Suzanne Bee
Carmel, IN
Is it only me, or is 42 across sometimes spelled in the NYT crossword as AAH and sometimes it’s AHH? I might have caught it today except it crossed with 32 down, another onomatopoeia MWAH, which I thought could be MWAA. Having two onomatopoeia cross was the trickiest part of the solve for me.
If not for 35 across I would’ve been stumped today. It all fell into place for me with that revealer. Very clever.
I finished without any hints and without understanding the theme. Tough Thursday puzzle for me.
First, great debut puzzle. Second, congratulations on your upcoming retirement.
I’m always happy when I open the app and see it’s a Lynn Lempel puzzle! Another fun one!
I agree this was a tough Wednesday puzzle. To all the comments about HIRT, REOS and TBAR: these are frequent fill in the NYT crossword. File them away in your memory for next time. The only reason I have known a Greek marketplace is an AGORA for over 40 years thanks to the crossword.
@Chrissy some of this comes with solving the puzzle daily for years. Both REO and HIRT have appeared in the puzzle with some frequency. These are clues and answers you should file away in your memory.
Fun puzzle! Once I got 7 Down it all fell into place. Very creative!
Fun puzzle. Great theme with straightforward fill.
@Tina my best guess is Lear Jet. I agree that one isn’t obvious.
The musical is great! It’s sad it didn’t have a longer Broadway run. I have read it can’t tour due to complicated staging. I listen to the cast recording often.
Can someone explain what’s going on with 115 and 116 across? IND is an airport code, “Indy” is an informal way of referring to our city, the annual May race is “The 500” “The Indy 500” or “The Race.” What am I missing?
@Heather in the U.S. it refers to the pronunciation of “e” in some words. If you look in the dictionary (or google the pronunciation of a word) it appears as an upside down e. There may not be an equivalent in the UK.
@Cassidy I had the same complaint yesterday. (If you scroll down you’ll see my original post, I did the puzzle last night) I realized after rereading the Wordplay column the answer is Indy 500. Indy goes straight into the 500 yard chute, tunnel, etc. that Andy crawled through to freedom. The missing 500 is in the tunnel. I’m surprised this wasn’t discussed in the Wordplay column. If you live in Indianapolis you know that neither IND or Indy is an accurate response to “Annual May race, familiarly.
@Steve L I entered MAGAHAT first until it didn’t fit
TEENIE (99 across) and EENSY (126 across) as fill in the same puzzle both intersecting with ENISLE? Why does TEENIE end with IE but EENSY with Y other than to make the fill work? This was the last part of the puzzle I got due to originally thinking 126 across couldn’t possibly be EENSY after TEENIE already worked for 99 across. OK puzzle otherwise, I understand the theme, but other than the first part of each theme clue being generational slang there is nothing linking the answers together (what does Stan Laurel have to do with Split Second?, etc.) although I hesitate to be too critical because I will never even attempt to construct a crossword.
@Darren I recall TRICE as a Wordle solution a while back. I had never heard the word before, neither had most of my friends who I share Wordle scores with (ages mid to late 50s.) Maybe it’s time for the puzzle editors to either retire it or use it more often if it’s fair game as fill so it doesn’t appear to be made up. Make on a trice great again!
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