Unplayably difficult, sorry yanks.
@Mental State I’m from the U.S. and can confirm that it wasn’t a fun one even after figuring out the rebus / Independence Day theme. Thankfully the USMNT won 2-0 today so even this downer of a puzzle can’t spoil my mood.
@Mental State O go hop on a kangaroo, mate. This one was for US in the U.S. in honor of our 250th year of existence. I had to use the autofiller for some of these but I didn't care. It was a very clever use of rebi. Now if I could only get the count of squares up to 13, I'll feel happy. The puzzle is done. I also checked the answer key and I still can't find 13 squares with rebi in them.
@Mental State. I got this without help, but I was thinking this would be especially hard for all those international solvers. Knowing the 13 colonies AND their two letter abbreviations would be tough.
@Mental State tbf, it’s an American paper. I don’t complain @ int’l cryptics/puzzles when there’s references I don’t get.
@Mental State Yes, hard, but a great lesson in American history for our 250th! Definitely worth doing.
@Mental State I don't love that this is the most-recommended comment, but I get it; it wasn't easy or pleasant or fun for many people, especially those in other countries. Hopefully the puzzle won't hammer you for the next two days as well, but 250 years is a big deal. I found it a healing puzzle for a time when our country is so divided. Sorry it divided this community. See you tomorrow.
@Mental State It was a fun foray into American history. Nothing wrong with that! I am Canadian and was able to finish with a few Google searches.
Ooooh this one was FUN! Frustrating at first with big swaths of empty squares, but as it fell into place the payoff was delightful. And a stupendous job fitting in so many on-theme words and clues. This might be the closest thing I feel to patriotism all weekend!
@Leon agree it was fun but took quite a bit of time to get through. But totally worth it. I hate getting through Thursdays too quickly.
@Leon some of the fill was really tough, but I enjoyed the theme, and I’m not a yank!
@Leon I agree, had a lot of fun. It was hard though. I know why people are grumpy about it. 13 rebuses is a lot, so it's hard to get a foothold. But it was also satisfying and came together well. For me it was a hit.
Why, you ask, was Vermont not one of the original group of colonies that became states? The territory between Lake Champlain and the Connecticut River was disputed ground claimed by two existing colonies, New Hampshire and New York, which the Crown ruled in NY's favor in 1764, infuriating everyone and giving rise to Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain boys, an anti-NY militia, not anti-England. So when independence came in 1776, Vermont had no colonial government of its own to send delegates to the Continental Congress — legally it was just a contested chunk of New York. In January 1777 the settlers declared themselves an independent republic (briefly "New Connecticut," then Vermont), adopted a notably progressive constitution that abolished adult slavery and established manhood suffrage without property requirements, and asked to join the union but were refused by Congress because of NY's objections. Vermont did not become a state until 1791. For 14 years, Vermont was an independent country, with its own currency and postal system. In 1791, Vermont resolved its issues with New York (all it took was $30,000) and became a state.
During the Revolution, however, Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys switched enemies. With the news of Lexington and Concord in early 1775, Allen and the Green Mountain Boys pivoted almost overnight from harassing New York surveyors to attacking the British. In May 1775, Allen (with Benedict Arnold) led the famous dawn capture of Fort Ticonderoga — one of the first offensive American actions of the war. Allen supposedly demanded its surrender "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," but early witnesses report that what Allen said would not pass emu-muster in a NYT puzzle comment.
@john ezra That is really interesting. I'd never heard those stories before. Do you happen to know what the population of Vermont was when it entered the Union? I couldn't have been more than a few thousand, I wouldn't think. Also it sounds like Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys just liked fightin', regardless of who.
@john ezra Vermont was not an original colony because the founding fathers wisely realized that VT would have been an impossible rebus in future crosswords. That’s just how far-seeing they were. I got “Hamilton, to Geo. Washington, once” PVTSECRETARY I’ve got “What the US constitution created” FEDERALGOVT And I’ve got IVTHERAPY and TVTRAY and LIVTYLER for crosses, not too much else decent.
@john ezra I wondered! I made myself a list of what I thought were probably the 13 colonies (it's been a LONG time since elementary school and I've always lived in the west so I regularly forget my east coast geography). I had VT on the list, along with ME. Ended up with 14 - I was also forgetting MD - and had to look it up. I imagine there's a good story for Maine as well.
@john ezra Thank you for that history, I've been immersed in reading Rev. War history lately but didn'trealize all of that about Vermont
@john ezra - Yep, a pattern in New England history. Vermont kicked New York out in 1777, and New York ahas been buying Vermont back, houselot by houselot, ever since. Similarly, Massachusetts used to be part of Maine* -- but we kicked MA out in 1820. MA has been buying us back, houslot by houselot, ever since. * For the annoying pedants: Yes, we all know that ME was part of MA. But it's a JOKE... You know, HUMOR (or, maybe you don't; hence, the need for this footnote...)
I don't think Mr. Kahn is getting enough love here (except from Sean McGowan) for 1) so many rebuses 2) including a few in the same answer while 3) cluing every across rebus back to US founding history. Pretty spectacular, I think.
@Dan Woog Well, *I* gave David Kahn much praise, and honestly, the MOL's love should be the crowning glory, don't you think? LOL Glad you posted...!
Waste of a Thursday. Trivia slog. Trivia crossing trivia. Not for me.
@M I get that this one would have been more difficult for non-Americans. Maybe for next July you can come up with a Canada Day puzzle that includes the abbreviations for all the provinces. And if you get really determined, also the territories!
I’m gonna post before reading. This was very dense topic wise, so mad respect. Even though I got the trick early, thinking on two letter rebus is very difficult, especially when several entries have multiple. I don’t recall a revealer that includes the trick, like in todays grid. But all good. All fair. Cleverly made. BUT bro. the four cells in the SW that are intersected by 43D,59D, 66A, 70A. All four of these clues are proper nouns! Come on! Give me a chance! Showtunes? Gay divas? 70s song? fringe singer? I rarely say unfair. But bro. My bro. Cmon.
@Weak I just punted knowing I couldn’t guess a combination of 4 unknown cells. So I got the blue star. But it ain’t fair, I tell ya. It ain’t fair!
@Weak Did you mean SE, the lower right?
@Franis Yes. SE. I my defense. W and E are right next to each other, as I fat thumb my comments. But whatever corner it is in. That was in a very specific wheelhouse. Me thinks.
@Weak I can understand a complaint obout too much music in that corner but Carousel and Bette Midler are not at all obscure. Carousel is one of the all-time famous Broadway shows and, while maybe the Divine Miss M is hugely popular with the gays, it doesn't matter because with the top 10 hits she's had she clearly had mainstream appeal.
@Weak Just like any puzzle, there are going to be clues in your wheelhouse and clues that aren’t. The Divine Miss M? That is the gimmiest of gimmes for me. A very well-known nickname. Carousel is no more obscure than, say, Oklahoma or Brigadoon. I get that Shilo and Oleta Adams may not be well known, but Shilo was a big hit in its time, still played on oldies radio, and Ms. Adams is a 4x Grammy nominee. And both are gettable from the crosses. That was an easy corner for me. (Again, wheelhouse.) I had more difficulty in the middle section due to unknown SABOTS and a few clues that just didn’t come naturally to me (ACES OUT?). But none of it was unfair.
@Weak sounds like today gave you a great opportunity to learn new things, slightly outside of your wheelhouse! If I can learn the names of (to me) random baseball players and football team names, I think you can learn the names of (checks notes) platinum selling albums and canonic American shows. Congrats on broadening your knowledge base!
@all Looking at this now for first time after posting. My point is that a 2x2 crossing of proper nouns should not be allowed. It’s not a matter of wheelhouse or not. If it was a 2x2 of IMPORTANT stuff, say sports stars, or 80s pop artists, I’d say the same thing. So I get that this was wheelhouse for many of you. But it wasn’t my point. But I can understand how one would interpret that based on my comment. But can we admit that the four clues were all music related? So wheelhouse? But I hope no one thought I was actually ‘mad’. But absolutely, I thought unfair. No apologies.
@Weak The Divine Miss M a fringe singer? She won't like that. You should probably watch your back . . .
Wowza!! Not only is each original colony represented by a rebus, but all thirteen across entries are related to the history of our country. Masterful construction! Some of the rebus squares were tricky. I especially like I(MD)B crossing (MD)CCC. Such a clever way to represent Maryland. Thanks, David. That was so much fun. A fabulous way to get America’s 250th party started! P. S. I'm feeling good about our chances for the World Cup too. Why not US?
@Anita A certain person will just bray all the louder if the US wins and claim it's because he made it happen. Go Mexico! (Or any other team.)
Great puzzle! I think it deserves serious consideration for Puzzle of the Year! Thirteen rebuses! And several doubles! And then to double up the theme with American Independence related crosses! Really brilliant! (And I don't offer such praise lightly.) Could it have been harder? Sure. Could it have been easier? Sure. But, to me, when we get numerous complaints on both sides of the issue, it means were in the Goldilocks Zone: "This one is just right!!!" Thanks David J. Kahn, for a sterling salute to American Independence!
To my international homies. I hope most of you are ex pat Americans. Because, if not, take the night/day off. I can’t even begin to imagine trying to do this puzzle as a non-American. I hope you guys aren’t steak chasers. Cause that steak probably ends…now. Best of luck.
@Weak I've been known to go after a good ribeye.
@Weak Thanks for thinking of us. Actually i found it not too difficult. I’m a sucker for US history (and history in general) so i loved all the independence stuff. The rebuses were a gimme once you spotted the gimmick. The hard bits were: SHOWOFF - why is this “hot dog on a roll”? OLETA - only vaguely familiar name GOTAHIT - baseball lingo, unfathomable BEBE - Neuwirth? NHOH MISSM - the M was unknowable PAULA - Poundstone? NHOH CABALA - never heard of this, now confused because it sounds like the Kabba in Mecca!
@Weak Really? I found it easy as pie… and as American as an apple 🍎 one.
This may be a tricky rebus puzzle to the very newest solvers (and columnists), but not marking their location and having different rebuses used to be par for the course. It's nice to see it back, and I trust the rebuses will come reasonably quickly, given the puzzle's gentle cluing and the obviousness of what the rebuses will be. Thanks for the fine grid, David; I wish the editors had left or put more bite in the clues. And tell me again why a SPY would exterminate a bug...
@Barry Ancona Maybe your spy exterminates the bugs my spy left??
@Barry Ancona Meh. The revealer gives it away. I knew something was up on my first pass, but couldn't figure it out until I saw the revealer. I then knew it had to be the postal codes for the first 13 States. Obviously I'm not a novice, but I'd counter that this is an excellent intro to rebuses (rebi?) for a novice
@Barry Ancona James Bond always checks his hotel room for electronic bugs when he first enters. Usually he exterminates them; sometimes he feeds them bad information.
@Barry Ancona Agent Ancona, should he choose to accept, will: Iinfiltrate the tablet, neutralize all foreign debris, and chisel the rebus codes safely. This post will self destruct in 5 seconds. 😉
@Barry Ancona I loved this puzzle but I don’t thing the rest of the grid was too easy. The tangle of reasonably obscure musical entries in the SE as well as interesting and uncommon words like PICA, SABOTS, etc made for a nice challenge IMHO. To be clear I am *not* complaining (well maybe a little sideeye to that SE corner). I loved this puzzle and solved without lookups. Just saying I think the “this was only east for the newbies” might be overdoing it a bit on this one.
As a casual solver, this felt more frustrating than clever.
This absolutely whooped me. I'm a fan of rebuses (rebi?) but there are so many clues I just didn't know. PICA, SABOTS, SKED, CABALA and for proper nouns MISSM, SHILO, IVANOE, OLETA, and odd ones for me personally like MIZ (with a Z?), MDCCC (why would I assume Roman Numerals?) and MOC (I figured MIC [Like a lapel microphone] or MOC but with the proper noun across I didn't know). There were some fun challenges in there I enjoyed but overall it was a miss for me and I had to look up quite a bit for it to be a Thursday.
@Andy W. I’m with you. Too much trivia for me to find it fun. Got the theme but still couldn’t complete the puzzle without looking up three answers.
@Andy W. If you do the puzzles long enough, you'll realize that Roman numerals are often used as a way to get numbers into the grid.
@Andy W. I only learned SABOT recently, as a friend uses it as his first Wordle guess. It's related to the word sabotage.
I knew a day would come when I would lose my 1279 day streak but I wasn't expecting it to happen on a Thursday and not like this. Not trying to be hyperbolic but this was definitely the most frustrating NYT puzzle I've solved in my life. Having lived in the US for several years, the state name abbreviations weren't an issue for me but the clunky fill and bizarre cluing choices and the sheer amount of trivia and nonstop Naticks were a bridge too far for me. Hats off to those of you who solved this easily/found it enjoyable. Time for a single malt now to drown out my sorrow at losing my streak.
@Rahul Quite an impressive streak! Have one on me.
@Rahul Rahul- congratulations on an extraordinary streak. Today might be a little disheartening, but think of tomorrow; you start a NEW streak. Cheers!
@Rahul What a shame-- but congrats on a fantastic streak! Single malt well deserved.
Genius! Brilliant! I doubt that there will be a puzzle this year that I like better than this one. Crunchy and clever and dense and exceedingly timely. Thank you, David and NYT editors for not taking away the challenge by telling us where the many, many rebus squares go. Figuring that out is what makes the puzzle so hard. I saw the trick at PATRIOTS/PRIORI/PAULA (very helpful to have known PAULA.) But my work had only just begun. The hardest rebus for me was the double one at JOHN HANCOCK. Is this brilliant or what? Embedding not one but two states in a Founding Father! Embedding not one but two states in the heroes of the American Revolution! And then... Embedding NY in the bygone COLONY. Getting NJ into the BENJAMIN and clueing it with ten HAMILTONS. Everything belongs and is relevant to our 250th. An incredible job of construction and an immensely entertaining and absorbing solving experience. This will almost certainly be my choice for POY. David Kahn, btw, has been around forever. Like fine wine, he just gets better with age.
While I appreciate the theme to a certain extent, the fill around it was god awful.
Just a note from a non-US American reading all the worried comments about how non-Americans might be struggling : Not at all. Firstly, we are here at The New York Times. Any non-American doing the puzzle shows at least some interest in the ongoings and culture history of the country. And in general an intellectual. Also educated. Also has general knowledge. Further, the 250th anniversary of USA is news in Europe and other parts of the world. Any news piece, especially in NYT, but not only, French and German language papers, too, along with the significance of the date is providing some background basic knowledge to what exactly is being celebrated. And the 13 colonies is the foundational(!) part of it. Technically it was a difficult puzzle but not more than it was to any US American.
@ani Add to that: The World Cup going on in the States, there is double coverage on all of this. I am just hoping that France gets to play on 14th of July.
@ani This excellent reply should be at the top of the Reader's Picks! I hope it gets more upvotes 😊
@ani Hear hear! I couldn’t agree more, and i certainly couldn’t have put it better.
@ani Unfortunately, the incredible amount of complaining from non-Americans today puts you squarely in the minority. Wish more had your attitude.
@ani “American” is the commonly accepted demonym for someone from the USA, no need to add the US in front. And yes, we’re aware there are two whole continents named after Mr. Vespucci.
Can we please fix the desktop inputs so that the ESC key goes into rebus mode? I'm not sure when it stopped working but today's puzzle felt really clunky having to mouse over to click the 'rebus' button, especially with so many
@Andrew I thought it was just me! Solving in Firefox on an up-to-date MacBook Air.
@Andrew Thank you! I thought I was doing something stupid. I HATE using the rebus button, and I want to know why ESC now seems to highlight the Settings button. Why in the world would it do that?
@Andrew Additionally, I notice that when I click on the pencil icon (web), I have to manually select a grid block before the pencil becomes active. It used to automatically switch modes as soon as you clicked on/off the pencil icon, but there is an extra click now. I have stopped using the pencil for the last few weeks and honestly I don't know why I haven't complained earlier.
@Andrew I just hit the insert key and, voila! Rebus mode.
@Andrew I love that this is the first comment, because it certainly occurred to me as I solved. I discovered this a few weeks ago doing an archive puzzle, and commented here. As I said then, the puzzle had 25 rebuses; I haven't gone to Settings 25 times in the entire time I've been solving online. If it ain't broke... don't go breakin' it.
It seems like the games have been crashing for the last week, with no apparent reason.
@Cathy mine as well! Fortunately it saves my progress, but it closes itself 2-3 times per puzzle now
@Cathy @Amanda This happened to me earlier this week, causing me such frustration that I literally yelled at the phone. 😅 To fix it, I opened the App Store app, looked up "NYT Games", and downloaded the latest update. Hope that helps!
@Cathy Update your app. That fixed the problem for me. (Although I have auto updates on, I still had to manually update.)
@Cathy Me too. Also, it no longer “grays out” the down clues after the word is complete. Tried deleting app and reinstalling. No help.
I often enjoy rebuses, but very rarely am I left opining that they were the easy part. This puzzle did just that, though. Some truly arcane fill today. Not sure it balanced out for me in the end.
@L I am oddly taken with how nicely you expressed your overall negative feelings about the puzzle. I sometimes feel the same (though not today) and you captured the feeling, especially with "not sure if it balanced out...".
What fun! Way more fun than…some other thing going on. I only noticed at the end that the colonies were embedded in revolutionary entries - impressive. Since Maine wasn’t an actual colony, here’s an extra clue: Process the framers created to alter the Constitution: A(ME)ND(ME)NT (in there twice because Maine is just that good!)
@Cat Lady Margaret in a way, Maine was there. It was just still a part of Massachusetts.
My nominee for puzzle of the year, in this very special year for our country. Great idea, superb execution.
@Wanda Also enjoyed the column and photo, an outstanding crossword day in all respects!
As of the last 2 or so years, one of the strongest possible signals that a good puzzle has been published (particularly during the second half of the week) is the presence of numerous comments calling the puzzle bad, griping about excessive trivia, and, if it’s got a theme that feels the least bit Thursday-ish and isn’t spoon-fed to the solver with “enter rebus here” overlays, describing the constructor as “lazy”. Today’s verdict: greqt little Thursday!
What a drag. I wish that I didn't feel compelled to solve these things just to keep a streak going. Tedious and tiresome.
@R.J. Smith I thought it was awful. Too tedious, indeed. Not fun.
@R.J. Smith So stop. Just stop. No one cares about your streak except you. There is no penalty for abandoning a streak. If you don't tell us, we'll never know. "Just walk away, René."
@R.J. Smith -- Actually, someone other than you DOES care about your streak. That someone is the NYT. That's because they hear the cash in the cash register jingling. If you have a streak to maintain, you're hooked. You can't stop subscribing. Ever. But if you solve the puzzle in the physical paper as I do, you won't know if you do or don't have a streak. No one will tell you. You won't think to ask. And you won't care. Trust me, you won't. Once you no longer have it waved in your face every day... While I'm addicted to the seductive and challenging Phrazle, which is not owned by the NYT, btw, I am rather indifferent to Wordle -- which I find pretty meh. I forget to do it about as often as I remember, and of course I do it online. So that every time I go to the site there's a line: "Add to Your One-Day Streak!" or "Add to Your Two-Day Streak!" Of course that's because I didn't remember to do it. I want to say: "I don't care about my streak because I don't especially care about this puzzle -- which is why I only have a One-Day or Two Day streak." OTOH, my streak on my beloved Phrazle is 1,225 -- not that I care about that aspect. What I really AM proud of is that I have gotten 717 answers in only two guesses.
Very similar to how SMACKED can mean both "kissed" and "whacked", I happened to notice recently that TURN ON can mean both "arouse" and "attack". There was a Vox YT video with the fabulous title "Young men turn on Donald Trump", which was in fact about how that cohort of voters are abandoning their support for the president... Excellent puzzle today. Even though I don't know an awful lot about US history, I managed to get through this with plenty of elbow grease and patience. Very satisfied, thanks David!
@Alex But “turn on him” and “turn him on” are not the same.
Fun fact. I can be in STATEN Island in 45 minutes from my apartment for about $3 in Citibike e-bike fees and the free ferry. Yesterday, I went for the fourth time in my life. I'm trying to hit up all five boroughs for the NYC World Cup Passport program and get all five souvenir cups. Yesterday was Staten Island. Had some excellent West African food at a place called Abey's. The most interesting part was the the ferry was absolutely packed with overseas tourists in soccer jerseys who, I assume, learned this was the best and cheapest way to see the Statue of Liberty
@Steven M. Interesting. Your comment, not Staten Island. Nobody has ever accused Staten Island of being interesting. I think I've been on the Staten Island ferry four times, and I'm a long time hinterlander.
@Steven M. Perhaps not, but my four trips all were. First trip was for a coworker's 60th (50th?) birthday party. Second trip was with my dad as part of my mission to visit every county and National Historic Landmark in NYS. He came along for Richmond County, and we had an excellent Sri Lankan lunch there art Lakrawuna before we visited the NHL sites. Third trip was after Pete Wells published his second 100 Best List and included a soul food restaurant (Shawnae's). A friend and I went a few days after the list came out. And then the fourth trip for the World Cup boroughs
This puzzle sucked. Luckily i’m from the US and i learned the colonies a zillion times in school, so that part i knew. but the fill was garbage. i understand the puzzle is constructed very ‘skillfully,’ so hats off and everything, but the puzzle was just frustrating and uninspiring to actually *play* - filled with loads of obscure names etc crossing each other. SABOTS crosses with BO[SC]S to make the U[SC]ENSUS; SKED with a K but CABALA with a C (and ECG with a C which is a tossup) a ‘conglomerate’ being an OLIO shoehorned in to force I[VA][NH]OE, ‘A _____’ being naturally a clue for PRIO[RI], no indication that roman numerals are used for [MD]CCC – completely lucky guess – etc etc etc Give me a fricking break. Sometimes a hard puzzle feels rewarding. 45 minutes of BS and a couple ‘check puzzles’ in on this one and i was just groaning. can’t remember hating a puzzle this much in ages. very skillful creation, very unpleasant and unsatisfying puzzle. just because you can, doesnt mean you should.
@Nick. I totally agree. This was an awful crossword. Anyone can remove letters to fit words in the spaces.
@Nick I can’t even get a foul ball off Ohtani. He’s an awful pitcher!
@Nick Skill issue. Took me 16 minUTes. Sorry, I MIght be mORe chARitable, but hostILe comMEnts like yours get my daNDer up.
@Nick agree 1000%. None of the clues or answers felt fun or interesting, and a lot of them were just straight-up trivia/Naticks. People are gushing about the theme and how “impressive” it is but honestly, yesterday’s puzzle was a FAR better example of both an impressive construction and superb fill. Today’s was an absolute mess of pub trivia self-importance. MDCCC with no indicator for Roman numerals genuinely infuriated me. Who is that fun for? I don’t want to meet that person, because they sound insufferable.
After helping my daughter with her homework on the American Revolution this year and recently seeing Hamilton for the first time, I enjoyed getting to put my no-longer-rusty knowledge of that time period to use tonight. Thanks for a fun puzzle!
What a timely theme. We the people! Even when those thirteen colonies banded together, it wasn't always as cool as the other side of the pillow. Well kids, this 250th anniversary helped me recall what I forgot back in elementary school. Take heart, fellow patriots, and lean back into the framework and the framers of this country. Most honest accounts of our early history will provide a small degree of comfort to the civic-minded citizenry. Our history shows us how this plays out. I mean, there's always been wheeling, dealing, and stepping over the little guy. The Constitution and Bill of Rights are sacred to some, and Monopoly money to others. Huh? You know that player who lands on Free Parking and collects all the dough, but a few hotels later, when you're flush with cash and hit that corner spot, they suddenly run for the rulebook? Politicos have been bending the rules since the stars were just sparks. Continental currency? Trade borders and commerce? Dred Scott? Exec. Order 9066? Bonus marchers and Hoovervilles, anyone? That being written, on most days our messy situation beats a totalitarian regime. What I believe is that greed and the pursuit of power are insignificant when you're camping by the riverbank, falling asleep to the rustling of wind through the trees. The country has survived 250 years, so let's hope it survive the ones ahead.
IVANHOE was delightful. Who knew two colonies were hiding there? I loved this puzzle.
@Susie Not just two but consecutive square rebuses which I don't remember seeing before. Yay.
At this point, I've barely scratched the surface of the Crossword, but this comment is about the Mini, in particular: 9A [Remove, as nails from a cat] DECLAW. I believe there is really no such thing as DECLAWing a cat. The surgical procedure really removes that last segment of the cat's "toe," down to the joint/knuckle. This procedure can be debilitating and has been banned in some places. I've seen the excellent film "The Paw Project" and you might like to see it as well. <a href="https://pluto.tv/us/on-demand/movies/5fe382b296b6e6001bf043be?utm_source=amazon&utm_medium=ossearch" target="_blank">https://pluto.tv/us/on-demand/movies/5fe382b296b6e6001bf043be?utm_source=amazon&utm_medium=ossearch</a> <a href="https://tubitv.com/movies/314062/the-paw-project" target="_blank">https://tubitv.com/movies/314062/the-paw-project</a> <a href="https://pawproject.org/americancatsmovie" target="_blank">https://pawproject.org/americancatsmovie</a>/ Here kitty, kitty. Let's keep the FELINELINE intact.
@lucky13 thank you I was thinking about this too! Horrible practice.
@lucky13 Thank you for posting this. If more people knew that it is an amputation, is extremely painful for the cat, and forever alters their gait, causing joint pain as kitty ages, it would be banned worldwide. It's truly barbaric and only continues because otherwise loving cat parents are unaware of the horrific nature of the surgery.
Oh, NYT… thank you. For the lack of circles, shaded squares, simplified clueing… I hate how little I recall from history class. So this should have been torture. But I married a guy who knows all things history, and he didn’t have to work today. Glorious. Nay, majestic. You may continue to take my Benjamin’s.
Why all the whining? Solved this one without help using only the prime-numbered horizontal clues. Took me four minutes and change … and I was solving on my watch. And the app crashed eleven times. Seriously, this was an amazing puzzle.
@Xword Junkie--I agree, I solved it in my record time which is much faster than anybody on this thread and didn't even have to get up for a pee break. Took me three minutes and seventeen seconds. My app crashed too, but I quickly invented and marketed a new one that does the job quite nicely. But that's just the way I roll. Seriously, I absolutely loved this puzzle.
Gotta say, I am not a fan of DECLAW in today’s mini. It’s far from removing nails as mentioned in the clue, it’s actually removing the first joint of the toe, and should be illegal.
@Robert Forbes It is illegal in Poland (and many other countries).
@Robert Forbes It is illegal in six us states so far.
@Robert Forbes omg yessss thank you, this made me absolutely FURIOUS!! my initial reaction was they should have at least acknowledged that declawing is now widely condemned as animal abuse instead of using such a sanitized/passive clue. but on second thought, i don’t think it should even be used as a puzzle word at all. god forbid someone who’s never heard of the procedure learns about it from a deceivingly neutral crossword clue and assumes it’s just a normal part of owning a cat. it’s the same cringe feeling i get whenever “sable” or “mink” are clued as luxury furs, completely glossing over the cruelty behind them. 💔
It's a word. People's insistence that a crossword puzzle must be ethically pure (according to THEIR personal ethics) is just weird to me.
For those using iOS, if you go to the App Store you can update the NYT Games app and that solved the crashing issue for me. Also, this was a fantastic puzzle and theme. I thoroughly enjoyed discovering the theme and working to complete the puzzle. It was a fair bit slower than my usual Thursday, but that’s totally fine for a very fun puzzle. Thanks!
@John E I just did and it moved the crossword back to it’s normal spot! Thank you!!!
Beautifully constructed and timed. Happy (almost) Birthday to us [she says wistfully from overseas].
@Sam Lyons Even though you are in furrin parts, there's plenty of us here that are glad to hear from you. 《wave》 Sgd. A Real Furriner
@Sam Lyons I was in London once for Independence Day back in the 90s. It was a little weird. We did get to see some fireworks though. I think they were sponsored by the US embassy.
@Sam Lyons I was in Spain for July 4 back in 2012. We were in Madrid and one of the plazas had American flags everywhere and they were selling hot dogs from carts along with bottles of Coke. We just happened upon it while walking around town and thought it was funny. We did enjoy it!!
@Sam Lyons Sam! Glad you're here in the forum! Hey, at least you'll avoid the latest disasters: maple cream, and brown sugar pancake oreo cookies. 😉
As I live and breath, this was one of my favorite rebus puzzles. An amazing feat! I only wished there'd been more than 13 colonies but alas, you can't change history. (Well I suppose people try!) Plus, fun clueing like the Monk's orderly life. And a test of my Roman Numeral knowledge retention! Made me HAPPY!😊
It's not often I feel moved to comment on a puzzle, but just couldn't let today's pass without a word of congratulations to the creator. Well done!
Very nicely done! Thank you for a top notch puzzle!
That was a great puzzle! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you for not marking the rebus squares. Plus refreshing a bunch of US history for me. Sean McGowan, your column today made me laugh out loud several times. Well done.
Terrible puzzle for anyone outside of America
@Dante Not at all. Firstly, we are here at The New York Times. Any non-American doing the puzzle shows at least some interest in the ongoings and culture history of the country. And in general an intellectual. Also educated. Also has general knowledge. Further, the 250th anniversary of USA is news in Europe and other parts of the world. Any news piece, especially NYT, along with the significance of the date is providing some background basic knowledge to what exactly is being celebrated. Technically it was a difficult puzzle but not more than it was to any US American.
@Dante, funny, we Melburnians were fine with it. Maybe because we complete it while drinking clearly superior coffee :)
@Dante wasn't that great for most of us inside America either, aside from divorced dads and octogenarians.
With all due respect to @ani, I gave up on this. I don’t know all 13 colonies, let alone their two letter abbreviations. I could see what the theme was and that there were multiple rebi; I did get COLO(NY), but the American history lesson would have been a slog rather than an enjoyable outing. I hope it was a blast for those who enjoyed it. I’ll see you on the other side.
@Helen Wright American history lesson? Remind me which country they were colonies of?
Oh, bravo, Mr. Kahn! My first trip through the clues yielded a lot of confusion — until the penny dropped. Very, very clever! As a respectful aside, if you’re tempted (or if you succumbed to the temptation) to drop a “I hate rebuses” screed here, please remember that some of us love them. As our patron saint Deb says, “Your mileage may vary.” It’s fine if you do you, just don’t expect the whole community to do you, and don’t belittle the creators for their construction choices. Rant, such as it is, over. Be kind, stay cool, and celebrate a society where (I think) we can still disagree respectfully.
@Barb Prillaman Also, creating a rebus isn’t “lazy construction.”
This puzzle was aMAzing. Yes, some of the trivia clues were rough; it took me longer than my Thursday average, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Brilliant construction and a lot of fun.
Great Thursday puzzle, loved it! Cool how John Hancock's name allows for a double rebus
_Absolutely_ a US ONLY puzzle! Figured out the theme (with rebi/rebuses) fairly early. Then had to Google what the "original 13" colonies were. Then had to search for what their USPS 2-letter codes are. NYT wants our (foreign) money, but doesn't give a *bleep* about foreign customers. Bleh.
@Grumpy haha, same! I did have to Google the original 13 colonies, but did know their 2 letter state codes. Trying to figure out where they needed to be inserted was a different story.
@Grumpy It’s our friggin’ 250th birthday, give us a break. When Canada’s 250, then give us a puzzle with Canadian postal codes for Provinces and Canadian history trivia, I won’t care. And as I see it a subscription is about a dollar a week so you lost about 15 cents on this puzzle. You can bill me.
@Grumpy It’s our frιggιn’ 250th birthday give us a break. When Canada’s 250, then give us a puzzle with Canadian postal codes for Provinces and Canadian history trivia, I won’t care. And as I see it a subscription is about a dollar a week so you lost about 15 cents on this puzzle. You can bill me. Honestly if you get to 250 I’ll do a puzzle with just trivia about your personal history too.
@Grumpy Come on, now...it is our 250th birthday. Can't you cut the NYT a little slack? And I resent the cut-throat aspects of capitalism which seems to be reaching a crisis stage, but the NYT is not Mobile Oil or Google. It is almost literally the last standing newspaper in America. (I don't count Bezos' Washington Post, or Murdoch's Wall Street Journal.)
@Grumpy Hey, I know the Canadian province codes. Admittedly, this is pretty rare for a U.S.er,
@Grumpy Meh. I figured it all out from Aus easily enough
@Grumpy And how many times have we had ESSO in a puzzle? It's never clued to remind us old timers that at one time we had ESSO, too.
The concept of doing a crossword puzzle published in an American publication & complaining when there’s American references is beyond me… on the week of the 250th anniversary of the country, no less. I mean this as gently as possible — get real.
I loved this puzzle and I’m so glad to see I’m not alone. This is what Thursdays are for. Difficult? Sure. But after a short time you should see that there are easy answers that almost fit, but are one letter too long. So, being a Thursday, think rebus. A lot of great aha moments.
Wowza MAN! I loved this puzzle so so so much, and history is not my strong suit. I genuinely thought that I might not finish, but once I caught the theme it helped immensely. So so so fun and so many clever and innovative clues. Congrats to the constructor for a doozy of a Thursday!!
What is a non-functioning firework? This puzzle. A dud