In defense of this puzzle, Mario is hardly a subject for “gamers.” To be completely ignorant of such a mainstream cultural touchstone is in its way an achievement. You guys keep it highbrow 24/7 I guess? IMO It’s as fair game as any other tribute puzzle. Thanks for the nostalgia.
@Kate Tani Agreed - I haven't played a video game since my Atari in the 80s, and this wasn't hard at all.
@Kate Tani Agreed. We had a great tribute puzzle to the Roadrunner last year, and I heard very little complaints, because (I’m guessing) for the older crowd who frequents these puzzles the most (including myself) it was nostalgic and very accessible. But the Venn diagram of folks who might appreciate both of these equally probably has a small overlap.
@Kate Tani So we are to assume the regular puzzler should have basic knowledge of a media property they have never interacted with? I am so confused
@Kate Tani Upon coming to wordplay. I’m comforted this is the top readers pick. I knew there would be many who panned a video game theme. I was honestly afraid the top reader picks would all be naysayers. My faith in common sense is renewed. While solving, the theme musicand sound effects were constantly playing in my head. Along with Jack black singing? “Peaches”. <a href="https://youtu.be/49M3oGCxtFM?is=7ma_j_Ie-G-2t-dS" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/49M3oGCxtFM?is=7ma_j_Ie-G-2t-dS</a> You’re welcome
@Kate Tani. Agreed! I’ll take classic video game clues any day of the week over random 1950’s actors and actresses whose films I will never watch (same goes for the various symphony movements…)
@Kate Tani I don’t have a problem being expected to know something about a famous game. Surprised how much I knew just from osmosis. But an entire puzzle dedicated to it is too much for me. Very tempted to just stop, but for my streak.
After seeing frequent "tsk, tsk" comments about how people "should" know the name of a politician from the 1960s or some other trivia, it's very amusing to see so many people bent out of shape about a puzzle centered around a video game that came out 41 years ago, just because they're not familiar with it.
@Matt I wish you'd acknowledge that many of the people you are chiding admitted they didn't know the game and accepted that with equanimity. Why are you trying to make us out to be such monsters?
@Matt Agree! Really simple and easy answers for the most popular video game in history, and everyone is bent out of shape about it. Expand your horizons, people.
@Matt It’s quite amusing to see some people that typically have a condescending tone in shambles over this one. I think it comes from a snooty opinion of video games as a whole but I guess condescending is as condescending does
@Matt @Cliff "...everyone is bent out of shape about it"... "...in shambles over this one..." Surely these are overstatements. Almost all the comments I see are quite amicable.
Oh Francis, we've been through this before, I think. Your shtick (when not accusing people of targeting you when your posts are deleted) is to claim ignorance. We get it; you've never seen a condescending post, the people you share threads with regularly are super-nice, when they say, "This puzzle was child's play. I have no idea what you're complaining about," that's just them trying to help, all the other people who pointed these things out are just imagining them, etc. I stopped taking those posts seriously a while ago, but keep on trollin'.
@Matt There's definitely some snobbery when it come to video games, and rap music as well. A lot of comments that demean the forms. I don't understand how they're any different from TV shows and other types of music, but we always see complaints about both.
@Matt Agree! Or the tennis players. I feel like more people know of the Mario franchise than old tennis players. The vitriol against this puzzle is bizarre.
@Matt You must realize that there's a qualitative difference between John Foster Dulles and Wario. The former could be labeled "trivia" but Dulles did have - and continues to have - a big impact on all of our lives. Can you say the same thing about Wario or other characters from a video game?
@Fred Oreos are in the puzzles multiple times every month, and none of the people upset about Mario complain about junk food and its lack of cultural importance. The reason people are upset at this puzzle is entirely because they had trouble with it. It's disingenuous to pretend otherwise.
So, all I know about Super Mario is what I have learned and remembered from crosswords. I’ve never played the game, and thus, this puzzle became pretty much a Super Themeless, and hey, the toughness that resulted from the no-knows tickled my brain, which I could almost hear exclaiming, “It’s a me, happy brain!” I actually did remember the catch phrase, and YOSHI, and after a while PRINCESS PEACH. Three things stand out: • The look of the grid, a cool way to dress up the box. • ENTHALPY – Huh? What? Truly, I answered this correctly? • The fact that Kim went through 77 versions of this puzzle, according to her notes, before landing on this final one. Oh. Well. Here is a person striving for excellence on top of wanting to entertain, which turns my thumbs up, and makes my soul happy, joining my brain. Congratulations on your debut, Kim, and thank you for your enthusiasm, which bounced off the grid. Thank you, this was a hoot!
Themeless for me too, Lewis, but I too recognized most of the theme entries, either from crosswords or real life. It was a bit more work solving a tribute puzzle without being familiar with the subject, but the non-theme fill was easy enough. I'm sure those who play(ed) this will have a ball, and I certainly don't begrudge them the fun. I hope our new constructor will try -- or has tried -- her hand at a themeless.
@Lewis Lewis, ENTHALPY is a measure of the total heat in a system just like ENTROPY is a measure of total disorder (in an oversimplified way). Cue Francis. This is going to sound extremely pretentious but I just started working on starting The Odyssey in Greek (since my Greek keyboard, as Matt and Francis reminded me lately, has been lying idle) and coincidentally just yesterday came across the word θαλπωρή (thalpore). It was translated as “comfort” but could also be translated as “warmth”. I immediately thought of the enthalpy cognate as a way to remember it.
@Lewis. Ha! I had no clue about any of the video game references, but enthalpy was pretty easy for me, as an architect thinking about thermal comfort zones.
My son and I have been solving the puzzle together for several weeks now. I’m trying to get him hooked on the family legacy of NYT puzzle solving and I think I nearly have him addicted. This puzzle was right up his warp pipe. His insider knowledge landed us nearly ten minutes under my Sunday average. I understand Super Mario might not be a preferred theme for all solvers, but I found this a refreshing and delightful change of pace that helped me convince a new puzzle solver that Sunday themes can be great fun.
@JBW I wish I could recommend this more than once. It's a great reminder of how the puzzles aren't meant to be for a certain narrow segment of the population. I also loved the genuine joy that came through in the constructor's notes.
@JBW I’ll second Matt on that one. It might not be up everyone’s alley, but it is a big part of popular culture and if it pulls in some interest from new solvers I’m all for it.
@JBW This is so lovely! We hope to do the same with our son one day (he’s currently 7 weeks old though so some time to wait!)
People love it when a crossword is themed around movies, food, books, plays or sports, but video games? apparently that's enough to send everyone into a tizzy. Everyone outside of America has to work through also sorts of American-centric questions every single crossword, but one single crossword outside of your wheelhouse has people complaining? NYT wants the crossword to be a global and universal experience and that includes video games. Use this as an opportunity to learn about something new.
@Mo everyone here acting as though playing a silly video game when you were a kid is the same as knowing Latin or classical music or literature or other things leaned as an adult...wild. It is not like you studied Mario, or learned about it for its cultural importance, or even really loved it. Your knowledge of it is purely incidental and mostly juvenile. There are differences between the things you are talking about.
One might say there are two types of people out there trying to solve this puzzle: those who have played Mario Bros. games, and loved the puzzle and found it relatively easy, and those who have never had any interest in this or any video game, and thought the puzzle was niche, unfair, and not enjoyable for them. I'd say there's a third type of solver. Someone like me. I have had zero interest in video games since I last played Pong circa 1978. I have no interest in MARIO, WARIO, LUIGI and PRINCESS PEACH. I know nothing about FIREFLOWERs and these magic MUSHROOMs. I never heard of a WARP PIPE, and to me, MAMMA MIA is an ABBA musical. But I knew a few things. I knew the puzzle was about a video game. I recognized all the characters, including YOSHI, who I believe is a dinosaur. I knew that in order to make the puzzle fair, the crosses near all the theme entries had to be super gentle. I realized that the things many people wouldn't know had to be inferable. I knew that it would be to my advantage tonight that Ive taken just a minimal interest in a video game that I couldn't care less to play or learn about in depth. (This is how I approach any pop culture--or regular culture--things I'm not drawn to. Enough to know what someone is talking about in a casual conversation, and enough to be useful solving crosswords.) And so it went. Not the most interesting puzzle for me, but relatively fast, and not the disaster or object of hate that some people reported.
@Steve L Several people commented before you did that they enjoyed the puzzle despite never having played the game.
@Steve L Count me in the third group with you.
@Steve L - Exactly the right attitude.
@Steve L Comment of the day! Being open to what's in the ether is a helpful crossword solving tool.
@Steve L And maybe there’s a fourth group? Those who didn’t hate it, didn’t find it unfair, just didn’t find it enjoyable enough to continue. When I’m looking up multiple names and terms, at a certain point it becomes less about solving and more about transcribing. Although I didn’t love this one, I’m happy for those who did. I hope they’ll be happy for me when our positions are reversed.
@Steve L What I enjoy about any puzzle is trying to figure out things I don't know. Puzzles that make one think out of the box are fun. Pop culture is my Achilles heel so if I have crossing pop culture clues the best I can do is make a semi-educated guess, then, after completing the puzzle, I look up what I didn't know. Everything I know about pop culture, I learned doing crossword puzzles!
Maybe I’m too millennial and too small town, but I’ve never seen Super Mario called a niche subject. I have hardly ever played the original video game or its spin offs, but growing up in the 90s the Nintendo characters were everywhere and very main stream. Not to mention the most recent movie featuring Mario and friends was released in the US this April. But I digress. I loved this puzzle.
@Mackenzie I was shocked that the columnist didn't recognize the puzzle's visuals! My partner and I messaged our septuagenarian parents and they all instantly knew what it was. But I suppose that just goes to show how diverse our experience of media is, as a whole. (And good on Caitlin for being a good sport about the unfamiliar-to-her theme.)
Really loved solving this puzzle! Great debut, Kim! I’ve seen some comments suggesting that the theme isn’t suitable for a NYT crossword due to older solvers not getting the reference. Thought it was worth pointing out that Mario first appeared as a character over 40 years ago, and the franchise has been huge in pop culture for decades. I think older solvers deserve a bit more credit. That being said, is it such a bad thing that not every puzzle or clue caters to the older generations? As a younger person, I’m always lost with the “Happy Days” clues and references of a similar era. CHACHI was one of my last solves today. Sometimes I ask an older relative for help with these clues, I have a chat with them, and usually learn something. I also have a lot of trouble with the sports trivia clues, but I accept that millions of people do the NYT crossword and it’s impossible for a writer to make a puzzle with clues that every single person will get. I think that would be a very boring puzzle.
@A This older (65) solver managed to get by through absorbing cultural chatter over the years. It’s pretty hard to ignore.
Enthalpy. Physical chemistry, which I taught, is really made up of three main areas: thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics, which ties thermo and quantum together. Enthalpy is one of six fundamental measures of a system: Enthalpy, Entropy, Gibbs (free) energy, Helmholtz (work) energy, Temperature and Pressure. The reason Enthalpy is important for chemistry is because in a chemical reaction done under conditions of constant pressure and temperature (the most common case), the heat released or absorbed during the reaction is the change in Enthalpy. Some chemical changes produce heat, like burning methane or hydrogen in the presence of oxygen. These changes are called exothermic. A few changes absorb heat. These are called endothermic, and the reaction uses heat from the surroundings. The heat absorbed or released in these reactions is the enthalpy change. An example of a heat-consuming chemical change is the phase change from liquid water to water vapor. That consumes a large amount of heat, and is why we perspire. The water evaporating from our skin uses our body heat to turn liquid water to water vapor, thereby cools us off. It's also why steam is so dangerous. When water vapor condenses on a surface like our skin, it releases that heat, causing burns even more severe than it would otherwise. I always had trouble making thermodynamics interesting. This is the best I can do.
@Francis Never my favorite study either but you did a great job explaining it as always!
@Francis Thanks for explaining -- very clear!!
@Francis I seem to remember that the numbers 80 and 550 explain why boiling water is much more dangerous than other state changes. I think the units are calories per gram or something similar. How's that for selective memory of something I once knew?
@SP @Sal Z @Al in Pittsburgh Thanks! Al, great question, I think probably the numbers you're talking about are heats of hydration and heats of fusion for water in some units. I could check but I'm retired. Anyway, the enthalpy change for water to go from the liquid to the vapor state is enormous, way, way bigger than it "should" be for a small molecule like water. Water is extraordinary in this way, and in many other ways, due to a thing called hydrogen bonding. Hydrogen bonding is a particularly strong inter-molecular force. It can happen when hydrogen is bound to a very small,"electron greedy" element; nitrogen, oxygen, or fluorine. Because of hydrogen bonding, it takes a lot of heat (enthalpy change) to get liquid water, where the molecules are close and stuck to each other, to the vapor state, where they are widely separated and much less stuck.
@Francis -- Oh, and you did very well. You are an excellent explainer!
@Francis Today I learned that ENTHALPY is unheard of by most people. I couldn't have defined it, but I certainly remembered the term. Thanks for the terrific explanation.
Francis, I appreciate your explanation. (But what does "it would otherwise" refer to?)
@Francis 🙋 Teacher, is this going to be on the exam?
I don’t know why I continue to come here every day and look at the comments—it’s an unhealthful addiction. We have a lot of hard-to-justify arguments. But the critiques of this theme are simply the most ridiculous thing yet by far. This is a game! Not every day or every thing is about you. Yougov ranks Mario as the second most popular video game franchise of all time. 94% of Americans know who Mario is. Jeez. Hopefully this insanity is enough to break my habit.
@mTownTeapot Not likely. Habits are largely built on insanity.
This seems like a poor puzzle for a general audience.
@Agnes Depends on who is defining "general audience."
@Agnes I don't think of myself as anything like "general." :)
@Agnes If you think that "general audience" hasn't changed since the 1960s, then yes, probably. Or if they're all snobs and all about "high culture".
I have to throw my name into the loved it camp on this one. I’m a millennial through and through, and this one was such a fun solve, both for the throwback theme and for the fact that I must have been on the constructor’s wavelength (which is a rare thing for me) as every answer just seemed to fall into place, and landed as a Sunday personal best by a long shot. The art and cleverness of the theme answers was a delightful touch as well. Sorry to all the haters that you didn’t enjoy it. Not every puzzle is for me, I guess not every puzzle is for you either. Can’t say I’ve ever bothered to complain so much about the frequent puzzles loaded with esoteric knowledge of subjects that are out of my wheelhouse though, especially ones so carefully and elegantly crafted.
@Kirsten Is it really "hating" though? A lot of people said it wasn't for them, that they'd never played the game, that it was something they were unfamiliar with, but I really didn't read actual hatred into any of them.
@Kirsten From the "hater" to the dismissal of adult subjects as "esoteric" this comment makes me sad for my generation.
@Kirsten I'm a GenXer through and through, and I loved it too! It put a huge smile on my face.
That was not fun for those who had never played a video game in their life.
@ER True, but a "Hamlet"-themed puzzle might not be fun for someone who never read a Shakespeare play in their life. In 2026, is that more or less common than never having played a video game?
@ER There are more things in video games, ER, than are accounted for in your philosophy. (Technically, anyone solving on the app is "playing a video game".)
@ER This medium has been around for more than half a century. Frankly, I'm shocked that so many people claim to have never played a video game.
@ER Perhaps you ought to give one a try! It's quite a rich medium to explore.
I’ve never played the game, but I had no trouble enjoying the puzzle. I appreciate how dense the theme is and how it did warp those pipes! I was sus of WARPPIPE but all the crosses fit and sure enough, now I get it :-) I enjoyed a lot of the cluing and that I knew little of the game trivia meant the puzzle was more challenging than many recent Sundays. The game is inescapably in the culture so I was familiar with some of the theme, especially the dinosaur, famous from previous NYT crosswords. I was concerned about some naticky spots where game trivia crossed proper names and some obscure fill (looking at you ENTHALPY!) but I completed without any lookups. Fun puzzle, thanks!
@Sara W I'd never heard of ENTHALPY, but I saw that every single cross was a 100% certainty.
I never played any video game, thus knowing the answers to this crossword was a futile exercise. I heard of Mario, but that's the extent of it. Same goes for neo-pets. Bottom line is that this week's puzzle was not enjoyable.
@Michael So now you know how I’ve felt for years when the puzzle revolves around opera, classical music or music terms. Not every puzzle appeals to everyone. Just take it in stride.
Tom, I agree with you in theory, but I don't recall any recent Sundays that were opera, classical music, or music terms tributes.
I have exactly zero Mario or Supermario or NES experience. Loved the puzzle! Drove me to focusing on the crosses and the possible completions. Great gray cell calisthenics! Thanks!
For a month, I watched over a 9-year-old boy, who played Super Mario all evening. I had to play with him; I am 61 years old. He was autistic and had no other interests. This evening is my moment of recompense. Justice has been served. It's a so nice, yes? Grazie, Kim.
@Becky Muradian I’ve told other people this, and it’s true. You never know what little vignettes in your life will contribute to your future. If only for crossword puzzles, but often for other things as well. Sometimes it’s just an unexpected connection with someone else over some unimportant aspect of your life you share. I just say, be open to new experiences, try something that’s out of your normal comfort zone, and you never know when it will come in handy later.
What a breath of fresh air! My only disappointment was no animation at the end. Hee.
Call me a snoot, but this isn't my jam, jelly, or even my peanut butter.
When you make a niche puzzle like this one, the trick is to make it as fun for people who know nothing about the niche topic as it is for the people who do. This puzzle failed on the former score for me, as I know nothing about Super Mario, and while I enjoyed 80% of the puzzle, I eventually got stuck and gave up - not wanting to look up arcane terms like "ONEUP" etc. Hope this puzzle was fun for others but it wasn't for me.
@Fred I don't know much about it but found it a lot of fun!
@Fred "one up" is hardly an arcane term. It's a staple in nearly every classic video game. As in nearly all of them. If people need to know obscure authors, random operas, etc, to do a crossword surely "one up" is fair considering video games have been one of the most popular entertainment genres of the last half century.
@Fred I've been around video games for decades and have never heard of it either. But it wasn't a hard guess. (Around, not playing :) )
Dear complainers: You live in the world. This has been a significant and persistent part of pop culture for FOUR DECADES. Don't blame the constructor or editors for your willful ignorance. I haven't played this game since 1989 and yet somehow I knew all of it.
@Roldick I am the proof to your point. I've never played Super Mario and I was able to immediately identify the theme from the look of the grid itself and solve the puzzle without too much difficulty. There were only 5 real clues associated with the theme and the other 2 were solvable without any knowledge of SM.
Reading the comments has made me realize the Venn diagram between gamers and NYT crossword commenters isn't very large. For those complaining, Mario is one of the most recognizable video game characters of all time and stars in the best-selling video game franchise in the world. Arguably, more people know about Mario than the American regionalisms, specific sports knowledge, and 80s-era television shows that sometimes (or often) appear. You don't need to be a gamer to know about Princess Peach, for example. And for the rest, there are crosses, just like I was expected to use in order to find CHACHI, a reference to a show that ran for two seasons several years before I was born. There seems to be this pervasive idea among the (frankly) older population that video games are still a deeply niche and geeky thing. The video game industry generated $187 BILLION dollars in revenue in 2024, making it more profitable than film. Mario has starred in hundreds of games since he was introduced as a character more than 40 years ago. None of this is niche to the population at large.
@Anna Mario is indeed a global phenomenon and hardly niche. I had an easier time with the Mario clues than like.... Huffington?
@Anna You have good points, but do you really want to attribute a "pervasive idea" to those of us who found the puzzle un-fun, or (say) annoying? I have nothing against Mario or Princess Peach, and all those games, and of course they are no longer "niche" matters. Nonetheless, I just don't really know much about all that, so the puzzle left me indifferent at best (despite the clever construction and clueing).
@Anna. You don’t understand the original comment. No one cares about Mario’s standing in the video gaming market or pantheon. Whatever. The comment is about it’s suitability in an NYT puzzle.
Too much of a niche puzzle for me. No fun for a non-gamer. Clever, I’m sure, but totally arcane in my world
@Patty Teague I'm a non-gamer, and it was fun for me. Several of the answers have appeared in previous puzzles.
Having read all the comments I feel obliged to speak directly to the constructor. Kim, I am really sorry about some of the vehement reactions you got to this labor of love. I gave some constructive criticism earlier, some of which I retracted, and I’m almost sorry I did even that because you certainly deserve more praise than negativity for this. Folks, tribute puzzles are a staple of some crossword themes and not all are for everyone—we’ve had Star Trek, Star Wars, Roadrunner, Disney, Superheroes, plenty of others. For the most part they are solvable with crosses. For those of you who just said, not my cup of tea and moved on, good on you. For those of you who piled on and expressed hate and detestation, I respect your opinion but I’m disappointed. Kim, you are a fine constructor and I am humbled and grateful that you chose to share a piece of your life and interests with us and did so with joy and enthusiasm. Please continue to do so and realize you can’t please everyone. I’m sure we will be seeing more of you.
@SP I'd just like to add, as one of the worst curmudgeons around here, that I actually quite liked the puzzle and its theme, despite being largely unfamiliar with Mario games. All that I somewhat disliked in places was the trivia-heavy fill, naticks in several spots (but I only required a single lookup to finish the grid, so even the trivia remark is nothing major).
@SP I appreciate you saying that. Thiswas clearly a labor of love for Kim, and it showed both in the puzzle and in her notes. I find it interesting that the commenters who claim they were just trying to push back against people criticizing the constructors have not made any comments toward the posts that trashed this constructor. I wonder why that is?
As a Xennial who grew up with and still very much loves video games, of course I was delighted by today’s crossword. But also amused that what I find myself thinking about is not all the fun themed features, clues, and references but rather that RED HAIR is most definitely not the first thing that came to mind as Jessica Rabbit’s most striking feature. On a less frivolous note, those still waving away video games as trivial, childish, or unserious four decades into the Mario era are sadly missing out on a canon of storytelling that can be every bit as rich, stirring, and thought-provoking as theatre, film, or literature. Last year’s Game of the Year, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, is a masterpiece in every sense of the term.
@Casey Henry That’s called a misdirection.
@Casey Henry I had the same thought LOL about Jessica Rabbit and agree with you that Clair Obscur is a masterpiece of storytelling. It’s true that some video games can be every bit as compelling as other literature. For me it’s Grim Fandango and The Longest Journey that resonate with me as great works of fiction apart from the game play.
I wasn’t that familiar with the theme of the puzzle, but it was still a fun solve!
Sorry but I didn't enjoy this theme. I've never played the game and have zero interest in the characters or the gimmicks. So I just solved the puzzle using the crosses. Even then, I had to do an alphabet run at the intersection of MOW and WARIObto finish. I had trouble parsing "razor blades?" and if I had to guess, "Dario" would have been my pick for the nemesis name. Oh well. YMMV.
@Henry Su WARIO, like WAR, I’m guessing.
@Henry Su I guessed Wario by inverting the M in Mario! I've never played the game, so the puzzle was a bit annoying for me..
@Henry Su I think he's WARIO because MARIO wears an M on his cap, and W is M upside down.
@Henry Su it’s WARIO because “waru” means “bad” in Japanese…
Am I the only one who was hoping to see an animated Mario running around the grid or disappearing into a pipe?
Making a puzzle with Mario video game as a theme is not fair what about us who are not into video games or have kids who play them?
@Anne C. you could say this about any theme that you don’t happen to have direct knowledge of - that’s part of puzzling. In this case I think Mario, as possibly the most iconic video game of all time, is a fair enough theme.
@Anne C. I don't play video games, don't have kids, and have never played Mario, but I've heard people talking about it enough over my lifetime I was able to figure it out.
@Anne C. The same could be said about literally any theme/clue regarding trivia. Let’s go back a few Thursday ago with the 13 colonies, just bc it’s not important to you doesn’t mean it’s not important to someone else. Take an opportunity to learn about a hugely important part of video game history/just history
@Anne C. Do something else? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
NYT has published entire puzzles about a single specific movie, celebritie, work of literature, and even a specific French soup (who else remembers the Bouillabaisse puzzle?) Surely, those are more niche subjects than the most iconic and well-known video game character of all time?
Usually, when a puzzle has a clue about some item that's outside my experience zone, I figure it out and am glad to add a tidbit of trivia to my general knowledge base. Over the years, that's included knowing some bits and pieces about Mario. However, devoting an entire Sunday to this one topic is a waste of my morning. It's like a bad cup of coffee that you just sort of suffer through.
@Martin Benjamin luckily you can just, I don't know, do something else today
😄👏👍 for ENTHAPLY. This addiction that many have that is solving the puzzle is very strange. So many people here seemed to have voluntarily done something that they didn’t like doing. If the pleasure is in getting the star then enjoy that. Don’t complain; you won. If the pleasure is in solving then begrudge a poor clue or a trivia natik, but not the theme … for 😢 out loud I’m not a gamer, I’m also not a rap fan but I accept that the puzzle spans many interests. This was fine.
@Ιασων Right? If I don't like a puzzle from the start, I just abandon the solve. Valuing the ultimately worthIess streak more than enjoyment when playing *a game* seems utterly loco. (I actually kinda liked the puzzle)
With MUSH/ROOM, the word is split up to create two very different AND legitimate words. And then the constructor abandons that conceit...and we get : FIREF. ---------> FIREF <--------- This is a new low for the NYT.
@Ben Blackwell I also thought that was a bit of a flaw in an otherwise well done puzzle.
@Ben Blackwell Completely agree, a grade school level of new low. I made a similar comment above before I read down. Since when is this okay? Slap in any old thing so long as you can point it to another answer? The nadir of a mostly unpleasant puzzle.
@Ben Blackwell I took the odd split as an effect of the pipes, based on positioning. Part of the video game world/theme.
@Ben Blackwell Agreed. This was the one spot where you had to know something specific about how to play the game: how the green 'warp' (evidently) pipes work. I did not. LOWER FIREs seemed reasonable, until I finally figured out OF HELP. also had ROOM dUSt ? (but at least that one was easy to figure out without the pipes).
I don't know a thing about Mario and, if I did, I wouldn't admit it. What a waste of space.
@R.J. Smith Or, you know, just say it wasn’t for you and move along!
Just an added element I experienced as a non-Marionette: Each theme clue (that I didn’t know) made for a crescendo of unknowingness that was actually fun! I kept thinking “eventually this thing will be revealed”, and it was. Still, I’ll be waiting for the “It’s a me, Hamlet” puzzle suggested by another commenter…
@Cat Lady Margaret Nice cat! Cheered me up after ploughing through this rather dull puzzle.
@Cat Lady Margaret Waiting for Hamlet? Alas, poor [Mar'gret] ... there's the rub.
Unsurprisingly, there will be those who love all things MARIO, who hopefully will find this puzzle easy and amusing, and those who don't give a fig for MARIO, who will have a different experience. You can put me in the second category. But, MARIO (and his brother and his PRINCESS and his catchphrases) are sufficiently in the Zeitgeist that this puzzle wasn't too hard. I'd like to comment on the wonderful/awful clue "Daises". At first glance, I thought it must be "Daisies", but careful examination ruled that out. Then I thought it might be a synonym for "Lazes" (as in "I'm just 'daising' around the house on this lazy Sunday."), but it was only when I had _ODI_ that I realized that we were dealing with the plural of "Dais". And how about Mount ELBERT? I feel like I should have known that one, but it felt completely new to me. A nice TIL. And "Razor blades?" forced me to run the alphabet to get the W of MOW (never having heard of Wario). What a clever clue! Not my favorite Sunday, but nothing to complain about either. Except that I was sure those "question mark boxes" and the pipes would lead to an exciting animation at the end. A bit disappointed about that.
@The X-Phile Same regarding MOW and PODIA. Highlights of the puzzle for me. "Daises" were first misread flowers, and then became an unknown verb.
I solved it because of the crossing clues but not very satisfying, because I never played the game. It wasn't hard to figure out that it was about Suiper Mario Brothers but the question mark boxes and pipes were meaningless to me. I imagine it would have been very easy for someone who did play the game. Too specific and narrow a subject for a NYT puzzle I think.
@Jack I totally agree with you. Suffered through a super Mario movie which was my only exposure to the franchise. Was able to complete the puzzle with several guesses but enjoyed discovering the rocky mt. peak and the switch from flowers to podia
I'm sorry but Super Mario Bros is far from obscure. It's as totally valid a subject for a themed NYT cw puzzle as the Oscars, sports, Star Trek or any of the other countless themes they've done before. Not everyone will know everything and I think that's fine. I'd rather see something a little nerdy and weird from time to time on a Sunday than just another boring standard puzzle. To the haters today, I'm sure you have a theme just around the corner that'll give you a little jolt of nerdy happiness and make you smile like this one did for so many of us today. Apologies that our pleasure came at the expense of your Sunday happiness lol
@Jairus I laugh when folk complain about sports or rap entries in a puzzle with an 18th century poet. Cheers, and Happy Sunday.
@Jairus I’m one of the people disappointed that it wasn’t my theme this week. You put it very well. I don’t think there’s a problem with the construction, just my own interest level in video games.
Definitely not my cup of tea. My preference would be less fancy graphical tricks and more clever wordplay. But, as Deb Amblen would say, “Your mileage may vary”.
1000% not for me - I only completed it to preserve my (long) streak. I’m interested in a lot of things, but video games aren’t on the list even remotely (along with the Marvel Comic Universe) so that makes for some less than fun solves.
For me (and a lot of my generation) this was the end of my gaming days. (I’m 68) My son and I (mostly my son) completed every possible coin, star and any other doohickey available. So this was a throwback down memory lane. Hours upon hours getting to the next level. These are cherished memories I have. He’s in his late 30’s and teaching our grandson the latest. Fun puzzle. Thanks for the memories. Puzzle wise, I’ve never heard of a “peep toe before. Now I have!
Whether you liked the puzzle or not, you should have been rewarded for completing the puzzle by having the 3 hidden boxes convert to the images they represented. I couldn't believe that didn't happen when I heard the "congratulations" music play. NYT, you missed a fun opportunity.
In my younger days I held high score for a time on a video game at a local amusement park I have never played this game, however, and I almost stopped before I began. I love my Saturday ritual and this was not enjoyable for me.
There's plenty of nice stuff in this puzzle even if you're not a fan of the theme. For the record, I've never played the game and have no interest in playing the game, but know who MARIO and LUIGI are. The PRINCESS, WARIO, YOSHI though I want to spell it YOSsI every time, and even BOWSER, I think have been in enough puzzles in the past few years for me to retain them. I like that there's a SPUD up in the NE corner to use for my POTATO GUN. And I'd like to enjoy a little SHIRAZ and a slice of PIE while re-watching MAMMA MIA. Congratulations on your debut, Kim.
I was able to figure out that this puzzle is about Mario. But I have never played the Mario games, and know next to nothing about them. The double clues (spanning two answers), in particular, are giving me fits. Should I continue? Or should I just allow that some puzzles are meant for a niche audience, and step aside to give them their moment? (Stopped to ask this question in the midst of having no fun.)
@Heidi My feelings exactly.
@Heidi I was in the same boat. OCD was the wind in my sails.
@Heidi When I'm stuck (without a household expert in the subject), I allow myself to look up the very specific trivia. It would work for at least the character names here. Today I was able to keep going having vaguely heard the characters' names before throughout the last 40 years. This one went better after a half day break. After the fact, for this puzzle I would've bagged it if those things didn't help. It just wasn't interesting enough to me. I didn't get the double clued ones either until almost the end. If it helps The 87-30 answers were easier to guess without knowledge (for me), once I guessed Bialik's name. But I think many will solve without needing to get the double clues.
@Heidi - I allow myself to Google factual topics I don't know. Speeds things up, since there will be a new puzzle tomorrow.
@Heidi Not worth the effort. I did a lot of it before I realized that I knew almost nothing about this game and would never finish. Actually, I realized that very early and debated about doing it at all. But I'm a creature of habit, and a 60-year habit of Sunday NYT puzzles is hard to break. In the end, I was sorry I wasted my time. Even some of the non-theme answers, which I did get, were bizarre, like PEEP TOE and A DAY AGO.
@Heidi If you are having no fun then don’t; but I would keep trying it. I think overall the cluing is pretty easy and you can get most everything from crosses.
Writing this before I even read past the first three comments. The words I would like to use to describe my feelings about this so-called crossword puzzle would have gotten my mouth washed out with soap when I was a kid. I'm furious. If I wanted to play video games, I'd play video games. The last video game I played was either Pac-Man or Tetris on my little handheld device. The few things I know about this video game are what I picked up from previous puzzles. I'm sure there are many who enjoyed this. I can't be the only one who didn't. And IMO, to run a Sunday puzzle that is so niche is just plain wrong. I am beyond...NSFW.
@Times Rita We usually agree, but not today. Video games are less niche than musicals or American sports - half the world's population play them 🤷🏽 (I have never played Mario games myself, and all I know about them, which is little, I learned by "osmosis" on the internet, yet I still managed to get the themed entries, and I mostly enjoyed the solve) I respect your personal opinion of the puzzle, of course. I just object to calling the subject niche. It actually was one of the least niche thematic grids I've solved here.
@Times Rita You know......you don't HAVE to do the puzzle.
@Times Rita Of all the things in this world to be furious about, you chose a children's video game.
@Times Rita “Furious” seems like an AWFULLY extreme reaction to a crossword puzzle? As the kids say, go touch some grass.
@Times Rita so let me ask you about this, if you don't mind. Where exactly is your fury coming from here? Are you angry to have to think about a video game? Are you upset because you feel that somehow it sullies the notion of a word game? Or are you perhaps brought to the point of repeatedly telling us about all the swear words you'd like to utter because... this touched down outside your own personal wheelhouse of knowledge? It goes without saying that everyone is entitled to their likes and dislikes, their preferences and their annoyances. But this level of anger about a *game* - two games! puzzle and video - seems excessive, and worrisome.
This was certainly a niche puzzle, a niche audience that I am not a part of. I am glad that many thought highly of the puzzle, but since I am not and have never been a gamer, the theme answers could only be guessed at. I did guess correctly at some theme answers as crosses filled in many boxes and previous puzzles occasionally utilized Mario references and names. I think that puzzles should not be aimed at such a specific group, but be more general in their scope for all to enjoy.
ENTHALPY 😮 My last square in the puzzle was around there and looking at that letter salad I was sure it was going to turn out to be wrong. Then the congratulatory message popped up! I haven't been this surprised in a long time. I've never played any Nintendo game but I've seen the names from the Mario series so many times on the internet that I remembered them today, with crosses. The power ups were unknowns, but crosses and an open mind helped me get them. Some naticky crossings held me up for a long time but I resolved them in the end. I had to look up the name of the "Bing Bang Theory" actress though. Even though emotionally Mario means nothing to me, I enjoyed the constructor's dedication to implementing the theme into the grid. Nicely done. Also, groaner-less Sundays are a preciously rare thing at the NYT - the lack of dad jokes alone gets the puzzle thumbs up from me.
I'm 43 and found this puzzle to be an absolute delight! The nostalgia was sparkly, the non-theme clues were fair, and I learned about ENTHALPY. I think it's exciting to see a new generation of constructors and solvers honing their crossword skills. We can't bemoan the illiteracy of younger generations and then complain when they are enthusiastically engaged with the very kind of game that encourages literacy. I've spent decades learning old trivia in order to solve puzzles, it's refreshing to see inclusion of younger niches and slang make their way into the games. We all get to expand our knowledge together.
@Sarah Hanson Well said! As a 1980’s baby myself I loved this and the nostalgia it brought
@Sarah Hanson This is not a snarky question. I've never played any "Mario" video game, but I'm interested in knowing how this one encourages literacy if you don't mind elaborating on that. Thanks.
What a treat. My wife and I sit down together and do the puzzle together every day; she couldn't remember the last time she's enjoyed one so much. Fabulous debut, Kim -- and good on NYT for recognizing the cultural importance of the medium and publishing this.
@Kurt There’s that old “culture” canard. Maybe it just has no place in a wide audience like this one.
After all the obscure tennis and unused slang terms that haven't been uttered since TV was only black and white, not to mention opera and obscure art, this Gen Xer loved the puzzle. And to the commenter who said they were too busy earning a living to play video games, some of us were able to earn a living, raise kids, AND play video games :)
@TW This Gen X'er agrees 100%! 🙌