DW
Woodstock
Enjoyed the cascading "Q"s in the grid! I hope to never see the phrase "MEAT SWEATS" again in a puzzle, or anywhere else for that matter.
In all my years, I have never heard anyone say "simulcasted". "Simulcast" is a portmanteau of "simultaneous" and "broadcast", and the commonly used past tense of "broadcast" is "broadcast". Similarly, the past tense of "simulcast" is typically also "simulcast".
@Zachary Any prizes for guessing yours?
I enjoyed this one. I know I'm probably in the minority, but I actually like when the puzzles take me longer. I like to actually puzzle over a puzzle. This one was chewy enough to feel satisfying when I finished.
absolutely loved this one! Challenging to wrestle with, and very satisfying when I was finally done. Thank you!
Took a few passes to get a toehold, but I still finished it 10 minutes faster than my average. Somehow chewy and easy at the same time, probably because the long answers came quickly to me.
@J-J Cote I disagree. I enjoy the mini as an appetizer before diving into the main crossword. At one point, early on, there was usually a kind of clue/answer overlap between the mini and the main puzzle, which was fun to find.
Even taking it a little slow, bc I was distracted, I still finished in less than half my average. Agree with the general sentiment that it was overly easy for a Thursday puzzle.
@spurious Id est is the latin phrase meaning "it is", from which we get the abbreviation i.e.
Felt fairly breezy for a Wednesday. I loved Roger Ebert, and suspected he was the theme pretty early on. My one, minor quibble is the clue for 10A. My entire backyard is a hill of moss, and it grows on all sides of all the trees. The idea that it only grows on the north side of trees is a myth. It grows where it's shady, cool, and damp.
Enjoyable, but way too easy for a Thursday. I've been doing the NYT crosswords for over 40 years. Only started paying attention to my solve times when the puzzles became solvable online. For a long time, 30-45 minutes was not unusual for me for a Thursday puzzle. This one took me less than 11 minutes. And last week's wasn't much longer than that. I'm grateful for the puzzle creators and editors, but it seems to me that, for the past few months, the puzzles have been getting easier and easier. Missing the challenge is all...
Loved this! I felt challenged, and had to dig deep for more than half the answers. But it never felt impossible. An excellent Saturday puzzle, with lots of answers that were unusual and creative. Bravo! And thank you to the powers that be for choosing this one!
@Norwood That one upset me too. I actually felt kind of gross filling it in. However, I just decided to keep going and not let it ruin my enjoyment of the puzzle.
@Grumpy It's the auxiliary cable you might use to plug your phone, etc. into the car's infotainment system
30A was my favorite clue! Made me laugh, especially so close to 10D
@Isabeau definitely always used it for enthusiasm also.
@PB That's why it's called a puzzle...
Just over 12 minutes. Less than a dozen fills that I had to go back to more than once. Nothing wrong with the puzzle, but not at all what I expect on a Friday. I agree with Andrew. Can we go back to harder puzzles, especially Thursday-Saturdays? I used to spend a good 30-45 minutes on those, sometimes over an hour. A fabulous way to spend my time. Now, it's rare to spend more than 20 minutes on one, and that's usually the Sunday grid, only because it's bigger.
@Steve L I was going to say the same thing. The defining attribute of something diaphanous is translucent. Many things can be defined as light that are not at all diaphanous. And so, I initially resisted filling in "LIGHT".
@Crab Bass is a brewing company, known for their ale
@Isabeau I was just going to come on here and say the same thing (minus the etymology lesson, thank you!) Definitely not a chicken-or-egg dilemma, and disappointing that Sam Corbin doesn't seem to know what that actually means.
fun, but over pretty quickly for a Friday. New best time, and half my average time. Thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless.
@Steve L agreed (on an easy Wednesday) and agreed on the new format. The attention to replies, and replies on replies, is particularly bizarre to me, given that the system doesn't let you know when someone (other than a journalist) replies to your comment. At least, it never has for me. It just seems like a weird inconsistency.
@Sam Lyons I certainly remember segue being used in the 70s and 80s, particularly but not exclusively to describe radio dj's who were talented in creating a queue of songs that built upon each other.
Re: 49D, The name of the wine, and the region, are both Sauternes. With an S at the end. It is not SAUTERNE
@Barry Ancona But all 3 of those definitions carry the implication of something sheer or insubstantial. As a clue, it's a miss, imo.
Just the kind of challenge I love in a Friday puzzle! ENNEAD is one of my favorite words, so I get an extra bit of delight when it shows up in a puzzle.
Fun, quick solve. Done in half my average time
@Philly Carey It is a device used in starting an engine. It doesn't need to be the only device, or used to start every kind of engine, to be a correct clue.
Loved the challenge! A few really tough ones for me, but nothing that I couldn't figure out with a little time and thought.
Clever as this was, it was far too easy for a Thursday. Done in under 10 minutes, and about half my Thursday average. Maybe a Wednesday, or, if fleshed out to a bigger grid, possibly a Sunday, but the anwsers were really easy and the cluing was fairly simple. I got the theme filling my 2nd word, and didn't feel challenged by it at all. If it weren't for the theme, I'd put it as a Tuesday level honestly.
Really enjoyed this one. A little easier than I prefer, but definitely kept me interested. Got the theme before I got to the revealer, and had fun with the fill. And TIL why IPA is called IPA.
@Lewis I realize I misread the revealer clue.
@Kathy I noticed the same thing. It was highlighted green on my screen, not the usual yellow. I wondered that too, and expected it to have something to do with the theme, but I don't see how it does.
@Mimi I assumed it referred to "succeed" as in follow, and the soonest would be more likely to "succeed" than the latest. But that's just a guess.
@Steve L I came on here to say I'm dreaming of a puzzle that doesn't have ETSY in it... What ever did constructors do before that site existed? lol
Hands down, the easiest Friday I've ever done. Enjoyable. Definitely an easy Friday puzzle
I initially has SPIT for 25D, which made me very confused about 24A. And not knowing LDOPA or ADOLFO didn't help matters either. since I couldn't get enough letters in place to guess at 24A. Got there eventually, albeit almost 3 1/2 minutes over my average for a Tuesday...
Monday PB Quick and breezy. My only niggle was the torturous phrasing in the clue for the revealer.
@Tim V. I also went with GRAM immediately, and then couldn't make anything else in that section work. It was a good 20 minutes before I finally relented and took GRAM out. Finished the puzzle less than 2 minutes of making that change.
@Striker I was really rooting for him, and I was so happy for him!
Solved it in under 10 minutes. Didn't get the theme until afterwards, which seems to be the theme for the comments I've read. Very easy for a Thursday, imo. Yes, it's clever, but I look forward to the challenge of a Thursday puzzle, so clever that sacrifices the challenge is kind of disappointing to me.
@sonnel I'd forgotten Sister Mary Elephant! Now I'm laughing to myself remembering. Thanks for that!
Delightfully challenging! Finally!! (I've felt that the puzzles this week were way easier, overall, than I'd like) But also, annoyed...I started the puzzle last night, and then hit a snag, so I paused it to sleep on it and finish this morning. But the timer apparently didn't pause, so now, my time for this one is over 11 hours!
@Jim I've been solving NYT puzzles for over 40 years, so I don't actually need your advice on what would serve me well. And I don't consider it "pedantry" to comment on made up words. I would consider it more pedantic to cast aspersions on any comment you don't agree with.