Petition to disable comment recommendations until the morning, so that the same group of 10PM ET solvers don’t continuously push each other’s “fun Tuesday puzzle…on a Saturday!” gripes to the top of the list every other weekend. This was a perfectly good and fair Saturday puzzle, thanks Adrian.
@Mark P I feel you. It can certainly be disheartening when you see a bunch of recs next to ‘easy’. But it is what it is. Although usually the top rec is some cool personal story. Regarding your serving paragraph. But to be fair, for this particular puzzle. It’s probably physiological. But 1 down “___ have thought” was definitely a Saturday gimmie. This giving you immediate access to the start of the four across entries in the NW. then 2 down was four letter word for “sharpen” when you shear have the 1 down gimmie. So now you have the first two letters of the long entries, immediately. Couple with ABORT at 5 down. and most are off to the races. Saturday shouldn’t be that accessible. Agree to disagree? But as stated so many times before. This cluing is an editor decision. One that I (and others) really don’t get.
@Mark P Your idea about upvote mechanics is an interesting one. But what makes you so confident in your own assessment of this puzzle’s difficulty, as opposed to the 10pm crowd? Based on my own experience, combined with the early returns in xwstats (as of 8:30am ET, 99% of solvers have finished faster than average, with 91% finishing > 20% faster), I’d actually agree that this felt easy enough to run on a Tuesday or Wednesday.
@Mark P I don't solve until the morning but have to agree with the early birds that it was ridiculously easy for a Saturday.
@Mark P It's a perfectly fine early week puzzle. It is in no way shape or form a Saturday puzzle. Sorry, it just isn't.
"Can you help me remember the formula for nitric oxide?" "How about NO?" (These puns are a gas!)
@Mike If only it would have nitrous oxide, that would have gotten more laughs! (Please ask Francis if you don’t get this joke, it’s up his alley)
@Mike Amino harm when I say this pun might not circulate well.
@Mike It’s been said many a time that you are a “pun gent”. After today’s gas, I think we can also put you down as a free radical!
@Mike I’m reminding how Beethoven used to go to oxygen bars for inspiration. It’s how he wrote “O2 Joy”.
@Mike I think you argon too far today. If any more comments come in, I think the emus should barium.
Loved solving the puzzle. Like a rather easy Friday puzzle. (But it was over *much* too fast for a Saturday. There were way too many clues that hardly slowed me down. Please go back to when Saturday puzzles were Saturday puzzles. Today's "Saturday" puzzle strikes me as what must have been a deliberate choice by the editors. It seems impossible to have merely been a random fluctuation — there were just way too many non-Saturday level clues. Editors: Please nip this ill-conceived plan in the bud.
@Dani I forgot what day it is and was assuming I was solving a Friday puzzle. So I agree- easy for a Saturday for sure, but I enjoyed it very much
Felt like a Tuesday to me. (Indeed, I finished faster than my Tuesday average time.)
@Dan Apparently, you’re not the only one who found this puzzle very easy: 🌎 Global Stats Difficulty Very Easy Median Solve Time 11:14 Median Solver 44% faster ⚡98% of users solved faster than their Saturday average. 91% solved much faster (>20%) than their Saturday average. 🐢2% of users solved slower than their Saturday average. 0% solved much slower (>20%) than their Saturday average.
@Dan yes. I set a personal best here, but I know better than to feel good about it. Playing in the archives reminds me that I am not actually becoming a super-solving genius. The puzzles are becoming super solvable.
@Dan The editors are setting the difficulty as they see fit. The "easy" trend been going on for many months, so there is no bud nipping to be done. I've gotten used to the variety but not the complaining.
"Today everybody in the audience is GETTIN'GOLD (sic)! Gold for you and gold for you and gold for you. Everybody gets a gold star today!" [Excited screams and deafening applause.] I do applaud Adrian Johnson. I really do. I love his constructions and his kind-hearted notes. I really do. BUT...BUT... a Saturday?!? You see, the real problem for me is that now that I'm retired, I never know what day it is, so the NYT xwords used to be really handy that way. I'm not going to STEW about it nor SPEW disappointment. An Adrian Johnson puzzle is always a WHAT-A-TREAT kind of thing. And as RUMI wrote: Here I am, where I am meant to be. Headed to where I am destined to be. Living through all that is best for me. Said my heart, to the rest of me. So thank you, Adrian, for a top-notch puzzle! Whether it's the right fit for a Saturday or not, is not up to me or you, so it couldn’t be helped (note: we do live in hope that those who can, will, though nowadays maybe even Will can't...) What I'm trying to say is that your puzzle stands, in and of itself, as an inspired one that was a joy to solve, no matter the day. Thank you!
P.S. Will Shortz is highly esteemed by me, so please don't misunderstand. What I wrote alludes to my theory that he is not being allowed the same breath of power he used to have, perhaps because the Crosswords have been bundled up in the Games marketing strategy.
Turned out much easier than it seemed. I was surprised to finish as quickly as I did. Fun, but too quick. I’m long past my EARLYTEENS. In fact I’m GETTINGOLD, and IMALLALONE tonight, so I think I’ll just GOBEDDYBYE
@Marshall Walthew A perfect quartet of bland quotidian answers to uninteresting prosaic clues. Disappointing. OTOH: Nice trivia: 28A Charming clues: 16A, 13D, 36D (esp. tucked in among lots of comestibles —1A, 17A, 64A, etc.!)
Got stuck in the bottom left-hand corner because I put in “chum” for “British buddy”. “Chum” is the British word for a friend. “Chap”, which I eventually got via the down entries, is a British word for a man or a boy, usually affectionate - “He’s a good chap.”
@Rachel from Cornwall I initially guessed Mate.
@Rachel from Cornwall I had 'mate' - and agree that CHAP isn't really the right word.
@Rachel from Cornwall et alia I initially held off on that one because there seemed like too many choices. It was almost completely filled in by the Downs, so when I had C-A- at 60A it was pretty obvious that the buddy was going to be a male. What's a word for a "gal pal" in the UK?
Chum is assuredly also a common word for friend in the U.S., though it was more popular in the past. (Like Chet Morton in the Hardy Boys series of mysteries.) It's also a word for bits of fish used as fish bait.
Funny. It felt challenging while I did it, but my time was very fast. It just came together.
My parents said, ”Time to GO BEDDY BYE”, to me, and I said it to my kids, and I don’t remember hearing that phrase even once since way back then. Uncovering it today kindled my heart and brought images of being tucked in by my mom, with love in her face, and scrunching the blanket around each of my kids while their faces glowed with comfort and gladness. That is an unbeatable start to the day. Add a couple of “Oh, that’s clever!” bursts at [Moves a lot] for AWES, and [Multipurpose shortening?] for ETC, not to mention uncovering beauty in THROWBACKS, ONE-POT MEAL and TOTTERS, and uncovering answers I liked that have never been in the Times puzzle before (GETTING OLD, HEY WATCH IT, and, of course, GO BEDDY BYE). And a happy ping at seeing a backward DNA crossing DNA STRANDS. Left me feeling warm and happy, just like being tucked in. Thank you for a sweet solve, Adrian!
ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE: Faced with a firm deadline on a creative project, for which every moment of my free time must be dedicated, I shall be away for a week. I will post my Monday favorite clues list, however. Eager to return to this community I love, and wishing you all well!
Lewis, (1) Best wishes for the creative project. (2) Kudos for making lemonade today.
@Lewis oh yes, but we said GO NITE NITE, which also fit. And then got to do it again with granddaughter. Thanks for the memory.
When I got to 63A, the answer made me smile because it brought back a memory of my daughter as a toddler. Though one letter off, it reminded me of a Frog and Toad story we used to read her all the time in which Frog convinces Toad to go sledding and then falls off the sled right at the beginning without Toad knowing. So Toad has a great time until a bird points out that Frog isn’t with him. He panics and yells, “I am all alone!” Then he falls off, Frog says he did great on his own, but Toad decides to go back to bed because that is more to his liking. Ok so why does this make me smile? Because there was one point in those early years, not while reading, when our daughter was upset about something and cried out to us, “I am all alone!” in the same tone we used to use when reading the story aloud. The phrase didn’t apply at all to what she was upset about, but the emotions behind it did. I remember being amazed at the connection she was able to make between the limited vocabulary she had at the time and what she was feeling in order to communicate her needs. She is about to become a teenager and still finds creative ways to use words to express herself. So that was the first of many “wow” moments for me. The way our brains learn and put words together is so fascinating. Although not a happy phrase in and of itself, I think “I am all alone” will always bring a bit of joy to me because of what that memory of my daughter represents.
As I breezed through this Saturday puzzle, I got excited. Those magical beans must be working and I really am getting smarter, I thought. But a nagging doubt drew me here to read what the PuzzleMavens had to say. Oh dear. It turns out it's just an unusually EASY Saturday solve. Fun and fresh, yes, but let's just say I won't be submitting a testimonial for magical beans any time soon.
@NovelaMaven Don't. Enjoy your solve and your magic beans, and don't worry about what anyone else thinks of the puzzle.
Concerning the ongoing discussion about easy/difficult puzzles, I present, for your consideration, The Francis Conjecture, known as FRANCON, for short. Given: 1) There is a standard distributions of puzzle solving abilities, i.e., a "bell curve". 2) One solver, let's call her "Heathie", just picking a name at random, who is one standard deviation better than the mean solver. 3) Another solver, let call him Andrzej, again just picking a name *totally* at random, who is one standard deviation *worse* than the mean. 4) Puzzle solving must be entirely pure--no cheats, no running the alphabet--you make your last entry, and the puzzle is locked and evaluated for correctness. FRANCON says that there exists a puzzle, such that Andrzej will be able to solve the puzzle, and Heathie will not. FRANCON posits that the strengths and weaknesses of every solver introduces possible puzzles that can confound the better solver and be easy-peasy for the weaker solver. Discuss. (Andrzej, if you are silently darkening the doors of our forum, you know I'm counting on your good nature.)
@Francis Well, Weak is a perfect example. What I can tell so far is that they are probably in the upper standard deviations, but a fluke prevented them from completing the puzzle. On the other hand, I don’t think such an outcome is really a failure. It just happens to be a perfectly reasonable alternate solution that just got past them.
@Francis And here I was pondering just how many flamingos Heathie has, and it may have been a question every time I see a flamingo in Saint Paul. Let’s just say picking out random names doesn’t feel genuinely random. Let’s add Barry Arcona for this history of difficulties and cluing and whether the clue is fair for Saturday standards.
@Francis there are many elements to being a better solver of puzzles. General knowledge, arcane/specialized knowledge, puzzling experience, visualization, word sense, grit/perseverance etc. It seems like the main levers that can be manipulated by the constructor and editor are the amount and specificity of trivia, the vintage of the vernacular, and the opacity of the clueing. The degree to which the trivia and vernacular happen to be in the wheelhouse of the weaker solver is the degree to which FRANCON holds true for any given puzzle. I guess this is the Scott conjecture, which you are free to refer to as SCOCON if you wish.
@Francis You're in luck - I'm made of good nature. In fact, three dozen people called me sweet yesterday alone.
@Francis It's true, I am rarely mean! Unless someone else is being mean to someone who is also not mean. I mean, wait what were we talking about!? As for Andrzej, I think he's just the sweetest!!
@Francis But seriously, folks, ASTO FRANCON, I can't disagree. In addition, I know for me, how I'm feeling physically, how tired I am, how busy the work day is, what kind of medical emergency our mom's are currently in (which is often and severe lately), ETC all effect my assessment of a puzzle... Certainly my enjoyment of it, but also sometimes if I think it's easy or hard. On days with a splitting headache, which aren't very uncommon these days for me, even the easiest puzzle might seem a little too hard at the moment. It's kind of funny in a way that you picked Andrzej and me, err, I mean those random names, because neither of us worries about streaks or just turning on reveal puzzle or whatever if we're tired of doing it. It doesn't happen to me often, though it has more lately because life has lately been... a lot! Like, an extra lot! And if a puzzle is not feeling fun for me, I don't feel a need to keep going. Puzzles are such a great distraction when things are an extra lot, but if there aren't any fun wordplay clues or tricks, or the things that I particularly like in a puzzle, then meh. And I have been feeling that meh a little bit more lately. I don't know how much of it is how crazily unstable my life and person feels right now or a reflection more of the puzzles becoming somewhat lacking more often. Anyhow, enough of my blathering! I'm sure you're all wishing you would have picked a different random name... Har!
Fun but straightforward. Now what am I supposed to do?!?
@SShah There's always the archives but they don't have that fresh new puzzle smell. Plus you lose the electric feeling that you're solving the same puzzle as thousands of other people at the same time. 😕
@SShah I've got a lawn that needs mowing. You could do that.
You know, sure, this was a little quicker than most Saturdays. But there have also been some crosswords recently that have been raked over the coals by commenters for being too difficult. Maybe we can cut the editors some slack? Think of the day of the week as a strong predictor of how long the puzzle will take you--but not a perfect predictor. Expect a lot of noise, partly because individual solvers experience each crossword and its clues differently, and because the editors themselves are individuals with idiosyncratic perspectives too, and can't make perfect predictions either. Sometimes their judgment of what's "Saturday-level hard" (like each of ours) will not track that of the median solver (much less the median commenter). Look at your overall stats--do you see a clear pattern of longer times on average later in the week? Yes? Well, then, the editors are doing their jobs matching puzzles (and cluing) to days, even though there is also within-day variation that means not *every* Saturday is harder than the Friday before it, etc. And *maybe* it's gotten easier over time, but IDK--I've had many very fast times, including PBs, on older archived puzzles lately. Maybe I'm getting better, and maybe you are too.
@SBS This kind of commentary always leaves me scratching my head. I don’t see how anyone who has solved a significant quantity of Friday and Saturday puzzles from 10+ years ago could even begin to question that the late-week puzzles have gotten **much** easier in recent years. The difference just isn’t subtle at all. Elsewhere in the comments, I shared a pair of puzzles from June 2011 (one Friday, one Saturday). I don’t have the links handy, but the dates are 2011-06-04 (Saturday) and 2011-06-17 (Friday). Unless you’ve been solving long enough to have already completed those (I haven’t), I’d be very curious to hear what you think about them compare to basically any of the Friday or Saturday puzzles in recent memory. And as I mentioned in my other comment, I didn’t search the archives for especially hard puzzles — those are just two I happened to have solved in the last couple days. (I realize it’s asking a lot of your time to go solve either of those puzzles…but posting this comment is only costing me 2 minutes, so I figure why not)
@SBS With respect I think you are missing the point. The fact that Saturdays remain marginally harder than other days doesn’t address the issue. There is an overwhelming consensus among the most experienced solvers that Saturdays are getting easier. This is readily backed up by anecdotal evidence as anyone trying the archives can easily find. And there is even a plausible explanation for this trend in the incentives facing the NYT to dumb down its puzzles to attract a broader audience of subscribers. Of course there are some who complain when there is a reasonably difficult puzzle they are unable solve. But that has no bearing on the argument of us experienced solvers. Our point is precisely that there SHOULD be Saturday puzzles that most people are unable to solve unaided — because that’s the only way for the really expert solvers to ever have a challenge. This is an unapologetically elitist argument, to be sure. Those of us who make it are willing to point out that some people are better at solving crosswords than others (not necessarily inherently — it could well be through experience) *and* to assert a preference for a world in which the very best solvers get challenged once a week even if that means some can’t solve it. The opposing view is a sort of “everyone gets a medal!” approach that elevates a feel-good mediocrity over the prospect of earning your gold star.
RAJ crossing IJEOMA is brutal. between that and having ‘TOBEDDYBYE’ rather than ‘GOBEDDYBYE’ i had to hit the check puzzle. i have a plastic BAGTIE so the T didn’t bother me.
@Nick the T and B switch here was the last to fall. I could readily accept that you might have a bagtie in your lunchbox but not a baggie (one-shot bags of spirits that Ryanair, the Irish airline, used to sell onboard)
"RAJ crossing IJEOMA is brutal." I think the editors assumed virtually everyone would easily get RAJ clued as [British ___ (colonial rule of India)].
@Nick I’m with Barry. If you can’t solve for the third letter of RA_ when clued as [British ___ (colonial rule of India)] then I don’t know what to tell you. That’s a fairly basic historical fact that would be considered by many of us as part of the general knowledge expected for a Saturday crossword. Sorry if that sounds snobbish and elitist, but this is a terrific illustration of the whole point some of us are making about Saturday crosswords.
I wasn't all that fast getting the flourish, but I spent quite a while flyspecking. I had tOBEDDYBYE and BAGtIE, which I think is pretty close. You're never seen a plastic bag tie? Then you haven't really have lived. You haven't really been alive all these years unless you've seen the wonder and the glory of a plastic bag tie. You haven't really been cock-a-hoop until you seen one. Personally, I've been cock-a-hoop since the eighth grade, when my voice changed.
It was fine but over way too soon for me. I like Saturdays that put up a real struggle; it all fell into place easily. Just my 2 cents... enjoy the weekend everyone!
@Lpr I agree! I like to dedicate a good half-hour to one hour on a Saturday afternoon (Sydney AU time) to enjoy the crossword, but this was over in 12’30”.
RINGO STARR broke it open for me. Of course he was the photographer. <a href="https://youtu.be/IhDKHo2wapM?si=qkGxckcG8zv-x6Wt" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/IhDKHo2wapM?si=qkGxckcG8zv-x6Wt</a> TeeTERS or TOTTERS? And I spent a lot of time in the SE corner putting in and taking out letters. Thanks Adrian for a very nice puzzle. Almost forgot. Anyone else read Paul Scott's The RAJ Quartet after watching The Jewel in the Crown on PBS way back when?
@Vaer Tried and failed. I liked the series so much that my husband gave me the quartet for a birthday present, and I found it a bit soporific after all the excitement of the PBS version. I was assured that once I got into it I would love it, but I forgot to try again. I remember when Charles Dance showed up the first time I nearly fell off my chair. A versatile actor, from Bleak House to Space Truckers!
@Vaer JOHNLENNON also fit but, in addition to the fact that it didn't work, it makes more sense that it was Ringo
@dutchiris The young Charles Dance, be still my heart. The entire cast was terrific. I was pretty young when I read the books and was still in the stage of just devouring anything I was reading.
@Vaer Hand up for doing so. The books allowed quite a bit more nuance...
Interesting (or not) cultural observation: I remember seeing a huge variety of yard signs in the US, and apparently some people congratulate GRADs on them. That totally is not a thing over here. First, our yards are fenced 99% of the time (in fact, Polish courts consistenty rule that trespassing may only occur on fenced-off properties; putting up a "private property: no entry" sign without actual fencing making it difficult to enter is not enough; we also generally respect the right to roam), so any yard sign would not be visible from the street. Whatever an owner of a property would like to announce is typically done on a banner hung on the fence. Second, Polish people just don't announce things on their properties, with two exceptions: "house for sale" messages and election posters.
Hi Andrzej, I'm guessing Polish people also don't use a car bumper sticker to say at what school their kids are honor students.
@Andrzej Welcome back. So, without a fence, "Zejdź z mojego trawnika!" is not appropriate? :)
I've lived in nine different U.S. states on both coasts and the Midwest (and I'm in my late 70s), yet I didn't know that congratulating graduates with yard signs was a custom here.
@Andrzej, it became a HUGE thing during COVID, when many students couldn't have in person graduations. Families proclaimed the celebrations on the lawn! It took root, and now we see them every year. Some schools did it before, but COVID is when it exploded into a "thing".
@Andrzej One of my favorite bumper stickers: Gravity is just a theory. Some of my other favorites might be more controversial, but today I'm looking for balm for the soul. Very good to see you here.
@Andrzej I don’t recall seeing many “congratulations grad” signs, but it’s commonplace around here for families to post signs for their child’s school, in the same way that they might display banners for their favorite sports team. It’s always come off as elitist to me, like “my child is special enough to attend this prestigious private school, and I’m rich enough to afford it!” I answered “baby” for that clue, because it’s also common to see huge yard signs announcing a birth, usually in the form of a stork holding a big sack with the child’s name on it. I am glad to see you back here, even if it’s just to share stories of your life in Poland. Or actually especially for that. You don’t know this about me, but my maternal great-grandparents were immigrants from Poland. My mother was never one to share family history (she had a rough upbringing and didn’t like to talk about it), so I know nothing about my Polish heritage other than my great-grandparents’ last name. So I enjoy hearing stories about where they came from, even if Poland today surely bears little resemblance to the place they left.
Hmmm…. A sorta challenge but not massively so. As a Brit I’d take issue with two answers. Cockahoop is waaay more ecstatic than glad…. It’s dancing in the street and popping champagne cos you just got into university or won a car, whereas ‘glad’ is ‘I’m glad your washing machine is working now’. ‘Chap’ is not a word I’ve ever used to describe a friend unless I was born a hundred years ago, maybe the constructor has been reading too many Somerset Maugham novels! 😊
Maybe there's an easier Saturday NYT puzzle that I've done, but I can't remember it. I found the NW corner in particular to have no resistance at all. If there was a "Huh, how's that again?" moment, it was "Cock-a-hoop". It means GLAD? Really? Why? You could have fooled me. I thought that LEGOs were building blocks. You can make a BATMAN out of them? Really? You could have fooled me. Oh, dear. Caitlin beat me to this, but I had written it before I saw her column: HOW ABOUT NO reminds me of that famous New Yorker cartoon. You know. This one: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2014/03/24/293761256/new-yorker-cartoon-editor-explores-what-makes-us-get-it" target="_blank">https://www.npr.org/2014/03/24/293761256/new-yorker-cartoon-editor-explores-what-makes-us-get-it</a> Easy, but lively and pleasant.
@Nancy Very nicely said. I also can't remember an easier Saturday. And yes, I think that may be my favorite cartoon of all time.
@Nancy Legos aren’t building blocks but Lego is 😉
@Nancy LEGO sets often have figures in them as well as building blocks. Cowboys, fire fighters, doctors, families, animals, etc. And of course The LEGO Batman Movie was pretty popular in 2017.
@Nancy I don't have a BATMAN minifigure in my extensive LEGO collection, but I do have a Darth Vader and an Obi-Wan, and both of them sport "tiny rubber capes." Leia has a tiny camo poncho.
@Nancy Not only can you make Batman out of them, but if you go to the America On Wheels museum in Allentown, PA, you can see a full-size Batmobile made completely out of LEGO bricks. If you look up the museum on Google, you'll find reviewers who have posted photos of the Batmobile. (I'm a volunteer at the museum, and one of my tasks is to respond to reviews.) It is, by far, one of the most photographed exhibits in the museum!
Loved this one. Finished much faster than my average yet this was still challenging in the best possible way, by which I mean the clueing was exceptionally fresh and clever. This was a crunchy gem of a puzzle!
I stared at LEGOTATMAM for ages, knowing it couldn't be right but not being able to see anything else for the life of me. AND I SAW THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE.
@Jeff Z I, for one, would line up to see the Lego Tatmam movie
@Jeff Z LEGO TAT MAM: she who applies tattoos to LEGO creatures. Also called a LEGO TAT ARTISTE. (Please do not look this up until I have time to create a Wiki page for it!)
I see all you ten o'clockers posted that the puzzle was fast and easy. Well, I am a couple hours later. For me, it was tricky in spots and my time was average for a Saturday. I enjoyed the puzzle, but I got a workout.
@jennie Ten o‘clockers…I like that! Proud to be one, though I’m solving in the morning these days. Will be glad to return to nighttime solving on Monday.
What a fun solve! I was giddy to see Ijeoma Olou clued, as she’s a local author I adore. I broke my Saturday record and agree this puzzle was rather easy for Saturday, but I loved all 15 minutes of solving it.
This puzzle was full of clues and answers that made me smile. Truly delightful. How anyone can build long stacked answers, and a lot of them, with such fresh fill is astounding.
That was a fun Saturday. I think my brain must be regrouping from the scorching conditions of the last few days, as it filled pretty swiftly. My only real hitch was having mate before chum before CHAP. I misread the clued Buddy as friend, rather than generic bloke. We’re just emerging from the heat dome of the last week; after recording 37c (99f) on Thursday it’s now a cool 25c today. We lost two hens to the heat, but the Alpacas and resident Shiba have survived with regular foot paddles in cool water. Not holding my breath for the next onslaught of climate warming.
@Helen Wright Ouch, the heat dome can be brutal! Hope the cool air stays with you for a while.
@Helen Wright I did exactly the same thing with CHUM!!! Had me head-scratching for a fair few minutes 😂
@Helen Wright Stay cool! We have a heat wave coming this week. Our various weather outlets are posting scary red maps and guides on how to spot heat stroke. I'm all stocked up on ice pops and seltzer.
@Helen Wright We're about to enter what meteorologists are calling the hottest heat dome in the last three years. This is the new normal. Every summer or two we are going to break all previous heat records. Summer will become absolutely brutal in most parts of the world. We've had a break the past few years in that the ocean has been warming, rather than the atmosphere. That's about to change. I "pray" for three things. Two of them are mercy and wisdom. The world, and certainly this country, could use both right now.
What a fun puzzle. I accomplished a rare feat, and I am celebrating completing a Saturday puzzle without hints. Thank you to Adrian Johnson and Will Shortz.
After 1900 solves, personal best time for a Saturday. I guessed correctly on a few long ones with little to no fill, sped things up.
Very fast, smooth solve and well designed puzzle. I enjoyed it, but I can’t remember a puzzle that had so little that leapt out at me or to comment on. AIRCURRENTS was the only remotely twisty clue for me today; I don’t know if it was the spelling but “defense council” didn’t fool me and only later did I think about the legal alternative. I did learn about two new authors (to me, I mean; RUMI is certainly not new) so that’s always appreciated. Nothing else strikes me today; for those of you twiddling your thumbs looking for more to do after this, try Friday 2/26/16. I finished it today, but it truly almost did me in—I was staring at three blank corners for the better part of an hour. As for me, I’m ready for BEDDYBYE.
@SP if I continue the subscription, I’ll get to 16 February 2016 eventually. I only do Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I’ve been busy lately so I haven’t been flying through them as I was.
@SP thx for the puzzle rec. It must have somehow been in my wheelhouse; I had to walk away from it twice, but I completed it slightly faster than my Friday average.
Time was, doing the New York Times crossword puzzle meant something.
@Sara W If I recall properly, that time was a week ago. I blue two puzzles in a row last week. Then again, I'm not nearly as strong a solver as many here.
Combing through the comments I'm left asking the question: When did "fast" become a synonym for "patronizing?" Thanks for the misdated Wednesday, Adrian. Definitely not your bad.
@Matt Curious what you are getting at, since it sounds like you agree that this was easier than usual. I think even those who think it was too easy think it was a great grid, appreciate the constructor, and in no way belittle the talents it took to create it. For my part I’m taking “too easy” out of my vocabulary; I just say “fast” now because that’s an objective description of my personal solve. And for some “fast” might even be considered a positive. Anyway I hardly see anyone here being patronizing to the constructor, nor even any other solvers.
@Matt Thanks for clarifying Matt. You and I are usually on the same wavelength so I was a little confused. To be honest, yes I do feel a bit patronized by the editors, despite admiring them for the hard work they do and the difficult job they have. And as others have suggested, I might imagine that they have pressure from above them to keep the subscriptions up at any cost. I think about the challenging puzzles that Will and other editors have written themselves in the past and I can’t imagine that they suddenly have changed their philosophy or approach randomly or by chance. Still, I would feel much less patronized if they just came out and said it. Just put out a press release or explain in an interview: “Yes, you may have seen a decrease in challenge many late week NYT puzzles. We apologize to our long-term solvers who are used to a much more difficult challenge but we want to increase our subscriber base and we feel that having more solvers be able to complete all the puzzles is a necessary strategy to make sure that we can keep providing quality puzzles to all our readers.” Or if that’s not the case then say, that’s not our intent and we will strive to increase the difficulty level to what they used to be. That s all. Then we can all feel like we are not being gaslighted and move on accepting the current state of affairs and/or finding other more difficult crossword venues if they exist. Is that too much to ask? To just know what’s on their minds?
@Matt Thanks for clarifying I understand and agree. My first response got emu’d (it’s getting annoying) but suffice it to say I would feel less patronized if the editors just posted a press release telling us their intent and what’s on their minds.
Count me with those immensely pleased to see local author IJEOMA Oluo in the crossword, and with those who immediately checked the comments to see if everyone else had MATE for CHAP.
So I actually attended elementary school with Lego Bruce Wayne. Very smart, but broody; certainly not a joker. And holy dingers did he love baseball. He dreamed of being a batboy.
@ad absurdum Did he sound like a young Will Arnett? Everything is awesome.
@ad absurdum I’m sure he had a good head on his shoulders; if not he could get a new one
@ad absurdum I’m sure he had a good head on his shoulders; if not he could get a new one
@ad absurdum He had a good head on his shoulders. Or if not he could get a new one
ad absurdum, As long as we’re name-dropping, I was once pen-pals with Silly Putty Reed Richards.
@ad absurdum For some reason my reply keeps getting emu’d but I’ll try again: I’m sure he had a good head on his shoulders, and if he didn’t he could always get a new one
Whew. Actually surprised that so many found this one unusually easy. Tough one for me - more than a couple of complete unknowns (IJEOMA / RUMI for example) and lots of others that were never going to dawn on me without some crosses. No complaint - just made for a good long workout. And.. interesting puzzle find today. I'll put that in a reply. ....
As threatened: A Sunday from February 26, 2012 by Daniel A. Finan with the title "Back to the start." And that title was the only hint to the trick. Some sample answers, followed by the 'trick' PERSONALSHOP so the implied answer was... PERSONALSHOP(PER) some others... ANTIDEPRESS(ANT) PLEASUREPRINCI(PLE) PHYSICALGEOGRA(PHY) ONTHEWATERFR(ONT) ARTICHOKEHE(ART) And there were more. Pretty amazing to be able to come up with so many that worked that way. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/26/2012&h=26a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=2/26/2012&h=26a</a> ...
Extremely easy for a Saturday puzzle. Solved in the amount of time it usually takes for Tuesday/Wednesday. Maybe just the way my mind worked that things just clicked and the ones I didn’t get immediately was able to fill in easily from the crossings
@Liz M Not just you. Nailed some long phrases, lots of easy short crosses and T/W time.
It seems I’m alone in finding this one a bit of a challenge. Maybe I’m just not on the constructor’s wavelength, or maybe I just didn’t know the proper trivia. But I got stuck in several places. And without the emphasis on humorous wordplay that tends to draw me in, this puzzle became something to get through rather than something to enjoy. Can’t love ‘em all, I guess.
@Heidi You are not alone! My own path to failure: i started lucky with some of the long clues (like WHAT A TREAT) but I got totally stuck on the SE corner and although i finally filled it, it turned out my fill was bogus - i had “GETTING off” instead of GETTING OLD, and i only found out when i peeked at the answer key. So i had Fynn instead of LYNN (there’s no way to know if you don’t know) and fees instead of DEES (i didn’t get the clue). So, 80% great crossword, 10% too hard for my baking brain, 10% unfair trivia.
I enjoyed this, the top left was quite straightforward - although there were tricky places, like BAGGIE and IJEOMA, and also LYNN and DEES (yes, I know, should have got that). Good to learn of another author. ARGYLE or ARGYLL is a region in the west of Scotland, part of the Highlands, and a very beautiful part of the country. I'm puzzled by 'yard sign' and 'grad' - this is a tradition?
@Jane Wheelaghan yes, in some areas high school graduates' families put signs up in the yard congratulating them for a few weeks. Sometimes it's a PTA fundraiser to provide and install the signs.
@Jane Wheelaghan BAGGIE was a tricky one for me as the only Baggies I was aware of were the shots of spirits that Ryanair used to aggressively plug whilst you were trying to stuff your luggage in the overhead bin
I believe yard signs for students started as a way to show support for local high school sports teams. They were often sold or given out by booster clubs. Then, during Covid, they emerged as a way for families to celebrate graduates when in-person commencement activities had to be canceled. In my neighborhood, the signs now often identify the student by name, and some include photographs, which I find disturbing and perhaps unwise.
My paternal grandmother was English and spoke with a Lincolnshire accent, as did my great aunt and uncle and my great-grandmother. A certain amount of that got passed down to me; I got Kipling and Milne read to me as a kid, and was probably the only first-grader in Oklahoma to say "trousers" instead of "pants." But I don't think I ever encountered the term "cock-a-hoop" before today.
@Bruce Cockahoop is used in Lord of the Rings (books), so I had it classified in my brain as old-fashioned Brit term.
STAIDLY and STATELY both fitting that one clue is criminal!!! Great puzzle - this is the furthest I've ever gotten in a Saturday puzzle without autocheck (about 75% the way through). Enjoying my progress in NYT crosswords!
@Daniel They both fit letter-wise, but only one is an adverb as called for by the clue.
Love the constructor notes and found the puzzle charming. However, it took me half the time I usually need for Saturday as did yesterday’s for Friday. So I’ll join the chorus here and follow some of those archive recommendations! Regarding the toddler’s bedtime, I confidently entered GO NITE NITE, as that somehow became our household vernacular—to the point that our second born referred to his beloved pacifier as his nite-nite. (It was a teary day when he bravely agreed to package them all up to “send them to his newly born cousin.”)
11 minutes. Not a Saturday record for me, but pretty close
An unusually (for me) brisk completion and yet breezy Saturday clueing. I managed to finish in approximately half of my Saturday average time. Enjoy the weekend!
Seemed to be completely on Adrian Johnson’s wavelength, finishing the puzzle with a personal best time, in fact best time for any late week grid. I don’t think the cluing was unusually “easy” for a Saturday, I just got into the flow, with the longer entries clicking with just one or two letters from crosses.
@JPT Actually, I think this puzzle was on most solvers’ wavelengths. Signals: - xwstats - comments from several regulars about how easy this was (and incidentally, many regulars have largely tired themselves out with the “too easy” commentary after a massive raft of it a few months back) - lots of other commenters saying “great Saturday puzzle” And perhaps the strongest signal of all: not even *one* comment so far about the puzzle being “a slog”, the constructor trying to “show off how clever they are”, an excess of trivia, or “obscure clues”. Any puzzle that’s even close to being a Proper Saturday will elicit a substantial volume of such complaints.
I'm hoping someone will post a link to a decent puzzle from the archives to give us a proper Saturday challenge. This was a nice, themeless Wednesday with the addition of IJEOMA to give the illusion of crunch.
@The X-Phile I just did October 26, 2002. That’s a lie. I’m taking a break as I attempt it.
I did get to learn "Cock-a-hoop" today, which is something, although I don't think I'm ready to use it in conversation. The number of crossword stalwarts that got a bit of fancy dressing for Saturday does not make a Saturday puzzle.
When the first shock of All That White! wears off, one finds that the Constructor himself is somewhat stymied by the vast-seeming emptiness of the grid... and that works in the Solver's favor. I started in the center, where the necessarily short entries limited the options. (Even so, INRE before ASTO.) Then I let out an evil cackle when he was forced to use AROAR--hoary old AROAR--which nobody says! The entire SW crumbled. A veteran of two-thousand-plus packed lunches gets BAGGIE instantly. Rebellion only beginning in the EARLY TEENS? (Maybe my kids were just advanced? EARLY bloomers? And I certainly never used baby-talk with them! Tsk!) I always thought cock-a-hoop meant things had gotten mixed up, got out of line, were falling apart around one's ears! We asked for a tough Saturday puzzle and got HOW ABOUT NO!
"hoary old AROAR" is good
@Mean Old Lady Also, the hoary old TBAR, which got me moving in the SE after a drawing a complete blank on IJEOMA. (SRSLY?) I haven't seen one of those contraptions on a ski hill since I was a kid, but it lives on in crosswordese. AROAR MY EYE.
@Wendy Laubach i agree - one of the fastest late week themeless that i can recall.
This was my fastest Saturday yet (and faster than my fastest Friday!)… been doing these for about 3 years now
Not quite my PB, but only because the SE slowed me down by a bit. Definitely on the easy side, though mostly from blind guessing the longer entries.
Everything just fell into place with this puzzle. The image on the column made me smile because we just watched The Mask tonight. (Jim Carrey is an international treasure.) Glad to get a Saturday puzzle I could flow into. Doesn’t happen all too often for me.
I’m “in a fit of disbelief” I finished that so so so fast. But no gold. I gave up looking after like 5 passes. I was thinking “so there is some kind of computer error that isn’t slowing me to get the gold”. I even looked at the answer key for the first time, instead of check puzzle. Because I was convinced I had filled out the grid correctly. But hubris was my downfall. Fun fact. a BAG tIE is made of plastic. Okay maybe there are called twist ties? And okay. Maybe they are flexible metal covered with some kind of paper/plastic. But I have definitely used ones made of malleable plastic! Cross that with some ‘weird’ baby talk. TO BEDDY BYE. GO BEDDY BYE. what’s the difference!?! I can’t understand you anyway kid! . This ‘easy’ Saturday. Got me. I hang my head in shame. My favorite clue / entry. “Out” / NOT IN. And if course an obligatory picture search for “ants on a log”
@Weak Also. A baggie is not an item that should not be in a lunchbox. Not a school lunchbox, at least. If you know, you know.
@Weak That was my last entry, changing that "t" to a "g". I was lucky to find it.
@Weak That clue "out" for the entry NOT IN? I'm so glad you brought it up! It got a huge guffaw out of me. Loved it!
@Weak think you mean ANTS climbing a tree, and thanks for reminding me that I wanted to google that. unappetizing name for what sounds like a tasty dish.