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I like reading the comment sections because I was able to fill this one out in on my own—my first Friday!! I now know how it feels like when people post their times or I search through the article for a hint that doesn’t exist and wonder how I don’t know it, but it seems to be commonplace enough to be a clue. So many times I have ticked on a hint or reveal for many a proper noun or phrase, and it reminds me of my demographic and that maybe mine is not the kind to usually solve the crossword past a Tuesday, and the occasional Thursday. This boosted my confidence. Thank you!
I am a Filipino American from San Diego so the first few answers already hooked me in! I wanted to share that one of my faavorite memories as a child was packing a balikbayan box, or a big box of wares to send back to PH for our family there. The main staples, other than clothes, were chocolates, lotions, and boxes of DIAL! Thank you for sparking this memory.
My first Sunday that I finished under an hour and I only had to correct one thing — what I thought was ANKLET for AMULET after seeing the crosses!! As a newer solver (less than a year) I get intrigued reading the comments. Some make me chuckle, some I respond to, but recently many have made me feel not part of the typical “solving crowd.” A history of my comments might hint towards that. A solve I felt like was at a great level for me for, say, a Tuesday, or today’s Sunday becomes invalidated when seeing complaints about what “day” a certain difficulty is supposed to be on or how “easy” something is. I get it for all the people who are used to a routine where a certain level of candor or wordplay is expected, but a big part of me remembers that trivia and wording change all the time with different constructors and editors: the more I play, the more this will get easier for me as I figure out patterns, like how this game really endorses OREOS. But also, the more I play, the older and more experienced I’ll get about certain topics that the NYT crossword may or may not discuss or phrases outside of my repertoire. So what if you miss a few, or if a day just doesn’t mesh with your abilities, when it finally instilled confidence to newer people like me?
Gonna be that obligatory *Pinoy Pride* person. Always a pleasure to see representation that way. My parents’ anniversary is today, and I was able to show them this. My mother was surprised I play, and she let me know that when she first arrived to the US she would try the NYT crosswords but it would be so hard for her (immigrants acclimating to pop culture, learning a new language, that whole thing). Showing her this clue and seeing my mom’s face light up that she knew the answer was so beautiful.
@D Sometimes I read comments like these and wonder if people read the full article about the constructor. I don’t know much music terminology, but this got me learning a lot about Haitian culture just because I was curious and that’s what I got out of today. Reading this gave me the realization my mindset has changed since I first started a couple years ago from “this crosssword did or did not entertain me” to being in awe of how other people think and build. I think about it kind of like an interactive art piece—I don’t have to like the puzzle, but I do appreciate it more when I read how it was made. This is what has made me enjoy the crossword each day, whether or not it was trivia filled.
On Dec 22 I responded to a comment about how clues for AUNT and MOM were based on, well nuclear child-rearing pasts and offered the alternative “Zelda or Hilda, for Sabrina”. Based on the “recommend” numbers I could definitely feel the whole “stop making this more than what it is” air and it made me somewhat insecure about agreeing with the OP. I am unsure if an editor or the creator saw my comment and put that to use but either way I feel so seen and validated from 21D. Thank you!!
I’ve just finished it and this definitely has to be in on of my favorites for connections to my personal life alone, with one being that we are getting married at a chapel named after St Francis de Assisi this summer!
Going to post this longer comment regarding “Wounded knee site” for ACL as well as this coming out on Juneteenth because it is worth the lengthier discussion. The use of “Wounded knee” as a pun for ACL was so so so poor and disgusting and I can think of 2 reasons. 1. Ignorance on the Wounded Knee Massacre. It is clear that Native American culture and history are not a huge focus of mainstream education, and the victors are the ones whose stories are told. For the writer and editors, upon multiple reviews, to gloss over this clue, is alarming to me because ignorance would mean that Wounded Knee was not taught to any of you that no word associations appeared in your minds upon reading the clue. 2. Know of/heard of Wounded Knee, but not understand the severity of it, or think that it could pass because the demographic of NYT Crossword may not be majorly consisted of people who would dissent. Have similar puns/semantic relations been made about other genocides (I won’t list them, I’m sure you all can think of examples of genocide throughout history)? And if they didn’t pass, why not? What if you had data that more people who identify as Indigenous played the crossword—editors, would you still have double checked? I get this was deemed to be a Thursday puzzle but as a Brown woman who has just discovered the joy of NYT Crosswords to the point I subscribed and play up the archives, having this faux pas published on Freedom Day/Juneteenth felt so, so icky.
@Anita WORCESTSRIRACHASHIRE might be a pain to say but it’s a joy on my tastebuds!!
@Steven M. such an interesting story! What was Nathaniel’s side?
Somehow I find I solve more downs than across, so I typically start with down. I also always enjoy when the clue requires someone to think about it phonetically vs. semantically and it always makes me smile when I’m corrected! This being said for 8D I was reluctant to put A BALL simply because I felt like two words, specifically using the article “a” is rare, but then I saw KEPT TO and NO PUN so put it in. Figured it out once I started the crosses and it was delightful being wrong, gave me a good chuckle. 47A was a breeze. I wish there was a way to *save* my favorite puzzles on the app!
I love when my plans for the day aligns with the crossword— just watched Sinners today with HAILEE, then when shopping for the local Ren Faire coming up this weekend (HUZZAH! It will be my first time going), will be dressing up with my blue apron a la The Bear for Halloween (AYO), and my partner will be SPIDER-Man. Even better? Came across a skunk today and whispered “damn, that is BUSHY” so I definitely laughed when I saw that prompt!
@Andrzeji @D I understand completely! I relate on all of that, especially when I first started to play. I guess I should have put at the end: art is subjective, so everyone is entitled to their own opinion in how they engage it. I realize I love Thursdays and Sundays for the same reason. I love when puzzles are clever, or have a gimmick. When I do feel underwhelmed by a puzzle (usually falls on Wednesdays and Saturdays), my satisfaction comes from enjoying their process over my process. The way my brain works is if it was a struggle for me, then I like to read how others’ minds work. The point of my comment for D is that reading theirs made me realize I look at things differently now than I did in the past, and I am grateful that comment sparked that realization because it showed me my personal growth in my relationship to the crossword: at first it was just a game, but now I use it as an avenue to understand others and delve into topics I otherwise would not have researched. The comment, in the end, was more for me than D, I guess. Apologies if that was misconstrued; perhaps it should have been its own separate comment!
I have been playing since February and have played most of the games, even going back in the archives since last October and am delighted to FINALLY have numbers involved!! I was stuck for the longest time, knowing SEEP made sense as I’d seen it before, but was stuck on (a)MEND. Do any other readers here have any favorite crosswords that included numbers? I’d like to give them a try.
@Steve L I’m not that person but I was happy to see this! Were you talking about the BEEF adobo clue from a while back? I do agree that traditionally it is with chicken, pork, or squid, but you can really make an adobo out of anything as long as there’s soy sauce and vinegar :P
1. I loved this SO much! 2. How can I find a list of other crosswords that end up being a drawing/having a visual component to it? I know XWord exists but am wondering if there is another website (or longtime user here who keeps their favorites logged somewhere?) 3. I know this illusion is a classic but, as someone who has watched “Severance” recently and for whom Milchick is a favorite character, it was a nice tie-in to “real” life!
@john ezra I knew it was MEYER but figured I don’t watch TV as much and so MARS could be someone new. I thought about it, thinking A MASK as an answer was so lazy, especially since we already had AN I gift that, I had originally put AYE). I was able to visualize the drawing, and had to sit and think about what should be in that one square I knew was. Lo and behold, it was like putting a little googly eye on a toy!
@Ms. Billie M. Spaight Alternatively, this is my first time knowing all the proper nouns! I usually have a difficult time and resort to reveals since I don’t like looking things up.
Loved this theme! Took a couple look-ups but overall was able to get the theme. It reminds me of “258” in ASL slang which means “very interesting!”
@AT Adding on: I looked at a list on XWord, but they show the shape/drawing on a thumbnail. I’d like to be surprised! Here is the link for those who are curious: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Visual" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Visual</a>
@Tim Sneath Perhaps it’s because many commenters expressed so much negativity on Sunday that they have run out! (To be fair, Sunday’s was tough and different, and to have this on a Wednesday as opposed to a Thursday was a delight to me at least)
@john ezra I’m not the original poster but I am newer to the crossword and did have an eye roll at a couple of the answers, which could relate to this post. Why are AUNTS the babysitters? Does it come from pop culture reference? Why is MOM the one the kids call out (I would have guessed UGH or AGH) instead of DAD?
@Barry Ancona understandable, it’s just that I’ve also encountered AUNTS being described as babysitters in another puzzle. For either description, they could have been described as something else not having to do with childrearing. Zelda and Hilda, for Sabrina. A shortened maternal figure.
@D I’d try yours out if you made one!
@Bill in Yokohama You got a good chuckle in me — I remembered learning English as a second language and being corrected that “Wed-nes-day” is too formal!
@MJ agreed!!! I got excited and screen shot it but we never really had beef adobo here either.
Had to come here because I saw on Wednesday’s comment section that there were critiques about this day’s— I LOVED today’s!!! It was actually one of the first ones I did NOT look up anything, use a clue, AND got the theme answers correct; I love rebuses in (the original use of the term, where form reflects meaning) Bummed to see all the comments but this was absolutely right up my alley. It was beautiful and I loved the challenge, had to guess COPSE to correct SUBSCRIPTION
Curious— “number” as in grapheme of an amount and “number” as in more numb are not homo”phones” since they differ in phonemes (num-mer vs num-ber). What is the correct term?
Woops, Wednesday* puzzle I mean
@Theresa agreed! If there was a marker on any of these three clues I feel like I would have gotten it faster. But I had to read this to check what happened to “This Kiss”!
@Ben "I ride bikes" H. I just commented about this and I LOVE it!!!!!!! It reminds me of when animated shows slip in a little adult humor in family friendly animations, but the inverse :)
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