Speaking of PANACHE this puzzle has it. Tight fun theme, great level of challenge for a Wednesday, super fill, CUISINE crossing FOODIE and SCOTTY next to SULU, movie trivia I didn’t know. LOVETTE!
@SP Exactly my feeling! Puzzled a bit over the poet, liked THOU and only one media name (I'm not counting the saint). Great.
What a nice, crunchy Wednesday Joel. Really enjoyed this puzzle.
This message is meant as encouragement to newer puzzlers who might be intimidated by Wednesday puzzles. It is for all those people out there lurking like I do, reading how easy puzzles are becoming but still struggling or being challenged. Stick with it. Keep clicking through the crosses and downs and don't give up. I started last night and couldn't figure out the theme until this morning. There were many clues that came to me after putting it away and coming back to it with a fresh perspective. I was finally able to complete it this morning. Six months or one year ago, I would have turned on autocorrect but now my confidence has increased and Wednesday puzzles are my new favorite. I do attribute this to persistence but also to reading Wordplay Column everyday and to regular contributors here with all their insights. Someday I hope to feel the same about Friday and Saturday puzzles.
@_chs_ Bravo! I wish I could pin this note so that it greeted every solver coming to this board. I am an ancient and grizzled solver of all types of crosswords (I have in the past actually subscribed to Games World of Puzzles as well as here) and I /still/ will peer at a clue and mutter, "Huh?" I'll put a puzzle away overnight to let it rise and double in bulk, hoping it will become more digestible. So yes, yes, yes, keep trying. The aha's out weigh the aargh's.
@_chs_ And Thursdays! 😃 Those are the most satisfying for me. I still tend to struggle a bit with Fridays and Saturdays, and am not above an occasional lookup when I get really stuck. (That’s how we learn, right?) But I agree, it’s a pretty great feeling when you can conquer a tough one on your own.
@_chs_ I totally agree! I used to do the newspaper version every day in my younger days. I came back to it digitally on my iPad. The clues have only changed slightly but the themes have become so creative! Today, l was at a loss, until l finally got the whole SE corner! After LOCKET! fell into place, l went back to each theme clue and found them absolutely brilliant! Stick with it, my friends!
Nice Wednesday! Definitely recommend to FILLET!
Slow start, quick finish for this one. Someone cleverer than me could do a Mini version with... Mullet! (idea) Cricket! (neck) Bucket! (trend) Helmet! (ship) I loved the "Hatchet!" (evil plan) idea, shame it had to give way for the surprise party. Fun one, thanks Joel!
“Oh great, another eye joke” thought Odin. “Hatchet? Another tired idea for an eye joke. Junket? What you can do with your joke. Docket? What you can do to the salary of your joke writer. Oh well, enough. Time to get some shuteye.”
Lovett! <a href="https://youtu.be/4o3m1FwhusY?is=t6-fWEf43ixk0lvM" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/4o3m1FwhusY?is=t6-fWEf43ixk0lvM</a> Now that we have Lyle out of the way, I can honestly say that "love it!" is what I kept saying about this puzzle while I was solving it. Thank you, Mr. Woodford. And congratulations – you really nailed it. (PANACHE is a fitting word to have been included in the grid.) A perfect Wednesday!
Totally enjoyable , not too easy, you had to think, loved it!
A nicely challenging puzzle for a Wednesday. NINERS again, dear? Question from an oldster: Can one BE COOL if still using ILLEST to describe things? Has HeathieJ recovered from the presence of two Star Trek characters in the puzzle? Lovely to see GIBBOUS in the puzzle.
@Vaer Can’t speak for HeathieJ, but I haven’t! Especially since I had “Kirk” at the helm for the longest. 😔
@Vaer I have it on good authority that, indeed, HeathieJ is still over the moon over the presence of two Star Trek characters!! 🖖😍🖖
I found this more challenging than many recent Wednesdays - I actually thought I might need lookups or reveals to finish, but ultimately I managed to fill the grid on my own in a time some 20% longer than my average for the day. I caught onto the theme quite late - phonetic features are harder to spot when you're not a native speaker, and the initial lack of crosses hindered my efforts to grasp what was going on. I finally understood the Odin clue as I was writing a paragraph here to ask what it was about. I=eye... More phonetics. I don't think I've ever seen the term GIBBOUS in my life. Polish doesn't even feature an equivalent term, at all. We have specific terms for four phases of the moon, only: nów (new [moon]; nowy means new, in the masculine, which the moon is in Polish), pierwsza kwadra (first quarter), pełnia (full[moon]; pełny means full), and ostatnia kwadra (last/final quarter). I first learned the word PANACHE, or panaché to be exact, 30 years ago, as the French term for a mix of beer and carbonated lemonade. There is an interesting etymology behind all that: <a href="https://www.balancemedia.co.uk/2017/06/02/word-of-the-week-panache" target="_blank">https://www.balancemedia.co.uk/2017/06/02/word-of-the-week-panache</a>/ (the text mentions a mix of vegetables rather than one of beverages, but you get the idea). Do Americans really throw SURPRISE PARTies or is it just a TV thing? I've never encountered a surprise party in Poland.
@Andrzej Americans do throw SURPRISE PARTies. Re the moon: as a moon moves from new to full we say it is waxing and when moving from full to new it is waning.
@Andrzej We definitely throw surprise parties, though I've yet to attend one that was an actual surprise.
@Andrzej This native speaker didn’t get the theme at all…and didn’t bother to think about it, as often. Once again, in a NY accent “plan it” and “planet” aren’t homophonic. Close enough for this purpose, but just so we’re clear. :-)
@Andrzej According to Google Translate (for what it's worth) it's "garbaty": księżyc garbaty.
@Andrzej "masculine, which the moon is in Polish" I've always found it interesting that in gendered Germanic languages (and at least one Slavic), the moon is masculine and the sun is feminine, whereas in Romance languages, and Greek, it's the other way around. They're all Indo-european languages, and things like that tend to be very conservative. Which is the original? And why did the others change? Perhaps Sam Lyons or David Connell could shed some, um, light, were they still around.
@Andrzej Agree, more challenging. Also late. Still don't get the Odin clue...
@Andrzej We threw a surprise party for my parents' 40th anniversary in a catering hall. It was super special.
Well, Joel had me with the wordplay in the cluing, and a fun wordplay theme, the kind that makes me (and many other commenters today) want to come up with more possibilities, such as JUNKET, SPINET, PICKET, PULLET, BUCKET, TUCKET, and BLANKET. All the themes in Joel’s four Times puzzles revel in wordplay. (His other puzzles are 7/30, 5/11, and 8/28/25.) He also had me with the gorgeous GIBBOUS, BEHEST, and PANACHE. And I have to mention that he had me in his last puzzle – perhaps charmed me for life – with the clue [Lumpsucker eggs] for ROE. And thus, you are on my radar, Joel, because wordplay, word beauty, and fun words push my happy buttons. More soon, please, and thank you for this terrific day-brightener!
P.S. – I don’t know if it was intentional, but I like that all the theme clues are six letters long, and I like the subtle theme echo in ACE IT and POET.
Hey I liked this one a lot! Clever and fresh and you can practically FEEL that you're in the hands of a masterful constructor. The theme came to me slowly and only after I'd had two themers practically done. What seemed annoying suddenly turned cool. "It was you" is simply a terrific clue and I hope it's original. Clerk near both merch and checkbox. Give a ring. Foodie crossing cuisine. The one-eye clue. Sulu right near Scotty. Just a finely made, engaging game. Almost a perfect balance for a Wednesday (a skosh easy to be honest). Thank you, Joel Woodford.
Yesterday i wrote a silly pun in the comments, about how you can fix a date by giving them a ring. And today i see the 13D clue, “Give a ring, say”. This cannot be a coincidence, so i find myself obliged to accept one of the following conclusions, each more incredible than the last: 1. I am a soothsayer 2. I had a sneak preview of today’s puzzle 3. My puns are really not very original
@Petrol 4. The reptilians also responsible for chem trails are rigging the puzzles, they have the power to do that on very short notice, and they lack any respect for copyrights
I grokked the fillet when the second one appeared and the puzzle became almost too easy. I stumbled a couple of times, but caught the wave and was ASHORE almost too soon. Well done, Joel Woodford. Wednesdays are tricky and you mixed this one up nicely. Thank you.
[Trinket!] I had more trouble with the theme than perhaps I should have because it took me so long to fill in any of the theme answers with the crosses. I quite enjoyed et. BIER
Great Wednesday puzzle. Especially liked the clues 'give a ring' and 'collection of dishes' + the movie TIL
I thought this was a workmanlike puzzle, not flashy (except for the inclusion of SPARKLERS), but solid. My only hiccups were krone before KRONE, and not immediately recognizing I needed the ST to complete 30A. I liked the crossing of FOODIE and CUISINE. And I was happy to get the Star Trek clues, as I am not a Trekkie.
Ye Gods! An Odin pun in the clues! A Loki pun in the picture caption! I wish I’d Thor-ed of one…
@Petrol I'd like to come up with another one of those but I'm aFreya have no idea how.
GIBBOUS, PANACHE, ooh, such lovely words that roll off the tongue like honey off a comb. I must admit I found this a tad trickier than the average Wednesday, but nothing wrong with that. The puns passed me by, as puns often do, so I didn’t really get the theme until reading Wordplay after I’d completed. The Alpacas have now had their second booster jab for Bluetongue. Not helped by the visiting Labrador (eldest son’s hound); aka Havoc On Four Legs, who broke into their field as we were rounding them up. Cue scattering of Alpacas to all points of the compass, with much screeching as an accompaniment. It’s going to be a long three weeks before she’s reunited with her beloved family.
@Helen Wright I'm sorry it's a stressful time, but I appreciate the update and am glad everyone's okay so far!
@Helen Wright I struggled with PANACHE for a bit because the crossings gave me ACHE.
Fun puzzle! I spent longer than I should have struggling with the NW corner because I convinced my self that SeiGES was the correct spelling. If only there was some helpful way to remember the order of those letters...
@B_on_keys It's possible that "seize" threw off your spelling of SIEGE. Because English. If you're comfortable spelling "seize," then maybe you can use it to know how *not* to spell SIEGE. I know, it's a bit convoluted, but maybe it helps?
@B_on_keys same, and I filled that clue pretty early knowing that I had a 50/50 shot at getting it right. Well, I was wrong, and it took me way too long to figure out why.
@B_on_keys All together now: I before E except after C Or when it says 'ei' as in 'neighbour' or 'weigh'. Which, of course, you knew.
bravo Joel - truly wonderful Wednesday puzzle. hope to see more of your puzzles!
Ok, I have to admit, the exclamation point clues are generally one of my least favorite misdirects. I realize that’s not what this was exactly, but the reason i dislike them is because every time I see one (e.g. “step on it!”), I say it in my head in a way that irritates me. Then I’m like, “head, quiet down.” Being under the weather today, this feeling is acute. To be clear, this is not the fault of the constructor, but I wanted to share that nonetheless, as y’all are the only audience in existence that could even just possibly be interested. Also, GIBBOUS has the opposite effect on me, as I rather like the sound of it in my head, and overall this was a fun and clever puzzle, even if it did occasionally make me want to turn down my internal volume.
Really enjoyable!! And not *only* because of the two Star Trek clues... har! But they sure didn't hurt! (Hi @Vaer) 🖖 On a downer note, I had SurGES at 1D until the very last. SEIGES obviously makes more sense, but it was hard to get the recent "Operation Metro Surge" out of my mind. I see that there's a rather long Wikipedia page for it. Not surprising, I guess, but I don't think of a lot of Wikipedia as being so close to home. I'm usually good at ripping out what doesn't serve my crosses but again, too close to home. Anyhooooooo, so that gave me some trouble in the upper left. It gave me reamPAPER, which I was very snooty about being green paintish, and it kept me from seeing TOXINS at all, and thinking "body" might be a misdirection of some sort, and it made me think of the Scottish island of ulva.... Well, finally I removed 1D, expecting to end up filling it back in, but, finally, other answers popped out of the old bingo ball cage brain and I completed it in about average time. Enjoyed the theme a lot. The nickel dropped at CHECKBOX for "Ticket." Many enjoyable other entries: WED, FOODIE crossing CUISINE, THOU as clued, PANACHE added great flair, etc. Alas, at my job's BEHEST, I shall get back to work!
Great puzzle, a bit on the easy side.
Lovely wordplay! I’d love a sequel to Casablanca. There have been a few attempts. A treatment set in 1968 Czechoslovakia with some of the principals in there 60s might be interesting. Of course parallels with Ukraine, and sad differences.
@sonnel While the thought of a sequel to Casablanca, my all-time favorite move, would be nice, it would have to be all new characters. I can't imagine who'd say "This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," and all those other classic lines. Probably better to let sleeping dogs lie.
LICIT! LIKIT? Lick it? I mean I like it. Right. I like it. Or John LOVETT!
This was a great Wednesday puzzle. The clueing was excellent, the theme 'solve' took just long enough to keep me engaged for the better part of the puzzle, and the difficulty level just right for me. In the past this may have passed as a Tuesday puzzle, but more recently I think this is the established difficulty level for a Wednesday. So, such is life. A couple of clues had me a little frustrated, but I quickly had the 'aha' moment when I solved them. So many puzzles are 'meh' recently. I'm happy to call this one a 'yeah!'
Really enjoyed this one! Solved much faster than my average Wednesday time but I think mainly because the cluing was so enjoyable I couldn’t put it down. The god with one I clue was quite funny and probably my favourite of the bunch
When my son was an EMT he told us that the *only* time they turn on the sirens, hightail it, coast through red lights and speed is if the patient is deemed to be within minutes of potential, well, you know… Because the average difference in the ETA at the hospital is around sixty seconds. Driving the speed limit and stopping at stop signs barely changes the travel time at all. And is obviously safer. Sixty seconds. I think about it every time I’m in a hurry.
@CCNY I volunteer in the ER. Sometimes on my way to work, I'll be behind an ambulance, and they don't have their lights/sirens on. Only once...in fact, last week...did they use them, in my three years there, during my commute. But meanwhile, in the hospital you hear two beeps, then "Alert: Adult trauma 1 ETA 5 minutes" or whatever it is. And in a matter of seconds, the trauma staff is assembling (get out of their way, STAT!), registration is entering an anonymous person (the name will come later), and communication is happening between the ambulance and the hospital so the medical staff know what to expect and who needs to be on hand, medically. I call it the ER ballet, as I watch staff practice a choreography of quickly moving personnel, beds, and machines, around visitors, housekeeping staff, dining carts, and other everyday happenings. I love volunteering in the ER because I see miracles every day.
@CCNY we live about 30 sec. from the ER. A few years ago my neighbor had a freak accident - She tripped outside holding a wine glass and sliced open her carotid/jugular. We called 911, and they said 20 min. ETA. Her daughter said we don't have that long, and threw her in the car. Saved her life. She was bleeding out. (And thus began the era of plastic wine glasses.)
@CCNY I always heard that the only time an ambulance uses lights and sirens is when they’re on the way to the scene. Once the person is inside, it’s less urgent because they’re already getting care.
Having had a number of ambulance rides as a care provider I can tell you it can be a high risk endeavor because traffic at intersections is unpredictable and the experience of the ambulance driver also plays a role. I was in one that almost flipped because the young eager EMT was driving too fast for the urgency required and his lack of experience. Thankfully it stayed upright and he got the ambulance back on track without incident and the patient was brought in without issue. That EMT learned quickly the mantra: "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast."
It’s interesting to me that NYT editors have stopped cluing DIS as either informal or slang. With 120 occurrences in the modern/Shortz era, “informal” last appeared in a DIS clue in 2022, and “slang” last appeared in 2020. Language marches on. (<a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Finder" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Finder</a>)
I am late to the party but finally had time to do today’s puzzle. Let me say, at first, I loathed this puzzle(!) Made me want to say SUCKET! Then after nearly filling in the entire grid without getting the theme 47A PACKET! Clicked. Then they all did… Very clever! Rating: 10/10
There were a surprising number of clues which made me slow down and bend my brain to come up with some answer. Well done puzzle.
One of the most satisfying NYT puzzles I’ve done over the last few years. Challenging, had to build it brick by brick, but clues that made sense, fresh words but not arcane … thank you!
[A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket] TANNINGSALON I thought I was 3D [Powerless] UNABLE to do this one, but It's a Wednesday one and done without lookups! Yea! Gold star!
@lucky13 I am not getting TANNING SALON for the clue, and I am sure that Lucy Locket didn't go to one.
Today’s poem from words in today’s puzzle… i worry a/ i worry like the moon great pie-face moon so full with worry you walked the desert while i walked in the gym and it was you… you walked to a landform attributed to the burial of a group of scottish kings that’s how you worry while i worry d/ at home (with the speakers on) that every output of writing was a celebration of sequel ideas a/ okay, poet… be cool
I see the merit of "word found in" clues but "word found at the start of" is equivalent to just giving you the answer. The thing about crosswords is you know how many letters are in the answer... not much left to deduce
@Jen Came here to say the same thing. This is a new low. How long until the clue is just the answer? Whats the point of making things so easy?
@Jen But even our Gameplay author struggled some with this. i Liked this one.
Solved this in record time. Perhaps it's because the type of clue used is similar to how words are pronounced in Utah.
I solve crosswords in the quiet dark, and was in no position to figure out the ruse. That was great though, because I really had to slog through this and earn that gold star. Well done!!
Really dug some of the clueing on this one.
Not a bad puzzle, although I always have issue with clues like 'Word found at the start of "Poe, to name one"', where the answer is literally in the clue. Although it's not nearly as annoying to me as the old "Opposite of SSW". Alas, minor quibbles in an otherwise fun time.
I loved the ILLEST clueing on this Wednesday and thought the theme was SLYLY neat
For the 63 year gap in movie I had a different initial answer, with apologies to Sly Stallone…
Very nice! I didn’t catch on until I had some crosses on 55A - so some time to enjoy it.
Enjoyable Wednesday puzzle. Thanks. I thought the “panels and speakers” clue was delightfully misleading!
@DHG I was wracking my brains over the conference/lecture likelihood....
I was not feeling very confident after the first pass, but persevered and it started filling in quicker and quicker. :) Still a little over my average, but I'm placing some of the blame on this guy ( <a href="https://imgur.com/a/UwSUu5c" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/UwSUu5c</a>) for interrupting and rubbing against my phone. Fun puzzle. Suitcase is what clued me into the ! answers. I'd love to end with a cool ______! clue, but my brain is done for the day. :p
@V I forgot to ask.... Shouldn't 61A be "Groups" with an "s" not "group" if the answer is "sets"? A group of sets? Is that correct?
@V We had a DLH (Domestic Long-Hair) and brushing her calico fur was a daunting chore. She was a smart, tricksy kitty...
@V Yes, fun. What worked for me was Frontdoor. From there I had it cornered.
At 37D I had the last 3 letters--ENT and I instantly hit on FERVENT... Then I filled the boxes available and moved on. Oops. It wasn't until the PARTY wouldn't work that I realized my choice didn't fit... The Themers were fun even if they were very easy. And about 42D: I took Trig in college (loved it!) but that was in 1967... for this clue, I just guessed. The 47A Themer helped confirm it, but the slang at 40A was worthless. I suspect this clue was push-back for "Too easy" Protests.... One KRONA satisfies a greedy Swede? I think not.
@Mean Old Lady I started college in 1967. Nice to know that we're just about the same age. ...
@Mean Old Lady A greedy American is out for the mighty dollar so this makes sense, though I was expecting the plural, kronor. Or perhaps our Swede is counting bills .
Cute and easy. All you have to do is say the clue word out loud and you've got it. At least that's all we Americans have to do. I'm wondering if the Brits, who enunciate most words better than we do, don't provide just the slightest hint of an "e" sound rather than an "i" sound in "market" and "ticket", et al. I'm asking this because I've been watching a British art competition series called "Portrait Artist of the Year". They all pronounce the word portrait as "portrayt", rather than "portrit." To my American ear, it sounds a bit pretentious and arty, but it's not. It's just the Brits being Brits. Since we're mostly all Yanks here, I bet this was smooth sailing for most. I found it enjoyable, with a nicely made grid filled with colorful non-theme words like GIBBOUS, BEHEST and PANACHE. Fun to solve.
Really enjoyed this. Had to move around a lot to solve. Got all the theme answers just with crossings and then had my aha moment to fully enjoy the trick. Don't know why, but I liked Kick Butt next to Sparklers on top of Surprise Party.
@Jeff B MD I had the double-T's early on; there aren't too many words that end that way.... and Spelling Bee won't admit that BATT is a word. (I would like to bop SamE on the head with a nice cotton-blend Hobb's Premium BATT to help him with his new vocabulary word...)