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St Paul
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St Paul
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.
To those who are getting acquainted with NYT puzzles. This is a fair Thursday. You have to figure out the blank word that is missing from the clue, but that word isn’t the answer - it’s merely the rest of the clue. This is a mental workout that takes time to spot and understand. A good tip is if you see something you don’t quite understand, keep solving until you can see one of the answers start to appear. Then from there you can reverse engineer the word play used for a particular puzzle. This is also key for solving rebus clues. Remember, crosswords are like life, and things aren’t always as they pleas.
@Pcraves Personally, when trying to write onomatopoeia - I usually try to sound it out. I’ll see myself out.
I really really hate that the app info tab doesn’t open to my browser so I can review wordplay as I am solving. It ruins the user experience. It seems to me that the people who created this feature aren’t regular solvers. This needs to be corrected ASAP. As to the puzzle, very well done for a Saturday.
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!
@Lba Ave Maria is Latin for Hail Mary. Ave Maria Hail Mary Ave María, grátia plena, Dóminus tecum. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Benedícta tu in muliéribus, et benedíctus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Sancta María, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatóribus nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and in the hour of our death. Amen. Amen
No GUTS no glory is a fitting start to this ode for Icarus.
@Michael It’s you. For those who are still struggling, please know it’s not easy for them.
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?
Mr Hyunh it was a fine puzzle. Thank you
@Kevin Dear Sir, The first rebus appeared in 1954. There exists more than a half century of “gimmicky” puzzles in the NYT on Sundays. It would break tradition to grant you that request. Apple News has themeless Sundays. Perhaps that’d be more to your liking.
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.
Great timely nod to the Opry today. RIP Dolly!
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🥰
@Barry Ancona Now come on. you’re always preaching about just getting better at puzzle solving. Welcome to the “that wasn’t fun club.” We serve coffee and donuts on saturdays, parking is reimbursed - that is if you can find a spot. And we don’t put other people down when they find a puzzle that was plain mean.
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.
@Mara G A lot of the clues felt like good hidden snubs. I’m sure someone will complain, but that one literally made me smile.
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.
@B I loved this puzzle. Def felt like a Monday to me. Mondays do not require lookups for me - ever. I was able to solve this within my an average for a Monday. Sure, it wasn’t a five minute solve, but it was an 8 minute solve. Fridays and saturdays easily take at least 25 minutes for me and require at least one lookup.
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.
A puzzle that BEFITs Tuesday. What a pleasant stroll, Mr. Schmenner. Hope everyone had a raring Monday!
@Rachel118 If you go to any pre-2020 puzzle you will see that the difficulty has eased across the board. Remember the Times puzzle is supposed to be difficult. It is a fete to solve it.
That had a little more heft than the tuesdays lately. Thanks for the treat!
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.
@Francis It’s somewhere in the 37th chapter of numbers. And when you design a crossword, you shall be unclean for seven days if you cross two proper names - unless you cross two names of people that EVERYONE should know.
Gosh. That was a good solve. Seeing that I’m solving it on 4/1, I appreciate the joke. A solemn Holy Week and Blessed Passover to all. May we remember and honor the two greatest commandments this weekend and throughout the next year.
@Dan Fendel That’s called a natick and they are fairplay. There’s no rule against having to look up an answer. After a while you start learning the new trivia and it becomes something you learned.
@RP When it’s an acronym the pluralizing goes at the end of the acronym. For example, the plural of guardian ad litem is guardians ad litem. However, the acronym for the singular is GAL, and the acronym for the plural is GALS. Just like RPMS for Revolutions Per Minute.
Very clever and fun. Enjoyed the theme a lot. The cluing made me wonder where the author was going and I felt as though it wasn’t a give away. Some of the clues did a very good job of polysimny and made me suss out the area more often than not. On a slightly different note, I’m finally at December 2014 in the archives. Met a Tuesday that’s as tough as a modern Saturday. Nearly wept.
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!!