Jordan
Colorado
10
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Colorado
This is a bad puzzle. Saturdays are supposed to be hard, sure. But the volume of esoteric trivia involved here really just means that the puzzle is borderline impossible without looking things up. Even after filling the tricky clues, there were probably 5-10 crossed naticks that require random knowledge. A puzzle like this needs to have a theme or some other mechanism so that the solver can reason out the clues without resorting to looking things up. It's really just not fun.
@Harriet skill issue. Rebus puzzles are even more enjoyable to solve online without having to worry about erasing things on paper. They're the best that crosswords have to offer.
@Matt one of the rare puzzles where the theme actually makes it worse, to be sure.
@Berri I didn't read anyone's mind and figured it out just fine. The puzzle was too difficult for your current level. That's okay. Keep improving and you'll get there one day.
Loved it. The puzzle is well constructed and has challenging clues with good crosses for all proper nouns. The rebus and theme is a cherry on top. I don't understand people who complain about clever puzzles like this but then are fine with 4 proper nouns crossed with no way to fill the squares. In puzzle's like today's, it's all about logic and induction, exactly what a crossword should be. If you don't like rebus, you don't yet really understand crosswords. The moment of understanding the theme after working towards the puzzle and then seeing everything fall into place is what it's all about. I, for one, would be very sad if the NYT stopped publishing rebus puzzle. I think that they're the best the game has to offer.
I really enjoyed today. The moment when the penny dropped on the theme is a big part of why I love the NYT crosswords. Thought the difficulty was right on for a Thursday as well!
@Anonymous the ends of the theme answers are the only part that relate to being online. Cookies, links, tabs... Girl scout cookies have nothing to do with being online. Cookies do. The terminal word relates to being online.
@twoberry there's nothing great about "almost" everything making sense. Making sense is table stakes for a crossword. A great puzzle is one where you can solve it eventually through hard thought/reasoning even when you don't know every fact. Yesterday's puzzle was a great example of that. Wheb SUN RA is crossed with SANKA, on the other hand, it is impossible to solve that S if you don't know the trivia.
@SP 1928 is almost 100 years ago. Yes, to most people under retirement age, that is obscure.
@Al in Pittsburgh We're talking about an actress, not a global event. Don't move the goalposts. Have a reflective evening.
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