Not to brag, but the cloud of periwinkle blue in my fall garden right now shows that I have real ASTER MASTERY. Well, I gave it a shot. But the paper cut apercus were so so funny! Can’t you just see someone calmly reciting one of those instead of hopping around swearing?
I found the themers truly delightful, and they are, to be sure, in a crossword, but I found little, if anything, puzzling here; I was just filling in a lot of entries on autopilot.
@Barry Ancona I agree with you 💯 on this take. 🤓
@Barry Ancona And there lies the great chasm between the seasoned veteran and the rookie. (I’m somewhere in the middle). There will be the opposing opinions all over this one. Too easy, too obscure or too unfamiliar with a smattering of outright distain. For me, this is full of dad jokes just waiting to be unleashed. Loved every last one of them.
Cluing Diwali or Holi as a "Hindi shindig" is the cultural equivalent of calling Christmas an "English extravaganza." Hindi is a language, not a religion. These holidays are celebrated globally by over a billion people speaking dozens of other languages, just like Christmas is celebrated by people speaking dozens of languages.
@NYTXWorderSince2020 True, however, the names of the holidays are transliterated from Hindi (other languages have other names for the same holidays), so it still works :)
@NYTXWorderSince2020 But “English extravaganza” would not even begin to work *as a theme entry*. In order to make your “see how silly and ignorant this is?” analogy work, you’d need to come up with something that would actually work with today’s theme. Point being: I think most people are willing to extend a little latitude with goofy themes like this. That said, I think this particular entry would have worked even as a normal clue, given that “Holi” is a Hindi word and this is an English-language crossword puzzle (which is to say, in a non-English puzzle, I wouldn’t be surprised to see certain terms clued in terms of their “English” origin).
@NYTXWorderSince2020 Thank you. I came here to say just that.
Note to Caitlin: Daniel TIGER was originally a character on a more famous show: Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. You've probably heard of that one.
Steve, I don't doubt Caitlin has heard of "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," but unless she watched it there is no reason to think she should know that Daniel TIGER appeared on it.
@Steve L BTW, thanks for all the effort you went through to relate the history of the NFL and the post season. Appreciate it!
@Steve L But the character was Daniel Striped Tiger, with two syllables in the middle name. Being familiar with "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" didn't help me. And let's avoid snark in puzzle comments.
I can't be the only one who cringed at the triumphal arch. Can I? It ain't easy living in our nation's capitol these days.
@Occupied It ain't easy living anywhere in the world because of that orange piece of shayt.
@Occupied Not only there, mate...
@Occupied I'm on a cruise right now and last night a gentleman we were speaking with who is from another country assumed that I am Canadian, because of my accent. (My husband, being from the Caribbean, will never be mistaken for Canadian.) I am proud to be from Minnesota, so I did correct him, but it was tempting to not... 🇨🇦😏🍁 @SBK!!
@Occupied I was in DC for a business trip in June and the whole sightseeing aspect was quite painful. Some iconic landmarks were blocked off and some I just couldn't bring myself to go look at. The capitol and the Lincoln memorial were beautiful, though.
'heart transplant's' is NOTHING compared to the wonderful clues and answers of the long crosses - THIS IS WHY WE DO CROSSWORDS. absolutely hilarious ingenious fun witty and deeply thought out fun phrases based on a funny clue. if people were not giggling at how they worked you're missing the real point of the puzzle. the meta conceit is there that's all - the clues are all classic and well loved. what's not to LOVE? I loved it!
Always love me a Michael Lieberman puzzle, even if I did spend the last couple of minutes parsing the _EY / _ANHMI/Y cross. Never heard of Queen Bey (yes, I looked it up after solving; still never heard the nickname), never had a BANH MI—and FLEUR-DE-LIS can also be spelled FLEUR-DE-LYS. Fair, but tough for me. One nit: Holi and Diwali are Hindu, not Hindi, festivals. Celebrants are apt to be Hindu, but may or may not speak Hindi. Even in service of a theme, HINDI SHINDIG is really a stretch.
@Sam Lyons I read a few pop culture blogs so I was familiar with Queen BEY, though for half a minute I had BEe, and I never remember how to spell BAHN MI, but I did know it ends in an I, so Fleur di LIS it was.
@Sam Lyons I highly recommend trying a banh mi sandwich! So good.
So if ever there was an example of a puzzle geared more for the constructor than the solver, this is it. That’s ok, I still had fun seeing these clever theme entries and would love to hear more about how he came up with them (I’m assuming a computer algorithm, and that’s ok too, they were really very entertaining!) The problem with the solve is, once you get the theme (which is right away), then figuring out the themers becomes exceedingly easy because half the letters are duplicated. So if ever there was a Sunday puzzle which begged and deserved for more challenging clues around the themes, this was it, and unfortunately those were very straightforward. I did love the clues for POINTLESS and UNCORK. I like the idea of PETPASSPORT but I can tell you that having traveled with my furry friend on many occasions no airline calls it that. Still it’s a great entry. Speaking of constructor centered puzzles, here’s mine, admittedly and with full disclosure. This puzzle has been rattling around in my closet for a long time. It is my Everest, the one I made just to see if I could. I'm not sure how fair or enjoyable it will be, but I decided its time had come. Frequent NYT solvers will understand why after they solve it. I'm curious to hear what you all think about it. (I’ve already gotten some fair negative feedback, but some positive as well, so YMMV). <a href="https://crosshare.org/crosswords/Qj4H3BgDSddtUECbw1OW/out-of-the-box" target="_blank">https://crosshare.org/crosswords/Qj4H3BgDSddtUECbw1OW/out-of-the-box</a>
SP, Your puzzle seemed fine to me. And fair.
@SP I found this fast and fun, as so many did, but @SP is absolutely right that because the theme entries gave us a leg up, we should have been hit with more challenging clues for balance. This is on the editors, not the constructor.
@SP I loved your puzzle a lot more than I loved this one, which was cute but somewhat fluffy.
@SP Thanks for the link! I completed the puzzle, but I'm still lost on the perimeter across clues. I was hoping to get the trick, but I'm still trying to work it out.
@SP I'm making good progress with your puzzle! It's very hard so I keep taking breaks between attempts at it, but I'm hopeful. I got the trick - nice!
@SP Quite a puzzle. Did not catch on till very late after several Reveal Words and a Check puzzle. Then DOH! But I don't get the second row. please explain
@SP Hey, that was a nice little surprise treat! Thank you
Fun gimmick, and "Get into, as a cab, say" takes the cake for the biggest groan-inducing-yet-appreciative-smile reaction from me in several weeks.
@David Webb In Crossworld, CAB is a cabernet 90% of the time. In fact, life is a cabernet, old chum....
Cute theme. One minor grouse- calling Diwali and Holi Hindi festivals instead of Hindu festivals is a bit like calling Hanukkah a Hebrew festival or Eid an Arabic festival. And while one could argue the festivals are called that in the Hindi language, it's a bit of a stretch since the origins of the words are from Sanskrit and they are called by these names in a few other languages as well. Other than that, was a fantastic Sunday puzzle.
@Rahul lighten up - a 'shindig' means a peaceful gathering it's not offensive. could be religious or musical it's a 'hippie' term like a jazz concert - have a nice day Rahul
@Rahul yeah i had that same thought. just think what would happen if we called Saturnalia a Latin festival!
@Rahul You make a great point, highlighting the difference between Hindu and Hindu, so thank you for enlightening us. That said, I believe that, like you wrote, the idea was Hindi the language — and, in crosswords, it doesn't make the clue or answer wrong if the holidays are called by those names in other languages as long as it's true that they're called that in Hindi (which it is.) I can't be sure I'm right, but that's how I've interpreted previous explanations about other clues or answers. ;-)
@Rahul I don't understand this complaint. Hanukkah *is* a Hebrew festival -- as in, the name is Hebrew for a specific festival. It also a Jewish festival, indicating its culture. The cluing works if you hear it saying "Hindi names for shindigs" instead of "shindigs in Hindu culture" which would, yes, be Hindu and not Hindi.
Now that was an impressive theme - you might remember I'm in awe of a constructor's skill extremely rarely, and today was one of those days. That one of the themed entries referenced my beloved Star Trek was a nice bonus. I didn't even mind the slightly groany undertone of the theme, and that's saying something. Typically the merest hint of dad-jokery will put me off a grid. The fill was mostly directly clued and easy to get. However, I needed to lookup the triple natick of the Berkeley university, TV network, and Cardinals legend (Richelieu wasn't it 🤣). Another natick was BE_ crossing DA_TON: I thought an L made sense there, but it turned out to be Y 🤷🏽. And one more natick - ESSE_ crossing AME_. After my recent visit to Germany I entered an N there. The problem is, AMEX is unknown over here, so the clue and entry of ESSE_'s cross were essentially useless to me. I've read about gerrymandering and I know about its history, but of course I didn't remember the first place it was applied.
In Poland we might speak of a street as it being the main one in town, but no street is actually officially called that. Historically, the main streets of Polish settlements were often named after the largest nearby town or city. Thus, for example, many a Mazovian main street is "ulica Warszawska" (Mazowsze is Warsaw's region; "warszawska" is the feminine form of Warsaw used as an adjective - and we're using the feminine form here since "ulica", "street", is a feminine noun in our gendered language). The bouldering PAD was a rare sporting gimme for this climber (I rarely do boulders though as the risk of injury is just too high; top rope is my thing, because it's safest, and yet I still get a kick out of it). Poland's boar population has exploded this year and it's becoming a real issue. Typically boar lived in our forests, yet these days thousands of them have their dens even in the most densely populated areas - we went for a long walk with Lucyfer the poodle yesterday, and we met an adult boar not in the forest but on the busiest intersection in the middle of our Ursynów district: <a href="https://imgur.com/a/r2Bk2H9" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/r2Bk2H9</a>
@Andrzej KLINGON LINGO had us fans squealing too :) I loved all the theme entries but that one might take the cake
The shaded squares are unnecessary and caused the solver to look for something that wasn’t to be found.
@Linda Bernstein It's a metaphor for almost all aspects of life.
doubling down on how wonderful this puzzle is - this puzzle is a litmus test for people who are not satisfied by anything and those who truly understand how hilarious this puzzle is -making the marquee answers be classic old school funny using similar letters. the mete theme is an afterthought and is fine why not? the heart and soul of the puzzle is the old school fun in those glorious crosses. the fill is helpful for beginners and experts. 10 STARS!
To word-quirk-loving me, these theme answers pleased me to no end. How did Michael come up with these two-word wacky phrases that embed two identical strings of letters? And what a marvelous language we indeed have that makes such sweet ridiculousness possible! How did he not only find these phrases, but in letter-lengths that fit symmetry? I loved the ridiculousness of EAR CANAL ARCANA. I loved the so-out-of-left-field concept of PAPERCUT APERCUs, and the witty mock-serious clue that went with that answer. I was over the moon for LOTSA FLOTSAM simply because it is so much fun to say; it may be my ear worm for today. Michael, you indeed did ELICIT my FELICITY with this theme of yours. I love wit, I love silly, and I love what you did in the box today. Thank you!
Lewis, A moderator finally released your posts. I think the filter caught a word in your last paragraph, in the phrase after "I love wit." Amazeballs.
@Lewis For “spark joy,” on my first pass through, my naughty inclination was to drop in “pyromania.”
I understood the gimmick early on, but I never understood how it translates to a “heart transplant”. Heart duplication, maybe? Heart mirror? But a transplant doesn’t leave you with two working hearts. (Yet. Come on, Science!) Despite the theme confusion, I thought this was a pretty decent Sunday. On the easy side, but there were a few sticky sections. (AREEL / ETS, anyone?) And with cute fill like LOTSA FLOTSAM and PAPERCUT APERCU, who am I to complain?
Correction: AREEL / EFTS. It seems spellcheck never heard of them, either.
Please explain the shaded squares like I'm 5. Thank you.
@AK They are the outside boundaries of a word whose “heart” (inside, middle part) is transplanted from the word next to it. There is nothing special about them other than that.
Well, typical long workout for me, but was a great moment when I finally tumbled to the trick. Two thumbs up for this one - really enjoyed it. And... that is just one truly amazing piece of construction to come up with all those answers that work both ways. Wow. Can't imagine what it took to come up with all of those answers. ....
Well that went quickly. Not surprised that it was my fastest Sunday ever. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more without the shaded squares. I got KLINGON LINGO much too easily, then all the themers were gimmes, or pretty close. If the squares hadn't been shaded, at least the break between the two words would have needed thought. The rest of the fill was mostly rote for me. Take 35D, like a blue moon or blue steak. Both halves of the clue were obvious, then they had to double up? I get that Sunday should be mid-week clues plus a bigger grid, but this one was just too easy to make it fun for me. Even our friend EEL had a boring clue. Where was "black and white sandwich cookie"? I looked to see if there was some great Easter egg with the shaded letters. Nope, unless Knelodptfysgbgfm means something. Maybe the shape?? No again. I see no reason for the shaded squares except to make the puzzle easier for very new solvers. Maybe I would have appreciated that when I was a noob, but I'm more inclined to think I would have been more delighted by the discovery of the theme answers without the shaded training wheels.
@Nora Thank you. You just saved me the time it would have taken to put my feelings about this puzzle into words. We had identical experiences today, right down to the part where you tried to squeeze some extra juice from the shaded squares.
@Nora The noons are apparently the target demographic these days.
@Nora I got all the clues, filled in all the boxes, and figured out the trick, but I still don’t understand the point about the shaded boxes and the heart transplant?
It’s been several months now and it’s still incredibly annoying that the hints/tips/comments page cannot open separately from the game itself. I’m sorry but I’m dumb and I often need a lot of help. It’s incredibly annoying having to click back and forth in order to see the hints then go back then click several buttons to see the hints again. This is not one of those things you can “get used to” especially when you need a lot of hints. it’s simply just appalling UX design. Please I beg you to revert back to what it’s used to be. I don’t care if this is due to whatever backend restructure. The front end is terrible! I know I’m not the only one as there had been many complains when this was first changed. I’ve tried to get used to it but it’s simply not possible. Please have pity on us dumb dumbs who need a lot of hints. I’ve found the only way is just to call up the answer key, which does open in a separate browser so I don’t have to click back and forth a million times. But this does take out a lot of joy from trying to do the puzzle.
@DoughnutDough You are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. Whoever made this change to the app fundamentally does not care about usability. I suspect it was done to keep users in the app for advertising purposes. It sucks, tho.
@DoughnutDough - You can get a new window for the Wordplay column by going through Google. Just google NYT Wordplay.
@DoughnutDough I hate it too. Here’s what I do. When you open the wordplay, click on the name of the Wordplay columnist and then select “Latest”. That will open it in the NYT window without having to Google it. Then you can go back and forth.
@DoughnutDough I'm going to try again, bc my earlier comment appears to have been lost. I'm super annoyed by this change, too. I feel like it was done by the app team to keep eyes inside the app (and thus more trackable for advertising purposes), and they either did not consider or do not care how badly that sucks for crossword people. I've sent in more than a couple complaints, but they don't care enough to even reply, let alone fix the issue.
@DoughnutDough, I’m with you. Why anyone thought this was a good idea, I’ll never know. I’ve gotten around this on my iPhone by opening Wordplay in Safari, then flipping back and forth with the crossword still in its own window. Still a bit of a pain, but less so. And in no way are you dumb.
I enjoyed today's puzzle and the heart transplant linguistic trick. BUT, Diwali, Holi, etc. are Hindu, not Hindi shindigs. Characterizing them as "Hindi" omits non-Hindi Hindus, of whom there are over 500 million in India alone, for whom these are also delightful shindigs.
98 Across: The answer Hindi shindig is nonsensical and should have been caught in editing. Hindi is a language. The holidays are Hindu.
@zumita The celebrants are speaking Hindi? I’ll allow it!
@zumita I interpreted it the way Byron did, was thinking of those holidays as celebrated in India and thinking of Hindi as referring to the culture (or cultures) as well as to the language. Are the holidays strictly religious or are they also cultural? Perhaps that does not make a difference in how to refer to them.
@zumita And now I've read Namas's response from a few hours ago and understand that referring to it as Hindi leaves out all the non-Hindi people in India alone who enjoy these holidays. Thank you for bringing it up!
@zumita Totally agree. I almost wrote in to the Times to complain about this one. Hindu is the religion. Many people who celebrate Holi and Diwali MIGHT speak Hindi, but that would be like saying Christmas is a Spanish holiday. I’d have to check the etymology, but I’m pretty sure Holi and Diwali aren’t even Hindi words. Likely Sanskrit origin?
What kind of mad genius can conceive of even one two-word phrase that loop back on itself by switching two letters never mind a half dozen of them? I’m agog!
For anyone who got a kick out of the Roadrunner puzzle last year, you should check out the movie “Coyote vs Acme”. I just saw it, it was so much fun, heartwarming, nostalgic, and a real hoot (or meep, or beep). And for the record they sprinkled a few meeps in with the beeps for the sake of world peace, but it put to rest, once and for all, that the Roadrunner’s name, and the transliteration of his speech, is indeed “Beep Beep”. Also there was a call out coincidentally to yesterday’s Sisyphus reference.
It's a HINDU shindig, not a HINDI shindig. Hindu is the religion, Hindi is the language.
Great puzzle! Bizarre mix of very easy and very difficult clues. Just right for sharing with a loved one in Sunday morning, once you’ve filled in all the gimmes. As for the gimmick, I found that these are fairly easy to think up if you start with a word that you can add a letter to on each end, like LANE =>> P+LANE+T = PLANET Fragrant waft from a hot beverage? TEA STEAM People who break the castling rules in chess? ROOK CROOKS Sixth sense on a scooter? VESPA ESP Roman galvanization? LATIN PLATING Any more (better!) suggestions? Happy Sunday everyone!
@Petrol Right. It’s not a tight theme, which in and of itself is neither here nor there, but given that you could find plenty of other usable phrases, it leaves me to wonder why HINDI SHINDIG made it in.
Okay, Michael, you warmed me up good with the answer EAR CANAL ARCANA, so silly and random that it put me in a good chuckly mood. But then you slayed me with PAPER CUT APERÇU, not only more silly and random, but given a clue so serious sounding while so tongue-in-cheek – [“A sharp edge recalls a splinter’s bite” or “The forest’s final revenge is whisper thin”, e.g.”] – I just had to shake my head slowly in wonder at the humor and wit. Capital-F funny. Bravo, sir. Thank you for a stellar Crosslandia moment!
Fun puzzle! Always love a mention of "Mr. Blue Sky," and the theme answers are pretty delightful to read aloud. But I think my favorite part is that the constructor shares a last name with our cardiologist, specifically the one who has seen my mom through a lot of scary health events, so solving his heart puzzle really made me smile. Happy Sunday to you all!
Would have expected the NY Times to have caught the very annoying mistake of confounding a language (Hindi) with a religion (Hindu). To put it in context, Hindi is the mother tongue of 18% of Indians. Around 70% of Indians are Hindus. It’s like Taylor mentioned in his comment, “It’s like describing Christmas as a Spanish celebration.”
@Sudha, My Hindu partner thought the answer was acceptable and thinks you're being pedantic. And as a non-Hindu, I wonder if things are said in Hindi as part of the celebrations of Holi and Diwali. If so, the answer is fine, isn't it?
Count me among those who thinks Hindi shindig doesn't make sense. Hindi is just a language, not a religion or culture, and the words themselves come from Sanskrit. I see that some people have made the argument that it works because people who celebrate speak Hindi. A) Not everyone does, and B) many celebrants speak English, but I'm guessing no one would call Diwali or Holi an English shindig.
@Anuj yes, that irritated me. Was expecting better from NYT
I loved this puzzle! I loled at the ENT secret
The paper cut sayings made me feel wibbly-wobbly. Just like the phrase, "sliding down the razor blade of life."
@Francis And who uses ATE as slang for "did exceptionally well? One can "eat it" which is nearly the opposite thing, or "eat their lunch" in the context of a competition, but "ate" is just bizarre.
@Francis was "sliding down the razor blade of life" a phrase before Tom Lehrer used it in his song "Bright College Days"? (Oh, soon we'll be out amid the cold world's strife Soon we'll be sliding down the razor blade of life")
A very enjoyable puzzle! A fine way to spend some early morning time on my screen porch on a delightful fall morning.
Before he got his own animated show, Daniel TIGER was a hand puppet who had chats with Mr. Rogers. It took me while to make that connection when I started seeing the related products in the A to Z warehouse. APERCU is one of those words I've read in the evening and resolved to look up in the morning...but never remembered. Felicitations to all.
@Grant When my kids started watching Daniel Tiger, I was a little miffed that they ripped off/changed the Mr. Rogers Neighborhood theme. Turns out it was a legitimate riff.
I loved the theme answers. Each one delightful. Klingon Lingo and Last in Blasting, Lotsa flotsam! And I'm sure I am not the only one who gets a kick every time a "cab" clue refers to wine and not a taxi! And who hasn't overdid Verdi on a cold winter morning?! Short bits of opera is enough for this folk music, alt rock lover.
Jacques TATI--"Mr. Hulot's Holiday" a classic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro1OBd_WruA" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro1OBd_WruA</a>
@lucky13: I was crying with laughter when I watched it 40 years ago. I’m not inclined to rewatch, because mysteriously those things aren’t as funny later. But maybe I will…
@lucky13 - TATI was featured on TCM just this Friday -- they showed three of his movies, including this one. (The others were Jour de Fete and Mon Oncle). I DVRed Hulot and Mon Oncle -- Hulot is always worth viewing -- and I've never seen Mon Oncle, so now I will -- eventually.
These kind of word puzzles remind me of my own train of thought when I am hiking or walking the dog alone. The cleverness is fun and I didn’t want the journey to end.
I had GUM for 36D and was confused when I realized it had to start with a C.
When I typed in RASPUTIN I realized that PUTIN was part of that name. Weird.
Nice theme, and a fun, fast solve. Thanks!
Fast, fun. For future puzzle possibilities, in Russia, if you’re travelling outside the country with a musical instrument you might be asked to get the instrument its own passport. I learned this from a friend.
I, for one, did not see the theme right away. I was bopping around the entire puzzle filling in what I could and puzzling out the rest. I did get the theme answers as I went along, but never looked at what might be going on with them until the end. And to be honest, was a little underwhelmed when I figured it out. Fun fact, October 9 was VERDI's Birthday. And today's opera broadcast was La Traviata, which I can't OVERDo listening to, Rigoletto, not so much. However, my earworm today comes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, cast members of the various movies dancing to RASPUTIN. <a href="https://youtu.be/HPt-jGUHNzE?si=aMVD1U5rFx4S5tCL" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/HPt-jGUHNzE?si=aMVD1U5rFx4S5tCL</a>
@Vaer Your youtube seems to be blocked (to me), but I'm gonna assume it's the Boney M song? (The first thing I though of, natch.)
I loved this puzzle!!!
Who else, like me, confidently slapped in TILT for [Be inclined]?
I got to KLINGONLINGO and was like eh, kinda obvious, this is going to be an average theme...but then EARCANALARCANA and PAPERCUTAPERCU came in with the folding chair and I have to say this is GRAND baby.. I love this kind of weirdness. ggwp
Very easy, very pleasant. Of course I saw what was happening at KLINGON LINGO, a type of slang that's meaningless to me, but that revealed the theme. Once I had gone past the slightly tricky EAR CANAL ARCANA and delightful PAPERCUT APERCU, I was home free -- with all the easy 2nd halves of the remaining themers guessed in advance. But because Michael Leiberman tends to clue with verve and panache, I never got bored with this. And having an easy puzzle after the last two nightmarish days of all-Trivial Pursuit-all-the-time was a nice respite. The headline is cute, btw.
I really liked the inclusion of shading for the theme answers. While I appreciate that some would have preferred a harder solve via s lack of shading, this one had way too much trivia (proper names) for me to solve without the help of shading. KLINGON LINGO gave me the theme and was fun. I also enjoyed all the misdirects, like UNCORK for getting into a cab. Thank you. Fun.
I knew this would be fun when I saw the name, and I was right. Some of these answers just made me laugh. Also, I once saw Lou Brock play in St. Louis. Bob Gibson too. And that was a lot of fun too.
Completely charming puzzle. I messed myself up a little putting in Jaques Brel the singer/actor instead of Jacques the filmmaker. Thought I had the theme quickly, but really just got it in stages. 1. Early, saw that removing the gray letters resulted in reduplication. 2. Late, saw that removing those squares always left actual words. 3. After reading the column, learned that both shaded squares were always within the same word. I had completely missed the containment part of the theme. Even so, just using the reduplicative aspect let me fill in most of my gaps. And each theme reveal was delightful.
Fun puzzle, and getting the theme helped me fill in some squares, which is always enjoyable. Apercu scared me, but i am fairly ignorant and knew that it could be a word that I had never seen before. And along the lines of ignorance is bliss, Hindi didn't bother me at all. 51:25 unaided. A nice bit of entertainment.