Wesley
Houston
Prez in the sixties was diabolical
If I’ve learned any 1 lesson from my 4 or so years of working the NYT crossword, it’s that a 4 letter running shoe brand is NEVER Nike.
40 years ago, I never would’ve guessed my Qbert addiction would pay off for me
“Gala throwaway” next to “theatre throwaway” was devious and brilliant
@Frankie B Greta Garbo is hardly obscure
@Paul H. Figuring out that it’s a rebus puzzle is part of the solve
My wife loves to watch me do the crossword every morning. She doesn’t usually chime in, but danged if she didn’t bust it wide open for me today, when she blurted out “bra straps”
Pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve seen Rita Ora’s entire name used in the puzzle
Been trying to break the 20 minute barrier on a Sunday for the longest time. Today was my day, but I lost 5 minutes looking for a typo. Had to settle for 21 minutes. Dang
Got ahead of myself once I figured out the rebus, and filled in “hole” for every rebus spot. Took forever to finally figure out “molecules” lol
@Francis The “x” was the only clue that made any sense to me. I just assumed the word had to be exit. Lucky I suppose
Lawd that was a workout. Well over my average, but that’s a gold star to be proud of
@Steve The more experienced you get, you’ll come to love the long spanners. Those are the ones that break the entire puzzle open, particularly on fridays and Saturdays. Congrats on your first Fridays gold. Many more to come
Friday and Saturday definitely got flipped this week lol
@Lewis yeah you basically described my weeks to a tee. Mondays through Wednesdays are just a time trial. I like Thursdays and Sundays for the trickery, but the themeless Fridays and Saturdays are certainly the highlight of the week.
6:11 New pb By far the easiest Thursday I can ever remember
@JBW I’ve lived in the Deep South for 45 years, and I’ve yet to understand how anybody chokes down sweet tea.
@Guy Quay I assumed “one eighty” was meant to be the revealer, as all the ei/ie combinations flipped (or did a 180) in each rebus word.
Man I just knew 14a had to be referring to tin cans, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it work. Once that fell into place, it all opened up for me. Difficult Friday for me, but an enjoyable solve nonetheless.
Got the 3 weekend puzzles in a combined time of less than an hour. Pretty sure that’s a first for me. I’ll take it
That was a great puzzle. Definitely one of my favorites so far this year.
Good Saturday. Felt intimidating after the first pass yielded very little, but then I found my foothold and it filled in nicely from there.
Either I was way in tune on that one, or it was an incredibly easy Saturday. I’ll take the pb
Well I’m glad I’m not losing my mind, because I came here to get clued in on what the themed clues had to do with the answers. Glad they were fairly easy sayings to figure out. Woulda hated to lose my streak on a glitch.
@Michael not sure how “i” qualifies as elitist math terminology.
@B definitely easy for a Saturday. I expect a Saturday to occupy more than 12 minutes of my time.
@coloradoz It’s a white knuckle watch for sure. Right up there with the documentary about the guy that walked a tightrope between the twin towers.
At 90 minutes, this came in a solid hour over my Sunday average. That dang metal ring at the end of a pencil had me stymied for the longest time. Thought for sure there must be another Pixar movie I couldn’t think of. Enjoyable puzzle nonetheless.
@hayley You’re missing 2 of the theme crossers in that answer. HA Z/M ATS U/I TS hazmat suits
@Steven M. Well done. My longest streak is 55, and it still seems like a fairly monumental achievement every time I make it through the weekend unscathed. I can’t help but marvel at these folks on here that mention their streaks in the thousands.
One of the easier Fridays I can remember.
One of those odd weeks where my longest solve time came on Wednesday
As thrilling as it is to finish a Sunday in less than 15 minutes, I wouldn’t mind a little more of a challenge on a Sunday. But I’ll take the pb 🤷♂️
One of the more difficult fridays I’ve seen in a while. Well over my average, but I’m certainly not complaining
@Steve L I’m currently closing in on a 400 day streak of gold puzzles. My previous high before this streak was 52. As much as I’d love to think I’m that much better than I was, I have to agree. The puzzles (in particular Friday through Sunday) have definitely gotten easier.
@Steve L That’s exactly how I felt. The theme wasn’t difficult to figure out, and I solved the puzzle fairly quickly, but there was no payoff with a revealer. Just felt like I was flipping letters for the sake of flipping letters.
Took me a little over an hour, but I finally got there with no lookups. Super tough, but that’s what Saturdays are for, right?
Man I flew through that. At 16 minutes, I smashed my previous Sunday best by 5 minutes.
@Cindy I’ve been solving for about 4 years now, and I often read these comments and wonder what constitutes a “streak”. For me personally, it’s a gold star with no lookups. In that regard, my highest streak is 53 (although I currently sit at 49, so that’s definitely within reach). But I read comments on here about streaks well into the thousands, and I often wonder if they’re using the same criteria I use. And I’m not judging anyone’s criteria, so much as I’m marveling at the thought of going years on end without ever being tripped up.
Well I got the gold star, but not before I absolutely wrecked my Thursday average.
@Steve L The blocks with a 1 are touching 1 mine. The blocks with a 2 are touching 2 mines
@guy That was the theme. I’m assuming you’ve also never heard anyone say “l’m on cloud three” and I’m assuming you’ve never heard the famous Beatles song “When I’m eight”
@Denise Quigley Dave Stieb immediately came to mind for me, only because I recall that he had I think 5 different no-hitters broken up with 2 outs in the ninth.
I’m pretty sure that’s only the second or third time I’ve completed a Tuesday in less than 5 minutes. 4:39 and a new pb
First time I’ve ever taken the shortcut and just entered the first letter of each rebus. Normally that sort of thing bugs me, but I was just too lazy today to type kit/kat 5 times.
Wednesday level fill and Wednesday level theme
Thought for sure this was a PB, but apparently I did a Wednesday in 5 minutes at one point. Missed it by a few seconds
@replay I’ve always considered it to be Friday level difficulty, with Thursday level deception.