I have very little interest in entering the conversation about how easy the puzzles have become. But I do have an observation. I sometimes do weekend puzzles from the archives and almost invariably find them easier than the current puzzles. There is a fairly obvious explanation – I am 87 years old. The proper names and contemporary cultural references have become elusive. I still like them, even if they are not from my generation. And I love it when there is trivia from the 50s and 60s.
@Sue I have also started doing this, but find some of them difficult. The name that was so familiar now eludes me. But I do like coming upon words that I would swear I never heard of much less remember them being used. It’s great to have access to those puzzles and sometimes it can be a challenge which is fun. They often “reach back” to stars and public figures from the ‘30s forward. Although that was not my generation, I realize that I have absorbed that history.
@Sue, that’s so interesting - I’m a relatively new solver (a couple of years in) and have been delving into the archives. I often find the older puzzles harder, but I’ve also wondered how much of that is the lack of familiarity with the contemporary references. And my fastest ever time was on a Monday crossword from 2008!
@Sue There are definitely some puzzles from back in the day that rely on trivia to an extent that the editors (to their credit, IMO) wouldn’t let through today. And if you had unusually strong knowledge of trivia, I can easily see how you’d have an easier time with such puzzles than most people. But on the other hand…there are several regular comments in this forum who have been doing the puzzle for *decades* and feel very strongly that there has been a marked decline in difficulty in recent years, and that the change hasn’t been subtle. As someone who has spent lots of time in the archives, I agree with them completely. In my own judgment, a fundamental change that has taken place within the last few years: in contrast to “the good old days”, the editors are no longer willing (except perhaps on increasingly rare occasions) to publish puzzles that seem likely to stump a significant proportion of the solving population. That, and they seem to have concluded that the average Saturday should be approachable to the average solver.
Safe words in our bedroom: SPIN OFF! FEES? WE HAD A DEAL! SAG, RAMROD! HANG TIGHT, PARD DFW ME! *** A fine fast run of a puzzle, sure to irritate the vets in this crowd who will say it's barely more difficult than a standard Tuesday puzzle. Hassock is a great word, possibly the greatest word ever. All hail hassock!
@john ezra Thanks for the much needed laugh, John! You really need a warning on this post: “Do not read with a mouthful of wine!”
@john ezra Please, no DFW-ing here! This is a family Games section. I'm shocked that the emus let that through.
SOONERORLATER, we're going to see if this DETENTE with Iran holds, or if one side exclaims WEHADADEAL while the other side WREAKS havoc on the global economy. We will not be able to RESTEASY until this MESS is all sorted out. For now, we'll just have to HANGTIGHT. IMFORIT, but the ODDS are not in favor of lasting peace.
We live in an interesting universe, full of trends and breaks in trends. One of the reasons NEON is so abundant is that it has a "perfect" nucleus, meaning it can be thought of as made of alpha particles, also known as helium nuclei. An alpha particle is two protons and two neutrons. Helium is extraordinarily stable, both in chemical and nuclear terms. If I take five alpha particles of 2 protons, 2 neutrons each, we get 10 protons and 10 neutrons, which is the NEON nucleus. Four alpha particles is 8 protons and 8 neutrons, which is the very common oxygen atom. And three sets of alpha particles is 6 protons and 6 neutrons, the very common carbon atom. It works larger, too. Six alphas is magnesium-24, very common, seven is silicon-28, very common, and eight is argon-32, and ten is (20 proton, 20 neutrons) calcium-40, all quite common. The weird one is two alpha particles, (4 protons, 4 neutrons). Beryllium-8 is *not at all stable*. In fact it is one of the *least* stable nuclei. If you had a gram of Be-14, in 80 billionths of a billionth of a second you'd have only 1/2 gram of Be-14, the other half gram having decomposed into two alpha particles. I wish I were a Be-8 nuclei.
@Francis if you were Be8 you’d be a bottleneck in nucleosynthesis and making the sun glow. But if you were the doubly magic Ni56 (also all alphas) you’d also decay (somewhat slower 7.7 days) but you’d be powering Supernovae and producing almost all the iron in the universe.
@Francis If only more comments were like yours, full of interesting facts and offbeat takes rather than the all-too-common “too easy” or “too naticky” complaints. You are NEON, my friend. Independent, hard to pin down, and rarely found on Earth. Thanks for making the comment section glow.
@Francis Wow, I blew the half life stuff. It should only be Be-8... there is not Be-14. I don't know where that came from.
@Francis Thanks! What a great comment. I had the second N in NEON, but I was stuck for a while thinking "why would neon be common, but what else can it be??" Not many 4-letter elements. Iron would have been a good guess, but of course it would have been wrong. Luckily I didn't think of that. But now I know why neon is common. Yay!
Hi, @Francis! How long have you been commenting on this forum? (How long have I?) You have certain become a vital, integral member of this community! Thank you!
@Francis To continue--as one who has an amateur's interest in, and knowledge of, the physical sciences, but who also has Zeno of Elea over regularly for dinner (tortoise soup) and a game of darts, there's one thing about nuclear decay that I've always wondered. I understand that if an isotope has a half-life of x minutes, in x minutes you'd have half as much of it; after 2x minutes only 1/4 as much; after 3x minutes only 1/8. But at some point, you'll have only one atom--what then? It is either all, or nothing. Or am I overthinking this? I, for one, am glad that you are *not* a Be8 nucleus!
@Francis Again, a great Tiny Desk performance! Now I'll need to research how neon is extracted.
@Francis You know why your first reply got held up by an emu, right? It wanted to make sure your insult to Be-8 posted more than 80 billionths of a billionth of a second later.
@Francis thank you for sharing this!
@Francis And of course neon has the stable octet of electrons which renders it largely inert.
I enjoyed the puzzle as always. Long time reader, first time commenter. I feel compelled to say, “Well, actually….” The only clue I would suggest is just off is the one for 18A, (new outfit or accessory in video-game speak,) which I would answer with COSMETIC. A mod would be something that modifies a base game, and while the modification could be an item or outfit created by someone other than the developer, it is usually more game-changing. Better clue perhaps: Reddit referee, slangily Okay, I’ll put down my index finger now.
@Andy G Welcome to commenting on the forum! I believe we are an affable group, at least when we're not ripping each other to shreds. Just tread lightly on full moons. The "M" in MOD was the last thing I got in.
@Andy G I’m not a gamer, so I will defer to your take while admitting I had no idea how to fill those three squares. I got the answer solely through the crosses. I like your alternate clue, though— I’d have gotten that one!
@Andy G I was thinking skin. But it didn’t fit. But didn’t you answer your own comment regarding modification (mod). Like how you can mod weapons in Fortnite. Sky River!
@Andy G agreed! My friends and I are pretty big gamers. Mods are a significantly broader category than merely cosmetics (as specified in the clue) to the point that for some games, cosmetics are even considered to be their own thing, not mods at all (eg. “custom content” in Sims 4). I penciled in the right answer, but thought it was probably wrong until I literally finished the whole puzzle because of how poorly it fit the clue. I’m guessing the puzzle maker and editor aren’t gamers, which is how they ended up on this clue. Speaking as someone who is though, I’d suggest MODifying it. Perhaps “new move or accessory…” or “new map…” to stick with the video game theme.
I am not a speed solver. I do not rush. I solve with a stylus on a stone tablet. I should not finish a Saturday this quickly.
@Barry Ancona Maybe if you made your tablets out of tungsten carbide instead of stone, you might slow yourself down a bit. Better living through chemistry.
Francis, I don't make stone tablets; The Times delivers them to my cave.
@Barry Ancona I’m typing this with a stylus on an Apple tablet.
Something's definitely amiss when I finish faster than the xwstats Median Solve Time (as I did today)
@Barry Ancona Certainly more than half of the coffee should be missing from the first cup before the puzzle is complete.
@Barry Ancona Agreed. My fastest Saturday (almost 20 minutes below my average Saturday!)
"Any large reptiles around these parts?" "I'll find one sooner or gator." ("If you see his cousin, there'll be crocodile cheers.")
@Mike If you need a snappy response, I’m sure someone will bite! I’m just not sure if i m-on-it-or someone else is… anyone else want to dive in?
@Mike Some day Iguana post before you do. Then I'll be ahead from the gecko.
@Mike I caiman thinking I had a pun…oh, well.
Agree with Barry. A Saturday solve should not take me fewer than 20 minutes. And yet, the clueing was downright delectable...dare I say Weintraubian...and made both my hemispheres very happy.
That's not what a MOD is. That is all.
@katie The other day they described Sum41 as "skatepunk." Clues are getting a little dicey.
@katie Absolutely. A MOD is an additional program, the clue is describing a Skin, and they're not the same.
@katie Couldn't agree more and ran to the comments to note the same thing!
@katie I'm concerned about the grandmas and grandpas who try to earn cool points with their grandkids this weekend and end up embarrassing themselves.
@katie its a fair clue. In some games, like Cyberpunk 2077 (which I'm currently playing) you can add attachments and mods to weapons, for example. <a href="https://cyberpunk.fandom.com/wiki/Cyberpunk_2077_Attachments_and_Modifications#Modifications" target="_blank">https://cyberpunk.fandom.com/wiki/Cyberpunk_2077_Attachments_and_Modifications#Modifications</a>
Maybe this is before my time, but as an avid gamer I have never heard an outfit or accessory for a character referred to as a "mod." A "mod" is a user-created modification to the game itself. A new outfit for a character would be called a "skin," or just an accessory/outfit.
From DOG FOOD to CAT FOOD before finally getting PET FOOD. Great clue for ROOKIE MISTAKE [Cause of amusement to a vet, maybe]. The misdirect fooled me until I had it almost completely filled in. Nice debut of CALIFORNIA ROLL and a good clue too. My family always called an ottoman a HASSOCK, so I liked seeing that word in the puzzle. An enjoyable solve.
Did you know that "RABBIT MISTAKE" and "ROOKIE MISTAKE" have the same amount of letters? You know, like when you confuse two rabbits. Classic vet error and perfectly logical entry.
A staccato of happy pings throughout. Entertainment in the box today: • It came from words and phrases I love, such as ROOKIE MISTAKE, WREAKS, HANG TIGHT. • Also from misdirects and vagueness in cluing, so that when the answer came, it came with a “Hah!” Clues like [Thawing] for DÉTENTE, [Treat] for DOCTOR, and [Silky-haired toy] for MALTESE. • More happiness when I laughed at myself after confidently throwing in ALLIGATOR TEARS. • My heart melted when I uncovered HASSOCKS, a word my great-grandma Annie – who I revered – often used. Then another happy ping from seeing it as HAS SOCKS, and now I can’t un-see it. • A wow and a bow at [It takes two hands to show] for TEN, a delightful clue I’d never seen before, and one that made a common answer special. (A post-solve search confirmed it was indeed original.) You created more than a puzzle, Jesse. You created a generous helping of feel-good, and that is a gift. Thank you!
@Lewis I always appreciate your positivity. Thanks!
@Lewis Just out of curiosity, is there anything to WREAK other than havoc and maybe chaos? One doesn't WREAK iron, though it can certainly be wrought.
I enjoyed this solve *very* much for each and every minute that I was solving. That’s a nice thing.
It is, but some things are even better when they last longer...
Fun! I'm getting better at this... : )
I really enjoyed this one -- just the right difficulty (for me) for a Saturday with great cluing. I haven't thought about Martin Gardner in a very long time. My father used to enjoy his "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American.
@Esmerelda They have been collected in book form and are still in print, I believe.
18A is just plain incorrect. A MOD is any third-party modification to a game. It *could* be a new outfit or accessory, but it could just as easily be an expanded map, an additional character, a cheat, a bug fix, or any number of things. Additionally, obtaining a new outfit or accessory doesn't necessarily require a MOD. Many games revolve around finding higher-level gear as you progress. A MOD might add extra outfits, but the vanilla game usually has a ton of those already. The clue just fails on every level. It's awoken my nerd rage.
@Katie If a new outfit or accessory is one example of a MOD, then the clue is correct.
I started very slowly on this one until I got to CROCODILETEARS, and then the puzzle opened quickly like a blossom in a time lapsed photographic sequence. Once you get a long entry the puzzle will seem easy SOONERORLATER, provided you don’t make a ROOKIEMISTAKE. I thought there were some nice clues, like tools for musketeers for RAMRODS and blitzed for SAUCED (I knew sauce was a term for booze, but never thought of SAUCED as a term for drunk). While I do always relish a stern challenge, I’ll leave the verdict as to whether this one was too easy or not to the experts, and just say that I enjoyed it. Three cheers for the reference to MARTIN Gardner whose math puzzles and essays provided so much pleasure (and mental stimulation) in my nerdy adolescent years.
@Marshall Walthew I think you should also leave whether or not you enjoyed the puzzle to us experts, as well. On a serious note: I, too, loved the call out for Martin Gardner.
@Marshall Walthew Could have written this comment myself. Had the same experience, almost nothing until CROCODILETEARS and then the flood; and also great memories of MARTIN Gardner
@Marshall Walthew I'm a MARTIN Gardner fan, too. And his name just came up in conversation with respect to my spouse's reading a tome by Douglas Hofstadter. Gardner's column in the "Scientific American", "Mathematical Games", became Hofstadter's "Metamagical Themas". I'm sure you noticed that Hofstadter's title is an angram of Gardner's. (He's such a show-off!)
The town of ARLES [11D Backdrop for many van Gogh paintings] produced many backgrounds for Van Gogh, but the HUDSON valley [15A New York's____Valley] was the inspiration for a whole school of painting. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_River_School" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_River_School</a>
@lucky13 absolutely. The Hudson Valley School is considered one of the pre-eminent art movements of the early twentieth century. Personal favorites include Grundle McFaden, Smooth Sack Rogers, and Ilsa “Rubber Thigh” von Holnbrecht. One thing that always strikes me when looking at work from these singular artists was their commitment to using only spaghetti sauce and glue as their media of choice.
@lucky13 I multi-task a phone game with NYTimes games, often changing my avatar’s outfits, never heard of COS, got it after trying MOD, thought it might refer to COSPLAY which I know very little about. This isn’t the first gamer word I learned in the crosswords.
An interesting mixture of too easy (I slapped down POISON DART without any crosses, FRIED EGGS with only one G, and MELTED? C'mon!), quite tricky (it took me quite a while to get REST EASY and HANG TIGHT, and DOCTOR was oddly hard for me), But mostly a lot of "Oh, I see. That's a good one!" moments. I'm thinking SAFE WORD, of course, but also ROOKIE MISTAKE and DAMSELS and MALTESE. My assessment? Nice puzzle. IMHO, it could've been swapped with yesterday's, which I thought was a good notch trickier. But nothing much to complain about. Thanks, Jesse Cohn.
For all the “too easy” folks here’s a slightly different view. I preface that I solved it in an average time (just below). DWADE is esoteric. MARTIN Gardner is not universally known. I’ve flown in DFW but it is not a no brainer — other airports are available. BAMA is sports trivia for a game only played in the US and not even first league trivia. As CLE would be. Metro was a car in the UK but it was made by Leyland which doesn’t fit. Blitzed doesn’t mean drunk anywhere. If anything it reminds one of the weather or war. PARD is not a word, and ‘over well’ only possibly describes 🍳 in the US. So for the rest of us where all of these had to be deduced rather than being taken as ‘gimmes’ this was a decent Saturday.
@Ιασων BAMA is one of the most famous college football teams here, consistently vying for the national title and possibly better-known than many NFL teams in the general population. Blitzed is definitely a slang synonym for drunk here. PARD is absolutely a word in the context of westerns (movies). “Over well” is certainly a way to describe how you want your eggs cooked in the local greasy spoon diner. So yes, harder for non-Americans, but still very much in the vernacular of American constructors, editors and solvers.
MOD for 18A is silly-- never heard this said, ever
@H.E. I don’t play video games myself, but I hear it from my 11-year-old all the time!
@H.E. Yeah “skin,” “DLC,” or “cosmetic,” would all have been better answers to that clue. Or a better clue could have been, “Video game part not made by original creator.”
@H.E. As a gamer, I’m inclined to agree, but have to admit that, while I typically think of “Mods” in broader terms, I guess something as simple as a outfit or weapon change could koalafy as a modification. I’ll have to ask the kids later.
@H.E. Agree, I had KIT initially. A 'mod' is usually something that modifies the underlying game, not something that modifies a particular character.
I know I'm always bringing up the rear, but still a bit surprised that so many found this unusually easy for a Saturday. Typical long workout for me, and did have to look up a couple of things. No big deal - that's just me. One puzzle find today - a rather amazing Sunday from March 9, 1986 by Joy L. Wouk with the title: "Beastly Combos." Some clue/answer examples: "Horticultural pachyderm" RHINOCEROSEFANCIER "Dabbling reptile." CROCODILETTANTE And some other theme answers: LIONESSAYIST GORILLABORER ELEPHANTOMS HOUNDERLING HIPPOPOTAMUSKETEER Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=3/9/1986&g=62&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=3/9/1986&g=62&d=A</a> Might put another puzzle find in a reply. ....
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened. A Tuesday from July 26, 2016 by Bruce Haight. Some asterisked answers, all straightforwardly clued and all crossing at least one other one across and down. SIDETABLE SNEAKTHIEF SITTIGHT SONGTITLE SEATRIP SORETHUMBS SWEETTOOTH SADTALE SURETHING SOULTRAIN STARTREK And there were more. And then the 'reveal' "Girl's name that phonetically provides the initials to the answers to the asterisked clues." ESTEE Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/26/2016&g=58&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/26/2016&g=58&d=A</a> ....
@Rich in Atlanta CROCODILETTANTE is awesome. And it's amazing that that crossword had not one but two answers that relate to today's puzzle! Very cool.
Slightly chewy but not much of a challenge in the end. XWStats is showing "Easy" although I might have said moderate or something. Nice to see respect to Martin Gardner. I've not stopped by the comments much lately since every puzzle has become "unremarkable". Perhaps about 10-15% due to my increasing familiarity and 85% to lowered standards. Thursdays might as well not exist. :( I do miss the cleverness, bite, and incisiveness of posters such as Andrzej and Lewis and Munster Mike and SP and Eric H. and others. But what is there to talk about, really? In the last week I've caught up on New Yorker crosswords since the new year. Turns out our esteemed Robyn Weintraub appears there almost weekly. With that and LA Times, the NYT is becoming just another site visit for me. I know, I know, don't let the door hit me on the way out. I'll probably stop by for interesting puzzles. Enjoy, all, and it's been lovely talking to you. :)
@B Always good to see your byline here. Even when we've disagreed, I've enjoyed the sparring. Here are a few pertinent proverbs: "The fruit of silence is tranquillity." Proverbs 17:27 He who restrains his words has knowledge, And he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. When the eagles are silent, the parrots begin to jabber. Winston Churchill
@B I appreciate being included in such august company. Don’t be a stranger! Some days I have more erudite comments, today was more routine as you say. As a point of comparison I just finished a Saturday from August 16, 2016. Both took me about the same time (this one two minutes shorter) although I did it while watching “One Battle After Another” on the plane so I was using only half my brain on each (and I didn’t need half my brain on the movie—no offense—but really? Best picture over Sinners and Hamnet? Are you kidding me?) Anyways, in some ways it was a comparable solve, I didn’t get a foothold until the bottom—but I still felt more pushback from the earlier puzzle and a greater sense of accomplishment when I solved it. Could all be in my head, it just seemed wittier and more engaging, which I just overall how I am feeling about puzzles these days.
@B 👋 I haven’t given up on the NYT just yet (though I do continue to enjoy the New Yorker puzzles — and for my money, all 3 were great this week!), but I definitely hear ya.
Today I was taught to realize that KNIGHTS, DWARVES, MAIDENS, and DAMSELS, unfortunately in that order, all have the same number of letters.
"Neon (Ne) is the fifth most abundant element in the universe, following hydrogen, helium, oxygen, and carbon. It is a noble gas created as an intermediate product during the fusion process in massive stars, just before they go supernova. Neon accounts for roughly 0.1% of the elemental mass in the cosmos" Always loved the term "Noble Gas".
Fastest solve since Wednesday. 13 minutes. Guess what the sixth most common element in the universe is. And guess what two letters it shares with the fifth most common... Fun fact: I recently finished my 4 week road trip from Florida to Texas back to New York. The ALTIMA I picked up in West Palm had 1500 miles on it. And had 8500 miles on it when I returned it in New York. The longest part of the 7000 miles was the 10 miles leading up to the Holland Tunnel. And the hardest part of the drive was the 3 miles I drove in Manhattan...
@Steven M. I was one of those strange people who used to love driving in Manhattan, but freaked out on wide open spaces like I-70 from the Denver airport to Breckenridge and those other towns.
I am not a native Wolverine, but it is a sign of my assimilation that my first thought for 33D [It takes two hands to show] was "Map of Michigan!" Lance and Nina choose a SAFE WORD: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUqs6OGkUdE&t=2s" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUqs6OGkUdE&t=2s</a>
@Bill I thought SIX wd take 2 hands, myself....
Mods are client side changes to a program almost always made by fans or users. For games it is uncommon for them to be cosmetic only, and rarely official as suggested by 18A.
@Kyle Maybe, but it seems to me that some are skins that let people play the same game but with a different look to the characters.
@Kyle agreed, mods can be cosmetic but very often are not. This should have been MOG, short for transmogrification, as cosmetics are called in games like World of Warcraft.
Not gonna lie, this puzzle reminded me of the time I met up with Elaine Stritch for coffee at Cafe Reggio in the 80s. We talked about Sondheim, the shifting tastes on Broadway at the time, and the way Bruce Vilanch always seemed to sneak up on you when you lest expected it. We shared some laughs, and a tiramisu, and began to wax a bit nostalgic for the days of the Gershwin and Rogers musicals of the old days. At some point we realized afternoon had turned to dusk, and it was time to pay the bill. That’s when my cappuccino started shaking and bubbling out of nowhere. And then sure enough, as if on cue, out popped Vilanch. Right out of the coffee cup.
@Ace Is this in reference to something? Otherwise, please sell me some of whatever strain you are smoking.
@Ace Ah, memory! Such a funny thing. But sometimes not quite as funny as one would like.
@Ace Just read a fascinating Wikipedia article about north sentinel island, which I had never heard of (of which I had never heard?) So thanks for that. And sorry about Bruce ruining the cappuccino.
Between yesterday and today, two really great challenges. Thanks to all the constructors who make Fri/Sat so much fun.
Dragons then Daemons before DAMSELS in the SW corner. Happy that WREAKS didn't have to come out. The top half filled in mostly painlessly. Thanks, Grant for your It’s always BAMA comment the other day. But the SE corner gave me fits. Assumed the Vet was an animal doctor, thought the Musketeers would have some type of sword, and had Pigslop instead of PETFOOD for a time. All in all, a good challenge for me. (Since I still have PTSD from years of not being able to solve Saturday puzzles, I'm inclined to think that if I solved one, it must be on the easier side.)
When I had no fill for the first nine clues I got excited, thinking this one would take awhile. When I finished at close to my personal best I felt a bit of whiplash and was tempted to post that it was easy. Fortunately, I've learned the hard way that Very Hards can seem easy and Averages can seem hard to me. My sample of one isn't very informative. Leaving me to wonder whether the puzzle was easy for most solvers or was just in my personal wheelhouse. Today I think it was both. Easy because 55% of the (expert) solvers who report on XWInfo solved much faster than their recent Saturday averages, but also in my wheelhouse, because my solve time is usually way, way longer than the median times reported by those experts, and today it wasn't. For those who found it hard, realize that 18% of that tough crowd solved it slower than their Saturday average. So you are in good company! And hey, I really did enjoy this puzzle and laughed a lot at the answers.
@Lynn Same! I had no clue on the first nine or so. But I ended up finishing 68% faster than my average... For another all-time best, along with yesterday's. I don't really like to comment on easiness because it's upsetting to some others out here who find it hard, and I get that, but dang... It was fun to do, of course, I just I'm not expecting to get these times. I'm not fast and I don't even try to be. 🤷♀️
Well, it was bound to be done SOONERORLATER... For me today, it was very much sooner. It was a fun puzzle, but I am kind of weirded out by how the last two puzzles have exceeded my personal bests by kind of crazy percentages. I don't aim to be a speed solver but today and yesterday I found myself practically done before I started. I'm really not that good. Ah well! Anyhow, my family of origin was very much a HASSOCK family, but I felt like no one else in my life ever knew what that word meant. Everyone outside of my family calls it an ottoman. So it was fun to have some validation that my mom didn't make up that word. Or else, she made it up and it finally took. Who's to say!? Probably a dictionary, but who's got time for that!? Har! Another family thing, each and every one of us from our family of origin are eggs over medium with extra crispy corned beef hash. It's rare that we would all be together for breakfast these days, but when we used to, even as adults, we would go around the table and each one say the exact same order. My siblings spouses have also succumbed. My man will never! I'm strangely proud of him for it, though he is wrong. Speaking of eggs, I saw on TV an Italian chef character making eggs basically poached in tomato sauce. We were fascinated! I can't remember off hand the Italian name, but I've seen it referred as eggs in purgatory and we are going to have to give it a try soon. If anyone makes this, I'm happy for any tips. Bill in Detroit??
@HeathieJ I haven't made it, because I don't like runny eggs, but here is Melissa Clark: <a href="https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019109-eggs-in-purgatory?unlocked_article_code=1.b1A.QjDJ.1nI43CR-Sb-Y" target="_blank">https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019109-eggs-in-purgatory?unlocked_article_code=1.b1A.QjDJ.1nI43CR-Sb-Y</a>
@HeathieJ Wow, I just started watching "A Taste for Murder" last night, and it's quite good. Uova al purgatorio is the dish.
@HeathieJ Maybe a version of eggs shakshuka? <a href="https://www.themediterraneandish.com/shakshuka-recipe" target="_blank">https://www.themediterraneandish.com/shakshuka-recipe</a>/
@HeathieJ My sister has chickens had goats and was always looking for egg recipes. She would make versions of shakshuka and add some fresh goat cheese on top. Very tasty.
@HeathieJ I remember seeing that, or something like it, as well!--it was Lidia, on PBS Create, I think. It looked delicious, but I never got around to making it
@HeathieJ Eggs over medium with corned beef hash is my go to diner breakfast order. I never thought to ask for the corned beef hash extra crispy but now I will.
If we disallowed humblebrags about people’s solve times, what’s the over/under on the number of comments we’d lose? A third? Half?
@Chin Funny, I just scrolled through maybe 3/4 of the comments, and I didn’t come across even one in which someone *mentioned* their own solve time, let alone bragged about it (humbly or otherwise). Let me guess: this puzzle felt plenty challenging for you, and you’re bothered by comments in which other people complain about how such puzzles (i.e. ones that check your personal difficulty box) were too easy for them, relative to their own expectations (based on the past few decades of NYT crossword puzzles)?
@Chin Did I happen to mention that I am an Ivy League Doctor?
@Chin Dunno. When I posted my time, it's for the construction team. Sure it's anecdotal. But if we're a constructor, I'd appreciate seeing people's times. BTW, today it took me 49:38.
Am I getting smarter? Or are these puzzles getting easier? Couldn't possibly be the former...
A faster than usual Saturday for me, but I did have to work for it. I got the blowgun projectiles answer immediately, but then it was BAMA, then DFW, which got me 20A and 23A. That process was the way my entire solve went—a little here, a little there, and then some fills happened, and repeat. Thanks, Jesse
Why I immediately thought "stoned" over "sauced," I'll never tell. Perhaps I was anticipating a pre-4/20 reference? Safe word was a bit edgy (if I were a puritan). It flowed well, covered a lot of ground, and had an old-timey feel. I liked how it bounced around. I'm for it.
This was a very unenjoyable solve. Not overly difficult, but some of the most dry cluing I've ever seen especially with the quotes and unclever "misdirects". Also too much random PPP and sports trivia. 44 and 46A were decent but that's it.
I got side-tracked reading comments... This was a weird-ish puzzle for me. A couple of spots gave me pause (as in, "Eww," or "Wha'?") FRIED EGGS are not ordered "over well;" please come up with something better. No clue at all about LIM as a "Calc. Calculation" or the Gardener person OR the Miami Heat, but even so.... any of those were preferable to 21A, where I was expecting SEXY TALK or somethiing like that...even though it was a break from the pedestrian I'M FOR IT MADE IT WE HAD A DEAL. If you need a SAFE WORD in the BR, aren't you trusting the wrong person. Shouldn't "Stop" do? I wanted the "Cowboy's friend" to be his HOSS. You'd have to dig up old John Wayne Westerns to unearth PARD (short for PARTNER, pronounced in folksy fashion) and anyway he preferred "Pilgrim" pronounced "Pil-grum."
@Mean Old Lady I agree with your general assessment of this puzzle, but I read the FRIED EGGS clue as it was probably intended. I.e., "well" modifies "going over" rather than the resulting condition of the eggs. Well done eggs are just gross.
@MOL I often get orders for eggs "over well," although it's more commonly worded "over hard." Not as often as "over easy" or "over medium" (my personal choice.) Trick is to cook the eggs until the the yolk is entirely set, without scorching the whites. Also, if you're going to order a egg "over anything," it's assumed it's going to be fried, and saying so is redundant. Not to kiss and tell, but saying/whimpering/screaming "Stop!" in a BDSM scene might be misinterpreted as part of the "script"--i.e. you don't really want your partner to stop. Whereas no one is likely to scream out "Cacao!" in a fit of passion.
@Mean Old Lady LIM refers to limit, a concept in calculus (i.e. Calc.)
@Mean Old Lady Uh, no. A safe word is needed because, sometimes, between two people, when they feel comfortable with each other, “stop“ doesn’t mean stop. Clear?
@Mean Old Lady - You may not ever order eggs "over well" and I may not ever order my eggs "over well," but there are people out there who do. I have a friend who does this. He also orders his steaks very well done. Paradoxically, he considers himself a bit of a gourmet and an arbiter of taste when it comes to cuisine. I have told him many times I cannot trust the culinary judgment of anyone who orders a steak well done. He is immutable on this front. About his eggs, too. Interesting (perhaps?) aside: my father loved his fried eggs crispy but with a runny yolk. He cooked them in a small cast-iron pan reserved for his eggs only. He would heat the pan searingly hot, add butter, and then crack an egg into it. It would be flipped briefly at one point -- I guess over easy -- and then onto the plate it would go. Browned, crispy white around the edges, but a perfectly runny yolk in the middle. I have yet to be able to reproduce his fried eggs. I wish he were still around to teach me.
@MOL et al. For all those throwin' shade at fried eggs "over well": Undercooked eggs--such as "over easy" or soft-boiled--carry a potential risk of salmonella--about 1 in 10 000 are contaminated, a county health inspector once told me. Which isn't going to stop me eating them. But my eyes are open to the risk. FWIW, most food service establishments will buy pasteurized yolks, and whites, in cartons, which can be used in instances where raw eggs are traditionally used: mousses, and emulsified dressings and sauces. The pasteurized whites are totally useless for meringues, etc., IMO. Pasteurized shell eggs are also available, but they're very expensive, and somewhat creepy. <a href="https://www.foodsafety.gov/blog/salmonella-and-eggs" target="_blank">https://www.foodsafety.gov/blog/salmonella-and-eggs</a>
Hi, Jesse! As a new solver (only solving for a couple of years), I liked your puzzle. I could tell right away that was a hard puzzle to create and I salute you for your perseverance! I loved the long solves; they were somewhat easy for me and helped me to get the rest of the puzzle. I do not care if a puzzle is a “Friday” or “Tuesday;” I just love a challenging solve. I will be watching for your next offering.
Haha micro or macro - aMFORIT seemed just as reasonable as IMFORIT. took me forever to find my mistake, although yes otherwise it was a very fast solve for a Saturday.
@Lauren MICRO is a prefix in metric measurement; macro is not. Now if the clue were about prefixes for economics, you could argue two correct possibilities.
Like solving with training wheels.
Just the other day, someone posted a picture of one on the Way With Words page I visit on FB, and the responses were divided between "ottoman" and "HASSOCK," though many stated they had never heard of HASSOCK. Love these coincidences.
For paper solvers of the Sunday puzzle, there's an editor's note at the end of today's Wordplay column about how the puzzle in the Magazine is wrong and where to find the print version of the corrected puzzle.
Vaer, For Magazine solvers who don't want to wait until tomorrow morning for the "daily" Sunday paper for the corrected puzzle, I hear the Newspaper Version PDF (available at 6 p.m. today) will be the correct one ... albeit smaller than the actual print one.
Any puzzle that has a reference to Catch-22 is fine with me. A bedeviling book, having started it and given up a few times before conquering it. Little did I know that I would run into some of the same lunacy during my own time in the service. Although many comments have referred to the puzzle as too easy for a Saturday, it was a “Goldilocks” puzzle for me. My initial confusion with the Musketeer clue had to do with the Three Musketeers seemingly spending more time in sword play than in utilizing their namesake weapons.
Loved it! Especially loved the stack of CROCODILE TEARS and ROOKIE MISTAKE, but all the fill is colorful and interesting. And there's almost no crosswordese. How ambiguous the phrase "In time" is. it can mean in the nick of time, as in at the eleventh hour, or it can mean don't wait up for it, it will come whenever it bloody well wants to come. As in SOONER OR LATER. I was initially looking for the first meaning, so SOONER OR LATER took me a while to get -- even when I had SOON. I really wanted SOON ENOUGH. SAFE WORD in the bedroom? What's that? Safe from whom? Does it have something to do with sex? Or does it have something to do with sanctuary? A very enjoyable Saturday with a lovely grid. I have to jog my memory as to Mon and Tues and Wed of this week since I don't tend to remember puzzles, but I do remember this past Sunday, Thursday and Friday. I loved them all. This may have been that rarest thing of all: a Perfect Puzzle Week!
@Nancy Your safe word may be Diebold or Mosler, if your safe is in the bedroom. 😋
@Nancy If your question is an earnest one, a safeword is an agreed upon codeword used to revoke consent or otherwise indicate your desire to stop without explicitly saying so
@Nancy Hope you saw the comments or editor's note stating that the Sunday puzzle in the Magazine is wrong. Correct version to be published in main section tomorrow.