I’d like to start a conversation, if I may. It strikes me that some of the disconnect in our critiques and comments stem from different expectations we have from solving. Sometimes I am mystified by some negative comments but that could be because I have different expectations. So, I’d love to ask the community: why do you solve the NYT crosswords? I’ll start: I like to be challenged: I love it when a puzzle pushes me to the very edge of my competence or even a bit beyond. Of course I don’t want be totally flummoxed; but if there’s one or two squares I can’t finish with any amount of effort, that’s OK. I like to be amused: please, I love to laugh or be surprised by the theme, clues, or entries. I like to be educated: I love it when there are a few bits of trivia or references that I didn’t know before and can look up and learn about (or hear about from all of you) I like to be impressed: the most controversial, I know. But, yeah, I love to see constructors succeed in trying something that hasn’t been done before, executing a particularly tight theme well, or filling a difficult grid. It’s like admiring art. (To be continued)
@SP Things I don’t care about: Streaks: I have nothing to prove to anyone and they seem to benefit the site more than the user. I know they are important to many of you. Speed of solve: I take my time and try to leisurely enjoy the puzzle. I also know many of you may feel differently. Ego-boost: I am of course very happy that this is a skill that I do well. But I also recognize it’s a niche skill—I know many people of high IQ, or who have more intelligence than I in many areas, who just can’t do crosswords well and have no interest in practicing. So I’m not trying to prove how smart I am, it really doesn’t reflect competence in life in general. Those are my criteria for a satisfying puzzle, what are yours? And I want everyone to feel safe here, I promise I, at least, won’t respond negatively to anything anyone has to say.
@SP What a great question! I love puzzles of all kinds, I think probably for the same reasons many people do: I like the lightbulb/aha moment in some cases, in others I just like steadily getting better at certain types of puzzles and feeling myself getting smarter. My complaints about the NYT puzzles (which I usually try to keep minimal, and overall I try to say more positive than negative things in my comments, personally) are usually about naticks or what seem like just trivia-based crosses that can't be puzzled out logically, where if you just don't know a certain proper name, you're s.o.l. I need it to at least be figure-out-able from the crosses. Though I don't usually post about it myself, I also kind of agree with people who say that the puzzles are getting too easy, mainly because it just feels less enjoyable when there are fewer "aha" moments or bits of clever misdirecting wording, and I love those; they're one of the funnest aspects of puzzles to me, so when they're missing/a puzzle feels like a gimme, it's not that I hate it, but it doesn't have that magical "Oh my brain is actually capable of figuring this out" moment to it. That little epiphanic moment where everything comes together. Today's was a good example of a puzzle with some really good AHA moments that didn't even require misdirecting wording. Loved PIPEDOWN and TIDEOVER in particular!
@SP I would have to agree with all of yours, only I would put amused first. I love amusement. Possibly to a fault... har! I don't know as much about your last category but I do agree with it and I'm growing in it. You've been at this longer than I have and as a constructor you know what's been done, but I actually really agree with this I also don't care about the things that you listed not caring about. Things like what people call naticks don't bother me at all. If it's something I can't figure out from logic and knowledge of English language, or possibly Spanish, then I didn't know it and now I do. Not caring about streaks goes a long way in this area. I don't know, I often feel like I'm not worthy to be in these comments because, well I'm probably not smart enough, and I mean that truly, I probably don't know enough to be annoyed by things. And some of the things I might be knowledge enough to be annoyed about, just don't bother me that much. It's a puzzle! I lke being puzzled! I like figuring things out. And I've said this before and some of my comments, in life there are so many things that one can't figure out. I'm sure you've experienced that many times as a doctor. Children with leukemia. What the f!? Puzzles are always gettable. Outside of puzzles, I have issues with things, like less or fewer, I versus me, I seen, etc, but I don't feel I need to correct people in most cases unless I think they're open to it and it will benefit them. That's my nickel!
@SP I think there are two broad groups who write what some would call negative feedback: 1) The Curmudgeons. They are everywhere, but particularly on the Internet. They are going to complain, no matter what, and are best handled by ignoring them. 2) Those who think that the NYT Crossword should be the best in the world, and it should be at the A+ level, every time. See the "Forks" episode of The Bear for a restaurant parallel, where someone says that we have to hit it out of the park for every single customer, every single time. The NYT crossword acceptance rate is around 4%. A just-okay puzzle should not make it through (with a small exception for new constructors), nor should a puzzle be in print with a significant error. People could be nicer about their phrasing, but I think holding the NYT crossword to an A+ standard every day is a reasonable stance. I'm sure that's what Will Shortz and the team want us to do.
@SP I like to be challenged, but fairly so. Misdirection is great. Relying on stacked trivia is the pits: knowing random things should not be a deciding factor in solving a crossword puzzle. I'm currently solving an archived Saturday from 2020. It's super hard. I've been at it for 30 minutes or more and the grid is still largely empty. I'm enjoying it though, and not looking stuff up or revealing it. Why? Because there is an absolute minimum of trivia, so it's actually realistic of me to expect a clean solve. Thus, I persevere, and I'm having fun. I like to be educated, but not by puzzles. Most of the unknown I encounter here (local politicians, school mascots, sport teams, random towns, etc.) are of no interest to me. I have many interests and I keep learning about things, but those are things of my own chosing. I like to be amused in life, sure, but most humor in American puzzles seems to be about groany puns, which I just can't stand. What does amuse me in these grids is clever, cheeky misdirection - but it's quite rare. I don't really care about being impressed by grids. It's happened less than 10 times in the 3 years I've been solving these puzzles. I love panning puzzles I didn't like 🤣 I enjoy conversing with this community. It's probably the top reason I solve the puzzles. It's also very satisfying to know I can deal with most of these grids even though I'm not a native speaker of English.
@SP. I mainly love the experiences of (1) looking at a clue and the answer popping quickly into my head seemingly out of nowhere… there is of course a continuum, with some words like Oreo or orca or eke being so frequently that they don’t emerge from my mind with a sense of surprise. But sometimes… fairly often, actually, a fairly obscure phrase or name or word will come to mind out of nowhere, and quickly. (2) similar, but much delayed… when I’m stuck, putting the puzzle down for a few hours, and then picking it up, results in new answers bubbling up. Both (1) and (2) convince me that I don’t really understand how my brain stores and retrieves information. Neither are sufficiently reliable to make me fully confident I can solve all NYT crossword puzzles, and sometimes I mess up a corner so bad there are multiple changes needed, and I do give up sometimes in that case. Often near the end of a puzzle deletions are as important as filling in.
@SP I agree with much of what you said. Perhaps a bit more of what Andrzej said in his long post. For me, this started as a pandemic hobby when I had even more free time than usual. Although I don't care about streaks (i.e., consecutive gold stars), it has become a daily habit, and like brushing teeth, I don't wanna miss a day. Also, like Andrzej said, I like this community. I have never used any social media whatever except for one, and I deleted that account shortly after Elon took over. So this is my social media. While I do appreciate variety, I'm also madly in love with Katie Hoody's puzzles and kinda wish all puzzles were a bit more like hers.
@SP My love of the puzz is very much like yours. So, I’ll comment on my theories regarding the differences I see in this forum. I solve on my kitchen couch, with soft music playing, a blanket and two puppies on my lap next to a giant window overlooking the most tranquil view. Some solve on the train as they commute. Many have limited time before work. I’m sure only some have long, quiet spans to luxuriate in solving. So, more difficulty, elaborate themes, look-ups… lessens their experience. How could it not? Also, many began this daily foray during or after the pandemic. So the level of difficulty is pretty consistent. Many of us who were smitten by the puzz ten, twenty, thirty years ago… have (in many ways) had to let go of the puzzle we once knew. I still love it. For all of the reasons you mentioned. And I can miss the old days, while I embrace this newer puzzle that attracts a much larger audience, insuring its future, and my puppy puzzle morning solves.
I like putting letters in boxes. I like the black and white checker pattern. (When I do collages, I use them in my compositions, both for the graphic beauty and for the enigmatic side it adds to the piece.) Doing all this in a demanding space like the New York Times is a pleasure - with the system in place (with themes, difficulty grades, etc). I first did crosswords when I was around 11, when my father explained to me, how it worked. That was in Istanbul. Years later I got to learn about the NYT puzzles, when I lived in the States and my roommate had the subscription and was doing it every day. On paper. She introduced me to everything about it, also to the pen or pencil discussion etc… (This was 2003-2004) Now, for two years almost I am doing the online version almost daily (which was not the case before), with great pleasure. I hardly ever finish it (except once or twice a week), and days after I go back and look over it again and fill in a word or two. It relaxes my mind and I love the Wordplay column, too - of which I always make use (maybe once or twice in these two and a half years that I did not need it). I would still love to do it on paper, though and when recently I found the paper in my public library, first thing I did was to sit down and do the crossword. The comment section, I skim through. It gives me social media vibes which I don’t like. But here I am.
@SP All of the above. Great comments from every one. The main reason I do these puzzles now is for the community here. I've been doing crosswords pretty much my whole life, but no longer have anyone IRL to share them with. My mother stopped doing the puzzles about 5 years ago. It does seem like the community here is changing, I sometimes feel a disconnect.
@SP Crossword puzzles provide comfort and entertainment for me. Even the easiest Monday puzzle feels like mental yoga. Or a fidget spinner. Or a stress ball. Most days, I enjoy marveling at the constructors’ diverse creativity within the constraints. I prefer timeless classic clues over pop culture, but recognize the need for the mix, and how separating trivia from significa varies among us. I do have expectations for certain days (hello Thursday and Saturday) that were met more often in the past. I love learning something new from a puzzle, such as today’s (taken aback!) I don’t solve for time or streaks but appreciate that there are those that do. Time comparisons always remind me of that George Carlin line (paraphrasing), “Have you ever noticed that someone driving slower than you on the highway is an !d!ot, while someone driving faster than you is blanking cray, cray?” I started solving daily crossword puzzles in undergrad. Some of us would rip the day’s puzzle out of the Daily Collegian and slip it into our notebooks for when the lecture got too boring. A friend of mine, a very competitive athlete, would actually add boxes to the margins around his grid to fill in the answer that he wanted it to be. That’s when I first realized that different people get different things out of, or have different attitudes towards, puzzles.
Glad that when I solved this I was not two sheets to the wind.
Two. That is the number of these idioms that I already knew had a seagoing origin. Very fun way to learn about the others. Is there a better metaphor anywhere than LOOSE CANNON?! I love the unpredictable hazardous image that perfectly describes those sorts of people.
Son of a gun, I'm glad that I know the ropes enough to know when I'm at loose ends. What a well done puzzle. From Norton Juster's "The Phantom Tollbooth" (1960) which I bet was a formative childhood book for some of you: “It looks as though I’m getting nowhere,” yawned Milo, becoming very drowsy and dull. “I hope I haven’t taken a wrong turn.” Mile after mile after mile after mile, and everything became grayer and more monotonous. Finally the car just stopped altogether, and, hard as he tried, it wouldn’t budge another inch. “I wonder where I am,” said Milo in a very worried tone. “You’re… in… the… Dol… drums,” wailed a voice that sounded far away. He looked around quickly to see who had spoken. No one was there, and it was as quiet and still as one could imagine. “Yes… the… Dol… drums,” yawned another voice, but still he saw no one. “WHAT ARE THE DOLDRUMS?” he cried loudly, and tried very hard to see who would answer this time. “The Doldrums, my young friend, are where nothing ever happens and nothing ever changes.” “This time the voice came from so close that Milo jumped with surprise, for, sitting on his right shoulder, so lightly that he hardly noticed, was a small creature exactly the color of his shirt. “Allow me to introduce all of us,” the creature went on. “We are the Lethargarians, at your service.” “I’m very pleased to meet you,” said Milo, “I think I’m lost. Can you help me please?” “Don’t say ‘think,' It’s against the law.”
@john ezra thank you for The Phantom Tollbooth passage. That’s where I learned about the Doldrums, too. It’s such a special book!
@john ezra Happy memories! I'm going to get my copy out and reread it!
@john ezra It was a formative book for me, and it most certainly was my first encounter with the Doldrums. Thanks for the reminder!
@john ezra I love The Phantom Toolbooth! My dad read it to me when I was young.
When I started the puzzle, I thought the theme answers were puns made up by the constructor on a nautical theme. I went through the puzzle, thinking, "Boy, these aren't funny at all." Eventually, the light bulb went on. A great puzzle that was also one where I learned a lot! Who could ask for more?
What could I do but go with the flow? I thought I was all washed up once or twice, but most of the time I sailed through it, and at the end everything landed in place, a journey of exploration. Thank you, Captain Salvucci. That was indeed a bon voyage.
Really impressive grid today. Solved a lot like a themeless, and that’s a great compliment considering the number and length of the theme entries. 7 of them—and two pairs of pretty long stacks of them. That’s skill. Those of you who don’t like cutesy themes or tricks, but just a straightforward puzzle with some interesting connected entries and no-nonsense fill for a Wednesday (except maybe COMMA, which I personally got a great chuckle out of) then, this one’s for you.
@SP Even though I was unfamiliar or only vaguely familiar with some of the themed expressions, I found the theme very interesting! Finally, a coherent theme for lovers of language and etymologies, with nothing random about it, and no groaners, either! Awesome 🤩
I enjoyed learning the origins of the seafaring idioms. I used to work in the parimutuel horse racing world, and there are so many phrases that came from betting on the ponies: Win hands down - the jockey notices she's way "ahead of the pack", so can loosen her grip on the reins as they approach the finish line. Odd-on favorite: The horse most heavily favored to win, where the payout is less than the amount bet. Champing at the bit: an impatient horse biting down on its metal bit while waiting for the race to start. Across the board: betting not only to win, but also to place (2nd) and show (3rd). Out of the gate: showing early speed when the starting gates burst open and Dark Horse, Track Record, Inside Track, Pacemaker, Down to the Wire, Photo Finish, Neck and Neck....
@Don H Dick Francis used many horseracing terms in the titles of his mystery novels. <a href="https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/dick-francis" target="_blank">https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/dick-francis</a>/ <a href="https://mostrecommendedbooks.com/series/dick-francis-books-in-order" target="_blank">https://mostrecommendedbooks.com/series/dick-francis-books-in-order</a>
My first thought for 64A (given up immediately as it wouldn't fit) was, HORSE LATITUDES AI tells me that while both THE DOLDRUMS and horse latitudes are known for lack of wind, the doldrums are within 5° N or S of the equator, while the horse latitudes are 30~35° N and S of equator. (In case anyone was wondering/interested.)
@Bill in Yokohama One of the most memorable moments in my naval career, and indeed in my life, came as I sailed through the doldrums. Coming off watch at midnight and stepping out onto the weather deck, the ocean was literally as flat and smooth as a sheet of glass, with the full moon shining on it, lighting a fairy path to infinity. Beautiful.
Fitting six theme answers AND a revealer in a 15 x 15 grid is pretty impressive (to me, anyway), especially with two side-by-side pairs! Nicely done.
How fun to learn about these terms' origins, only a few of which I knew or might have guessed! Though I've always felt like "loose cannon" has negative connotations. I prefer to be called a free-range cannon.
Aye, matey! I was in THEDOLDRUMS until this nautical crossword put a smile on my face and inspired me to consider rereading some of my favorite Patrick O’Brian novels. It also made me wonder what would happen if sea shanties replaced NEWAGE music in yoga classes.
Interesting puzzle! I had no idea about the origins of these expressions. Actually, I wasn't really familiar with some of them, at all, which made the otherwise easy solve somewhat challenging in places. The only area of the puzzle were I struggled until the very end was the bit directly left. If it were not for the tentative gimme of MOCS, I think I would have needed reveals or lookups there. MOCS have me the O that allowed me to guess OHIO. I was still largely at sea there though at this stage. I wanted SatinS for "paint options", I was unfamiliar with TIDE OVER, and TOE THE LINE came me to very late (I don't really know what it means, figuratively). I felt completely stumped by the plow puller, too. Ox obviously wasn't it. Finally it dawned on me! A MULE! It was a very hard entry for me - MULEs were never common in Poland, and they were never used as draft animals: Poles relied on oxen and, later, on horses. I can never remember how one spells the Polish sfinks in English - SPHINX looks very, very weird to my Slavic eyes, an utter mishmash of a letter salad. The pronunciation of both words is essentially the same though, with just the "i" of "sfinks" sounding different (it's the "ee" of "bee"). Oh, and your UH OH (which always confuses me when it appears in puzzles) is just "o o" in Polish. However, we never really get the chance to spell it. It's one of those things people say but that are essentially never written down.
@Andrzej To TOE THE LINE means to strictly follow the rules. Obey. It's something my dad used to tell us kids as a warning to not misbehave. This reminds me of another idiom with a similar meaning he would say to us: Straighten up and fly right, which is also a lyric to a song. I wonder about the origin of that one.
@Andrzej We also say "oh oh" sometimes in English, with the same meaning.
@Andrzej If you draw a line from SW to NE, across the (sorta) heart-shaped OHIO map, you will see you go from Cincinnati to Columbus (the capital) to Cleveland. There is great rivalry between the SW and NE cities; "The Mistake on the Lake" of course also had the Cuyahoga River (which caught on fire several times due to pollution.) I forget how Cleveland retorted. I lived in Cincinnati 9 years, 14 in the Snow Belt east of CLV...
Excellent puzzle. One of the best we've had in a while! Not particularly difficult, but perfectly fitted to a Wednesday slot. Wonderful wordplay, and an extremely fun and satisfying solve. Well done to the creator! After yesterday's 'non-puzzle', my faith has been restored for the week!
this is the kind of crossword puzzle lifetime solvers live for - everything has meaning and it reminds us of life on the Briny.. be it in books or on foot! bravo Dario!
@acjones Life on the Briny...on foot? That's not going to work out well.
This was impressive. With one simple clue for the revealer, the constructor brought me back from being AT SEA, and assured me that it would be okay if I know nothing about boating. "The now-idiomatic answer" saved the day and was of the essence in my getting the themers. With these simple words, Dario gave me the aha I needed, and let enjoyment take the place of the complete sense of inadequacy I was feeling. Thank you, Dario. Brilliant work! (I leave you with Christopher Cross, "Sailing" – <a href="https://youtu.be/sjTEBmMDYgE?is=JKKfs90yxm6oUFDB" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/sjTEBmMDYgE?is=JKKfs90yxm6oUFDB</a>)
Fantastic. Theme, construction, and the lovely lack of question marks. Elegant in every way. Thank you Dario.
I always had the impression that US english made verbs of nouns (to medal, to podium, … I’ve heard few worse than those) and as Calvin told Hobbes “verbing weirds language”
@Ιασων I understood that there is no noun that cannot be verbed.
A fine crossword; I like the cut of your jib! This puzzle connected some etymological dots for me, which I really enjoyed. COMMA and EDITOR weren't as proper as I initially feared. I hade to come about a few times before getting MOCS and ONECOAT, but thankfully the crosses surfaced some helpful hints. Thanks for a fun Wednesday!
Fantastic! I love a puzzle with TIL built in. Well done.
This was both enjoyable and informative. I knew a few of the theme fills, but not all. A marvel of construction and a near perfect Wednesday puzzle.
Of course, Nero didn't "fiddle" while Rome burnt--bowed string instruments weren't invented for another 900 years (the oldest bowed string instrument may have been the Welsh crwth, dating from before the invention of the vowel). No, he proably played the cithara, or lyre, and sang as well. Whose fault was the Great Fire of 64CE? Was it the Christians, as Nero claimed? Was it Nero, as Tacitus--who was about seven of eight when the fire occurred--claimed? Or was it the inevitable consequence of over-built, wooden slum housing ("Insulae")? Every time I see a new wood-framed "luxury" condominium development going up in my neighborhood, I think, Didn't we learn anything in the last 1960 years?). Whatever the case, it cleared a bit of real estate for the construction of Nero's "Domus Aurea," or "Golden Ballroom." In fact, Nero was a devoted patron of the arts, and sponsored many theater, music, and golf competitions, in which he also completed, and, curiously, won. Here's Nero engaged in a singing competition with his mistress--later wife--Poppea. I'd call it a draw: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_isL0E-4TsQ&list=RD_isL0E-4TsQ&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_isL0E-4TsQ&list=RD_isL0E-4TsQ&start_radio=1</a> *** TIL "toe" vs. "tow." I guess I have never seen it in writing?
@Bill The clue said "legend has it," so I think we're OK with that clue. As to wood-framed construction, there was a fire in my old neighborhood a couple of years ago in a rowhouse condominium in which the whole unit had to be gutted and rebuilt. But the adjoining houses were only slightly damaged, and those two away weren't even touched. The difference these days is firewalls between the units. (They also tend to keep you from hearing your neighbors' loud "CONVOs" (aka arguments). Last thought: Every emperor wants a "Domus Aurea," don't they?
@Bill Thank you so much for that video link! Such beautiful voices I've never heard.
@Bill Nero played the cithara, a form of Greek lyre. He was quite accomplished apparently. But Nero wasn't even in Rome when it burned. Another myth down. Ah, fiddlesticks!
Truly excellent. Good to read so many positive comments.
Son of a gun, this one was solved hand over fist. But fun!
Well done, take a bow sir, a perfectly brilliant Wednesday grid. The best Wednesday that I can recall. Be proud of it, heck I am as an Italian-American myself, and today’s spaghetti day, how appropriate. All that said, A. Vito offers salute’ to Dario Salvucci for giving us all a brilliant Wednesday solve!
Dario, I like the cut of your jib. I did not know that TAKEN ABACK was a nautical reference - a sail set close to the wind is "pinched." Too early in the day to splice the mainbrace - I'll wait until the sun's over the yardarm.
Such a cute offering. I must admit I thought I was going to be all ATSEA when I didn’t know 1A, but Wordplay cleared that up for me. Oxen before MULE. Now there’s a US/UK. difference for you. MULES a barely known animal here. We’re big fans of sea shanties; there’s a thriving community of shanty groups, so this was a pleasant and fairly easy outing. You should hear a shanty group after several beers/ciders. The lyrics become definitely NSFW. Or in deed children or those of a sensitive disposition. Great fun though.
@Helen Wright omg we used to sing “What shall we do with the drunken sailor” to our kids while they were in the bath so we could get their hair washed. Lyrics unchanged. 🤷
Dario Salvucci offered up an Oddysey of sea-themed words. I could have used many more for the poem but resisted the urge to ramble. Here’s the poem: a/ a shell in the largest ocean d/ in the drift and stir of currents not thrown away just thrown and thrown along and to a/ oh! belong
Good all the way around. The side-by side vertical themers create "extra" crosses for each other. I think of that as impressive construction that doesn't just flatter the constructor, it also creates value for the solver. I especially liked: THEDOLDRUMS [Character in "Monsters, Inc."]/COMMA
@Peaty & Oaty Knowing that I knew nothing from the Monsters franchise, I glanced at this and moved on — thereby depriving myself of a great self-referential Aha! moment.
Aha! I am repaid for my avid reading of the Aubrey/Maturin sea novels written by Patrick O'Brian... a few rather forgetable, but mostly good reads. (I also read Forester's Hornblower series, which were heavier going due to the navigational/technical minutiea..) One certainly got a feel for how much the lives of people and countries depended on the sea-going vessels, sailors, navigators, etc., because our language is still shot through with the expressions and vocabulary from those sources. Perhaps we should bring back AVAST, BELAY, and a few other useful words.... When (preparatory to a move) I wanted DHubby to list my complete set on eBay, I got indignant push-back: "Paperbacks just go for 35 cents apiece!".....And after I insisted and he saw the bids coming in, he had a fine dinner of crow... Fine puzzle, Dario. Is this your new career, puzzle-construction? Sofa, so good!
@Mean Old Lady In addition to writing ripping yarns with engaging, fully realized human characters, and a decent amount of historical and nautical accuracy, O’Brian brilliantly uses 18th century words idioms and locutions in a delicious linguistic lobscouse. My favorite is, “It does not signify.” Sadly O’Brian was a ne’er do well who abandoned his first wife and children and who fabricated many facts about his background.
Clue: Cry of relief from a bunch of becalmed sailors -- or a reaction to today's puzzle Answer: IT'S A BREEZE! I found this puzzle a lot of fun. Never mind that some of the clues were stretched beyond what the mast could accommodate. I really can't tie its clue to the answer TIDE OVER. Can you? And I can't make any sense at all of the clue for PIPE DOWN (27D). Does it matter in the end when you've reached the shore? It didn't to me -- all I ask is to have a good time solving. And I did. But UH OH, it's CONVO!!! I know I've seen it before and almost certainly here, since no one I know would dare use it with me. Can we please stop with the slangy baby-talk that I presume is the result of textspeak. It's not CUTE -- it truly isn't. Otherwise, an entertaining puzzle that, happily, was not out of my depths.
@Nancy I agree, I’m not a big sailor but I’ve never understood that phrase to mean drifting with the tide.
@Nancy Ha ha, as an aging Gen Xer, I've used the word convo for decades. Way before texting popularized it. And I certainly wasn't using it as babytalk. ??
@Nancy I agree with you about CONVO being ugh. However with heavily themed puzzles like this one something has to give in order for the grid to fill around the theme. Note the placement of CONVO, across one of those stacks of side-by-side themers. My guess is the grid became very inflexible in those areas. I'd like to believe that in this instance CONVO was a "necessary evil". We certainly got a puzzle with a good theme today, in terms of both quality and quantity.
I really enjoyed this one! I also liked learning about the idioms! I had no idea so many of them were nautical!
I’m sailing in the Saronic gulf this week so an apt puzzle for me. 😀 Not knowing ROTH I spend almost all my time looking for the error. ROTe/eARs/AsIN instead of ROTH/HARK/AKIN 🫤
@Ιασων Ooh, nice! I'm happy for you 😃
@Ιασων no idea what ROTH is either. I know that IRA is never what I first think it is but something to do with pensions/retirement so must be something financial. Will have to Google it! Fine puzzle
One and done, no lookups, no google, no reveals, gold star. But somehow, I'm still in THEDOLDRUMS. It must be the end of summer. "An ill wind......"
I have to admit: my first fill for "Worker who's behind the Times?" was SHORTZ. Too cute by half.
I hope no one was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea by this puzzle. It can be frustrating when there’s the devil to pay and no pitch hot!
What a great Wednesday puzzle. Challenging to move around the puzzle and so much learning to be had!
Avast, ye scurvy dogs! Wait, is today Talk Like a Pirate Day? Great puzzle, Dario. At first, those italicized clues seemed impenetrable, but the crosses gradually clued me in. Then fascinating to learn the sea base of all those phrases.
@Linda Jo No, today is Stand Like A Carthief Day. Tomorrow is Sit Like A Subway Mugger Day.
*Very* tangential to 68A, here is the latest YouTube--dropped 19 hours ago--by the brilliant Elle Cordova: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ck-NPqf2c8&list=RD0Ck-NPqf2c8&start_radio=1" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ck-NPqf2c8&list=RD0Ck-NPqf2c8&start_radio=1</a>
@Bill - Elle is a modern-day multi-talented genius. A master of multitudes. Her "grammarian vs errors" videos are the best. As are her music videos with Toni Lindgren.
@Bill Holy mackerel! She sings too?
No idea how I finished about 2:30 better than my average ... because for most of this puzzle I was 41 ACROSS.
*spoiler* so thankful I learned the phrase “at sea” in another crossword three weeks and have since added to my vernacular 🙏🏻
@clamchowder Since doing crosswords regularly, I, too have started using "at sea" regularly. Anyone else found that the NYT XW has modified your use vocabulary? But, @cc, in this forum, mentioning an entry explicitly is not considered a spoiler, and is perfectly OK. Unlike the solution to Wordle, for instance. BTW, your handle will not endear you with long-time commenter here @CQ.
Nice Wednesday puzzle. Typical slow start for me, but just had a good time working out each of the theme answers. And thought it was neat that the 'theme' was all in the wording of clues for the theme answers. ....
And my usual puzzle find. A Sunday from August 8, 1993 by Tom Underhill with the title: "Literal Translations." Some theme answer examples: THETHEFARMERDELL (The farmer in the dell) OTHERGODSME (other gods before me) WEWTODIEHOSALUTE (we who are about to die salute) NEAFRIENDED (A friend in need) And one down answer: I S L O H E A D H E E L S V E (Is head over heels in love) And there were more. Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=8/8/1993&g=79&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=8/8/1993&g=79&d=A</a> ..
Fast and fun solve. Always glad to learn about word origins.
great puzzle and cool theme hehehe
"Behind the Times" 🏆 I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle.
Good one. Counterintuitively, this would've been a much quicker solve if I'd have slowed down and gotten out of my own way. Kind of hard to TOE THE LINE when you're wearing clownshoes.