Fun rebus. Solved my 4000th crossword! 🎉
@Dana Scully Amazing--congrats!! According to ChatGPT, a solving rate of 15 minutes per puzzle, working continuously 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, would take almost 18 weeks. Time well spent, I'd say!
@Dana Scully Congrats! Here's to many more.
@Dana Scully Impressive feat by an FBI agent and forensic pathologist!
@Dana Scully That's nearly 11 years of daily crosswords. Congrats!
@Dana Scully I assume it's not lost on you that they filmed the majority of the X-Files in BC? Nice touch! And congrats on a HUGE milestone!!
If you smuggle jelly do you traffic jam?
Omg! Time for another toast to me! 🥂 Second time I got rebuses on my own! I will be accepting virtual high fives and margaritas all day on Thursday. And I wish you all a little victory of your own!
@Jenny Oh, you know I'm always first in line to celebrate with you! High five! (This time around, will you be throwing a PAJAMA PARTY?)
@Jenny Let's go! Congrats on a well-earned victory.
@Jenny How about a pina colada with a little JAMAICAN RUM? 😃 Congrats and 🖐️
@Jenny so it sounds like rebuses are your ... jam? (couldn't resist) congrats!
@Jenny ¡Felicidades! Son las cinco en punto en algún lugar. Salud. 🌵🧂🕔🥃
"I can't find where I hid my marmalade!" "Preserves you right." (These puns are jarring.)
@Mike You're always Mason around like this. Orange you happy with the pectin order? You're the one who spreads the puns around and tops us all.
@Mike There's a mistake in your second sentence. It should be "Serves you right". You're welcome. --A person who refuses to acknowledge the existence of puns
@Mike i tried to think of way to respond to this and ended up in a pickle
@Mike You're just jelly-ous of me 'cause I always remember where I jam things. (Ha! Not.)
@Mike Your compote-sure is deliciously sweet. 🌻☮️
@Mike "Seeds the Day!" I can't get a grip, could you o-pun this for me?
I wanted “Munster man” to be Herman, but I’ll settle for HERR. Not the trickiest of Thursdays, but I thought it was sweet. Anyone who doesn’t like it is probably just jelly.
@Heidi I wanted it to be Mike
@Heidi I can't believe no one has referenced this yet! <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KxaOz6s40s8" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KxaOz6s40s8</a> This is the Glenn Miller recording.
@Heidi No umlaut in your version?
Did anyone else get ONEG for 63A and spend valuable minutes wondering why the universal blood type was the force felt on earth?
@Andrew Universal donor type. The universal recipient type is AB+.
Hey now, HAL was not evil, that's sort of the point. It was logical and had conflicting orders. Like many of us! (Note also H A L are alphabetically each one letter before the other big computer company at the time.)
@jes I agree. HAL simply felt the mission was far too critical to trust it to these dumb apes. At the time (1968) I was sure that humans were plenty smart enough to pull it off. Now, I'm not so sure.
@jes Hah! My father worked for H+1 A+1 L+1 and I never noticed that! Very cool.
@jes Arthur C. Clarke has denied the connection many times, to no avail. It's just too delicious.
@jes I am playing "what spooked the emus", and trying again. I agree. HAL simply felt the importance of the mission was too great to leave to humans. At the time (1968) I was quite sure we were easily smart enough to pull off a mission like that. Now I'm not at all sure.
@jes Yes. HAL was operating in it's best interest. This is a huge fear currently with AI. Clarke realized this could happen decades in advance. Now he would be saying, "I told you so!"
Yet another unmarked rebus. I don't mind a rebus, but imagine someone attempting this crossword who never knew what they were; they would never have solved this puzzle. A rebus can be fun! But let's maybe try stepping out of our own bubble every now and again to help people who are newer to the hobby. They don't skip Thursdays because they're not smart enough to solve; they skip Thursdays because the expectation set by the puzzle is often opaque to them. Nobody in their right mind learns the regular pattern of a crossword, with one letter per square, and then thinks (unprompted by virtue of the lack of a marked square) "I bet I could get the right answer if I JAMmed another whole word into that square". Just mark your rebuses, y'all.
@Jordan appreciate this, I'm one of those people who had (well, still has) no idea what a rebus is. I read the column and it's still a mystery. Are you supposed to put a J in the extra square? an A? an M? It's frustrating to folks like me who do these casually.
@Jordan Yet it is really fun for many who are more experienced. Not knowing for sure it there are rebuses and then figuring out where they are and the scheme is quite satisfying to me and I'm sure others. (As it was for this puzzle.). It's good they mix up marked and unmarked in my opinion.
@Jordan I think you are selling folks short. We all had a "first time ever" with all of the trickery... Crosswords underwent a sea change when wordplay and other cleverness emerged and changed the nature of solving these puzzles. Hand up for loving most of it! (Well, not the rock bands, rappers, candy brands...but I'm not often flummoxed entirely.)
@Jordan When faced with my first rebus, I was unaware of the Wordplay column and solved quietly in my little bubble, waiting until the next day to see if I made any mistakes. Having that time to think was important as far as not giving up too easily. At some point, putting multiple letters in the boxes became my only option, so I did it. I have never been accused of being in my right mind, though, so maybe that was why I considered it.
@Jordan One of the great things about crosswords is the more you do the more your skills increase. We all had to work our way up to doing harder and harder puzzles. Not every player will be able to solve every puzzle (at least on their own) and that’s ok - that’s how we learn additional tricks of the trade. If every puzzle had to be solvable by every person without any help, all we’d have are Monday puzzles. Wouldn’t that be a little boring?
@Jordan Unfortunately the Wordplay column left off the link to this site which explains rebuses. They usually include it. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/crosswords/rebus-crossword-puzzle.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/08/crosswords/rebus-crossword-puzzle.html</a> You are absolutely right, if you have never heard of a rebus you might not be able to solve this. If I had never heard of a British cryptic crossword and tried to solve that, I wouldn’t either. So what? The rebus is an accepted crossword convention in the NYT and has been for decades. It would spoil the challenge if it were flagged ahead of time (although some folks have asked for a link to see if it is a rebus that people could check if they want to but wouldn’t have to if they didn’t want the puzzle spoiled. I’d support that). The point is there a plenty of resources to learn about rebuses in crosswords just as there are cryptics. Once you encounter them for the first time you can avail yourself. From then on, you know, and either try to enjoy them or stop doing them once you figure out that’s part of the theme. Or do the LA Times instead which doesn’t allow rebuses. Or skip Thursdays, I suppose, but that would be too bad, and rebuses can occur in Wednesday or Sundays as well.
@Jordan I’m not normally one to argue for marking rebuses, half the fun is figuring out that you’re solving a rebus, but this one was simply unparseable. Lazy construction full stop. 300 comments and counting and it’s not even lunch time on the East coast - says it all really.
@Jordan There are easier and harder to spot rebuses. This one contained a big tell in “Lebron James”. With a few crosses there was no doubt that the answer was with even a passing knowledge of the NBA (which is all I have). Pajama Party and Jamaican Rum were similarly easyish answers. You could see a bunch of letters “fit”, but not all. At the least, that should flag it as something weird. Then the revealer gave a big hint what you needed to do: “chock full - like 3 squares “ Yes, if you had never seen one it could be confusing… especially if you are using the app. But that should only happen the first time you do one. This puzzle spelled it out as much as it could without just saying it’s a rebus and these are the squares. Which it could do, but I think enough solvers prefer figuring it out for themselves that it’s not to big a deal for those learning it.
@Jordan It’s a puzzle. The whole point is the fun of figuring it out. Easier crosswords are on Monday and Tuesday, perfect for beginners dipping their toes into the hobby. I would hate for NYT to alert me that there’s a rebus.
@Jordan It's definitely frustrating the first few times. This is only my 3rd/4th time getting an unmarked rebus on my own, and in my opinion it was one of the more approachable solves since there are only 3. I think it's great they mix up marked and unmarked! @NYT one idea to let people dip their toe in could be to have a simple, marked rebus in a Midi.
@Jordan When solving and you notice something like several answers that you think you know the right solve for but there's an extra space, then you think: "Aha, maybe it's a rebus." For me today, I was sure that TART was right. Also, I know enough about the Simpsons to figure DOUGHNUT. Then, I had to google the MVP player, but when I learned it was LEBRONJAMES I figured something was going on with all these solves with extra (or not enough) spaces in them. Aha! Rebus. And that's how she rolls. You have to figure it out from the puzzle. And I'm sort of a newbie, too. Maybe one yearish.
@Jordan I figured it out. *shrug* And there are useful resources available a link away. Your hypothetical newbie should learn to live & learn.
@Jordan, Thursdays alway have trickery. It's not always a rebus, but there's a high likelihood of it being one. Thursdays are past the mid-week "easier" par; difficulty is ramping up for Friday and Saturday. Patience, Grasshopper; crossword wisdoms builds with each puzzle you decode. I've been solving for close to 50 years, and I still run into tough nuts to crack, and there was a lot of frustration over the years. Hang in there!
@Jordan The first time I hit one I was flummoxed too. I probably would not have figured it out on my own if the big "Rebus" button on the web keyboard had not been staring me in the face through multiple prior puzzles. I resented the Rebus puzzles for a long time but have come to terms with them, sometimes enjoying them.
@Jordan I encountered my first rebus before these were online, so I was only able to figure out what was going on by waiting until the next Sunday when the answer key came out. Then, the first time I encountered a rebus after these went online, again, I was unable to complete the puzzle and had to come here for technical help. That is how we learn--trying again and again and coming to the answer key or the column until we can spot tricks, even those we've never seen before. There are a ton of resources here for figuring these things out. If someone wants to be able to solve every kind of puzzle the first time they encounter it, the puzzles they enjoy aren't going to be very puzzling. Many puzzles, whether classic crosswords or cryptic puzzles, 3D metal-craft puzzles, puzzle boxes, mathematical puzzles, puzzles encountered in online or live action RPGs, require you to figure out which assumption you have that is being violated. And to figure out where to go for help if you need it.
@Jordan Like any skill in life, you start off clumsily and over time develop your ability to pull it off. Accept the process and the struggle. With persistence, you’ll pick it up.
100% agree. Your comment only makes it more ironic that, for the first rebus puzzle in a while, instead of following your suggestion and providing some indication that: 1. a rebus will be needed, or 2. an explanation of what a rebus even is They decided to force an obnoxious pop-up with the most obvious, unhelpful tips 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 you pull up the puzzle. To be fair, I do appreciate that there seems to be some attempt at recognizing that once you become extremely skilled at something, it can be easy to forget what may not seem so obvious to someone completely new. However, I think it's safe to say that "fill in what you know first" and "take a break if you get stuck" is a common enough strategy across all types of puzzles (𝘦.𝘨., starting with corner and edge pieces for a jigsaw puzzle), it can go without saying. Or certainly, such common advice can go without saying in a pop-up every time you pull up the puzzle, even if you just switched to a different app without actually closing it. Seriously, what's with that? EVERY TIME?!
@Jordan The first time I came across a rebus was in a NYT Sunday crossword I was solving in print. I had no idea they existed, no one to give me hints, and yet I still managed to figure it out. I was surprised but fascinated that they could do that in a crossword! When I started doing the crossword online, I was aware some puzzles had rebuses, but I didn't know how to enter them using the keyboard. Again, I had to figure it out as I went, though I realized afterwards that there was a whole column explaining the rebus and how to do them online (it was so much easier in print, lol). In any case, persistence payed off and it turned out not as difficult as it seemed at first.
@Jordan today was my sixth NYT crossword puzzle. Today's puzzle didn't leave me feeling good. I get that there are pros who brag about solving it in 5 minutes using only down clues. Great for them. But how do you get others interested? This puzzle was not it. As you mention, indicating a rebus would help newcomers feel welcomed. But bragging on an unnecessarily difficult puzzle for new people isn't a welcoming environment.
@Jordan Once I saw the revealer I knew there would be a rebus. Had the rebus squares been marked on top of it, the solve would not have been fun for me, at all. What good is a marked rebus? It spoils the challenge of figuring out the grid 🤷🏽
Me, me, me--is this puzzle conceited? EMu EMT saME tryME LeBron JaMEs sesaME eatME EMploys AiMEe YEMEn
@Marcia Looks like you're on an eggo roll.
A sweet puzzle, but definitely on the easier side for aThursday. But with only three tricky squares, clearly we need Pump Up The Jam. <a href="https://youtu.be/9EcjWd-O4jI?si=QilKSmlPm4Cp7UrZ" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/9EcjWd-O4jI?si=QilKSmlPm4Cp7UrZ</a>
@Vaer Wow, that's bad. So many layers of badness. Just wow.
@Nora I try (one of my least favorite puzzle phrases). Blame the Belgians.
@Vaer Ope I found Philomena Cunk's NYT account lol
@Vaer You just made my made my made, made my day!
McT Jim You pushed me down the Philomena Crunk rabbit hole, and now I'm laughing.
Is anybody else getting a pop up titled what you need to know each time you open the crossword? This is extremely annoying. Is there any way to make it stop
@Ogen @Vaer earlier suggested uninstalling and re-installing the NYT Games app, if that's what you're using. I did it and it worked. But both she and I are on Android and I don't know if that makes a difference. Also, be forewarned that it cleared out my whole grid, even after signing in again. I recommend you wait and do it before starting Friday's puzzle.
@Ogen Another blunder from the infamous NYT IT team. I have it, too. Super annoying.
I am in awe of anyone who can construct a crossword, especially one with clever rebuses that work both ways in different ways. I thank the constructors and the editors for providing us with these daily brain pleasures.
A brief rant, if I may. When I come across comments like the one at the top of this thread, I always think: well, if there's too much fill, the words are too obscure, the clues are too easy, then why the heck don't you try constructing a crossword and getting it published? Getting the words to fit, the rebuses to work, and the clues clever and different all takes a lot of serious big brain work and I, for one, appreciate what the constructors do. I may not love every puzzle but I am always in awe and appreciative.
@cm10014 and I only hope Scituate is in a puzzle soon so they have something else to complain about
A delicious Thursday, and finally one that wasn’t spoon fed. Danced around this still the revealer and then it all fell into place. That’s the way a Thursday should be. Thanks Dena and John!
@SP Hmm, a rare day when we had very different impressions. /e musing
Please stop these constant and very distracting pop ups which have just begun to appear.
@Ena See below for instructions to remedy this, that amount to re-installing the app.
What is with the constant pop-up of "how to play the crossword" every time I open it?? I KNOW how to play it, as my long streak would attest. Will Shortz has a friendly face, but I only need to see it once. Do better, NYT.
@RM A lot of people are seeing that "feature". Check below in the comments--it looks like a re-download of the app will likely help.
@RM I reinstalled the Android app and the annoying popup is gone. However, I wish the NYT IT team would not introduce such bugs in the first place...
Okay, sorry, but to me at least this puzzle was just bad. The cluing was so, so easy and definitionally straightforward throughout. There wasn't a hint of cleverness or subterfuge in the non-theme entries. And the theme felt underwhelming to me. So these are things that potentially have jam in them, and the word is placed rather randomly within them. By the upper left I was hoping it was almost a parody of a too-easy puzzle. But it was not. Also, in the US both the sandwich and the doughnut would traditionally have jelly, not jam. I did not like this one. Another sad Thursday.
@B Almost makes you wonder whether we're entering a new epoch of the Easening.
@B - While my time suggests you are right and this was an easy Thursday, for some reason I had a bit of an unsettled fill even once I had the rebuses and revealer sorted out. Don't know if it was the trivia I didn't know (e.g. none of the names were fill in for me) or a few clever clues here and there (TAG, DEM) or maybe just the grid layout... something felt a little off throughout for me. I felt sure I would have mistakes to clean up and was genuinely surprised to get the music on the first try.
@B wow! Maybe restart your day? I though this puzzle was fun. The clues were unusual and fun.
@B JAM was not placed randomly in the down answers, it was always in the middle of the word. However, I was also underwhelmed
@B In western Canada, a filled doughnut was called a jambuster. Obviously a parody of WWII's dambusters – a type of bomb.
My favorite clue was civic's class. I'm used to crossword misdirection, but that one got me, even with the apostrophe. Took me a couple of seconds, probably with a dumb look on my face, before it hit me. Then what a nice AHA
I'm sure I'll be accused of elitism and not wanting people to do these puzzles, but I get so freakin' tired of reading complaints and accusations EVERY GD TIME there's a rebus. So I'll make this offer until it gets to be too expensive: If you provide me with a Venmo number, I will personally reimburse you for the tens of cents you paid for the abominable rebus puzzle, under the condition you don't complain about it. Deal?
@Francis I dunno, shout-complaining about people complaining in a Comments section seems a bit odd and perhaps uncharitable, compensation or not. Some people like the puzzle, other people do not; both have every right to say so.
@Francis I was going to make the same suggestion but I was afraid someone would take me up on it. Folks, don’t pile on Francis. Neither of us have any issue with people not liking rebuses and saying so. But it does get tiring every time there is a rebus there is a pile of comments 1) upset as if it is a new unsolvable type of puzzle that has never been seen before and therefore the constructor/editors should be summarily burned at the stake like a witch and 2) anyone who does like them and wants them to stay is an elite crossword snob who hates all newcomers and lives in an ivory tower. Nothing can be further from the truth and if you post like that, yes, we have a right to respond. I think the rebus lovers have overall been much kinder and more patient than the rebus haters; we do know that there’s a learning and appreciation curve here. I feel at a minimum when there’s a rebus there should be a disclaimer with the history of rebuses, clear acknowledgement that some people like them and they are here to stay, and instructions for solving them. Then you can go ahead and post whatever else you feel like saying about them.
@Francis I was going to make the same suggestion but I was afraid someone would take me up on it. Folks, don’t pile on Francis. Neither of us have any issue with people not liking rebuses and saying so. But it does get tiring every time there is a rebus there is a pile of comments 1) upset as if it is a new unsolvable type of puzzle that has never been seen before and therefore the constructor/editors should be summarily burned at the stake and 2) anyone who does like them and wants them to stay is an elite crossword snob who hates all newcomers and lives in an ivory tower. Nothing can be further from the truth and if you post like that, yes, we have a right to respond. I think the rebus lovers have overall been much kinder and more patient than the rebus haters; we do know that there’s a learning and appreciation curve here. I feel at a minimum when there’s a rebus there should be a disclaimer with the history of rebuses, clear acknowledgement that some people like them and they are here to stay, and instructions for solving them. Then you can go ahead and post whatever else you feel like saying about them.
Note to self: the clue was *not* [sotto voce's blood type] and the answer is *not* O NEG! 🤦🏻♀️ (May the force felt on Earth be with me 'cause I definitely need some grounding here...) On another note, how could I *not* post yet another Pearl JAM song when even EDDIE is in the puzzle? So here is Yellow Ledbetter, the acoustic version: <a href="https://youtu.be/pJDyJowRlhc?is=R2ZB_4gWgtM39M70" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/pJDyJowRlhc?is=R2ZB_4gWgtM39M70</a> Don't bother trying to understand what EDDIE Veder is singing. Even he doesn't know. The band was having a JAM session and the guitarist came up with the chords. Eddie then improvised the lyrics, mumbling and slurring as he went, and they recorded it and used it. He never wrote down lyrics for the song and sings whatever comes to him at the time when he plays it live. True story. As for the puzzle, it was PRIMO, JAM-PACKED with Thursday-worthy clues and entries, as well as tasty rebuses perfectly placed. Thank you, Dena and John!
@sotto voce I see them on the porch. They don't wave.
Very nice touch to have the theme answers placed vertically, with the JAM packed right in the middle – the perfect visual, as sandwiches, doughnuts, and tarts have a top and bottom, with the jam in the center.
Ho hum. Yet another Tuesday Thursday.
I've never understood rebii and just when I think I might be getting the gist of it, somebody throws a TAJAMRT at me.
47A reminded me of the clue in the Mini [Rarities in baseball routs], which solves to OUTS. While I understand that the conceit in the Mini is that all the answers had to rhyme with the last words of the clues, there are just as many OUTS in a rout as in a close game...barring unusual circumstances like extra innings and rain-shortened games. Every losing team gets 27 outs, every winning team also gets 27 outs, but if they're the home team, they don't have to bat in the ninth innnings, so they only make 24 outs. The margin of victory (or defeat) doesn't matter. The currency of most other sports is the clock; that of baseball is outs...if you don't spend your 27 outs, you can never lose. BTW, an even better clue for 47A would have been [Make out...or make it].
@Steve L Rare means "infrequently occuring." Outs won't frequently occur if a pitcher is having a really bad outing, i.e. a rout.
@Steve L I had the same thought and I'd also carp a bit about rhyming "for" with "TOUR" (not that again!) but hey it's a mini and I often think that I shouldn't even bother doing them, but I do, so I didn't want to give it too much thought, but I did.
A bit the easy side, but overall a nice, fun puzzle. Well done to the creator. I always feel that Thursday must be the hardest puzzle to select. Finding that balance of difficulty is extremely hard, and it takes a great creator who knowingly submits a Thursday!
John and Dena, thanks for a pleasant Thursday XW puzzle. And Dena, how clever of you to have jammed an apt comment into your constructor notes, thanking John for helping your idea for a puzzle come to FRUITion.
Well, Dena and John had me right at the start, in the NW, with [Number for December] for CAROL, [Spirit of the Caribbean] for JAMAICAN RUM, and [Short blue person] for DEM (where I really wanted to squeeze in “Smurf” somehow). Clever, clever, and clever. And then they clinched it in the SE with [Make out, perhaps], where I was looking for synonyms for “snog”, or words meaning “see”, but TAG turned what I thought was a direct clue into a magnificent misdirect. I liked seeing GAUNT, a great word, encored after its appearance on Tuesday. I also liked seeing a rare-in-crosswords semordnilap (ELENA). And the mini-theme of long-E enders, with an impressive eleven: TONI, EDDIE, TRY ME, SESAME, ELMTREE, DICEY, NOISY, ONE G, AIMEE, EATME, and EMT. Fun to uncover the theme and all these extras, a sparkling start to the day. Dena and John, thank you, and how about putting together some more?
@Lewis Thanks for pinning down GAUNT's earlier appearance. But I don't see how ELENA is a semordnilap. Can you help?
Interesting variation on the standard rebus, with JAM being a food-filler vertically but simply a three-letter sequence horizontally. Don't recall seeing this motif before. Except for almost failing with HUMY/SLAYS rather than the correct HUMP/SLAPS---good thing I reviewed the clue for 40A---I found this puzzle pretty benign for a Thursday, probably because the theme and revealer came easily today. A true Thursday-esque puzzle thematically. Thanks!
Since I didn’t immediately notice the food theme I needed the revealer to understand why the rebus only worked in one direction. Aha, those entries are literally PACKED with JAM. Sweet!
Fun fact: no one from Atlanta says “Hotlanta.”
@David Also, I can vouch billions of people not from Atlanta never say "Hotlanta".
@David and no one from San Francisco say Frisco
@David I see your point but... Before I moved to Socal I was warned by a native that no one says Socal so I carefully avoided it, until I noticed that everyone there says it sometimes. See also, the Allman Brothers. Yes I'm that old, and so tend never to say never or no one
@David Yeah, that hasn't been a thing for at least thirty years. I lived there as a child, and heard it then, but it's not a thing nowadays, for sure.
@David Still, as someone who grew up near Atlanta in the 90s, that clue was one of the easiest.
@David I'd wager that most New Yorkers never call their city the Big Apple, most San Francisco natives would never call their home Frisco, most Chicagoans would never refer to home as the Windy City... See where I'm going with this?
@David No one in the City of New York calls the city New York City. Sometimes "Manhattan" to distinguish though. (To this day it irks/confuses me that only the borough of Manhattan gets the mailing address NY, NY.)
@D cool fact, other people like things you don't like! Understanding this is sure to help out in life.
@D I’d recommend skipping Thursday puzzles if you feel this strongly. I do understand your feelings; I stopped doing Thursday puzzles for a while due to some of the “tricks” that I found annoying. In all fairness to the NYT puzzle editors and their clear criteria for which puzzles they publish on Thursdays, I’d never expect the tradition of Thursday puzzles being tricky to “stop” - stopping was up to me.
I regularly carp about things and get corrected by you know who, but today I have to say this puzzle was about perfect and I got in just under the one hour mark. It started easy and about a third of the way I stalled. And towards the end I twigged on the theme. Unlike others here i picked up that jam packed meant three rebuses and from there I made some corrections and made it. Quite enjoyable and challenging!
@David Hancock You can regularly carp about things, but you-know-who is not supposed to respond. But I am glad you enjoyed this one. See, you-know-who is often right.
"Come to Elfland," the troll said. The child thought for awhile. Other children had gone, and the elvesal ways sent a changeling in their place, so that nobody quite missed them and nobody really knew. She thought awhile of the wonder and wildness of Elfland, and then of her own home. "N-no," said the child. "Why not?" said the troll. "Mother made a jam roll this morning," said the child. And she walked on gravely home. Had it not been for that chance jam roll she had gone to Elfland. "Jam!" said the troll contemptuously and thought of the tarns of Elfland, the great lily-leaves lying flat upon their solemn waters, the huge blue lilies towering into the elf-light above the green deep tarns: for jam this child had forsaken them! ---Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany *The King of Elfland's Daughter*
@Bill This was a wonderful read. Thank you for posting it!
A real variety of comments today. All of our operators aREBUSy. ....
I'm rather pleased with myself. I was able to solve a (Thursday) rebus with no assistance.
@Bill Same here! I think it's my first time - I only recently started attempting Thursdays a month or so ago. Prior to that I had never heard of a rebus and then kept forgetting where to find the button to enter the extra letters when I did try, ha. Well done us!!
@Bill @Kayla Congratulations to you both.
I enjoyed this one! Fun rebus. Today I learned that Pyjama is the British spelling and Pajama is the American one. Took me a while to find that mistake before the solve took...
@Alex Rose Same. Must have been asleep that day.
We love a good rebus! Nice job, Dena and John.
First sign of Thursday shenanigans … TA-RT?? How to stretch a 4 letter word into 5 squares. It took some courage to enter a rebus that only worked one way - buy then the “fruit” and JAM thing wafted into consciousness and I was cooking! Just another gem of a creation. As for difficulty, I get good mileage out of any of these puzzles. A little below average, a little above average, it all averages out.
@Megan Precisely why I came to the comments! Echoing another comment by declaring myself a somewhat big Office fan yet this was the last clue I solved. No idea what a prig is.
@Megan What about it? It's a word. I never watched enough of The Office to know if Angela truly was one, but she seemed pretty uptight so she could have been. Or maybe she was a hedonist in PRIG's clothing.
@Megan Prig: A person who demonstrates an exaggerated conformity or propriety, especially in an irritatingly arrogant or smug manner.
@Megan Fable By Ralph Waldo Emerson The mountain and the squirrel Had a quarrel; And the former called the latter ‘Little Prig.’ Bun replied, ‘You are doubtless very big; But all sorts of things and weather Must be taken in together, To make up a year And a sphere. And I think it no disgrace To occupy my place. If I'm not so large as you, You are not so small as I, And not half so spry. I'll not deny you make A very pretty squirrel track; Talents differ; all is well and wisely put; If I cannot carry forests on my back, Neither can you crack a nut.’
32A [Kind of seeds found in a basket in King Tutankhamen's tomb] From Wikipedia: "Historically, SESAME was favored for its ability to grow in areas that do not support the growth of other crops. It is a robust crop that needs little farming support—it grows in drought conditions, in high heat, with residual moisture in soil after monsoons are gone or even when rains fail or when rains are excessive. It can be grown by subsistence farmers at the edge of deserts..." I think I'll make some hummus today: chickpeas in the food processor, tahini (ground sesame seeds), garlic, and lemon. On whole wheat pita bread. Yum. (No more PBJ for me for a while.) Tomorrow, maybe a slider on a sesame roll. What I wouldn't do for some Jian dui (sesame balls) filled with bean paste that my Chinese friends used to make for me (or that I bought in Chinatown here in New York). <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jian_dui" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jian_dui</a>
@lucky13 No cumin in the hummus? 😮
@lucky13 Toasted sesame seeds, like toasted slivered almonds, will make almost any veg palatable. The toasting is important; you want to bring forward the oil's taste to offset the veg-ness. PS Sorry, kale. You're beyond help.
@lucky13 As the logo on the food truck says: JAMAIKIN' ME HUNGRY.
@lucky13 After this year's summer, perhaps I should start to grow sesame in my garden? With you on the sesame balls. Delicious.
Very unusual and amusing. Great puzzle.
Super fun for me. Took me a while to figure out where the rebus would go. One of the constructors could have been credited as John Kujamgelman.
Now I really want a good jam doughnut. And hot black coffee. In a paper cup. D'oh!
@lioncitysolver Now, coffee in a paper cup WITHOUT the java jacket would be a quick wake-up.
Fun puzzle. I know I’m late in complaining about this, but having Wordplay and the comments load in-app rather than in the browser is a definite step backwards. Makes it very cumbersome to refer back to the puzzle while reading the column/comments, which used to be part of my post-solve routine.
@Buckley I’ve been moaning ad infinitum about this too. The emus aren’t listening.
@Buckley Pen and Paper, and you hve the whole shooting match right in front of you!
@Buckley Use this link in your browser for the columns and comments (I have a shortcut to it on my phone) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/daily-crossword-column" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/daily-crossword-column</a>
Never quite grasped the trick with the down answers - don't recall ever seeing anything like that before. So... remained puzzled and just couldn't quite work it out. Actually surprised that pretty much everyone else got it. And my puzzle find - a Sunday from August 4, 2019 by Will Nediger with the title: "Constant Consonants." Some answers in that one: MISQUOTESMOSQUITOES FRONTIERFURNITURE SCARFACESACRIFICE OVERSELLSVERSAILLES Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/4/2019&h=111a" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/4/2019&h=111a</a> Hasta manana. ...
I really enjoyed this one; good theme, nice use of the rebus, not much fill. Homer held me up the longest. I couldn’t think what JAM he obsessed over, bit of a Doh! moment when I got it. Plus the ‘correct’ spelling of PYJAMAS. Yay.
@Helen Wright Too bad we couldn't have JAMmie Dodgers for you today.