Oh, gorgeous grid design, never used before in the Times. And it's so clear that Barbara spends time with each clue. I love the misdirects and fuzziness – little things like [Choking cause, with "the"], and big things like [Makes a return that hits the net?]. Gorgeous answers, such as TAKES A BOW, PRESIDENTIAL RUN, CANARD, THROE, I KNOW THE FEELING, IMPULSE BUY, and MEWLS. Barbara, you are one of the handful of constructors whose skillfully-made creations shimmer with quality, with a high level of art that makes me shake my head in wonder. You do it every time, and I so look forward to what you come out with. Thank you for another splendid, splendid outing.
Lewis, Welcome back. I hope the creative endeavor was fruitful.
It's still going on; I may miss another day or two. But I had to comment on Barbara's puzzle today -- she's one of the very special ones.
"Hey, where's my stick to play this instrument?" "Oh, the previous musicians took a bow." ("They're always stringing me along!")
@Mike Don't worry, if it's a fiddle there's nothing to fret about.
@Mike Time to show your pluck. Perhaps you could pluck with a pick.
@Mike It's important to note that you always have the key to solve a clef hanger, and are known to have rosin to the challenge every time—you just take these cases in strad.
@Mike. Ah yes, those bass violence
@Mike I’ll stick my neck out and say I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. 🌼☮️
Where were the rebuses and what was the theme? After yesterday's comments, I KNOW THE FEELING. I am a theatre major and a veteran; I prefer SET DESIGN to MORTAR FIRE. Thank you, Barbara. SRSLY.
@Barry Ancona how did i not know you were a theatre major? Did you work on LES MIZ? ;)
Now that was one tough Friday puzzle that proceeded by fingerholds and toeholds but ultimately resolved itself. MY favorite kind of solve. It was a good deal longer than my Friday average, so the fun lasted longer. And there were plenty of cleverly deceptive clues that resisted for a long time. Looking forward to more puzzles from Barbara Lin!
Why has the crossword been shoved all the way to the bottom of the app?! This is the gold standard of puzzles.
I always enjoy Barbara Lin's late-week puzzles for the same reason I enjoy Robyn's. There's no arcane trivia to wrestle with -- just a fresh, new way of looking at well-known in-the-language words and phrases. The grids look effortless (although I'm sure they're not) -- with grid-spanners like PRESIDENTIAL RUN, PLEADS IGNORANCE, I KNOW THE FEELING and BIRDS OF PARADISE (what a lovely, curiosity-provoking clue for that entry!) smoothly incorporated. You can expect clever and original cluing too: I especially liked the clues for PRESIDENTIAL RUN; E-FILES; IMPULSE BUY and ETAS. (ETAS, which has been seen in like maybe 100,000 previous puzzles, is a reminder that even the most familiar entry can be clued in a way that's really different and really imaginative. A word to solvers about IM PEI. If it's a 5-letter architect, it's always IM PEI. No matter what the building is or where it is, it's always IM PEI. You're welcome. A really elegant Friday themeless. Today, I didn't miss Robyn Weintraub at at all.
"If it's a 5-letter architect, it's always IM PEI." Definite payment for product placement here, Nancy. It's never, ever been PELLI, which is just as easy to fit in a grid. His last name and profession only appeared once, in 1985, in a clue for the answer CESAR.
Wonderful puzzle, Barbara! Thanks, Barry, for SRSLY. Tried to leave a comment after last Sunday’s beauty (which I really “liked”) but was emu’d. Peace and good tidings to all.
@Puzzlemucker Bro. I don’t know you. But I missed you. I did a “safety check” on you just last week. Please post more. I really appreciate you
Lovely puzzle! Totally solvable Friday!
I don’t know how I got through this. Methodical solve working section by section, starting in NE and going counterclockwise. Thank goodness for connectors between sections. Excellent Friday. I hope folks didn’t find this too easy. But I’m 35000 ft in the air. Enjoying starlink. Solving while concurrently watching World Cup. And won’t admit to being drunk since the FAA? Might be reading this…I PLEADS IGNORANCE. I really impressed myself solving this. Again. I hope this isn’t considered easy. Thank you Barbara and editors, for a proper? Friday?
@Weak I will vote for not too easy. Not really the hardest, either, but a nice medium. Happy landings!
@Weak Not easy for me. Took 19% longer than average.
12D: BIRD POO PARASITE somehow seemed like a great answer for a minute there…
Nurse of 17 years here What's a KIT? How do we tote it?
@Mo Seventeen years? I had to go back to my childhood in the 1960s to answer this clue. Back in the day, it was common for little girls to play with a nurse's kit which included a toy stethoscope, thermometer, reflex hammer and if you were really lucky a cap! Kits are still carried by some nurses today.
A visiting nurse will tote a KIT. These days there may also be a laptop in it.
@Mo Have you been a traveling nurse? A home health care nurse?
@Mo I took KIT to be old slang for “uniform”—too much Agatha Christie, I guess.
@Mo I agree with Richard below in terms of a school nurse. That's my best guess.
@Mo Here’s the actual quote from Agatha Christie, “The Secret Adversary” (Tommy and Tuppence) which I just reread that brought it to mind: "I shall never forget when I was in hospital, and she came in in that ridiculous cap and apron! It was like a miracle to see the girl I loved turn up in a nurse's kit.”
SP, I'm not following. A nurse -- or a World Cup player -- might be said to wear a KIT but not to [tote] it.
@Mo A KIT is a word which got a clunky clue today.
This was a great puzzle. Thank you, Barbara!
Why does "Mode, for one" solve to STAT? It's not covered by the column and I don't get it. I know Google exists but please humor me: what's a NETIPOT? Is it that thing with a long spout that some people use to clear their nose? (The crossing of those two entries was my last square in this challengingly enjoyable solve)
@Andrzej "Mode" as in math terms, mean, mode, median which are statistics. Thus STAT
@Andrzej And oh yes, good guess about NETIPOTS - exactly right. I could never bring myself to try it (so far)... Congrats on your solve-- I had to go to the column to get answers....
@Andrzej I didn't get this either, and though I eventually guessed at the explanation, I am not impressed by it. I have only ever heard the abbreviation STAT used in the context of sports statistics, or at least referring to specific numbers like maybe polling stats. I have never seen the short form used to refer to a class of statistic in the mathematical field of statistics. Maybe statisticians use it this way, but if so that's pretty niche.
@Andrzej two things about NETIPOTs: 1) I think david letterman got Carol Burnett to do it on air (it clears sinuses, not noses). can't find it online; i'm guessing she asked to have it taken down and he said yes. 2) you have to use distilled water; people have died because they used tap water and introduced amoeba which went for the brain.
Not expecting quite so much Hoo-raw over today's puzzle --as compared to the 1015+ Comments that eventually accumulated by the time I checked last night. Goodness! This puzzle from Ms. Lin had quite a few sneaky/clever misdirects that I enjoyed being fooled/baffled/delighted by! My favorite was 45D, where I had TEM---A and kept wanting TEMPURA despite its obvious ill-fitting-ness...plus I had THOU at 59D (and took out MEWLS)... oh, what fun! I would have slapped my head when TEMPERA paints revealed themselves, but I can't afford the brain damage... Those were the 'art supplies' of childhood .... "Shelling" can be quite a bit more than MORTAR FIRE. There were always howitzers in the parades--much more impressive than stumpy little MORTARs. I wanted ARTILLERY ..but too long!
@Mean Old Lady Hmm, I've been to Fort McHenry several times, and the mortar shells the redcoats were dropping in were up to 200 pounders. I'd call that impressive.
Pack up your troubles in your old KIT swag bag, and SMILELINE, SMILELINE, SMILELINE. No SNITS here on my end, yes, SRSLY! Well, like others, I didn't really love HITOUT, but no snits! I did have several thises before thats, which I always like, especially when I think it's just going to be a standard crossword answer that we've seen before, but it turns out to be fresh! Kind of had a big hang up for a while in the lower left because on my initial run through, which yielded little, I put sugarbeet instead of BEETSUGAR. I somewhat recently wrote an impact report about sugar beets, so I was very happy to plunk that in there so early. I felt so smart I thought I would TAKESABOW After I had to rip it out in service of the crosses, and saw BEETSUGAR emerge, I had to laugh at myself! Read the clue better, old girl!! Anyhow, I thought it was a fun one with lots of good fresh, clever clues! I finished up just a hair or two slower than my average. Hmmm, maybe I'm MOLTing
@HeathieJ I always love your comments :-) Love your sense of humor. I really enjoyed this puzzle too, but it took me several sessions to get it together. Okay by me, as I don't worry about my time at all, just like to get to the finish line eventually.
A very smooth grid and solve. The shorter answers were a lot of gimmes for me so that took some of the excitement away from those excellent stacks (as well as some longer ones like TSETSE and DOOROPENER). Loved the original clue for EFILES and the fascinating observation about BIRDSOFPARADISE which led me astray for awhile because when I got BI I immediately tried BIO, and even when I got BIRDS couldn’t think how they could be FLORA. Interesting clue for ELLE Woods. The Legally Blonde movie is obviously more well known than the musical, but it was a great musical as well which I’ve seen several times, and the soundtrack is a hoot. This is the funniest song from it, apologies in advance if you are offended, it’s hysterical though, <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kqo1pX8DEY&ra=m" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kqo1pX8DEY&ra=m</a> Surprised we had TOTE as both an answer and part of a clue, thought that was frowned upon. The BIGEASY reminded me of an under-appreciated movie of the same name with Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin, where I first heard the term. Actually I guess it’s a Dennis Quaid kind of day today since he also starred in the movie remake of DOA as well. I’ve always enjoyed him as an actor. A fine puzzle, over a bit too soon for my taste but it still added a few SMILELINES to my day. Thanks, Barbara!
@SP I enjoyed Dennis Quaid as an actor, I guess. He never really did something that completely knocked me out, but he was ok. He played a good, dumb, hick, jock pilot in "The Right Stuff". But, I recently saw him on the same list as his brother, Randy, as a celebrity who supports...well you probably know where I'm going with this. I truly struggle to separate the art from the artist (if we could actually call Dennis or Randy Quaid an "artist"). I really have more problems with Clint Eastwood, whose talent I appreciate far more.
@SP omg why am I not surprised at your song link? ;) All we need now is a bend and snap.
"Surprised we had TOTE as both an answer and part of a clue, thought that was frowned upon." SP, Having an answer appear as part of *its own* clue is the no-no (except in support of a theme, of course). Or else the editors are happy to do quite a bit of frowning.
@SP If you like Dennis Quaid, let me enthusiastically recommend "Breaking Away". It's a coming-of-age movie set in the US Midwest, centered around a quartet of teenage boys, one of whom is Quaid. Just a month or two ago, I had the pleasure of getting the library DVD (waiting list was months long for a 50-year-old movie!) and watching a friend of mine fall in love with it. Enjoy.
I thought this was a very nice themeless Friday. I got the right side reasonably easily, but the left side gave me a bit more trouble. I tried hire for bring on board before LADE, which made it harder than it should have been to get those long downs.
@Marshall Walthew Hand up for HIRE also.
@Marshall Walthew Yup, I had HIRE, too. I think it was by intent. I've seen that identical clue for HIRE previously, I'm sure. Tricky, tricky puzzle makers.
@Marshall Walthew I typed in HIRE and immediately erased it. When I got to the downs I knew ELLE and PLEADS, so if was off to the races. (I entered PLEADSIGNORANT and was a letter short. Took me a while o arrive at "-NCE").
HIRE was one of my first entries, but I deleted it fairly soon. I liked the misdirection!
Another good workout. 19% slower than average mostly due to some of the answers at the bottom and on the right side of the puzzle. Do you know the feeling?
I don't need the constructor to mis-direct me, I can do that very well all on my own. [Shelling}? Sure that's pea related! [Makes a return . . .]? Oh, has to be tennis! Those and learning there is a Mammoth NHL team made that section quite the workout. Nice one. Thanks.
Wow!! East became really difficult!!! I was at that all day!! Great puzzle 👏👏
Excuse me while I soak my bruised and tired self in Epsom salts. Todays puzzle put up one hell of a fight. Took me all day to get the SE corner. I'm bushed.
Great Friday puzzle. I started off way too confident, thinking I was gonna smash my PB, but the bottom half had other ideas. Ended up finishing a minute under my Friday average. Anyone else, KNOWTHEFEELING?
TOTE is included both in a clue and as an answer. That’s typically not allowed, right?
@Ned I came here looking for a comment like this
@Ned Wrong. A word is generally not allowed in the answer for a clue, but there’s no rule about being in different clues and answers.
@Ned So it's not a rule, but more of a stylistic nicety. I did find it a bit inelegant, especially as I happened to select those two clues consecutively.
joel, You don't have to like it, but I'm sure it was intentional. The constructor was playing with us.
@Ned What Steve L said. PLUS all xword rules can be broken, and broken hard. I'm thinking of the terrific April 1 puzzle 6-ish years ago which would have had the clue "what you do to a tote bag" with the solution "tote." Except the clues were more elegant. One of the best puzzles I've ever done.
Nora, Almost every crossword "convention" has been broken in support of a theme.
I don't often love a Friday puzzle. For me, they're usually like The Three Bears, i.e. so easy that I finish them too quickly, or so hard that I struggle mightily to complete them, which I usually do after raging at the constructor or editors. This one was just right. A little tough for a brief moment when I filled in PLEADS INNOCENCE, but saw the error of my ways because BIG EASY was a gimme. Loved the spanners. Thanks for a great job, Barbara! I used to use a neti pot equivalent - a plastic squeeze bottle that comes in a kit with salt packets, to which I'd add either distilled or boiled, then cooled water. It was truly gross, though it did bring some relief. But the last time I used it, the result was a bloody nose, which I think I've only had two or three times in my life, so that was the end of that.
@Times Rita I will never, ever, EVER use a NETIPOT. I wonder if Dr. Spock was responsible for this: When we kids had bad colds, our mom would fill a sink with very warm-to-hot salt water and then force one's face down into the water, insisting that we "snook it up" ...sort of an "Introduction to Drowning." I guess it worked, but to this day I will not put my face in the water in a swimming pool.
Quite a fine Friday puzzle. "Makes a return that hits the net?" for EFILES was very clever, as was "Bass player" for WOOFER. The latter I got immediately, but the former required a lot of crosses! The long entries were all terrific, and the fill was very solid, with HITOUT being perhaps the only entry that seemed odd to me. Certainly familiar with "strike out" and "lash out", but not "hit out". But maybe that's just me. Took me a bit over 25 minutes, and this one seemed just right for a Friday. My sense was that there were far fewer "gimme" clues than we've had in recent late-week puzzles. If so, I certainly hope that continues.
@Xword Junkie I was put off by HITOUT also but agree you can “hit out at” someone, i would just never say it myself.
Excellent puzzle! This is what a Friday should be. My one nit is that TOTE appeared both as the answer to 20A and in the clue for 8D. I know there is no real rule against this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea. It's like microwaving fish in the office kitchen: technically it's not against the rules, but please don't.
@Katie That reminds me of an office I worked at in Long Beach CA. Very often the UPS guy would microwave his fish burrito, and take it with him. One of my coworkers would go ballistic, looking for the offending food. Admin staff and a few of us professionals knew it was the UPS guy but never spilled the beans. Heh heh heh.
Ugh. I failed this one with resounding thud. Had about a third or more filled in, several of which were wrong. Did not know YIPS and would have used THROES if enough spaces available. For "Greets" I had NOD, had HIRE instead of LADE, and so on. Can't criticize the author, this was one tough puzzle and very well (very cleverly) clued.
Pretty easy for a Friday. Really liked that there were no Natticks. Made it easier to solve for clues like Villanelle. Never heard the term before (TIL). I did have PLEADSINNOCENCE for a while but the crosses helped with this. Nice construction.
This one was a weird one for me. During the entire fill, I squarely felt like I wasn’t on the same wavelength as Barbara and the editors, yet I slid in well below my average Friday time. I guess it’s due to the long, attainable answers which made up most of the fill, leaving only a smattering of discordant holes. Good bit of struggle, satisfying finish. Thanks Barbara!
I needed this one after Thursday's debacle.
@redweather I think you meant "I needed an easier puzzle after one that was too hard for my tastes." There was no debacle.
Even after solving, I was baffled by 48D. So many random expressions and redundant like this nowadays. That's language, I guess.
@Jeff Z Yes, that one seemed odd to me as well.
@Jeff Z, I'd never heard that expression either, but it is in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, so some lexicographer must have found that it has enough usage somewhere!
@Jeff Z Not a published creator myself, but it seems to me that HITOUT was likely one of the maker's last efforts, trying to finish a nice puzzle but was left with an awkward phrase. I'm sure that happens, and when it does, the clue should be more helpful. Perhaps "Homer that exits the ballpark" because we all yearn for more sports-related material. Ahem.
What a fabulous puzzle. First run was looking bleak, then it all fell into place in a very satisfying manner. Well done.
Wonderful Friday. Thank you Barbara (and the editors).
12D for clue and answer of the year.
Oh I could not disagree more with 9D ""Not many sounds in life, and I include all urban and all rural sounds, exceed in interest a knock at the door" I detest knocks at the door. I am not a misanthrope, I just don't want solicitors for some cause that I don't support trying to persuade me that my mortal soul is on the line if I don't take a brochure; and I don't want my actual friends to just drop by in this era of a quick prior text to establish a visit. For the causes I do support, I don't prefer someone at the door to remind me. (Having myself gone door to door for causes, I'm aware that would-be donors don't like any approach: "don't call me! But also, don't write me. And don't knock on my door!" I am not quite hoist on my own petard, because I make my list of causes and affirmatively seek them out rather than needing to be asked.) This has given rise to a gentle controversy in my own household. I will often simply ignore a knock at the door. Even if the people on the other side can see that I am in the house. I don't bother looking up if I don't feel like talking to the visitors. Leave me alone, I'm doing the crossword puzzle. Members of my household say that I am being rude to not answer the door. I reply in kind that it's my house, and I have a right not to answer the door or acknowledge the banging. Weigh in if you like.
@Asher B. You are my favorite curmudgeon here. I didn’t knock prior to offering this praise, sorry about that.
@Asher B. I would imagine it was more true when he wrote it in 1823 than it is now.
@Asher B. I'm surprised your household thinks you're the rude one in this situation. I think you're fully justified. If someone knocks on my door, it's almost always a salesperson. I'll give them a quick no and close the door while they're still trying to talk to me. Your housemates would probably find that rude, too, but the fact is that they're not entitled to an iota of your time.
@Asher B. I couldn't agree with you more. Who knows what's going on behind my door? Maybe I'm not in the mood for company, maybe I'm "busy", maybe I'm otherwise engaged or not dressed, or sleeping, or putting a cake in the oven. Like you, I have no problem with completely ignoring a knock. Let them wonder. Call, email, bump into me on the street, but do not knock on my door!
@Asher B. I imagine a knock on the door in early 19th century England had much different implications than one today.
@Asher B. Though I acknowledge that times are different from when that was written, I totally agree with you here! What I think is rude is dropping by unexpectedly. I can assure you I am never prepared for company unless I know they are coming, and I just happen to really love company! But please, let me prepare. For the last many years, we live in a secure building, so it's not as much of a hassle as when we used to live in a house but I won't open the door to a knock unless I'm expecting it. I remember one time, when we still lived in the house, I was at the sink, which had a window overlooking the door and driveway area. And someone knocked. I could see it was a van man trying to sell meat, which, well, heck no! I'm not buying your van meat! Anyhow, the guy looked up and saw me standing there and pointed to the door. I just shook my head and waved goodbye. My husband comes from a culture that is very much about the drop in! We go back to his origins once a year and after all of these years going, I still struggle to abide the drop in... But there it's not rude at all, so what are you going to do!?
@Asher B. I worked night shift for almost ten years. You did not want to be the guy who woke me up to talk about window replacement, because I was going to chew your face off. Did the postman knock on your door in ELIA's day? You certainly didn't want the iceman to leave his delivery on your doorstep.
@Asher B. Usually anyone I know will text before they come to the door. The last time someone actually knocked, I was taking a soak in the tub, so ignored it. The knock came again and again, so finally I wrapped myself in a towel, took a peek out of the window, and saw a police uniform. Opening the door slightly, it turned out the disturbance call came from a house number that does not exist on our street, so I suggested she check a similarly named street in our town. As she turned to leave, I said, "Thank goodness you were a woman." She said, "Well now you can get back to, um, whatever it was that you were doing." WHAT DID SHE THINK I WAS DOING?
@Asher B. One of the big benefits if being nearly deaf LOL
@Asher B. I think he just meant that it gets your attention. And although I too detest knocks at the door, they sure do get my attention, as well as the attention of the cat, who sits expectantly, awaiting new fans.
A bar, bar, bar, bar, Barbara Lin Bar, bar, bar, bar, Barbara Lin Barbara Lin Oops, sorry. I listened to a lot of Beach Boy songs yesterday and got carried away. Great puzzle with very entertaining clues. WOOFER for [Bass player] [Makes a return that hits the net?] for EFILES There were more, but my earlier comment never posted and I can't remember what they were.
In my many years of doing crosswords this ranks amongst my least favorite. Just a joyless set of dubious stretches and tiresome groaners.
Spent way too much time figuring out if I was spelling "philtrum" wrong."
@Brady Hah. I, too, thought "nasolabial fold" was likely referring to the philtrum. Thankfully the word "philtrum" eluded me and I had to rely on the crosses which quickly straightened me out.
poem made from words in today’s crossword puzzle <br> a/ i may go out the way of the volcano the stone the root tell me are you asleep? d/ really, really close but not you too? who knew the sounds of sleeping a/ know the feeling
@Peter Valentine Volcano+stone+root sounds like an incantation. Georgeous.
Such a terrific puzzle. Thanks Barbara Lin, and thanks also for sticking with the concept for all those years. And thanks, Sean McGowan for a great Wordplay column. I especially enjoyed the video you linked of all the DAPS. Have to remember to show it to my husband, as he's the one who watches sports all the time, and sports clues are usually the hardest for me. The puzzle wasn't easy for me, but it was a lot of fun and gave me many aha moments. (Oh, so that's what a nasolabial fold is!!!) I did have some look-ups (my rules) but not as many as I thought there would be when I started earlier this morning. Often it was the umpteenth time I reread the clue at looked at the missing letters that the word or phrase or shortening came to me. Such a great feeling. I finished yesterday's puzzle late at night and found it really tough. I admired it a lot though, and realized my aged brain doesn't remember much about U.S. history and geography as I'd like.
@Shari Coats Thanks for reading and I'm glad you liked the video! And thanks for sharing your solve — great point about clues often needing several reads before the answer arrives. And I'm always glad to hear when solvers set their own rules about lookups. As Will Shortz says, it's your puzzle.
I always thought it was seemy, not seamy. Huh, learned something today.
I had POEt not POEM for the longest time, and I just wanted taRE to be 61D "Nothing But". Kept modifying the I KNOW THE FEELING to force it in, but finally backed up and completed. Also I know some song in the 1970s involving a Strawberry and a number was performed by the... "Brothers X" for 57D. BEET SUGAR came easy somehow, so... "Brothers jamB" ? "Brothers bomB" ? Groaned with GOATEE finally jumped out (after putting the puzzle away for an hour or so) and GIBB. The BeeGees for goodness sakes. Then found "Strawberry Letter 23" by the Brothers Johnson, and fell down the rabbit hole of Shuggie Otis, Johnny Otis, Hank Ballard, Esther Phillips... kinda brought me back to why I do these puzzles in the first place. They are stream of consciousness stimulators for me. I'd have never even thought of Strawberry Letter 23 for maybe the rest of my life without this puzzle. I had been getting a bit oppressed by maintaining my streak lately. Nice reminder that there is some salutary brain reorganization that these puzzles stimulate.
App issues are making this almost unplayable. I hope they fix it soon.
@Dave Robeson try upgrading your NYT Games App. That should fix it.
For me that was much more enjoyable than yesterday. Nice and chewy but doable. Annoyingly I was held up the longest with TEMPERA, I was so sure the second E should be a u that I discounted it. Also made SMOG and POEM invisible, despite being certain I knew what they should be. Doh. Added a good 10 mins to my solve time, I was so sure I ‘knew’ what I was talking about. That’ll learn me. I also stuck with beards over GOATEE for too long. NETIPOT. Tried it once, felt like being waterboarded. Never again.
@Helen Wright TEMPuRA made me laugh. I've had convictions like that a few times, too.
Good, tough Friday puzzle, for this solver. The East proved to be the last to fall. NETI POT! I tried a NETI POT...once. It was around the same time as the atrocities at Abu Ghraib were hitting the news, and my NETI POT experience felt like self-imposed water boarding. A friend told me that I was doing it wrong, and I'm sure that she was right, but... Never again!
@The X-Phile Re NETIPOT. That’s exactly how I described it too. Absolutely vile, never to be repeated.
@The X-Phile The full neti pot experience sounds awful and dangerous. You do not have to get water up and through your sinuses though. I wouldn't.
Great Friday puzzle: Seemed opaque at first, took a while, but figured everything out with no lookups or hints!! NETIPOT was one of my first entries, but then I doubted myself. YIPS was almost last entry to fall into place. Fun!
@CLN I had sudafed instead of NETIPOT and it really slowed me down. Good job getting it right the first time through!
Fell asleep with about half a grid after 25 minutes or so last night. Got back to it with fresh eyes this morning and still struggled, but less so. Good puzzle, never felt uncertain about anything, just a slow grind to figure it all out
Typical tough Friday for me, but an enjoyable workout. Just had to work the crosses and ponder and things eventually fell together. And... two puzzle finds today. Both with somewhat similar tricks. First one a Sunday from December 6, 2009 by Louis Sabin with the title: "Plus Factor." Some theme answers in that one: SLIGHTFINGERED KNIGHTMARE WRIGHTHOOK TALLSTARTEAM TEAWAGON BLANDLORDS PLEADINGLADIES Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=9/23/1990&h=124a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=9/23/1990&h=124a</a> I'll put the other puzzle in a reply. ...
@Rich in Atlanta First a correction - the above puzzle by Louis Sabin was from 1990. Anyway - the other puzzle: December 6, 2009 by Patrick Berry with the title: "Double Break Point." Some theme answers in that one: CHANGINGGROOMS ASSAULTTRIFLES NEWWAGER LABBRATS TROOPPLEADERS CARPENTERRANTS MIXEDDEMOTIONS Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=12/6/2009&h=60a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=12/6/2009&h=60a</a> ....