Saturday, July 25, 2026

Aren’t PENS digitally controlled?

"I don't have a calculator for you to use, but I do have this broken abacus." "Hey, that doesn't count!" ("Bead that as it may...")

A Saturday puzzle! Thanks, Katie.

Usually a puzzle has marquee answers or standout themes, and the rest is fill. The rest is the supporting cast that you get through so the stars can shine. It’s the glue, the stuff that holds the good stuff together. But not in a Hoody. In a Hoody, even the glue shines because of the wit in its cluing. Today, look at the ordinary answers that ended up glittering the box due to stellar clues: ITCH, SESH, MAIL, CALL, AWAY, GREY, LIES, GENES, HOSE, and the terrific [Coach’s lack, often] for ELBOW ROOM, and [Second person seen in Hamlet?] for THOU. Oh, man, GLORY indeed. Two spanning answers that gave the puzzle outstanding bones, surrounded by scintillation sparked by dazzling cluing. The whole box shimmered. My brain was entertained as well as given the work it loves. Consistently you do this, Katie, and it’s why I spontaneously do an inner fist pump when I see your name atop a grid. Ten puzzles into the Times, you are a treasure. Thank you for another outstanding outing!

Tough but fair. Thanks!

I struggled with this, almost throughout The SW just gave me fits. When I finally decoded AM, the puzzle finally fell. I made enough consistent progress that I didn’t need to put it down, but I was never relaxed. The constructor notes were so personal. Very cool. This puzzle, for me, came down to figuring out the long entries with minimal crosses. Because I had a tough time with the fill. Really fun long entry clueing. Great Saturday challenge for me. So I am confident the comments will be littered with “nice Tuesday”. I really enjoyed the workout. Thanks Katie.

That had some of the most clever clues I have seen in ages. Haven't felt delight like that for a while, thanks. Please do more puzzles. One thing: pens could be considered "digital" recording devices, hehe. 🖐️

A nicely clued puzzle, that opened up pretty quickly. I enjoyed it enough, that I can even forgive the increasingly common abomination — SESH. I’m actually glad this one wasn’t too tough, because my wife and I just finished four days with our 6 year grandson who was visiting from Scotland for our annual grandparents’ camp. Having him to ourselves for a few days was bliss, but exhausting bliss. I now know more about Pokémon, Mario Kart and Minecraft than I ever thought possible. I glad to be able to turn in earlier than usual

My sister is one of the best people I know, and she and I have an amazing relationship. Having a niece and nephew is a huge source of joy in my life. And nonetheless, when I saw "what some sisters become" next to _UNTS... let's just say my first thought was not the correct answer. (Perhaps just because of all the other very clever clueing going on -- loved this puzzle!)

Katie Hoody fanboy here. She can do no wrong. This one was slightly gentler on me than some previous ones, but intelligence, wit and wickedness could be found around every corner. One thing I admire is the four quadrants, somewhat isolated, giving us four (or five, with the center) unique mini solving experiences. Five little piggies of fun! -- And all four sides with an admirable triple stack so smoothly laid out you don't even realize it, like a really good 18 year old Macallan. Love the spanner, I'M IN THE SAME BOAT, such a lovely phrase, speaking of commonality and also voyaging together. Having seen The Odyssey, sometimes it's not so great being on the same boat. Look at what happened to the Titanic after all, once it met an ICE CRUSHER. But in general, it's nice to have a friend you can share an experience with, especially if that experience is destined to be negative. No-one says "I'm in the same boat" as if they're partying aboard a mega-yacht docked in Nassau (that would actually be my idea of purgatory). As I grew dopier reviewing the completed puzzle, words swimming together and forming new words, it looked to me like a slightly loopy Italian-American sea captain was trying to explain how not all seacraft should be referred to in the feminine, some were males, including his own ship. "I mint he'sa me boat!" Does that make any cense?

Really had to mull over the AM Station/OMELET BAR for quite some time. But then I’m not much of an AM person, definitely more of a night owl. A very nice Saturday grid, I’m a fan of Ms Hoody and always look forward to her puzzles. I like her light touch and humour, while still creating a grid with chew. Getting most of the long spanner’s helped with the chewier aspects. Had dog before pup before PET. Plus I assumed shingles were a term for US roofing materials, so spent a while trying to force some sort of DIY answer in there. Still stuck in the drought here. No grass for the Alpacas, thank goodness the hay harvest was a good one. Plants dying, veg plot a dust bowl, rain bowsers almost empty and no significant rain in sight. Eldest son can smell the wildfire smoke in Wales; they may need to bring the baby to us if it gets worse. Thinking of all those in Europe battling the terrible fires there.

It's always fun to be baffled by Ms Hoody. And it's hard to pick a favorite. My biggest D'oh moment might have been figuring out the Hamlet answer. For the longest time I was trying to recall if THOr was in the play. Like I said, D'oh.

I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle! So many beautiful misdirects! It seems impossible to list them all. My favorites? "Coach's lack" (I was thinking "tactfulness"?) and "A.M. station". For the latter, I had OMEL... and still was thinking, "What could this possibly have to do with the radio???" That's what I call a powerful misdirect. Thanks for the workout, Katie Hoody! And thanks for sharing your story of family trips of your youth. It reminded me of several similar stories from mine. (The TripTiks!)

This puzzle infuriated me, in a good way. "Second person seen in Hamlet" smh, downright devilish.

Just when I think I’m prepared for any American spellings which may pop up in these puzzles I get blindsided by an OMELET!

Wow. I don’t think there’s a hotter byline these days on a NYT themeless than Katy Hoody, and this puzzle is no exception. Her consistency is unparalleled. I could go on and on extolling all the wonderful clues, but I wouldn’t know where to begin, there’s just so many, and each a gem. I can comment on all the lovely relatedness of this grid. ARGYLE crossing POLKADOTS. ELBOWROOM in the same corner as HEADRESTS. PINK and TEAL. This had some smooth areas for me but overall a good challenge. Moreover, I had two interesting problem areas. I reflexively put in NASH for NAST and thought TESHY was some form of TETCHY (which is akin to TESTY). Then there was POLKADOTS. I had ESSIE before OSSIE and couldn’t parse POL_ADETS for the life of me. Eventually got there but it took a lot of flyspecking which is tricky for two problem areas. That’s all on me, though!

And yesterday I decided to do the first ever Shortz-edited puzzle from Sunday, November 21st, 1993. One of the answers was OCALA and as I plopped it in I thought, “Oh…Ocala. You used to be like an Eno Oreo!” Then today…bam!

I liked this puzzle a lot and, as someone who has had shingles but was lucky enough to avoid post-herpetic neuralgia, laughed out loud at 24D. Hamlet's second person was also first-rate. As a mild quibble, while the K-car was new for Chrysler, it wasn't really an innovation, as GM had introduced its own front-wheel drive four-cylinder compacts a year earlier. Europeans at that time had had ront-wheel drive cars of that size for years.

When I finished this one I felt badder than ole King Kong

Loved this puzzle but when have 1A ever been fashionable? Enjoyed the family road trip memories. Luckily my family never took any really long ones, given all the squabbling that went on. One of my sisters actually yelled: "She's closer to me than I am to her!" We kept bringing that up for years.

Isn't it wonderful to work your old noodle through this grid, and look back when it's filled, and think, "Another one, done!" Well done, fellow solvers.

Sign of a great puzzle for me? After completing I look back and think, "Now why was that so difficult?" Well done and thanks.

What a satisfying Saturday. Just enough crunch to make you frown in concentration, but plenty of wordplay to make you grin when you catch on. Even the fill felt lively and fresh. This is now my third puzzle that I remember really enjoying from Katie, and I’m excited to see what else she comes up with. Thanks for a great Saturday!

Another comment: Katie’s constructor notes made me think of long drives we used to take when I was a kid in the 70s, with the back seat of the station wagon folded down and my two brothers and me sprawled in the back in sleeping bags. My wife and I did it once or twice on family camping trips when we had kids — but by the late 2000s that somehow seemed the height of irresponsibility, and we stopped. Probably a win for safety, but a little bit of freedom lost as well.

Loved the Florida trips story which sounded much like the ones we took from NY to my parent's Gulf Coast home. Most often in a VW Jetta with 4 of us and too much luggage. Tomorrow we leave with our daughter, son-in-law, 2 grandchildren and one puppy for a week in the outer banks. NYT puzzles will appear on the beach!

This was so hard and so fun with its many twists and jokes. It's my favorite kind of challenging puzzle, one that relies on clever wordplay and divergent thinking rather than esoteric proper nouns.

Finished my first Saturday puzzle today! I started doing the crossword daily in March. I remember when Monday puzzles were extremely difficult… consistency is key. Loved this puzzle, felt challenging yet fair. Cheers to you all! :)

Loved this puzzle! I've been through several exhausting days so this was a sweet distraction (though my finish time suffered when I dozed off with my hand on the screen!) I name this as my favorite puzzle of the year, --- simple yet oh so ambiguous cluing, Caitlin's column and opening picture, and Katie Hoody's engaging memory of the childhood trek to Florida! Plus the related tales that generated in the comments!

“Second person seeing in Hamlet” Wow, that is a great, great clue.

Not only a punny, playful and totally toothsome Hoody Saturday but a word-borne, calorie-free Proustian madeleine from the setter herself of the sort we usually only get from solvers. A beautiful day in Crosslandia.

I remember thinking, "ISN'T IT TIME, RBG? Cement your legacy now. You have nothing left to prove. Go out in GLORY." NOPE. If only...

I agree with SP: Katie Hoody has become a pretty special byline. And she’s from Bemidji! Her puzzles are consistently fresh, clever, and IMHO a joy to solve. I’m a Minnesotan now in California, and I’m a big fan. Katie’s notes today put me right back in our family’s station wagon on our annual summer road trip. (However, for better or worse, my mother would never and I mean never have allowed us Twinkies.)

After blowing a 1800 day streak accidentally, I decided to stop chasing streaks for a new goal - finish without any lookups or help (asking my family doesn’t count). I was quite happy to finish this one without any help. Great clueing and no OREOS!

What an intersection: Sec. of State Rubio, and Ruth Bader Ginsberg! Oi.

I really enjoyed this Saturday. Crunchy and tough long entries, but gettable enough with a few crosses.

Maybe not as much CHEW as some of Katie Hoody's other puzzles, but I thought this was a worthy Saturday. Or maybe that's my partiality to her style talking. Such nice cluing and interesting fill. I also liked ITAL touching TYPE, ELBOW ROOM smashed up against SUBWAY(MAP), POLKA DOTS crossing ARGYLE. NICE GOING, Katie!

Up very early (what? You thought I wouldn't do the puzzle before getting ready for the day trip/SFA meeting?)... Saw "Predigital recording devices" and called in DHubby for help... ha ha... He just made a face: "That's stretching. Just silly." YMMV. He wanted a Dictaphone or Ediphone. (Not into trickery...) 57A was kind of my favorite; even when I had it filled in I was thinking, "Whaaaat?" NICE GOING, Katie. Hope no one thought 58D was going to stump Old Ladies; Hah! WE remember when nylons had seams up the back of our legs. (Where have all the garter belts gone?) I got it, but don't get "Knockout" for ROUND ROBIN. Aaaaaand more annoying PINK NOISE, I see. Actually, I truly enjoyed the solve...honing my sense for the day. (A lot of socializing for an introvert, even a cordial one...) Later, gators!

What a wonderful themeless!  The GLORY of this puzzle is in the misleading, deft, original, and very fair cluing -- and GLORY is one such clue.  Some others are THOU; SUBWAY MAP; ELBOW ROOM;  ARGYLE;  PENS; MAIL; GENES; SESH and my fave, DYI.  DYI's my favorite because there is no one more unprofessional in assembling anything than I am. Well, there is one clue I did think was stretching it a bit.  I don't think we have OMELET BARs in NYC; we only have oyster bars.  There are restaurants known for their breakfasts, I suppose, but do they have OMELET BARs?  Maybe in hotels you have to stand in line while they make an omelet to your specs?  Like a pizza?  In any event, I think the clue is a bit unfair.  But it's the only one. The fact that I thought of POLKA DOTS and GARAGE (or ESTATE) SALE right off the bat means I've been solving puzzles for too long.  And I got ELBOW ROOM just off the W.    A word about PINK NOISE.  It's more soothing than WHITE NOISE, you say??!!  As a huge devotee of non-digital white noise (A/C in the summer; analog machine in the winter) to block out other unwanted noise, I intend to search the ends of the earth to find out what it is and where I can get it.  I shall search as intensely as Sir Galahad searched for the Holy Grail.  (Or was it Lancelot?) Great puzzle, Katie -- as usual!!!

This was a quick solve for me as well, at about my Thursday average. But fun. My favorite clue was 'Second person seen in “Hamlet." ' Because of course the first thing I thought of were the witches in Macbeth. (Yeah, I know.) Nice one Katie! Also loved seeing Ossie Davis in there. He doesn't get enough notice these days. He and Ruby Dee were in the thick of the Civil Rights movement along with their long careers in film, television and theatre. I had forgotten that he wrote Purlie Victorious but am not surprised. He was one of those actors whose intelligence and depth crackled onscreen.

I protest! There is no way on God’s green earth that the tin can on wheels known as the K-car was an innovation!

Perfection! The clues—so charming. The misdirects—beautifully enraging. A work of art that had my head spinning. And so glad I read Katie’s note, too, which was itself enchanting.

Excellent crossword, and I'm proud to say I got POLKA DOTS straight away, first clue. I thought I was really clever, too, when I thought "shingles" must be that American word for roof tiles/slates, but no! Someone on my street has suggested we have an "American-style garage sale" (although exactly no-one has a garage), and no-one has ever used SCADS'or had an ICEE. Very enjoyable.

Mrs Hoody’s Saturdays this year have been an absolute blast to solve. Fantastic wordplay in the clues and great grid design allowing for two central spanners. This is what I look forward to after a week of toiling away at work. Bravo.

"Second person seen in 'Hamlet'" for THOU was clever, as was "A.M. station" for OMELETBAR. On the whole, I found this one a bit easier than yesterday's puzzle, and solved it in about 25 minutes. Never heard of (or heard) PINKNOISE, as far as I know. Assumed at first that the ribbon was PINK, and frankly, TEALNOISE sounds so much more soothing to me than PINKNOISE. Solid puzzle, as is typical of this constructor, but seemed a bit easy for a Saturday offering. Always get a chuckle when a short, common entry (like IBIS) is clued with something elaborate (like "The so-called 'hurricane bird,' because of its reputation for seeking shelter from storms at the last possible moment").

Can't say I did very well, but I thought this was very clever cluing.

ISNT IT TIME for a worth Saturday? One we can CHEW on, that’s not too GENTLE, that makes you want to say I RULE when you finish, covered in GLORY? (You say you are going back to the archives? THAT DOESNT COUNT.) NICE GOING Katie — this was a terrific puzzle.

Managed to finish a hair quicker than my usual Saturday time, which is a perfect way to start the weekend! Lots of fun clues, and I loved Katie's story! Growing up in FL, I had the opposite experience; we made long drives north for our vacations in the Smoky Mountains. Now as a snowbird, we've been making the MN - FL drive twice yearly, and the feelings are still the same: a little occasional boredom, plenty of appreciation for great scenery, and anticipation towards the end! 🛣️🚙

My childhood vacation travels were also spent in the folded down back of a vehicle, a station wagon , traveling from south GA to various locations in FL and the Carolinas. As the oldest child, I was appointed the Navigator. I was a whiz at AAA Triptiks! My adult son is visiting and asked to solve the puzzle together. I let him take the lead and thoroughly enjoyed the joint effort to the gold star.

Just one more comment about traveling. When I was a kid my dad would take us on driving trips every summer - every time going to various places. By the time I got out of high school I'd been to all 48 states (plus Canada and Mexico). It was just a great time every year. Oh... and I did stop in Alaska once (on my way back from Vietnam). That leaves Hawaii as the only state where I've never set foot. ....

With misdirection all over the grid I thought this was a great puzzle, overall. I just did not enjoy the trivia-heavy NW corner. I knew neither OSSIE, KCAR nor LEROY. I wanted POLKA DOTS at the top there, but I thought a Chrysler innovation could not start with a K, and there was no indication of abbreviation in the clue: I imagined the entry would be some new technology that's still around, and I could think of none such word starting with a K (I really don't like the misuse of the word "innovation" - it literally means something groundbreaking that's never been done before by anybody, anywhere; you're not being innovative when you're implementing a solution already known to others - unibody, front wheel drive cars had been made in Europe for decades before the 1980s). I entered and deleted POLKA DOTS two times before finally settling on it on the third go... That was possible when I inexplicably came up with OCALA on my own when I had no crosses there. Then I looked up OSSIE, and that I finally allowed me to complete the grid. PIGGY and ICE CRUSHER probably were gimmes for Americans, but I needed loads of crosses for both entries - I have only a very vague recollection of your piggy nursery rhyme. Snow cones are not popular here, at all (to the extent that I don't know what they are called in Polish), and I don't like them, either, so related terminology is alien to me.