Red Carpet

I LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS!!!! My only complaint was I could not access my iOS keyboards so that I could use my Greek keyboard to enter Φ. This made me feel so good about the hundreds of hours I have spent learning the answers, the tricks, and the trivia. THANK YOU!!!

My four year old: “what are those circles? They look like ladders.” He caught the Thursday trick before I did. Thanks, kiddo, gold star for you.

Loved the Faux Gardener clue. That was very clever.

Loved this! Great puzzle! A child of mine was learning Chinese. I know that a lot of words can sound similar except for intonation. So I asked him some questions: “How do you say cow in Chinese?” Son: “ wǒ bù zhīdào” “How do you say red?” Son: “ wǒ bù zhīdào” “How do you say bed?” Son: “ wǒ bù zhīdào” “What does wǒ bù zhīdào mean?” Son: “I don’t know.” And that’s how I learned “ wǒ bù zhīdào”

It wasn’t a rebus!!! Matryoshka dolls are a favorite of mine. Two days in a row where the puzzle was a doable one for me!! Yay!! I feel spoiled.

I’m almost at two years of zero alcohol. So, this one became a tough one because I was thinking the answers could have been “with a branch”, a zest, on ice, straight up. I totally blanked on neat. 11/8/23

Now that was a Saturday puzzle requiring persistence and perseverance. WOW.

It was not my cuppa tea. Why the 8 were cute, without it lined in the actual grid, those eight felt like nothings to me. I know this took a lot of effort to construct. That’s laudable. That said, hidden “bonus” clues aren’t really bonuses if you have to SCOUR to find them. And if you’ve already completed those blocks, they become moot. Or in Joey speak: “moo”

Britney was and is, and will forever be the only princess of pop. All others rise on her.

Ever time I see the name, Gary Larson, I can’t help but think of The Far Side. An alternative title for this puzzle could have been The Far Out Side, which also carries its own ambiguity. Very well done. Can’t wait for the next installment

Great rebus puzzle. Had some smooth going fill to start cracking the issue. Loved seeing Euler be mentioned. Thank you, come again!

No GUTS no glory is a fitting start to this ode for Icarus.

My unforced error was believing that the comic strip Cathy was turned into a musical. Ack. It has not. Who is gonna fix that issue?

Dear Ms. Amlen: Bajo is Spanish for “low.” Alto is Spanish for “high” That is how they are opposites. The opposite of a bass would be soprano. Oddly enough tubas and piccolos are the loudest instruments due to their depths and heights of sound.

This was like a layered torte complete with jelly between the frosting and the next layer. What a pleasure. We had puns, Sean Connery, and a connect the dot. How fun.

My reaction to a good dry pun? EAU. I’ll see myself out.

I was in the zone. Please don’t tell gad about it being too easy. I got a personal record today, and I don’t need to question whether or not I earned it.

That was amazing. Loved the opening ACID/BASE duo for the open.

This puzzle is the Venn diagram of (1) knows particle physics, (2) knows 0-20 numbers in different languages, (3) knows sports betting. I am not part of that diagram. Look ups for me, Earth to Major Tom.

Ahhhh. Empty calories and dial up, could anything else better remind me of the 90’s? This puzzle is a treat. Thanks🥰

I felt the easy fill were too easy and the esoteric was too esoteric. I’m not sure what kind of puzzle I just solved. It felt like a bunch of words. So, a Thursday it was.

MINDMELDS, PSILOCYBIN, and DRAGONCON Loved it. My inner nerd was happy with these.

While anagrams can be a gimme for a thursday, I felt today’s had enough granola to make me work for the answers. Using languages that I would not be gimmes for me made this worth it. Fun fact that people don’t know about Saint Paul, MN, we have over 100 languages spoken here. Take that, NYC.

That was sublime. Say it three times! Fitting for the eve of all hallows eve.

Everyone who has ever had to work with the NATO alphabet has a story about how they can’t live without it. It’s burned into our memory banks. So, I’d love to hear your stories about how the NATO alphabet was horrendously massacred at your work. At a former job, they tried to move away from the NATO alphabet after a telecommunications system’s merge for PSAP services. One deputy asked for a name to be run with “z as in xylophone.”

Anything with Hoi Polloi is a winner in my book! Todays throwback Sunday for me was: 10/3/21 with Z madness.

I LOVED THIS!!! Once I figured out the revealer it was butter. How clever!!

Great rebus puzzle for those who are learning. Definitely a CLASS ACT.

Poor Ricky, losing his FAME, and not getting the hat tip he deserves in this puzzle. <a href="https://youtu.be/uZV40f0cXF4" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/uZV40f0cXF4</a> OTOH, those of us that saw it, probably had way more fun with it.

What in TARNATION is often how I feel while watching a Tarantino movie. Loved the humor.

Miss Piggy’s pronoun is my favorite clue ever! MOI? Ha!!

This weeks Thursday: I DID IT! That was a clever trick. I was prepared for a rebus, but when I got to SCRAP METAL and LATINOS, the way was PAVEd to get ‘er done. Learned something new. And how is Alaska not the right answer? How is it Nevada? I was truly expecting it to be Alaska.

What a GEM! Loved all the references, especially the I ROBOT. But, to be honest, I thought we were initially looking at boggle boards. Loved how the designer made the pips!

Very fine puzzle. Well done. Thank you for the nod to Minnesota. It was well taken today.

Whenever I see KUDZU the word, I think of my mom commenting on its overwhelming presence on the backroads in Arkansas. May she RIP.

Well done, Mr Keller. Loved the puns, got some good smiles out of this puzzle. I sez, you come back now, y’hear?

It would be useful in night mode if the layer for circles were in white. I only play in dark mode, and typically have my brightness set to as minimum as needed to read. Since the letters entered are typically white (blue if auto check is enabled), the black circle layer on a dark grey and black grid is lost. I’m sure there’s someone with younger eyes that will say they see it. And good for them. But my eyes are now old, and I would like to be able to accomplish the puzzle with the additional clues available in dark mode. Thank you for coming to my talk.

Is nostalgia the lowest form of happiness? Today’s minesweeper will be a generational divide for certain. Those of us who played it for hours, and those who did not. Very clever. Go feel some grass before the frosts begin.