sunday to stand up and applaud for.Thanks, Michael and Oliver Schlossberg. Some easy fill in the NW (not inappropriate for a Sunday) got me off to a fast start, until I realized that I had SSALG for the "Cosmo vessel". Of course, I realize now that I should have been looking up, but at the time it looked like I had made a mistake somewhere and would have to clean it up later. Of course, I knew something was going on with those "Roundabouts", but at the time, I had no idea what that might be, so for a while I just avoided them. Thank God for MICHigan, MICHELLE Obama, and MICHELOB.It took a bit longer to see the MICHELIN MAN climbing upwards. Bravo! And then I was off to the races! Those rotaries weren't going to slow me down! A lovely beginning to a Sunday!
I slogged through this like a fly flitting inside a mayonnaise jar. I was total rudderless. Not as bad as getting a root canal, but not too far behind. For those who loved this puzzle, congrats. I wish I could have joined you.
@Michael. i finished, but it was work. Ultimately rewarding, but not necessarily ego-gratifying, because I kept mistaking the circle in the roundabout for an “o”.
@Michael I recently finished a puzzle with 3 errors...and I'm close to 20 years of NYT puzzle solving. I certainly sympathize with those who felt defeated, but ...heck. This comes to us all, despite much experience, despite a high %age of success, despite the Old College Try. Gain what you can from studying the clever, if diabolical, construction (you'll see this kind of thing again!) and declare that "A murrain seize thee!" to the Father-Son constructor team if you must. (It is a bit satisfying....) FWIW, I had to work hard on this solve, but at my age, it feels good to work hard on things, though they be small.
Gimmick is the word. This puzzle is way too reliant on that. When the theme stops being clever and starts doing all the work, it stops being fun. You’re not solving—you’re just decoding a trick over and over again. A good crossword feels like a conversation with the constructor; this one feels like being hit with the same joke on repeat.
I, too, found this gimmick just too gimmicky to be a lot of fun.
I'm not sure what the issue is here. A typical themed Sunday puzzle has one theme which plays out over multiple themers. Having the five roundabouts work the same way is normal. Knowing *how* they work doesn't fill in the answers. Or at least it didn't for me.
T I D I L O E D I T V E D O G S My favorite Sunday since Lewis Rothlein and Jeff Chen’s “Name Dropping” (4/30/23).
@Puzzlemucker -- Makes me very happy that you liked that puzzle so much!
This isn’t the kind of puzzle that I enjoy solving. Enough said.
Once I got this theme I figured it would be pretty polarizing and so it was, based on the comments so far. I was a little confused and off put by the different directions at first but once the trick became clear it was very consistent and logical. This is definitely a constructor’s puzzle—complex and structurally intricate, especially considering the constraints of three words starting with the same beginning but different roots (I certainly wouldn’t fault MICHELIN and MICHELLE). Throw in the symmetry requirements (notice the clever mirror symmetry) and all the additional fill, which was very solid considering the difficult theme, and you have a remarkable achievement. Beyond that as I solver I had an enjoyable challenge and a fun time working out the theme. This will be on my POY short list, I think. One head scratcher as someone familiar with Hebrew—couldn’t figure out how anyone gets SUE from Shoshana, which means Rose in Hebrew, and certainly nobody actually named Shoshana would have Sue as a nickname. But with further research it appears Susannah (and by extension Susan) all come from that root, so that was actually a very interesting way to clue it.
@SP Actually I started my post after reading a few negative comments early on, and I’m pleased after reading more that the consensus is very positive and not as polarizing as I would have guessed. I did want to add, I would have been more impressed by the “above two feet” clue it it hadn’t been a day after the “around two feet” clue from yesterday. I’m surprised the editors didn’t catch that and change it to something different.
@SP My uncle, who was a Rabbi in Cleveland, was still unmarried at 36, much to my grandparents' consternation. On one of his trips to Israel, he met a woman working in the hotel industry. She had been born and grew up in Hungary, but after the war she ended up in Israel, where she was known as Shoshana. He brought her back to us in NY and introduced us to our beautiful, new and very elegant "Aunt Susan." Knowing that Shoshana meant Rose, I was a little confused. She never did get called Susan or Sue, but it was always either Shoshana or her Hungarian name, ZsuZsi. I haven't done the research myself, so you've given me something to do tomorrow!
My brain is upside down - or possibly nwod edispu. Thanks for the egnellahc.
This was a lot of fun. Mind boggling to think of constructing such a thing. That moment when the light dawns, and sense emerges from nonsense… OH LORDY.
@Jennifer. EXACTLY! That EUREKA moment and the ensuing wonder and delight as everything fell in to place and made perfect sense - I think this is the most puzzling puzzle I have ever thoroughly enjoyed!
On days like these, if you’re a newer solver, and most of the commenters are praising the puzzle and its originality and uniqueness, but you thought it didn’t make sense and was a terrible puzzle, consider that perhaps you missed or misunderstood the gimmick.
@Steve L It's nice to see that you're still sufficiently optimistic to believe that such commenters will 1) read your comment, and 2) realize that you're talking about them.
@Steve L As an experienced solver, it sometimes takes me a trip to the comments section to realize that it's not a bad puzzle, but my own bad mood, that made the experience unenjoyable for me. That's why I try to go by the rule, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." Usually my gripes are entirely personal, like my hatred of PARER. (It's not a word, fight me.)
Easy peasy in the end. Adorable gimmick that helped me solve once I got it. And I got it fast, but not so fast that I felt cheated. Finished in about 2/3 of my average time. Can’t imagine anyone who enjoys crossword puzzles having anything negative to say about this one. I’m so secure in that belief that I’m not going to look at a single one of your comments. Byeeeeeee
Today I Learned that DALAI LAMA means "Ocean monk". I knew that LAMA meant "monk" or "teacher" and had assumed that DALAI meant highest or greatest. Nope, DALAI apparently comes from the Mongolian (that desert, land-locked nation) and means "ocean". Why "ocean"??? Apparently we're supposed to be thinking of him as the "teacher of the 'ocean' of wisdom and compassion." That makes sense to me!
Well, I very much dislike roundabouts! Nevertheless, I enjoyed the puzzle. I was a little surprised that you entered all of them the same place, from the left. I thought they it might rotate where you drove in. Anyhow, fun puzzle. Maybe this puzzle will help me be less grumpy when I encounter a roundabout. They are increasing in these here parts. I came in about average on this. Lost some time in the far upper right corner. TEEPEES and BUTTONFLIES was all I had there for a while. Looking back, other than ASGARD and APOLO, I'm not sure why it seemed tougher to me. Got a good chuckle out of 122A for UCLA! Lots of folks made some good trouble today—and this was good fun!
@HeathieJ Just like a pleasant drive through Richfield between St Paul and Edina (NYT’s favorite MN suburb answer). This was a very fun and well constructed Sunday puzzle. A little harder than recent Sunday outings, but definitely solvable. Just remember to always traverse the roundabout in a counterclockwise direction, and you’ll be fine. Still waiting for a constructor to give us a two lane roundabout puzzle. Now that will be a challenge!
@HeathieJ UCLA was he one I got stuck on! Duh!!
Now that's a New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle! Well done!
Bravo! One of the best theme puzzles I’ve ever done. Oliver has nailed the Bend scene - great work!
Ugh. Hated it. This is a perfect example of a puzzle that was probably a lot more fun to construct than it was to solve.
@Anker I dunno, sounds like a lot of people— including myself— had tons of fun solving it.
I certainly hope the constructors had more fun constructing than *you* did solving, but I'm sure it took them more effort to construct than it did me to solve (while having fun).
@Anker Just look at the line of fun-having solvers just before you, chronologically. I do suspect that newer solvers might find this quite challenging, and that later comments might reflect that.
@Anker If I ran the comments section, I would ban all comments that begin with "ugh," "meh," or "yuck."
What a great puzzle! It took me awhile to figure out how everything worked, although in retrospect, it does seem obvious 🙃. I was delighted to see Bend, Oregon in the puzzle...my mom moved there (all the way across the country, from Maryland) when she retired, and my sister lives there now, so I am quite familiar with all the roundabouts! We are starting to get them here in northern Michigan, and I think they are great. My dad was also a traffic planner and advocate of roundabouts, so I may be biased. A couple favorite clues...[20/20], which turned out to be a nice straight-forward math clue...and [gray and yellow, perhaps], which turned out to be verbs...love that! Thank you, Michael and Oliver Schlossberg! A very enjoyable start to my Sunday!
Ugh, as much as I love Indian food I had UTTA for ATTA at the top left, which still worked for the across as UTMOST. This one square failed the puzzle for me.
@Bobby Salmon same! glad I didn't try to find the error it was hopeless
@Bobby Salmon Same thing happened to me, but when I got the correct A at the beginning, the clue made more sense.
@Bobby Salmon Thank you! I had Atta first, then changed it to Utta and could NOT figure out my error for yhe lufe of me!
@Julie R THOUGHT IT WAS MOSTLY FINE, ALTHOUGH THERE WERE A FEW CLUES THAT SEEMED JUST A TAD OFF--THOUGH NOTHING REALLY SERIOUS-- AND I WAS LUKE WARM ON THE ROUNDABOUTS!!!
I've been attempting to solve NYT puzzles for a few years, now, and have finally been able to get through the puzzles of each day of the week. This was the most enjoyable, yet.
I am into this so hard that I want it to become a whole new genre of crossword puzzles
@Pendant Not if you're TENACIOUS!
It took a bit to figure out the schtick, but once I did it was great fun! I'd been bored for ages with the same ol' similar themes; then we got the Ides of March and now this one in quick succession. Hoping the creative and challenging trend continues ... 😊
Absolutely brilliant. I can't imagine thinking this up, and implementing it must've been a major challenge. Just great. Many thanks.
@Manhattan It strangled my brain. I hated it from the getgo. I still hate it. NONDRIVER here! I loved seeing my favorite politician but that was the ONLY thing I liked.
Interesting puzzle. I didn’t like ‘seized with the teeth’ as ‘bit off’ though….it doesn’t imply or mean that at all; to me that’s more like ‘gripping’ … anyhoo, other than that, quite clever.
Fabulous fun, clever and engaging - everything I love in a crossword!