Just wanted to announce I am retiring as the unofficial and self-appointed moderator of this comment board. If I have been overzealous as of late, it’s only because I care about this community and hate to see it degenerate into an echo chamber of negativity, political sniping, and inconsideration. But as @D from Ohio pointed out, it is kind of sad for me to keep trying and I have better use of my time. Another thing, I’m tired of my unwillingness to engage in political debate to be construed as taking one side or another. I’ve never been shy about sharing my job as a pediatrician, my proud work for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and my identity for those who have asked. I have to impartially take care of patients and families with many diverse beliefs and backgrounds, and I don’t have the same luxury of those of you with complete pseudonyms of saying anything that might alienate anyone or be construed as representing the hospital I work for. So from now on I’m going to stick with just my own personal opinions about the puzzle, and the occasional fun fact or ugly pun. If I have offended anyone or hurt anyone’s feelings, I apologize, that was never my intention. I hope that the voices of reason, understanding and patience prevail here but if not that’s no longer my burden to bear. Thanks for hearing me out!
@SP You've been an excellent, eloquent spokesperson. Many of your posts were so perfect I decided not to jump in, for fear of disturbing something delicate with my bull-in-the-china-shop mien. But I could sense your frustration of late. There are only so many times you can try to be a peace-maker, only to have it all blow up in your face. Blessed the peace makers may be, but they often look like Daffy Duck in a skit with Bugs and Elmer. I, too, cherish this forum--I would say it's the only place on the internet that gives me real pleasure. And I, too, worry about the track it's on now. Yet there just doesn't seem to be anything to do about it. If your heroic efforts have not born fruit, I don't think the tree is healthy enough to do so. But thank you so much for what you've tried to do. There are no perfect people--only perfect intentions.
@SP Wow, that's awfully serious and sorry to hear you being on such a downer. I've noticed you participating more recently but not on a level I'd call amateur moderation. There are one or two folks here who fit that category and tend to be way, way more off putting than I've ever seen you be. (It's always refreshing and relieving when they cool their jets for a bit.) Anyway, don't feel bad. I don't think I've ever seen you be ungracious and you exhibit far less snark or snidery than others (including me).
@SP About 35 years ago, my toddler son spent 10 days in Cincinnati Children's Hospital. (He had his 2nd birthday while he was there.) I will always be grateful for the doctors, nurses, and all the other staff members for the wonderful care they gave him (and me!).
@SP to be honest this forum feels like an INFINITE SCROLL sometimes and I doubt many people read all the comments much less return to see when someone has replied to them (I do, if I remember, but without notifications it often feels like a waste of time). What I'm trying to say is good for you for not spending your precious energy bailing out a leaky boat. Nice people come and go, cranky people come and go, nice people get cranky on bad days, lots of people only read the comments once or twice a week. It's just an ebb and flow and others will step in. You have better things to do 😊
@SP I'd feel rueful if I knew what you were on about. I'm a little rueful anyway as you seem put upon. Politics? Inconsideration? Negativity? What place isn't rife with these? Have you been moderating these? Have I missed people giving you grief about politics or pediatrics? To me you're one of the gentle and moderately polymathic Garrison Keillors of the board and it's always fun to read what you have to say. Glad you're sticking around anyhow. HeathieJ'll be happy, maybe, cause now your posts will be shorter and easier for her to imbibe?
@SP Hmm... Can't understand why I've been emued, but here we are. Maybe it'll show up. Mostly I was just saying I've been worried about you lately. And I think sometimes it's enough on the internet, especially in these contentious times, to just be the light you want to see in the world, corny as that may be. And youo have always been a light out here!
Man, SP, all this time and I never knew you thought of yourself as moderator here. Guess I haven't been paying attention! Anyway, I admire how much you care about us and have endeavored to raise the level of conversation. Some of us are perfectly fine with the mix of people's comments on each day's puzzles. Some are smart, others are not, I give a thumbs-up, or comment, or skip over, accordingly. There's so much to get offended about out there in the real world, I don't have any inclination to take offense at someone's petty grievance about a daily puzzle, or the urge to try to guide those people toward a more intelligent commentary, but am heartened that you tried, and probably made a difference for the better. You're a mensch, SP!
@SP You are correct. It should be about the puzzles!
@SP Welcome to the drama queen club! (Seriously though, keep on posting however you enjoy it - as you know, your comments are among my favorites, even if the puns they often feature are abysmal 🤣)
@SP I like SP posts. Like, a bunch. And I’ve also retreated lately. No more daily chiming in with my silly two cents. Only took a couple folks assuming I’m someone I’m not to make this space feel less safe. So I get it. And I will continue to enjoy SP posts. No matter how you decide to join in. You’re one of the good ‘uns.
@SP I've appreciated your help on more than one occasion, but I do understand. At least you'll still be here. This was an early day of atonement, but I can't see where you've ever offended anyone.
@SP I feel like the voices of reason do mostly prevail here, and that’s largely due to people like you. I understand if you want to take a breather, but please know that the vast majority of us do not find your posts “sad” in any way. You’re a vital voice in this community and I will continue to value your input, however you choose to give it.
@SP Well, I'll add my bit: Glad you are not leaving entirely! PhysicsDaughter is alive today because docs on 1 South resuscitated her (nearly 46 years ago, now.) ...and though mistakes were made later, you and I know that Peds Medicine doesn't always have hoped-for outcomes. We all have to pick up the pieces and go forward as best we can... ...even in Crossworld. Looking forward to your ugly puns!
@SP Your posts very often say what I'm thinking, and I appreciate that. It's nice to know people like you are around, even if you decide not to post in a "keeper of the peace" capacity anymore. For the record, you made me feel welcome here when you remembered who I was and mentioned you liked a game I recommended. I was really touched. Thanks for being a great person <3
@SP Fellow Peds Doc at Hopkins . We do try as a profession to fix people and be tactful at all times - but this is a place of leisure time activity . Feel free to speak your mind and feel good about it . It's a miserable world out there right now and sadly people sometimes vent here because they can . As for me " Always look on the Bright Side of Life " per Monty Python.
@SP Do what you need to do to get where you'd like to be. It is always nice to know there is a kind person who cares. Keep smiling!
@SP I always liked your voice and I hope I didn’t discourage you by saying you know “Why bother the people who say they had a bad time with a puzzle?” Also your work at the hospital sounds very important and thank you for that, too.
Nice theme. You have to work it before you get it. I liked it.
When the HTML coders looked under the dirty sofa, they made a web sight. (They also found some cookies.)
@Mike And some lint chocolates?
@Mike Along with, perhaps, some user-unfriendly pennies?
@Mike And when they found some bugs, it really threw them for loop. (Good thing there was no Python.)
@Mike URL right about all of this. 🌻☮️
Is it wrong for me, after I’ve really enjoyed a puzzle like today’s, to chuckle at all the angry comments?
@Steve Your life, your rules.
@Steve No, if you're prepared to live in the ashes and rubble left behind after the flaming. 😕
@Steve If giggling at people getting mad in the comments is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.
Saw those down clues at the top and I panicked, but once I got the gimmick, this one flew! Clever construction, a few great clues, nothing naticky. But I guess I'll need to go to the archive to use the rest of the time I set aside for my Thursday solve.
I cam so close to giving up -- and then I had my Cannellini Moment. White beans. Aha! Then, bing, bing, bing, bing...the top section's down answers were easy to fill. The great Thursday moment was opening the puzzle and seeing the empty clues. I knew it would be a fun challenge, equal emphasis on both words. As a former Thursday hater, my conversion is complete, I have joined the Dark Side.
Oh, brilliant concept!: Let the first 12 down answers be unclued, which leaves the first ten across answers uncrossed, which starts the solver out in the hole. To give the solver “the thing with feathers”, the middle section is clued relatively easy, uncovering the revealer. Then, at the bottom, finally, the solver thrillingly sees the gimmick, and the puzzle quickly falls in a swoop. Brilliant. Plaudits to the brain that came up with this, not to mention, that duplicated in the box the feeling you get online during an infinite scroll, where suddenly the bottom of a page becomes the top of a new one. Wow! And plaudits to the technician that executed it, that had to not only connect those bottom down answers to those on top, but have all the answers -- across and down -- be real words! For me, an amazing journey from “Wha?” to “Hah!” I shake my head slowly in wonder at what can be done in the crossword box. Thank you, Enrique, for a sublime journey today. Bravo, sir!
@Lewis This is exactly what I loved about this puzzle! I spent the first few minutes convinced that it would be across-only the whole way and despairing. Then as I made my way through the centre section, things started opening up quickly, and once I got to the bottom I mostly felt like I was flying - with a tiny stumble in the SW section. Very fun, and very satisfying!
Night and day. Night was the first 7-8 minutes, as I gradually filled in a fair amount of the middle and bottom, including the revealer (which initially did nothing for me). Wondering how I was ever going to figure it out. Then I happened to glance at 54 Down and 11 Down in close proximity and "DONOR CARD" just kind of leaped out at me. The lightbulb went on (yes, I am switching metaphors here), and the rest of puzzle practically filled itself in. I liked it. It did feel easy after you got the trick, but pretty tough up until that moment. The suddenness of the switch from Uhhhhh???? to Ahhhh!!! was fun.
Looked really hard, but then wasn't.
Oooh, what happens when a Crossword Puzzle and a Rubik's Cube have a baby!
@Teresa You get colorful language?
Hey, ya gotta give me clues once in a while. And also, I know nothing at all about web design features. Should I even attempt this puzzle or throw it against the wall? Well, let's see what happens if I start in the middle and work my way down. Will I be rewarded with one of the biggest Aha Moments of all time or will I be wracked by bafflement and frustration? Aha!!!!! It turns out to be one of the biggest Aha Moments of all time! First I got INFINITE SCROLL. I know what a SCROLL is -- even if I don't know what an INFINITE one is. It sounds to me like the answers at the bottom will continue on at the top. Wouldn't it be great if it were something as simple as that? It IS great!!! My hunch is confirmed when I see that ODDSMAKER will work and that SEMICOLON will work. All is explained and all is clear! And isn't it lucky that I didn't write in PALS where MACS goes. (I couldn't confirm it, so I didn't write it in.) A brilliant and truly worthy Thursday!!! I loved it!!! I'm predicting that the blog will be divided between those who absolutely loved this puzzle and those who absolutely loathed it. And there is never a right answer in these cases, is there? We all have our own unique experiences in solving a puzzle and we are all entitled to our own unique opinions -- yes? And yet in this particular case, I'd argue that those of us who hung on for dear life and ended up loving it are right.
@Nancy Infinite scroll is simply a list where the user doesn't have to hit "Next Page" or an arrow button, etc to keep going. As long as the they scroll it will (attempt to) load new content. Look at youtube comments for an example.
This was fun. 12 months ago I would have yelled at my phone, poured a mimosa and cursed the blue sky. Slow improvement in something via practice is almost as enjoyable as drinking a mimosa and cursing the sky. Cheers!
Wow. Really fun puzzle! I thought it would take forever, but once I figured out to start at the bottom — and work up — it fell into place quickly. Quite enjoyable — thanks!
Well, on the one hand, it was a fun puzzle and it contained my favorite poem, well one of my two favorite poems, so I'm a fan of that. But I'm incredibly angry that I finally remembered the word low for a pastoral type sound, but it wasn't that this time. I think I'm going to cancel my subscription. Har! Actually the only thing that tempts me to cancel my prescription to the crossword puzzle and yes it is medically recommended that I do puzzles, is that depending where I am in my home, I use my laptop or my phone, and now every time I switch devices, they make me try to up my subscription to a family access plan... or I can just do a emailed code - every single - time. It's really not a huge deal, I know, and very much along the line of first world troubles... But, I don't know our first world troubles are pretty troubling these days, and this is pretty darn annoying. Grr! But I do love puzzles and I thought this was a really fun, charming one. It did seem tough, as others have said, until all of a sudden it didn't. The nickel dropped for me at CLOSEDSET. I briefly had closet there, I don't know, but that didn't make sense with everything else, and all of a sudden I saw at the top and it all came together. Huzzah! One of my very fastest Thursday solves, which was funny because I did at first and for a while think oh boy I might be going to fail at this one. And it would have been okay if I had. After all, I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it people like me.
@HeathieJ Stuart Smalley to the rescue!
@HeathieJ Agree with all of the above, weirdly, penny also dropped on closed set. And…I can’t access anything NYT outside my iPad because I can’t remember my login or password.
@HeathieJ I actually *did* downgrade my subscription because of the annoying family pop-up ads—I was tempted to cancel altogether but decided to keep Games. But I do think it’s that annoying.
@HeathieJ People do like you. I counted 4 flamingos in my neighborhood this week whilst walking the pup and thought of you on the fourth one!
@HeathieJ I sympathize. At least you do have multiple devices. I keep having to confirm my identity from my lonely desktop. The virtual assistant claims that it is all my browser's fault or my network connection. I believe that it is a shameful exercise to trick us into accidentally clicking the Change Subscription button. Now they include a message that I can avoid having to Confirm by buying a Family subscription despite the fact that I am a single user with a single device. Sounds like extortion to me.
@HeathieJ I had Closet Set at first too, which got me wondering if that is a literal thing? I mean... I assume they're standing up? How do they get the lights in there? Why a closet? Must get hot... Then when I thought I'd finished but didn't get my congratulatory jingle, I realized I had a mistake somewhere. Took 3 rounds of scouring before it hit me that 'skit' was wrong... let's change that to a 'd'. Oh, ok. Gotcha. Closed Set. 🤣
@HeathieJ Everything was simple and easy to access until one day I decided to read a story on my laptop instead of my iPad. Big mistake! That started the endless loop of verification. You’d think someone would realize that many of us have more than one portal of entry… But as you say, first world problems, and I get why they’re trying to increase their subscriber base. I just wish they could do it without hassling their existing clientele. What’s the opposite of a hip hip harrumba? Abmurrah pih pih! That’s what I say.
@HeathieJ I just thought: if it's medically necessary, does that mean you can claim crossword costs under your insurance? Is it tax-deductible? (Go ahead and try it. Trump's filed all the IRS reviewers. They'll never notice. 😏)
I did not like this puzzle. Making us click away from a clue to get the real clue is just a pain. I don't care how clever you think it is it's a pain. I enjoy interesting tricks in puzzles. I do not enjoy having to click away just to see what the clue is. Next time the clue should just give you an email address, and you send an email to the address, and then you get an email with the actual clue. That would be really clever.
@Charlie would that not involve rather a lot of clicking away to see what the clue is?
@Charlie et al Paper and pen, folks. There's even room for doodles and your grocery list.
I have been doing the NYT crosswords for over a year now. I get the rebuses, I figure out some of the trickier puzzles within puzzles, but no… not this one. Eventually I was just putting in letters and checking. Even with the whole thing filled in, I couldn’t suss out what the trick was. This kind of puzzle is extremely frustrating for me. Just not how my brain works and not enjoyable.
@Sara I think most of us, unless we're elite level solvers, which I'm certainly not, feel that way at times. In my experience, sometimes I find it's the day of having or the mood I'm in or something but other times, I know it's just not in my wheelhouse. And that's okay! We all have a different strengths and different preferences and ain't that grand!! A thing I feel we've lost in this current world is that variety is the spice of life, and all of us contribute in our own ways. But it does stink when others don't appreciate or respect that. Sorry this wasn't one for you today, but I hope tomorrow will be to your liking and wheelhouse!
@Sara. I often feel the same way! Often though, surprisingly suddenly after a long period of frustration, I see something, and suddenly a bunch of the puzzle is solved. Happened with today’s puzzle. At first I thought there were going to be no down clues at all, and then I found a few and that buoyed me. Somehow the light lit up on DONOR CARD. Then the puzzle came together. I had to correct king/queen bees to beds to complete.
@Sara But, now that you've seen this puzzle and then learned how it worked, your brain will file that away for the future.
@Sara I've been doing these for 40+ years, and I still sometimes just go to Wordplay to get some hints to get started. Depends on my mood and if I'm willing to put in the time. It is very comforting when there's a real stinker of a puzzle to come to comments and see that others hated it, too. Anyway, NYT has a great guide to doing the puzzle, and it points out that learning is the important thing, and so by all means we should Google info to help us and use Wordplay, so I gave up being a purist long ago. This puzzle was a great one for me, and CLOSED SET was the one that made me figure it out, but I left a lot of those top ones blank until then.
Fun gimmick but is this really an example of an INFINITESCROLL? I mean, shouldn't the second words of the gimmick fills be under the first words and not above them? You scroll down when you're an addict, no? And new content keeps getting added to the bottom so you feel less dopesick...underneath like...yes?
@Matt Right? This was one of the least apt revealers I've ever seen in a NYT crossword puzzle.
@Matt The revealer clue itself explains the connection to the infinite scroll concept: obviously no site can truly have infinite new content, so in order to allow an infinite scroll, when it reaches the last of its content it loops back to the content that was at the top.
@Matt Perhaps, but how would an actual infinite scroll even work in this case? Would the grid just get longer and longer, until endless empty squares become the nightmare of our lives? I think this was a perfectly acceptable revealer, in line with the concept that clues don’t have to be precise definitions. If it provides enough of a hint to point most people in the right direction, hasn’t it done its job?
Clever puzzles are fun, but this one was overly “cute”. It tried too hard. Not satisfying in the slightest.
If only the creator was half as intelligent as they think they are clever. Doesn’t know what infinite scroll actually is. And clues were beyond forced.
@Paul I mostly agree, but the only forced clue I found was MACS for 'Pals'. Even avoiding Apple references, there are better ways to avoid shoehorning a clue like that. 'Gaelic surname openers' comes to mind.
this is not a puzzle about the glory of wonderful words, meanings nor grammar - it's simply not fun or enlightening. it's a test about things nobody wants to think about let alone gesticulate. have a wonderful day everyone.
That was a blast! As others have mentioned, it initially seemed like it might be much more difficult but it ended up going faster and faster toward the end. The revealer midway through definitely helped ... and then, as soon as I had a few crossings in the bottom half, the rest of the top and bottom clicked into place with an exhilarating rush. I ended up finishing ~11 min faster than my average, though also around 2x my Thursday personal best. Despite the quick finish, I wasn't disappointed at all; in fact, I found the crescendo thrilling! 😃
Hated it. Clues were all over the place. Normally you can find the writers “flow”; this one was like a crack-addled seat mate on the subway.
@Tigen Just unnecessarily obtuse. Crosswords are diversions.
@Tigen Your comment was colorful and entertaining....but you left out the apostrophe in "writer's"..... Ruined the "flow."
@Tigen After all this time I should no longer be startled by internet rudeness. But really, Tigen, if you were speaking in person to the puzzle's author, would you tell him he wrote like "a crack-addled seat mate on the subway"?
@Tigen Just as on the subway, you can simply get up and move.
I wish these weird puzzles came with a warning for fans of normal crosswords. These pointlessly clever puzzles apparently have fans, but I just find them frustrating and headache inducing. It sadly takes me a while to realize that I will not be solving it after already investing time -- if there was a warning I wouldn't even start. Please don't attack me. I'm just being honest and apparently I am far less clever than the rest of you. I do fine most days and so I guess I just need to avoid Thursdays?
@Kay S First of all, I doubt very much you're "less clever" than the rest of us. Second, if you really don't like this kind of puzzle, you should avoid Thursday, because that's a day it's likely to occur. It can occur other days, but Thursday is Tornado Season for off-beat puzzles. I would invite you, however, to consider this: if you find a puzzle that's utterly baffling you, go to Wordplay and get some help. Then see how far you can get with that help. If that doesn't get you through, then go back again and get a little more help. Most of us "clever" people are simply normal people who learned how to sniff out the trickiness. I'm sure you're that clever, as well.
@Kay S These kind of puzzles with tricky themes are normal for nyt crossword puzzles. Still, it's not about being clever enough. I think it's more likely about how we're clever.. we're all clever in different ways, and thank God for that! We have different strengths, and certainly different preferences. And that's a wonderful thing if we're open to it. Thursdays are indeed the day that are most likely to be a little tricky, so it is a good day to not do it if you don't like tricks. That said, I agree with Francis, but also, I believe there are certain puzzle outlets that don't engage in these kind of trickeries, but I don't know. I love the tricks, so it's hard for me to say. But don't put yourself down just because you don't like a certain type of puzzle.
@Kay S I feel the same way. Then I come here to see if anyone else struggled and see all these comments from people who loved it and even people who found it easy. And when people say they don’t like these, they get told to go elsewhere and find easier puzzles.
@Kay S I'm not so clever. I didn't get them all. I didn't figure out the trick until I hit those unfinished down clues. I liked this trick. The point of a Thursday puzzle is to trick you. That's why they exist. Instead of groaning about the trick, why not just go ahead and solve what you can? You will find, as I did, that the trick becomes obvi and fun. It's Thursday; expect a trick. Laugh when you are tricked.
@Kay S The fact that you have to say, "Please don't attack me" simply because you didn't like a puzzle is sad. Unfortunately, many others have had the same experience on here.
@Kay S Sorry you feel discouraged! Thursdays tend to be my least favorite days, and personally I don’t feel like the gimmicks are fun. My strategy is often to fill out what I can and then just use the Wordplay column for the theme. Then I go back and just fill in whatever else I can after that. I don’t have the time or interest to sit and think about how the constructor decided they wanted to be clever today. And that’s okay! Don’t let certain voices here make you feel bad or afraid to speak up about your time with the puzzle. All experience levels should be accepted here on every day, in my opinion.
Not attacking you, but the tricks are not “pointlessly clever.” The point is that many people (like me) find them very enjoyable. They’re puzzling and frustrating and fun. It’s okay if you don’t agree. But it’s not pointless.
@Kay S The first time (ok, several times) I encountered a rebus or non-standard puzzle like this, I was completely baffled. I felt like I wasn’t up to the task, and maybe this wasn’t the place for me. But with perseverance (and a lot of help from the Wordplay column), I learned how to approach this type of puzzle and eventually came to look forward to them. What I mean to say is, it has nothing to do with smarts or cleverness. It just takes practice, and a taste for this type of puzzle. I’m sure you can master the skills if you keep trying. But if you don’t want to, because you simply don’t like this type of puzzle, that’s ok, too. There’s room for all types of puzzles (and puzzle solvers) in the world, thank goodness. Also: If you really want to avoid puzzles with extra tricks, I’d advise a good overall scan first. If something looks off, it probably is. Of course, there are days like yesterday when there was no indication of a rebus. (Scattered circles in the grid often point to these.) But looking for and reading the revealer clue might have given an indication of possible trickery.
That was way cool! Took me about a half-hour but once I figured out the theme I was rolling.
Another I won’t bother with. I’m interested in completing a crossword puzzle, not trying to imagine the eccentricities of the composer.
@Trevor Too bad, it's actually pretty good puzzle; and once you understand what the constructor is doing, the gimmick actually makes it easier to solve. In fairness, I have seen puzzles where the constructor went way over the line, past clever, past clever-clever to "Hop up and down with one eye closed while twirling your finger around your head and singing the first 20 words of lorem ipsum." But this isn't one of those.
@Trevor Then be sure to stay clear of any works by Franz Liszt.
The constructor in his note about the puzzle discusses using software to assemble it. This puzzle and too many others lack the touch of thoughtful creativity. If constructors use software, is the expectation for solvers to do as well? Solving a puzzle should be fun rather than a drab, rote activity put forth by a machine, using which diminishes creators’ and solvers’ capacity to think.
Please submit this comment on paper, by mail.
@John W. This is a common and fair question to ask, especially with the ubiquity of AI slop. To clarify: many, many puzzle makers use construction software, and have been for years. These tools are not artificial intelligence; they do not write clues, or come up with inspiring themes, or supplant any of the thoughtful creativity that's required for a good crossword. What they -are- good at is helping constructors quickly generate and analyze the fill, or the non-theme answers, which the constructor then must manually (and often painstakingly) curate. And even for generating fills, it's up to the constructor to feed the software a wordlist for it to use. This isn't a perfect comparison, but I would equate constructors using software to a novelist using a word processor. It won't write the book for you, but it allows the writer to edit and rewrite much faster than if they were doing it with a typewriter, or by hand.
@John W. What Sean said ^^^. You would be hard pressed to find any modern constructor who’s not using construction software, and I can guarantee it’s an improvement over anyone not using it. That said, this does not take the place of the constructor’s creativity. You can update your own word lists and add to them. You can play around with it for as long as you want until you are satisfied with the fill and that it reflects your own personality. And of course the theme idea and theme entries are all the constructor’s, for the most part. We’ve seen some tricky themes like anagrams where the entries are generated from a computer program list, but the constructor still has to pick the best entries (and I’ll admit, sometimes those are noticeable and not always my favorite). As for AI for the most part it’s just not there yet. I’ve tried occasionally to see if AI can come up with some options for theme fill but almost invariably it just doesn’t get it and my own are better. Sometimes it points me in a positive direction but we are pretty far from AIs creating very creative, high level crosswords like we see in the NYT.
Once the theme of the puzzle hit me over the head, this was a really fun solve. Clever idea, very creative -- well done!
Sean, your wordplay comments were very helpful. It opened the door and made this my favorite Thursday puzzle ever!
@John Dini Happy to help! Cheers to having a new favorite.
I thought this puzzle was tremendously fun! It was actually pretty easy to solve once I got the revealer. As the constructor notes indicate, this was certainly a difficult grid to build.
Cute. Fun, although not too tough. Clever Thursday gimmick. Thanks.
Interesting theme, intimidating on first glance, but ultimately very easy to grasp, especially with how straightforward most of the clues were. My solve time was between Tuesday and Wednesday, which probably indicates the puzzle was too easy for the day. I don't get how the revealer related to the workings of the theme - infinite scroll makes people robotically and endlessly scroll down to new content on their phone, right? But that's not what happened with today's themed entries, was it? Having to look up once per entry hardly seems infinite 🤷🏽 Despite the overall ease of the grid, I encountered some unknows. I only ever turn to the column when I don't understand some clues or answers. Most times I'm disappointed (which is why I generally skip the column) - my unknows are either not mentioned at all, or they are described in a way that explains nothing to me (case in pont, how BASE HIT was described on Monday by Sam Corbin: "No need to recall your multiplication tables. [Single, double or triple] refers to a BASE HIT in baseball." How does that help if you don't know what a base hit is?). Sean McGowan seems to be the only author who actually does what I'd like him to do: properly elaborate on enigmatic clues. Today he helped me get Inspired stuff: AIR. Ultimately crosses revealed the entry to me, but I didn't understand what was going on. I had no idea "inspire" meant "inhale". I had AWE there first. HOCK for "pawn" was new to me, too.
@Andrzej Your tenacity in a foreign language, and the entertaining way you explain your process is inspiring. Thank you.
@Andrzej I assume you’ve already looked it up, but a base hit refers to a ball that is hit and results in the batter safely ending up on any base (short of home plate).
@Andrzej I don't think they could have made a crossword truly capture infinite scroll, but it captures one feature of it referenced in the revealer: it always eventually loops back to the content at the top.
@Andrzej You can expand the use of HOCK-- I hocked my diamond ring to pay for the car repair. One lady in line was hocking her pearls.The guy at the hock-shop hopes I won't be able to redeem my jewelry in time. Or The gelding is lame; have the vet look at that swollen hock. Or If your cat makes a "hock-hock-hock" noise, run for the paper towels quickly!
Again, loved it. As soon as the trick was evident I found the fill pretty easy. Sweet spot was my aha. Last to fall macs and maker. What is macs the answer to buds? And I didn’t think “infinite scroll” fit with the website clue but it kind of didn’t matter. Nice puzzle week.
@Crevecoeur ‘Mac’ is an old timey term you hear in lots of black and white movies. Think Bogey and Cagney.
Your Achilles tendon starts complaining after the tenth mile (LOOK ALIVE). You have to have your right rotator cuff repaired, then your left one (HOT MESSES). A race ends with a nagging pain that turns out to be a torn hamstring (NOT a SWEET SPOT). You think maybe your body’s gettin’ too old for all that running and kickboxing and other adrenaline hit-seeking pastimes (double-check that organ DONOR CARD in your Apple Wallet). But no. You realize it’s your brain you ought to be worrying about instead after you’ve stared and stared at INFINITy SCROLL and couldn’t for the life of you see what’s wrong with your king- and queen-sized ByDS.
@Sam Lyons Then I tried BiDS thinking maybe it was a bridge term and infiniti was a combo word. Oh yeah, BEDS. Duh, eh?
Super enjoyable solve. For anyone who's ever in need of help understanding a theme, I recommend The Beatles' crossword blog--"Octopi's Garden". Here's their explanation of today's trick: When I get to the bottom, I go back to the top of the slide Where I stop, and I turn, and I go for a ride 'Till I get to the bottom, and I see you again Yeah, yeah, yeah!
@ad absurdum My solve was somewhat Helter Skelter.
An infinite scroll doesn't loop back to the top. It just keeps loading more conent when you get near the bottom.
I am far from an expert solver, but found this to be the easiest Thursday puzzle in months. The trick just popped out after I finished going through the across clues and from there on it was simple. I find it odd that many commenters criticize the constructor when they can't solve a puzzle. When I am stumped (which happens fairly often as the week moves from Thursday to Saturday), I just conclude that I'm not expert enough to finish the puzzle. If necessary, I look as a hint or two and proceed onward.
@Greg i had to get a hint to solve this one, so I'm not as expert as you are today 🤪
well, it's a Thursday and I often walk away from Thursdays if they're too weird. This was one of the weirdest. Forget it. See you tomorrow.
@Asher how about solving the spanner in the middle of the puzzle? It helps you solve the puzzle. I always look for those with a Thursday puzzle. INFINITESCROLL.
@Asher Not every puzzle is going to appeal to everyone. Sometimes, the weirdness is the point.
@Asher I can never understand why people pay good money for the NYT puzzles, knowing that a good portion of them are "weird," as you put it, and then complain about it. Rebuses, recursive answers, answers outside the grid, answers in the black squares, backwards answers, diagonal entries, etc. These tricks set the NYT puzzle apart from all others, and have all been around for decades. In the opinion of most, these special puzzles are one of the things that elevate the NYT puzzles to the level of "gold standard of crosswords." There are so many outlets that post puzzles that are very standard-issue and vanilla, such as the New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and LA Times. And they're all free! (Full disclosure: Vanilla may be boring, but vanilla ice cream is still the best choice to top a hot apple pie.) The Wed. puzzle was a rebus, and all the rebus haters were out in full force, as well as the "rebuses should be limited to Thursdays" crowd. Rebus puzzles have been around longer than I have, and I'm an old man. They're not going away. Neither are other tricky puzzles. Try one of the other outlets' puzzles and maybe it'll tide you over until the next standard-issue puzzle. Note to those who don't think I should have said this: Asher has his opinion, and the right to air it. So do I. (You know who you are.)
Some expert crossword solvers look at the Down clues only. But this puzzle gives you the chance to be an "Across Only" solver! Great puzzle.
@Brody I can’t remember their name but there was a commenter posting recently who was solving only with across clues. It amused me that they could have solved the puzzle without noticing anything amiss.
Pretty good, although I enjoyed yesterday's more and thought it deserving of a Thursday slot. Question to people who actually use "apps" of that nature - doesn't infinite scroll mean the content is appended ad Infinitum? Have you encountered ones where starting content is recycled from the top as implied in this puzzle? Or maybe I'm not fully grokking.
@B You're not wrong. Infinite Scroll is an asynchronous JavaScript technique that loads more content every time you get close to the end of the page. It's one of the tricks leveraged by apps like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky and the one that used to be called Twitter to keep people "engaged" (or addicted). Here's an example of an open source infinite scroll implementation for a popular Content Management System: <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/views_infinite_scroll" target="_blank">https://www.drupal.org/project/views_infinite_scroll</a> That said, I felt like the clue was close enough for me to get the point. And the minor inaccuracy helped with the revealer, since it connected the final down clues conceptually to the "-" clues at the top!
@B I always get reels that just end and start all over again. Have to watch it a few times to ascertain where the beginning is.
The beginning of the puzzle felt like the beginning of a roller coaster... Realized the theme at the top of the first hill... Then the rest of the puzzle was "weeeeee!" down the hill. Fun times.
I always look forward to Thursdays, and this was a fun one! That moment where you figure out the twist is always so satisfying.
What a fantastic and clever Thursday puzzle. Was incredibly intimidated first looking at the down clues but that lightbulb moment of realising what was occurring was so fun and none of the themed answers felt shoehorned in in the slightest! Just clean fill, great clueing and a phenomenally fun premise.
Far too easy. Insultingly easy. I finished this in less than a third of my average time, a personal "best." I do not feel that I earned it, as this was not a Thursday puzzle. This was clued at a Monday level. The only thing that slowed me down was having to go back and forth between the "scrolling" clues. I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to keep my subscription. I am not rich, and I can't afford to pay for something that I'm not enjoying anymore.
@Katie Please go so we don’t have to hear any more of your complaints 🙏🤭
@Katie Here's an idea. Many public libraries provide free 24 hour subscriptions to the New York Times. So I just reup my free subscription every day and voila!
@Katie Dropping a subscription because you don't get enjoyment from it is a perfectly valid reason to leave. Some here are tempted to say Don't let the door hit you on the way out. I'm more inclined to say Sorry to see you go and good luck elsewhere.
@Katie If it turns out that this was, in fact, a Thursday puzzle, would it be possible that maybe you did earn your personal best? "Easy is in the eye of the beholder", as they say. If solving per se is no longer a hurdle, and solving for time is a breeze, I'd say you're more than prepared to try your hand at constructing, a challenging puzzle of its own. I'll admit that allowing oneself to enjoy ones successes is often easier said than done, but that, too, is a puzzle worth solving.
I just loooove a good AHA! moment.
As soon as I saw those clueless down entries, I knew there must be more to it, and, of course, there was. Even an inexperienced solver wholly unaware of Thursday's traditional trickery had a decent shot at figuring it out if they just kept filling. Not having wasted time panicking or ranting, I finished this one faster than my Thursday average.
I was always skittish about clues that only have dashes. But it got better once I realized that this means the clue is elsewhere, and the answer is a part of another answer. This is a great example of an imposing puzzle which yields up its secrets fairly easily once you've caught on. Had I not gotten INFINITESCROLL, I might have been up a creek without an oar.
@Francis My eyes are tired from some intense worky work today and I thought you wrote that you were up a cheek without an ear. By the way, on one of your comments or replies I think from the Wednesday puzzle, you commented on St Paul's roads and the speed limits. But that post remind me of good old Jesse the Brain Ventura and his I think it was when he was already governor, and he was on the David Letterman show and got into some hot water for disparaging our city builders and joking about them being drunk enough Irish men. Do you remember that? I'm not sure if you were already in Minnesota back then. Also, I still think the on ramps and off ramps are still too close together here for my liking, even after all my years here, so I don't mind the slightly slower speed limit. Granny HeathieJ
These can be tricky for those not based in the USA. But this is probably my least favourite crossword I’ve done through this app. Mad overuse of “-“ as a clue
Doing Wordle, Spelling Bee, the Mini, and the Midi has become part of my daily routine. I enjoy doing them and comparing results with family members. As for the crossword puzzle, it depends on the content. I prefer a straightforward crossword puzzle that includes clever clues and that challenges my knowledge across a broad spectrum of topics to a puzzle with gimmicks, such as today’s dashes, or others that have intentionally omitted letters. I find them frustrating.
I liked it! I was getting nervous cross checking the northern region at first, but managed to get the revealer, and that, after a few more dense moments, helped get me across the finish line. Plus, I don't always check the column, but it seems to me that Sean is really hitting his stride these days. Happy Thursday, all!
Took me a hot minute to catch on to this one. Some days, you just can't see what's right in front of you. I like it when it takes me a while to catch on. Great puzzle.