Wow, the constructor in me is just stanning. I can’t remember when I’ve seen this dense of theme material. I loved your sweet constructor’s note, Hoang, but what I really want is a geek out about how you came up with this idea, how hard it was to implement, and what was going through your brain while you were creating it. I feel like I’m looking at a Dali or Bosch painting that you can look at for hours and still marvel at the details. 3 reveals. The appropriate use of CAN as the reused word. The smoothness of the reduced words that so precisely mirror their longer version. The elegance of the recycling words that use the same letters again exactly and no more. Maybe this is more of a constructor’s puzzle but I hope the allure to the solver is the slow burn of gradually revealing the themes and wondering how they will all fit together. Two more unrelated notes: I guess they wanted a head start on REUSE when they reused FLY yesterday? And second I hadn’t heard of LOUCHE and I had everything but the L at first—I guarantee you it wasn’t the first letter that came to mind.
Back in 1963, I took a tour of a factory in Copenhagen where they put up those little hams in heart-shaped cans. The guide, a pretty young woman in her early twenties, gave her remarks in English, French, German, and Italian. About halfway through the tour, she said, "Here in Denmark, we have a saying: We eat what we can, and what we can't, we can, and what we can't can, we export." She then went to say, in French, German, and Italian that she couldn't repeat what she had just said in English, but I think they all got it anyway because they laughed when she said it.
@Fact Boy yet in France, they can can can…
A perfect Earth Day puzzle.
Everything about this puzzle was top class. The earth day appropriate theme. The Easter eggs for each part of reuse, reduce, recycle. The constructor notes. Everything that I expect and treasure about a NYT xword. Thank you Hoang-Kim vu
Fabulous puzzle in celebration of Earth Day. I love the multi-layer theme and the bonus inclusion of environmentalist Jane GOODALL. Well done, Hoang-Kim. I hope everyone is encouraged to follow the motto and do their part to save our planet.
I CAN safely say that this puzzle was anagrammatically correct. Having GAELIC and CELTIC identically clued was cute too. There were so many gimmicks CRAMmed into this one I couldn’t keep track of them all. Tons of fun.
First time I'm moved enough to comment how amazing this puzzle is! Great job!
This puzzle was awe-inspiring, much like our planet. Thank you for the multi-layered work of art, Hoang-Kim. Happy Earth Day to all! —Let's TEND to it with TENDerness.
Well, for a word-quirk loving guy, I was in heaven over this one with its: • Words that contain their synonyms. • Words whose second halves use the same letters as their first halves. • Rare-in-crosswords five-letter palindrome (SHAHS), and rarer-in crosswords six-letter palindrome (PULLUP). I was agog at how much theme Hoang-Kim fit into the box, and how he was able to get the words with circles – which I’m thinking are hard to come by, to begin with – symmetrical. Plus, this was a very sweet solve. Realizing what the words with circles and words with gray did brought happy pings. Beauty, with SLIVER, ENAMOR, and LOUCHE, warmed my heart. I also liked seeing the rhyming HOPI and ROPY. Just a playground of a solve, Hoang-Kim, and thank you. Congratulations, too, on hitting the cycle (a puzzle for each day of the week)!
Excellent, all praise, to come up with 2 forms of reuse & recycling (& reducing, since the embedded word is shorter), WOW! Uncanny to see Odin so soon, as well as Helen and the Trojans (and Trojans in their prophylactic sense are among that class of products where it is best NOT to reuse, reduce, or perhaps even recycle)... and thank heavens we had en banc recently enough it was still in my head! But in the economy of the Times puzzles this makes sense: they are all recycled words or phrases. In fact, all the fill in this puzzle has been used previously with the exception of VMAS, a debut (xwordinfo); conservationism is alive and well at the NYT. Some cogent Agee quotes from LUNPFM, his journey through 1930s poverty America, accompanied by Walker Evans. “And a human being whose life is nurtured in an advantage which has accrued from the disadvantage of other human beings, and who prefers that this should remain as it is, is a human being by definition only, having much more in common with the bedbug, the tapeworm, the cancer, and the scavengers of the deep sea.” “This is why the camera seems to me, next to unassisted and weaponless consciousness, the central instrument of our time; and is why in turn I feel such rage at its misuse: which has spread so nearly universal a corruption of sight that I know of less than a dozen alive whose eyes I can trust even so much as my own.” “The world is full of people who have never, since childhood, met an open doorway.”
@john ezra Thank you for the wonderful excerpt from Agee. More apposite every day, I'm sorry to say.
@john ezra Just recently saw one of the beautiful images from that project at an exhibit at the MAG in Rochester, NY. The image itself spoke volumes, but the beauty of the black and white print was also breathtaking. I forgot how entirely moving that project was. And when all we see now is crappy digital imagery, it was a joy to revel in a real photographic gem.
One of the most thoughtful, well-designed puzzles I have ever seen. Kudos on a remarkable creation @ Hoang-Kim Vu and Happy Earth Day everyone!!
Did I need the theme to solve the puzzle? No, but I don't need the items that decorate my home either. Both just make life nicer. This was such a densely packed theme, but the fill didn't suffer for it. Using CAN as the recycled word felt like a bonus in an already remarkable puzzle.
Clever clever clever. Easily my favourite Wednesday of the year.
We have been very nicely treated to some lovely recycling!
Genius-level puzzle. Well done.
Wait, you're not allowed to reus..... OHHHHH. Bravo.
@Andrew I had the same thought! CAN you do that? I looked through the comments for an explanation and luckily. found yours.
This puzzle has a lot going on.
@Steve L Maybe too much? I can’t say I’m not impressed, but I’m also reminded of Coco Chanel’s advice to remove one accessory before leaving the house. Sometimes less is more.
Masterpiece. A perfect puzzle. In one Wednesday grid, we get a 3-part quote. Cool. Each word in the quote functions as an action and a theme. Related to the original quote. Whoa. Each of the 3 themes then performs its own specific action, 'creating' words found on the grid. No. Way. Really enjoyed this. Massive respect for the idea and the landing. This is one I'll clear from time to time in the archive and do it again.
@CB Perfect summation and kudos. I, too, was so impressed!
That was incredible! And I can't help but note the synchronicity as I was just noting how beautiful Earth is as I looked down on it from my private jet!
Kangaroo words *and* two-anagrams-in-one (*) words in one puzzle! Wow! Fun! *there should a name for these. Should we just call them “teammate words”?
@Cat Lady Margaret So to clarify: * Does every TEAMMATE word have an even number of letters? * is every palindrome also a TEAMMATE?
Very enjoyable puzzle with a clever theme!
Fine puzzle, with all kinds of fun stuff going on. But boy did I feel mentally sluggish. I really thought I was going to have to cry uncle, but somehow I got through it. My excuse is that I was flummoxed because I had a small leak in a basement pipe. In trying to tighten the fittings, I made it into a large leak. This is the extent of my plumbing skills--to turn a small leak into a large leak. Grand Marais is a gorgeous little town, but it can be tough to find a plumber. I was lucky enough to get one who'd retired. He managed to get it stopped. I told him I was hopeless at home repair. He said, "But I bet you're good at numbers." That is true. However, being able to prove that the square root of 2 is an irrational number doesn't really impress a leaking pipe all that much. Regarding the dust up about the profane word in the puzzle yesterday, the one which was eventually removed. I think I may have gone off half-cocked, as I am wont to do. I hope I didn't make any new enemies, or reinforce old ones.
@Francis I think I speak for the majority when I say you have no enemies here. Your reply to another poster here today (“Are you new here?”) made me love you even more than your detailed chemistry posts which I find endearing even though they are meaningless to me.
@Francis Yes, but at some point your ability to prove that 2^(.5) cannot be expressed by any fraction was valued enough by somebody that they paid you for that bundle of skills, a payment that eventually funded your purchase of plumbing services. The really important part of this story is the invention of money. This alleviated the need to find A the builder who was worried about square roots and had cabbages to sell. You could help A out in exchange for cabbages of which you had no need but maybe B the tailor did. So you exchanged your cabbages for, say, some ties. When you heard that the retired plumber C had a daughter who was getting married, eureka! Here was a man in need of ties who could fix a leak. Of course, by now your house is adrift on its soggy foundations... So the real heroine is the person who said some millennia ago, "Hmm, what we need is a standard medium of exchange..."
@Francis We all have our specialties. And the knowledge each of us have and pass along can affect other disciplines, and other people, in surprising and unexpected ways. That pipe may not be impressed, but the plumber’s use of numbers will serve him well. As for whatever caused the post removal: Don’t apologize for what I’m sure was a perfectly valid opinion. I’m just sorry I missed the fireworks.
@Francis I didn’t get to see the comments yesterday, but I know that would have enjoyed your dashingly handsome, sharp wit and defended your honor.
@Francis Home ownership is an adventure, isn't it? So many little things that balloon into big things if you don't tend to them right away. And sometimes if you DO tend to them right away 😬
@Francis The important thing is to know how to turn off the water main coming into the house --in a hurry. Something I learned the hard way. But haven't forgotten.
@Francis I am going to grab this a hook for a wise saying. It's from a book I think had "excellence" in the title and maybe the author was "Gardiner" (yeah I could look it up but I'm leaving the exercise to the student).. "A society that tolerates the second-rate* in philosophers because philosophy is an exalted subject and in its plumbers because plumbing is a lowly subject is a society in trouble: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water." *might have been "shoddiness"
Okay, I had a weird moment with 9-Down. With a partially filled grid I actually considered REDSTATE for the "Supporters of a king or queen". Not happy that my brain went there.
@CS <a href="https://imgur.com/gallery/ho-ho-very-funny-hah-hah-is-to-laugh-fLwhuwR" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/gallery/ho-ho-very-funny-hah-hah-is-to-laugh-fLwhuwR</a> 🤣🤣
I'm sure there was something very clever going on with the theme here, but it was faster and easier to just solve it as a themeless.
@Shrike. I recommended your comment because I solved quite quickly as well, but then I went back and realized the puzzle was very clever, and cleverness wasn’t necessarily meant to help solve the puzzle. But very clever, probably very difficult to construct, and appropriate for earth day. I will say Reduce highly preferred over the other options.
A masterpiece! Congratulations on a fantastic theme idea that was brilliantly executed. The GRIN spread across my face as I uncovered more and more layers. This is my favorite puzzle of the year thus far.
Yes we CAN, CAN, CAN, CAN. CAN we? The Pointer Sisters say we CAN. <a href="https://youtu.be/IzZkjjENj_w?si=tjkxBVPihW9e-_Zj" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/IzZkjjENj_w?si=tjkxBVPihW9e-_Zj</a>
@Vaer So CAN CAN-CAN she, according to Irving Berlin via Ethel Waters. <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U5PpCCfhBhY" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U5PpCCfhBhY</a>
This puzzle took a little persistence, but I completed it without lookups and in a decent amount of time. As I did the puzzle, I said to myself: "So what, exactly is the distinction between GAELIC and CELTIC"? So I looked it up. It was a little involved for someone only halfway through their morning coffee, but I managed it. Then my youngest son walked into the room and started talking about using quantum mechanics to search for an individual's heartbeat via the faint electrical signals it gives off. I looked that up too (WAY out of my depth), and we talked about it a while. So I have this little headache now, and I'm grinding my teeth a bit.
For all Huang-Kim pulled off in his sterling execution of this multi-layered theme, I loved that the overriding takeaway of his notes was humility, wonder, and gratitude.
Wow. Super fun solve, and the multi-layered theme is brilliant -- the mind boggles to think that anyone has come up with such an idea, let alone executed it so deftly. Hats off!
Don’t miss Mr Vu’s constructor notes today. This was a pretty special package: amazing puzzle, Isaac Aronow column, great notes. Even zee orchestra is beautiful!
@M. Biggen A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound--will make the world go: where? to a desert. See 8D--James Agee and Walker Evans!!
Both elegant and chewy, I really enjoyed this. The theme appeared quickly, but there were enough sticky corners to slow me down a tad. The last letter to each of 28, 29 and 30D just wouldn’t come as I didn’t know any of the answers. It was a face palm moment when I finally got CAN after Isaac pointed out the multiple use of the word. Another sticking point for me was BETSY. Not a common derivative here, so I had the more familiar Betty. Didn’t notice that ENOt wasn’t right. Duh. A lovely construction overall. Laid up today with a crook back. I was mid Alpaca poo pick when it went so had to hobble the 3 fields back before I could collapse on the sofa. At least I can sit with the Games without feeling guilty.
@Helen Wright I didn't fully get the Ax/Can reference. Wow, rest your back!
@Helen Wright I can't cite anything to support this, but I suspect that here in the United States the name "Betty" is seen as out of date, and "Betsy" even more so. I've encountered several women who have had to endure having "Elizabeth" converted, unasked, into one of these. I have a family member who went to great lengths to get everyone to quit calling her "Betty," preferring "Beth;" she eventually succeeded, but it took years of insisting and correcting. My wife had an Aunt Elizabeth who owned a small store in rural Alabama, which she called "Elizabeth D_____ Market." Had she used the full "Elizabeth" on the sign in front it would have required small enough letters to make the sign difficult to read from the road, but rather than submit to being "Betty" she just abbreviated "Elizabeth" to "ELIZ." on the sign.
@Helen Wright BETSY was once a very common nickname for Elizabeth, but you hardly hear it anymore. Of course, we have the legendary Betsy Ross in our early history, who supposedly sewed the first US flag (spoiler alert: she didn't), and the nickname continued to be used into the mid-20th century. If you come across a BETSY these days, she's probably in her 90s. Who knows, it may undergo a revival, as there are so many five-year-old Maxes and Sadies and Sophies and Harrys these days.
@Helen Wright BETSY is my sister's dog's name, so I got that right away. I've never known a human with that name, except BETSY Ross and others long dead. I have known a Betty or two, but they were older. Most of the Elizabeths I know go by Beth or Liz. Maybe BETSY will come back into style some day, and then all the Lizes will seem outdated.
@Helen Wright - But there was an “Aunt Betsy” in David Copperfield …
This was one of my favorites so far! (And on my Earth Day birthday, no less!) It felt like it was 3D after the denouement! ❤️
Very cool puzzle—such neat twists on the theme. Happy Earth Day!
Lil rippa of a puzz! Thx. BEDSLATS - Brill!
How great to come here and see that I am just adding my kudos to a large pile. Learned LOUCHE - the day is not wasted. Loved the clue for BEDSLATS. I have one bed with them (a twin), but it's old. I thought platforms were more the thing these days, even supplanting box springs. I've been recycling since the '70s - even tearing the glassine out of envelopes, and the cellophane out of pasta boxes. Soooo depressing that they haven't found a way make it really work even 50 years on. (Oh my...50 years? Now I really want to crawl back in my hole!)
@Amy Hence the importance of the REDUCE part of the trilogy. If somehow we could agree that stuff didn't need to be encased in so much plastic, recycling would work a lot better. If the laws allowed the market I buy a lot of yummy Greek food from to either sanitize & reuse the containers or let me bring in my own and tare them....
Of course I wanted WORKER BEES for 9D (my Grampa is still tending his hives in heaven, I'm pretty sure.) As for the theme, which is great: DHubby and I are now living in the least-RECYCLing-conscious state in the Union (although our city/county has a minimal program,) and we are visiting a city/state which is possibly THE most environmentally-conscious in the nation. There is an actress named ELISHA? That was hard to do, but at last I was forced to enter the H. That gave me LOUCHE, which is a word I do know (as is "Rakish,") and I object! LOUCHE has connotations that do not apply to RAKISH, which can just mean "fetching" or "slightly daring." "He wore his hat at a rakish angle and sported a cane." "Though handsome, he was the worse for wear, and one had the impression that his was a LOUCHE life-style." I blame the clue editors. The multiple levels of theme and wordplay are just wonderful. Puzzle of the Year? Definitely in the running, IMHO.
"...visiting a city/state which is possibly THE most environmentally-conscious in the nation." MOL, Seattle 1972: Taking glass to the recycling center and depositing different colors in different bins. "Ecotopia"
@Mean Old Lady I replied to you yesterday later in the day, so you might not have seen it. Welcome to the Pacific Northwest! I'm looking forward to the cruciverbalist meet-up on Sunday. I should be there by around 1 p.m. My cut-and-paste of the location disappeared. Please repost?
@Mean Old Lady I am familiar with LOUCHE also! High five :-). Maybe it's something older people are more likely to know, and it's probably used more in older works. I always enjoy your posts.
This was so clever! Thanks for the fun solve - happy Earth Day!
The fun in this puzzle even includes tapping the three key answers (in the app) just to see the related ones light up in sets.
Excuse me while I resuse some superlatives: Very very very cool puzzle!
Been doing crosswords a long time and have to say this is one of the most impressive constructions I’ve seen. Well done!
Earth Day is also my mother’s birthday. First held in 1970, when my mom was 60. She once said she was officially older than dirt. I really liked the puzzle. I’m notoriously slow to catch on to themes but today was different. REDUCE had fallen early and I couldn’t stop grinning as I plugged along. Happy birthday! Mom!,
@Kevin D You busy Sunday, early afternoon? Longing for a meet-up with other cruciverbalists? Cloud City Coffee, in "Maple Leaf" area of Seattle... (likely my only chance here...)
Excellent puzzle, so very appropriate for Earth Day. FYI here, in Emmet County, MI. , we are blessed with one of the best recycling programs anywhere. A bustling Transfer Station, that repurposes many products, and a curbside pickup service, that is very user friendly.
Brilliant and efficient theme construction with lively fill. Fun and top-notch!
For 64A, I had GLAss instead of GLAZE and it totally kiln-ed my time! 🤭🤭🤭
I think it's possible for a puzzle to be trying to do too much. This is the case here.