Simply put, today’s theme exhibits wordplay of the highest order. Hats off to Simeon Siegel!
This was fun and different. An enjoyable Thursday-worthy solve for sure.
Mr. Seigel, I thought your puzzle was brilliant and entirely delightful. A perfect Thursday. Thank you!
Nice little workout. Not too easy. Not very hard. The porridge was just right for me tonight.
This was beautiful. The theme answers were tight, and not too easy. And the cluing was hard! What a great puzzle.
This was the best type of Thursday puzzle. Even when you know the trick, you have to figure out how to employ it each time. On top of that, we had some vintage Simeon Seigel cluing. We'll done!
Seems like I might have been in line with some other folks. Not quite my day to shine as it felt like there was more “eye rollers” than usual for me, whether it be obscure words or overly clever clues, though I did enjoy a few of them. I guess the fill was designed to make up a bit for a simpler than usual theme for a Thursday? With that said though, I never understand why people get so wigged out when it’s not their day. It’s such a weird expectation to think every puzzle is going to perfectly hit your knowledge and likability of a puzzle, and to be so annoyed when it doesn’t is funny. Crosswords are extremely hard to make, and sometimes you gotta be a little more creative around an expanded themed set. Anyway, off to work.
@Merrick part of it is because all these apps track streak's and times which makes everyone feel like they need to complete a puzzle even if it's one that's a total chore. Part of that is on us as individuals but at the same time it would be better if the stats just recorded how many puzzles you'd solved rather than days in a row.
@Merrick These puzzles have everything from Bible references (ESAU here) to computer programming (a recent puzzle but I can’t remember it). I figure it’s impossible for any single person to solve them all without references.
@Merrick Indeed. If every puzzle was squarely within my wheelhouse/knowledge bank, I would lose interest in regularly coming back to complete them. Of course, it's frustrating at times but the ways in which the puzzle slightly expands what I know and how my brain thinks about things is a large part of the fun. If people don't enjoy this and just want a way to pass the time without being challenged, perhaps they should go look for a WORD JUMBLE puzzle somewhere. (N.B., "Word Jumble" should be read with a slightly sneering tone. LOL)
Wowza. Thpectacular Thursday, Simeon. Years ago, hubby was on the cape, about to run in a 10K. Warming up, he was running at a good clip when a group of Kenyan runners swept by him, in his words, “…like I was standing still.” He managed to get out a “Show-offs...” He felt *very* proud that they laughed so hard it slowed them down. For a second.
Simeon Seigel's clueing is usually lightyears beyond me so I am proud to say I solved this puzzle on my own. Well, 98% on my own - I looked up WEBER in the end, as I was unable to deal with that area without help: I didn't know "laid up" meant ILL, I am happily totally ignorant of golf, and WICK eluded me. Still, I'll call this a success.
@Andrzej I am proud to say that I always recognize when a clue is referencing golf, but I still have no idea what the clue or answer us. I'm just proud to know that it's something pertaining to.. golf. I had no idea about Weber either.
@Andrzej WEBER was a gimme -- my sister was on faculty there for many years. My only lookup was the movie director. I don't do horror movies, so had no idea. We each have our own bits of knowledge that aren't trivia to us.
I had a lot of fun solving the themers, and USEINAPINCH even helped me correct Marsha Brady to MARCIABRADY. I didn’t go back to check, but I think this was a rare trivia-less puzzle. Despite the dubious OUTGAS, a lovely Thursday romp.
@Marshall Walthew Really? This confuses me about "trivia". Isn't knowing ESAU was red-headed trivia? Isn't knowing MARCIA is the oldest Brady girl trivia? SAGEHEN? NOOGIE? MAHI mahi for strong? I'm not trying to challenge your post. I'm just trying to understand what is meant by the common phrase "too much trivia"?
I've become pretty skilled at doing the NYT crossword over the years. But much of that skill is having learned NYT's cluing style, which is less about skill and more about fluency in that style. Which is why I loved this puzzle. The cluing felt new and unexpected. And solving clues rarely unlocked the puzzle. It challenged me in ways that few puzzles have in quite a while, which is what I'm here for. I'll take a tough, occassionally frustrating puzzle over a mindlessly familiar one any day.
Another super fun one!! Caught on to the theme pretty quickly, but it did feel like a tougher Thursday to me. Somehow, I finished up just a few minutes faster than average. That surprised me. Getting the theme at EYES OF BLUE did help me a lot. I did for quite a while have gAmEHEN at 46 across, which of course, gave me gASSY crossing it for irreverent... I mean, it did give me pause but I was like well, sitting in church or in prayer group, and you OUTGAS, well, maybe that could be considered irreverent. Of course, on further review, I'm not sure I would pay an ad agency that couldn't handle spelling ad agency correctly. So all is good in my world at the moment. Cheers, from the waning days of evenings out on the garden balcony.
@HeathieJ Outgassing was my favorite part of my every church and prayer group.
Every time I see the word NOOGIE, I think of Lisa Loopner and Todd DiLaMuca on SNL, and I miss Gilda Radner all over again. I'm sure Bill Murray still misses her too.
I see a bad moon rising over 61A, YKNOW. Not the kind of thing some solvers want in their crossword, ya know. Mirite?
@Francis This answer made me cringe as I filled it in. I didn’t want to believe it was right, ‘cause it felt so wrong!
@Francis I was as okay with this as I would be with c’mon…not sterling but serviceable.
@Francis Agree, 100% So incomprehensible as to be refractory. Could not hazard a guess.
@Francis Hmmmm, maybe not what some solvers want but it is EXACTLY what the constructor wanted. It’s your job to figure it out.
@Francis Even after the puzzle was done, I had no idea what YKNOW meant. Duh?
Okay, just put that in and take it out later. Oh, another one, yeah, wild guess, fix it later. Ah, clever, even if it's wrong. And it was that way for the whole puzzle until almost all were right and the puzzle was done! I mean, like, that'll put you on a real high, y'know? Thank you, Simeon Seigel. I feel like a genius! (Uh, oh, right, that was you.)
How clever is this puzzle?! First the missing letters (I confess to grouP of TorToises for PTT as a start) and then making sense of them in the clue/answer pairing...what fun! Not to mention the many tricky clues that weren't part of the theme--just part of the general Thursitude. I admit that when I was forced to enter MOVIE REEL, I wanted to demand, "What century are we living in?" But of course I showed a few scholastic MOVIEs, especially in science classes, borrowing the old projector from the "AV Closet." Last into the grid: W for WEBER State U/Wick. Was getting ready to run the alphabet when it dawned on me. Hats off to Simeon !!!
I really enjoyed this one! The perfect Thursday puzzle. Well done to the creator! Not too US-centric, and not too esoteric. The few answers that leaned this way were infinitely solvable using knowledge, not guesswork - a rare privilege in recent challenging puzzles. All in all a great crossword, and a clever puzzle!
Fun puzzle! Simeon knows how to tee up a tricky Thursday. _hristmas, _olumbus, _anada SEIZE THE DAY (That last one is for our friends to the north. Excited to be visiting soon.)
“ECOTEUR”? Alright, sure, whatever
@MountainGoose that and OUTGAS crossing each other cost me some time for sure
Man I am not on the same wavelength as the creator. I give up this isn’t a fun one for me. Glad I’m in the minority because it’s a cute theme. I really thought the periwinkle clue was COLORBLIND. I thought that was a cool solve even if it turned out to be wrong, ha!
@Sarah my experience was different than yours, but I really appreciate how you phrased your disappointment.
If my math is correct, we've got 25% of a Bunch with Marcia and Carol. Fun theme that took me a while to get because I had (good)trouble with a lot of the fill. Foreigners who are used to day/month instead of month/day must have thought 27a was backwards. And now I'm reminiscing about my wild days with the Monkey Wrench Gang.
@ad absurdum I was thinking of shellfish. Slowed me down.
@ad absurdum And if 27A had been "Janone", as I initially penciled in, we would have had another!
I for one am outraged that today’s puzzle is not a rebus. Is this where I register my complaint? All seriousness aside, this was an excellent Thursday. Thanks Simeon!
@Steve I read that in Father Mulcahey's voice. Perfect!
Great Thursday, which are usually my favorites of the week. Biggest mistake I made was a “bad spelling” of the eldest Brady sister. 😉😉😉
@Sam Gervaise marcia, marcia, marcia. I did the same thing tho too
A cute idea for a wordplay-based puzzle. And considering that I thought this puzzle would be too easy for a Thursday, I actually had four write-overs: AD AGENTS before AD AGENCY ERROR before CURSE for the bad spelling ("Confirmed" by the 2nd R) UNWISE before UNWARY for incautious. NOODLE before NOOGIE for "annoying knuckling" What do I know about these frat-boy practices? Or maybe it's sixth grade? For me,the themers were the easiest part of the puzzle. The rest of the puzzle was just hard enough to keep it interesting, but not entirely Thursdayish, in my opinion. But quite playful and enjoyable.
Finally finished a Thursday puzzle with no help
@Phyllis Steiner Congrats! Here's to many more.
@Phyllis Steiner Congrats! I don't have the patience. Maybe I could have slogged through the difficult clues if I spent an hour or more on the puzzle. The seventeen cheats I indulged in allowed me to finish in just under a half hour. But I did get the theme and the answers to the clues with the missing letters on my own, so all isn't lost. Those are very witty clues.
[Geolog_, Ecolog_, Geograph_ ?] Wise in the ways of the world. (answer too long for a puzzle, so let’s make another clue, but darker: [Hegemon_, Plutocrac_, Idiocrac_ ? ] Great puzzle!
My favorite clue today was [Bad spelling] for CURSE. I love a playful puzzle like this! Once I saw the italic clues I realized there was not going to be a rebus, and dug right in. I don't mind rebus puzzles as long as I know they are there right away; it's the figuring them out (are they or aren't they, how many, are they the same, what kind of rebus, how many letters or symbols, etc) that makes me crazy. There is nothing on my calendar today; an unusual feat lately. So I will consider baking something, and doing some of the bonus puzzles, and make the most of some extra time. I wish you all a smiling, sunny day.
@Marlene The figuring-out phase is just what I like about rebuses. You get that revelatory moment. It's like Gandolf suddenly realizing hiw to open the Doors of Durin after wracking his brain all night. First frustration, but then the big wallop of dopamine that makes it all worthwhile.
While I thought the italicized clues were clever I felt it was at the sacrifice of clues that were clunky, forced or awkward taking away any real enjoyment for me. ECOTEUR (ecotour), OUTGAS (heard of "off gas" never out gas). While it wasn't a horrible puzzle I am puzzled by so many high praises.
I simply cannot fathom where all these positive reviews are coming from. This was literally the worst puzzle YTD. I don't have enough time in the day to list every issue but the theme would be #1 on the list. The early commenters are usually the ones that praise everything regardless of quality so we'll see.
@Me If you don't have time to list what you thought was wrong with it, why comment? I thought it was challenging and fun. I liked the theme.
@Me I don't "praise everything regardless of quality"! I enjoyed this crossword very much.
@Me I completely respect your feelings about this one, even without you listing your issues. But your last sentence puzzles me, if you will. Now I'm sure there are some technical aspects to quality that I just don't understand, but as for enjoyment and get ability, puzzle quality is quite subjective. Just because you think the quality is very poor, doesn't mean people who are praising it are ignoring the fact that it's poor... they thought it was high quality. I was an early commenter this time, though I'm often not, and I thought it was a much higher quality than average. I particularly enjoyed the theme.
Must feel good to know that you’re the only member of the platoon who’s marching in step.
@Me You're going to have to supply more specifics if you want to convince anyone that your point of view has any basis in reality. Since theme is #1 on your list, can you tell us what you did not like about it? I simply cannot fathom that anyone that has completed many Thursday puzzles would have not have appreciated today's theme.
I didn't think I was going to be able to figure this one out, but once I got the hang of it, and the first mystery clue (eyes of blue), I had a jolt of delight that made everything else come together. A lovely Thursday puzzle. I liked DEW for ground water too :)
Well, this was a rare no-lookup Thursday for me. I typically get irritated with all of the "?" clues, but, I guess I'm just getting improving at crosswords because I was able to figure them all out. A fun theme and a good Thursday challenge. Thank you, Creator. Now to be humbled by Friday and Saturday, but great reasons for mimosas. Cheers!
Loved this puzzle! First time in a while that I had to come back after a break to let the brain work its magic and tell me something I already know. Witty theme and clues. I know all won't agree with that opinion, and not liking this or any other puzzle is perfectly fine, but really, do the negative comments need to be so nasty? They are extremely unpleasant to read, I imagine even more so for the creators and editors. Manners, folks. And kindness.
I saw a large pod of porpoises in Cardigan Bay once, skimming the waves. It made my holiday (raconteur ecoteur comment).
It’s always Marcia, Marcia, MARCIA! Unless, of course, it’s ONO. I would have finished the bottom half a whole lot sooner if I hadn’t been looking for a grouP of TorToises. And if I’d ever heard of a SAGE hen. (Is that what you call your game hen after you season it with sage?) Not a fast solve, but a satisfying one. And that’s really all I can ask for. OLAY!
@Heidi I'm glad I wasn't alone with the TorToises. Is a "Prairie HEN" the same as a SAGE HEN? No clue
Another Simeon Siegel stunner. How is it even possible that you, sir, keep coming up with new ideas, one after the other, always surprising and delighting in creative ways? In honor of this WICKed good puzzle, the song today comes from Chris Isaak - <a href="https://youtu.be/ozv8ugNm0P0?is=G1cLl85Y3YSRg-jw" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/ozv8ugNm0P0?is=G1cLl85Y3YSRg-jw</a>
“Ecoteur” would be a portmanteau if it had any real currency. The fact that search engines do their best to respell you to “ecotour” should be enough. That, plus “peas” without number being a nonce, made this a poor puzzle indeed.
@Peter. In what way is the phrase “like PEAS IN A POD” a nonce usage of “peas”?
@Peter A group of porpoises is a pod. The p's are phonetically peas in a pod. I think it's a cool clue.
@Peter You may want to adjust your settings. When I Googled ECOTEUR, it gave me many relevant hits.
I got the theme pretty quickly but it was still rough sledding for me and nothing clicked. I was not on the constructor's wavelength as we say. Maybe my brain is tired today. I hope everyone enjoys it more than I did!
Very good Thursdayness, very good clueing—nice puzzle all around. A shoutout to my fellow Utahns who filled in WEBER State without any crosses.
@Sam Lyons Glad just to hear from you. Hope all is well.
@Sam Lyons, I second that emotion from @SBK in TO. It’s been too long.
@Sam Lyons Hi, SL! So nice to see you here! Here's wishing it's a comeback into the forum and not just a hi-from-the-doorway kind of thing. You've been missed. Hope all's well!
Hey Sam, Nice to see you back here! Please shoot me an email at [my full name]99 at the mail service offered by the “Don’t Be Evil” internet company. Thanks! And thanks to sotto voce for letting me know you were here today!
I worked near Heber City (on the now closed Mayflower Mine) long ago so I was completely sure that it was hICK and hEBER State. Overconfident in my ability!
This was fun, even though it seemed pretty easy for a Thursday. Like other solvers, even after identifying the trick to the themers it took me some thought to get them to work. The only thing I remember about an article I read about Weber State in Sports Illustrated in the mid-late 60's is that the first syllable is pronounced WEE-, not WEB-. My favorite answers today? Probably CAROL,SYNOPSIS, and POE. Also ONEONE and TEAS. Come to think of it, pretty clever all around! Thanks! Thanks!
Completely worthy Thursday puzzle in my book--took a third trip through the clues plus a little flyspecking to finish, which is about right when I have a full work day. Had gAmEHEN and that played havoc with its crosses. Finding and correcting that was so satisfying. I was surprised how right each themer felt when it clicked. Didn't notice the constructor until I came to the column and then understood why. Favorite was PEAS IN A POD.
None of the words I wanted for 1 Across fit, but other than that I really enjoyed solving this puzzle. Thanks, Simeon for another fun one.
@Vaer I wonder if we shared the same possible solutions for Tik-Tok "stars". 😏
@Vaer and SBK, and here I was like Tik Tok, Tic Tok... What is that again? 😵💫 By the time I came back to it, I remembered.
It was a difficult puzzle (and I will join those who didn't realize that Ms. Brady's name was spelled "MARCIA".) After my first two or three passes I began to think it was going to be one of those rare Thursdays when I was going to have to give up on the puzzle and go about the real tasks I was supposed to be completing today. (I then had a breakthrough in the NW corner and decided to forge on.) But I am surprised at the number of commenters here who seem irate about the fact that they found a Thursday puzzle to be difficult. Thursday puzzles are expected to be a little tricky and sometimes tricky isn't just fun, sometimes it makes it harder. That's the way it works.
Loved this puzzle , Thursday is supposed to be a challenge and this one was. The theme clues were solvable once I figured out one of them. Crossing words are key and just enough head scratching to be fun.
I got it by brute force without understanding the theme at all. That's typical for me for Thursday. It would have taken me longer to figure out the theme.
@Jonathan Wow. To me that sounds like doing it the hard way, and missing out on some fun.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. A proper hard Thursday. I feared I'd not see another.
@Matt I love your drama!! 😂 Wait, was that Minnesota rude? Dontcha know I've never want to be rude. That wouldn't be nice.
Great puzzle. Peas in a pod was my favorite of the themed fill. Favorite non themed clue was pitching staff. 'Dice' oddly delayed me more than it should have, as I kept looking for answers related to the 'roll the dice' meaning. At one point I convinced myself that dice could be used as a prop!
Possibly my least favourite NYT crossword puzzle :( Like a few of others in the comments I think I just was just not on the same wavelength as the creator of the puzzle. Looking forward to a new one tomorrow :)