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@Barry Ancona You liked it. I hated it. But I loved all the previous puzzles you said were too easy. Seventeen cheats and it's at last done! Whew. (Even while I was struggling, I thought, "Barry will like this.")
@ks I liked this puzzle and found it perfect for a Tuesday. I suspect many people did.
@polymatha And here's average solver me, so pleased that I was able to solve this Thursday puzzle without any cheating! I'm not a 'polymath', so I'm still proud of myself!
Thank you, Michael Lieberman, for a fun puzzle! Welcome back, Will Shortz! Happy New Year, everyone! Good fortune and happy solving to all!
@Barry Ancona For me, my nine cheats mean this is definitely a Thursday puzzle. Challenge enough for me!
A lovely, fun puzzle! No cheats! The last to fall was "fake tan" for BASE TAN, when I finally figured out 'boss level'. Thank you, Kiran Pandey! More please!
@John When I only needed twelve cheats (as opposed to Friday's nineteen cheats), I thought, oh, there will be complainers. And I was not wrong. (You thought Friday's beast was easy?) And still I plug along, slow but sure, in the right lane, so you can whizz on by me.
@NES This is one time my double major in Art History/Studio art came in handy. Taborets (aka Tabourets) are artists' task furniture, a wheeled, portable stand or cabinet, with drawers and shelves for storage, used to bring supplies to a work area. They held our paints and palettes in painting class. And of course, the art of Ensor was covered in Art History.
I found this a fun, invigorating puzzle. I got all the misquoted Shakespeare lines with no cheating. I came SO close to a cheat-free puzzle. But it was all filled in and I heard no music of completion. So I looked up various words about which I wasn't 100% certain. All were correct, until I came to 'Sceirra' for the astronaut. Alas, it was "SCHIRRA". I'd had 'abase' for 'ABASH'! So close, so close! Thank you Mr. Ross for a real work out!
At first I was completely mystified. Every clue with dashes just baffled. "Is this a WEDNESDAY puzzle?" Then I saw a Star Trek related clue, and my heart warmed some. It wasn't too long after that I had that "aha" moment, "Oh! THAT's what's going on!" I got all the answers, then, without cheating. It did take quite a bit more time than the usual Wednesday, but worth it.
@Barry Ancona At first I was puzzled because I was coming up with answers that had nothing to do with the clues! Then I noticed the gray squares, and realized that if I switched the gray letters around, I could get an answer that fit the clue. I'm pleased to have not needed an explanation of this. It felt like a reasoning process to me to arrive at this. Clever puzzle, really! And I hope to see more of Guzman's puzzles.
@George I needed thirteen cheats, I didn't find this one easy. It was a rather standard Saturday. Which opinion is in the majority? Who cares? Tomorrow is another day and another puzzle.
I found this puzzle great fun and was delighted to solve a Sunday puzzle without needing cheats! (Of course, this likely means too many will complain that it is too easy.) Thank you for giving the average solver a fun break! More, please?
As this puzzle needed SIX cheats, it felt more like a Thursday. Lots of trick clues: "Remote possibilities" (Buttons!) "Entrees" (Ins?!!!!?), for instance. But the clever theme and the poem Wiegmann wrote won me over.
I felt very glad to have figured out the theme on my own! I only needed four (or five) cheats, and most importantly, this puzzle was FUN! Thank you!
Excellent Tuesday puzzle! I vote for Alex Eaton-Salners to make many more puzzles!
A very fun puzzle. I look forward to more puzzles from Howard Neuthaler! (I liked the 'cuetips' and 'qscore', also.)
@Marshall Walthew I didn't take time yesterday to read the comments, so I went back and found your post. My sympathies on the loss of your mother and may the Sunday puzzles always make you feel close to her. (I got started on crossword puzzles from my Grandmother, as I began helping her solve.)
@Steve I found it tougher than usual. But the cleverness, which the animation highlighted, is so worth it.
This puzzle required THIRTY cheats! The most ever! (Brainiacs, pardon, I simply must vent!) Congratulations to all of you who loved this one, you have finally met your match!
I love Monday puzzles, and this one was an especially good one. But I breezed through it so quickly, I missed the subtleties until I read the Wordplay, "scheme", "con", "trick", "sting" = "racket". More clever than the average Monday puzzle!
I enjoyed this Friday puzzle, and had a few less cheats than I did on Thursday's (ten, compared to thirteen). But I got all the long answers on my own, and was quite delighted. How many will complain of puzzle ease? This average solver loved it, though! I hope Johnson and Musa work together again!
I loved this breezy puzzle. I'm quite sure I've never solved a NYT Monday puzzle in less than five minutes before, so today's time is a personal best. Great fun! Thank you, Ms. Handa!
Thank you for a fun Monday puzzle! I hope to see more of Elliot Caroll's creations!
@Isabeau That phrase is in a song from another musical, "The Sound of Music", "Sixteen Going on Seventeen": <a href="https://rodgersandhammerstein.com/song/the-sound-of-music/sixteen-going-on-seventeen" target="_blank">https://rodgersandhammerstein.com/song/the-sound-of-music/sixteen-going-on-seventeen</a>/
@Kevin I remember my mother (born in 1929), in northern Illinois, called five dollar bills 'fins'. I didn't know until I read the Wordplay that this slang term has Yiddish roots. And, yes, this was a fun puzzle!
I found this Monday puzzle delightfully breezy. It was a welcome relief after the hard weekend puzzles. I hope to see more puzzles from Neil Padrick Wilson.
I enjoyed this puzzle very much. I was just beginning to suspect a rebus, when I opened up the Wordplay article, and read the first sentence. Fortunately I found all the 'RAYs of sunshine' without much trouble. Thank you!
This was a fun puzzle! Delightfully delicious! Thank you!
@George Those of us who are merely 'average' solvers are very glad for a Sunday puzzle that we can manage without cheating. For me, this puzzle was just the right amount of difficulty. I did have to change several answers along the way, due to the clever misdirecting clues.
I'm glad Chad Hazen persisted! I found today's puzzle positively perfect. I hope to see more of Chad's puzzles.
My times solving the Saturday and Sunday puzzles won't reveal the full story. I spent far less time on the Saturday, as I began cheating right away, and cheated twenty seven times. However, I loved spending time on the Sunday puzzle. Even so, I got it all filled and didn't hear the music. I was able to find two of my mistakes on my own, but couldn't detect the third, so I brought up the answer pdf. Alas, I'd spelled the Iraqi city as 'Samaria', but TIL, there's two cities with a similar name. 'Samaria' is in the West Bank of Palestine. This was a fun puzzle. I hope to see many more puzzles from Tracy Gray.
Another fine puzzle! The creator AES even continues the tree theme in his comments about it. I'm sure most will 'root for' more of Alex's creations! (Loving trees, irises and bees!)
@Liz B I also had ALT for HGT, eventually it became clear the answer had to be an alternative way of referring to 'elev'. I enjoyed this puzzle quite a bit! It now just dawned on me, as I'd thought earlier, "I've never heard of the 'rubber' breed," it is the TOY duck!
@Derek Ledbetter "LIMA" bean seemed mostly likely, until it felt to 'FAVA' bean. And for AMA, of course I put in 'doc', and of course I was wrong. And I first had 'range' for "tenor, alto, soprano", then it became 'sexes' before it settled into SAXES. Lots of tricky stuff in this one!
Great fun! I'm impressed that this is Anthony V. Grubb's first submission. I hope to see many more of his puzzles! Great start to the week!
A very fun puzzle! I got up by having "slyest" for "SLIEST" and "eons" for "ERAS". But I found all the "autos". I hope to solve more puzzles by Killian Olson.
Quite a fun puzzle! I love the wit of the 'yoo' answers. I very nearly had a cheat free puzzle, but... I had 'GAG' for 'hilarious thing' , not GAS. And yes, ('get lists' doesn't make as much sense as SET LISTS.) But... Thank you for a lovely start to the week!
@Bill I agree, I needed three cheats, and I never need cheats on a Wednesday puzzle. I didn't know the Janney character, nor the 'walk-up', nor the popular Mexican beer. But I understand why, fitting a tougher puzzle in to match the theme to the day. It was fun, nonetheless, with lots of fresh fill!
Very fun puzzle! Thank you, Joseph Gangi! (Your name has "one 'i'!)
@RI guy While I too pray Shortz recovers, we must realize he may be wanting to retire at this point, as he is 71 (I retired ten years earlier than that. A body gets pooped, even if one loves their job). He has given us many years of puzzle joy, for which I'm grateful. Meanwhile, Fagliano is doing a great job.
@Tom z I too had 'data' at first. Also, 'motto' at first. It didn't take me long until those answers changed. Very nice Monday!
"ARIZONA’s state flag features only one star," but it's a very BIG star! This puzzle was great fun! Thank you, Todd Gross, for such a fun puzzle!
This was a completely delightful puzzle! Thank you, John Kugelman! More, please!
@Steven M. Around eight minutes is my usual Tuesday solve time. Tonight it was 10:39. Even though hard at first, it eventually softened.
At first I was mystified by all the clues with the italics. What I obtained from horizontal fills resulted in what looked like gibberish. "This is a MONDAY puzzle?????" Then I caught one of the answers to the italics clues, filled in by all the horizontal answers. I looked at it with my head turned, "Oooooh, THAT's what's going on!" I figured out the rest of the puzzle easily after that, in 'average' time for a Monday. Happy April Fools Day!
I didn't notice all the Os when I was solving it, so I was quite surprised to see the cool animation after I solved it. This is SO clever! I hope we see a lot more from Jeremy Newton!
I love the wit of this puzzle, the 'ah ha' when I figured out the scrambled words, and that the answers all seemed natural. I did not need any cheats, a treasured rarity on a Sunday. But, oh, did I ever have a typo. I couldn't find it, even though I combed the answer pdf along with the puzzle three times. Finally, the spouse had to sit at the computer chair and.... viola! I had 'play' for 'PLAN', somehow I didn't see the wrongness of 'bowiyg'! I hope to see many more such puzzles from Sam Brody!
I had no clue as to what the theme was all about. I couldn't see a way to make SIX words out of 'A Star is Born'. (As tar is born????) However, I managed to solve it with only three cheats and was surprised to hear the music. Thank you, Deb Amien, for explaining this puzzle!
At first, I was a bit frustrated, I was starting to rack up a few cheats. "Beldames!?!" On a Wednesday??? Happy B'day? Was the creator addressing a particular solver? But after reading the Wordplay, I understand why. I'd failed to notice all the clues began with 'b'. I didn't pay attention even to the 'B-B's of bumblebee, baby bottle and baseball bat (B-B-B!) Well made puzzle! Thank you!