SP

I usually don’t complain about puzzles—especially debuts—but this one was extremely disappointing. The theme was cute but not that funny or remarkable. Given that you absolutely need the crosses I’ve never seen so many ambiguous clues that could be filled by very close words—BASE/BASS MOTE/MITE, MICRO/MACRO, CEOS/CFOS/CIOS. Then there’s SMOOVE and MAMA which is a horrible Natick—I don’t mind learning new cultural references but a cross like that is really questionable especially when you can clue MAMA differently. Same with PEG and YUNG—I don’t mind PEG so much although it’s a reach but when crossed with an obscure rapper. No really fun or clever clues. I’m so sorry this one left me cold. I will put a lot of this more on the editors and I would encourage this new contributor to keep at it, as the idea had a lot of potential.

So I’m beginning to get a handle of what’s been bugging me lately. Would love to get your feedback. I think we are entering an era with very “technical” constructors. By that I mean, constructors who come up with a clever, difficult theme, that may require some software to engineer and that would be hard to construct otherwise. No doubt they do it well. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to that, or even AI to an extent. But somehow, it seems, that’s all it is. I look at this puzzle today and I come away with a bunch of words but no real sense of this constructor’s personality, interests, or wit. Look, I use software to construct my puzzles, no doubt. But at some point I might say, yeah, this works, but it’s not me, and I start again. And I agonize over all my clues to reflect my own humor and preferences, whether the editors use them or not, and at least the theme reflects my unique personality whether you appreciate it or not. I look at today’s puzzle and while I acknowledge its technical prowess it just doesn’t inspire me. Maybe it’s because I view constructing as more of an art than a puzzle. Ok enough from me, am I being unreasonable, obtuse, or catty, or is this resonating with others? What do you think? if I’m off-base I’d love to hear that too.

Wow this was a debut!? I’m floored (or in orbit would be a better metaphor). Gotta give credit where credit is due. And I don’t know how much is due the constructor and how much the celestial crossword gods, obviously a lot of both. The odds of being able to put all the planets in this grid, with circles in the relative orbital lengths, with decent fill, a revealer PLANETS stacked with ORBITAL right next to it, and two other somewhat related fill (TITAN and PERSEIDS) is, well, just astronomical. I’m a Pluto fan as well and Bryan you better thank whoever declassified it because that would have been a bridge too far. You just have to marvel at it. Before I came here I was determined to say that if anyone complained about how easy the solve was (of course, it’s a Tuesday, and the theme is obvious, so what) or that the Sun isn’t doing anything, or that the circled letters don’t spell anything, I would throw my phone at the wall. And OF COURSE that’s the first comment. Time to get a new phone I guess. Expecting bigger and better things from you, Bryan—although there’s not much bigger than the solar system and the crossword gods will not always be as kind.

Loved the puzzle theme overall and a really cute idea but some of the clues were torturous at least the way they were clued. I had two absolute Naticks, UZI and SUZIE and ADELEH and BELLE, all fairly obscure references, and since three of them could have been clued less ARCANEly it seems like it would have been fair to make at least one of the references more accessible. Anyone else feel that way or is it just me?

We don’t always give a lot of love to Monday puzzles, either solving or constructing—at least I don’t. And I’m really not a fan of word ladders generally. But let’s give credit where credit is due—this was an extremely tight Monday puzzle with a ton of theme content, and to do that and make it entirely accessible to Monday solvers deserves a lot of applause.

Wow, the constructor in me is just stanning. I can’t remember when I’ve seen this dense of theme material. I loved your sweet constructor’s note, Hoang, but what I really want is a geek out about how you came up with this idea, how hard it was to implement, and what was going through your brain while you were creating it. I feel like I’m looking at a Dali or Bosch painting that you can look at for hours and still marvel at the details. 3 reveals. The appropriate use of CAN as the reused word. The smoothness of the reduced words that so precisely mirror their longer version. The elegance of the recycling words that use the same letters again exactly and no more. Maybe this is more of a constructor’s puzzle but I hope the allure to the solver is the slow burn of gradually revealing the themes and wondering how they will all fit together. Two more unrelated notes: I guess they wanted a head start on REUSE when they reused FLY yesterday? And second I hadn’t heard of LOUCHE and I had everything but the L at first—I guarantee you it wasn’t the first letter that came to mind.

What to say? I hate to burst the bubble of these two constructors who put a lot of time, thought and heart into this. This would have been a fine Monday puzzle on an average day. I suppose it was put on Wednesday because the editors thought it was April Foolsworthy. But it just really wasn’t. Cute idea, yes, gave you a second of pause when you had to figure out why the quip wasn’t a quip, but just a second. Oh and let’s circle the letters just in case there was a remote chance that we might actually fool someone, we wouldn’t want that. And in the meantime how many brilliant April Fools tricks have we seen through the years— is there nothing trickier that had been submitted? (Even if it were a little trickier than the average Wednesday?) And maybe a misleading or tricky clue somewhere in the grid? Anywhere? I think by any estimation both Monday and Tuesday were more engaging and Wednesday worthy than today. I’m sorry in the spirit of kindness I really debated posting this, I don’t want to hurt the constructors or any poster who really liked it. But I think I can at least be honest, and if I had created and submitted this and it had been posted with those clues on an April Fools Wednesday I would be very disappointed and would not be hurt by someone saying so.

Truth be told, I’m a sucker for tall stacks (or long stacks in this case). They do often make for faster solves, since a few crosses and they all fall into place; but I’m still in awe at their construction especially when they are so fresh and well made as today. I have no idea how anyone creates these. So I still tip my hat to the constructor for this fast but fascinating puzzle. Emus ate my first attempt so apologize if there’s another version which ends up posting.

Wow, Katie Hoody has had some solid puzzles but this was one for the ages. I’m surprised people found this easier than yesterday because it took me about 50% longer. Not sure I would have ever found an in if I hadn’t come up with WENTONTOUR and SCARYMOVIE on my own. I can’t find one flaw in this grid, and I can’t find it a single clue that wasn’t well thought out or phoned in. Even OREO for Pete’s sake, I was looking for an early movie title. Any of the clues you thought would be gimmes weren’t—COT instead of IRA, UMPS before BIRD (my fault not noticing it wasn’t plural), EVEN before OVAL, BYTE before LIMA, it just goes on. Folks when we say that a lot of what makes a Saturday a Saturday is not the grid but the clues, this is what we mean. And the longer entries were also clued brilliantly one after another. Just look at the central spanners and all those brilliantly clued stacks. I’m not going to list my favorite clues because I don’t have enough space and I would hate to leave any out. Between yesterday and today I have hope that the weekend themeless solve is getting back to its former glory.

So it never ceases to amaze me how a grid that seems insurmountable at first suddenly falls into place. It’s why I keep telling new solvers to be patient. I had nothing, absolutely nothing in the top half, except maybe a bastardized version of RIGVEDA that I couldn’t spell if my life depended on it. Then I had (incorrectly) MATEINTWO and TSARS which at least got me MARINA and eventually MIMOSA and the rest of that corner, Then it was Ghostbusters to the rescue with ECTOPLASM which opened up that corner despite having NONE before BOTH. In the NW for “settled above stools” I had lots of versions of toushie, etc., but BAD… (BADGUYS? BADDIES?) along with the R of RIG led me to BAR something and eventually BARBETS. Eventually the middle came which got me an in to the NE despite having OBGYN before NEURO as my first guess. So folks, just be fearless, be open, wait for that bit of inspiration and those few letters that make sense and suddenly even the hardest puzzles can be revealed to you. And this was no walk in the park. Thanks Cameron for a great workout. Loved DOGBREATH and BARBETS (with BEERMATS in the other corner) and GANGPLANK and LATTEART. And ENVIES over GREED. Speaking of which, it’s a sin that you can put this together in an hour, there ought to be a special circle in Dante’s hell for you where you have to push an OED to the top of a mountain only to have it fall again, or maybe have to write clue after clue for OREO each one original or you will fall in a vat of acid.

The most irreproachable puzzle in a while, I hope, not withstanding another ARHAT. The clue for KENS is the funniest I’ve heard in a long time

All I can say is PHEW!!!! I predict this is going to be a controversial puzzle for a lot of reasons, but I absolutely loved it. It was like a puzzle within a puzzle within a puzzle. First I saw the title and said, ok, we are looking for the odd letters in the entry (that’s the cryptic crossword freak in me). Then I saw the circles and said, gee, why spoil it and give it away? But that was the least of my worries. Then I was afraid one clue would just be the odd letters from another which would be a giveaway. Then I thought, ok it’s a synonym of the odd letters, which is better. But then it’s a misdirecting crossword clue for the odd letters—WHAT THE FUDGE? That’s crazy! THEN to top it off, the rest of the fill and clues are no walk in the park for a Sunday either, and we have a real barn burner on our hands! I suspect this will be a bridge too far for many solvers, and that’s ok, I really do understand your issues. But for me, who doesn’t mind some stretchiness in the service of a mind blowing theme, crazy construction skills, and an overall fantastic challenge, this was heaven for me. Glad you’re back, Mark, and I can see why you are a dentist, you like to torture people and this puzzle definitely was like pulling teeth in the best possible way: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bOtMizMQ6oM&ra=m" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bOtMizMQ6oM&ra=m</a>

Great puzzle, but there’s got to be a cleverer clue for GOATYOGA. How about “fitness class that might lead to firm butts?”

“All the vowels are in order!” Tom said, facetiously.

So this was MUCH more impressive than it seems at first glance. When I saw the first themer, I was a little bit “ho-hum”. But then when I realized it was the same clue each time, and how natural and elegant the entries were with phrases related to making/forming etc., I was wowed. (BUILDABEAR was my favorite). And thanks Isaac for giving us a little insight into how the sausage was made. Terrific decision to keep it to four themers, because this was a very interesting, chewy grid for a Wednesday and would have been fun even without the theme. Some clever clues like “Veg out in a spa” and “paper view” and even a fresh OREO clue. I liked the ASAHI and SAKE cross and the “Brest friends” near ABREAST, not to mention TROTS and TROTSKY. . Happy to say I got THEDEETS with little prompting, I guess crosswords are making me cooler. I like the little misdirect of MORDOR before MTDOOM. Last, I always love a crossword coincidence, and I just got back from a wedding where I shared CAKE with a former member of the Village People, who shared his YMCA moves with us during the disco party the night before. You can’t beat that!

I think VACUUM PUMPS would also be excellent footwear to go with the DUST JACKET.

Wow this was lovely, haven’t see a nice tribute theme like this for a while and a great grid and animation. I just wish I hadn’t read the title, or the editors had been more circumspect about it, because I read the first theme clue, popped down to the bottom and filled in WILLIAM TELL, and the rest of the theme filled itself. Or even if it had said “subject of this theme” rather than “legendary folk hero”. Still, can’t fault this theme or its construction, very on target all the way. Last, I’ll get it out of the way, where does William Tell (or the Lone Ranger, as it’s usually told) take his garbage? To da dump, to da dump, to da dump dump dump…

So before I read the constructor notes I was going to start by saying how excited I always am for a Zhou/Curry collaboration (or solo efforts for that matter)—I always expect a clever twisty theme, a sterling grid, and sparkling clues, and wasn’t disappointed today (uplifting coverage, anyone?). Well, actually this theme is a little tame by their standards, but still tight, fun and entertaining. But now after reading their notes I can focus on telling them that if their goal is to bring joy to others with their crosswords, they certainly have accomplished that with me, and I’m sure many others. I’m heartbroken to hear of the passing of their friend, and what a fitting way to pay tribute to someone else who brought joy to others in their own way as well. Thanks for passing it on, over and out!

Wondering if anyone else did a double take at the clueing of HAREM and questioned whether it was culturally tone-deaf. I’m trying to keep an open mind about it. Reading more about it, I understand it was a place where women could interact with each other in a safe, secluded place and that it was a respected family institution. But on the other hand, in the bigger picture, it seems like it was an institutionalized way to keep women from interacting with the outside world, and the fact that it was thought of as “protection” gives some indication of their status—who or what did they need “protecting” from? So, ultimately, it just seemed like a clue that seems to promote a positive connotation on a cultural practice which doesn’t seem at all positive from our modern perspective. To use an extreme example, if there were a clue for some protected space for slaves in America, I doubt that would be well-received. Maybe that’s a stretch and I hope not offensive to anyone. Just wondering if it gave anyone else pause.

So the theme was EEZPPZ since EEONDOWNTHEROAD was a gimme to me. But oddly enough another theme could have been Trivia I’ve Never Even Heard Of (but maybe should). TABOURET, VOILE, STAYMAN, PUENTE, ENSOR,SINEBAR, EMILIO and ANTIHERO (as a Taylor Swift song) as a start—a long list for me for a Sunday. If I were like many commentators lately I suppose I would just say it’s the worst puzzle ever and blame it on the editors in Will’s absence. Instead I’m going to chalk it up to one of those days the constructor just has a wider experience than I do in those areas, or else dug further in their word bank to make a really tight clever theme work. So I'll just be grateful that today I got to learn a lot of new things and managed to get through the puzzle regardless, admittedly having to run through the alphabet a few times.

First, thank you Sam for your timely words. They are a good reminder that we should be able to reflect on our experiences without putting down anyone else’s. I thought this was an extremely well executed grid and theme in my opinion. There’s the grid art—then the excellent theme material. I personally appreciate that the themes were all gettable on crosses but none of them were obvious or gimmes (to me at least and I do enjoy movies). I thought this was a class A grid as well. I had no issues with TRANK or DOTER. Yeah, SLEEKEN’s a little clunky, but perfectly legit. And I actually love OGREISH as a word. And in the meantime look at the medium sized stacks in the corners. All this while crossing 4 long theme entries and maintaining the grid art. That’s not easy folks. Steve L I hear you, there was a bit of straightforward clueing for some of the short entries. But I thought it wasn’t overdone for a Wednesday and still decently crunchy for me. Thumbs up from me.

Trying again, emus: This has been one of the best solving weeks, starting with Sunday, that I can remember, and today’s offering continues the trend. I can hardly forget Mr. Spooner’s first offering, which was New Year’s Day, since he happens to have the same exact name as my crossword loving boss whom I mailed to ask how he could have submitted a puzzle without telling me. I was impressed then and even more impressed today. This was a proper Friday! The only gimmes were trivia that I happened to know—BOGART, VINNIE Barbarino, Anna KARENINA, and THEOLOGY as a stab—and without them I’m not sure what other footholds I would have had—and even with them had to work hard in every crack and crevice. The SE almost did me in since I had HINNY before JENNY (I guess I shouldn’t pull answers out of my α$$ and I couldn’t find a preposition after SNEAK that looked like it would go with an N and D going down (oh, that Acrobat!) Too many sparkling clues to mention and few duds, but I’d call out IN-LAWS, DAFFODILS and DONOTDISTURB for best clues of the week. Nice reminder of yesterday’s puzzle with Secondhand Offerings. Please no pearl clutchers for W*F, it’s not a debut and civilization will not collapse. Finally, ESOPHAGI has the same number of letters as RIGATONI for tubes going down, but luckily I was so sure about BOGART I didn’t swallow it for too long. Thanks Andrew and editors!!!

“This is the perfect time to change to another bug spray!” TRADE IN THE OFF SEASON “Our deodorant expires very quickly” YOU CAN’T KEEP A SECRET “Our laundry detergent is no longer very popular” TIDE IS GOING OUT “Our dish soap formula no longer works” DAWN IS BREAKING These just go to show how hard this is, all of the included ones are so much better!

I guess I’m going to be the first negative Nelly today. I have a lot of respect for Ms. Lin usually but what the heck has happened to Thursdays lately? They are rapidly turning from my favorite day to my least favorite. Early week puzzles seem to be getting more interesting (I enjoyed all of them this week more than today’s) and Friday and Saturday, while getting easier, are at least still engaging and have a share of fun clues. But Thursdays have lost all spark. This theme while cute doesn’t seem worthy of a Thursday. Two themers use the same trick and the other two were just ho-hum. (I admit I was looking for angel food initially for the “rings on top”.) Any enjoyment I might have had was squelched by the inordinate number of gimmes—again seemingly even more than the early week puzzles, are they trying to overcompensate for a trickier theme? Finally it’s a turn off when your first two clues are so clunky—agree that GOIPO just doesn’t sound like something anyone would say on Wall Street, and while BACH IT is a thing I can’t imagine anyone actually writing it that way. I know it’s officially a spelling—but it sounds more like playing Baroque music and I would desperately avoid writing the phrase down, or if I did would write it BATCHIT although it’s equally clunky. Also thought the ADORED and POSER clues were just off. Just to add a positive at least I did like the “oil bigwig” clue and the clues for WAN and FROST. But those were my only bright spots, to be brutally honest.

Loved, loved, loved this but too gobsmacked to even know what to say right now. DERRIÈRE RIDER DERIDED is going to keep me smiling for a week. I think it will be more fun just to wait and see what everyone says because this puzzle will be as polarizing as it gets, I can’t wait to watch the nuclear fallout. I do need to ask—were any AI’s harmed in the making of this puzzle?

Hope no one HATESON this puzzle, because I thought it was TODIEFOR. I had almost nothing until somewhere near the bottom and even then not sure how I got a foothold, in retrospect. A ton of fantastic misdirects, loved the MEDSCHOOL clue (natch) and STARTERKIT and TAXEXILE not far behind. Even the non misdirecting clues were well written and interesting—ANTICOMEDY (I was thinking of what we used to call “Shaggy Dog Stories”) and WHENINROME. Would expect nothing less of these great constructors. The NW was particularly tricky for me as I had SEDATE before ATEASE (there’s a DOOK) and EGGS for the scallop clue before EYES. Well done, could have even been a Saturday, certainly! If tomorrow if even harder I look forward to it.

I’m oddly a bit dissatisfied with this puzzle, for an unclear reason that is probably unfair to the constructor. I mean, it’s a clever idea that is well executed overall, and a decent grid that was hard to fill—several reasonably long stacks. Yeah a few gluey/Naticky areas that ordinarily wouldn’t bother me much for a difficult theme. I thought the challenge was appropriate for a Wednesday, or even a little tough which is a positive for me. And I would have used a separate clue for the duplicate entry, but again, not a big deal. I guess what is bugging me is it’s missing a little bit of a fun factor, and it just seems like the constructor had to jump through a lot of hoops to convey the theme which seemed a bit forced. So again, I hate to sound negative over a puzzle that was actually clever and well constructed. Just sometimes that’s not enough to translate to full enjoyment, probably more my problem. Has anyone noticed that we seem to missing more constructor notes than usual lately? Wonder why that is. I miss them, especially for a puzzle like this where I really would like to hear more about the genesis of the theme and the constructor’s thought process and how they came up with the entries.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. A nice tight theme that did add to the solve for me—once I figured it out, I had fun trying to guess the other themers. I also found the clues and the entries much chewier and cleverer than Thursdays have been of late, which I really appreciate as well. A word about Ptolemy—this isn’t my field per se, but it’s interesting to note that Ptolemy wasn’t just some ignorant pre-Copernican astronomer who was slavishly confirming to some orthodox philosophy with no scientific basis. In fact Ptolemy created a detailed, mathematically complex scheme for a geocentric theory that really did fit all the available data and plotted the movement of the planets remarkably accurately. It wasn’t just that the planets moved around the earth, he had to create the idea of epicycles—that the planets made minor circular movements in addition to their main orbits around the earth, which explained their occasional retrograde motion—the illusion that they were moving backwards in their orbit compared to the earth. In any case, it was an extremely complex system, and one which stood the test of time for hundreds of years and was consistent with every astronomical observation. So by all means give Copernicus his due, but also give credit to those before him who really tried to make sense of the universe in an intellectually rigorous way as well.

In yesterday’s comments @Lm asked me for a response that I didn’t see until late, and I think it’s such a legitimate question that it deserves an answer. They essentially asked for some specifics about what made yesterday’s puzzle easier for a Saturday, and how anyone could call this “a Tuesday puzzle”. The answer is, no thoughtful commentator would call it a Tuesday puzzle, but they might complain about too many Tuesday clues spoiling the solve. And it doesn’t necessarily take a lot. For yesterday, 1-d was “Into every life, some ___ must fall—Longfellow.” In my opinion, that’s a Tuesday clue. It’s an extremely common phrase and even if you’ve never heard it, it’s extremely guessable. But more importantly it’s 1-D. So you’ve basically spent so much time laboring over a beautiful set of four long stacked entries, and handed me, for free, the first letter of each of them. It’s a huge leg up and the equivalent, to use Anonymous’s analogy, of putting bumpers on an experienced bowler’s lane. And it seems so unnecessary—we’re not asking to change the grid, just give us a more puzzling clue. Anyway, that’s my take, and I hope no one considers it elitism or boasting, just an honest response to a fair question.

After reading some of your responses to Sam’s comments, I feel the need to respond again and be very clear. I don’t believe that complaining about the lack of challenge in a puzzle is a priori unwelcoming. I am certainly not being “judgmental” by doing so (even if you take it that way) nor is it about elite “super smart” people who want the puzzle catered to them. It’s the opposite—I have only respect and praise for those who are embarking on their crossword journey. I think you are all super smart if you are attempting it and coming to the comments to grow and learn. And I know lots of people who are super smart—certainly smarter than me—that don’t have the inclination, patience or the experience yet to finish a late week puzzle. Solving NYT crosswords is a skill like any other that involves lots of elements, not just trivia knowledge—understanding word patterns, recognizing common conventions, lateral thinking, even learning crosswordese which is a regrettable but necessary part of construction. It’s not for everyone but I firmly believe that EVERYONE who wants to can hone those skills and continue to get better. It shouldn’t just be “can I finish the puzzle by myself” and keep my streak. I would be delighted if every Saturday there is something I can get only by crosses or even something I had to look up because that is how I learn. (Continued below, sorry to be long winded but I am clearly passionate about this)

Fabulous debut. Perfect fun theme, excellent grid, and despite the early comments I think more of a Wednesday challenge than Tuesday. Loved the Houdini clue. Going on my list of early week POY nominations. I expect more great puzzles from you!

If you are up for another crossword, and want to see what nonsense my brain can come up with, the LA Times is publishing my Sunday puzzle this weekend as a special birthday present for me. I think they post midnight EST. Unlike the NYT we don’t get to review the final version, so I can’t make any guarantees about the overall challenge or any individual clues. They did do a very patient, meticulous job working with me on the theme entries and grid, so I’m sure their editing will be wonderful. If you do try it and want to comment, just remember to include a spoiler alert before any specific comments or notes.

Really really clever. I figured out the trick easily enough—a missing letter where the asterisk was—which made it pretty easy to guess the themes, but I love a theme where you can’t wait to see what the revealer would be and this one didn’t disappoint. A quick solve but extremely fun. LOL before I realized that the missing letters were always B or N I was looking for COVID of Ancient Greece and imagining some sort of mythological epidemic!

Beaucoup style points for this one. 6 tight themers, the revealer fits the theme as well as being ia revealer, two crossers which UPS the constructing difficulty immensely (even though you do have a gimme Y/B at the cross), a fresh themer in BIRDBYBIRD and a great grid with not much glue—what’s not to like? Anyone would be proud to have their BYline on this one.