Laura
Madison, Wisconsin
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Madison, Wisconsin
I started 2024 with an accomplishment that I learned about from these comments: solving a Monday puzzle from only the Across clues! I’ve tried it before but have never been able to successfully complete the puzzle all the way. Today was my first time! Bring on a new year of puzzles!
Like others, I was stumped by the RAp/pOSEE cross and had to mentally run the alphabet to find another letter that would work, especially since I don’t think of rap as being in 2/4. But before that, though, I had to fix my big error of “THEM’S THE rules” which is definitely a phrase I’ve heard before and tripped me up for quite a while! Once I fixed that, everything else fell into place. Great puzzle! Challenging and enjoyable.
@Katie If you split it ALL AT ONCE it makes more sense :)
@Lisa B I use the same strategy, and I like doing it in list view on my phone. Fewer distractions than looking at the whole grid to start with! Then after I’ve been through all the clues once, I go back and look at the grid for the rest of the solve. Congrats on your one pass today!
For FLUTE SOLO I had a slightly different interpretation of the clue than Ms. Amlen. Yes, it’s a wind instrument, but the flautist doesn’t have to stand up for their solo. They’re “up” because they are usually the highest pitched wind instrument in the orchestra! Until that pesky piccolo comes in…
My children also like to help me with the Wordle and Spelling Bee, and recently the older one (age 10) has started helping me with the Mini! It makes me happy to think of him solving the full crossword puzzles on his own someday.
After filling in WOOD for 35A, I discovered that “deforestation” has the same number of letters as GLOBAL WARMING… that’s the risk of solving all the across clues before looking at the down ones!
@CrispyShot and @Roberto It’s also a photo OP. I love when a photo fits in multiple ways!
@Dave It’s very much a matter of your regional dialect! I grew up in St. Louis and they don’t rhyme for me, but I live in Wisconsin now, and most people here would make them rhyme. It’s similar to how the vowel sound in my name is pronounced differently depending on where a person is from!
Is this the right place to comment on the August bonus puzzle? There’s an error in the clue for 65A. That is the name of the novel in question, but it’s a different character that speaks that line. Finally my years of watching all these Jane Austen movies pays off, confirmed by checking the text!
@Henry Su I just picked up a library copy of this book and am excited to dive into it!
@John Carson Thanks for asking! Already turned in my absentee ballot ✅
@Mean Old Lady I also had FULL OF bs for a very long time, until I got so stuck in that area that I decided I needed to delete some boxes and start over
@Linda Aha, thank you! I came to wordplay today because I couldn’t figure out what was keeping me from my star, and then the article didn’t include anything different from what I had… your comment showed me my mistake!
@Mr T Thank you! I triple checked my grid but still couldn’t find the error preventing my gold star. I found nothing in the column that I needed to fix; on to search in the comments, and finally found this. Glad I’m not the only one who’s never heard of the port of Brest!
@Barney Angola I came to the comments to try to figure out what was keeping me from getting the happy music… that was it! Thanks! I confess I was very confused by cOATS but didn’t see the alternative.
@Vislander The same two mistakes happened in my grid! And to try to fix what wasn’t making sense, I first took out the answer I was least sure of (TENDOLLARWORDS). That slowed me down quite a bit! Needless to say, I did not find it as easy and quick as many solvers did.
@Jill from Brooklyn Love the BBC North & South! But it’s Richard Armitage as Mr. Thornton, not Matthew MaFadyen. And sorry to disagree above, but the 2005 P&P pales in comparison with 1995
@Justin Sometime over the holiday weekend (don’t remember exactly which day) when I opened the puzzle on my iPhone, I thought, “hmm, the grid looks different, maybe something with the lines?” But then I got to solving and didn’t think any more about it. Now I’m glad to hear that my senses were right, and I wasn’t just imagining things!
@Pani Korunova I just went back and did that one, too. It took me a while, but I finally got it! It’s a toughie!
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