I think AITOOL should have been clued: Elon Musk
I can't "recommend" this enough!
[So, what’s that word again for a French friend?] UMAMI
@Lewis [It's the third largest of Jupiter's moons, duh!] OHIO
@Lewis I hate to say it, but that's not yours ERMINE
Nice, and more clever than what was presented. :(
@Lewis These are fantastic!!
I bet I'm not the only one who entered OREO.
@Infidel right there with you! The whole puzzle came together when I figured it out
Yep. Battle of the xwordese champs.
@Infidel oh, that kept me from finishing the NW corner for way longer than I’d like to admit!
I found this to be one terrific puzzle. By re-interpreting familiar phrases, they are clued by mysterious sequences of words. Finally the light dawns. But for me, even better than this fun theme was the consistently high level of cute and deceptive clues, many of which had me fooled and/or mystified for a long time ... combined with the consistently high level of interesting answers, including the theme answers. The evilest clue of all was 20A "Ape-man's introduction" for ME, TARZAN — the last thing on my mind from the letters M E T A R _ _ _. I think from the very tricky constructor's name I was half expecting something like his puns & anagrams puzzles with innovative new clue types and other edgy wordplay, but this really fun puzzle was played straight.
I need some assurance from a Canadian that my mind isn't wandering. I confess that I don't follow the CFL, but I seem to remember watching some games on a grainy black and white TV. Sam Etcheverry was a star for Montreal. When did Edmonton become the Elks? In my mind, they were always the Eskimos. I guess that they suffered the same fate as the Washington Redskins.
@Dan I liked it too. Maybe there truly is Thursday trickery here in the expection of fiendish twistiness from this capable constructor and instead encountering fun straightforward clues and wordplay.
Huh. ME TARZAN was the quickest gimme I ever got. You, Jane?
I may be way off here so I 'll apologize in advance. I am fairly new to this group but there seems to be quite a bit of negativity. There is such darkness in the world right now, I was hoping that this venue would be a gentler, fun space. I guess that's just where my head is.
@Marilyn It was, before I got here.
It's true. It's really Francis's fault. * When a puzzle is actually good you will see some of the same people gushing about it. I think we are mostly fair. Thursdays are somewhat special and it hits harder when the offering is lackluster. Sorry to have bummed you out. *sarcasm
Yeah, lots of people looking for a puzzle that poses minimal challenge and griping the Th-Sa NYT is not that. You learn to block it out - or join the when you get duped. Be the change you want to see in the world.
@Marilyn You're not the first person to point out the negativity here, and you won't be the last.
@Marilyn - Welcome! Umm… yeah, this is an online forum, so not sure why you were expecting affirmations and wonder. People gonna gripe and then other people are gonna gripe about the griping.
No need for an apology, Marilyn. You're entirely welcome here. We are a varied lot in every way imaginable, so occasionally we differ. 😏 But contra Francis's try at assuming responsibility AKA claiming credit, we've all got our nits to pick and nobody's an angel. (Even me! 😯 ) I'm sure you'll fit right in and (➡️ pro tip here) you can always refocus the discussion by asking about the plural for octopus. 🐙
@Marilyn No apology necessary. This forum represents the views of solvers with a wide variety of experience and opinions. Every puzzle isn't going to hit the same way with every solver. A couple things to keep in mind: 1) People have certain expectations about the relative difficulty of puzzles throughout the week. The Thursday puzzle is known for having counter-intuitive tricks or outside-the-box construction which can considerably ramp up the difficulty. Some solvers are quick to react when a puzzle doesn't meet expectations. 2) Your post is fairly early in the daily solve cycle, and early posts may be disproportionately weighted toward expert solvers who complete puzzles very quickly on average and may have higher difficulty expectations of a Thursday puzzle. Opinions may be more balanced as the day progresses. Just my $0.02 worth, YMMV.
@Marilyn 💯💯💯 Well said! There are tons of places online to complain and spread negativity; does our watering hole for NYT crossword puzzle fans really need to be one too? What I find most annoying is how some seem to have zero empathy for the constructor. Golden Rule time folks. Especially for a new constructor. Imagine working hard on a puzzle and sending it in. It gets accepted! You tell your family and friends. The run date is announced... you can't wait... there it is! Maybe you've been doing puzzles for years and this is a dream come true. You check the comments. First comment: 'Meh.' Or do we really need drama about a puzzle not exactly fitting the desired difficulty level for a certain day? There are forums for this. If you use X and Reddit, you expect a mosh pit. But can the NYT crossword chat not be that?
@Marilyn I understand why it seems negative. This forum is chiefly just a collection of pedants—I use that term without judgment. And when you get a lot of pedants together, well….
@Marilyn It wasn’t always like this. If you check out the comments to puzzles pre-2020 or so, it’s mostly people analyzing the puzzle, discussing the wordplay, etc. Sometime during the pandemic, the editors decided to make the puzzles much more straightforward and easy, presumably to attract new subscribers. Previously, the NYT crossword was generally regarded as the most creative and challenging one around. This led to the friction we see today, where some people pine for the quality of the old days, while others just want to get their gold star.
What do you expect from a "cross word" forum? 😜
@Marilyn there are + and - here. But it’s Most well meant and kind.
@Marilyn I only read the Reader Picks for this reason. The recommended comments are usually more positive
Free speech, my friend. People have a right to express their opinions, just as you expressed yours.
If you like word puzzles, I suggest you give Spelling Bee a try. For whatever reason (or none) the community forum over there is very supportive, like a warm blanket. Click on Hints and you'll find them.
It would have been very cool if the commas had doubled as apostrophes for the entry immediately below.
I think this puzzle might have suited me better without the giant commas.
Too late now, but they do disappear when you turn off Show Overlays. Naturally, someone will be along to complain that they don't see any commas.
Yes! A couple of times I actually tried to brush them off because they were distracting me.
We don't have that option on the stone tablet...
I loved the commas, found them a little helpful but they didn't bother me. Shrug, I guess YMMV!
Fun! Loved the sense of humour.
This puzzle made me sleepy. I kept falling into a comma.
Well, I hope that at least that won't be for a long period. ...
Rich, I could see that coming from Hue out here.
Better a comma than a colon.
Ah, an “eats shoots and leaves” puzzle! A bonus entry for the all important comma could be in 25D: Shout to your life giver as the sailboat comes about? MOTHER, DUCK
I am kind of worn out today, traveling. I had a couple of free hours in Chicago so I went to the Art Institute. Boy, they really don't like it when you exclaim after every single painting, "That could have been done so much better using an AITOOL.".
Sam Ezersky creates an easy Thursday? What is Crossworld coming to?
I didn’t think it was THAT easy— actually took a little longer than my Thursday average
@Barry Ancona maybe it was solving after an 14 hour flight but I found it reasonable. The commas were unnecessary
Is Sam E a prolific wordsmith or what? I mean, you know, um, the guy's exceptional, like, the bomb. And the puzzle was, like, fire, you know? Yeah, I'm a big Sam fan. For a minute I thought [Word has it] was an Easter egg, with "coMma" as the answer, "Word" being the software. I honestly didn’t think it was too easy a Thursday puzzle; a Sam E puzzle always has lots of twists and turns. From a solely "me" perspective, it was just right for today, a day when seasonal allergies have got me good and I'm a bit fuzzy-brained. Really enjoyed it. Thank you, Sam!
OK, this was a good one (once I figured out that MEdARdAN probably wasn’t right 😬)... Each of the theme answers made me smile
Fun and amusing puzzle. OT - Yay, Milwaukee Brewers! They are also fun.
I am so sad not to be in MKE to celebrate (moved away in '18). On the other hand, picturing the cars driving in the wrong direction on I43 makes it easier to bear. Now onto the other season. GO PACK GO!
This puzzle came together nicely until the end when it took me a minute to realize that flickers and flamingos aren’t AsIAN.
Very uhmusing theme! Sean, clearly you channeled your inner Sam Corbin when choosing your column photo. Wonderful job.
A very kind compliment, Sam Corbin is the queen. Glad you liked it.
Disappointingly easy for a Thursday Ezersky puzzle. I didn’t, uh, like, need an AITOOL, you know.
Zoom meetings are awkward and boring. So I guess it fits that this puzzle is… well, let’s just say not exciting, because it seems the Positivity Police are out in force tonight. I didn’t enjoy it. It’s been several weeks since I’ve enjoyed a Thursday. Hoping for a return to the tricks and gimmicks that define a classic out-of-the-box, whoah-what-are we-doing, is-this-a-rebus-or-something-even-more-challenging late week puzzle, because recent entries have been sorely disappointing.
Heidi...Easening. Easening...Heidi. I think you're going to be spending lots of time together.
@Heidi I do miss the moment when you catch on to a really good twist. It must be similar to what a safecracker feels when the door finally swings open.
Terrific idea for a theme. After you get one theme answer, it helps you get ensuing ones. Freshness in theme answer – the first three are worthy debuts, and the last is a once-before. A polished answer set. Clues devised with care. Variety – areas of resistance, areas of whoosh. Cluing wordplay, such as [Gets started the wrong way] for HOTWIRE. Making a riddle out of a dull answer – [Cause of dog bites] for LICE. Details, shmeetails. Uncovering the grid, for me, was filled with ahas, smiles, sweet brainwork, and feel-good resulting from the art and beauty of this construction. Were there nits? Who knows? I was having too good a time. Thank you, Sam, for another excellent outing. This was a jewel.
FLEAS, yes. LICE? I've never seen a dog with LICE. LICE are very picky; some will infect only the head of a human. Others are more free-spirited--anywhere on your body, unless they have typhus, which they share before dying.
Am I the only one who thought that flickers and flamingos were ASIAN instead of AVIAN, and who logically concluded that the Mountaineers were from WSU instead of WVU? Not a complaint, just a challenging mistake for me to track down at the end! 🦩
@Figgy that one letter held me up for what felt like forever as well!
Ah, how many and various are our errors. For some reason, I thought the birds could be found in W.VA. A lovely state, I undedstand, but not flamingo-adjacent.
I've had plenty of flickers in my backyard, flamingos, not so much! Though, a neighboring farm kept peacocks and occasionally they would strut through our yard, displaying and calling. They are loud, lol, but beautiful.
@Figgy, WVU was a gimme for me. Though I've lived in New England for most of my life, I was born in WV, and my dad attended WVU. Also, I've been meaning to tell you every time I see your moniker that I once had a cat named Figaro, whom I called Figgy. Your handle brings find memories.
Shout out to Sam for spelling bee.Helped get me through the covid era.
Yeah, I'm totally addicted to the Bee myself, and enjoy doing it first thing every morning.
@Laura I am envious of those who can do the Bee and enjoy it. I am an avid crossworder and I love Connections but my brain just doesn't do scrambles. I have tried 🐝 enough to know it's not my jam. So glad you love it!
I quit when it didn't accept 'oubliette'.
[Heads up mom, that ball is headed right for you!] MOTHER, DUCK [Would you like to play a game?] PLEASE, GO
Ha, Anita, we’re on a wavelength, maybe an emu-delayed wavelength.
@Anita & @CLM "And which of you fine ladies is Jane?"
I loved this puzzle. Particularly when I imagine AITOOL pertaining to all those AI tech bros.
Yeah if we're going to have 2 AI clues in one puzzle it would've been nice to have the AITOOL be clued as something like 'the creator of 32D, say'
Wow I’m with Barry on this one, I didn’t see Sam’s byline on this but would never have guessed it. Obviously a wonderful grid and a lot of excellent clues but far too many gimmes for a Thursday, especially from Sam. And as a solver I completely disagree with showing the commas. I didn’t find it playful, I found it patronizing. I MEAN, have we come to the point that the editors (of which Sam is one) have now such a low opinion of their audience that they think we needed handholding and couldn’t figure this out on our own (or somehow we would be mad if we couldn’t and had to go to the column for an explanation?) I’m sorry, I actually thought that this theme and grid were terrific but I’m just so disappointed by such low expectations that it spoiled the whole experience for me. That said, I did learn two new modern terms today, REKT and TLDR (although not sure how “too long didn’t read” means “in summary” because how could you summarize if you didn’t read?) And finally have cemented TURNT in my brain since I remembered that. Oh and is it OREOS or ORCAs today? A new KEALOA! Posted my last Crosshare puzzle for a while today, until my latest ones make the rounds. Not too hard, I don’t think, especially since the revealer is at the top. I confess that spanner in the middle is pure green paint, but perfect for the theme and one of my most fortuitous clues ever! Enjoy! <a href="https://crosshare.org/crosswords/0DsgOJ0hysH7g3FhfbKS/wheres-my-stash" target="_blank">https://crosshare.org/crosswords/0DsgOJ0hysH7g3FhfbKS/wheres-my-stash</a>
@SP tl;dr can just be a reply to a long block of text (too long; didn’t read) but it can also be used, often by the person who is posting the long block of text, to be a heading for a summary of that long block of text. This is the kind of thing you might see: Subject: should I move to another country? tl;dr: my wife has been offered a new job in Thailand but I am scared of flying Hi folks, I’ve been here on this forum for a long time and I always appreciate your advice. I wonder if you can help me figure out the pros and cons of my situation. Basically I’ve been scared of airplanes since I was 8 years old, when I somehow got the idea that Leslie Nielsen had given everyone on that plane food poisoning deliberately. It actually affected me more than just with airplanes. I’m now also terrified of bumbling police detectives and all men who might be described as silver foxes. Ironic because I’ve in my later years become somewhat of a silver fox myself. That’s how I met my wife, actually… [continues forever before finally settling into the point described by the tl;dr]
@SP When I see TL;DR in a comment section and think, “me too” I mean I skimmed it or just stopped reading or MEGO.
Well that was fun, chewy, and challenging. Thanks! As usual my total disinterest in sports and the bible held me back a bit, as did ideating before ideation. Some good wordplay, a famous brother clued better than in other recent puzzles, sausages, sneaky secondary seacraft, and more. I'm still not sure about the Attic clue. I will have to look it up but assume it's similar to Athenic. And the theme! It brought things together in a surprisingly effective and simple way. I liked this. Thanks again.
The editors insert easier puzzles to make things more accessible to less experienced solvers. It's a business decision. I don't see any need to call them patronizing.
SP, Commas are training wheels. See also circles for rebuses. Shouldn't they also offer the option of an Easy Thursday?
Like it. Ended up revealing 49D but rest was very get-able though not easy. Liked the sausage clue--should have been OBVI but wasn't until I had the "I" Only lookup was Dora.... 10D was mean: I had REF not REC and I still say that's what a CV calls them though of course they'd better BE recs.
I'm glad to say that I'm unfamiliar with TLDR. No one has ever been rude enough to send it to me! What kind of communication is this?! "Keep your garbage to yourself. I can't be bothered with it or you." That's just a slap in the face.
Excellent puzzle! I appreciated the new to me clue and answer sets and the overall sense of humor
Interesting to see both AITOOL and chat GPT in the same puzzle. Guess that’s the world we live in now. Overall loved the puzzle. I normally get scared when I see Sam’s name, but had a lovely solve tonight before bed. Thanks Sam!
I don’t pretend to know Sam's mind, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a goal of his to get them both into a puzzle.
I think this is my favorite Thursday crossword since I started doing these daily.
A puzzle that can engender intense curiosity in me when I begin is my favorite kind. Here, the combination of the commas and the halting clues sparked real curiosity. What in the world was this all about? And how good was the payoff? The payoff was quite good, as both the commas and the clues now made complete sense. The wordplay was clever and initially unpredictable, although of course it got very predictable as the trick became known. That's sort of a shame since the later theme entries are every bit as strong as the early ones and yet they're less surprising. Someone will tell me, please, why LSD TAB = "paper"? Thanks so much. What I don't know about psychedelic drugs would fill a pharmacy. I will never accept TURNT for drunk until it turns up in my own conversations. Which I'm quite sure it never will. And don't get me started on REKT, about which the less said, the better. The fill was a bit too youthy and slangy for my liking, but I did enjoy the theme which was a lot of fun.
@Nancy somebody got confused between tabs and blotters, I guess.
poem made from words in today’s puzzle… a/ rice for the worker paper for the work a prize for the team a fortune for the company the ape man’s in you’re out my dog you’re on a another job you’re a passenger paint something d/ a summary of where things are are things happening where you are i think you think things are happening i think of holding you i think holding you i get through in summary a/ please know i well now you know i mean like
There was nothing inherently wrong with this one. I just didn't enjoy it, and I can't put my finger on why? The theme was clever, it was reasonably tough, but it just didn't resonate with me...
Cute theme! Since I don’t know anything related to gaming, it took me several minutes to correct COMP to CORP, yielding REKT. (I’m familiar with “Fortune 500 Company” vs. “…Corporation.”) Learn something new every day!
Felt like a bait and switch. Lure me in with a Sam Ezersky Thursday. Oh, the possibilities! Give me a filler inner. I can't say I wasn't warned. As soon as I saw the giant commas, I felt my spirits SAG.
[Ooh, an online tech review magazine--sexy!] HOT, WIRED!
Except you have to give up the -d.
MOL, No, he doesn't. <a href="https://www.wired.com" target="_blank">https://www.wired.com</a>/
For some reason, the emus held this up for about two hours--the four-letter adjective?--and I'm glad they did, as, as @MOL pointed out, I got the number/tense of the entry wrong.
Bill, I thought you were just offering a random themer; didn't realize you were (mis)playing with 37D.
Thanks Sam! Fun breezy puzzle!
For anyone looking for extra free puzzles: Brendan Emmett Quigley publishes a Monday themeless and a Thursday puzzle each week. I've been doing the Monday one for a while now, but just started Thursday a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if it's always the case, but the ones I did each had some type of Thursday-like trick. So, if you enjoyable little trickery, you can find today's puzzle at: <a href="https://brendanemmettquigley.com" target="_blank">https://brendanemmettquigley.com</a>/ I'd put it at a medium difficulty level. His Monday's are great too, and more difficult than the NYT Saturday.
@Nancy J., thanks for the Quigley suggestion. I'm a huge fan of his puzzles. I just bookmarked the site!
Always imteresting when people post that a reference to this or that person upsets them, but no one ever complains about Meryl Streep -- who (in)famously leaped out of her seat to cheer on Roman Polanski at the Oscars.
It's the old story of the artist's work versus the artist's personal behavior and opinions. See Richard Wagner, Woody Allen, and many others. Vita brevis, ars longa.
I know what you're saying. There's a double standard as to who gets called out, and that bothers me too. That said, Al in Pittsburgh sums up my philosophy. I'd hate to see what would happen to my music collection if I held the artists to my personal standards for ethical behavior.
@Al in Pittsburgh It's not binary, of course. You can appreciate a movie without jumping out of your seat to applaud someone when they are in another country to avoid justice for taking advantage of a child.
I don’t know if this was hard or if it was easy. It took some thought, it took some trying different clues. But, it was enjoyable. I mean, it was quite playable.
Surprisingly easy for an Ezersky puzzle. Did the editors change most of the clues? I can't say I personally enjoyed the theme. I had always been annoyed by meaningless filler, even before I got to experience how truly horrifying it can get. In 2021 my wife and I stood in line to buy tickets at the Technik Museum Sinsheim in Germany. Two young American women were ahead of us and they never stopped talking - very loudly, too. Every other word they said was "like" - if I'm exaggerating then not by much! It was a very long line and it moved very slowly. I had no choice but to listen to the endless stream of consciousness peppered with countless "likes" for nearly an hour. I still shudder at the memory. Also, the theme didn't seem tricky enough for a Thursday - there was no gimmick, really, was there? It is would be more fitting on Wednesday.
What happened at the end there 😮 It would have been more fitting on Wednesday*
Well, @Andrzej, I didn't watch *Sexmission* last night, with or without subtitles, after all. On @aa's suggestion, I watch *Tucker and Dale vs. Evil* instead.
Okay, okay, flickers and flamingos aren't ASIAN! I finally figured that out. (And it turns out the Washington State University teams are the Cougars, not the Mountaineers.)
A Sam puzzle on a Thursday! Yay!! And it was every bit as good as I anticipated. Thank you, Sam!!
Got the gold star, but only after flyspecking. My fault for getting TURNT while puzzling.
Oh, man! I was so busy enjoying AVIANs in the clues that I put WVA in the puzzle. TARNT seemed okay, since it's nonsense. WVA is a very under-appreciated state--truly lovely
I liked the puzzle theme today with the cute making hesitation phrases into parts of sayings like WELL, CONNECTED. Overall maybe a bit too reliant on slang. Having both REKT and TURNT in the same puzzle in areas with some tough crossings while also having a lot of texting abbreviations like TLDR makes it a little inaccessible to anyone over 35. I thought it was spelled REKD and then crossing ME TARZAN which was a little bit of a weak clue because Tarzan is not an ape, he lives with them.
"...a little inaccessible to anyone over 35." Chris, ROFL! (And I'm too old for much rolling on the floor).
You've never heard of Tarzan the Ape-man??
I always cringe when the clue includes "gamer-speak" or "in modern lingo" or "modern slang".
@Chris as someone on the wrong side of 45, REKT and TURNT were gimmes for me, and TLDR took just a moment to adjust my head. I might not be as young as I was but I've pwned a noob in my time...
I appreciated the shout out to the Wawa HOAGIE. I might have one for supper. Thanks, Sean.
Good grief. Has Wawa expropriated the hoagie? A term that existed long before Wawa came on the scene?
Captain Q, Yes. <a href="https://csnews.com/wawa-hoagiefest-returns-summer-2026" target="_blank">https://csnews.com/wawa-hoagiefest-returns-summer-2026</a>
Captain Q They certainly own the value sector of the market in these parts. Now, if I want to spend a little more, I'll go to Capriotti's.
As for 46A, the answer works in America as I noticed that many sushi bars outside of Japan are actually Japanese food restaurants. In Japan, however, you would be hard pressed to find ramen served at a sushi bar.
@Mutsukoh Actually, most chain sushi restaurants in Japan (eg. Sushiro, Kura Sushi, Uobei, etc.) have at least one or two ramen options available. Certainly not the best ramen you could find, but it's cheap and cheerful and quite common! Naturally anyone expecting ramen at an omakase restaurant is going to be very disappointed.
Even in Edmonton, we all know the plural of "elk" is "eelk." If it's Wednesday again, does that mean I get tomorrow off?
With the proliferation of recently-coined singular team names that don't make sense (Seattle Kraken, Utah Mammoth), a plural name that doesn't make sense somehow makes sense.
"Eek, a mouse!" "Eelk, a moose!" (close enough, moose are very deer to me) Did you like Tucker and Dale?
36 Across: why does puppy = whelp? Thanks Also, is it just me or does the editors column frequently omit the trickiest or most obscure clues like this from the "tricky clue" section?
@Rafael Merriam-Webster is a great resource for this kind of question: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whelp" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whelp</a>
WHELP: <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whelp" target="_blank">https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whelp</a>
@Rafael yes- I come here for help and it’s usually all the ones I’ve answered on my own 😭
I knew WHELP as a verb and was reluctant to use it as a noun, but if it fitz, it sitz.
Had no idea that "whelp" was a noun either.
A female canine is said to "WHELP" when she gives birth. The puppies can be called WHELPS. The word may also describe a young, inexperienced worker. "Get busy, you young whelp, or I'll whup ya!"
I’m sorry you didn’t find the Tricky Clues section helpful today! Selecting the Tricky Clues can be ... tricky. Like crosswords as a whole, a clue’s difficulty is very subjective; one solver’s gimme is another’s stumper. I generally try to select question-marked clues that require a logical leap, misdirectors, neologisms that some folks may not have heard yet (see: REKT), or more deep-cut, “know it or you don’t” trivia. I also try to pick clues from different parts of the puzzle, for solvers who might be stuck in a particular corner or quadrant and need a toehold. And unless it solves to a real ten-dollar word, synonym-style clues don’t always lend themselves to a meaty explanation or teach a broader solving skill — there’s not much else to say about the connection between [Puppy] and WHELP, other than that WHELP is another word for puppy. Still, I understand the frustration when a clue that you want an explanation for doesn’t appear in the Tricky Clues section! I just wanted to provide a little insight into how I choose them. I hope that next one is more helpful.