DocP

WOW!! What a great Tuesday. The revealer was easy to get and instantly made the puzzle so much easier, but at the same time, once I got the revealer, I marvelled at the puzzle for the rest of the solve. What a feat of construction! And such great spanners for a Tuesday! The constructor deserves many kudos, especially for MEDICINE CABINET.

When I first started solving 3 years ago, I would immediately lookup anything that was trivia, such as actors, singers, etc. Anything that you could look up. I didn't consider it cheating. I learned a lot because it was research. I bring this up because I'm listening to Avicii Levels which was an answer a while back (great song one, of my favourites now) . I've also watched Mr. Robot because of the NYT crossword (the answer was Rami Malek) (great show). My point is that I was having a more fun time solving before I visited this comments section. I had no idea what "no lookups" was and that some considered it cheating. Or that people were speed solving for personal bests. So I learned to solve with no lookups as fast as I could go. And it seems more like a chore now to keep my streak alive than , I liked the way I was solving 3 years ago, learning along the way. I don't know if I can go back though.

[in the voice of professor Farnsworth] GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY! Benny the poodle-mutt came home today! The vet and tech said they couldn't believe he's 15 years old because he recovered from surgery so well. He's a bit dopey from the meds, but he's home. His absence, even for just 48 hours, left a void in the house. I want to thank everyone for their support and well wishes.

My dog and best friend of 14 years, Benny, is going in for major surgery tomorrow (Wednesday). He has a 6 cm liver mass, statistically likely to be hepatocellular carcinoma (doggy liver cancer). He was a stray when we got him, so I have no idea how old he is. And it may seem cruel and selfish to do surgery on an old dog, but just yesterday he was out sprinting me like he did all those years ago. The vet says that with surgery, he likely has a few more years (without surgery, months). Yes, I knew that this day would come eventually. But it's never easy. I haven't been able to focus at work, and so had to cancel my week. All I can think about is my best friend, and the great times we've had, and how he carried me when it was just me and him for years. That is all I can think about... Besides when the next crossword is going to drop. Stupid streak.

Is SLAG the new Oreo?

Today is my second 1 year streak. I have completed nearly every puzzle for the last 3 years, but it took me a while to figure out the gold star streaks. Since then, it has been my goal, but 10 days after my first 1 year streak, I was foiled by the infamous Art Heist, which took me a month to fully understand and complete. So here it is, my second one year streak, instead of my first 2 year streak.

It took 4 minutes to solve most of the puzzle, and another 4 minutes for the NW corner alone. I mean MILKSOP and ARCTICS crossing CROCE and SOPOR? C'mon! 90 percent Monday level 10 per cent Saturday level

As promised, here is a pic of Foxy, the beloved pomerian in her sunflower cone, spreading joy to all. She is 2.5 weeks post OP from bilateral knee surgery for subluxing patellas. Being penned in is giving her cabin fever. The irony of not being allowed to move after getting a procedure to improve your movement. <a href="https://imgur.com/a/t9VvE9N" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/a/t9VvE9N</a>

As a neurologist, "cold neuralgia" opened this wide open for me. However, no one calls it that. For anyone with any pain above the neck, please refer to the ichd3 (international classification of headache disorders, 3rd edition) which is available for free online. BRAIN FREEZE is actually cold stimulus headache, classified as 4.5. I am intimately familiar with this. About 20 years ago, for (I think) my wife's 25th birthday, my friend brought over his own home fashioned beer bong. He had professional levers installed to ensure that we could fully control the flow. However, being the snob that I am, I declined bonging any beers. Instead, I decided to bong a frozen Margarita. Yes I did it. WORST BRAIN FREEZE EVER. DO NOT RECOMMEND. Also, @Steve L, this should make me older than 20...

The 2 Lanai clues reminded me of a story I thought I'd share. We were in Hawaii last summer for a friend's wedding. I'd never been before, so we went a few weeks early to visit some of the other islands. We started off on Maui and after doing the off road ATV tour (which leaves you covered in red dust that is impossible to remove) we walked around Lahaina to kill time before dinner. My wife and I enjoy looking for art that will complement our home. As we passed an art store, I saw some caricature paintings that I thought were well done. I immediately recognised one of Kevin Nealon. I then did a double take, because Kevin Nealon himself was actually standing in front of a painting of himself! We went inside, and it just so happens that he was having his art show. Kevin Nealon took up painting during the pandemic, and it turns out he is pretty good. He's done Chris Farley, Christopher Walken, Rami Malik, and Jennifer Aniston, among many others. He published a book to tell the story of why he painted each person and how he knows them, entitled "My brushes with fame". It's definitely worth looking up. Anyway, one painting in particular caught mine and my wife's eye, and we ended up buying it on the spot. It is the most money that we have ever dropped on an impulse purchase, and is the most expensive thing in the house (besides the cars and her engagement ring) but I have zero regrets. The painting sits in an art nook outside our bedroom door, and I smile every time I pass it...

Completely unrelated to crosswords, so feel free to skip this post. I wonder how many of you have heard of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy? In layman's terms, it is known as broken heart syndrome. The name itself has interesting Japanese origins about hunting octopodes, but that is besides the point. For those who have not heard about it, it is when a spouse dies and the surviving spouse, seemingly in good health previously, dies shortly thereafter. I posted in December when my grandmother passed away. My grandfather lives in a care home with dementia, but otherwise seemed to be doing well. My aunts finally cleaned out their condo last week and moved/sold everything. They told grandpa that it was done a few days ago. 2 days later, he developed liver failure. I just came back from the hospital; he has metastatic cancer to all of his internal organs. Now, for the cancer to be this widespread, it MUST have been present for a long time even before my grandmother's funeral. That's the scientist in me talking. The timing is just an odd coincidence though. He was doing fine, grandma died, his affairs were settled, and then his body decided that "it's time". There is definitely more to our spirit that science does not yet fully understand. Ironically, I'm boarding a plane for NYC in a few hours (and part of our visit includes an NYT tour). So I'm glad that I got to see him one last time, because I'm pretty sure he won't be here when we get back.

Not only do the themes provide punny delights, there are so many "make me smile" answers such as NAPA for place for grape nuts (as an oenophile, I especially loved that one), PLANK for hard core exercise, and PANE. Also some great 80s and 90s references with final frontier (raise your hand if you read this clue in JL Picard/Patrick Stewart's voice) and etch a sketch (I wonder how many new solvers have no idea what this is)? An 8 minute joy of a puzzle that made my evening.

Hands up if, to remember the name of the Ted Lasso character, you started singing JAMIE TARTT doo doo doo doo doo, a la Baby Shark. Overall, a clever theme. I enjoyed solving the clues within the clues. They were not too hard, but my difficulty was figuring out which order to put them in, until I realized that the answers were nested within each other. Brilliant! Otherwise, there were some very challenging clues that were easily accessible from the crosses. Finished in less than average time, which is saying something for a Thursday. A great mental workout. Offerings like these are why I look forward to Thursdays.

I spent forever flyspecking my mistake. Compass direction could be ESE or ENE, as the cross because I SAY NO works just as well as I SAY SO. Both should be acceptable as it works in both directions.

A difficult to suss out theme with obscure, Saturday level clues made this truly unenjoyable. But my huge gripe was the clue for visitor from a faraway place. I refused to put in UFO until I had no choice, because this answer is completely inaccurate. An ET or alien is the visitor. A space ship is the vehicle in which they arrive. A UFO is anything seen by someone not wearing their glasses. Most UFOs are actually manmade objects (or atmospheric phenomenon), not from faraway places, that the observer simply did not recognize. The editors should have done much better with that.

On my XXth orbit around the sun, I was sincerely hoping for something better and more rewarding. Instead, I was halfway done the puzzle and felt ugh because of all the forced, inelegant fill. OGREISH? SLEEKEN? GEES? And the most egregious TRANK (which of course should be tranq, short for tranquilizer). Yes I got the theme, and I was fortunate that these were all films with which I am familiar. But I took no satisfaction or pleasure in completing this puzzle (which was at Monday - Tuesday difficulty). At least on my birthday, I get a puzzle shout out (KNEEL - my pseudonym on social media). I rarely say this, but this is one puzzle that should have been outright rejected for the sheer amount of forced fill for the sake of a meh theme.

I don't get all the hate, so I feel the need to post here. I absolutely LOVED this puzzle. I got the revealer ANY TAKERS right away, and knew that it was crucial to understanding the puzzle. I kept rereading the clue and answer and could not make sense of how it was helpful. I got HEADSTO through the crosses (after epitaph didn't fit), and had my first aha! moment: the revealer is telling is to take away NE. Ok, so how do I make this work... I couldn't solve "on the same side" directly, but given the blanks ALL I NEED seemed to fit. It didn't make sense, but oh well. And as I left and came back and left and came back to this puzzle I reread "all I need" without the NE and aha! #2 came! The clue and answer made sense by taking away NE. The 2 separate satisfying moments of the solve were when these lightbulbs went off, transplanting NE from one word to the other, and voila the world made sense again. A very satisfying solve, and still just under my Thursday average. I would love to see more like this.

In just a few short days, Benny has gathered an ardent following! I recall saying that I wish that I could post pictures, so instead I'm going to plug his insta: @foxy_benny. I eschew social media so don't have my own account, but these 2 are just too adorable (in my very biased opinion) to not have an account of their own. Benny is still dopey from meds, but is slowly recovering to his old self. Benny thanks all of you for your love, well wishes and support.

I loved this one! Day 555 of my streak. Unfortunately, I missed the theme until after I completed the puzzle, but it indeed made me feel WARM AND FUZZY. What tickled me pink, however, was the clever cluing. For instance it's always pointed at the north pole, what (not) to call people, cooler in a cooler and hole foods, to name a few. These definitely made me chuckle. Thanks to the constructor!

Very cute theme for 3/14. I actually counted out the rows and columns like the clue asked (riase your hand if you did as well). Not being an American, it took me forever to find my mistake as I had GReY rather than GRAY (I wouldn't think of ADA as a Canadian). I really felt like I was on the constructor's wavelength with this one, because it solved more like a Tuesday, probably close to a personal best. I started the puzzle hoping for a rebus, but now I'm hungry for pie.

The NYT editing time is ruining the puzzles. I have nothing against the constructor; this was a perfectly cromulent puzzle. However, I finished the combination of Friday and Thursday in the time that it took me to do Wednesday this week. Today's puzzle was half my Friday average; it belongs on a Wednesday. As to this specific puzzle, it was fun with some delightful cling and cute answers. Nothing wrong with it at all.

Woo-wee! What a fun puzzle! As soon as I opened the puzzle and saw the numbers, I knew I was gonna be in for a good time. Math? Magic squares? Who knows,but let's find out. I immediately got the revealer of MINE SWEEPER (which brings back memories), but wait! It doesn't fit! Let's come back to it. Off to the down entries, and low and behold, the answer had to be MINECRAFT. Aha! A rebus! And then everything fell into place. I was totally on the same wavelength as the constructor, getting ABACUS, WATCH and ET AL on the first pass, and finishing in half my Thursday average. But every one of those minutes was a joy. Thank you.

I was proud of myself to get PARALLEL UNIVERSE with no crosses whatsoever. However, it was only at this point that I stepped back and noticed something odd: both top corners were completely closed off, usually a no no for a crossword. Fortunately, both LIEN and NEIL were filled out, so the mirror symmetry immediately jumped out, and I immediately got the gimmick. At this point, I did something that I never do: I slowed down and jumped back and forth between the mirror entries. Yes, the answers were the same for the downs, but it was still fun to see the different cluing for each. Normally, I try to speed solve, but slowing down allowed me to savour the puzzle for just a bit longer. I'm sure there is some kind of moral or lesson to this. In any case, hats off to the constructor. One of the most enjoyable solves in weeks.

Wow, a Wednesday level difficulty though I was still able to come in just under my average with no lookups. At first, I wasn't happy about all the proper names (NEALE, OLAF, OLIN, LOEW, and especially LOOK next to ELIE), but I got the revealer right away, and wow, the puzzle popped for there. It's like a Sudoku for L's. I can appreciate how tough this must have been to construct. Going back, there is none of the usual crossword glue, and instead some great entries like SELFFIVE, FLAKED, and my personal favourite, BOOTLEGS. All in all, a very fun and satisfying solve.

Alas, my streak ended at 370 days. Not becuase of this puzzle, but I didn't get to finish Sunday's puzzle because of life. My grandma just passed away, and I'm thankful I got to spend an hour holding her hand in the ICU, and even more thankful for everything that's she's done for me over the years. Not even 2 months ago, she stopped by work to bring me my favorite dessert for Diwali. I've been so hell bent on maintaining my streak (kudos to those who can, but it takes a LOT of work and focus) that I think that I've lost track of the bigger picture. The crossword is a passtime, and it's not the end of the world if I don't get my gold star, as long as I'm using that time spent with loved ones and making memories. At the end of the day, I won't remember each crossword I did (although I am proud of my streak), but I will remember the time spent with family and the memories made. I will restart my efforts for another streak, but this time, I don't think I will ignore the other things in life just to make it happen.

Hahaha ON KEY KONG? CROW CONTROL? GARBAGE UMP? This is hilarious. Absolutely loved this one. And the revealer is *chef's kiss*. I'm still giggling at the silliness of it all. What a fun theme. And I can definitely relate to garbage ump. We used to have hockey season tickets that were close enough to the ice that the players could hear me. And I definitely let the refs know what I thought of their calls.

Overall, a meh puzzle with forced answers to serve a cute theme. ___ school is a guess what I am thinking answer. I had MiD (thinking middle school) thinking that Sam I love is a reasonable song title. CLAW MACHINE GAME is redundant, and no one ever calls it that. Likewise, AMUSEMENT ARCADE. The correct answer for "that so? " should be "is it?", as both are questions; "it is" is a reply to the question, and not how clues work. Finally, the racist origins of Eeney meeny miney mo have been well discussed in this forum, and should be forever banned. Very underwhelmed and unimpressed.

Touch and go for TAG and Permanent location for SALON were brilliant and made me laugh out loud. A very cute and Tuesday appropriate puzzle.

Absolutely terrible. A "guess what I'm thinking" crossword, with no chance without LOTS of help. Not even your usual google lookups, but looking at the column and answer key. For instance, a persons is AMNESTIC, not amnesic. Just not fun.

Everyone has heard of déjà vu, but very few people have heard of jamais vu. Both can be seen in seizure aura, although the former is far more common. It is a fascinating phenomenon. One patient was in the shower, and when she stepped out, she freaked out because she thought that she was in someone elses' bathroom; she did not recognize it as her own. Another patient was in a chemistry lab and went on break. When he returned to the room, he asked "why did we switch labs?".

On the one hand, fastest Saturday ever (right after the longest Friday ever) On the other hand, way too many proper nouns and names to make this enjoyable. This should be a crossword puzzle not a trivia contest. Also come and see Banff National Park if you haven't already! Canada's first national park. The Icefields parkway between Jasper and Banff is a gorgeous drive, and it's worth the stopover at the Columbia Icefields. Better yet, if you can, do a Heli tour of the mountains! It gives you a whole other perspective of the mountains. I've just been spoiled living here my whole life and taking the majesty of the Rockies for granted. (I can post pics of me and the pups doing the Icefields parkway drive upon request. The day the new Alberta superchargers opened, I did a round trip through Alberta in a day to prove that it could be done in an EV (Edmonton - Jasper - Banff - Calgary - Edmonton))

TIL that French fry and ONION RING have the same number of letters

WOW! Loved it! At first I thought I was in for a game of hangman but once I got the first clue, I realised how clever the theme was. I was smiling the whole rest of the way. I learned some things, had fun, and nerded out on the star trek clues. One of the best puzzles in months.

Omg! This puzzle had me in stitches. Starting with HOSER as any self respecting Canadian should get on the first pass, with no crosses. But then REM for cycle at night, ICE for pretty cool stuff and BAD DOG for Out damn Spot (I was looking so hard for a Shakespeare reference!). I was really hoping bull in a Chihuahua shop would be typo, but TORO works as well. Overall, a fresh, lively, enjoyable puzzle that had me grinning throughout, and served as the perfect palate cleanser for yesterday.

Wow, where to start with this one? As soon as you open the grid, that giant C catches the eye, and you know its going to be used for something. And then the levels to the puzzle! You have to turn the Cs to Os for them to make sense. And that is still only part of the trick, until you get to the blocks! Never mind the very clever cluing. I was just disappointed that it ended in half my usual Sunday time. Still, a great weekend (fri-sat-sun) for the NYTXD!

Disliked this "puzzle" because it was more a test of trivia and proper names. I liked learning about the Chinese new year, but anyone who isn't Chinese has no chance of figuring out the phrase. Likewise, I had "Oh I SEE" instead of "OK I SEE" (the former being far more common than the latter), and could only catch my mistake by googling the Olympians. Ditto for SHEPARD, MEGACON, ELOTE, SCOTT'S and BLACK HILLS. Likewise, "is that A NO" could have easily been "is that all", "HASN'T" could have been "has no" and __ clothing could have been anything. Too much "guess what I'm thinking". Definitely not a fun crossword, and more of a slog, only completed to keep my streak alive.

Cute. Made me giggle in a fun childlike way.

I'm so proud of myself for getting this one with no lookups*. I was on the verge of giving in on many occasions because I could not crack open the west side at all. Still, I took breaks, pushed myself, and resisted temptation. I knew the revealer must be something like Y is X or Y = X, but this meant nothing to me until, squinting, I realised that DAS KAPITAL fit! Then came the lightbulb and aha! moment wherein I squealed with glee. Suddenly, I could fill in CAT PEOPLE, THE SHOW MUST GO ON and BRAZILIAN (my favourite clue/answer BTW) and the puzzle cracked wide open. It's for this reason that Thursdays are my favourite puzzles of the week. *although I knew there was a rebus, after I filled it in and didn't get my gold star, I had to come to the column to find my 2 errors Flower girl? could be a ROLE someone plays, and al equal is close enough. Likewise, ACHE fit the answer, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why editors were concerned with STELE. Still, this is my favourite puzzle of the year so far, and I'm going to bed with a big grin on my face. My goal this year is 366 gold stars. 11 down, 355 to go.

Hahaha. Omg. I hadn't got the down revealer, but I had the 2 across ones, so I put the circled letters together and said it 3 times fast and burst out laughing. What a fun time. In record time I think too.

I'm reading all the hate and I don't get it. I thought this puzzle was brilliant and quite fun. And I finished under average, without lookuos, even after quite a bit of wine. There was no clue that could not be answered without the help of the crosses. The fact that the rebuses made a pangram is an added layer of genius that I did not appreciate until I came to the column either. Definitely gets my vote for puzzle of the year. Speaking of puzzle of the year, the "art heist' puzzle is the only one I have to completed in the last 2 years, wrecking my 380 day streak. Can't believe that one won...

It seems like the Wed and Thur puzzles were switched this week because I finished Thursday in difficult Tuesday /easy Wednesday time and Wednesday in Thursday time. I really like the theme today but it was too easy for a Thursday, especially because once you got the revealer, you could fill in SIN whcih greatly helps the solve. That being said, I liked the way this was implemented; it made me chuckle.

A bit irked by the Natick of TCBY and BAL, nearly impossible for anyone not from the USA, so I had to brute force it. Other than that I flew through the puzzle. Got the revealer right away, and then the theme clues made sense. Had to step away for a couple of hours and come back due to a tricky NE corner, but with a fresh set of eyes, it all fell into place. All in all, can't complain with a time of 20 min, 12 min under average (I don't know where to check personal bests, but this must be close). Those theme answers were a thing of beauty: many times I mentally looped de looped them as I was doing the puzzle. Learned a few things along the way like NOB and Madrasa (as well as the aforementioned TCBY). Favourite clues were the clever ones: SINAI, ALI BABA, PGA TOUR, CRASH, SPIDEY and CROSS (which made me chuckle). All in all, a fun puzzle!