Wyra
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I don't comment much, but I just wanted to say I love rebuses and I'm not an expert player! I worry sometimes that the people who hate them will be vocal enough to sway the editors to do them less. Please keep them! Even on a day where I can't get figure it out and have to look at the article to get it, I still think they're clever and fun. Hapy New Year, everyone!
@TJ I'm pretty new to solving the whole week, so I had to look a couple things up to get toe holds. But this was a great puzzle and I loved it! How would I get better if not challenged?
I usually solve in the mornings, but decided to wind down for bed with this instead. It was going pretty well, until about halfway through, when an ENORMOUS SPIDER ran into the middle of the room and stopped a few feet from me. I bravely covered it with a glass, then covered that glass with my largest pot so the cats can't knock the glass over. I then put a sticky note on it that says what's underneath. There are others in this house who will handle the rest better than I in the morning. My heart is beating like a jackhammer even after finishing the puzzle. Let this be a warning to everyone - doing a Saturday puzzle may not be as relaxing as you think it will! Fingers crossed I get any sleep tonight at all.
@Francis Perhaps it was the ferrous answer? If so, it would be rather ironic :D
This is the first time my astigmatism has done something good for me (because of it I know what TORIC lenses are). Thanks, wonky eyes!
@Bob I hope you're joking. It's really not that easy.
@B As an American, I knew none of them, either.
@Apurv I liked it. It was very hard, required lookups to finish for me, but I thought it was fun and engaging. You're welcome to disagree, but your comments go way past respectfully expressing your thoughts. I hope once you get some space from this you feel differently. It might be good to give yourself that space before commenting in the future.
Another thing you might feel for: LOSTGLASSES
@D I think it's a stretch to say no one's heard of speed cubers. I have, and lots of others in the comments here have.
I've got that song stuck in my head now: "Oops, I wrote another epistolary novel". Britney may be an all-American hero, but I've got to stop putting her on a pedestal and go to bed.
POESY, GEST, and HOSS defeated me today. With only __AD I just couldn't seem to get to TOAD and I just completely blanked on the idea that I might know any media companies based in NYC. Oh, well!
@Maks I assume you're thinking of the homeliness definition where it means cozy. It has another meaning, which is the exact opposite of pulchritude.
@Matt SP's answer was great, but I thought I'd share a list of definitions someone else posted here at some point that I found useful. Not all of the terms are really used in this forum, but enough are that I think it's an educational read. <a href="https://qv.neocities.org/xwords/glossary" target="_blank">https://qv.neocities.org/xwords/glossary</a>
@SP I thought it enhanced the joke, personally.
Lots of great entries here! I especially liked DOX and the cluing for PAPER CUT. Thanks for a fun, fresh feeling frolic.
I loved this! Slow going with lots of erasing and changing, but lots of ahas and smiles along the way. I got the whole thing done with no lookups, which I can't often say about Saturdays, but it made me earn every letter. What a fun puzzle!
I really thought I'd have to give in and look things up, but I kept coming back to it and making little bits of headway and I got it! This is definitely the hardest puzzle I've ever solved with no lookups. It was a lot of fun! Great wordplay. I do disagree with catty corner, though :)
Fun fact: Jason Momoa danced the haka as his audition for Game of Thrones for the role of Khal Drogo. You can watch it in this video - it's easy to see how he got the part! <a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=2dE786RERGE&pp=ygUQSmFzb24gbW9tb2EgaGFrYQ" target="_blank">https://youtube.com/watch?v=2dE786RERGE&pp=ygUQSmFzb24gbW9tb2EgaGFrYQ</a>%3D%3D
I did a literal double take upon seeing Robyn Weintraub's name. I'm newer here, so I know her mostly as the legend, the myth, the old lore. Thank you, Robyn, for descending from your lofty abode to grace us with this puzzle. I enjoyed it very much!
Past tense of tear, past tense of rend.
@D I'm sorry you didn't like this one. I thought it was pretty fun.
@Jane Wheelaghan Perhaps it's an art lab! There's a great Calvin and Hobbes with the quote: "don't knock my smock or I'll clean your clock!" I say it every time smocks are mentioned. My family is definitely not tired of it.
@Petrol Don't forget the gambling!
@Helen Wright I'm glad there's a vaccine and I hope you can get it in time! Wishing you and your herd the best.
What a fun puzzle! I had to come back to it through the day several times, but since it was tricky cluing (instead of potential naticks) I felt confident I could get there. And eventually I did! A little longer than my Thursday average, which I appreciate.
@Andrzej That's a lovely story, thank you. I've tried very hard over the years to make peace with spiders. I love orb weavers in the fall and I intellectually think all spiders are super cool and helpful. I can even relocate small ones on my own and leave tiny ones be. But this one is so big. So, so big. My lizard brain is terrified and I can't rationalize my way out of it. I still don't want to kill it, and if I could find a way to be friends I would. But Big Bertha here needs her own county.
@Andrzej I hate to say it, but I think part of it might be Americans being casually and ignorantly self centered. I know, I know, it barely ever happens. But we didn't enter the war until the 40s and I think, while we know it started in the 30s, people might unintentionally kind of hand wave that away with the idea that, "well, it was mostly the 40s anyway". Not too say that everyone does, but I think there's kind of a "30s=depression, 40s=WWII, 50s=baby boom" simplicity in the way we were taught this stuff in school. I'm sorry about your great grandfather ❤️
@Gabe R Same, I had to run vowels on that. Kinda surprised to see that crossing in a Monday puzzle.
I would like to posit that naked MOLE RATs live longer than any other rodent due to their complete lack of self consciousness. And they save lots of money not chasing fast fashion!
@Heidi Am important part of the concept of "the ick" is that it's not something most people would be averse to. It's meant to express that for this one person, it's a dealbreaker. It's usually not rational, but instead more of a gut feeling.
@Loopy It might help to think of the clue as a clue and not a definition. This sort of thing comes up a lot - clues lead you to the answer but aren't meant to be definitively exactly the answer.
46 down has me thinking of Charlotte's Web this morning <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=__7NUrkFirA" target="_blank">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=__7NUrkFirA</a>
Kim, I loved this puzzle! Thank you and please keep making more! The theme was SUPER fun and I actually got through the naticks with a little flyspecking at the end.
@ad absurdum Lol, thanks for the chuckle :)
@Andrzej Cleats are bumps or spikes that can dig in a bit. In the US, we would most commonly use the term to describe soccer cleats. If you Google the term and look at pictures you'll see what they look like. Those shoes can be called either soccer cleats or just cleats. Now I've said the word cleat in my head so many times that it's lost all meaning. Cleat cleat cleat. If you're curious about pronunciation, it rhymes with yeet. Don't yeet your cleat!
@Jeb I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree. I don't see your second example as racist, either. Just because something references race doesn't inherently make it racist.
@Pat Bae is slang for the one you love (short for baby). Merriam Webster lists the first use in 1983, but it became common in the last decade or so.
@Cherry In your browser of choice, go to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/daily-crossword-column" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/daily-crossword-column</a> In the browser menu, choose "add to homescreen". Put the icon next to your nyt games app. Since you said you use an iPhone, here's a page with directions for safari: <a href="https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/bookmark-a-website-iph42ab2f3a7/ios" target="_blank">https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/bookmark-a-website-iph42ab2f3a7/ios</a> There's not really a great way to do this for puzzles from the archives. I end up googling "nyt wordplay column" and the date I need. I hope this helps! I agree it sucks that they made this difficult.
My one nit to pick is that the "congratulations" pop up blocked the animation. I really wish on days like they they would add a delay so it doesn't mess it up. It was cute and I wanted to see it! Thankfully if you go back to the puzzle and wait for a bit, it does loop so you can watch it. But by then you already saw the end :/
@SP Yeah, but if I received the nasty comments he sometimes gets I'd probably stop posting, too. I really think some people forget they're aiming their vitriol at another real human being. Hope you're reading this, Andrjez. We see you and like you being here.
@Asher B. I'm surprised your household thinks you're the rude one in this situation. I think you're fully justified. If someone knocks on my door, it's almost always a salesperson. I'll give them a quick no and close the door while they're still trying to talk to me. Your housemates would probably find that rude, too, but the fact is that they're not entitled to an iota of your time.
I was so sure of OKNOWIMLISTENING. It fit so many of the crosses! It really held me up until the end of the puzzle, when I looked up the Gobb brothers and learned my mistake.
@Mean Old Lady I've only heard it as pet peeve, not something that scares you, fwiw.
@Don H I had the same mistake hold me up at the end.
What a fun puzzle! I enjoyed sussing out the rebus and the rest of the fill, too. Thank you, Dena and John!
@Bob DiNardo You may be right for the language of origin, but in English I've only ever heard anyone call it a panini. It's common usage, so it's correct for a puzzle like this one. English does this to words from other languages all the time.
@Andree Heidi didn't bring that up as a brag, so doesn't need your congratulations. She used it to demonstrate the false equivalency of "I don't know it = bad puzzle".