A leisurely puzzle and lucky for me. A Bourne movie in the background and fireworks booming outside. I don't keep time anymore, but it was pretty quick for a Saturday. Tomorrow is our country's 250th, and next month is my 92nd. I don't quite know how to think about that and don't relate to it much.
@dutchiris Well age is only a number and if you are still going strong doing crosswords you’re ahead of the game.
@dutchiris My father was born in 1902. That means that between us we've lived through 124 years or almost half of our nation's history. Yikes! Sobering to think about that and the youth of our Republic.
@dutchiris Well... I am appropriately - 76. So.... trombones. And next year I'll be Sunset Strip. ....
@dutchiris Happy Birthday next month! I'd send a card but I'll probably forget...
@dutchiris Have a great and Happy Birthday celebration. How long have you been doing the Times XWords? What do you think of all the changes in the last couple of decades?
This may offend some, but be that as it may. If you comment, ‘the puzzle was too easy—I only needed X look-ups’ then you didn’t find the puzzle easy—you found it unsolvable. Yes, some of those look ups will be trivia, to be fair, but trivia is part of crosswords. Perhaps I’m just grumpy because this took me a respectable 40 minutes. They were enjoyable minutes, nonetheless.
@spurious, your comment doesn't offend me; I find it to be an honest assessment! Today took me less than half the time as yesterday; no lookups on either day. Today was nearly ten minutes under my average. I feel like today rolled right into my wheelhouse, and yesterday really challenged me! YMMV, of course.
@spurious I started to make the same comment yesterday but I simply wasn’t grumpy enough. Thank you for saying it.
@spurious I usually assume that people who complain about a puzzle being too easy haven't done any look-ups or gotten any other outside help. Am I wrong? If so, I would agree with what you say.
Oh, oh, oh...very tricky. I technically got it, but I really didn't. Let me explain. I finished the puzzle with a lot of confidence, but got the "Almost" screen. I flyspecked and flyspecked and flyspecked and could not find the error. Eventually I had to look up 6D. That's when I found out that it was SCHEMA, which I have heard of and have used quite often in database design, instead of SCHEMe. TARANA/SCHEMA cross. That, I feel, was pretty tough. So for my money this puzzle was *not* easy, because I needed a lookup. And virtually the entire reason I needed a lookup was because the proper name crossing a word which could really end in an E or an A. Bummer. I want my money back. The editors were terrible. The constructor was terrible. Everybody who got this is terrible. The world is terrible. Space is terrible. Saturn is terrible. ANDROMEDA is terrible. Excuse me while I go shoot a TAPIR or two. This comment section is going to be terrible, because I'm going to throw a fit over and over. 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 Everybody hates me. I'm going to go eat some worms.
@Francis same but I was stumped on the artist as well and made a wrong guess
@Francis TARANA was my only cold lookup. And that was a really hard corner. But SCHEME/A was not difficult. SCHEME is a devious ploy, only a SCHEMA could be a framework.
@Francis You made me laugh! Thanks! Lucky for me I knew SCHEMA and got TARANA with crossing entries. And this _is_ a Saturday, meant to be tricky But I agree that often arbitrary proper names / trademarks (impossible for non USians, we just don't know who's a big name in such-and-such a field) / sports teams / leagues etc makes lookups necessary and spoil the intellectual achievement of solving a tricky puzzle by using linguistic insights. Happy 4th of July!
@Francis I'm trying to be funny. But I actually do think that SCHEMA/TARANA was legitimately a deadly crossing. It is true that "schema" and "scheme" are not quite the same things, but that's the kind of distinction that is generally met with "this is a puzzle, not a dictionary". And that is entirely the correct response. It is a puzzle, and shades of meaning are not always maintained. So it really comes down to whether or not you know the spelling of the persons name. Moreover both two spellings are, I think, quite justifiable. So tonight I got caught. Big deal. I've escaped other nights when people commented having tripped up on a cross and I thought "Wow, I can easily see myself going the same way." Tonight it happened to me. And I want all of you to feel very, very sorry for my ruined night.
@Francis I haven't laughed so hard in way too long. Thank you!!
@Francis P. S. Please excuse the one last PS, but I wanted to assure everyone that no TAPIRS were harmed in the making of this little piece of immature sarcasm.
@Francis Please note: No TAPIRS were harmed in the making of this thread.
@Francis inquiring minds want to know, do you prefer the long thin slimy worms, the short fat juicy worms, or the itsy bitsy fuzzy wuzzy worms? (I’m glad the TAPIRs are okay though!)
@Francis Bravo! A three-octave, coloratura complaint with trills and ormamentation. I'm in awe.
You know how sometimes a whole row tells a little story? That happened to me in the bottom rows. ESTEE PALM PILOT: Ms. Lauder was ahead of her time, in offering a special gold branded one for sale. STERN CREAM SODA: it cuts way back on the sugar, vanilla, and fizz. It’s plain water. TERSE STONE TOOL: Barry’s trusty chisel has failed to enter more than three answers; he had to finish up with a pencil.
@Cat Lady Margaret And the PALM PILOT's case opens up on the backside into a compact with mirror and lip gloss.
@Cat Lady Margaret -- Had I read your STERN CREAM SODA take while drinking a glass of it, some would have flown out of my nose. You are a treasure!
Happy Fourth of July to all you American solvers! Wishing you a great CCL! I must say, i sometimes joke about the seniority of the NYT solvers, and i can’t help but notice that many of these clues would have stumped our children’s generation: What’s a fax? What’s a PDA? What’s a beatnik? Dear Mr Ayas, you are spoiling us! Medieval Latin hymns, PresidentTruman, Maureen O’Hara and Oscar Wilde hit us right in the demographic sweet spot. But ending on STONE TOOL? Steady on, Mr Ayas, sir! Senior, elderly, geriatric, that’s us! Now, you want to go Paleolithic? Noli me tangere! Get thee to the Bridge club!
I was pretty pleased with myself because even though I found this one challenging, I managed to finish it. Not quickly, but with no lookups and minimal changes. All while balancing the needs of two noise-phobic dogs in full firework panic mode. (A mere warmup for tomorrow, I fear.) And then I come here to a chorus of “too easy”s. “Like a Tuesday!” “Personal best!” “Solved it with my eyes closed!” (OK, I made the last one up, but still.) Knock it off, gloaters. You’re killing my good vibes.
@Heidi I have the same feeling. This was not at all easy for me; it ended up taking me almost exactly my average Saturday time. Then I come to the comments and see that it should’ve taken me no time at all. My mistake is often coming to this thread and reading the comments, actually.
@Heidi This happens all the time. I think it has the effect of pushing newer people away, but that's just a guess.
It's also worth pointing out that one of the people posting about how incredibly easy it was is the same person who was constantly complaining about how there was too much they didn't know, then flounced and left the comments in a huff for a few days after being called out for posting the same thing every day. That was less than two weeks ago, and now they're posting about how easy it is. True story. So keep that in mind when you read these comments about how easy they found it. There are also a few people who have decreed that there is a very narrow way you can speak negatively about a puzzle, and almost immediately challenge anyone who criticizes the puzzle in a different way. Whole lotta gatekeeping goin' on. :)
@Heidi Your made up comment made me wonder: Is there such a thing as a braille crossword puzzle? Or any kind of word puzzle? I have no idea how it could be done but unsighted people can do amazing things I can only wonder at.
@Heidi For the record I at least recognize your post was meant to be good natured and mostly tongue in cheek.
I like this one a lot. But I think there was a lot of wheelhouse in it for me. Everything fell pretty quickly. I struggled a tad with the northwest. Objectively I hope people find it a good Saturday, but I get a sense people will consider Friday’s puzzle a bit harder. The long entries, specifically, the down, long entries,were fun and life imitates art was amazing. I feel like so many different knowledge bases were required to get this puzzle quickly so I feel like it was a pretty gratifying solve for me personally but I am curious to see of course what the mob thinks about this puzzle. In any case. Kareem. I am a fan. Thank you
@Weak Whoa. I’m first? Wow. I solved this on my phone, while literally walking in a park. Right at puzzle drop. So I guess it really was a “walk in the park” for me. I know that sounds arrogant, but I needed to make my bit work. Apologies.
Weak, Yes, you were first! I liked this one too, but I suspect it will get a bit of pushback for the proper nouns (which must have been in your wheelhouse but won't be for others). Friday's puzzle had very few proper nouns. I agree that Kareem has done a fine job pulling things from everywhere, which was fun for you and for me but may not play in Peoria. (Solved with a rock instrument)
A fun grid that didn’t put up much resistance to me (and apparently others)—it didn’t hurt that BACKDRAFT, ANDROMEDA and GOLDENCALF were gimmes to me as clued. Definitely a solid grid though without a lot of glue, and I enjoyed learning the Oscar Wilde quote. Coincidentally, I just finished watching Olivia Wilde’s latest fantastic movie “The Invite” which I highly recommend, and also began with an Oscar Wilde quote: "One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry." I guess I’m too hung up on Jane Austen and E.M. Forster, but I connect the Grand Tour to the long trip to the continent that young rich Britishers always used to take as a rite of passage. Happy to learn it’s also a BIKERACE. Do am I to understand TRUMAN married his Bess friend? Not much else struck me today. Happy Birthday America; and happy birthday Rasa. If by tomorrow you mean Sunday, then we share a birthday, so astrologically speaking that must make you pretty darn cool.
Just when I was patting myself on the back for my first Saturday in forever without a single look up, I read it was ‘too easy for Saturday’. Ah well, I enjoyed it anyway. I found it just crunchy enough to make me pause; OCEANARIA/TARANA being one set of unknowns, but plugging away at the crossings gave me my reward. I’m chuffed I got the galaxy as Space isn’t generally my forte. Love the TELEX reminder. In one of my first office jobs in the late 70’s, telexing overseas customers was one of my roles. It was becoming obsolete even then, so was banished to an otherwise unused floor in a very old building. In the Winter I needed fingerless gloves to type with, as they didn’t bother to heat that floor. There was also a massive Gastetner (not sure if I’ve spelled that properly) printer up there. I wasn’t trusted to operate that. Just as well as it was the size of a small car and I would probably have just covered myself in ink. Fortunately the company had invested in a newfangled machine called the fax. Kids today eh? Microchips with planetary sized intelligence abilities in the palm of their hands that they take for granted. Take care in the heat for those under the heat dome. Having just emerged on the other side from one and apparently about to slip under another next week, I feel for you. Not too much though, as I assume you all have a/c, you lucky things. Oh and Happy 4th July, from a gracious loser.
@Helen Wright I too was a bit surprised at how far I got with a Saturday puzzle before using other resources. My personal puzzle rules are always to do some "research" if I need to, so having some look-ups is okay by me. I was happy to see that I got so much fill in on my own, and only had a handful of things to check on. Crosses helped a lot on this one. Thanks for the good wishes on our 4th of July holiday,. I lived in your wonderful country with my husband and 2 daughters for 5 delightful years and it was just delightful. Our youngest daughter was born in London a few months before we had to head home. We have so many good memories of that experience.
Sweet looking grid design, with its four chunky corners and four lightning bolts, a design never before seen in the Times puzzle. Also, for the first time are seven debut answers. Debuts always add freshness, but they don’t always add interest. However, IMO, these do: BACKDRAFT, BIKERACE, CHILI PASTE, GOD HELP ME, LIFE IMITATES ART, SEX ED CLASS, TARANA. My senses loved remembering the taste and aroma of CREAM SODA, and flashing on what the quirky, beautiful TAPIR looks like. Tapirs make me smile. Here’s another Wilde quote that I like: “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.” Kareem, your puzzle brought me mucho joy. Thank you so much for making it!
@Lewis I knew you'd be able to post an upbeat review... I'm afraid you lost me at "beautiful TAPIR," but I hope your ophthalmologist can be of help. We can disagree and remain friends... However, Oscar Wilde would NEVER have made that error in punctuation.
@Lewis I'm sorry but Wilde never said that. It's acquired a zombie attribution on the internet but it's never sourced – because it doesn't exist.
["Re dell'abisso" in an all-whale production of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Un Ballo in Maschera, say] OCEAN ARIA (It ain't over till the humpback whale sings.)
a.a., Who is conducting the orcastra?
@aa, @BA, et alii-- Ya know, I'm lovin' this thread! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbgmtCeO6zM&list=RDfbgmtCeO6zM&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbgmtCeO6zM&list=RDfbgmtCeO6zM&start_radio=1</a>
From The Guardian - 48 photographs that capture America at 250: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/04/america-250-anniversary-photos-civil-rights-moon-landing-9-11-gold-rush?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/04/america-250-anniversary-photos-civil-rights-moon-landing-9-11-gold-rush?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other</a>
@Andrzej, thank you for the link. The photos are incredible. I'm in France at the moment, and enjoying doing my puzzles "early"! I rarely see the first comments as I don't ever have time to read them all when there are already hundreds on the list!
@Andrzej The Guardian has the best U.S. coverage. Sorry NYT!
@Andrzej Thank you, Andrzej. Stunning photographs, all except the one from 2025; don't need to see that or be reminded. I hope the photo titled The Scourged Back is still on display. It needs to be a reminder for all.
This is a very nice birthday present, Andrzej. [curtsies]
@Andrzej Thank you for sharing this article. It's so important for us to be reminded of the truth. Especially these days!
@Andrzej Thanks, Andrzej! So many of these are iconic photos already burned into my memory. But how about this list Uber one photo: “ Almost a million people passed through the Ellis Island immigration processing centre in 1905, and roughly 20% were detained: stowaways, unaccompanied women, anarchists, Bolsheviks, criminals …” Detained for being female and unaccompanied.
@Andrzej *under* And that product placement was brought to you by autocorrect. Just the Waymo it is these days.
@Andrzej Thank you for posting that link, Andrej! While I think that is a mostly accurate picture of US history, I think it was missing some of our positive history - the way we come together and help one another in disaster and the joy, kindness, and welcoming nature of many Americans. I don’t want to whitewash our history of violence, oppression, excess, and division. We can’t change that or bury it. But our history also includes entrepreneurship, hard work, celebration, generosity, and kindness. That is what I want to celebrate today! 🇺🇸
Some of you might be interested in this transcript or the actual podcast from the Ezra Klein show. I'm a huge fan of Bryan Stevenson I thought this was a really good reflection of this country. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/03/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-bryan-stevenson.html?unlocked_article_code=1.u1A.hJEA.3FNrtyG1b4An&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/03/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-bryan-stevenson.html?unlocked_article_code=1.u1A.hJEA.3FNrtyG1b4An&smid=url-share</a>
@Andrzej Thank you, Andrzej. These underscore the contemplative nature of this day.
Elysia! Oceanaria! All those wonderful neuter plurals! Mr. Ayas, I raise a Cream Sodum in your honor! Happy 250, all!
@Bill And yet SCHEMA is singular, so correct as clued.
You know those bar fights where everyone keeps whacking each other with their hats? CAPBATTLES? That's gotta be a thing, somewhere ... just not in today's grid 😀 Thanks for the fun crossword, Kareem!
@MP Rogers I don’t know much about bars, so I thought that some nights are Trivia Nights and other nights are tAPBATTLE Nights. :-D
@MP Rogers bottle caps made sense to me especially since I know nothing about game of thrones
@MP Rogers I had TAB BATTLES for quite a while.. you know, who's gonna pay? Went well with BIFF for 3D. Any time it's Game of Thrones I go straight to look-up though maybe since I had __BB I should have figured out 1D.
A nice Tuesday puzzle - I finished in less than 12 minutes, which is pretty much my Tuesday average. How did this run on Saturday?
@Andrzej because it was fun
@Andrzej You beat me by three minutes, and English is my first language! Nicely done.
@Andrzej I literally finished it faster than the Monday puzzle this week.
TAPIRS gives me a chance to post a link to “Young Tapir” by one of my favorite living artists, Kyoko Imazu, an artist who imitates and pays loving respect to life: <a href="https://kyokoimazu.com/artwork/2806800-Young%20Malay%20Tapir.html" target="_blank">https://kyokoimazu.com/artwork/2806800-Young%20Malay%20Tapir.html</a> As @vaer might say, any puzzle with CREAM SODA is okay by me. Happy 4th to those of you who observe.
@Puzzlemucker When I saw your post yesterday, I thought to myself What was the name of that artist that P'mucker always champions? And here you are again with the answer. May the Fourth be with you.
PM as I live and breathe! [beams] I just stopped by with birthday wishes and here you are. Long time no see, but look at us: We don’t look a day over 250.
@Puzzlemucker It was so wild to run into you last night! I know we're not supposed to talk about it, but I don't think I'm giving anything away when I say I was shocked when Adam Sandler started officiating. Come by more often, please.
I was hoping that GOD would HELP "us" but could not think of a SODA that ended in a "u". Admire our constructor's persistence. [Another name for syncronized swimming.] INDEEPENDDANCE
I just had to drop a comment in here, as this is the first time I've ever solved the puzzle at drop time - I usually go to bed at 9:00. But everyone's shooting off fireworks tonight, so I'm not going to bother trying to sleep. It was a pretty easy puzzle for me, just hit the groove and sailed right through it I guess. The fireworks are dying down, so I guess I'll go to bed. Good night!
Fun Saturday today. I get Saturdays maybe a third of the time and got it today. I enjoyed the spanner LIFE IMITATES ART a lot. Southeast corner with CREAM SODA, PALM PILOT, SOULMATE was also fun. Northwest was the toughest to me. Just because I haven't heard of TARANA Burke or OCEANARIA, or the movie BACKDRAFT and felt BIKE RACE and RAP BATTLE were especially indirect clues. Overall a lot of very good cluing, the sort of clues that make no sense at first then make sense when you see them in a different light.
@Chris I felt comfortable with the A in oceanarium (singular of oceanaria) despite having never heard it before because it is like planetarium. Tarana Burke was impossible to know if you had never heard of that person before.
Pedantry requires to note that there are no major or minor galaxies. You can have dwarfs, ultracompact dwarfs, elliptical, spiral, lenticular, barred, starbursts, BCGs, … and many others but not major ones. cluing ANDROMEDA as our nearest neighbour that isn’t named after Magellan would have been better. The clue is wrong — waiting for the usual suspects to excuse the editing and/or proofreading teams, — by saying that Wikipedia describes it do. :) Nice puzzle. I don’t get the fuss about SCHEMA crossed with a proper name. Perfectly legal misdirection. Happy Birthday US Americans. Hope you restore yourselves. A restorative period of calm democracy may help.
@Ιασων Thank you for your kind wish. How we get there is another matter entirely. Mark
@Ιασων Perhaps the fuss is that SCHEMe is also a plausible across answer, making it difficult to make a correct guess at TARANA or TARANe—neither seems more obvious.
@Ιασων I hope we do too! I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using the term “major” informally. And if we want to be pedantic, there are other galaxies that are not the Large or Small Magellanic Cloud and are closer to us than Andromeda, such as Bernard’s Galaxy or Leo I.
Excuse me for bringing up this topic for the billionth time, but I think this puzzle is a great example of the problems of assigning a global difficulty to a puzzle. Matt from "Spring Hill" and Andrzej from ... well, Andrzej doesn't need any introduction, both considered this is very easy puzzle. Quarter hour solve. Fine, I really have no argument with that. Had I know Tarana Burke, which is on me that I didn't, but if I had....or....if I decided to do a lookup there because it's dead simple with Google, then I would have gone on and though the puzzle was really quite easy. But I didn't so I had an error I would never find. So the same puzzle, for me it's a monster streak-ender, for them it was a Wednesday stroll in the park.
@Francis I think there’s two ways to look at it. A puzzle can be otherwise easy but still have a Natick for you at the end that can lengthen your time, or the whole puzzle can be challenging. So the question is were it not for that one bit of trivia would you have found this puzzle unusually easy or not?
Francis, "Global" difficulty does not mean "universal" difficulty. This puzzle seems to have been objectively easier than a usual Saturday for a majority of solvers ... regardless of what they do to achieve a solve. Any one person missing one letter in the grid still fits within the global description. <a href="https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2026-07-04" target="_blank">https://xwstats.com/puzzles/2026-07-04</a>
@Francis I got TARANA on the crosses. But I think it pointless to assign any one person the honor of a mention. The whole point of "MeToo" was that SO very MANY of us had that experience (and often more than once.)
@Francis I think it was Weak that filled this out while taking a stroll in the park.... 😏
@Francis I really think Barry hit the nail square on the head. And again it shows, in my opinion, how difficult it is to rate a puzzle's difficulty. We first have to define difficult. Is a puzzle never easier than its most difficult cross? Or is the difficulty some kind of "average" difficulty of all the entries? When posed in this way, I find this easy puzzle to have been impossible. Feels like a paradox until we start to really think about the terms we're using. When I posed the shamelessly name Francis Conjecture, I made sure to include that it *had* to be a complete, clean solve, which I think implies the former--any single cross can make a crossword difficult.
As someone who has participated in rap battles, love the clue!
Oh... and a bad clue/answer joke, somewhat appropriate for today. "Hoosier neckware?" INDYPENDANTS .....
I loved the clues in this puzzle. While they weren’t outrageously obscure, a high percentage of them were playful enough to give me pause, GODHELPME. I liked “where students learn about congress,” and was fortunate that civics class didn’t fit. Of course I’m dating myself, as I fear civics class is but a dusty memory. I did hit on SEXEDCLASS pretty quickly, as I got the X from TELEX (another dim and fading memory), and I recalled a clue from an earlier puzzle that also played off the apolitical meaning of congress. I actually thought playground would be a more accurate answer. The puzzle’s timely mention of BIKERACE was also a reminder that, with the Tour de France starting tomorrow, and with the World Cup in the knockout round, I’m about to hit maximum sports overload. I’m sure that cycling mad France is excited about the emergence of a brilliant 20 year old rider, Paul Seixas, who carries the promise and the burden of returning cycling glory to France. Could a World Cup/Tour de France sweep be in the cards. Probably not.
@Marshall Walthew my neighbor is riding in the Tour 21 ahead of the Tour de France!!
Wonderful puzzle. Thanks for highlighting TARANA Burke. Based on the comment section, it clearly was needed. Happy birthday to Rasa!
Just in case... there are any casual solvers who pop in on occasion... In case you didn't do the Thursday puzzle, the NYT DID NOT IGNORE the July 4th holiday. They just published the holiday puzzle a bit early so they could make it an absolutely gorgeous Thursday. So it's not an anti-American conspiracy by the NYT to disparage our fair land. I'm particularly sensitive to that comment, because I consider our country to be (to have been?) a work in progress, with many fine accomplishments, but with many problems that it desperately needs to work out. People like me are often attacked for speaking badly of the country. The full situation is this: when necessary, I criticized my kids as they were growing up. Not because I didn't love them, but because I did, and I knew that unless they rectified their behavior (and we all needed rectified behavior along the way) they were going to suffer for it in the future. For example, I am now of the opinion that it would have been far better for the founding fathers to not do it--they should never have founded a half-free, half-slave nation. It should have been obvious it would never work, and we have suffered ever since. I think the US had the possibility of becoming an even more exceptionally strong and long-lasting country, but only if it had overcome the matter of slavery before it was founded, not after. To paraphrase William F. Buckley, the founding fathers should have "[stood] athwart history, yelling Stop".
@Francis Not to mention the indigenous people.... Did you see the article I posted on one of Andrzej' posts? The one that he did with pictures for America's 250th. It's not a short read, but I think it's worth it. I'm a huge Bryan Stevenson fan though. ☺️
@Francis I think we've missed a few opportunities since then, too. For anyone who remembers what was going on in 1992 and 2001, both times watching what our leaders were doing was to watch a slow-rolling disaster, even as it was being predicted by this paper and others. May we somehow stumble upon leaders who understand that what we put out into the world, we get back. The Golden Rule is not only more moral than "we won't stop until you cry uncle!"--it usually works better.
Okay, but "where students learn about congress" solving to SEX ED CLASS was a brilliant misdirection on a July 4th.
Loved the graphics in the Midi 🎆🎇 Really enjoyed today’s puzzle, Kareem. It felt both fresh and nostalgic at the same time. Our neighbor, Jeff Davis, is in the midst of the Tour 21 BIKE RACE to raise funds for Cure Leukaemia. He is currently riding all 21 stages of the Tour de France. You can follow along on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jeff_w_davis" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/jeff_w_davis</a> Happy 250th to USA.
@Jacqui J Our local news did a story on Jeff here <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/video/cycling-for-a-great-cause" target="_blank">https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/video/cycling-for-a-great-cause</a>/
Well, not all that easy for me, of course. And... had to look up a couple of things, but just made for a good Saturday workout. And... a couple of puzzle finds today - rather similar. First - a Thursday from November 10, 1994 by Alfio Micci. I'll list the theme answers with their clues: "M" FIRSTOFTHEMONTH "O" SECONDINCOMMAND "E" BEETHOVENSTHIRD "Y" THEFOURTHOFJULY Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/10/1994&h=56a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/10/1994&h=56a</a> Might put another puzzle in a reply. ....
@Rich in Atlanta As threatened: A Sunday from July 1, 2012 by Dan Schoenholz with the title: "Yankee Doodle Dandies." A couple of theme clues and answers: "President who was 65-across (1872)" CALVINCOOLIDGE "Novelist who was 65-across (1804) NATHANIELHAWTHORNE And some other theme answers all with '65-across' in the clue MALIAOBAMA GEORGESTEINBRENNER ANNLANDERS LIONELTRILLING And - 65 across: BORNONTHEFOURTHOFJULY Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/1/2012&h=65a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/1/2012&h=65a</a> ....
Just want to share a comment on the Midi. I am loving the colorful animations, and especially today's! Certainly brightened my day!
What a disappointment! It appears that the Editors ET AL got mixed up, giving us the puzzle that best fit The FOURTH of JULY on Thursday ...and then we are handed this...this... I should stop here. It's not Kareem's fault. If LIFE IMITATEd ART.... Oh, just don't get me started. I've already worn out my BACKspace button. I'll not pray that GOD HELP just ME, but all y'all. Even the Editors
@Mean Old Lady When ypu edit your own daily xword feature, you can do it exactly as you prefer.
Scrolled a bit and didn't see any comments so I'll just throw out there that as a 35-year-old queer person who works in the professional theater (ie, with lots and lots of other queer people of all stripes), I have never once heard the term OMNI used to refer to anyone's sexuality. The term for what that clue describes, as I have always heard it, is "pansexual." But maybe I've missed it.
Evan, OMNI did show up in one thread many hours ago, but nobody attested to the usage (and pan- was referenced). <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4h8dfc?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4h8dfc?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a>
@Evan - I'm also a "professional queer" (56 years old, out as queer since 1991 and as trans since 2013, specialize in trans content on Wikipedia) and I've heard of the term omnissexual. It is less often used then pansexual, however.
@Evan never heard it either. That said, wasn’t too hard to figure it out
Certain Ivy Leaguer: In these puzzles you can be certain that the Ivy Leaguer is an ELI.
With a three-letter answer, definitely.
Took a few passes but it all fell into place. Loved this theme less. Just enough gimmes to start solving the rest. Kelsey Pfendler will land in Honolulu in about three hours. She’s crushed all of the solo records for unsupported row from Monterrey to Honolulu. Happy 4th!
I done did this pandering puzz. A Saturday that I finish in 15 minutes is a Wednesday And absolutely not Kareem's fault. By now I am well aware of his talent for delight and deception from numerous past grids which vexed me no end before yielding their gold. Loyalist editors in thrall to their monarchic masters on this Independence Day.
I had Big Touble in Little China. Whoops, that's a different Kurt Russell movie. BACKDRAFT was a blockbuster? Okay then. In the NW, I cycled through the 4-lettered Starks, Arya (It's always Arya! Hi, Nancy), then Nedd* and finally ROBB. But I also misread 4 Down as [Small snack] instead of [Small smack] so entered Nosh. D'oh. A lot of ripping out and staring at that corner. Anyway, the rest of the puzzle filled in pretty smoothly for a Saturday and on the whole i enjoyed solving it. *not sure if it's spelled with two Ds, but I tried it.
@Vaer "Yes, Backdraft was a massive commercial success, earning over $152 million worldwide against a $40 million budget. Released in 1991 and directed by Ron Howard, it became the highest-grossing film about firefighters at that time."
...Oh, wow! It's the constructor's girlfriend's birthday today. How significant! I also thought something else was occurring today. Something about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, dissolving political bands, tyranny and despotism, unalienable rights endowed by our Creator (not the State, sorry commies), consent of the governed, etc., etc. ...I must have my dates mixed up.
CT, You have more than your dates mixed up.
@CT And no taxation without representation! Oh sorry, you live in DC.
@CT Wait, so we have all this terrific freedom, but we also are required to acknowledge the 4th of July when writing constructor notes, and, if we don't, we're either ignorant or inexcusable.... 🤔 Sounds super!
Nice puzzle! A very smooth solve for my slothful long weekend. It's been some much needed slothfulness and I am grateful. I had a hard time getting a hold at the top, but starting at the lower right, it was a smooth solve all the way back up, finishing in the upper left. The only tricky spot that I found once I got going, was the crossing at 1A and 1D. I have no idea about game of thrones characters, except that I think I've seen Anya maybe here in these puzzles, so I started with that, but quickly disabused myself of that notion, thank you crosses! Then tried cOBB for cAPBATTLES, which made some sense to me... and eventually thought through every possible other name and settled on ROBB and RAP. After getting it, I vaguely recall seeing RAPBATTLE referenced here sometime before and felt good about myself. My solve, that is, but I guess I sort of feel good about myself too, thank you voice to text! Don't worry, I won't let it go to my head. Finished up in about half of my average time, but I found it all around enjoyable! I really enjoyed having the Oscar Wilde quote spanner! Glad Mr. Ayas persisted! But I don't know how I feel about myself that I instantly knew that 14 down and Congress we're going to refer to something other than our government. Do I have a twisted mind, or are crossword puzzles twisting my mind for me. I'm pretty sure it's actually a combination. Anyhow, cheers!
@HeathieJ You may have been thinking of Anya Taylor-Joy who was in the Netflix series The Queen's Gambit and has shown up here fairly often. Arya is the Stark family member, but as you found out it was not today for her either. Go back to enjoying your slothing around, but watch out for the TAPIR. :)
I really liked 14D, but it also troubled me. I think it's quite important for kids to be taught about *that* congress (I picked up virtually everything from the streets). But it's also important they be taught about Congress. From what I gather Civics simply isn't taught anymore. (Of course, it can be taught but not learned.) If true, that is catastrophic, and might explain the utter ignorance one about our government that one sees every day. Like Tommy Tuberville thinking the three branches of government are the President, the House, and the Senate. He's. A. Senator.
@Francis Congress is Puritan for sex. Aside from that, today was real tough for me.
@Francis I had fun with that one because in studying things leading up to year 250 I realized congress meant sex. I’ve never thought civics was a function of a crossword puzzle.
@Francis Where have you heard that civics isn't taught anymore? My kids were all required to take it as a formal class in high school (US) plus traveled to Washington DC and the state capital in younger years, while old GenX me never did any of those things. So from my personal perspective things are actually better on that front. Not everything is doom.
Well, I thought it was a delightful puzzle and I want to thank Kareem for bringing it to us. I'm sure he wasn't the one who made it come out on a Saturday and I do so wish there weren't SO many complaints about it being too easy. It was more accessible than Saturdays usually are but so what? It's a fun pastime and it would be nice if it could just be accepted as that, It's one of the reasons I so seldom read comments. I do wish everyone a safe and happy 4th. I'm just back from a march downtown that was very well attended, very hopeful, full of enthusiasm, lots of kids and families.
Appropriate that we get a banger on the 4th of July! Knew I was in for a fun solve when I saw Kareem Ayas's name and was not disappointed. It took me a thoroughly enjoyable 10:16 to get the Gold Star.
Nice quiet animation on the MIdi.
Very benign, and a personal best for a Saturday (nothing to brag of, my times usually pretty ordinary compared with those claimed by many commentators). Happy 4th of July and 250th Anniversary of Independence for those US citizens who might be reading this!
When solving in the app I have found that recently there’s a slight delay between completing the solve and getting the happy music. The same has always been the case for the Midi but only recently for the full crossword. It’s not a big thing but I wish the NYT app developers would listen to our feedback. The Wordplay column also used to open in the browser rather than the Games app itself making it easier to switch back and forth if you needed help with a solve.
@Dave gotta build the anticipation!!! 😂
I solved a Saturday puzzle in 21:40 with NO lookups! It was chewy in spots, and I had to re-think some answers, but I solved it! I think I’m starting to figure out how to change my thinking to solve a Saturday puzzle! (Maybe) Happy Independence Day (No Kings!) to all my fellow Americans! Lord, have mercy, may we make it at least another 250! 🇺🇸
On the whole, this puzzle was way too easy for a Saturday,... [Should I list the answers that didn't cut the mustard?] ...and then there was TARANA. Thanks, Kareem Ayas, for letting us know who is to blame for that, but you (and the editors) bear the ultimate responsibility.
@The X-Phile What's wrong with having TARANA in there, or am I misreading you?
There was the experience of the NW corner, where I had heaps of trouble, and then there was everything else where I found the puzzle quite solvable. But one of the reasons I had so much trouble in the NW is that I misread 3D as "small sNack" for almost the entirety of my solve. And I wanted NOSH -- the only 4-letter word to fit that clue. But no letters fit -- that H was completely unworkable -- so I left the whole area empty, other than EAT and ACAI. I needed to cheat on TARANA to finish that section. Aha. It's SCHEMA, not SCHEME! I wouldn't have thought to correct that. I had the P from GOD HELP ME and tried to make the "pioneering PDA" a PHONE of some sort. This dovetailed nicely with IN RE for the "list header." Alas, it was PILOT and TO DO -- so my SE corner is a hot mess of writeovers. It is quite remarkable how many G-O-T Starks I don't know. How many don't I know? All of them!!! I didn't know the Wilde quote, but had enough crosses to piece together LIFE IMITATES ART on my own. This was the most important entry for using my lower sections of the puzzle prowess to help solve my NW befuddlement. Oh, and now I see that 3D has to be PECK, not NOSH. And now I see "small sMack" instead of "small sNack". Thought for the day: With a tagline like that, I would move heaven and earth to avoid seeing BACKDRAFT. Not even a trailer for BACKDRAFT. GOD HELP ME, but that movie sounds truly awful!
@Nancy I loved Backdraft! It was an ode to firefighters and I learned a lot about how fires move and appear to have minds of their own. Note that it was a Ron Howard movie. The guy has a good heart.
@Lynn I saw BACKDRAFT with my friend Todd, who was a volunteer. He got all mad when Kurt Russell ran into a building without his Scott Pack. (Apparently, there were a lot of continuity issues in the movie.)
A good drunk puzzle, or so I discovered.
Much easier puzzle than Thursday or Friday. My turn to say it was a personal best time in 15 months of NYT Saturday puzzles.