Wyra

@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?

@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.

@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.

Past tense of tear, past tense of rend.

@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.

@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.

@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.

They're referring to the Midi. There isn't a separate place to discuss the smaller crosswords.

Like Andrzej said, it really just does mean being kinda pouty after an outcome you didn't want. You shouldn't find anything bad if you Google it.

@Andrzej What a great picture of an absolutely pulchritudinous dog!

@Katie Great article. Thank you for sharing it.

@Christina It's when someone is playing a puzzle from the archives that they enjoyed and want to share. They don't relate to the days puzzle, but they're a fun way to jump into another puzzle if you want!

@Dan Yes, and it's linguistically useful, since it includes the information that what you're about to say is your best remembrance/an approximation of what was said, not word for word.

@Brendan I did the same thing. My first thought for how it could have happened was perhaps being a required textbook for a lot of classes. I don't know if that's the case, but it was the best explanation that came to mind.

I'm a newer solver, too, and this one was great! I had to look up some trivia to get things moving here or there, but was able to complete the whole thing without coming to the tricky clues hints or the forum. I try not to because I hate having the fun ones spoiled, and today I was able to do it! I don't mind filling in some proper names and such if it means I still get to suss out the ones that make you think.

We got diss track!

@SP I've been wondering, too. He disappeared after someone was rude to him a bit ago.

@Frankie B Perhaps it's regional or generational? I don't recall ever having heard it.

OG means original gangsta. Original as in the first/early artists, gangsta because the genre was called gangsta rap. Here's an article with one of the OGs, Ice-T, explaining the origin: <a href="https://www.wbls.com/news/ice-t-explains-why-he-never-thought-he-would-become-a-star" target="_blank">https://www.wbls.com/news/ice-t-explains-why-he-never-thought-he-would-become-a-star</a>/ Hope that helps!

@Steve L This is only a good work around for very recent puzzles. It's miserable when working on things from the archives.

@Steve You don't put more than one layer in each square. Each set of three circles has an H, then an O, then an H.

@Jim What is a WFW word?

@SP Your comment, "simmer over an hour or overnight to be solved", just made me think of a reason this might be the case that I hadn't considered before - the streak. The gamification. For people to keep their streak, they have to finish the same day, right? It can't simmer overnight anymore if they want the gold star. NYT Games has decided to lean into gamification with this stuff and this seems to be a pretty natural consequence of that that I hadn't considered before. It kinda bums me out. Not criticizing anyone who cares about their streak or NYT Games for this choice, really, but I'm just a bit... bummed. Not sure I can fully articulate it. I just really like enjoying things for what they are without having something hijacking that part of my brain, I guess. It's crept into so many parts of it lives.

@EagleAngle All the replies so far are great, but just to add - looking things up and checking for errors as you go help you see how crosswords work and help you improve. If you never did that, you would get better much, much, slower or maybe not at all. So don't feel bad about doing those things! There's no such thing as cheating against yourself. Just have fun and enjoy learning new things.

@Don H I recently did upgrade to the family package and now I get a pop up every time I log in telling me my subscription is active or something. I hate it. Stop telling me what I already know and adding an extra barrier to accessing your content.

@Andrzej The only context I've heard this in in America is where someone says something like "I've got a puzzle we can do at the table while we wait for dinner". It would have to be a physical puzzle and referencing doing it on a flat surface like that for it to be clearly a jigsaw puzzle and not some other kind.

@Steven M. Same, just to add a data point.

@SP I would have gotten it with a hyphen but have never seen it without one.

@Dan It comes from gaming, especially pvp (player vs player) games. It means the developers made a change that reduced the power or effectiveness of something. They nerfed it. It's the opposite of buffing something. It's bled into other uses because it's handy. If something got reduced in power or effectiveness, it was nerfed.

@Long walks n sunsets I'd suggest exposing yourself to more of it so you find it less distracting. If you point it out every time she says it, interrupting her train of thought each time, she's probably going to want to communicate with you less. All the way back in the mid 2000s my linguistics professor taught us about how the interjection "like" is not filler. It serves a linguistic purpose. Language changes. That's a good thing.

@Steven M. Evan Edinger had a video recently about words and phrases that mean the opposite thing in the US and the UK. He covers table and moot. It's quite interesting! (I'm using quite as an American here.) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fQGz6CHP4w" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fQGz6CHP4w</a>

So far on mobile it seems to behaving better for me.

@Ryan That one almost tripped me up, too. Read 15 across as "_ in _ _".

@Mean Old Lady The American Woman's Cookbook was published long enough ago that it's in the public domain. You can get PDF versions online for free with no qualms about piracy. I hope you find the recipe you're looking for!

@Andrzej VR is being used to help with chronic pain, actually! Last time I looked it was still being studied, but now it's in use. I wish I didn't have such terrible motion sickness so I could try it. I'll just have to stick to regular gaming, which does help distract me.

@SBK in TO A quick Google search will find you many sources ranging from scholarly papers to the CDC. They are a natural reservoir for leprosy.

@Jenny Same! I just wish it would linger on it a bit before the "congratulations!" pops up.

@Nancy I had STAGNANT for awhile...

@SP Any chance you'd be willing to explain MANE to me? I keep mulling it over and getting nowhere. Mane and hair, sure, but how does trigger come into it?