This was a very, very easy puzzle except for the Northwest corner, the Northeast corner, the Southwest corner, the Southeast corner, and the Middle.
@Francis DeBernardo :: not gonna lie they had us in the first half GIF ::
@Francis DeBernardo i agree!!
For a USERERROR I've always enjoyed the IT guys' acronym: PEBCAK (problem exists between chair and keyboard).
@Bay Area Native my fave was PICNIC Problem In Chair Not In Computer
@Bay Area Native @Long walks n sunsets As a tech support person, I liked the original clue and your two acronyms WAAAAY too much.
@Bay Area Native My sister told me about ID10T errors which I find hilarious.
@Bay Area Native This is going right into my lingo, stat.
It's been so long since I took math. I tried to spell it LOGARHYTHM.
@Dave S Logarhythm is a dancer, it's a soul's companion, you can feel it everywhere
That is the name of an a cappella group at MIT: <a href="https://www.themitlogs.com" target="_blank">https://www.themitlogs.com</a>/ .
The cluing was Saturday sublime. Fuzzy clues, misdirects, inscrutables – plenty to crack and bring happy pings. Putting those hard-earned letters in the grid brought delicious rushes to see what might grow out of them. An answer set drawing from many fields, and sparked by NYT debuts, including NBA CHAMPS, PATIO HEATERS, SOCIAL LADDER, SUSHI BOAT, and USER ERROR. I loved the gorgeous ERSTWHILE and the slipperiness of the clue for its symmetrical partner BOTTLE CAP – [Neck topper] – which could be anything that goes around a person’s neck, or even some other way of saying “head”. And the wonder of something that’s so often taken for granted -- that all these answers are seamlessly interlocked. Have you ever tried making a crossword, even a mini or midi? The skill behind this! Saturday rub, Saturday wit, Saturday beauty – all in the box today. First class and high quality, Rafael and Kate. Did it LAND? Oh indeed. This was a splendid outing – thank you!
@Lewis thanks - i finally understand that clue
I was blown away by all the good wishes for my birthday yesterday. Thank you for your generous comments. Your friendship means more to me than you could possibly know. (Now back to the grind. Tough puzzle, I'd say.)
@dutchiris You deserve it, hope it was a happy one
@dutchiris Your presence here means more to us than you could possibly know.♥️
@dutchiris Happiest of birthdays to you!! 🎉💛🥂 I knew it was this month but lost track of the day… d’oh! Hopefully the birthday celebrations can extend one more day. 🥳
@dutchiris My best wishes too! I missed the thread too! But I was actually in Berkeley for a few days at the beginning of the week. Blown away by all the new high rises along Shattuck. The era of the Metropole, the Keystone, Kams, Hinks, Edy’s, Berkeley Cycle & Toy, MacFarlane’s, Oscar’s, just a memory.
@dutchiris I must have missed your birthday yesterday! Wszystkiego najlepszego (all the best) from Poland ❤️
@dutchiris A belated happy birthday! You are inspiring. Very happy to have gotten to know you through our shared love of crossword puzzles and good fun.
@dutchiris Let me add my well wishes. You are a hero to many here, me included.
@dutchiris I saw your post on Thursday. You said, "92 today and still here." I wondered if it was your birthday or the temperature in Berkeley. What will happen to all those outdoor cafes and other outdoor spaces in Berkeley, I wonder? Well, enjoy it.
@dutchiris I have been so lucky so far in that I survived breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, have broken no bones (just knocked on wood), able to sit, stand, walk without help, see without glasses, hear just fine, etc., but this past year has been mysteriously difficult. As Yeats observed, things fall apart.
@dutchiris I'm at sea (literally, somewhere between France and Ireland) and have not participated lately as much as usual. But I wish you the happiest, and many happy returns.
"How can you sleep next to the tennis warehouse? They make such a racket!" "I know, serves me right." ("Just sell the place! You should put an ad-out.")
@Mike There are just too many tennis puns to pick from, so I won’t bother. Instead I’ll link to “The Tennis Song” from City of Angles which is filled with more tennis double entendres than anyone would ever care to imagine (Andrzej close your ears. Musical plus Bad Puns—your brain would explode after the first verse). <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_vBRRKW3F8E&ra=m" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_vBRRKW3F8E&ra=m</a>
@Mike Not your fault. You didn't cross the line. Who knew there were strings attached? Let yourself have a ball. It could be love. A net gain.
@Mike Aced it, as usual!
Dealing with the NE area took me as long as the other 4/5th of the puzzle - that spot was just crammed with things I simply didn't know, but I managed to deal with it in the end without lookups. Now for some trivia of my own: Isn't it interesting how cultures and languages can differ while being also quite similar? In English the creature in a china shop is a bull. In Polish it's... An elephant. The Polish word for an elephant is "słoń" - the etymology is not clear , but it possibly has to do with our ancestors mixing up... Elephants and lions, neither of which they had seen (the Turkic word for a lion, arslan, seems to be the root of słoń). The whole expression is: słoń w składzie z porcelaną (skład is an outdated, 19th/early 20th century term for a shop, which survives in this expression only; the modern term is "sklep") 20 years ago or so most Poles associated MOHAIR, the Polish moher, with the cultural, political, social and religious phenomenon of "moherowe berety", mohair berets. It was slang for listeners of the far-right, ultra-catholic, misinformation and hate-filled radio station Radio Maryja (Radio Mary) - 90% of whom were millions of old ladies, all seeming wearing mohair berets. It was a demographic that swung some Polish elections... I don't get the furore over AI DOCTOR. AI is being successfully used in medicine, so the shorthand term works 🤷🏽
@Andrzej I love your comments and thought this was hilarious. The Mohair Berets sound like a crack squadron of grandmas who would give the Green Berets a run for their money. It makes me wonder if there is a term for a group of people classified by or known for their apparel — maybe the top brass (military chiefs), jackboots (N@zis)? In Britain we used to have “bluestockings” — educated literary women (so outré!). I’m sure there are many more! (Blacklegs and Rednecks immediately spring to mind, not to mention the Sans Culottes of the French Revolution.) I’m afraid that i find the elephant/lion link a little too wonderful to be credible!
@Andrzej That's interesting about the etymology of lion in Polish...in the CS Lewis Narnia stories (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe being the first) the Lion is named ASLAN, very close to the Turkic arslan you cited.
@Andrzej I love how you share things I would never know otherwise. Thanks for expanding my knowledge and perspective!
Coincidentally, the star of our Green Day outdoor events is usually Paddy O’Heater. (And it’s a biga$$ one, because it’s still pretty chilly up here in March.) Fantstic puzzle - loved it!
Loved this puzzle! “Arioso” is most definitely not semi-spoken, semi-sung, however! Professional opera singer here. It is fully sung, but differs from “aria” in that its rhythm is closer to recitative, which is speech-inflected.
I saved my AIDOCTOR rant for a separate post. (Let’s be clear, I’m fine with it as a crossword entry, I’m just complaining about in IRL).Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not at AI apocalyptic, I’m not worried about my job, and there are plenty of appropriate uses for AI in medicine as an adjunct to physicians or other providers. But this latest “innovation” is just the latest appalling development in a long trend of commercialization and cheapening of medicine. First were the incessant commercials hawking prescription drugs for everything from cancer to schizophrenia. Then the pop up grocery clinics with providers who have no knowledge of or access to your medical history. Then the “medical emergency” kits filled with antibiotics which are so dangerous on so many levels. And now the notion that you can get decent medical care from a faceless AI. Folks, please don’t fall for this. There are dozens of things we can do to make medical care cheaper, more accessible and better quality with real human beings who actually care about you. Let focus on that, please.
@SP Thanks for stating this more civilly than I can at the moment. AI DOCTOR is just a vile phrase, stuck in my craw. Ugh, yuk. AI is fine as a tool, but it cannot be a doctor. I hope it doesn't become the name of a web site or app.
@SP And let me be more specific. A mom uses the ”AI Doctor” to diagnose her child’s pinkeye and is either reassured or given a medicine by a human doctor sight unseen. Can an AI do this as well as I? Probably so, and even notice other worrisome symptoms that would warrant additional evaluation. But is that AI going to remind the patient they are overdue for a checkup? At that checkup, I will screen for anemia, lead, hearing or vision problems that may be missed as well as physical exam findings that the mom may not notice. I am going to screen for social determinants of health and give the family food from our food pantry or refer to our social worker to make sure they are getting the help they need. I will screen for developmental issues and make sure they get extra resources for that or help them work with the school to address it. I will screen for depression or bullying or suicidal thoughts and help them get counseling. I will give them diet or sleep advice to help their child will be healthier in the long term. I’ll make sure they are taking care of their asthma and eczema properly. And this is not for rich patients who can afford it, this is for the poorest of the poor in my community. And my colleagues and I do this every. single. day. That’s what being a doctor is. And that’s what’s missed because someone’s promoting a mom to use an AI instead of calling me. And if you say those resources aren’t available everywhere, let’s work towards making sure they are.
@SP I wonder about those "medical emergency" kits every time I see them advertised on TV. Aren't antibiotics supposed to be by prescription only? Aren't there laws? I read a book decades ago about the overuse of antibiotics. It's called "The Plague Makers." It's truly fascinating. There are many places around the world where prescriptions are not required. Antibiotics are sold on a sort of black market promising everything you could think of. The danger is not only to the individual who can develop resistant strains, but to the society as a whole. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671791567?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671791567?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback</a> I have to say that tele-health scares me as much as those medical emergency kits. One last thought: I always wish that the physician would have the initial conversation with me, rather than the nurse with a survey of pre-decided questions, many of which are not only irrelevant but annoying.
@SP I largely agree with you, almost completely. However, the store pop-up clinics have been great at certain times for me. It's sooooooooo hard to get an appointment anytime before four months from now, if something like a UTI or sinus issue comes up, or a slight injury that doesn't seem to warrant ER. Granted, I wish I could get into my primary for these things, but it's not feasible. I am a big fan of my primary and clinic, but if I have a UTI, and I know it because I am me, I can't wait to be seen in four months—but I'm not going to go to ER. It fills a gap and, at least the ones by me, know their limitations. They are clear about what they can diagnose and I'm happy to share my medical background with them. I'm sure there can be problems, but by and large, they fill a gap. Oh, vaccines, too. Just my nickel! Oh, what I think is a bummer, is that the pharmacies all get their vaccines in before the clinics. I was at my primary this week and they don't have vaccines yet... but Walgreens and CVS do. Crazy! I'd rather do it when I'm there and then my primary has the record of it. Crazy healthcare world!
This felt like a Saturday puzzle, but solved a lot faster than yesterday's Friday puzzle. It surely wasn't easy — I was stuck in the NE and SE areas for a long time. But this was a lot of fun, with tricky clues.
Reviewing the puzzle, I am curious why the clue for 1 Down "Humongous, slangily" needed the word "slangily" — since "humongous" strikes me as rather slangy already.
There is no such thing as an AI DOCTOR. Doctors are humans who have attended and graduated from medical school, usually followed by residency, and licensing by state medical boards. This answer is atrocious and I hope never to see it again in any context. The puzzle was otherwise fine, if a little easy for a Saturday, but I can't rate it anything other than negative infinity stars out of 5 for trying to force us to accept that medical treatment and patient care can be performed by any non-human entity.
@el I don't think the puzzle has a point of view here. Like it or not, the phrase AI DOCTOR did not originate in this puzzle, and it's unfortunately a social development we have to contend. It certainly passes the breakfast table test and is perfectly appropriate for a puzzle, if also a sad sign of the times.
@el See my rant below, couldn’t agree with you more. But alas, an “AI DOCTOR” is a thing whether we like it or not and is fair game in a crossword puzzle (except, as I also alluded to elsewhere, it seems like a bit of an arbitrary combination, you could say AIARTIST or AILAWYER or AIACCOUNTANT, etc.) Let’s use it as an opportunity to express our opinion on how appalling we think the concept is so maybe something good will come of it.
@el. My first thought was the ubiquitous Dr Google. A better or worse option?
@el You might be surprised how often we human doctors consult AIDOCTORS and how often using their advice judiciously contributes to sound patient care. And you'll struggle these days to find an emergency department that does not have an AI radiologist reading your x-ray before your human doctor does. O brave new world etc.
@el Your definition is for 'physician', not 'doctor'. ( yes, I have a PhD, why do you ask?)
@el Thank you for this. Honestly surprised at the pushback you're getting. If I can't call myself a doctor without going to medical school and undergoing rigorous training, a large language model can't either.
After two days of puzzle misery -- two days where I threw the incompleted puzzle at the wall -- finally a puzzle that was reasonably name-free enough for me to finish. I found it hard in the SUSHI BOAT (where I had SUSHI BOwl) section and pretty easy everywhere else. Although I did want hIDES something-or-other at the SIDESTEPS answer (57A). BULL IN A CHINA SHOP is a very nifty grid-spanner and I loved the clue. Some thoughts: MOHAIR is nice and soft, but is it "silky"? For silky, I prefer, well, silk. Or at least satin. And to define ST PAT as the "star" of Green day is pushing it, I'd say. Also, shouldn't the "D" of day be capitalized? Finally -- a tip from AI-avoidant me. To avoid the AI DOCTOR, and you definitely should!, ask your medical question and then follow it with "/Mayo Clinic". Or "/Harvard Medical Journal". Something like that. You're welcome. I enjoyed receiving a puzzle today with deft cluing in the place of a plethora of totally forgettable names. A real relief. More like this, please!
@Nancy Don’t you remember the legend of the three wise leprechauns who followed the star to Dublin to pay homage to ST PAT in the pub where he was born?
@Nancy You can always (at least with Google) follow your search term with “-ai” to get them to leave AI responses out.
@Nancy It’s a day when people wear green so why would you capitalize it? And if St. Patrick isn’t the star of St. Patrick’s Day, who is? I thought that was a brilliant clue.
@Nancy Agree about MOHAIR. I started with SATEEN--one of the first words I filled in. I was set straight fast!
Alien ship / Sushi boat, what a combo! I really wanted Viking' offense to be ROIDS, remembering the StarCaps scandal of about fifteen years ago, where two Vikings were suspended for several games for having tested positive for a chemical agent, one of the effects of which was that it masked the presence of steroids; the chemical agent was a component in a weight-loss supplement called StarCaps. There was circumstantial evidence that the two Vikings guys (and several other players around the league) were all using StarCaps not to lose weight but to hide their roid use. The kicker was that the chemical agent was not listed as part of the ingredients of StarCaps, so the accused Vikings asked how they were supposed to know, and, if the league knew about the presence of the chemical, how come they never told the players? Plus, one of the Viking players actually did need to lose weight, and claimed he was legit using it to lose a few pounds. A "dualist" might claim that the Viking in question could be both on a diet AND juicing at the same time, beefing up while slimming down... Bull in a china shop...I actually thought of that today while reading about Zuckerberg coughing up $18B (chump change for him) to pay for lousing up millions of children's minds, part of his "Move fast and break things" credo, I guess, damaging youthful spirits. Like a bull in a china shop, there's really no upside to moving fast and breaking things...
@john ezra Great, great post, especially the last paragraphs. Unfortunately, there is one upside to moving fast and breaking things...if you're fast enough,you can get all the money whether you deserve it or not. Then you buy out the competition and form a monopoly. Capitalism 101. I am not a happy person.
@john ezra That was my metaphor of choice back in 2016: 'I'm tired of all these retail consultants always arranging my china shop in aisles and shelves. Think I'll give this bull a shot.'
Huh? So random. I was expecting a diagnosis, but instead the AI doctor gave me instructions for writing a will.
@ad absurdum Maybe that was the right diagnosis.
@ad absurdum are you leaving everything to Zuckerberg?
I'm a huge Rafa fan. And Rafa + Kate = dynamite construction chops. That would explain why my brain exploded and I did a "check puzzle" halfway through (Just a really bad habit. As usual, I had only one mistake – BIASED instead of RIGGED for "not fair" – and regretted the check, as I always do, but then keep doing it on Saturdays.) My last to fall was the P of PARS crossing PERTER. Perter? Really? Aw, c'mon guys. :-) I couldn't figure out how to fit monkey IN A CHINA SHOP which is how I know the idiom, but it now occurred to me that I've been translating the expression from the Portuguese without realizing it. A look-up set me straight and now I know that in English it's a BULL. So that explains why someone once laughed when I said "like a monkey in a china shop."🤦🏻♀️
I hit submit before thanking our constructors (thank you!) and before linking to some TECHNO music... Here is the duo Bob Moses, with a down-tempo techno hybrid song I love... <a href="https://youtu.be/8mN_y74CtaA?is=sfl31LBP4P2Bx9bh" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/8mN_y74CtaA?is=sfl31LBP4P2Bx9bh</a> ...and Moby, also with a techno hybrid, live at Glastonbury; <a href="https://youtu.be/FwcyxA406og?is=tu0GSSXePMe94_2I" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/FwcyxA406og?is=tu0GSSXePMe94_2I</a>
@sotto voce Thanks for the Moby. The hook from that song seem to be used quite alot in other places and now I know from where.
@sotto voce I love “A monkey in a china shop.” I’ll bet that it sounds even better in Portuguese (doesn’t everything)? Trust yourself a little more with the checks. If an answer like BIASED isn’t working out, delete it. Having the wrong letters in place can really block your ability to see neighboring words.
The clue about the Chinese surname written with Chinese characters is too esoteric to be included. What's next, Sanskrit family names?
@Pat If you got two of the five letters, it was pretty obvious from some of the crossing entries that it had to be Sheng, Cheng, or a variant thereof.
@Pat I don’t think the authors expected people to know Mandarin. It’s just a Saturdayish way of clueing “a common Chinese surname”
@Pat I liked this clue. For me any question about professional or college sports is esoteric
@Pat for this well-educated cohort, being able to read Chinese is not esoteric. I know many people of Chinese heritage who can and quite a few non-Chinese scholars of Chinese.
@Pat Well, there are easily a billion-plus people who can take a fair stab at pronouncing it. So there’s that.
@Pat A good habit in solving crosswords is knowing what parts of clues should just be ignored. The clue could be, for all intents and purposes, just “Common Chinese surname” for anyone without a background in Chinese.
@Pat In a few years this will be an easy clue -- it'll be your boss's name.
@Pat Why is Chinese "esoteric" but French isn't?
@Pat it was guessable without needing to know Chinese. I agree with the other commenters here. I found it refreshing to see a non-European foreign language included.
I found it very, very difficult, but managed to solved it in 1 hour 57 minutes with no lookups. As for you people who say it was easy, my hat is off to you. You are either master solvers or you want us to think you are!
@Laura Stratton I too found it very, very difficult. I managed to solve it in 17:34 minutes, but with sixteen cheats. I just don't have your patience! (And the notice says I have a "seven day streak". Uh oh! I must have forgotten about the last Saturday beastie. C'est la vie! I will go back and do the dang thing for the sense of completion, though.)
I found today's puzzle crunchy and satisfying, as befits a Saturday. Keep 'em coming.
@Pax Ahimsa Gethen Me too, crunchy and satisfying.
mohair is NOT soft and silky. if anything it is ITCHY
@KS I also took a bit of issue with this one. The mohair I know, would not be described as silky
A nice crunchy Saturday offering. Not too difficult, but tricky in places, the names/sporty stuff took me the longest as usual. MOHAIR is soft and silky?? Not on my sensitive skin buster. It brings me out in hives (itching as I write). I automatically put in CIA whenever a US dept is required, so NSA held me up a tad. As I’ve never come across a SUSHI BOAT that didn’t help. I had DUALIty for a while, which gave me YE-HNO for the music. Sounded plausible to me. Finally, yes, 38D is frequently heard in this house, when DH’s team invariably lose. Again. In drought news; we finally have rain! You can see the green shoots appearing. The Alpacas are gambolling around like newborns, even the hens are enjoying it. The only miserable animal is the resident Shiba, who hates rain with a passion. The only shame is it’s the last Bank (public) holiday this w/end until Christmas, so a lot of events are being washed out. Still, rain!!! ☔️
@Helen Wright I’ve often wondered. Why does the UK periodically have holidays without a specific commemoration? (I also wondered why your husband says NY POST when his team is losing, until I realized you were referring to the clue, not the answer.)
@Helen Wright Inspired, I looked up UK Bank Holidays. I note that Northern Ireland commemorates the Battle of the Boyne, whilst the Channel Islands celebrate Liberation Day (from Nazi occupation) and the Isle of Man has the day off for the TT Races. Makes total sense, as all the main roads are closed for the event.
I grew up in Boston, but I rarely have an audible Boston accent. However, I can't say the word "perter" *or* hear it in my head without the accent. I've been struggling with this for a few hours now. It's tripped some strange linguistic wire. Thankfully, the number of times I've used the word "pert" in my life is vanishingly small, and if I ever have to use it in a comparison I'll just use "more pert".
"Vikings' offense" did not pull me towards the NFL team, as neither DUBIOUS nor NONEXISTENT worked.
@Ed Only a Minnesotan can get away with that comment.
@Ed Huge smiles!!! What a tough luck metropolitan area the twin cities are (is?). Back around the time of the anthrax mailings there was a joke that the Vikings avoided the goal line because it was a suspicious white powder.
In the last two days, my average time has been massively higher. I couldn't be happier. To me that means I got to enjoy using my brain for a nice long time. Those puzzles are why I pay the price here.
This was tough for me. I used every hint available. And looked a few things up. OUTRE, BIORE, RANITSCOURSE were the last ones to go.
I liked some two-line mini dramas here: The diners mistook a SUSHI BOAT for an ALIEN SHIP. A normal person tried to ascend the SOCIAL LADDER, but the attempt RAN ITS COURSE when they made some silly faux pas. Occasional USER ERROR: trying to talk about “the algorithm” doing some dastardly thing, but using the word LOGARITHM by mistake.
I couldn't solve the names (EWING, BAIN, ANA, WILSON) or the US clues (NBA CHAMPS, B PLUS) but the rest was fine. Except for the LOGARITHM. I liked the clues with neck, toast and court session. Am I the only one who thought the 'Breaking' clue referred to a character in the TV series Breaking Bad? I haven't watched it and assumed I wouldn't know it and didn't even think of the bull in a china shop! The Irish don't use St Pat or Patty - it's Paddy (from Pádraig), just a thought. I wonder - why not just use 90% instead of B Plus? is it just customary? Quite enjoyable, since I pretend that the names etc don't count.
The perfect Saturday puzzle, in my mind. Fresh, inventive, clever, precise cluing. Plenty of "aha" moments that took just the right amount of effort. What fun.
A good crossword puzzle is a good crossword puzzle and a thing to be grateful for regardless of the day of the week. And these are always good crossword puzzles in the sense of high quality. I do enjoy some more than others, and very, very rarely I might be tempted to call one "bad". But in the end I always land on at least "good enough". IMO. (This one was WAY better than good enough.)
@Peaty & Oaty I know, I'm often quick to criticize and slow to praise. To that end, today's puzzle was quite fine. The quad stack in the middle was well-executed, and tying them together with the long down spanner got a chef's kiss from me.
I really wanted "A word in closing" to be SING. It fit. It made me smile. And then it didn't play nice with the others.
I committed USERERROR by trying allow instead of ALLOT and dualish instead of DUALIST, so the SE stumped me for awhile. My missteps are SORANDOM sometimes. I thought the grid was elegant and the staggered stacks were fun, as was SUSHIBOAT, one of which my wife, daughter and I shared earlier this month.
So, I solved this in about as much time as yesterday but had much more enjoyable time yesterday. Nothing wrong with this puzzle, of course, from two fine constructors, just less scintillating to me. BULLINACHINASHOP was obviously the star, but nothing else really leaps out at me. PATIOHEATERS, AIDOCTOR and ALIENSHIP all seem a little blah and green-painty (as was STPAT next to PAINTS? Just noticed that, funny). I did like SHIP under BOAT. A few misdirecting clues but nothing with the wow factor that so many had yesterday. Nice call out to one of our fine American playwrights, August WILSON. Is anyone going to complain about WILSON crossing EWING? Or because WILSON is a “normal” last name and EWING is NBA, not WNBA, everyone can get their gold star and not worry about having to learn a name they don’t already know? (Sorry, still a little exasperated from yesterday. Ok, I know, everyone has a right to their opinion). I shouldn’t gripe, this was a great puzzle in its own right, a little tame for a Saturday (cue Matt from Spring Hill) but worthwhile.
@SP I may have outgriped you and with less specificity. It's just maddening that Saturdays have become easy NYT puzzle days! This one was Tuesdayish. Hmm, the XWStats voters say Average... They are being kind. :)
@SP @B I think I had a harder time than both of you put together (although now that I put it that way, it doesn't quite parse). Anyway, you guys clearly were more comfortable with this one than I was. My times yesterday and today are almost exactly the same. This one felt a little easier in places--I didn't have to deal with the TICHA/MII cross--yet I fell into some confusion by having KGB for 5D (I was thinking of "Enemy at the Gate") and GRAVYBOAT for 15A. That took me a while to unknot. Also, for 19D, I stubbornly decided it was a verb ending in "ED", and so had "carried" and "peddled" before I finally gave up on the ED. Even LOGARITHM stumped me temporarily, given I say it as if it was "logrithm".
I have really enjoyed the Friday and Saturday this week. I think I struggled more than most in today’s puzzle. For whatever reason, I just couldn’t get any traction on the short entries. I got through this puzzle because I was able to suss out the long entries with very few crossings. Which helped me get the filler entries. This is unusual for me. But the cluing was tough for me. Yesterday was misdirection cluing tough. Today was vague tough. For me, the last two days remind me of puzzles from years past. I really enjoyed them. But not used to putting in this much time to solve late week, anymore. But more please!
I interpret the clue as an AI that provides advice to an actual doctor. If humans prefer to self diagnose by listening to advice provided by an algorithm that is tuned to the whims of internet billionaires then I’m sorry but I’ve run out of pity.
@Ιασων Maybe same with *tele-health.*
Anyone else get tripped up by putting ALLOW instead of ALLOT? Not sure I agree with their definition
I had 38D in place, so the T was already there. It's not a definition, it's a hint.
@Ashley Camoosa I had ADMIT for way too long
This was one of those "nah that's not it, I'll move along" puzzles. On the third orbit, they WERE the fills! Oh boy, talk about being your own worst enemy. Thanks for the fun one!
Very tough one for me. Saturdays are supposed to be challenging, so I think this hit the mark.
GRAVYBOAT in place of SUSHIBOAT slowed me down for a long time --a victim of my own food preferences, I guess. Fun puzzle, great misdirects!
Naughty me! I used 14D in my Comment, and now I've been spanked and sent to bed without my breakfast! If it's food for the goose, it's food for the gander, but not in CrossLandia. I doesn't matter. I was hopelessly stumped by the NE. Couldn't recall the playwright despite having see the play AND the movie, and 33 did not come to me. Didn't know the Knick, the Emmy drama, the Chinese surname, and MOHAIR? Hmm... Then SUSHI BOAT ...total unknown. Even the BULL IN THE CHINA SHOP was no help. (They usually aren't.) So...I took a licking. Or two.
@Mean Old Lady When I filled in MOHAIR, I wondered what you would think of it. It seemed a strange description to me, but I know not much about textiles and fabric, so I figured I wouldn't worry about it yet. But I definitely thought of you, as I do for many such clues. ☺️ If you like SUSHI, a SUSHIBOAT is quite a sight to behold. 14D, for sure. I've never ordered one, though I do enjoy sushi... I don't think it would be achievable (or advisable) to eat that much—unless there is a crowd of indulging, not just my husband and me or a friend and me. Way too 14D!! 🍣🛶
@Mean Old Lady This is just an experiment to see if BIGASS as one word passes muster.
@Mean Old Lady A SUSHI BOAT was the centerpiece of my niece's latest birthday dinner; I wouldn't have known it otherwise. It's a very nice presentation.
Now that's what I call a Saturday puzzle. Oof.
So easy and mundane it started to make me angry. This is at least 3 Saturdays in a row that are much, much less challenging than their preceding Friday puzzles. Which would be fine... except that is NOT what the NYT promises for difficulty levels. Apparently what I wrote yesterday stands - Friday is the new Saturday. Way too many straightforward definition clues, notably including erstwhile, which deserves better. Isn't Musa craftier than this? /easening ain't so great
@B Silly B...there is no easening...you're just getting ever better, sweetie.
@B I found this to be of proper Saturday difficulty, as evidenced by my solve time of 30+ minutes.
@B xwstats agrees, finding today’s puzzle has an average solve time two minutes faster than yesterday’s.
@B I had a harder time than you did today because of one section, but overall, it was pretty straightforward. I don't know if Rafael Musa is self censoring to get published here or if the editors are going to town on his clues, but historically his puzzles had a lot more bite to them. Your frustration is apparent and understandable. Have you dipped into The Stumper yet? I find it reliably challenging week after week. It took a couple of years to get my footing with them, but even on "easy days" they're tougher than anything I've seen here in a long time.
@B I’m not sure the NYT “promises” that…but they certainly did get lots of us hooked on it. But anyway, completely agreed: I loved yesterday’s puzzle (which, for me, was the hardest Friday in recent memory by some margin), but found myself “one-shotting” way too many entries in today’s and finished right around my recent Thursday average. In other words: a level of difficulty I’d *like* to see on the average Wednesday. And yet I’ve already read several comments about how this was a “proper workout” or a “perfect Saturday”. The NYT Saturday crossword puzzle is truly dead — just a brand at this point, trading on memories of what it once was. Pour one out 🪦
@B As a relative newcomer (8 months of dailies and 5 of archives working back), I can't really speak to the long-term Easening that has you so irked. But as for yesterday vs. today: MMV. Both relatively difficult (> an hour for me, compared to averages around 50 min), with today's time about 10% longer.
Happy to solve a Saturday mostly unaided. I was grinning so wide upon filling in the 16-letter spanner which so effortlessly enters the central stack of four answers. So much fun.
CHENG was SO RANDOM, and I am fluent in Mandarin. I am pretty sure that the only Chinese characters most Westerners recognize are the four winds tiles in a mah-jongg set, and maybe the numbers. Fun stuff: the Chinese word for "common folk" is laobaixing (老百姓) which translates literally to the "old 100 surnames" in the imperial census.
@Grant I recognize no Chinese signs and I thought the clue was loco 🤷🏽
Grant, As discussed earlier by others, some solvers will be able to read the character, and for everyone else it is a more interesting clue than simply "Common Chinese surname."
@Grant I had CH, but my Pleco dictionary saved the day
@Barry For the record, Zhang is one of the most common Chinese surnames...but there was no way that Z worked with NBA. CHENG only ranks 44th in the top 100. (There are about 4,000 of them in current use.)
@Grant I had no idea about the Chinese character but guessed CHaNG from C__N_. Checking the crosses got the E although I did wonder how common it was.
@Grant I know zero Chinese characters but gave full respect for an unGoogleable clue
Well, this one went pretty smoothly for me until the two bottom corners. Oohwee, I had a Dickens of a time down there. I'm surprised I lived to tell the tale. I had to take a couple of other breaks and do other games and hope it would jog some thoughts. Looking back, as often is the case when I encounter tricky areas, I wonder why it was so tricky for me. It looks very getable now! You know, now that I know all the answers... Har!! One thing is that I do have to start incorporating grading into my thoughts about numbers. It's been a long time since I worried about number grades, especially since not having kids. (BPLUS) Although I've encountered this sort of clue in other puzzles, it's just not a thing that computes to me in all of the different ways I thought about of numbers, so I was quite stymied by being confident of both BRIE and PIG, but clueless on what the rest could be. It's just like a blind spot to me every time those kind of clues show up. That area was my very last. Once I finally got OUTRE, the rest pretty much filled itself in. I also really enjoyed the puzzle, especially putting the entire spanner in with only the B in place. I was so delighted to be correct. At times, I thought I was going to fly through it and finish near record time, till I get stymied at the bottom and finished well slower than my average. All good! I always seem to enjoy Mr Musa's puzzles. I even did a midi the other day because it had his name on it! I almost never do the Midi.
@HeathieJ I can't believe how long I wanted to put aPLUS in that spot, all the while thinking "90 is a low A, not a high A". When BPLUS finally occurred to me, I was quite sheepish about the whole thing, and intend to keep it all a secret.
@HeathieJ I was also confident of BRIE and PIG, but decided BP must be blood pressure. It is not.
I guess I was a bit too morbid for the puzzle when, upon my first glance through the clues, entered "diedofoldagE" for 33A (Naturally concluded).
Wow, that was really good. The grid was starting to light up all over until it wasn't in the SE. Then a lot of wheel spinning until aha! LOGARITHM. And then BP___ was going to work after all! I love when a seemingly intractably Sheldon Cooper-ish clue like "Inverse of an exponential function" yields a relatively benign answer like LOGARITHM. That answer should be in any high school graduate's wheelhouse, whether they could define it with the clue or not. (Not that there's anything wrong with not being a high school graduate! So odd that I feel compelled to say that.) That speaks to one of the things I learned that transformed my later-in-the-week solving: Don't be intimidated by the clues! (Half of me really digs the t-shirt one of the constructors is wearing in her photo at xwordinfo.com. <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/29/2026&h=6D" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=8/29/2026&h=6D</a>)