Aaron

I believe that DARKEST TIMELINE originates from the greatest live-action sitcom ever created, Community. It’s from the episode Remedial Chaos Theory, where the study group decides who’ll get the pizza based on a die roll. Abed warns that this will result in six new timelines being created, each differing greatly and diverging from this moment, only for Jeff to say it’s ridiculous to think that. The episode’s all about seeing how each timeline differs, with the same setup of what everyone has on their person and what’s in the room. Timeline six, where Troy gets the pizza, is the aforementioned DARKEST TIMELINE. Everything that can possibly go wrong does go wrong, with Troy innocently walking into the room excited for the pizza only to see the room on fire, Pierce bleeding out, and everyone in full panic mode. You’ve probably seen the GIF of that moment, and now you know where it comes from. If you’ve ever spent hours reading TVTropes, you owe it to yourself to watch Community, because it’s the only sitcom written with the site open at all times so they can subvert the tropes.

Interestingly, the butler doing it isn’t actually very common. It’s what’s known as a dead unicorn trope: a cliche that was never really used much.

Someone made a typo when linking to this page. I had a real hard time getting here.

As a furry, finding FURSONA in the word list felt like seeing your teacher at a concert. It’s cool to see, though!

BUTTHURT is a spanking thing? That’s news to me! I thought it was kinda messed up and just another poorly aged relic of the golden age of the internet.

EDUMACATE was a stretch, but it’s funny enough that I don’t mind!

SIMCity is a clue that threw me for a loop. I never even thought it was a possibility, given game-related clues are less common.

I’d judge you for knowing LOSDOS from “Why don’t we have both?”, but the sad part is that I do too! I’m not even American!

Happy birthday, Adrian’s dad! This was a tough one. Gaming is my medium of choice and field of study, so I was ashamed of myself for finally being stumped by a game clue. It made me feel better when I saw the wordplay.

If I had a nickel for every time FURSONAS appeared in a NYT crossword I’ve played, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice, right?

ASH BIN might’ve been clued by the use of “rubbish” which seems out of place in an American crossword. This theme is incredible. I thought I was gonna have to say the book each quote was from, but I’m a lot better at puns.

I know this one! It’s HYDROPONICS! Thanks, Viscera Cleanup Detail!

This is a deeply impressive puzzle, even if it’s blasphemy to the AFOL community. Actually, AFOL might be a good answer! Just needs a clue like “Elder bricklayer?” or something.

This theme is exceptionally cool!

An ISN’T She Lovely clue above the word GOOSE?! Even if it’s a total coincidence in all likelihood, it certainly doesn’t make me any less emotional. For anyone wondering, it lines up with the use of Isn’t She Lovely on the finale of The Amazing Digital Circus, an indie animated series by an artist named Gooseworx. It’s a fantastic show, but be careful about showing it to your kids. It’s only about as mature as The Simpsons, but the subject matter is much heavier, and it has some seriously scary moments since it’s an existential horror series.