I do like it when the themers make a succinct story: DRIVE, SPEEDS, CRASH, DELAY
Admirable puzzle. I’ll be honest, the theme was just not my favorite and the fill while excellent just didn’t have a fun factor for me—but it was quite challenging and I don’t really have anything to say against it. I did like the Jordan clue, that was a great misdirection. Speaking of farm females (but unrelated to this puzzle): just to show you what a Midwesterner I am, I was doing an archive puzzle today with the clue “They are not tipped as much nowadays”. The answer was HATS, but I admit my first impulse was COWS.
@SP I agree with most of your assessment, but the Jordan clue a misdirection? I found it very straightforward. Guess that's a YMMV.
@SP The only Jordan I thought of was the country.
@SP I first thought Jordan was a forgotten character in the Orwell novel (last read in maybe 1974). Wasn't there an Anti-Sex League in there? ASL? No? Didn't last long.
Fun! I appreciate the range of clues: pop culture, computer terms, movie and music references, even LOTR. Something for everyone! I have a soft spot in my heart for that Tolkien trilogy, which I picked up around the age of 30 while I was going through a rough breakup and living alone for the first time. I read it through all my free time in my tiny studio, staying up until 2 am on weekends on my futon couch/bed, gasping at the surprise spider monster and weeping a little at the sad bits at the end. I read like a voracious book vacuum cleaner as a child but there are few books that I’ve been able to lose myself in the way I did at 13. (Another one is Lev Grossman’s The Magicians trilogy, in case you’re looking for something to read.)
@Hazel F I reread it every couple of years or so.
@Hazel F After reading your suggestion, I tried Libby, and YAY! The Magicians was available to borrow. Will start it hopefully in the next few days. (working on finishing a trilogy that has turned into a bit of a slog :( )
@Hazel F If you’re looking for another series to lose yourself in, try Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian. I read it through, then started it over and immediately read it through again :-)
@Hazel F If you like to lose yourself in books, Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series is wonderful. It's now up to 5 books, but I haven't yet read the prequel and 5th one. The original trilogy starts with "Pillars of the Earth." It was during a tough time of my own that I dove into it and hardly came up for air. He hadn't yet published the second and third books at that time, but I ran to the bookstore the minute they hit the shelves and devoured them. (I already have the prequel and the 5th book, but haven't yet had a chance to tackle them. I want to binge read the 5 of them in order now!)
@Hazel F I read LOTR when I was 14. I got harassed by a usually polite aunt for bringing it to some holiday gathering (where adult were probably watching TV). I could not put it down. But I found it stressful and somewhat scary; how ever would our hero save the world?
@Hazel F I love The Hobbit in that way, one of my favourite books of all time. I never really clicked with LOTR though - I did read it all once, but after the pacing and pure excitement of The Hobbit it just felt like a chore with all the pages of travelling and meetings etc. I should probably try it again, perhaps it'd hit differently after 20 years or so.
@Hazel F Funny thing--a couple days ago, I pulled "the Return of the King" off the bookshelf, to look up in the appendices some bit of trivia about the genealogy of the Dwarves--line of Durin and all that. Don't ask. I believe that Tolkien had originally wanted what became *The Silmarillion*, which provides the back-story of LOTR, to be published first. Of course, after Tolkien's death, his estate, in particular Christopher Tolkien, made a killing by publishing all his father's drafts and scribblings--"Galadriel's Grocery-list," and the like. And now, there are the movies. Much of the history, and most of the religion, of the Silmarillion is only hinted at in the trilogy--the Hobbits, and Elves, don't seem to go to church, or anything. But it's all ultimately based on Christian monotheism (Tolkien was a devout RC); which makes it funny when fundamentalists try to ban the books for their anti-Christian views.
@Hazel F As long as we're recommending book series,I'll chime in with Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials". In some ways an atheist's counter to LOTR. And I try to keep in mind the advice at the end of the last book, when two characters agree they must never meet again (would be a spoiler if I explained why) but will take times to remember each other and what they've learned: "Be cheerful and not surly."
@Hazel F , et al Taking notes! I've heard of most of these series, but have only read LOTR.
Clever idea for a theme, relating internet traffic with roadway traffic, and very well executed, as this theme uses 63 squares, which is fairly high, and makes the grid harrowing to fill cleanly, but Adrianne succeeded. Not to mention that every theme answer but one is a NYT answer debut, and that one – COMPUTER CRASH – is a once-before, giving the grid anything but a same-old-same-old feel. All of the theme answers took quite a few crosses for me to get, as the world of computer terms is not one I intersect with often, and that made much of the solve stop-and-go, to my brain’s delight. Adding to the rub was some vague cluing, and when I filled in the last square, I had that good feeling that comes with earning something. Thank you for this, Adrianne – this was a splendid outing!
The theme answers invite the creation of some new terms: UPDATE POTHOLE. That’s when there’s an update, and… MESSAGE GRIDLOCK. That’s when you try for nuance in an online forum, and… RESEARCH DETOUR. You go to look up one simple thing, and…
@Cat Lady Margaret Sometimes my RESEARCH DETOURs are so long I forget what I was originally looking up. :)
I guess it’s called the information superhighway for a reason. Or was at some point.
@Steve L Maybe now it’s the misinformation toll road, since there’s a lot of BS and it all costs money to access
@Elena Misinformation is not unique to the Internet, although this form of communication spreads it faster. It's been a negative aspect of all types of media, including, I am guessing, stone tablets!
Given that I work in IT, I'm still quite elated it's my first ever puzzle solved without a single cell being revealed. And it only took me 4 months (not this puzzle hah).
We recently had trouble with all of these. No internet meant I couldn’t work or watch TV, and our digital lives came to a screeching halt. The culprit? A protected bird species had built a nest on the tower, and a specialist had to be called in. So there we were, defeated by a bird with a nest and excellent legal representation. 🐦
With only a half dozen entries, I was on the BRINK of SKIpping this puzzle, but then I finished it, and had to abandon that plan. Easy puzzle for the computer savvy, I guess, but who am I to say? Hip puzzle, Adrianne. If I had a to pick a great granddaughter, she'd be like you. Thanks!
I find navigating the comments to be an extremely frustrating endeavour because, for reasons known only to the developers, hitting the back arrow to exit a thread sends me right back to the beginning of the entire comments list. I’m sure I’m not alone in finding this exceedingly annoying...
So weird! I mention this today, and then, a few hours later, as if the powers that be heard my plea, the comment navigation has been changed. It now works just like in the main NYT News app. Hurray!
I'm a newbie but I roared through this one without any lookups. Yea! My first or maybe second Wednesday I can say that about. And, believe me, the internet is not my strong suit. However, didn't get the "TRAFFIC" connection until I read the Wordplay column, LOL. I like the Wordplay photo a lot. I use scissors in my kitchen for lots of things, including cutting up pizza, chives, cooked or raw chicken, salad greens. It's often easier that way. I could go for a nice tasse de THE avec un croissant maintenant.
Just realized — I haven’t heard or used the word COMPUTER for quite awhile now. We usually just say laptop, desktop, PC, Mac, tablet, server, etc. Nowadays the only time I hear COMPUTER is when I’m watching Star Trek.
I blazed through this one. I'm a bit of a techie but I can see some non computer literate folks having frustrations with this one
Plus this computer literate folk as well.
@Andy W. I'm not a techie but I didn't find it too difficult - in fact I was expecting something much more obscure!
This puzzle was like Oakland to Gertrude Stein: THERE was no THERE THERE. The tech entries, while fine, simply left me cold.
A very well put together puzzle with a lot of modern-day stuff in it, but definitely not in any of my wheelhouses. I did like DANCE OFFS and STORMS OUT, though I did have Off before OUT there, which caused a bit of a problem.
@Vaer My first attempt was STALKS OFF, but I knew the Oscar winner wasn't ANaRA, so I had to regroup. And I didn't think both 11D and 31D would share the same preposition. If one was OFF, the other had to be OUT.
@Vaer Anyone else for STOMPS ?
At first I thought, "Oh, just a bunch of computer terms". I didn't notice until I got to the revealer that the second words were all driving related. Very tight theme!
@Nancy J. Oh for Pete's sake, I didn't notice that until you just mentioned it. Thanks!
Nancy J., Just to close the loop from a couple days ago, I didn’t notice until I read some YouTube comments that your linked song by ‘Benny Rivers’ is AI generated, as is Benny itself. I felt like a crash test dumby 😜
There was nothing wrong with this puzzle. It was just not very fun for me. I guess it is a very different experience depending on one's background. Quick and painless. No gripes.
It seems that in his "Liber abaci" from 1202, Fibonacci had only a single one in his written presentation of the now-famous sequence. He gave the first term as 1 and the second as 2, and presented the first thirteen terms as: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377 A 14th-century parchment codex of Fibonacci's Liber abbaci, is preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze (BNCF). It is one of nineteen known manuscript copies of the text. Here's an image of the sequence as it appears in that manuscript. It is believed that a more-or-less identical marginal presentation of the sequence appeared in the original work. <a href="https://bibdig.museogalileo.it/tecanew/opera?bid=1072400&seq=253" target="_blank">https://bibdig.museogalileo.it/tecanew/opera?bid=1072400&seq=253</a> Liber abaci also introduced the Hindu-Arabic numeral system to Europe. (Note that, in the manuscript, the symbol used for "5" looks a lot like our current "7".)
@Xword Junkie. Great stuff thanks! The sequence itself might have been described by mathematicians in India much earlier than the Europeans. Always noteworthy that 56% of Americans oppose the teaching of Arabic numerals in school. And if Americans knew most of the stars had Arabic names, might be an executive order renaming those stars.
Loved this, Adrianne! It’s always so fun when you and the crossword maker are on the same page. Speaking of page, “page extension” kinda fits the theme, but it’s pretty niche. It’s the local name of a highway in St. Louis, but it’s also a type of webpage customization. I’ll think of this puzzle next time I’m on the Page Extension!
OT Welp, just watched the Solar Eclipse. Bit of a damp squib really. Cloud bubbled up for the first time in weeks and obscured most of the Sun. It did get a bit dimpsy and the birds went silent, but that was it. I expected the hens to roost, but they carried on foraging. That’s it for the next 66 years. Think I’ll sit that one out.
@Helen Wright I just watched what Garron Noone (hilarious Irish guy) had to say about it: “It’s all clouds. Irish solar eclipse, happens every fn day”.
@Helen Wright What percentage was it? I saw 5% on a bright sunny day through eclipse glasses.
@Helen Wright It’s either 100 percent or nothing. I’ve seen both, there’s no comparison.
Fun puzzle! Enjoy your time “down the shore”…from a former Jersey Girl!
I'm with Dan on this one, NOT Dave and Andy. A bit of a struggle from start to finish. Never felt like I was on the constructor's wavelength. Nothing wrong with the puzzle -- I thought it was a tight, well-executed theme. But it was comparatively tough for me.
I’ll be recommending this puzzle to my peers who can’t get into crosswords because of obscure references. Very fun.
I was completely in the same wavelength as this puzzle though it makes no sense – I haven't worked on a computer in years and yet somehow I knew all the terms. The non-themer entries also made for an in-the-flow and delicious solve. Loved it! Thank you so much, Ms. Baik, and I hope you do feel inspired soon again! (Here's Dave Matthews with "CRASH Into Me" <a href="https://youtu.be/14YOUglcLXw?is=gyuF2fNYW8QVX29W" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/14YOUglcLXw?is=gyuF2fNYW8QVX29W</a>)
@sotto voce Isn't your phone a wee computer? Quite possibly I am just ignorant.
Not being a computer nerd, internet phrases can gridlock my brain, but having them wordplay with TRAFFIC, well, that’s my jam.
I started last night and got hung up but persisted this morning to finish. For me, I had smirked with what I thought was some good misdirection with 45A Throw, for instance. I had RIG instead of RUG
A harrowing way to serve pizza. Had an odd dream last night. I was working at a beauty pageant held in protest of the general state of affairs. Amiss America was crowned.
I did *not* blaze through this one. It was one of the hardest Wednesday NYT puzzles I can recall.
I got hung up on the bottom for a bit. <a href="https://imgur.com/a/YBIXpws" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/YBIXpws</a> Then found some more easy clues that I had skipped over, which revealed the rest. And I thought I was done. <a href="https://imgur.com/a/nuNpjvC" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/nuNpjvC</a> But no! I messed up somewhere. :( Took a bit to hunt down the mistake. <a href="https://imgur.com/a/5pXuceK" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/5pXuceK</a> I really need to pay attention to the tense. Drew not draw. :p Super fun puzzle!
It looks like a lot of effort went into this well balanced Wednesday puzzle. Perhaps a tad on the easy side, but that would be nitpicking a very solid, and well-executed grid.
@Hitch Thanks for being positive. Somehow the crossword snobs have a tendency to bring the discussion down.
Tough Wednesday for me. I'll just leave it at that. And... my puzzle find. A Sunday from April 6, 2003 by Joe DiPietro with the title: "People with unlisted numbers." Pretty sure I would have had no chance at this one. Looking at the completed grid on Xword Info I had to read and re-read and ponder for a while before I finally caught on. The theme answers were in pairs, with the second of those answers having no clues. The implication was that the clue for the first one was to be divided in half. A couple of examples: 23a: Clue- "John Denver." Answer: TOILET And right below it: 24a: Clue "...." Answer: NBATEAM So... the implication was that 'John' was the clue for TOILET, and 'Denver' was the for NBATEAM. One more example: 73a: Clue "Patty Duke" Answer: BUNFILLER And right below it... 67a.. no clue answer: MARYLANDFOE And quite a few more. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=4/6/2003&h=6d" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=4/6/2003&h=6d</a> ....
Thanks to the fun theme I can't stop thinking about songs at the intersection of metaphorical driving and my cynical take on this whole internet fad. I was going to link to "Road to Nowhere" by the Talking Heads, but decided instead to link to this banger from "Streets of Fire", a wonderful flick if only because of the two songs written by Jim Steinman and beautifully lipsunc by Diane Lane. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkv-yS-xgV4" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkv-yS-xgV4</a> You're never too old for teenage angst!
poem made from words in today’s puzzle a/ the feeling in a number as akin as 11 as flowery as 17 4 in torment 3 for tea sorry 8 sorry 8 whatever it’s only 1 me d/ and a letter is its voice its sound the singer of its chemistry the pride of m the leaves under l b’s perfumery and what what is up with a/ ctrl c
They say that much of the internet traffic these days is self-driving cars. And locally there are still reports of a horrific cable snarl, so be sure to avoid that.
@JohnWM I read your line out loud at the breakfast table. We all chuckled!!
Pasta sauce: RAo's or RAgu? That was the big question. PhysicsDaughter is here--helping celebrate our anniversary, along with my walking buddy (usually called my "Twin" by other residents)...and we feasted last night at a great eatery. Every soul but me had dishes with CRAB; they know I will never fix them any dishes with that ingredient. I had Redfish! So, so good. PhysDau will be here through lunch; as it happens, she sees her ophthalmologist later today. That will allow us time for a card game! Yep, it's all Party, Party, Party, Folks! Oh, the puzzle. Got it. [shrug] Sorry; computers and cars. I want 'em to work, and that's about it. Took a look, stepped on the gas. Vroom! Moving right along. Yesterday's question: RIFA = Red Imported Fire Ants. (They came ashore at the Port of Mobile and spread rapidly throughout the South.) As Hymenoptera, they can deliver stings that cause allergic reactions. A single sting is enough to cause anaphylaxis, and these aggressive ants tend to swarm at the least provocation...so beware!
As Gertrude Stein might have said, but didn't, "the world you're born into is the world you're born into is the world you're born into." The generations born into our current screen-riddled, techie, completely virtual cyberspace world can no more help it than I, an early Boomer, can help my deep longing for a return to the analog existence that comprised at least 3/4 of my life to date. So I have a question for all the generations to answer. Were I to ever write it, would anyone of any generation be interested in a book or memoir titled, say, "A Plaintive Voice From the 20th Century"? Would younger people be curious enough about such an alien-sounding lifestyle to want to read it? Or would they just say "Who the Bleep Cares?" Would older people want to read it out of nostalgia. Or would they be too busy coping with their COMPUTER CRASHes to bother. Just an idle thought. Should you choose to respond, let me know what generation you are and your level of computer-savvy.
@Nancy 🙌 I would. As a late Boomer I too hanker after pre digital days. Not being available to all and sundry 24/7 would be bliss. Looking at the world rather than at a screen is a vanishing ability. I was in a packed hospital waiting room a while ago, (sick Mum, all fine now). The entire 5 and a half hours we were there everyone but Mum and I were glued to their phones, we were the only ones out of around 40 people who had brought a book. I know, what a revolution. Nurses had to call out names several times before the zombies could tear themselves away from their screens to respond. Sadly, this covered all ages, so we can’t roll our eyes at the young.
@Nancy You inspired me! You'll be thrilled to know I had AI write that book. It spent 3.14 seconds at the top of the best-seller list, before being overtaken by the newer, lustier "Fifty Shades of Plaintive Voices From the 20th Century".
@Nancy Could I read it on my e-reader? Kidding! Sort of. I love to hold an actual book but read mostly on my Kindle for convenience. Would I read it? Probably not as I tend to read to escape. I'm a latish Boomer and use and enjoy all kinds of tech. But I worry A LOT about the impact on kiddos' brain development. We've all seen toddlers fixated on screens. Maybe when they're at home the are forced to come up with ways to amuse themselves without devices. We can hope.
@Nancy I'll be spending the next two weeks at our lake camp, blissfully unplugged. My sister and her husband, on the other hand, will be taking Zoom meetings and other such things, likely daily. Oh well, I guess they make more money than I do. Life has tradeoffs.
@Nancy As I recently saw on a refrigerator magnet, "be patient with me, I was born in the 1900's." Ha, ha.
@Nancy - I'm GenX and quite computer-savvy, but I definitely feel you regarding a desire for a "return to analog existence". Though at age 56, it's sobering to see the 20th century referred to as a nostalgic time.
@Nancy I recently gave a series of six one-hour classes. No Zooming, just human beings in a room. (I did record the audio for those who had to miss one class or another.) I can't count how many people began their emails with "Thank God!" As a teacher, I can tell you that trying to teach a little box on a screen is Sisyphean. Distance learning is aptly named.
@Nancy PS I have excellent geek credentials and tech holds no terror for me.
@Nancy Boook? What is boook? Late boomer trying to feel the zeitgeist.
15 minutes in, I have 8 answers and I’m not confident they’re right. Today is not my day. I cant catch a single break with this puzzle.
@RL Hey, it happens! Don't give up, just try again tomorrow after a nice sleep. I bet things will come to you! This happens to almost all of us! Certainly me... ☺️
@RL Absolutely as @HeathieJ says - just take a break and go back to it later, don't let it frustrate you! I completed most of this puzzle, fairly slowly but never totally stuck, but then hit a brick wall in the north section. Just couldn't budge any of the final 5 or 6 clues I had left. I came back to it after a sleep, and bam! everything fell into place! That's often even more satisfying than just filling in a puzzle easily :)
CIS and ARO whatever those are in one puzzle. i'm fatigued by having to keep up with that nonsense in order to do a cross word puzzle.
@mike it’s part of the world. It should be no more annoying than clues about movies you don’t watch or celebrities you don’t know about.
@mike Check your Tacitus and other Roman histories for many references to Cis-alpine Gaul.
@mike - As soon as I saw these entries, I knew some snowflake would be triggered and post something like this. You did not disappoint!
Phew! That Southwest had me cornered for a good five minutes of mull-time. Nice one!
As a late GenX and techy this was entirely up my alley! Fun and breezy solve, although I dithered a bit about the direction the storming was happening.
Super easy, just barely missed my PB. This was more like a Monday.
@Dave K., it was a PB for me, and close to my Monday average. But I liked it and don't blame the author; they don't choose which day of the week the puzzle runs.
My Brother-in-Law, in Windsor, ON, will say farewell by saying "Adios, Amigo!," even to strangers. Which is particularly funny when the person in question is a hijab-wearing, Middle Eastern shop cashier. A little 19th century gender-identity dance-off: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MJCPAt13vw&list=RD6MJCPAt13vw&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MJCPAt13vw&list=RD6MJCPAt13vw&start_radio=1</a> I struggled with this one. I feel old.
Feeling smug. My 2:30am brain computed this puzzle with no crashes.
Who has more fun at work than Sam Corbin and her photo editor? No one.
@Don H I serve at the pleasure of the solvers!
@Sam Corbin: I've only ever used "HARROW" as a verb. I had to go look up the use of it as an adjective based on your Tricky Clue for 15A. Thanks! Any day I can learn something, it's a great day!
@Heidi Fiedler I'm not sure I understand your comment. "Harrow" is a noun and a verb, as is "torment." Harrowing someone is the same as tormenting someone. Doesn't the clue "[to] Torment" mean "[to] harrow"?
Nice theme and perfect level of difficulty for a Wednesday. I liked all the theme related fill, though a wanted "what a bug might cause" 7D to be FEVER not the obvious ERROR (guess there might have been a question mark for that). Also liked the reference to Go Fish for DREW 27A.
I'm certainly no techie, but the theme answers seemed to fill themselves in with just a few letters showing in each one. Maybe because I was an early adapter of computers, since the first ex was an IT person and taught me well. Well, not so well, due to his impatience. Then I was able to teach myself a lot. The puzzle was okay, but nothing exciting.
This was a fun one. Enjoyed the theme. And the other cluing/answers as well. Y’all have a wonderful Wednesday!
I had a HARROWING time 5D as my French is non-existent and I wasn’t thinking Harrow as tormenting… Cute theme and a fun Wednesday with just the right amount of difficulty IMO. Rating: 9/10
Record Wednesday time for me. Not sure if it was easier than usual or just in my ballpark, but it doesn't matter; a satisfying midweek solve.
@Pax Ahimsa Gethen Agreed! It was super fast for me not a PR but 90% of it was done really quickly. Helps that the computer terms were super simple