Zhou said it for me: "Obviously, we have a perfect understanding of day-of-week difficulty, so when we wrote this we confidently clued it at a Wednesday level, only to have it be accepted for a Thursday." Nice one, Zhou and Mal. IMO, it has legs.
@Barry Ancona I finished it, but it took 50% longer than my Wednesday average.
@Barry Ancona Your go-to site Xwstats rates it "Average." I'd say slipping from Wednesday to Thursday is no big deal.
As someone who does the puzzle diligently every day of the week, I implore others to avoid getting hung up on the exact difficulty level of a “___day” puzzle. Better to enjoy each one just as it is, and look forward to the next as it comes!
@Mark M. Here I was, coming here to make a comment that it was a fun puzzle but could have been a Wednesday! Thanks for the reminder to just enjoy and not kvetch
@Mark M frankly, save it. Thursdays used to be the best day of the week, the one day I could really look forward to other than Saturday.
if a millipede took a spa day it would get a many-pedi. Gotta admit, solved without getting the theme til the revealer but still had a blast, and though it's not like Zhou's last partnering with Mr. Curry, it's still a sparkler. Liked the Japanese triad of Asahi, Noh and roe on the chirashi bowl, maybe sauce should be included, too. I remember going into a bookstore where their zoology section was arranged by number of legs: no legs (worms, snakes), one legged -- gastropods (literally stomach-foot) -- snails and the like* -- two-legged, us bipeds and a few other anthro types, quadrupeds, insects, 8-legged arachnids (which were ranked with the "many legged," the proprietor having played out the joke perhaps too far already), etc. *Pliny the Elder described a mythical race of people, Sciapods, with a single enormous leg and foot, who supposedly lay on their backs and used the giant feet as shade against the sun. Not too many three legged creatures out there, although the Sicilian flag has the image of a Triskelion, a three-legged being representing the three headlands of the island. And my wife tells me that kangaroos often use their tail as a third leg, pushing off with it.
@john ezra My dog Sandy had 3 legs, but she didn’t start out that way. And she didn’t have any books written about her.
@john ezra While we’re on the topic of odd mythological stories, Aristophanes in the “Symposium” described early humans as spherical with four legs and four arms and two faces looking in opposite directions. When they became too arrogant, Zeus split them in two and now we are constantly searching for our “other half” and clinging to them desperately once we encounter them.
Here's a link to the wikipedia article on monopods, with extensive remarks on Pliny's Sciapods. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopod_(creature" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopod_(creature</a>)
@john ezra That reminds me of when I was in graduate school many years ago and on a whim I kept my collection of books arranged by color. My fellow students and friends didn't notice or didn't admit to noticing. I was rather adept at finding books by color ("Gravitation" was black, "Classical Electrodynamics" was green but its 2nd edition was red, "Topology" was blue, etc.). Today those texts are somewhat lost amongst the many colored books that I now have. I'm really beginning to appreciate digital format.
@john ezra. We do have “the three legs of Man”, see the Manx flag
@john ezra A lovely disquisition on a lovely puzzle.
@john ezra I had never heard of the Sciapods; clearly the inspiration for the Dufflepuds in "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" from The Chronicles of Narnia.
@john ezra This sounds exactly like the Dufflepuds in "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" from C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia." I wonder if the Sciapods were his inspiration? I'm betting so, his classic knowledge of mythology would seem to make this more than a coincidence.
Glad to know about the connection of the Sciapods to CS Lewis's Dufflepuds in Narnia. Definitely a strong connection between the two. And also glad to know about the Triskelion on the Manx flag: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Isle_of_Man" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Isle_of_Man</a>
@john ezra -- "... many pedi" -- oh, so good!
@john ezra "Triskelion" Would love to find that in a crossword. Or would people get mad and complain?
Great, fun, puzzle. Personally, I don't care what day of the week it runs on, as long as it has legs and runs.
ESPAÑA practically front and center in the puzzle. From the grid's lips to God's ears! I was hoping for a World Cup final between England and Spain, but here we are. (Very sad...) With England's loss, I'll be all in for Spain in the final match. You see, I'm half-Brazilian and the rivalry is real – a Brazilian never ever roots for Argentina! That would be a capital offense, an unadmissable betrayal. So, come Sunday, I'll be, brazenly, in my Brazil shirt, which translates to more than just supporting Spain; for those who know, it screams "no" to Argentina taking home the trophy. ;-) But back to the puzzle... It didn’t have Thursday trickery but it had smarts, and I loved it. Between clues and entries, we got LEGS, EYE, BUTTS, feet, and hand. Nice! Thank you, Zhou and Mallory for a SMASHing puzzle. You really are excellent constructors and your puzzles are a joy to solve. Please don't make us wait too long for the next one!
@sotto voce. This Alison answerde, "Who is ther That knokketh so? I warante it a theef. “Why, nay," quod he, "God woot, my sweete leef, I am thyn Absolon, my deerelyng. “Of gold," quod he, "I have thee broght a ryng. My mooder yaf it me, so God me save Ful fyn it is, and therto wel ygrave. This wol I yeve thee, if thou me kisse …. For al his kepyng and his jalousye, And Absolon hath kist hir nether ye, And Nicholas is scalded in the towte. This tale is doon, and God save al the rowte!
Anyone else think that, eh, DEVILE is probably a word and move on? Took me ages to find that error.
@Lauren Yes, and I'm still looking for it.
@Lauren Yes, I did, too, as "strive" made as much sense to me as "STRIFE". Certainly DEFILE makes more sense, but I thought 'devile' could, maybe? All in all, a very fun puzzle!
@Lauren Funny you should mention that. It was the error putting the congratulations on hold, and it took me forever to see it.
Intricately clued and cleverly put together. Sometimes seemed easy, sometimes seemed impenetrable, but never boring, with no rebuses necessary to trip us up. A puzzle with LEGS! Thank you, Zhou and Mallory, for keeping us on our TOEs.
As a test solver for this puzzle, I remember my delight when I first solved it and my hope that it would be published. Congrats, Mallory and Zhou, lovely people who construct lively crosswords!
@Laura Out of curiosity - when was this?
@Laura Also out of curiosity, about how much did the clueing change?
@Andrzej: 217 days between acceptance and publication. (71 days between submission and acceptance.) @Bob T. the editing team changed about 50% of the clues (my average excluding this one is closer to 25%).
Well, how playful is that, where you have to figure out the question that the theme answers’ clues answer, in addition to figuring out the theme answers themselves. Did my riddle-loving brain like that? Oh, you bet it did. Not to mention uncovering lovely answers IN THE BAG, SMOCK, ANOINT, and RAKE IT IN. This pair of constructors revels in fun and silly, and so do I, and so I revel in this pair of constructors. A serendipitous theme echo in the puzzle: there are at least six answers, such as OX TEAM and HANDEL, that yes, also have legs. Nice to see that after being shorted a column on Tuesday, we’re given an extra one today. Zhou and Mallory, I leave your creative and entertaining puzzles uplifted, happy, bouncing out of the room. You bring joy to the box. Thank you!
How about today’s Midi? With all the New England states where they belong in relation to each other? Incredibly clever! You have to admire feats like that, especially within the constraints of a Midi. Bravo!
Yes, and they were considered a “major Hollywood landmark” (11) . . . BETTYGRABLE
@SP Yes, traditionally three. . . . . MILKING STOOL (and the cow has the udder).
@SP I thought of her, too!! That photo was a huge favorite...
I found today’s photo very apt, as I spent far too long trying dog wearables for the lab clue. In a crossword, lab always means the dog. Always! 😂
@Sara W Were you thinking of those plaid winter wearables? The labs always hated when I snickered at them and said, "G'day, wee laddie!"
@Sara W, Except when it doesn’t 😄!
LEGendary! (Has someone already posted that?) Super creative and fun puzzle. These constructors got legs and they know how to use them! (Has someone already posted that?)
Good puzzle. I kept looking for the tricksy rebi, but no. As I began to write that I didn’t understand POSH for smart, it hit me. Duh. Hex before POX. I see I’m in good company with that error. Not familiar with SAUCE for alcohol but ok. So. The football. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, why oh why did Tuchel flood the field with defenders? The only other thing I have to say is that the other team are not gentlemen. Yes, the two goals were magnificent and well played, but the behaviour otherwise was appalling. The less said about the banner they produced afterwards the better. We’ll all be behind ESPANA on Sunday. Viva ESPANA.
@Helen Wright For alcohol: see 'on the SAUCE', 'hitting the SAUCE', and the sublimely simple 'SAUCED'. And the Argentina vs. England argument about the Falklands is like my favourite definition of democracy: two wolves and a lamb voting about what to have for lunch.
Really clever and funny, thank you! LOVE that LOLCATS made an entry. And now I’m hungry; I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?
@Horsefeathers Only if you conplete a TRIATHLON to burn it off.
More proof that it is not the constructors who are trying to water down Thursdays. I have great respect for Mallory and Zhou as constructors and this is no exception, this would have been a great Wednesday or even Tuesday as clued. Some of the clues were very fresh especially in the bottom half, but for the most part I thought they were very straightforward even for a Wednesday, much less Thursday. And this theme was fun but screamingly obvious from the first entry. Again, nothing wrong with this at all for earlier in the week, but I refuse to believe that the traditional Thursday style puzzles have disappeared from the editor’s submission queue, so what is going on?
@SP But let’s not harp on it?!?!? (Or so we’ve been told)
@SP Perhaps there's been such a glut of early-mid-week clues that they've pushed some puzzles forward a day to get them all in?
@SP “Its capital is Sanaa” To be fair, there were a few stretchy/ambiguous entries in the grid…but that one made me think of the Celebrity Jeopardy sketches from 90s SNL
@SP Amen. Let me feed the emus, for old time's sake.
@SP Yes! Great Wednesday, I thought, until I read the constructor comments and realized it's not Wednesday. This just isn't a Thursday puzzle.
I’m 39 years old and have told time on an analog clock for as long as I remember, and ALWAYS thought the hand pointing to the hour was called the “big” hand and the minute hand the “little”! I even explained it recently to my 5 year old and added that it’s called the big hand even though it’s shorter than the other (but usually thicker!) and my husband didn’t correct me. Am I alone in this and have been wrong my whole life?!
@Caz I’m 43 and I was certain the big hand was the hour hand too for that reason but now I’m not sure what to believe. This feels like a Mandela Effect and I’m questioning my sanity.
@Caz I for one have always referred to them the other way, and I’ve never heard anyone else do otherwise. Sorry! But, similar to you, I vastly prefer analogue clocks, The hand positions convey information that must be synthesised from a digital display. Mark (as I write this, the big hand is on the 2 and the little hand is on the 10)
@Caz I agree with you. Absolutely everyone I know uses “big hand” for hour. Now I’m wondering where this isn’t the norm.
@Caz When I think "big hand," I think length, not width. Hence, it's the minute hand. (And I believe that's the accepted measure.)
@Caz, I teach third grade, and that includes telling time. The SMALL hand indicates the hour, and the BIG hand, which actually touches the numbers, indicates minutes. With the big hand touching the numbers, the minutes are easier to count. I've never heard your version and can only imagine it would be confusing to a child. On any watch or clock I've ever had, neither hand was thicker/wider than the other.
@Caz When the big hand is on the 12 and little hand is on the 3 it is 3:00, not 12:15. That's how I've always used it.
@Caz Thank you, I was feeling very alone! Hour hand = big hand 4eva lol
@Caz Old joke: Time announcement on a joint base: Army and Air Force personnel, it is currently 1700. Navy personnel, it is two bells. And for all you Marines out there, the big hand is on the .... (With apologies to any Marines, who I always want to be my friends.)
@Caz The LONG HAND goes faster (as minutes go faster than hours) But I do understand the confusion. There is always that joke: "The time is fifteen forty hours. And for you Marines, the big hand is at...." Army kid. Sorry, no offense intended, gyrenes.
I am finding this discussion surreal. No! The 'big hand' is the longer minute hand. Always has been. Minute hand is always longer. Hour hand is NOT always wider. This hill I will die on.
@Caz Your husband loves you but yes, you are wrong. For those of you who still believe stuff you find on the internet, here's a website: <a href="https://tutors.com/lesson/how-to-tell-time-read-an-analog-clock" target="_blank">https://tutors.com/lesson/how-to-tell-time-read-an-analog-clock</a> Google vomits up a ton of slop but this seems to be genuine.
@Caz I was taught big hand for the minute hand. I don't remember hour hands being much, if any, wider. I'm looking at an analog clock right now that has the hour and minute hands the same width, as do almost all of the watches on the Timex site--the brand we always had. Now I'm wondering whether it depended on the brand of clock hanging in your first grade school room!
Good for a Thursday. I want to put in a comment here about another NYT game. Connections. I have stopped playing it because it really has no logic and is only dependent on us guessing what's inside the mind of the constructor. It's fiendish and frustrating.
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight The crossword and Connections are the only two NYT puzzles I do, and I love both. In Connections, I find it easier to write down the groups as I find them. I don't enter any until I've figured out all four. In some case I can't see the final one, so I just make sure I feel confident about three. That keeps you from being caught in the red herring trap and eliminates the frustration.
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight What Nancy said. Not every day, but many are much easier solved with a pen and paper by your side.
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight I play it, but have no qualms about cheating. More than most word games, it relies on having the same quirky view as the constructor. And no other.
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight Connections is the last remaining puzzle that poses any real difficulty, so look forward to it being dumbed down any day now.
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight, @Nancy J., I have found connections-copilot.com to be extremely helpful.
I, too, am outraged that there is normal deviation around the Thursday average difficulty! All seriousness aside, while I solved this faster than my Thursday average, I was slower than my Wednesday average. Anyway, who cares, it was a fun one!
Yesterday's puzzle had a thread in which one solver questioned my idea that Rubic's Cube did not have much "play value," asking if any toys in fact did have a point (after which one wag noted that a Lawn Dart definitely had a point.....tsk)... I belatedly answer: @Elbridge Gerry Almost all of them!! (Not the one below!) Do you somehow think that joy, fun, and play are not important in life, in child-rearing, in learning??? Yikes. My multi-handicapped class loved learning "Go Fish." They were practicing taking turns, *paying attention*, using recall, losing gracefully, and numeral identification (there being multiple levels of education/ability.) The aides LOVED coming in to assist; many of them had never heard of the game (!) and came back the next week saying their family loved it (even all adult-groupings) ... Games and toys (and yes, I categorize them together) afford many learning opportunities for all kids!
@Mean Old Lady I agree with your post above, but how does that make mastering the cube different? It’s an exercise in logic and spatial relationships. I am no good whatsoever with the latter, but those guys seemingly effortlessly solving the cube are either thinking as they go, or have become so good that they have internalized what to do. If you can’t do it at that level, you can appreciate that there’s a lot of learning involved.
As usual, Zhou and Mallory's humor shines throughout this puzzle. The outlier at 50 A with it's groan worthy clue wrapped up the theme with a bow on top. And, Zhou, you were on the right track. You just haven't adjusted your feel for day of week difficulty to the standards of The Great Easening period in puzzling at the NYT.
@Nancy J. The said being off by that day is their "specialty," implying they do it consistently. How long have they been published? I've done some puzzles from the archives, and it seems a little more complicated than, "The Great Easening." (For one thing, people often imply that later-week puzzles being more challenging is a longtime tradition with no exceptions, and that's clearly false. There are also posts on here saying the supposedly easy puzzles were tough for them, and while some like to write those posts off as those commenters not being as smart as skilled as they are, that seems like a pretty narrow and self-serving way to look at things.)
Good morning! Completed the puzzle, and then got the theme. Plenty of fun! (Would have started off with "chic", but 1-4 down made it clear.) Every day with a puzzle is a happy day! PS totally bombed on Connections - fell for all the misdirects. Well, Scarlett, tomorrow is another day!
@Amy Connections today was harder than usual, I thought. Thank you for bringing it up and making me feel better!
@Amy Agreed, it was a fun puzzle. I needed all four indulgences in Connections today.
I rise in heartfelt praise of the little word. Let us all hail and laud the three or four letter easy answer in any grid. Today's example was three letters, Japanese drama, and that one I know. For oh! On so many a morning I'll encounter some lengthy thematic answer with wordplay and/or trickery I haven't decoded, and then another and another; and just when I'm about to despair and give up crosswords for a career in restoring Victrola hand-cranked record-players, I will move elsewhere in the puzzle to find those gettable answers, often deliberately quite easy, to balance the puzzle difficulty, and all order will be restored to my universe. The sun will emerge from behind clouds, cats will stop chasing dogs, up will again be down; and I will find a beacon of hope that if I fill in enough "ENO" and "UMA" answers, I will soon enough be ready for a renewed attack on the hard stuff. Thank you, you overlooked and undersung fill. You are the tempeh in my la la. Praise! All join me in praising the undersung "GRE" and "ATE" answers, humble and pure in their intentions and noble in their service. Praise and hail!
@Asher B. Hey! What's with the put-down about hand-cranked Victrolas?? And for that matter, the Brunswick Ultona and the Edison Gramophone? And my Regina Music Box??? Where would YOU be without "recorded sound"? Eh?
poem made from words in today’s puzzle… a/ the day that preceded the big bang, what was that like? george says life is a lonesome question—george, who is the last of his bloodline… and yes who knows what the tortoise knows — like was that tortoise sometimes happy? and who knows what lonesome george knows of life when life preceded the big bang? d/ wait… really? really a/ no one?
By the way, for those of you who experienced my wrath at a NYT puzzle a few days ago with an APIASAMOA crossed with SAPOR... Apia, Samoa was an answer in a recent New Yorker puzzle. It was like the editors at the New Yorker saw my screed, and decided to tease me by using it in their puzzle.
@Francis Sometimes when I'm working a New Yorker crossword, I have the impression that I'm working a puzzle I just worked, then it morphs into a puzzle I haven't worked. I see the byline of column writers here as constructors there, so maybe somebody did decide to goose you a bit.
The constructors say: "Actually, we keep submitting Wednesdays that end up running on Thursdays." We noticed. This is a conscious editorial decision to run what should have been a Tuesday or Wednesday puzzle on a Thursday. I understand if there is a dearth of Thursday tricks, as these are probably pretty hard to think up. But the difficulty level of this puzzle is not appropriate for the latter half of the week. Thank you to Zhou Zhang and Mallory Montgomery for a lovely puzzle. And to the editors: Do better.
@Katie It's not like the puzzle is created and set in stone. It's a simple matter of tweaking some clues to make it harder or easier.
@Katie I see comments like this a lot. I was curious about what would happen if I did a random puzzle from a past Thursday. I did June 8, 2017. It was still under my Thursday average, and it took me 2 and a half minutes longer than today's. I was able to finish it with no lookups or flyspecking. Interestingly, there were comments expressing that it was tougher than the usual Thursday puzzle. I didn't find it as difficult as many have implied the older ones were, but of course, one puzzle doesn't mean anything signficant.
@Katie It was a fine puzzle, and a pleasure to solve, but I look forward to a Thursday gimmick. I feel cheated.
When I saw that Zhou Zhang had co-constructed this puzzle, I thought that I wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. Turns out I needn’t have worried, because this delightful puzzle was not what I had simultaneously feared and hoped for. Fie on the NYT for slotting this on Thursday rather than Wednesday as the constructors had anticipated. I enjoyed it well enough, but couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. “Mince words?” for edit was a nice touch for a common crossword entry.
I had hex instead of POX and strive instead of STRIFE, so that slowed me down a bit. A tiny observation on 17A: If Einstein was right about the nature of the universe (and who am I to argue), time is part of the fabric of the universe itself and doesn’t exist independently of it. So asking what came “before” the universe doesn’t make sense - time (as we know it) started with the universe and there is no “before”. But for crossword purposes I’ll accept the clue ;-)
@Martin S I went HEX FIE POX
Nice. I liked the theme. For me, the top half was pretty easy, but I started to go astray at 'patooties' which I didn't know, and at the Japanese bowl - I've never had any Japanese food. I've never heard of a SMOCK in the lab, only a lab coat. I agree that YAPS AT is a bit dodgy. Overall though, very enjoyable.
@Jane Wheelaghan I have to agree with you about SMOCK. To me, it's what I used to wear in grade school when painting. It's always lab coat.
@Jane Wheelaghan Japanese brew, not bowl. Asahi is a popular brand of Japanese beer.
@Jane Wheelaghan Perhaps it's an art lab! There's a great Calvin and Hobbes with the quote: "don't knock my smock or I'll clean your clock!" I say it every time smocks are mentioned. My family is definitely not tired of it.
I thoroughly enjoyed this. Got a bit tripped up in the AVID/AVow/AVER, Edens/ETHER area, but otherwise it was smooth sailing. I loved that the themers were (half) befuddling, and the revealer was an uber-cool spanner. I believe both constructors *can* has cheezburger. Indubitably.
I was way ahead of this puzzle, theme-wise -- in a way that made me feel smart. I love it when a constructor can make me such an active part of the solving process. I had filled in IRONMAN TRIATHLON. As soon as I got to the MILL of MILLIPEDE, I knew that 1) It would be MILLIPEDE and that 2) the revealer would be DOES IT HAVE LEGS. After that, the clues for DIRECT FLIGHT and YARDSTICK both confirmed it. (I don't understand the "in common usage" aspect of the DIRECT FLIGHT clue and maybe someone can explain it?) If I'd been really brilliant, I would have seen the DIRECT FLIGHT and YARDSTICK answers just from the clues and with very few crosses. I wasn't that brilliant, but maybe some of you were. Nothing in the puzzle gave me any trouble. But there was a different kind of thinking to do and I had an enjoyable time doing it. The grid is delightfully free of crosswordese and pop culture. I appreciate that so much -- especially after yesterday. One word, though, about Jane EYRE. She seems to be the most oft-quoted protagonist in literature. Is that because everything she said is so interesting, so trenchant? As far as I'm concerned, she's pretty dull. Reader -- I skimmed her! But the arrangement of letters in her last name have a pattern that would seem to be invaluable to grid-makers. A very entertaining puzzle with the theme answers clued in a way that's very entertaining.
@Nancy Well, I see it this way: the book is a longish one, told in first person, and including a lot of unspoken thoughts (which many of us suppress, thus depriving the reading public of, for instance, a truly fun bon mot, or a quotable quote....) And where did we hear what Huck Finn called his dad?--another recent example. Some of Jane Eyre's experiences are accounts of the Bronté girls' lives in boarding school, as governesses, etc. (Louisa May Alcott's character Jo, an American version...) If Jane Eyre is so "dull" why do we keep reading her story?
Nancy, If your FLIGHT is not DIRECT, it will have several legs. ("Leg" as a segment of a journey).
@Nancy not every book suits every person. But Jane Eyre was my all-time favorite book until I read East of Eden. (Since then my favorites continue to evolve)
@Nancy Jane Eyre was the first liberated woman. She stood by her morals and principles no matter what occurred. She was determined to make something of herself, and not listen to gossip; she would see for herself. Her bravery, despite her fright at being alone in the dark with a wild person nearby, is a sign of her inner strength. Her resolve to not be a burden on anyone, not even new-found relatives, is further proof of her determination to be her own person. And her loyalty knows no bounds. She is, for sure, a bit too religious for me, but that is how her creator was raised, and therefore, she was as well. On top of that, the writing of her story is beautiful. The prose is economical (as opposed to, for instance, Victor Hugo, who can devote an entire chapter to the kind of flora in a churchyard. You may skip that chapter, class.) But of course, we all have our favorites. I think I have about ten. Jane lives on every device I own; I can read her at any point, wherever I am stuck waiting, like a dr's office. It's good to have friends who don't talk back.
It was hard for me until it wasn’t. I definitely knew I needed to crack the revealer first. Once that fell, so did the puzzle. Well well below average solve time. But creative. I love clues like “scratch that!” I fall for it every time. I always thought the big hand was the fat / short one. And the tall / skinny hand was called the little hand. Not sure why. Don’t make any sense. But I promise I can read time.
@Weak Thanks to you, MIN finally clicked for me. Aha, the hand on a clock, not a human! When I read the clue, "what a big hand indicates," my mind went to the gutter and I giggled like a schoolgirl hearing about it for the first time, but of course none of the possible answers along those lines would fit in three squares.
Re 60A - neither dictionary I checked (m-w.com, ahdictionary.com) supports the given clue ("Raving") as a definition for AVID. And "Worked sufferingly" seems like a curiously worded clue for 52D (TOILED).
@RichardZ Agree. A semantic bridge too far even for a late-week grid when things are loosey-goosey. Bad clue. Gloriously, fiendishly clever Thursday puzzle by current standards? A decent early Covid-era Wednesday...maybe?
@RichardZ Yep. And you can add Collins, Random House, American Heritage, and Wordnet to the references. None of them give this definition.
@RichardZ @Matt @Nanu nanu I disagree. I am an AVID fan of xword puzzles. I RAVE about them.
@RichardZ Clues. Not definitions. Clues.
@RichardZ Since our chief clue defender isn't defending it, it must be pretty bad.
I agree with an earlier post about the disconnect between “Raving” and “Avid”. Similarly, close by I don’t think I’d connect “yaps at” with “harangue”. Being yapped at is a lot weaker and more pointless than enduring a harangue.
@Anita That quadrant was tough because of those plus YARDSTICK. I didn't have any problems with the other themers.
@Anita Clues that are not precisely correct but are close enough to allow a solver to reason out the answer are a subtle form of misdirection. People who like crosswords also tend to have large vocabularies that allow them to say things succinctly, but if you insist on precision in your crossword clues you should also get used to easier puzzles.
A perfectly solid Tuesday puzzle, with accessible fill and an easily guessed theme and revealer. No idea why this appeared on a Thursday. Done in about fifteen minutes, and didn't even have to work for it. So, somehow disappointing ... again. Was a bit surprised to see the same preposition in both the clue and answer for 39D: "Roll in dough" for RAKEITIN. I suppose the clue is an attempt to misdirect us toward baking, but I found the clue-answer pair just a bit jarring. Maybe just "Gather dough" would have been better. Also, haranguing is much more forceful than mere yapping!
@Xword Junkie I think "gather dough" would've been too easy.
@Xword Junkie I just finished the puzzle and came here directly to search if anyone commented on 39D. It bothered me too that the preposition was used in both the clue and answer. Always thought that was a no-no from NYT crossword editors.
@Xword Junkie May I assume that you don’t have a small dog?
Totally agree. I got stuck because I didn’t think “IN” was allowed
Whew. Typical long Thursday workout for me, but as usual, finally tumbling to the theme was the big turning point. Really clever theme and it ended up being a quite enjoyable solve. And... one puzzle find today was inspired by one of the constructor's name. Wondered about ZH...ZH in any answer and... yep - ZHUZHUP was the reveal in a Wednesday puzzle from last year. Some other theme answers in that one: TAMPABEIGE SKIPTOMYLUGE THEDEADSIEGE BUCKAROUGE Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/3/2025&h=38a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/3/2025&h=38a</a> Might put another puzzle in a reply. ....
@Rich in Atlanta As promised - a Friday from July 13, 2018 by Trenton Charlson. At the very top of the puzzle were three straightforwardly clued answers: RAZZ, PIZZA and FIZZ. And then the 'reveal' near the bottom of the puzzle: "Rock band whose name is suggested by the first row of this puzzle." ZZTOP Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/13/2018&h=52a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/13/2018&h=52a</a> ....
🎉 A grid from my favorite team of constructors! Zhou and Mallory brought the smiles and giggles into my home once again 🤣 Such a clever theme and YARDSTICK was truly dad joke level groan worthy 😆 We have stayed at the Waikoloa Hilton on the Big Island a number of times and watched both the IRONMAN TRIATHLON and the Lavaman finish lines there. Truly incredible athletes! We were in Coeur d’Alene in June for that Ironman as well. We never actually plan to go see these competitions, it’s always coincidental that our stay coincides. Impeccable timing I guess! Rooting for Team ESPAÑA…we travelled throughout Spain in 2012 for two weeks. We watched the final game at our hotel in Pamplona as they won the Euro Cup. We moved on to Madrid the following day and our hotel was along the victory parade route down to the fountain. We happened to be in Nuremberg, Germany in 2014 staying with a former exchange student that we hosted when Germany won the World Cup. They deemed us the “lucky charms” 🤣 On a side note, my daughter is off to Camp Minikani in Wisconsin this weekend. Her group is set to do a 30 mile hike of the Superior Trail in Minnesota between Beaver Bay and Silver Bay next week. I understand the air quality is hazardous at this point. After seeing Francis’s post, I’m really concerned about our northern neighbors and friends on this forum. Stay safe!!
@Jacqui J I got a notification that the Lake Placid IRONMAN TRIATHLON will be held this Sunday. Subtext: don't even think about driving in town. And talk about arduous - those hills are steep. And I hope air quality will not be a factor for the athletes. (My sister will be handing out cups of water.)
Awesome Tuesday puzzle!
@Captain Quahog was that supposed to be tongue-in-cheek?
I’m not convinced “struggle” and “strife” are proper synonyms. They are seldom interchangeable and have sufficiently distinct meanings — or connotations at least. Examples: The parties were engaged in a struggle/strife for power There was a long history of strife/struggle between the nations He found it a struggle/strife to understand calculus As verbs, they are much more closely related. One cannot easily substitute “strive” for “struggle”. As nouns? Not so much. I don’t care what Google, AI or OED have to say about it.
@Byron The second of your examples strikes me as what the constructor had in mind and as plenty close enough in meaning for a crossword clue.
As a middle aged father of two, I approve of this puzzle. I never turn my nose up at a good play on words.
Definitely not on the same wavelength as the constructors. The theme was kind of fun but for me some of the clue/answers were a bit clunky. I've worked in many labs and never heard of SMOCK being used, only lab coat. A SMOCK for me is an art studio attire. YAPSAT is a much weaker synonym for harangues imho. One of a kind did not register ACE, there is more than one in a deck of cards and while top notch experts may be rare there's usually more than one. Finally, a walking bass line is very strongly associated with jazz and the blues but I have never heard it mentioned in the same breath as SKA. Again I appreciate the constructors efforts and I thought the theme was fun, the awkwardness was a real detraction for me.
@DP, I took it as a SMOCK being worn in a pottery lab, or any other kind of art lab. Wordplay at its finest.
@DP. I was a bit unclear about ACE initially, but I think ACE was the answer because it can represent the highest card or lowest (a "one") depending on the card game.
@DP - I've worked in many labs, too and, like you, have always referred to my protective garments as a lab coats. However, I have never worked in a microelectronics or solid-state lab, where ESD smocks are de rigueur. Have you?
@DP When you are in a lab (or an OR) and need full frontal protection you wear a smock, also called a gown.
@DP I think “one of a kind” is great wordplay. It’s “1” of a kind (any kind being a suit).
This one was an odd one for me. I started it knowing it was a Thursday and expecting it to be tricky. But starting in the NW and working my way down, I filled in the first several entries fairly quickly and easily. I started feeling remorseful for Thursday puzzles really having a shockingly low level of difficulty now. Then I got into the middle and bottom parts of the puzzle. Much harder, with much more of a challenge. What the heck was I thinking before? I loved finally figuring out what the starred clues meant. Very enjoyable experience for me. Very interesting to hear from the constructors Zhou and Mallory that they themselves thought it to be a Wednesday-level puzzle. They certainly didn’t consider it a Tricky Thursday. Here’s hoping that that practice isn’t gone for good. What a shame that would be.
I enjoy puzzles that are deliberately, unapologetically obfuscatory. Kinda the point innit?
Such a fun theme! Smiled all the way through.
Yes it has legs! I enjoyed the puzzle and agree it’s more like a Wednesday but it was fun and I had to work a bit. I wondered what kind of lab it is where people wear smocks—I worked in a lab for some years and we wore lab coats and goggles etc. and always a badge. I think of smocks for finger-painting and the like. I first entered “badge” since it fit but that didn’t last. Anyway, the theme was clever and fun. Thank you.
I like this one but it was definitely tougher for me than it sounds like it was for many of you, which is fine. I finished up about 30% lower than my average. Because it just couldn't be my mind working a little slower than normal (ETHER, no! Perish the very thought!) I'm going to blame it on all the smoke. I normally go to campus on Thursdays, but I tried to water the plants on our garden balcony and thought I was going to keel over, so I worked from home. But that tiny bit of smoke inhalation is clearly what affected my average time here. Har!! Once I figured the theme out, I got a good chuckle out of it. I hate corporate speak, so it's fun to mock it!
@HeathieJ Yes I hope it is mocking. I was put off at first because in college I learned about the crazy design charrettes of the French, in which brainstorming involved very little questioning of anyone's ideas and the drinking of much wine. Some time in the wee hours maybe the owners of the architecture firm would select an idea or two to refine. Questioning too soon whether ideas will work is inhibiting. The only so-called charette I attended was a lame one run by the Army Corps of Engineers. It was during the day, and had very little discussion or feedback and no beverages.
Love this puzzle. I keep forgetting to look at constructor names before starting, but I've loved all their collaborations. Love the theme, including the discarded ones in constructor notes, though I don't quite get how a glass of wine has drippy legs?
(Oozing, not dripping) (My memory has legs, that's why it tends to wander off)
@Isabeau When you swirl the glass then stop and see the wine gliding down in stripes or “legs” it’s apparently indicative of higher alcohol content, though though some consider a way distinguish a quality vino.
A further comment on 14D. In earlier days, when knights were being created, before being dubbed they were literally anointed, blessed with sacred oil. It only later that the metonymic usage of “anointed” to the whole process arose.
@Patrick J. I was just reading something that repeatedly used 'anointed' in that original sense of daubing with oil. Like, even lubricating machinery was 'anointing' it. Now when I apply valve oil to my cornet it pleases me to think of it as anointment.