Sorry - wayyyy too contrived for me. That feeling results from me solving this and still not seeing the theme - any gap in the downs made the theme answers absurdly obscure. and no, cities in samoa are NOT fair game when that’s the case. If a computer program has to generate the clues, you’re not designing a puzzle.
@David - Samoa here refers to an obscure beach in California, and we're supposed to know the equally obscure town of Pismo Beach, CA. I should submit a puzzle using Wauwatosa, Waukesha, Wautoma and Waunakee. Only HeathieJ and a couple of others would have a clue.
@David Valid opinion and I thank you for sharing it! Though I will note that a computer program did not generate these clues — NYT crosswords clues are written or edited by the puzzle editors, who are very much human! What the constructors are referring to in their notes is using a program to find the theme answers: In this case, phrases with 4 of the same letter that, when removed, still make a word. It's not unusual for constructors to write a script to help them find theme answers like this. In those cases, it's the curation of the fill and the cluewriting where they add their human touch to each puzzle.
@David hear, hear. What you said, and then one more - when even a dedicated vocab nerd like me says "...really?" more than once during a Thursday puzzle, it's not a great sign.
@David I agree. Solved Tuesday in 6 mins and Wed in 7. Thought I was on a roll. Had to check puzzle to get to the end and still didnt know what the forgone meant. Ah well.
@David "contrived" Yes, that describes it exactly.
@David I can’t remember for sure if Pismo Beach was the same obscure CA city I wrote this comment about earlier this year, but I think it was… “fool me twice” and all that… my comment last time: “There are more than 2,000 municipalities in America with at least 8,000 residents and Pismo Beach is, I guess, one of them?
@David the combo of “Apia, Samoa” and “Pismo, CA” might be my least favorite NYT crossword answer of all time. And isn’t it “Pismo Beach”, not “Pismo”??
A cyst is not a pouch 😠
@LilianNoir A CYST is a sac is a pouch. Works for me as late week cluing.
@LilianNoir Remove one entirely sometime. Awfully pouchy.
@LilianNoir Cleveland Clinic says otherwise. <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/cyst" target="_blank">https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/cyst</a>
@LilianNoir - Although I am used to so many comments here being so wrong, yet stated with such certainty, it is even more disconcerting that a comment that is so wrong would be at the top of the "Readers Picks" entries. Long gone are the days of quality comments in this forum.
@LilianNoir A pouch can be normal if you’re a marsupial, but a cyst is always abnormal and must be treated with drainage and antibiotics.
@LilianNoir Thank you, and also thank you to Nancy J. and Michael Hendler for their cogent explanations. From Nancy J.: “Cleveland Clinic says otherwise. <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/cyst" target="_blank">https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/cyst</a>” and from Michael Hendler: “A pouch can be normal if you’re a marsupial, but a cyst is always abnormal and must be treated with drainage and antibiotics.” To anyone who has had a cyst removed, such a clue is ignorant of both science and in this case, medicine,
@LilianNoir Agreed, a cyst is an acquired structure, often indicative of a pathological process. For example, cystic acne, polycystic ovarian syndrome & Bartholin cyst, etc.
I diligently plodded through this slog of a puzzle, only to not get any animation. You know, when the columnist has to work that hard to explain the theme, it’s not a good puzzle.
@DJ But, of course, the columnist didn't *have* to work hard to explain the theme. They chose to do it to help those who were unable to figure it out on their own. Everything you needed to figure it out was right there in the puzzle. You just had to look.
@DJ, I had IOwA for 43A for a long time. I guess I was equating Gaels with Cyclones. 😄
@DJ - The columnist explains the theme for every single themed puzzle that appears. How do you know how hard this one worked at it? I think it was pretty easy and straightforward to explain.
Kudos is an ancient Greek word meaning "glory" or "renown." It is neuter and singular, NOT plural. Ergo, "kudo" is a back-formation created from a misunderstanding of the ending as plural. Just saying...
@A. Young Interesting linguistic tidbit, thanks!
@A. Young Thanks for this. And, as I noted elsewhere, it's pronounced "kew-doss".
@A. Young TIL! Thanks for sharing. I think it's fascinating when misunderstandings or misuses of words end up coining new ones, or even changing their meanings. "Literally" being used as an emphasizer (and effectively taking on the meaning "not literally,") comes to mind as a well-known (and maybe controversial) example. <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literally</a>
@A. Young Thanks for confirming that. When I saw KUDO, I knew that it looked and sounded wrong, linguistically.
@A. Young English is hilariously bad at incorporating Greek into the amalgam. Now you must excuse me, I must go feed my octopodes.
@A. Young Agreed. It's kudos as a singular only. However! "Kudo" is gaining ground in English as a back-formed singular and becoming more of a norm. I am a purist in this regard and object to this back-formation, but language development has never yet listened to me alone and isn't about to start now. I also find it interesting to note that grammatical debates can seem rooted in erudition and fact, but in fact are just as subject as any other debate to the ravages of personal opinion, the desire to be right, and the yearning for confirmation basis we all experience.
@A. Young English likes doing that. Cherry. Pea. Tamale. Asset. Eave. Historical linguistics (including word changes like this) utterly fascinates me.
@A. Young I plotz when I see "bicep" and "tricep." This is why the educated took Latin and Greek, people!!!!
The trivia in this one was so far out of my wheelhouse, it was on a completely different lake. Too much sports and geography. Two much Star Wars as well. Vocabulary is usually a strength for me, but a lot of it was really obscure— including the definition for the revealer, which put up another barrier to entry. And those theme entries… TELL ALLS? Fine. But APIA SAMOA? When there’s an actual Samoa Beach in California? Too confusing. I considered quitting a few times because I simply wasn’t having fun. But I kept going because I wanted to see the animation. Which I didn’t get. Clever idea, poor execution. This was a disappointment.
@Heidi TIL there is a Samoa Beach in California. Pismo I know well.
@Heidi Samoa Beach, CA (also called Samoa Dunes) really threw me off. I didn't get this puzzle, if I'm being honest. Oh well.
Native English speaker and have a master’s in English, and “sapor” is a new word to me
@Chrissy And it doesn’t mean taste. From Merriam-Webster sa·por ˈsāpə(r) plural -s : a property (as bitterness) affecting the sense of taste : SAVOR, FLAVOR
@Chrissy Two-time college dropout here. I have seen "sapor" before many times. Read more books.
@Chrissy It’s a tough word but as long as it crosses with a readily identifiable answer like APIASAMOA it’s valid. I had SAVOR / AVIASAMOA forever as I couldn’t figure out the theme.
@Chrissy as I often hear on a UK-based podcast: "every day's a school day!"
I solved almost everything but did not understand the theme until I read the article. Apia Samoa crossed with Sapor is ridiculous. I had Savor at 52 down and spent a long time trying every letter in the alphabet to replace the v. Clever idea but not fun at all to solve.
@Tate But there was a third clue—the theme. Once the four As are removed you’ve got _ISMO.
Even after solving, didn’t get the trickery! Had to read the commentary to understand. And seemed like an over-reliance on ‘out there’ answers. Plus the animation didn’t work for me (iPhone). Sorry to say, not a favorite for me :(
Yeah, same for me. Solved the puzzle, didn't get the trickery until reading Wordplay, and the animation didn't work; I solved online via a computer browser. Turned out it depended on the browser I used; I looked at the solved puzzle using Chrome and it work. Go figure...
I don't understand people's complaints. I thought this was fun and clever and totally Thursday-appropriate! nice work! (also no animation but I don't care)
@Roldick Agreed! A puzzle is something to figure out, and there have been far crazier Thursdays than this one.
@Roldick People complain when the trick is beyond their current capabilities. Some say the theme is “too clever by half.” Some just call it a bad puzzle, or call the constructor lazy. (This happens most often when there’s a rebus.) Every time there’s an especially brilliant puzzle published, roughly a quarter of the comments are by people who were stumped by it. Not surprising, since Deb Amlen told all of us that everyone can solve the NYT crossword, and the NYT separated games from the full subscription, and offered other easier games as part of the package. Lots of Wordle solvers decided they could be crossword solvers, too, and found it wasn’t that easy. And they didn’t like that.
I got the trick of four duplicative letters after getting TellAlls and realizing the answer is actually Teas. If I hadn't have gotten that, I never would have been able to drive the puzzle because there were far too many close that seemed obscure to me...mely the ones with the following answers: Edith, Amidala, Ossetia, Hoth, Thane, Loopers I usually love Thursday's, but I found this one to be a bit of a slog.
@Daily-Solver I found this one to be a slog as well. I racked up twenty two cheats, more in line with a hard Saturday. Many obscure words, and the theme was, well there's no way I'd figure that out without the Wordplay explanation. To each their own. I'm sure some will love this one.
@Daily-Solver It was “Stuttgart” for me — seeing that that was the only word that could fit, while not making sense for the clue, got me hunting for wordplay.
@Daily-Solver Your obscurities were my little bonuses. Nice to see an EDITH 56A who was neither Head nor Bunker. Are there others? AMIDALA 44D was a guess based on some crosses plus, with Padmé as a first name, I was looking for something that had an Indian shape. OSSETIA 42D, LOOPERS 26A, and HOTH 2D were all entirely on crosses. I admit I found the two Star Wars proper names irksome. And THANE! Did you miss Macbeth in high school?! The title Macbeth was looking to be promoted from was THANE of Cawdor. I had fun here.
@Daily-Solver EDITH Hamilton's book "Mythology" is absolutely wonderful and a classic in the field of mythology. I've had it for decades. I have two favorite stories from the book, but I won't tell you which ones they are: you should find your own favorites.
@Daily-Solver Edith Hamilton was a gimme for me, but TWO Star Wars clues? Please spare me.
This one wasn't fun at all for me-- SO many obscure words. I'm not expert in crosswords, but have been trying to do the NYT crosswords for a couple of years now, starting from scratch as an adult in my 50s--had never done any before! I'm an academic so I tend to think my vocabulary is pretty strong, and I've been building up my crossword acumen. Can even do most Sundays now without looking up any answers, and even some Saturdays, too! But ones like this where I have to look up so many clues really aren't any fun at all--just a slog to try to finish for finishing's sake and simply discouraging. I said out loud, "what the heck?" after this one. I got the theme, but it wasn't a sufficient reward for what I thought was a mess of a puzzle.
@z Unfortunately, a strong vocabulary isn't the asset it once was for the NYTXW. Today you need to know pop trivia, movies, TV shows, internet slang and brand names.
@z In a couple of years you will love puzzles like this, just as skiers can grow to love double diamond runs that aren’t much fun even for pretty good skiers at first—or as with any art where long practice is rewarded.
The info thing for this puzzle promises an animation that I'm not getting-- I tried closing and reopening. I have a gold star but no animation... am I alone?
@Isabeau animation working at xwordinfo.com strangely enough…
@Isabeau Same. There was a brief hesitation before the congratulations, and I guess that’s when something was supposed to happen… but it didn’t. Boo.
@Isabeau same! And I wouldn’t have missed it but for the false promise!!
@Isabeau Did you try today's Mini?
Hi there. NATO, from the perspective of non-Western eyes and informed people in general, is NOT a peacekeeping group. Thank you!
@Kristopher Thank you! Wow! When I first saw that clue and saw that NATO fit, I thought that couldn't possibly be the answer and that I had a cross wrong.
@Kristopher This one baffled me as well. NATO is a security alliance of states. Some NATO missions have been justified as peacekeeping, but "group of peacekeepers" is a fundamental misunderstanding of the organization.
@Kristopher I put NATO in right away, but thought to myself that "peacekeeping" by saying "my army is bigger than yours and my friends will help me fight you so don't attack me" is not the best definition of the word.
I wasn't a fan of today's puzzle. Just so much super obscure trivia. The revealer was in the center with terrible crossings, even after you got it, the theme was such a huge reach and the answers ostensibly had so little to do with the clue that you had to get nearly all the crossings to guess all the theme clues. Natick city today.
Hi solvers! We're aware of the technical issue with the animation in today’s puzzle, and our team is working on resolving it.
I had no idea of the theme. Too clever by half. Did it as a theme less got long words from crosses but had no clue why the answers were what they were. Thanks for the write up
@Robco I'm often compelled to wonder when I see someone complain about the cleverness of the puzzle: Was the puzzle "too clever by half" or the solver not clever enough by one-third? I didn't get the theme until completing the puzzle, but the "phonetic" clue in the revealer and finding another word that sounds like "for" pointed me in the right direction.
Ah, a Throwback Thursday, a puzzle for this day of the week that felt like they used to feel regularly, and not all that long ago. Resistance during the fill-in; resistance in cracking the tricky theme. Yes! More like this, please! My favorite answers were CAVIL and the sing-song IGUANODON, and two lovely aha-triggering clues were [Double-decker checker] with its wily pun on “checker”, and [Show that ends in disarray?] for STRIPTEASE, and its wily pun on “disarray”. When I finally saw the four Ts in STUTTGART, took them away and saw SUGAR, well, that was sweet indeed. The perfect chaser was Brad’s constructor note. There’s a man with a good sense of humor. Thank you Brad and Nat for your satisfying and entertaining Thursday-worthy creation!
@Lewis For me, STUTTGART was a "back-formation." I thought SUGAR first, but then had to figure how to shoe-horn it into that space with another T (I kept thinking STUTTER...) Well, hard to describe my messy struggle, but I enjoyed finishing the puzzle ... Now I'll read the Constructor Notes.
@Lewis I believe the poem your (and Mr McGowan's) subconscious is thinking of is here: <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47285/delight-in-disorder" target="_blank">https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47285/delight-in-disorder</a> I suspect that Gypsy Rose Lee might have come across it too.
@Lewis PS I am shocked that your favourites today didn't include 47A, "Food processor." Made me laugh out loud. 《Guffaw》
@Lewis I’ll give you that - “striptease” was an incredible clue. Loved it!
Just want to chime in and say that I, too, hated today's puzzle. I love a Thursday trick and today's trick was... fine. But the surrounding trivia, obscurity, and ridiculous cluing turned this into an exhausting slog. It felt disappointingly appropriate that the promised animation didn't even function.
The problem with this puzzle is that it’s backwards. The starred clues’ answers must be deduced by crossers before the 4 duplicated letters can be “goned”. The clues are useless until after you’ve already got the answers. 4 gone is 2 clever by half.
@McX One answer from crosses was sufficient to figure out the gimmuck.
@McX BASSISTS was the first theme answer I got, and it tripped me up in trying to figure out the theme because BASS can be lured by BAIT so I figured there was some sort of pun involved. Learning the theme from the column did *sort of* help with 60A - I knew the "Beach" in question had to be five letters, and from the crosses I could guess that PISMO was a plausible answer to the clue, and from that could fill in SAMOA for the last five letters, but APIA was too obscure for me.
I wrestled with this one for about 45 minutes before finally solving, and yes SAPOR was the last to fall. Hard-fought, and satisfying! Also: (I didn't notice this mentioned in the column, nor anywhere in the comments) the four "forsaken" letters reappear together to form an entry in the grid! Well done Brad and Nat!
@Peter I wish I had your grit and stamina. I started demanding answers from Google 25 minutes in.
@Peter I didn't catch that! Nice find, and glad you enjoyed the puzzle.
@Peter It took me some time to see what you meant about the "forsaken" letters forming a word but I finally got there. Kind of like my experience with the whole puzzle.
Both the fill and theme defeated me 🤷🏽
@Andrzej Forgone is four gone, phonetically, as in 4 (identical) letters gone, in the starred answers… Cryptic to say the least!
@Andrzej But I’m sure OSSETIA was a gimmie for you. IONA. I’m guessing, Not so much… Thankfully they were both part of my ‘arcana’. I probably couldn’t have solved the grid without this knowledge…
@Andrzej What happened. Last night you posted a link to a picture of some guy reaching for apples? And this morning, your reply is gone. I didn’t understand it then. And now I’m even more curious. My meme game is weak. Was the image offensive?
Like many commenters, I solved it as a themeless. The animation (on the NYT's own puzzle website version) was slow and glitchy, but did appear. I always have reservations about themes that are completely divorced from the solving experience. I acknowledge the cleverness, and the work required to construct them, but it doesn't do nearly as much for me as a theme that is integral to the solve. So I admire this at some level, but it will never be on my list of favorites.
@DYT Figuring out the gimmick, I mean theme ( but not the "revealer") helped me solve this one. Your point stands.
This is the worst puzzle written YTD. Literally no indication as to what the theme means despite the "revealer clue". Awful obtuse trivia, the driest of dry riddles, and several very short one or two word clues that could have a dozen meanings each. The latter is common practice and would be ok if they weren't so excessive and poorly placed.
@Nick I didn't know the African country that borders on whichever one was in the clue (not going to check). Sports clues usually draw a blank. I never read Harry Potter, and Star Wars wasn't part of my childhood. There are many, many Red and Black rivers. I still got everything from the crosses, though, so it seemed fair to me. It seems like the word "obtuse" gets thrown in a lot when people get frustrated.
@Nick The revealer has two parts. First, figuring out the word that "Renounced" is referring to. Second, figuring out a word that sounds like either FOR or GONE. Four seems the most likely candidate. So do any of the theme answers make sense if they originally had the number four? No. So where is the four? Oh, each answer has four of the same letters, and when you remove them, i.e. make them "GONE", then the theme answers make sense. Not saying it was easy, but Thursday trickery often isn't. (In the "no one asked" department: I don't think you need to use "literally" to make your point. Used unnecessarily for emphasis weakens the credibility of the argument. But what do I know. I'm just an irrelevant boomer.)
Sorry, but that was no fun. I appreciate the difficulty of constructing the theme, but just because you CAN do doesn't mean you SHOULD do it. Looking forward to Friday!
Some witty answers, striptease for one. Still too complicated and some clues too obscure. This one is for those smarter than me.
@Laura Smarter? Well, I don't how long you've been solving, but experience goes a long way to improving one's ability to solve the trickier puzzles.
Add me to the list of those who say that the trivia clues were impossible.
I didn't get the theme and had to look a few things up to complete the puzzle. "Kudo" is not the singular of "kudos," by the way.
@Jonathan I came here to say this. It's time Americans learned "kudos" is singular and is pronounced "kew-doss". Ask any Brit, they know.
@Jonathan "Some commentators hold that since kudos is a singular word it cannot be used as a plural and that the word kudo is impossible. But kudo does exist; it is simply one of the most recent words created by back-formation from another word misunderstood as a plural. Kudos was introduced into English in the 19th century; it was used in contexts where a reader unfamiliar with Greek could not be sure whether it was singular or plural. By the 1920s it began to appear as a plural, and about 25 years later kudo began to appear. It may have begun as a misunderstanding, but then so did cherry and pea." <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kudo" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kudo</a>
Ridiculous theme and worse cluing. Thursdays are hit or miss and this was very much a miss.
@Jack yes, this one was awful. Did not enjoy it. Even after reading the explanation, there was no "aha!"
Ah, the sorry fate of us language purists. I was going to complain about the "fake" singular of "Kudo". It comes from the Greek κῦδος meaning "fame" or "glory", and it is singular, not plural. There is no word "kudo"! However, the fine folks at Merriam-Webster remind me that language changes over time, and that "back formation" is a common way for new words to enter the language. So, if you use the word "pea" (which comes from the back formation of "pease" from the Latin pisum) or cherry (back formation from the French "c(h)erise"), you have no right to complain about "kudo". BUT I WANT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT KUDO!!!
The X-Phile, While you're complaining about KUDO, why not eat a GYRO?
@The X-Phile I don’t know how old you are, but I’m 70, and one occupational hazard of being older is that what we learned was maybe 60 years ago, when this change hadn’t taken hold yet. And sometimes, what we learned, because it was often taught by older people, might have even been outdated when we were taught it. Understanding that language changes is very important for crosswords and language use in general.
@The X-Phile Also, isn't TATAMI MAT a redundancy (pleonasm)? Isn't a TATAMI already a mat? It's like saying "past history" or "the hoi polloi"! Grr, grr, grr!
@The X-Phile Let's all calm down and have a tamale.
So...did the animation work for anyone? What was it supposed to be?
@Francis - Nope, just got a blurry blue square with a ?. Answers disappeared, but message says I completed it. Couldn't figure if it was a glitch.
@Francis It works on Android. It's not really an animation. The repeated letters you're supposed to remove from the themed entries for the clues to make sense fade in and out on a loop.
Sorry, not my wheelhouse today. I had to reveal one letter. And reading the column - okay as far as it goes. But I never heard of PISMO Beach, SAMOA Beach (Calif.), or SAPOR. That's a three-way natick (or 2.5 if you insist on not counting SAPOR). Also STUTTGART means "stud farm", which sounds like a bunch of honeys to me (if I were in heat). And what is Apia Samoa? So, not on the constructors' wave length today.
I liked the theme and revealer, although I didn’t have the aha moment until I finished the puzzle. I loved APIASAMOA because it reminded me of a long ago train trip from San Francisco to L.A. I’d been reading Steinbeck as we came down the Salinas Valley, and the train emerged at the coast at PISMO Beach right at sunset. It was my first time seeing that section of the CA coast and it was magical.
@Marshall Walthew I'd like to think that ride was on the Southern Pacific Daylight or one of it's reconstructions. “Most Beautiful Train in the World” <a href="https://spdaylight.net/Welcome.html" target="_blank">https://spdaylight.net/Welcome.html</a>
@Marshall Walthew Thanks for the memory. Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors; he writes with a masterful sense of place. I ate up his books when I lived in California, and right now I'm reading The Moon Is Down. Steinbeck + WWII + Europe? Sounds promising.
One extra kudo [sic] to Sean for his funny column. Negative kudo for missing animation. What could it be? A cartoon of some worms and flies playing the bass? The four extra letters explode and disappear? I guess we just have to forgo it.
@Cat Lady Margaret Like you, i am not as animated as some others today (mentioning no names @Francis) so not sure what the fuss is about on that score. But i can feel the pain.
@Cat Lady Margaret I found Sean's inclusion of the line "The microscope explodes, inexplicably" inexplicable. I suppose it was supposed to be humorous, but it seemed a bit out of place to me.
The fact that so many complain about a puzzle like this is probably why the NYT is publishing easier puzzles these days. Yes, this was tricky and had trivia and difficult crosses. That's what makes it a good puzzle and not a gimme puzzle. Yes, if I hadn't lived in California for a couple years, I probably wouldn't have known there was a place called Pismo Beach. This kind of specificity, to me, is what makes a puzzle fun and interesting. I got stuck in NE corner and had to reveal a word. Who cares? I didn't see the animation. Who cares? This gave me a 30 minute brain workout and that's the whole joy of a puzzle.
@Erin Maybe it's the other way around--too many easier puzzles have formed the expectations of people not accustomed to the difficulty of yore.
@Erin I got Pismo Beach from watching too many Bugs Bunny cartoons
Dear constructors, thank you for the great Thursday challenge. I, for one, look forward to being puzzled when I solve. And I’ve cracked a code 👩💻: the number of “too clever by half” comments correlates perfectly to my level of puzzling satisfaction. The more, the merrier!
Theme would have been fine if the clues and answers were better! Instead of the mix of obscure trivia and slightly off base words made a decent theme a slog. Agree with a lot of people here that SAP/vOR mixed with AP/vIASAMOA when Samoa Beach exists was a very frustrating mislead. This and last Thursday have been fun puzzles let down by poor clues outside the theme
@Matt Since there doesn't seem to be a Vismo Beach in California, the V is *ruled out* by the theme alone. Not to mention that AVIASAMOA doesn't mean anything either, as far as I know. The fact that there's a Samoa Beach in California is irrelevant. If you put a V in that box ... that's a *mistake* on your part, not on the part of the constructors or the editorial team. As you continue to solve puzzles, you'll become more skillful and make fewer such mistakes.
Well, we keep asking for it. This was one of those puzzles. Pretty much just hard work and no fun, though, unlike some other tough puzzles.
I really hated this one. I dont have to look up answers a lot these days, but several times today I had to look up words AFTER I solved them, just to make sure it was a real word. I kept going back and clearing out whole sections, thinking my answers were so dumb I must have made a mistake somewhere... and then realizing I was right the first time. I slogged through hoping for an "ah-hah" moment but it never came. I would have settled for an "oh, duh" moment, but no, just a very lame attempt at wordplay. Very disappointing.
The cluing choice for APU was a bit odd. I doubt anyone who's Indian/of Indian heritage/ a Sanskrit speaker would know the meaning and if they did, I doubt they'd equate it with 'Extraordinary'. Google and GenAI tell me the meaning in Sanskrit is 'Pure' or 'Divine' and it's usually used as a prefix to a longer first name; I see 'Extraordinary' mentioned only on a few fringe websites. I assume the overlap between NYT crossword solvers and Sanskrit speakers is really small but please correct me if my understanding is wrong.
@Rahul Well I took it as “some likely Indian name” and we all know APU from the Simpsons (and let’s finally give that reference a rest for once”l
@Rahul Excuse me if I trust a human being more than some AI.
@Rahul As an Indian with a knowledge of Hindi and a passable understanding of Sansjrit, I have absolutely never come across this meaning of Apu. The closest I can think of is 'Apoorva', which means extraordinary or unique. Perhaps that's what they meant?
@Rahul Sanskritist here, and you're absolutely right, I can think of no Sanskritic derivation that yields "extraordinary." I doubt the name is of Sanskrit origin at all. Possible connections might be āp "to obtain" or maybe ap "water" (related to Latin aqua) but these are stretches. Fun puzzle though! Kicked my butt overall.
I did not get any animation, even in light mode. This puzzle was over my head.
@Red Carpet An animation is played when you solve the Midi. Maybe that’s what they meant.
EGAD! How many people will forgo the revealer and report that the starred clues don't match their answers? (I don't know from golf, so until I woke up from a CAT NAP I thought caddies were LOOkERS.) Thanks, Wiegmanns!
@Barry Ancona Lookers are the cart girls. Don’t cancel me! I just report the news!
I’ll assume the top comment will be that the animation doesn’t work on iPhone. I assume iPad, as well. Nice Thursday trick. If I didn’t live in the golden state, I wouldn’t have figured out the trick. I hope none of you ever visit my favorite place in California, Pismo Beach. that is what cracked the puzzle for me and Apia, Samoa was just so inspired. I’m sad that it came from computer program. If all four themers were cities, That would’ve been next next level. I actually don’t know what forgone means. I only know it from the expression “that’s a forgone conclusion”. I had no idea That it meant renounced. PALEODIET. Gave me fits. I could not parse that entry for the longest time. HOTH was a gimmie, but I still haven’t seen I, II, or III. The cynical part of me knows there’s gonna be a ton of too cute by half comments. But it wasn’t too cute. It was a nice trick. Thank you constructors. And someone on a computer or android, please share what the animation was supposed to be.
@Weak The four identical letters disappear. And then they appear again. Four gone...but then they're not.
@Weak I love that HOTH was a gimmie for you. It was whatever the opposite of a gimmie is for me! (And I have seen I, II, and III, but long, long ago...) PS There is a nice version of the solution with working animation available on Xwordinfo.com.
@Weak The "forEGone" that is attached to "conclusion" is a different word than FORGONE in the revealer. To forego is to lead or precede; hence, a foregone conclusion is one that has been reached even before evidence or argument occurs. To forgo is to give up or relinquish, a different thing altogether.
In the end, I had only one error. I had SAvOR instead of SAPOR. I'd say "savor" is as much an answer as "sapor". And given that was crossed with a theme answer (don't know what it was BECAUSE I CAN'T SEE THE PUZZLE THROUGH THE FAILED ANIMATION, I really had no chance at all of getting that.
@Francis - Same unknown area for me. SAPOR? APIA SAMOA? I had to reveal the P.
@Francis Yep, SAPOR is very tough, bordering on awful. It would be okay if it wasn’t crossing APIA, SAMOA which I’ve never heard of and which shrinks to PISMO beach which I’ve also never heard of. Other awful clues: Kudo??? Not a word. CYST? Not a pouch. NATO? Not peacekeepers. (I’m not being woke here) (I might add OREO, because what on earth is hydrox, but it obviously has to be OREO because it’s always OREO)
I did not enjoy this puzzle at all. The relationship between the clues and the answers were in many cases "tenuous". Just not my favorite.
I'm with yall. Animation or no animation, this slog of a puzzle was not worth it.
I did terribly. Just terribly I still don't know what the problem is, because I was reduced to "revealing" the last letter, (I had SAvOR, apparently the v is wrong, but I can't think of any words that would fit. And now the animation has covered up the puzzle so I can't see most of it. I don't even know what the letter was that it revealed. I am completely at a loss for what to do. This was without a doubt the worst solving experience I've ever had.
@Francis It was P in SAPOR. But hey, at least you got the animation, which most of the rest of us did not :-)
Wow, the theme only became clear after solving
@Hector Pefo On a truly tricky Thursday, this is often the case.
@Hector Pefo You did better than I. Took the column for me to grasp it.
very cool! some tough fill but i guess it was findable. had to open it on my laptop before i could see the letters disappearing though.