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25A. HOWCANIRE_I__ Making it to Friday after a long work week, there was only one thing on my mind, if the offer was really amazing: HOWCANIRETIRE TGIF!!! 😀
__RCUS_ION I am very much a light sleeper, must be that circus lion roaming around.
Spoiler for the mini crossword below... I did not get TEENTSY as well. I had it spelled as teensie. Also, I had BIGKAHUNA, at first, having just come over from the mini. Is it possible that puzzle was there on the same day for an intentional misdirect? Lol I had to look up a couple of things, but over all, nice puzzle.
That was a nice puzzle, congrats to the constructor! For me, I had just a few lookups. Also, I did not know GROK and had "minemap" before realizing it was MINIMAP. I only got half the theme. I realized the IT was removed but didn't understand the passing back and forth. That's on me, though. I'm disappointed in myself because I recall a recent puzzle with AorB which was the clue for the entry right next door. I did get the trickery of that puzzle, but for some reason I didn't connect (in today's puzzle) that these were clues involving the next door neighbor as well. I guess it was just too SUBTITLE for me, or perhaps I'm not the BRITAIN I thought I was! Still impressed with the grid, though. I know I'll grok it next time.
Really enjoyed this one, great theme!Congrats to the constructor! I liked "crude cavity" and "higher in rank". I tried something different today... instead of looking things up, I filled in some entries with my best guess, and seeing the wrong letters in there made me realize what the correct answer was. Towards the end, I only looked up one word (wheat capital), but that's it! I came so close to nailing the dismount!
@Jill I'm rather new to crosswords also, and before I got a subscription I used to look up the puzzles in an already-solved view and just read the clues and answers. I think I learned a lot that way, whether I liked the clues or not. I did go to another publication to solve their puzzles bc it was free. I did that for 2 or 3 months then got my subscription to the NYT. I'm not yet a month into my subscription and can now solve Mondays - Wednesdays with relative ease (just a few lookups). And I like being challenged on the other days. You can go to the archives if you want to try more Monday ones. I actually learn alot from the comments here, especially from the more seasoned folks. More than once, I learned something that eventually helped me on another puzzle. The comments are entertaining too, sometimes! 😆
I was able to finish the puzzle with zero help and pretty fast, too. (Not as fast as some of you, though). Either I'm finally getting good at this or it was a little easy! I did "get" that it was a Schrodinger half way through. It was kind of cool when I figured it out, as this was the first of its kind that I've solved after reading about them. I didn't bother to enter both letters, though, it was enough for me that I knew what was happening. However, I wish there was a way to require you to put all the letters in so that you're really solving the Schrodinger part. It sounds like folks missed that, and that was the point of the puzzle! Overall, nicely done, kudos to the constructor!
Deb, I started crossword solving almost a year ago, and have no doubt relied on your column many times. You have a wonderful way of helping solvers that is kind, gentle and informative (not to mention witty and funny). Thank you for making me a better solver! Best wishes for your retirement!
For a while I had "caucus stunt" for the chainsaws and was convinced it was correct. I also had "rent to own" in the upper left. I eventually figured those out. Fun theme, it must have been tough to construct! I appreciate the great effort it must have taken. I liked the delivery people, night light and bug killer clues. Now, time for a snack break! :)
Tough puzzle for me but I learned a bunch. The hardest section was the northeast. I did have hail but nothing else. I also had unbelievable instead of mind boggling, so that threw me off. I also got "skip class" very quickly. I knew all those times I skipped class would one day pay off. Lol
I was so proud when I solved the left "bottleful" clue to be HENNESSY. I had the H and the first N. As someone who does not drink, go me for getting a drinking-related clue! I was certain Hennessy had something to do with beating opponents soundly. I eventually solved the puzzle without any lookups. And I never heard of "cleaning one's clock" before. Yay! I'm getting better! Celebrating with a drink.... Tea.
@Grant I had to LOL at your comments too. As a once young lady snowboarder on many a lift line, I've literally heard that line you just gave, so, so, so many times, LOL.
Re the climbing analogies, I think it's kind of a fair analogy. When working on a particular route, its called projecting. It was literally called a project. It's like doing Monday puzzles all the time until I can do it (I'm fairly new to crosswords). Sure the mountain is nature whereas puzzles are human-made, but with both, you learn a bit with each go. You get good at certain parts, find new toeholds or ways to "solve" the problem. Many routes do not call for a dyno, but I had to try that anyway because i could not reach the hold. There's no blame, just what my limited height (or limited exposure to some pronouns) brings. And yet, that entire route, while hard for me, could be "easy" for other climbers. The point I'm making, as many are, is that there need not be a set-in-stone (no pun intended) formula for Mon, Tues etc. Perhaps there are hard Mondays and easy Tuesdays, without needing the puzzles to switch days. I see it more generally, where Mon-Tues will be, on the whole, easier than Thur-Fri. I got this Tuesday puzzle with greater ease than yesterday's but that's ok. I figured yesterday had a hard fill, but the theme was "easy" (last part of the entry is doubled). Today, maybe the theme was considered harder but the fill was easier. (That said, I've received acupuncture so that helped, but never heard of Little Lulu). All in all, they were both fun, and will be easier than what's to come the rest of the week!
@sotto voce Ah, I see your point of view and can appreciate that! Thanks for sharing that. I thought it was interesting, too, the choices I ended up entering: John Cusack, The Hulk, Sim City and Plasticity. I also appreciate your post-solve analysis, I do that too. I think there might be folks who solve and don't go to the column/comments and may have missed the aha moment altogether, even post-solve. I feel they have missed out appreciating such a good puzzle.
Ah, I understand, thank you both!!
@Lewis I love that list of clues also. The only reason I knew Stetsonhat was because Malaika Handa had a puzzle very recently, and when I looked up her old puzzles I saw she also had a similar "ranch dressing" clue for Stetson a couple years ago. I think it's a brilliant clue and that helped me get it this time around! 😀
@Elise I thought it was "so" as well, but since it was three letters I tried "sew" because the lyrics after are "a needle pulling thread" @Jeremy thanks for explaining "solfrege"!
@TTJ Meaning if I drank, I'd feel soundly beat. I just realized my comment could be read wrong!
@Lady Morgan Kelly Diana It took me well over an hour as well, but thats okay! I'm getting better and speed has nothing to do with it, at least not on Sundays. This puzzle made for a fun Sunday, indeed. Hope you enjoy your Sunday as well!
@Wayne C same, that was the last letter I had to fill.
Wonderful puzzle! I haven't had a chance to read through the comments to see if this was mentioned but can anyone explain 52A, how "buys" and "believes" are related? I understand the "by the pound" part. Thanks!
@Jeff when walking in the summer I always walk slightly away from the side of buildings. Water dripping on your head from ACs is gross. AC was my first guess but I was thinking "ACWATER" at first.
@HeathieJ I interpreted the "smiles" in the clue to be an extra hint that the tiles can be in tiny pieces that could actually form a "smile shape" on top of the cutesy aspect of rhyming with tiles. I could be wrong.
@Boaz Moser I can hear them all the way from NY!! 😀
@Nora I found a second meaning as well. The puzzle theme is to replace IT with OUT. Since the T is the same, you're really replacing I with OU. So I read that answer as a reference to the theme involving I and OU... In other words, the puzzle is about IOUS. I skimmed through the comments, not sure if anyone saw that too!
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