Nevermind the nay-sayers, I thought this puzzle was a FIVEHUNDREDLIGHT! Very enjoyable!
Very fun puzzle, though I agree with the general sentiment that it was on the easy side (new Thursday record for me). Still, very enjoyable, with many clever clues. "Met someone" was definitely my favourite!
Wednesday: "It's too difficult!" the commenters cried. Thursday: "It's too easy!" the commenters cried. What will Friday bring? A. "Too easy" B. "Too hard" C. They'll like the puzzle, but find something else to complain about.
@Matt Observing the level of difficulty of any given puzzle isn't necessarily a complaint.
@Matt It was a hard Wednesday and an easy Thursday, but that's not necessarily a complaint. Both were fun puzzles, just an exception to expectations.
@Matt Apparently you consider meta-complaining - whining about posts of other people - the good kind of complaining. How can you not see the double standard?
@Matt D. All of the above.
There has recently been a change to the user interface and it has made it much harder. I use an iPad and I used to be able to open wordplay and toggle back-and-forth between the puzzle and wordplay. Now I have to back out of word play to get back to the puzzle. This is not an improvement and would like to know how I can get things back to the way they were.
@Sophia Jones Can you do split screen?
@Sophia Jones On my Mac I can CNTRL-click the WordPlay link and choose "open in a new window". I don't use my iPad for the crosswords so I can't test the way to do it there (possibly a long press?)
@Sophia Jones I’ve been frustrated by the same thing. I think that the link on the Games app info button used to open to the Wordplay article the NYT app, so it was possible to toggle between the two apps, but now the link opens Wordplay within the Games app, so no toggling between the puzzle and Wordplay column. I tried opening the NYT app separately and navigating to the Wordplay column. Now I can toggle between the puzzle and the column. A little cumbersome, but doable.
@Sophia Jones, I also do the puzzle on my iPad, and I don’t like the app’s interface (except for the Sunday xword). So I access the NYT in my browser, with one tab for the puzzle and one for wordplay.
@Sophia Jones - Open the Wordplay column in the regular NYT app by searching Wordplay. Or use Google and search NYT Wordplay. Then the puzzle and column will be in two windows.
@Sophia Jones I’m with you - please put this back the way it was.
I know I’m super fun at parties but Bob Ross technically had a perm.
@Robert Davis you're definitely not wrong that it was a perm. But the Wikipedia definition of Afro hairstyle specifically states that it can be achieved by pick combing naturally textured hair or by applying chemicals to straight hair.
@Robert Davis I am also super fun at parties
I enjoyed this puzzle very much. I've found over the years that, every once in a while, the Thursday gimmick can be a bit on the easy side for some experienced solvers. I always thought the whole point of the Thursday puzzle, easy or difficult, was to give us a chuckle or at least to elicit a smile. This one easily passed that test for me :-D Maybe next week's Thursday puzzle will be more challenging. We'll just have to wait and hundred.
@Matthew Tencelent job with your last sentence!
@Matthew Reminds me of Victor Borge’s Inflationary Language bit: “I nine an elevenderloin with a fivek”
First: Congratulations, Nikhil. You constructed a very good puzzle, and you should be proud of it. Second: This was not a Thursday puzzle, I feel bad for constructors who get slammed by “wrong day” comments, because obviously they have no say over when their puzzle appears. And since non-Thursday Thursdays seem to carry the highest level of disappointment, I feel especially bad for them then. Had this been published on a Wednesday, I think the reviews would be much more positive. Come on, editors. If you want to nurture new talent, be sure to give them an appropriate debut. Their efforts deserve at least that much.
@Heidi I agree it’s not a real Thursday puzzle, but I still enjoyed it as a Thursday puzzle. I think it’s just too hard for the editors to make every Thursday a “Thursday” puzzle. Likewise certain other days. No complaints from me.
@Heidi Agreed. I feel very bad for the constructors, as this is clearly a conscious editorial choice to dumb down the puzzle. The constructors just have the bad luck to be published when the NYT has decided to cater to the lowest common denominator.
@Heidi - People with complaints that the end of week puzzles are too easy should take the time to construct an "appropriate" puzzle to submit.
For those who found this too easy, watching the Nicks/Spurs game while you solved would have made the puzzle a lot more difficult. I know it did for me.
@dutchiris It dropped during halftime.
@dutchiris And the Clue for 46D “Barely winning, say” and the fill UPONE were eerily apropos to NBA Finals game.
@dutchiris, that may have been the most exciting basketball game I've ever watched. Weird how Wemby was a no-show in the second half. And the Knicks really coalesced around Brunson, who had that look in his eyes. I don't know about the best game ever, but it really had it all. My jaw is still dropped from that magnificent comeback and that astonishing game winner. Wow!
“How many times did I already ask you to swab the deck?” “TWO, CAPTAIN!” The seagoing centipede never has trouble getting its bearings because of its HUNDRED LEGS. The person who observed Lent so devoutly had to use a document for what pleasures they gave up each day. It took FORTY SHEETS. There’s a less affluent place around the corner from Harvard. No ivy, they’re just glad to have enough walls at all. It’s part of the FOUR LEAGUE.
@Cat Lady Margaret Still waiting for a puzzle constructed by you.
No complaints. Nope. No complaints at all. Went to bed glum with the team I’m rooting for down by XXIX, woke up with a genuine jaw drop of delight when I saw the final score, and I don’t believe that anything can bring me down. Certainly not this puzzle rife with wordplay, one of the happiest of my happy buttons. Even the first clue had an eye rhyme of BAKED and NAKED. More wordplay clues followed – such as [It might have many sides] and [Met someone?]. And a wordplay Roman-numeral-letter-homophone theme. Not to mention the palindrome answers ARAL and LARA, the dook UPONE, no-knows to feel good about conquering, and an echo of Tuesday’s meat-doneness puzzle with RARE. All evidence that the constructor was minding his PEAS and CUES. Nikhil, I came into your puzzle happy, and you easily kept the mood going strong. Congratulations on your debut, and thank you for a splendid outing!
@Lewis They did end up UP ONE. Barely winning.
I am very sorry to say this, and I don't want to denigrate the people who produced this puzzle, especially the debut constructor, who deserves a hearty pat on the back. But I don't think there's any doubt about it. This puzzle was too easy. Sorry if this is your first Thursday solve--I'm not trying to rain on your parade, and you should pat yourzelf on the back for having done it. But it was too easy. I feel terrible now.
@Francis Don't feel terrible. You were as nice as anyone can be while still expressing a complaint. Actually nice, not just Minnesota nice (®️). But your complaint is well-founded. Nothing wrong inside the grid but it is not Thursday-worthy. The eds. have failed both the constructor and us solvers. Next post, a compliment.
@Francis It was, in fact, my first Thursday gold star - ah well, I appreciated the trick and will take my pat on the back...
Oh, my!! This was just wonderful. I like to solve from the bottom to top, so my first encounter with Nikhil's trickery was at 55A (which HAD to be correct, despite being weird. But, with the giant hint of "ancient Roman" I slipped IV into the margin next to the 55A row and soldiered on, thus warned... and shortly I came upon FORTY/IV and cha-ching! The non-themer parts of the puzzle are also admirable...mostly. My last entry, almost against my will, was of course the little cluster on the Eastern border...OPTIC LOBE, eh? I had my DOUBTs, but was delighted to learn I had it right. Mad respect! Kudos! (I think I'm out of superlatives, and must run. It's SALE day--always an exhausting free-for-all, but in a good cause.) I hope everyone else loves this puzzle as much as I do. (To All soreheads from yesterday: no need to come back! Thank you for giving up and staying away!)
Why do I have the feeling they switched the Wednesday and Thursday puzzles this week?
The theme was kinda siIIy but in a good way - I liked it, even though it had me stumped before I realized the phonetic element ("It's Ivy League, not IV League! Oh..."). I found the fill mostly very easy, Monday so in places, but the NE corner almost made me look stuff up - neither SANS nor KNIT was obvious to me, and naturally I did not know the guy or sport team, and it occured to me late that the arm part will be a bone rather than something more obvious. In the end I solved in a time below my Wednesday average.
@Andrzej Hey Andrzej, I had a dream about your dog the other night. I don't know what was going on, but I was in a room with a lot of dogs, and I turned around, and there was a very regal looking poodle, sitting, and yet we were essentially eye to eye. And I thought to myself, hey, that Lucifer (I can't remember how you spell it in Polish). Dang he's a big dog
Adding my voice to the choir. This was an absolute delight. It was too easy for a Thursday but almost nobody minds that because it was so much fun.
A spanner: Once common dashboard feature, to an ancient Roman? FOURHUNDREDSLOT
@Xword Junkie And also (though it would require a non-standard grid): Superman's owner, to an ancient Roman? SIXHUNDREDCOMICS
An excellent fun debut. Yeah, probably a Wednesday with some of the easier clues and a fairly straightforward theme, especially this week. But don’t let that get you down. I was impressed by some of the accessory fill and fun clues for them like “mind’s eye”, “met someone” and “something you keep tabs on” (although sometime it seems these puzzles are one big ad for LSD). A lot of science today—MASSLESS, OPTICLOBE (yeah, true, we don’t really have one) and MRNA (which I have never been brave enough to try to put in a puzzle). You are throwing up a big softball here with “stable females”—I’m not going to touch it. Congrats again!
@SP Timothy Leary's dead no, no, no, no, He's outside looking in. 🎶
What a creative and original theme!
Thank you Nikhil - fun puzzle, and well done on your debut! As a sailor, C-LEGS gave me the aha moment and made me snort out loud. This did feel kind for a Thursday, but perhaps that’s because ONE (I) still keenly remember when a Thursday would take me several confusing sessions to complete, particularly as a non-American! Look forward to HUNDREDing your next puzzle!
I didn't figure out the trick until embarrassingly late in the solve. Fun puzzle.
Wow, less than half my average Thursday time! Felt like a Tuesday maybe? Cute theme but certainly not a Thursday puzzle…
The grownups in the house, ranging from LXXVIII down to XLI have all been struggling with the math homework brought home by the second and fifth grade grandsons. I’m reminded by the puzzle that we haven’t seen hide nor hair of Roman Numerals from either kid. How are they ever going to solve crossword puzzles?
@Kevin D --- Or know which Super Bowl it is!
I'm really bothered by the OPTICLOBE answer. Optic lobes do not exist in humans (as other have pointed out). As a neuroscientist, I'm feeling offended by having something this blatantly inaccurate here.
@z weird, my pet octopus told me that one was a gimme for her.
@z I suspect you, as a neuroscientist, are suffering from TCS. I imagine most civilians didn't/won't give it much thought. But you are right, and it could have easily been fixed by changing the clue to [Mind's eye?]. *TCS=Too Close Syndrome
@Bob T. Ah, but the clue was "*Your* mind's eye" and I assume all today's solvers are humans, not arthropods. The question mark does not excuse a sloppy clue, no matter how clever. No TCS at all.
I swear I solved without looking at this page first. When I came across the first 'to an ancient Roman?' clue, I was merrily filling in cross clues and had filled in CAPTAIN: the sudden dawning of what the other three letters must be had me chortling. I am proud to say I then correctly predicted two of the other three theme clues and their solutions. This one was a blast. Nice an' six hundred.
IV League could also be used for "group of phlebotomists in pre-op" Maybe. All in all, such a fun puzzle! (I, too, never heard of optic lobe, but big deal.) Thanks for such a fun puzzle, Nikhil!
Fun puzzle! Congratulations on the debut! It seems Thursday constructors can’t win, some weeks the comments are the puzzle is too hard, the other weeks comments are the puzzle is too easy. I’m OK either way as long as the solve is enjoyable.
Veni. Vidi. Aenigma solvi.
@Plastic Jones Eddie learned Latin!!
The theme was clever, but this was a Monday puzzle all day long.
@Jess P It was not a Monday puzzle. It was not a Thursday puzzle. Wednesdayish, imo.
Humans don’t have an optic lobe
@Wggwg Yeah, last I heard they were frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital.
@Wggwg That clue was a shout out to all of the solvers who are fruit flies. They now feel seen.
I have been sleep deprived for the last two months. Last night, and the night before, I woke up at 3 a.m. and could not get back to sleep. I barely know where I am right now. I completed this puzzle in less than half my average time. Please, please, PLEASE bring back the more difficult puzzles. I want a challenge, even when I'm sleepy. These dumbed-down puzzles are an insult to the solvers' intelligence.
@Katie this puzzle wasn't dumbed down 🤨 there were plenty of current events and pop culture knowledge and tricky play ons
@Katie And here I was, pleased that I only needed one 'cheat', (Massless and Lara), Lara wasn't "Tara". I was starting to feel a bit proud of my mental prowess. But then comes people like you to humble me, assuring me I have nothing to be proud of. I enjoyed the puzzle, in any case. Pride is optional.
Maybe *your* food loves you sincerely, but my potato had wandering eyes. And a heads up, Mr. Shaw: that banana isn’t actaully happy to see you.
@JohnWM I was sure that quote was "love of self." Seemed right for Shaw.
another day that I solved the puzzle without understanding the theme.
I enjoy a good Roman numeral gimmick. I caught on when I got FOURLEAGUE via crosses. I caused myself no end of grief by starting with fourflush instead of FLUSHDRAW. And I also made trouble for myself in the middle east with scat instead of SHOO and optic lens instead of OPTICLOBE.
It was a fun puzzle, and I enjoyed the roman numeral theme. But, by far, the easiest Thursday I have ever played. It's not quite my Thursday PR but I think my PR is wrong because I played it in two sessions, and when I exited it the first time it hadn't saved in a while so when I went back I could refill half the puzzle instantly. The non-themed clues were Monday-easy.
Jesse, Chris wrote "played;" I'd say "ever" hasn't been a long time. Do you recall a fairly recent easier Thursday?
Too yada easy yada next yada. As I enter my eighteenth month of solving and therefore qualify as a grizzled veteran (in my OPTICLOBE anyway) I would like yet again to urge setitors that gimmick fill which does not meet the standard of internal cogency as a word or phrase (ideally related to the gimmick but in a pinch, not necessarily) is enervating...esthetically windswept...a downer...a call to setit better! I should not have to rely on Cat Lady Margaret to get a weak, post-solve smile from TWOCAPTAIN (it's not even plural for Pete's sake!), HUNDREDLEGS, FORTYSHEETS, FOURLEAGUE (again...plural!?). This is your job! In the words of the greatest first lady in the history of Murica: Be better!
@Matt I’m confused, are you arguing that it should have been FOURLEAGUES?
@Matt I got really drunk last weekend. Really, really drunk. FORTYSHEETS to the wind, that's how drunk. Direct translation of 'centipede'? "Chekov! How many Klingon Birds of Prey are orbiting that planet?" [Yeah, I got nothing for the other one.]
TWO HUNDRED SEÑOR BAILEY – this was a hoot!
One of the nicest puzzles I’ve played in a while. Well done and thank you!
I love this puzzle! Such a clever theme. Perfect Thursday vibe. 😎
This was the most fun puzzle in many months if not years. Just incredible and I laughed several times. I'd love to see more puzzles from Nikhil Bailey. Bravo.
I agree with the comments that this didn't have the difficulty of a Thursday puzzle. A lot of the clues were Tuesday-level challenging. And I got the theme pretty quickly, so I finished in a PB time for Thursdays, by quite a lot. And, I would have finished sooner, but I was looking for more of a trick; in particular, I kept trying to figure out which square to use for a rebus for "DOUBTS" (even though, ultimately, I agree that DOUBT (singular) is an acceptable synonym for "RESERVATIONS" (plural). In fact, I have no DOUBT about that, just as I have no RESERVATIONS about that. But, this was fun, with a clever theme and some well-thought-out clues and answers. Kudos to the constructor for an enjoyable debut puzzle. I hope to see your work again!
Great fun puzzle, but the non-theme clues could’ve been a bit harder. Enjoyable though! Nearly a PB for a Thursday, but there was one last year that was easier.
@Selective Walrus Same. 9/25/2025
I enjoyed the neat trick in both 21D and 30D where your clue offered a plausible first name that turned out to be a surname, with the actual first name being in the grid. Very sneaky, Mr Bailey!
For all of you who were told there would be no maths (a claim that always makes me want to ask, "Who told you? When?"), this was not your happy place. HALF crossing AREA right off the bat. AREA clued not as the nice, friendly "zone" or "topic" but as "integral calculation"! "Truth" masquerading as VERITY along with SANS and ISNT DOUBT – what, are we in the middle of a proof? Speaking of logic, what about those LEAST SETS lurking down at the bottom? As for all those Roman numerals: taceo. But /I/ enjoyed the maths.
@SBK in TO Actually, that may be a reason my perception of the puzzle was that is was quite easy. It hadn't occurred to me that "integral calculation" screams area at me, but I'm pretty sure no one else in my family, say, would come close. (Actually, it's only, strictly speaking, an area if the integration is over a differential variable with dimensions of distance. But "area under the curve" is so widely used only a pedant who belongs in the ninth circle would even bring it up. Probably also have to kind of a jerk.) So maybe part of what made it so easy for me was that constructor/solver wavelength thing I hear about.
Sat down with my coffee and thinking cap for a challenging Thursday puzzle. Finished the puzzle, then the coffee... Now what?
@Hitch - The archive puzzles. Or chores. You pick.
@Hitch Go buy a SA World Cup jersey!
Solid, fun de-beaut! Roman numerals (above ten) are like peach cobblers, for me. They are needed *just* often enough that I *should* remember them, but I don’t. So, for the cobblers, I call mom for the recipe, but for the Roman numerals, I try C, M, L… til it works. Or I Google it. Today, the crosses did all the heavy lifting. Have a lovely day all!
I don’t know why NYT decided to do no more tricks on Thursdays. Those puzzles were great and when I did archives, I only did Thursdays at first. PLEASE DO MORE TRICKS LIKE YESTERYEAR
@Mu Perhaps the supply of high-quality puzzles of the sort you wish for is lacking at the moment? I mean, it takes real skill to create a good Thursday puzzle.
Fun puzzle! But it’s time to don my pedant hat again… While a photon is massless, the key part to mention (that is usually implied) is the mass in question is the mass of the particle *at rest*. Therefore, calling this particle massless is the same as saying that it can never be at rest. And while we’re on the topic, light isn’t technically a particle or a wave but an amalgamation of both. Whether you observe photons (particle-like behavior) or waves is based on how you carry out your experiment. Isn’t quantum physics fun? ;-)
@Mishlev Bonus point: that wave-particle duality isn’t unique to light (electromagnetic radiation). In fact, it is experimentally reproducible with the entire zoo of particles (like our friend the proton) and even molecules. Actually, this kind of duality is inherent to everything (baseballs, hot dogs, humans), but the quantum aspect of nature falls sharply as we leave that realm and enter the world of macroscopic objects. That’s why Newton’s laws still get the job done in most cases ;-)
@Mishlev Did they ever decide if a neutrino was massless or not? (I could google, but I like conversation.) A good deal of what I recall about topics like this are from Isaac Asimov writings. He was excellent, but his books are getting pretty dated at this point.
Let's not have all this bickering about who killed who overshadow the delightful debut today by Mr. Bailey. Very impressive. Congrats!