"You can act, sing, *and* dance? What a thrice surprise!" ("Are you talking specifically?" "No, more in a Broadway of speaking.")
@Mike IDYLove to see you SHAKA leg, but don't make AHABit of it. (Back to the tube. Hoping for many happy returns.)
@Mike If you can act, sing and dance, is that considered the-hat-trick-al?
@Mike Oh, Manilow me to say that that was brilliant. Now let me get to enjoying my Copa coffee.
Another night with a slow start by the commentariat. Are you all lolling on beaches to watch the setting sun? Got SHAKA 49A via crosses but was completely unfamiliar with it. And what's with clueing SATED 54D as 'overfilled'? That's like cluing 'glad' with 'hysterical'. SATED means you've had enough, not too much. 《Grumble》
@SBK in TO Those were two of my (many) problems, too. I have no idea what SHAKA is, and SATED is in no way equal to overfilled. Being sated feels great being overfilled feels horrible.
@SBK in TO Agreed. I really liked this crossword and accepted the small amount of dodgy fill required to make it work, but the clue for SATED really was an unforced error. Congratulations on the debut, Jiahe! I loved [Give a makeup test?].
@SBK in TO I came to the comments hoping someone would explain how SHAKA relates to the clue (hang loose sign). No help here so Google to the rescue. It's a Hawaiian hand gesture - three middle fingers curled, thumb and pinky extended. Now let's see if I can retain that bit of information till the next time it shows up in a crossword :) Agree with you on SATED too. If I'm sated, I'm satisfied, not stuffed.
@SBK in TO To know SHAKA you need to be a surfer and/or live in Hawaii. Close your hand with the thumb and pinky extended, and give it a twisting shake. That's the shaka. It also means "OK" or "cool". Totally with you on SATED - as soon as I saw what it was I thought, "That's not overfilled." Will must have skimmed past that one before having his coffee.
@SBK in TO I know the "overfilled" definition is in the dictionary, but if this many people think SATED means "filled," then isn't that the correct definition? The "overfilled" definition seems to have fallen out of use. Whenever I read or hear the word, it usually means full, not glutted. At least that's the sense I get from the context.
@SBK in TO I'm sure I've seen SHAKA in the puzzle before, but I had to wait for crosses to confirm it started with an S and not a C.
@SBK in TO As was mentioned by GAVIN, "The clue for SATED really was an unforced error." When a dictionary or thesaurus become useless, crossword puzzle solving becomes an existential chore.
I've never found the words OR SO to be the least bit wishy-washy. (Inexactness and wishy-washiness are two different things.)
57A’s “get whale soon” is genius
@Andrew Nile biters got me. Read it as "Nail" in my quest for speed and couldn't figure out something with one cross __P_. Yay puns, right Sam? Great puzzle IMHO, maybe because the triple letter part of the theme helped me in the solve, and I also recognized the "OR ELSE" message. Sometimes themes go right over my head. Congratulations Mr. Men, glad you persisted and come back soon!
Oh, I really really liked seeing the theme echo ODDDUCK in the clue for RARE BIRD!
Oh, sterling theme, with its triple-letter visuals, which are fun to look at, which seamlessly relate to a topic that comes from left field – EGOT contenders – and which has a surprise ending, where the triples don’t spell out THREAT, but rather a particular threat! That is complex, entertaining, and standing-O worthy, IMO. Furthermore, those theme answers have zing on top of looking cool. Look at them! Okay, for many, maybe BELL LABS is meh, but see my reply below. These triple-letter answers aren’t easy to find (though there was one last week in ROSSSEA), and to come up with this punchy bunch and have them fit grid symmetry requirements – that’s admirable. And even with this dense theme (a sky-high 76 letters), bringing in lovely answers HOT TODDY, RARE BIRD, and SLY NODS, well, bravo! A most promising debut, Jiahe, and I will eagerly look for your name atop a puzzle up the road. Thank you for a splendid outing!
BELL LABS jogged a memory I haven’t thought about in many a decade. That company produced science films that teachers showed in elementary school, films that riveted my attention, and that's saying something, because my mind was usually wandering. Maybe here’s why – I found out post-solve that many of them were directed by Frank Capra!
@Lewis "That is complex, entertaining, and standing-O worthy, IMO." My feelings, as well. My only misgiving was RIOT GRRRL, which was the only theme entry where the triple letters didn't span a word boundary (as well as being in a "non-real" word). I expect finding a phrase with RRR is darned near impossible, although I did once attend a Jamie Farr retrospective at the Toledo Cinematheque.
While I'm always happy to see references to Czech culture in the crossword, today I have to make a clarification for 33D: You don't use real Dutch EDAM in a Smažák, but local knock-off variants named Eidam whose lower fat content lets the cheese get perfectly gooey.
Somewhat amused to see both Ana AND Rita. Had there been an Ono and an Eno as well, this could have qualified for a crossword EGOT. (Or, I guess, an AREO.) (Which is really close to OREO,) (Wow, I’m really tired.) This was a fine debut, but I really enjoyed today’s other debut, the bonus puzzle by Bianca Del Rio with help from Christina Iverson. Bianca is one of my all-time favorite Drag Race queens, and I was delighted to see that she’s also a witty and talented crossword constructor. Shantay, you stay!
@Heidi ANA and Rita went to have mani-prdis together and both chose OPI colors. Afterwards, they had Oreo shakes with Eno and Ono whilst watching orcas at play.
Oh, I absolutely loved this one! So many fresh subjects and fun angles. RIOT GRRRL (which I believe Anna Shechtman, talking about women's exclusion from the crossword world, specifically had called out as a once-rejected answer), Linda PERRY, PAD SEE EW and negitoro rolls, Pequod crossing AHAB, DEAD TREE EDITION, Tu Youyou... and probably my very favorite clue of all, "Pixar franchise in which buses and taxis exist, despite serving seemingly no purpose," which I immediately sent to my sister, as she has watched CARS so many times with her 4-year-old that she has made this very complaint about the worldbuilding. Jiahe, please let this be the first of many!
@Katie LOL oh, the fixations of children! For PhysicsDaughter, it was "Peter and the Wolf"--many versions, including Tim Curry and JoJo Starbucks in a performance on ice. Then she and her brother were captivated by "Pete's Dragon"...a daily viewing. Mercifully, I hadn't thought of those in years!
@MoL I think you mean John Curry, not Tim. Though the thought of The Rocky Horror Picture Show on ice amuses me.* Anyway here's a link to Peter and the Wolf on ice. <a href="https://youtu.be/ePWAD1kll14?si=D2B7pb41cYUyps64" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/ePWAD1kll14?si=D2B7pb41cYUyps64</a> *I couldn't recall John off the top of my head. Had to refresh my memory via the internet.
A fine Wednesday puzzle and debut from Jiahe Men. I hope our constructor from Singapore didn't use too many Americanisms in the puzzle for our international solvers. 58A? "Stone tablet" is too short for a spanner.
@Barry Ancona So glad you see you back! 🙂
@Barry Ancona Uncle Barry done did come back after a spell. Howdy.
@Barry Ancona -- Welcome back, sir. Missed you! Now all is as it should be.
Mr. Men, in his constructor notes, says "I’ve been a fan of crosswords for about three years now, having first been exposed to them from the Minis all my friends were playing in class." The following video of 4 Non Blondes, with Linda PERRY on vocals, was posted 15 years ago and has 2.1 billion views. I have it on good authority that most of these billions were young 'uns watching it in class, the same ones who were also solving the Minis in class. (4 Non Blondes -"What's Up"): <a href="https://youtu.be/6NXnxTNIWkc?si=URKmMlNsD2Fb5qka" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/6NXnxTNIWkc?si=URKmMlNsD2Fb5qka</a> I'm sure the teachers are are going crazy, what with everyone in class solving Minis and watching videos... "Put your phones away OR ELSE!" I'll just add that I'M TOO OLD FOR THIS or that, but I confess to walking around still wondering "what's going on" right alongside the teens and 20-something-year-olds belting out this song. Mr. Men, congratulations on your NYT debut and thank you for your resolve and persistence. Your puzzle was creative and funny and made for a joyful romp!
@sotto voce Singer for a one-hit wonder group? Wowsers. And I was sure the title was "What's Going On."
I enjoyed Jiahe Men’s description of his crossword journey. I enjoyed the puzzle too.
I had Ent as my “wanderer in a forest.” When I finally understood 56D and 59D, ELK was the only thing that made sense. But I don’t like the clue!
@Marissa It's actually a very apt clue. I haven't heard it for a while, and it took a bit to remember (after I'd solved), but elk have been called "wanderers of the forest". Probably because in non-mating season the males maintain a solitary lifestyle and are relatively independent from the herd.
@Marissa I didn’t, but I so wanted to!
Yesterday I understood literally nothing of the theme (thank you again, all who explained things to me), and today is almost the same - I recognize EGOT from previous puzzles, but what does a TRIPLE THREAT have to do with it? As is often the case, the column is of little help - I wonder why the authors tend to stop short of really explaining things to truly clueless people? It's one of the reasons I usually don't read the column 🤷🏽 The fill was quite challenging for me in places - there was a lot of trivia - but despite that I completed the puzzle some 15% faster than average. We have loads of Thai restaurants over here, and we order takeout from one practically weekly, but I've never seen PAD SEE EW before. Linda PERRY was a rare gimme. I loved "What's up" in the 90s (it was a huge hit during my life-changing visit in London in 1993), and recently I learned she also wrote songs and produced music for other people - she was behind Pink's banger of "Get the party started", among other things.
@Andrzej a triple threat is a term of art for a stage professional who can sing, dance, and act. Kind of like a "five tool player" in baseball. Many EGOT winners have all of three these skills in more or less equal distribution. I'm not sure if you got the other half of the gimmick but in case not, "or else" is the cliche ending of a threatening statement and it occurs three times in the shaded squares of the puzzle.
@Andrzej Sometimes I've seen it as Pad Siu or Pad Siew. Maybe your restaurant calls it one of those. We are fortunate to have some great Thai restaurants around too! Mmmm!
@Andrzej Supposedly AHAAN has good PAD SEE EW. I see others have already covered the TRIPLE THREAT.
Congrats on a fine debut. Fairly chewy Wednesday material and probably wasn’t easy to come up with theme material. Speaking of triple threats, I’m remembering the notes in Fred Astaire’s first screen test: “Can’t sing, can’t act, can dance a little”.
Enough or Too much? Several people have questioned the clue for SATED. Well, in the online edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, the first definition of "sate" implies "fill to capacity," and only in the second, "to fill beyond capacity." The online version of Merriam-Webster seems a little wishy-washy (at least IMO; see what you think: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sate" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sate</a>) but does use the modifier "overabundance" and offers "glut" as a synonym. So I rose from my comfy chair, walked to the book shelf, and pulled down the ol' Dead Tree Edition of M-W (2nd ed., 1950--luckily, vol. II, H-S, was on top), wherein it offers "to satisfy or gratify to the full, as a desire or appetite or one feeling desire" as a first sense, and "to gratify to the point of weariness or loathing; to satiate or glut," with a quote from Macauley, as a second. (This all typed out manually BTW, no CTRL-C/V, thank you.) In summation, in literal usage, "to fill to capacity, but not over," and in more metaphorical, "to overfill." Hi Sam! When I came to [As, as in chemistry], I dutifully filled in ARSENIC, the while thinking, "if the clue had been [As in chemistry], without the comma, I would have scratched my head for a minute longer." Is the comma necessitated by the NYT style guide? Could it be eliminated for the purpose of wordplay?
@Bill Interesting that you rely on the DEAD TREE EDITION dictionary for the one true definition. I do that too and apply the same principle to the King James version of the Bible.
@Bill I never tire of grabbing my old dictionary from high school versus online versions. Cheers.
@Bill So now you know what a word meant 76 years ago. How is that helpful?
@Bill I was a little dense - though having finished the puzzle, I didn't understand "dead tree edition" until you used it in a sentence. Thx! (Doh!)
@Bill I also looked up "sate" on Wiktionary, and it gives one definition: "To satisfy the appetite or desire of; to fill up," with the usage note: "Used interchangeably with, though less common than, satiate." No mention of overfilling. Now many people decry anything Wiki, but I find Wiktionary to be a useful, if not unquestionable, source. And, @SL, it would perforce skew towards contemporary usage. <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sate" target="_blank">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sate</a>
As I started this puzzle and saw so many clues I'd never heard of, I thought to myself, "I'm too old for this." And there it was!
This one was fun! At first I had ACTNORMAL for 9D, then tried ACTNATURAL to fit EAU and thought, “Oh no! Are they trying a rebus on a Wednesday?” Finally got ACTCASUAL.
@Matt That was my experience with the clue, too - exactly the same.
@Matt Almost exactly the same, except I tried ACTNATURAL first and saw it wouldn't fit, and briefly wondered if there was a rebus. I went ahead and entered ACTNORMAL, and then that was wreaking all kinds of havoc with everything down the line.
After my brain was overstimulated by PLAYOFFFEVER, CNNNEWS, some music by MOTTTHEHOOPLE, and a STIFFFINE traffic ticket, I calmed down by doing something dull: making an INAPPPURCHASE of some SCOTTTOWELS.
@Lewis What does FNTFPT mean? I don't text much. ;-)
It always tickles me seeing other commenters complain about more contemporary clues. As a member of Gen Z, it’s nice to have occasional the upper hand. At least you’re around for SADIE’s performances in Stranger Things (and the music video for “All Too Well” 10-Minute Taylor’s Version, which was [arguable] TRIPLE THREAT Taylor Swift’s directorial debut). I wasn’t alive for a good deal of the political and cultural references made regularly by these puzzles but it’s a good opportunity to learn!
This was an elaborate and complex construction, so kudos to Jiahe! (And forgiveness for some of the gluier fill.) I thought the clues were some of the liveliest I’ve seen in a while, with so much personality. I’ll be nerding out over “get whale soon” for quite a while. Wonderful debut overall.
Congratulations on getting your first, of hopefully many more, puzzles published! I really enjoyed it!
15A made me incredibly nostalgic for my 2000s forum days, but the clue for 16A was so diabolically good I had to pause in the middle of doing this puzzle to leave this comment. Great back-to-back entries, fantastic debut, can't wait for your next grid!
An after-the-solve "Aha" -- as I did think to look at what the triple letters spell out and they spell out OR ELSE. A cute pun on the phrase TRIPLE THREAT. As someone deeply interested in musical theater, I do know what a TRIPLE THREAT is. Would that everything had fit so neatly into my knowledge base. I'm still not 100% sure exactly what an internet MEME is, much less that there are MEMEs that are "dank or deep-fried". How's that again? Sometimes I feel I'm inhabiting an entirely different planet from the Internet Generations. In short: I'M TOO OLD FOR THIS! I felt the same way about SHAKA for "Hang loose." If you want to say "Hang loose," why not just say it? I did know WOOT from previous NYT puzzles, but wish I didn't know it. If you want your feminist movement to live on after you, don't spell it RIOT GIRRRL. Was the Suffragist movement called the SUFFFFFFFFFRAGIST movement? Girrrl, you sound totally unserious. A rather youthy puzzle, I thought as I was solving. But pleasant enough.
@Nancy In defense of punk third-wave feminism, it's actually spelled GRRRL (without the i), as in "grrr! I'm angry!" Wikipedia has this to say about the movement's interesting and purposeful etymology: "The word "girl" was intentionally used in order to focus on childhood, a time when children have the strongest self-esteem and belief in themselves. Riot grrrls then took a growling "R", replacing the "I" in the word as a way to take back the derogatory use of the term."
@Nancy Shaka is a Hawaiian word. They have their own language, dontcha know? And surfers all aspire to be Hawaiian, so they use the hand gesture for "hang loose," even if they use the English translation.
I found this difficult in spots...the "Stranger Things" actress, the Thai dish, the punk rock feminist movement, the band, and of course I ran aground on ACT NATURAoops. For 32D I tried GOBBLED UP, then NIBBLED ON, and finally took out everything but -ED ON, and tried the Across clues. For some reason, I don't think of The Elements as being Chemistry, because in 7th grade it was just "Science." Further, I thought CDB might be the marijuana compound... So, this was hard for me... And then there's SHAKA for "Hang loose." What? HOT TODDY....For some wintry months in 1951, our family was squeezed into tiny apartment quarters in West Germany. Someone got sick, and then everyone had a horrid cough. The dispensary had little to offer, and our Dad got fed up and declared, "The doctors had their try!" He gave all of us a kid-sized HOT TODDY, and everybody had the first good night of sleep in a week. Are you trying to tell me that Yankees don't know about this remedy?
@Mean Old Lady If by Yankees you meant Northerners, I think we know about them but perhaps are more reserved about giving alcohol to children. (Not saying there's anything wrong with that.) Family lore: when I was just a year old, my mother and I sailed to England in December to join my father, sharing a 2nd class cabin with 3 other women. It got stormy and I would NOT go to sleep. Apparently I thought it was all great fun, especially since the ladies were arguing over opening the port hole. ("I am paying for an outside cabin, Dmit!") So one of them advised my mother to give me a little brandy (guess the woman had a handy flask along). My mother--as a good Yankee?--was horrified at the very idea. Years later when recounting this tale, she'd admit it might have been a good idea.
My favorite was DEAD TREE EDITION. Thank you, Jiahe Men!
Today's poem made from words found in today’s puzzle<br> a/ here no words exist here in the jaws of the whale where music and astronomy hang where death hopes here where i discovered you d/ the self wanderer in a forest skirts the edge on little bird feet look, see, look again look a/ softly i’m the tree
Congratulations on the debut! I enjoyed the puzzle. I do have one cluing nit though; 54D. SATED means filled to your satisfaction, not overfilled, right?
@Seward Parker --- I thought so too, but the dictionaries seen to admit the overfilled version. E.g. at Collins it says "If you are sated with something, you have had more of it than you can enjoy at one time." <a href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/sated" target="_blank">https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/sated</a>
Seward Parker, Scroll down for some detailed discussion of SATED.
Nice debut, though not a fan of 61D crossing 65A.
@The Whip that was also my difficulty, though the name is common enough and I did a face palm after getting it and remembering what the pequod was
@The Whip C'mon, ORA has been clued to the singer six times already this year. That's once a month, on average. (ORA has also been clued to the singer, but not so far this year.)
@The Whip Rita Ora's in these puzzles so often that I guess it's not a Natick if you're a regular here. If you aren't, I understand why you're complaining.
Makeup test great clue!!!
I'm so tired of seeing OTOH in the crossword. I don't think any real person ever uses this in a text. Have any of you ever written this or seen it written IRL?
@Joe Really? I've seen it so often that I've stopped even thinking about it when I see it.
@Joe I associate it more with old text-based internet message boards than with modern texting. I wouldn't be surprised if it dated to the Usenet era.
@Joe If we're limiting "texting" to cell-phone based messaging, I doubt I have ever written "on the other hand," abbreviated or not. OTOH, if we're including all brief, typed, electronic correspondence, I use it all the time.
@Joe I agree it's not really text lingo, but I've definitely seen it a lot on Reddit and other forums.
@Joe I don't use it myself, but have seen it very often from others.
@Joe seen and even used it often. ditto for IMHO, TIL, and FWIW
That went really fast, but it was also really cute! I enjoyed the fresh fill.
Good Tuesday workout. Was appropriately puzzled for quite a while and had to stop and ponder for a bit before the theme completely dawned on me. Nice 'aha' moment. And... appropriate puzzle find today. A Thursday from December 26, 2002 by Cathy Millhauser. Some answers - straightforwardly clued: THREEEGGOMELETS SEEEYETOEYE SLIMEEELS FREEEMAIL PEEWEEERWIN DEADTREEEDITION BEEEATER EEEWIDTH And then there were circled letters spread out one by one from top to bottom. And those spelled out: TRIPOLI Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=12/26/2002&h=61a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=12/26/2002&h=61a</a> ....
That might have been the hardest Wednesday puzzle in a while. The TRIPLE THREAT payoff was awesome and I liked finding all the clues with triple letters. There were just so many proper nouns and awkward short phrases it made it a frustrating solve. LAHORE crossed with THE COPA in particular was very Naticky. In general many parts in the puzzle where there were clues you couldn't get without having very specific knowledge that all crossed each other.
Chris, You found this the "hardest Wednesday puzzle in a while." As usual, others reported different findings. Overall? <a href="https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2026-06-03" target="_blank">https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2026-06-03</a>
@Chris Looking at Natick-ness (Naticity?), I ask myself what kind of person might know each clue? THECOPA is late 20C USian pop culture. LAHORE is classic straight-up world geography. So there's a strong chance that if you're a former studious nerd, you'll know the latter. If you're a pop trivialist or you grew up when Barry Manilow was heading the charts, you'll know the former. To miss both, you'd have to fall outside both classes and be stymied by other crosses. Obviously not impossible, but I give the setter a B+ in Natick avoidance.
Well... SADIE led me in a roundabout way to another puzzle find. Thought this one was quite remarkable. Anyway - a Sunday from November 24, 2013 by Gary Cee with the title "Hits and Ms. Es." Some theme clues and answers; "You look hot in a thong, Ms. Hawkins!" SEXYSADIE "Greetings Ms. Retton!" HELLOMARYLOU "Very nice, Ms. Kennedy!" SWEETCAROLINE And some other theme answers: COMEONEEILEEN WALKAWAYRENEE LAYDOWNSALLY HELPMERHONDA SARASMILE Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/24/2013&h=74a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/24/2013&h=74a</a> ...
I’m a sucker for triple letter combinations, so I enjoyed this well constructed puzzle. SADIE and SHAKA took me a bit of time to sort out.
@Marshall Walthew To be fair, SADIE Sink's character spent the last season of the show in a coma, so not much acting.
Congratulations to Jiahe Men on his puzzle debut but I found the theme underwhelming. What saved the puzzle for me was some excellent trivia -- especially 10D, 14D, 38A (very interesting to learn that) and 68A.
Great debut, Jiahe! Very clever and enjoyable puzzle. “Email or kill some trees?” was a common question in my office when planning how to disseminate important information, so DEADTREEEDITION made me laugh.
How were AHAB and SHIP and Pequod (the former's famous latter) not more dependently clued (e.g. of the "See 57A" variety), especially since they cross? Okay Wednesday. I was frequently just a bit out of phase with it. Nothing made me smile. Nothing made me bark. Solid debut.
@Matt Agree with that; great cross but maybe could’ve done something more with it
I think the term DEADTREEEDITION is a bit misleading. I mean, although we use a lot of paper printing up foldable publications that will soon be discarded, we need to think about just how much "paper" and other stuff is needed to produce those electronic editions. Maybe more. I once spoke to someone who worked at the Department of Sanitation (at a community event). She said that people in her office were told to use the phone rather than paper to communicate with each other--to save paper. I could only think: "How much paper do you think is used at the phone company?"
@lucky13 I've felt the same about the questionable virtue of electric vehicles--especially in areas served by coal-based power plants--and biofuel, which relies heavily on fertilizers. OTOH, between paper recycling, and especially agricultural forestry, I think paper use is one of the least impactful activities. With 8.3 billion people using resources, it's impossible to keep one's hands clean.
@lucky13 That's the thing about e-books: they're stored in enormous, energy-consuming data centers. And the e-readers are made of petroleum-based plastic, non-recyclable lithium, and other resources, many of which are mined with slave labor. The e-readers also need to be recharged, using even more energy. It's much more environmentally friendly to just take the bus to the library or used bookstore and get a DEAD TREE EDITION.
lucky13, The term DEAD TREE EDITION is perfectly fine; newsprint (and most other printing paper) does come from "dead trees." That "digital editions" have environmental impact is also true.
One of those fun days when the creator and I were on the same wavelength. Flew through it for once.
Woohoo, good to do a puzzle from a fellow singaporean!
Had to look up the three letter abbreviation for pot compound once again, maybe next time I will remember it. Started out slow then got a lot easier. Had to type out the resulting letters, spell correct fixed it for me as two words. Thank you, for me this was a good crossword experience. DEAD TREE EDITION: good one!
@Jeanne I thought it would be MUD, as in drywall. Wrong kind of "joint compound."
Congratulations on a splendid debut! This was a lot of fun and had quite a satisfying payoff. I’ll be looking forward to more Jaihe bylines in the future!
@Katje Sabin It's Jiahe, and I say that only because I think many of us will be on the lookout for the next time that name shows up.
Ever get a steak that had too much gristle? That was this puzzle. Chewy and not fun. Pass.
Solved in about 15 minutes without assistance, but never felt "in sync" with this one. The theme was quite interesting, and with so many thematic elements, it really constrained the remaining fill. Still, the non-thematic entries were rather solid; not at all an easy feat for even a seasoned constructor to accomplish. Didn't really enjoy this puzzle---not even sure why---but found the theme clever and appreciated the skill needed to put such a grid together. Congrats on the debut. WOOT!
I hated this for a Wednesday. The clues were so hard for me. I could only get like 20% of them before I had to start googling stuff then gave up and just had it solve the puzzle because I got so frustrated. This should’ve been a Thursday or later imo. I’m still relatively new to crosswords. Been doing them solo for a month or more. I can do Monday and most Tuesday and some Wednesday. Thursday are my favs because I love the puzzle element but they get hard. Can’t do Friday or Saturday at all and I can get halfway through Sunday. Anyways, I’m venting I guess. It’s fun but sometimes clues are just so hard and I don’t get why. It feels like the puzzle maker is just showing off how smart they think they are and it gets really frustrating from my end. It also makes me feel really really stupid. Am I the only one here that feels like this? I know a ton of you are crossword pros at this point. Did it always just click for you? Should I just give up?
Kotes, I'm quite sure I'm not the only one here who was still having problems with Wednesdays after solving for only a month or so. Do not give up! Read the Wordplay columns. Read the comments. You will become a better solver.
@Kotes It took me some 2 years to finally be able to solve most NYT crosswords - Saturday ones, even - without outside help. With time you learn to instantly grasp previously arcane clues: nobody is showing off here; the constructor just wants you make you think outside the box by using misdirection in the clues. If you're enjoying doing this, keep at it, and you'll get better.
@Kotes Sometimes I find I’m just not on the same wavelength as the constructor and a puzzle becomes very tricky. Only a month in, it would be difficult for you to spot the usual fill like ASPS or OPI that help people like me who have been solving for years. You’ll get a lot better, promise. Never give up if you enjoy it. This is supposed to be fun!
@Kotes I understand how you feel!! I've been doing the NYT crosswords for almost 2 years now, and at the beginning I felt like you did. I feel like most clues will be a mix of trivia and interesting ways to clue common words. It can be really frustrating at first, but one month is such little time! Allow yourself to search for what you don't know and learn new things. You will also start seeing patterns in the clues. There are only so many ways that the constructors can clue ORCA, OBOE, OREO, ENO, etc. lol. For me, it did not click immediately. I filled out what I could, and searched the rest. Without realizing it, over time I've gotten better at reading into the clues and finally getting it without trying. It's like a new neural pathway opens up in your brain titled "The Way Crossword Clues Are Written" and it just happens with practice and over time. Just to give you perspective, it's been 2 years of crossword solving for me and I can easily do Mon and Tues; depending on the puzzle I can do Wed and Thurs with more effort and some searching; I do Fri on Easy Mode (def recommend doing Fri on easy mode and then putting in the words on the OG one so you can practice how the clues work); Sat I don't even bother; and Sun I usually fill it out enough to solve the "theme" but it is rare that I finish it without help. (Usually solving the theme makes me feel accomplished enough lol)
@Kotes Don't you dare abandon hope if you aspire. You will progress and you will consistently come to plant your flag in end-of-week grids. I've been here for about 18 months and I was a total doofus at the beginning with late-week puzzles. Now I complain when they don't flay me enough. Persevere, pilgrim.
@Kotes Like anything, it is a skill that you build up. I don't know any game, if you want to consider puzzles a game, that you are immediately good at. You need to learn the ropes and keep at it. I would recommend that you assume that puzzle makers are not trying to show off they're smarts, but are trying to create fun puzzles for us that are creative and, well, puzzling. The most fun part about puzzles isn't immediately knowing the answer, but being able to puzzle it out. If you don't understand why an answer is what it is, ask that specific question out here and we will happily help you! So many people out here are so good at puzzles and have been doing them so long. I've only been doing them for about 3 years and I have grown quite a bit in that time. You aren't stupid and the puzzle isn't trying to make you think you are. You just don't know the full language of crosswords yet. Stretching your brain is a good thing! And learning to see things in different perspectives is a good thing, and puzzles definitely make you do that.
@Kotes When I started out I was about the same. Over time you learn a lot of the go-to three and four letter words like EPEE that keep coming back and learn to think in different ways. Now I get most Thursdays and Fridays and even some Saturdays. I agree this puzzle was very hard by Wednesday standards. And the frustrating kind of hard. The good kind of hard is when you get stuck on a clue and then you suddenly look at it a different way and it finally clicks. This puzzle had more the kind of hard where if you just don't know a specific item of trivia you're never going to get it without all the crossing clues, and lots of clues like that that all crossed each other.
@Kotes I've been solving off and on for a couple of years. My early comments read a lot like this one. I'm still not an expert but this puzzle took me 25 minutes and never really felt in doubt. I am at the point where I can gold-star maybe half of Fridays and maybe one Saturday every few months. Sometimes Wednesdays still give me trouble. One key for me was realizing that I can step away from a puzzle for a few hours and then things that seemed completely impenetrable will suddenly open up like magic. Just pick away at it and it will happen. All the best!
@Kotes - Don't give up! I remember very well when the climb from Tuesday to Wednesday seemed a lot steeper than the climb from Monday to Tuesday had been. Wednesday was my Everest for quite some time. If you persevere, you'll catch on.
@Kotes Ancient grizzled solver here (I'm not wearing my albatross today, it's too hot) and I confess that, though I continue to improve and learn, I still get stymied. And not just late in the week! Every once in a while there's a bloc in a Mon/Tues grid that just beats me. Which, BTW, is why I recommend ignoring all the NYT's whiz-bang streak stuff. It's just setting yourself up for heartbreak. Important point: there are no rules here. You play your game yourself. Although, strangely, you do have a teammate — your unconscious. Try leaving a recalcitrant puzzle alone while you go bake a cake or answer some work texts or even catch a nap. You may come back to find your brain now has all the answers. Keep in touch. We like progress reports!
@Kotes Maybe think of this like chess? You can start playing games fairly quickly but to become a grand master takes years. I've been solving these daily for about 12 years and can solve most of them without help, but I have gotten quite a bit better just in the last year. There are people among these commenters who, like you, have just started solving, like me who have been doing them awhile, ranging all the way to commenters who have been solving these for 40 or 50 years and/or have published puzzles. Fortunately, the learning curve itself is fun. At least I find it is. Hope it is for you! Welcome!
@Kotes Agree with everything everyone else’s comments, plus one more—the constructors aren’t trying to show off how smart they are, they are trying to help YOU show off how smart YOU are. And you are if you are even attempting this. A month? Pshaw. Keep at it and don’t feel bad looking up things and asking for help early on.
@Kotes And one more thing. I’m guessing you are fairly young. As much as they try to add contemporary references in, knowledge comes with time and experience. I advise you to read a lot, open your mind to new activities and ideas. If you see something you don’t know, don’t just memorize it, learn more about it. If you see an author you don’t know, maybe read one of their books or at least learn more about them. So much of my success here (and in life) comes from being open to new things and making connections with other moments in your life. I try to talk about them in my reviews. Don’t pass on those opportunities.
I read I"M (getting) TOO OLD FOR THIS in the voice of Danny Glover.
I got the triple letters very quickly and thought I wouldn’t like the puzzle because of it. But I liked it very much - there was enough interesting fill to give me a lot to enjoy. Good job!! Thanks