Now that was a Friday! Thanks, Katie Hoody.
@Barry Ancona Never seen you so loquacious in your praise!
@Barry Ancona agree 100% this is what Fridays are all about!
@Barry Ancona It's whispered in tales older than the mountains, a nearly forgotten legend. The ephemeral Barry Ancona Unqualified Stamp of Approval. I'm am honored to witness this event. This is even bigger than Mazeroski home run that won the 1960 World Series which I also witnessed (on TV, anyway).
I found the puzzle insaneIy difficult but I managed to solve it on my own. It took everything I had (and nearly 50 minutes), and I'm very proud of my success. I swear, if I see somebody saying this was too easy, I'll think less of them 🤣 I enjoyed, nay - loved! - how the difficulty was due to misdirection rather than an overreliance on esoterica - there was personally arcane trivia, of course (MARYJANES, for example - seeing such a long and completely unknown entry was daunting!) but the beauty of the grid was that I could deal with (almost) all of it using my wit rather than factual knowledge. I needed to guess just one square, at my only naticky crossing of HAR_E and US_A - I assumed the T in USTA stood for tennis. This was one of the hardest Fridays I have ever solved, and one of the most enjoyable, too.
@Andrzej congrats Andzej! it was a properly tough Friday as it should be.. good job
@Andrzej I completely agree with everything you said, including the amount of time it took you, and your comment about if you see someone saying this was too easy 🤣 ... I started out doing all the across entries, and I got so few of them on the first pass that I wondered if today was going to be a complete fiasco. I was delighted as the answers slowly started revealing themselves as I went through the down entries, and revisiting the across ones. So many aha! moments, and wonderful word play. I also made it through on my own and am very proud of myself. But I am entirely in awe of the masterful clues! Kudos to Katie Hoody! On top of that, what really got me is what she wrote in the constructor notes--her beautiful love letter about and to her Uncle Tim. As I was reading, I was so moved -- and was getting worried that at the end she was going to say he passed away. So relieved when she didn't, and she ended with such tender sentiments and even more word play. You show us how it's done, Katie. Wow!
@Andrzej Nah, this puzzle was too easy...to get hung up just trying to parse some of the clues! (Looking at you, 30A and 38A.) Lots of fun.
@Andrzej (Trying again in Greek…) Good for you! Now, when the next person accuses you of being a hαιfωιτ, you can show them your completed puzzle as evidence to the contrary.
@Andrzej bully for you. although my timestamp says 44:19, the reality is that it took over 24 hours on my brain's back burner. I found not so much enjoyment as grudging respect. it was quite difficult without requiring excessive trivia.
That was one terrific Friday puzzle! It was quite the challenge. At no point did I feel completely stalled, but had to circulate all over the puzzle multiple times in order to eventually make progress. The kind of puzzle that leaves me with a sense of accomplishment when it is finally solved.
Boink?? Isn’t it BOING?? Boink seems to be something else entirely
I had to pause mid-puzzle and had “With whom one pools pounds for quarters” rattling around in my head while I took care of some household tasks. By the time an answer occurred to me, I couldn’t remember how many letters it was and had to run back praying for 8 because I was so incredibly tickled with the possibility of FLATMATE. That might be my favorite clue/answer combo after 1600+ NYT crosswords. Incredible wordplay and airtight logic once it clicks. Bonus points for using units of currency from two different countries, both of which have multiple meanings. I’m in awe.
@Anna Always love how the brain still stews on the puzzle if you put it on the back burner.
@Anna I agree Anna. Very clever clue but still accessible with a little stewing!
@Anna the same happened with me!
@Anna I liked that clue a lot too, and it was one of the first I got. as a regular reader of the Guardian, that probably helped.
@Anna it was a great clue. Took me a while and I live in UK
Wow, what a gift to a LOGOMANIAc to see Katie Hoody’s byline. This was just one gem of a clue and entry after another. There are some people who just have a genius for constructing and Katie is definitely one of those. Where to start? Peaty and Oatie—thanks for making Sonja HENIE a gimme. I can’t say why but you know. Two Cincinnati call outs—the OHIO river and yes I am counting Jimmy Buffett. For some reason he was a Cincinnati fan favorite, played here every single summer, what a fun performer who always made you smile. Proud to say I almost got BBQ right off the bat. I had RIB joint but I still count that as a win. I’m ASHAMED to admit I don’t know all my plagues in order, despite 64 plus Seders; but I got the plural misdirection of GRANT pretty quickly and that gave me the G. Some wonderful misdirects, my favorites were TANLINES and SEXT—but all the clues just felt original and sparkling. I think this should be a great example of Friday level of difficulty . It didn’t take me so long—I wouldn’t call it a Saturday—but there were few gimmes, I always felt engaged and challenged, and I had a ton of Aha moments (is the plural of Aha AHI?) and smiles and SLY winks. Is Katie Hoodie treading into Robyn Weintraub territory? I think so. I can’t think of a more consistently brilliant themeless constructor in the Times lately.
@SP Dude...she's clearly been eating of the same divine lotos as Weintraub since her debut grid.
@SP I always thought it was LOGOrrheA but couldn’t make it work. And yes Katy and Robyn are the absolute best
Someone took my metronome. Now I'm ticked! (I'll have to control my tempo.)
@Mike Can’t beat that pun. You know what they say about some pianists—can’t live rhythm, can’t live without ‘em.
@Mike A one and a toot and a one and a toot!
@Mike I recently got a new metronome -- an analog model. Not sure if I like it I go back-and-forth.
@Mike I bought an electric metronome. I put it on its base, gave it some power, and it started going faster and faster. only then did i realise that i had set it to logarithm
As a small man who lives on the subway i must register my umbrage at the inclusion of METRONOME in today’s puzzle. I humbly appeal to all readers to boycott the NYT until it withdraws this offensive slur. I really thought we had moved beyond this kind of thing, but alas it seems not. And don’t think i didn’t notice the clue about getting a leg up! (Well, someone had to hate today’s puzzle, didn’t they? I thought I’d try to restore some balance!)
@Petrol I'm afraid there's been a mixup. You're thinking of the Metro Gnome.
Great puzzle! Had a ton of open space for quite some time but finally made progress with Think Big and What a Year. Still, the eastern quadrant was a struggle. BTW , This is my first comment after 3,213 solves!
@wuhsinman Welcome to the party!
@wuhsinman About time!
Today is my birthday :)
@cameron Many happy returns of the day!
@cameron....... 🎂Wishing you birthday happiness!!!
I came here to say this was possibly my least favorite solve ever ... then I read the review of the puzzle, and the constructor's notes, and while I didn't enjoy solving it, I do concede that the cluing was brilliant and absolutely fair. So ... why didn't I enjoy it? I think there were too many "sleight of hand" clues. And esoteric knowledge (such as Thomas Jefferson saying the Ohio River was the most beautiful on earth - although now I have to go and see it for myself). I never do research while solving a puzzle, maybe that is the problem. This puzzle made me realize that the difficulty (and enjoyment) of a puzzle lies not so much in the actual words in the grid, but in how they are clued. I've read that the editors do edit puzzles and change clues, sometimes heavily. I am wondering how much of the clueing was by the constructor, and how much by the editors? Anyway, a reluctant hats off to the constructor - this really was beautifully clued, though kinda painful to solve!
@Alexandra Dixon That's a great question. How many clues the editors change varies from puzzle to puzzle. I did ask the editors about this puzzle specifically though, to ensure I credited Katie Hoody with the correct clues. I can say that just about every interesting, misdirecting or "sleight of hand" clue, as you call it (I like the phrase!), was from Ms. Hoody. I'll also add that a changed clue doesn't necessarily mean the original wasn't good. Most people love to write clever, misdirecting clues; but they can't be the entire puzzle, or else it's tough for the solver to break in. You need some answers that clued a bit friendlier, and that's taken into consideration when editing a puzzle.
@Alexandra Dixon "And esoteric knowledge (such as Thomas Jefferson saying the Ohio River was the most beautiful on earth" While I've never heard this quote, I immediately thought OHIO for the clue for two reasons. 1) I would assume Thomas Jefferson was talking about a river within the US 2) The most famous US river that is 4 letters would be the OHIO river
@Alexandra Dixon You don't really need to know what Jefferson thought, you just need a cross or two to figure out the river.
@Alexandra Dixon You very nicely expressed the mixed emotions brought about by a terrific puzzle that bedevils one.
@Alexandra Dixon I love those 'Sleight of hand' clues. I love it when the harder puzzles are more 'Sleight of hand' and less proper nouns and trivia. I didn't know about the Ohio river quote either, but in that case. A four letter word _H__ that's a river. What else could it be?
@Alexandra Dixon, I am not a seasoned solver, but I do agree with you totally. The clues really were not that interesting or challenging to me.
A rhyme that slants? No chance. Gotta boink.
Oh, melt-my-heart constructor notes…
It’s been a tough week for me crossword wise. All of them morasses of dense, indecipherable clueing and a slew of TIL answers. Today was no exception…in the best way possible. Seeing Ms Hoody’s name I knew I was in for a challenging but enjoyable time. She didn’t disappoint. I’m relieved to read that some others shared my experience of far too much white space after the first couple of passes, then slowly filling them in, with a few aha moments. I had no idea about the cartoon shoes, but once I had M and J the name came easily. I just hadn’t known where the name came from originally. My only real natick was the crossing of 2 and 14D with 18A. WHUP a completely unknown word, I’d gone with WHiP, then WHoP. 18A still means nothing to me but ok. I suppose I should know the character’s name; the author came from my home town, where she also based her novel. Try as I might I could never get into her writing; far too melodramatic for my taste. Once completed I went back through the clues, chuckling at the misdirects. Loved the clue for FLATMATE, THINK BIG to pick out two. Thank you Ms Hoody, you’ve restored my faith in the crossword, it has been a tad tested this week. Your notes on Uncle Tim brought a tear to my eye. It was Uncle David for me; a wonderful man who gave me so many lovely memories, from teaching me to foxtrot to hilarious shopping expeditions. He passed his joy to my kids. Gone now but never forgotten.
@DIVAS IVLIVSy Love that one too. BYW It’s been awhile since anyone has pointed this out, but remember there are no spoilers here—so everyone please feel free to spell out clues so we don’t have to go to the grid to find them.
Great puzzle, with some really fun clues. I have to take exception with one, however. While the spelling of onomatopoeia may be subjective sometimes, the cartoon bouncing sound is generally BOING; BOINK is the sound of a hit.
@NanuNanu BOINK is more commonly a euphemism for The Deed, in my experience. *shrug*
@NanuNanu From my experience a bop on the head is sometimes given the sound BOINK. In that sense it is a single BOING. While BOINK can be a single bounce, a series of bounces would best be boing, boing, boing, ... I suppose a BOINK in the hay could also be given as one or more boings in the hay but I don't normally encounter such cartoons.
What a richly satisfying way to end the week. Clues that led you astray, crosses that made you look again, then flee to another block of the puzzle to lick your wounds and take another try a a fill that was "right" but wrong (Well, if it isn't near RHYMEs. then what is it??), whirling around the puzzle like you were at a Saturday night dance with one gorgeous partner after another. Katie Hoody, you gave us a goody. Thank you!
From the high of seeing Katie’s name atop the grid to the low of initial stuckness and desperately foraging for footholds anywhere, to the thrill of the big breakthrough (METRONOME) yielding a flood of success, only to be repelled again and again by an impervious area, until finally I let go of an answer I was committed to, which opened the crack that let the light in… That is, drama in the box, the best kind, a Hoody journey. Bolstered by uncovering beauty – ACCESSORY, AFTERGLOW, BOINK, THINK BIG, COOL OFF, FOOLED YOU, TAN LINES. Even beauty in the black box design that looks like a pinwheel in motion (not to mention yielding 18 longs). Icing being the rare-in-crosswords five-letter semordnilap (PEELS), and the shake-my-head-in-awe clue – [Areas between areas with different amounts of coverage] for TAN LINES. Eleven puzzles into the Times, and, in my mind, you are already a legend, Katie. I can’t wait for the dozenth. Thank you for a splendid journey!
A terrific puzzle, topped off with a touching ode to Uncle Tim. Amazing, Katie. Respect. I didn’t think I'd get to fill in much of the grid, but very slowly and meticulously, thinking and rethinking what seemed like every other entry, dissecting and pondering over almost every clue, it came together in what felt like a miracle. What an outstanding romp that was! But— for all that I did end up knowing or deducing, it was WHUP/USTA that did me in. I knew it was a sports court, but not which one. And I thought it was spelled WHooP, so I went with WHiP. And that wasn’t all. I was completely onomatopoeia challenged today. I went with BOINg before correcting it to BOINK to make DISKS work. Welk, that BOINg was enough for me to take a break and go listen to some Oingo BOINgo... <a href="https://youtu.be/EJGykmmBjP4?is=bVN33AGRx2SXZDl6" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/EJGykmmBjP4?is=bVN33AGRx2SXZDl6</a> Maybe for Oingo Boingo it was "Just Another Day," but not for this here puzzler. With a Hoody byline, it was one heck of a special day. Thank you, Katie!
@sotto voce I had BOING, too, at first. BOINK means something completely different to me.
@sotto voce I always seek out your posts...and this one cleared up three spots for me that turned out to be 2 errors. I speak of the actress and the game of Othello and the BOING/BOINK (I actually changed the right entry to the wrong word.)...so, 2 wrong letters for me. On top of THAT, I had a mammogram first thing followed by another appt for two big injections of steroids to relieve my painful bursitis (both hips)...and shortly I will take DHubby to the VA medical center for an audiology appt (desperately needed, as his hearing even with good aids is pretty bad...he can't hear when an alarm is set off due to a problem, for instance.) So much for the Golden Years, eh? LOL
As a non-US solver I found that tough! Quite proud to have managed to solve it only slightly below my average Friday time. My standout today was flatmates, but I think it may have just been schadenfreude knowing that some US solvers might get a taste of my struggle 🤣🤣🤣. All in all, I loved the difficulty level and liked the puzzle.
@Hitch - Yep, that was the last answer I figured out.
@Hitch I typed in ROOMMATE, and then, no sooner had I typed the E, I said to myself, "Nah, that's gotta be FLATMATE."
The perfect Friday with some wonderfully clever cluing!! I started out with barely anything on the first pass, but then it all fell into place so neatly. Lotsa fun wordplay, no naticks... Absolutely loved it ❤️
It's so good to read so many upbeat and positive comments today. Weirdly, I found some clues easier - eg HORSE RACE, but stumbled again over the names - all of them. Never heard of Jimmy Buffet, though I do know of Warren. (Parrotheads? Coral Reefer Band?) Bees' nest didn't work, and wasps' nest was too long .... At UK elections there are always cute photos in the papers of the dogs waiting outside polling stations ... so I thought dog not DEM! I echo the positive comments already posted.
@Jane Wheelaghan I am greatly cheered by the image of faithful dogs at the polling stations. And always look forward to your views and news from London. Cheers!
This has been a work week full of worthy puzzles. Xwstats.com calls Monday's and Wednesday's puzzles Hard, and Tuesday's, Thursday's and Friday's Very Hard. A good challenge for serious solvers.
@Steve L I’m always puzzled by wording such as “Xwstats.com calls” some puzzle easy/hard/etc, as it seems to imply that some kind of judgment is involved in the selection of those difficulty labels, when they’re purely a computed shorthand summary of one particular aggregate solving statistic (basically, how long it took the community to solve a given puzzle, relative to users’ own most recent 10 solve times for a given day). Main point being: today’s “very hard” puzzle currently has a median solve time of 19:26, and the median for yesterday’s “very hard” Thursday is currently 20:49. These puzzles may have been “very hard” compared to other puzzles from the last 2.5 months…but let’s be real, neither of these was actually a hard puzzle. Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed this week’s puzzles, and especially today’s. At this point, I’ll happily take anything that puts up even a hint of resistance! But I don’t know if we’ll *ever* get another genuinely hard Friday or Saturday puzzle.
@Steve L I agree. I was under on Monday, average on Thursday, but over average on Tuesday, Wednesday, and today.
@Steve L, One week does not a trend make, but it has been a nice change. Almost makes me wonder if the puzzle subscriptions objective has been met, and now they can resume “regular programming”.
May we all give thanks to the Uncle Tim in our lives, and with help be that person to someone else. Also, that was a great puzzle! Thank you Ms. Hoodie.
A HORSE RACE is not a track event. Track events are running events with humans. Horse races are equine sports. The clue would be acceptable if it had a question mark at the end, but without one it is factually wrong and RELAY RACE makes the most sense.
@Billy In this case, "track event" means an event held on a track, which horse races are. It's deceptively written, but that's the intention — to make you think it's a track and field event.
@Billy Sean's being nice. *Totally* valid and clever misdirecty clue. "Makes the most sense" has no standing in a good late-week puzzle. Just has to make a modicum. It's a tiny example of what makes Hoody the bomb.
@Billy You are absolutely correct! But this is not a publication, treatise, inventory, or legal document. It's a puzzle--a tricky one--so there is a certain amount of liberty and allowable inexactitude that covers a multitude of sins, so to speak. Plus, it was fun to figure that one out when RELAY RACE was positively screaming, "Oooh! Oooh! Pick me!" even though it was too short for the role of Xword Answer. By now perhaps you have cried yourself to sleep and will awaken resigned to the imperfect world of, well, CrossWorld.
@Billy Horses race on race tracks. Going to the races is referred to as "going to the track".
@Billy I actually got the answer on my second pass. Started out with RELAYRACE but once I got 3 and 4 D it fell right in. Also, you go to the 'track' to bet on horse races so...
I got nothing other than, like everyone here, thought it was sensational. I mean, just do it...it's as obvious as the sky is blue, grass is green, and The Constitution is the Law of the land. Life would be unbearable were these not true. This was the most wonderfully bewildering assortment of straightforward clues and clues which looked *exactly* like ones that would end with a "?" had our editors any mercy. So when I was looking for a curve ball and got a fast ball, and visa versa. I was deep, deep into give-up territory, flyspecking, unsure of about a half dozen places but without anything better to try. Then, finally. boom...it's Amanda BYNES, not BYNEr. And that changes that weird thingy used in Othello, into a little more reasonable DISgS, still ugly...but wait BOINg and BOINK are the same things that that makes DISKS and... ...another major meltdown avoided.
@Francis À propos of curveballs and fastballs, I posted my Cruciverbal Guide to the upcoming World Series in yesterday's board but here it is again, for those of you wondering who to root for. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4jrlvj?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4jrlvj?rsrc=cshare&smid=url-share</a> None of my guys are out there but it's still a beautiful game.
Katie Hoody has fast become a crowd pleaser with a growing list of great puzzles and collaborations. IMHO today’s puzzle not only confirms her star status but elevates it. It’s rare to see this tough crowd feeling a warm, satisfying AFTERGLOW on Friday (Robyn Weintraub excepted). Thanks, Katie! Sorry to see so much negative commentary for yesterday’s puzzle. It took me too long to see the trick, but I done did it. I thought it was a pretty clever twist.
@M. Biggen -- FYI, no collaborations in her Times puzzles.
I struggled heaps and heaps of Halloween Peeps!
Wow, I can't believe I managed to finish this puzzle!! Every clue (well, almost every) was crafted to be as fiendish and obscure as could possibly be achieved, and one was forced to winkle out multiple meanings. I was reduced to thinking things like, "Maybe Bob DYLAN was called 'Bobby' when he was a complete unknown..." And then there were still puzzles like MAMMA MOMMY MUMMY MUMSY... I was not aware than Thomas Jefferson ever saw The OHIO...he sent people that far west (and farther)...but did he go there? It's still a bit quaint to realize that the Ohio territory was once "The Western Reserve." Well, I knew it would be a challenge, and it was. Wonderful!
Now THIS is what I’m talking about! Wonderful and challenging Friday. 10/10.
So... I thought Buffet was all Florida, they wear leis? Ok then. Also, just a pet peeve, but looking at the USA from outside, the Dems aren't really very left at all.
@jes Right? The Dems may be left of the Reps (anybody who opposes hunting poor people for sport is), but they are still centrist, at best, by European standards. Only the extreme right fringe parties in Poland have programs that position them further to the right than the American Democrats.
@jes Agreed. I got LEI almost right away, but I don't really associate Hawai'i and leis with Jimmy Buffett. He's a Florida Keys guy.
@jes Try a g**gle Image search for 'Parrotheads'.
my comments are fresh from solving not reading the always wonderful article in support or comments from others: a classic Friday Katie nothing but superlatives about your effort - it made me really have to think on your wavelength plus the clues and answers are 'al dente' JUST RIGHT. bravo!
@acjones Al dente is the perfect word to describe this one!!
I loved this oodles and oodles of miniature poodles. Based on the last two weeks, Friday may be replacing Thursday as my favorite puzzle day. (I got so annoyed at yesterday’s, I actually hit Reveal Puzzle just to be done with it,) This, on the other hand, was a delight. And couldn’t we all use an Uncle Tim in our lives. Thanks, Katie.
@Heidi I can't give you oodles of miniature poodles, but I can give you a single standard one! <a href="https://imgur.com/a/Bqw5Zhl" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/Bqw5Zhl</a>
Just what a Friday is supposed to provide. Thanks.
That was awesome. Seemingly impossible at first but then...
Feeling sheepish that USTA was the last answer I filled in. My husband made it to the USTA Men's Singles Finals (55+) in Orlando this year! But at least it gave me an excuse to brag. Katie Hoody, you are a bit of a rascal. It must run in the family!
poem made from words in today’s puzzle a/ hang on to time skating past the past is what pools in pools of time to let go of time is easy in the buzz of d/ the evening lingering in the aura of stars that comb the air for the beautiful inexact stars don’t believe in time… the stars see the past see the story of you see the earth see the shoes near the river wink and say a/ it’s all cool, man
@Peter Valentine Just flat out terrific!
I'm more of a BOING guy for a "bouncing sound" and BOINK the sound made when a superhero is inclined to WHUP NITRO.
@john ezra I always thought BOINK was something that might lead to an AFTERGLOW.
there comes a moment when you realize bloggers and reviewers can't see the forest through the trees - this puzzle is perfect in every way - the clues are flat out brilliant and each and every answers adds up. that's rare as rain in the Saharan desert. bravo Katie!
Great puzzle-- thank you Katie Hoody! A fun solve with fresh and nicely tricky clues. And even more, the lovely write-up about Uncle Tim ...
SHEESH what a puzzle!! Had me absolutely bamboozled and backwards for first 30 mins. Lovely Friday!!
A very nice puzzle, but more at a Saturday level of trickiness than a Friday one IMO. But a great puzzle either way!
I'm ashamed that the USTA/HARTE crossing was my last square. I thought of court of law, basketball courts, even volleyball courts, but not the kind of court I watch about 40 weeks a year and the organization I patronize nonstop for three weeks every year
I know it’s going to be a fun puzzle when I see Katie’s name. Superb clues as always!
I've got to join in on the love fest; impossible not to express my appreciation post-solve. That was the most fun I've had wrestling with a puzzle in a long time. Just perfect. Everyone else has articulated what was so wonderful about it so I will leave it at that. Top 5 favorite constructor notes, also. Just an amazing start to the day! Thanks so much, Katie!
Formidable Friday. Took 17% longer than average. Don't know what else to say. It was hard and I got it done.