Striker

I gotta say, I didn’t love this puzzle. And I’m laughing at myself because I know I would have come here and pretended I did if it weren’t for JAKE and his prankster pal JAPE. But, having struggled with that one crosser for longer than the rest of the puzzle, I’ve come to the comments tired and in a foul mood. But honestly, beyond that, the theme really didn’t dazzle, in my mind. Dan Shoenholz, I thank you sincerely nonetheless, and, should you happen to read this, do keep in mind I’m a sleepy, cranky dude right now which would account for my less than stellar review.

Sometimes a puzzle is just a really good time. Tonight was easy, but very amusing and an impressive bit of construction. Thanks and congrats, Greg Snitkin Also, Mitch Hedberg is a legend. Dude has always made me laugh. That awesome delayed laugh, too. You gotta let his observations marinate and replay in your head before you realize how funny some of his stuff is. Gone too soon. Escalators can never break. They can only become stairs.

In keeping with my new philosophy on taking my time with early week puzzles, I enjoyed this puzzle at a leisurely pace while being fed handfuls of imaginary blueberries by a 2.5 yr old girl (who should be in bed by now). Not my fastest, but, among the most enjoyable Tuesdays I can recall.

Did not know there was another spelling of DRyLY. OLyGARCH felt wrong, but I figured it was the correct spelling since DRyLY seemed like it had to be correct. And so, with no gold star, I looked elsewhere. Always painful spending time in a fly speck reworking correct answers. Anyway, eventually I learned something this evening. Something only useful in Crosslandia, but something, nonetheless. Thanks for the excellent, difficult Tuesday, Robert S. Gard.

1 hour 35 minutes last night. 13 minutes tonight 😳 Friday PR for me. What a difference a day makes!! Happy weekend everyone. Thanks for the great puzzle Sarah Sinclair and Rafael Musa.

I mean… what can you even say? Pretty simply, this is the most masterfully created puzzle I’ve ever had the privilege of solving. Thank you and bravo to Simeon Seigel. Once I get my gold star I’m always so eager to read the column and hear from the commenters that I often skip over trying to puzzle out a theme, and that was the case for me this evening. I wish I had spent more time trying to figure out why some of the locations referenced weren’t in THE SOUTHEAST. I would have been blown away if I had grasped this theme without the columns help… Although, I’m sure it would have been tough for me to see, plagued, as I am, by “right blindness” (a crosswording affliction where the solver is so convinced an answer is correct they become blind to all other possibilities.)

Did the constructors mean to hot box that south east corner? DAB KUSH in a CLOUD BANK? STOKED, speechless, IDLY watching reruns on TBS? Brought me right back to SDSU with my ROOMIEs. Challenging puzzle for me but very fun. Thanks, Carolyn Davies Lynch and, as always, Jeff Chen

This puzzle was the hardest for me in recent memory. Not the theme, which I found challenging but doable (incredibly impressive), but the high density of words I’d never seen or heard before supported by vague / indirect clues. What a tough combo. Finally had to resort to several look ups and was very happy that I did because I could not have solved this one on my own. Biggest problem (only problem?) with the Wordplay Column is how seldom the “Tricky Clues” section actually touches on any of the tricky clues.

When asked to provide a urine sample I was stricken with bladder shyness. My Urologist advised I be patient. He said: GIVE PEES A CHANCE

That one felt breezy after yesterday’s beat down. Loved it - with all the OOs. I think the crossword gods sometimes know when we’ve been dealt a tough one so they’ll throw us a bit of a softball the following day. (Sometimes, certainly not all the time!) And, I say softball without a hint of disrespect for this really interesting and well clued puzzle. Friday-worthy, to be sure. I actually think it’s a sign of tremendous skill when a constructor can make a challenging puzzle have that easy flow. A Weintraubian talent. Crosslandia will be a better place if you stick with it, Colin Adams. Congrats on your debut and thanks for a great puzzle!

Deb: What are you drawing? Napoleon Dynamite: A liger. Deb: What's a liger? Napoleon Dynamite: It's pretty much my favorite animal. It's like a lion and a tiger mixed... bred for its skills in magic.

Peter Gordon - I’m amazed by your patience, especially in light of the fact that you could have used TIGER CUB and few would have noticed it was borrowed from a 1997 puzzle (and wouldn’t have minded, even if they had). Impressive! Thanks for the great puzzle. How about… Clue: “Bernie Madoff” Answer: LION STEELER

Nice workout. Great debut. Thanks, Ryan Judge. Loved the “John and Paul” clue. And the little center stack of TOTO and ARGOS. Speaking of dogs, we didn’t have enough diapers to change around here so we added a pup. A ten week old golden retriever named Woods. You should see him. Pretty much the cutest little dude imaginable. Lots of barbie costumes are likely already in the BELLY OF THE BEAST. Unlike ARGOS, Woodsy will not wait for me at home. He will be a TOTO and join me on many epic adventures. Have a great weekend, everyone!

This one was so fun. Really interesting and very unique in my limited experience. Like a themeless with a twist. No real theme. No real revealer. Just a series of confounding dashes you need solve your way through. It was HOLD DEAR that tipped me off, after my puzzle was 80% complete. I entered the D and thought, I guess HOLD kinda works for “Cherish”? And thats when I noticed the DEAR. Very cool. No “birds flying south”. Just some good old fashioned puzzle solving. (Birds flying south was also very cool, for the record) Thanks for the good time, Morton J. Mendelson

Perfectly challenging for a Tuesday. Hard enough to keep me from speed solving but tricky enough to get me thinking in a few places. And, dig the theme! Good times - Thanks, Victor Barocas!

Oh yeah. Super cool puzzle. Loved everything about it. Thanks, Daniel Mauer! So far, each puzzle this week has been the perfect difficulty for the day, in my opinion. Got me thinking. What is my perfect difficulty in terms of ideal solve time? Never really thought about this, so going to think out loud a bit, here. Monday: 5-10 Tuesday: 8-15 Wednesday: 15-25 Thursday: 20-40 Friday: 30-50 Saturday: 40-60 Sunday: 45-75 I think these are pretty ideal numbers for me, personally. Anything much under and either I felt especially sharp / on the same wave length as the constructor(stoked!). OR the puzzle just felt a bit too easy (less stoked). Anything much over these times can often (but not always) feel like a slog, for me. Especially a really tough Sunday. And the worst is when I finish a puzzle around the target time and then spend twice as long fly specking! Always made worse when I don’t know if I’m looking for one square that’s off, or two, or three. (Or five!)

Woo doggy! That was a tricky one, but what a pleasure to finish. One of those puzzles that was completely locked up until a single, simple entry provided a key to the entire grid. It was COACH that broke things open for me, this evening. RAp / pOSEE kept me from a gold star. Changed it to RAG (I assume, as in RAG time?) and was surprised to get the happy music. I first had entered Guard for “entry level position”, which I thought was pretty cool… And the food with the backward food led me to all sorts of dark possibilities like Taco / caT. I thought this puzzle was incredible. It was filled with all sorts of points of interest and I’m a happier person having solved it. Thanks, Julian Xiao - Well done!

Marshal may only have one L but you more than make up for it with the extra R and N in Herrmann. Early week puzzles are fun to try and speed solve, but the problem with a speed solve is you miss the beauty in the detail of a puzzle. In my rush to finish, I only read the first half of the revealer clue and didn’t realize the staggering feat Marshal Herrmann pulled off with the Ls On one hand, I’m proud of myself for instantly knowing ONE L with only half the clue. That answer completely stumped me a couple times last year but now it seems to be another bit of crosswordese I have added to the vault. On the other hand, I think I’m ready to chill on always going for a PR on Mondays and Tuesdays. Would have had way more fun with this if I took my time and I don’t think I really care to try to topple my records anymore. Would rather enjoy the calm before the late week storm. Thanks for the fun puzzle, Marshal! Amazing work. Congrats!

Our perfect week of puzzles continues - assuming “perfect” means right in that sweet spot of not too tough / not too easy. ALTHO, if we’re talking about the perfect puzzle for each day of the week, I would say, the theme was pretty easy to sniff out, today. I suppose I like a Thursday to be a bit more dazzling with its trickery. I want to briefly feel like a Thursday Genius™️ when I crack the code. Not sure I felt that with this one… but, whatever this puzzle lacked in trickery, it more than made up for with fantastic clues and wonderful fill. A perfectly enjoyable challenge. Well done, Samuel A. Donaldson. And, thank you!

Haven’t read down too far in the comments yet but, from what I’ve read, people seem a bit ornery? Not sure what about. This seemed to be standard issue Thursday fare. A darn good puzzle, if you ask me. I solved the revealer early on (using a rebus) but, I’ll admit, I did not understand to look for the ‘X’ and the ‘Y’ in the clue, so I was scouring the grid looking for opportunities to apply my secret code. I ended up filling in the starred clues using crossers until enough of a familiar phrase formed to fill in the blanks. Couldn’t believe the gold star popped up without getting to do a single X Y swap, but I got a good chuckle after reading Deb’s column and going back to read the clues again. Mayim / Maxim should have tipped me off! Will remember to consider the clues more closely in the future! Thanks for the great puzzle, Damon Gulczynski

Very quick followed by slightly difficult for a bit there in the midwest and southwest. DINAH was new to me and LONE EAGLE isn’t really on my radar as a symbol of freedom. A LONE wolf is free, in its way. And a bald EAGLE, of course, is like,” joe freedom”, but LONE EAGLE, not so much (for me). Come to think of it, I guess I really don’t say “DROPS LIKE A STONE”. Sinks LIKE STONE? Sure. Definitely in my quiver. And I might say DROPS “off a cliff”, or something along those lines, but can’t really think of a circumstance where I’d use DROPS LIKE A STONE. Not complaining or calling foul, just trying to rationalize what slowed me down after a quick start. In fact, I loved this puzzle for those reasons. Thank you, Freddy Cheng!

I like Saturdays where I’m too tired to make a dent on a Friday night and then tackle with fresh eyes and coffee on a Saturday morning. I knew it was KABUKI but wasn’t sure I was spelling it correctly, so, when I had just the Northwest left, I briefly hopped over to Google for a spell check. But I caught myself. ‘Not so fast, Striker! You haven’t given this section a good look, this morning. Get back in there!’ 5 minutes later, bumped BERLi for BERLE and, bingo, bulls eye. Right around Saturday average. Loved this puzzle. Thanks, Natan Last!

I rode the struggle bus to glory this evening. Total blast. Thanks, John Kugelman! Raise your hand if the last letter you entered was the second E in 78a. (Where ELEA crosses PEREMPTORY.)

This was a real “wow” Thursday for me. I may have actually said “wow” when the theme clicked (which, surprisingly, didn’t take long even though it felt pretty complex, in the moment). And I also may have chuckled out loud (COL?) when I entered RAMA LAMA DING DONG Really enjoyed this one. SIMEON SEIGEL is becoming a favorite constructor of mine - I haven’t forgotten the confetti puzzle on NYE. Mr. Seigel ushered in January with a doozy and now he’s done the same for February. Let’s make this a monthly thing. Amazing work - thank you!

10 minutes in, all I had was 1D (AFTER). Thought I was in for a brutal Friday and the perfect puzzle streak was going to come to an end. Put the kids to bed. The house fell silent. The brain returned to the body. Lo and behold. Another perfect puzzle to round out the work week and keep the streak alive. Thanks, Christina Iverson! (And may the 49ers win the Super Bowl)

10:00am tomorrow, I’m packing up my 8 year old son and my 5 year old daughter, and I’m heading for Lake Lake (LAKE TAHOE). My wife and 2 year old daughter are staying home, so it’ll just be daddy and the older two. Can’t wait. A gentler puzzle tonight than our Tuesday, but no less enjoyable. I learned what TAUTOLOGICAL means, which is awesome. Hope it sticks. Thanks for the fun puzzle, Jeffrey Martinovich!

Love the troll move at 75D with “Missing work?” Might be my favorite clue of all time. I had been battling with 115A when I read it and I just knew the constructor was laughing at me. Well played. Figured out the theme a moment later, thanks, in part, to that down clue. What a great puzzle. One of those where I made my wife check out the grid for some bragging rights. Thanks for the wonderful time, Hoang-Kim Vu!

Had the hardest time getting a foot hold last night. Thought, for sure this puzzle was going to need a few look ups. Slurped down black coffee with a BOBA straw this morn and sailed into battle on the USS Caffeine. It took some work, but I finished right around my Saturday average (no look ups, no fly speck). The right side started off as a slog but suddenly it just fell like dominos.I love it when that happens. I think SUSHI PIZZA was the key to unlocking the south east and something as simple as that final little G in STEADY GIG unlocked BLOG which unlocked the north east. Perfect Saturday. Thanks, Spencer Leach and Jem Burch

Tough. Fun and tough. I believe 42D (PELE) was the answer to final jeopardy this week. Thanks for the great puzzle, David P Williams!

I had HOPoN x BoNET down there in that tricky little south east quadrant. A very nice puzzle with a crosser or two that definitely added tens of minutes to my solve. But it wouldn’t be a Saturday unless we all spent a little time in Natick! Gotta love a good Saturday.

Uh oh 😂 First time back in the comments this year and looks like I’m just in time. Flew through this puzzle, despite the glitch. Just glad I didn't spend more than a couple minutes trying to decode the theme. If you’re like me, you only understand about 50% of the Thursday themes before reading the article anyway, so, NBD in my book. Fun puzzle! Thanks to Chase Dittrich and Christina Iverson. Happy 2024 everyone!

I questioned if I should start a Saturday at almost 10pm. Boom - Lights out. Loved this puzzle. Sure, it was “easy” for a Saturday, but it had great, long, interesting fill. We all got whooped yesterday so enjoy the ride, people. If you need a two hour puzzle, the archives have ya covered. Thanks and congrats, Julian Xiao and Ben Tolkin!

Thursday, December 7th. Lead into gold (PB/AU). I (along with a lot of other commenters) was annoyed that PBAU didn’t work. I promised that I wouldn’t forget the slash on my next bidirectional rebus. Well… here we are… and… I remembered the slash! Definitely getting better at these things. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/06/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2023-12-07.html#commentsContainer" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/06/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2023-12-07.html#commentsContainer</a>

Sunday PR, for me! Needed a fun, funny, mellow puzzle after that stressful Niner game. By the skin of our teeth, folks! As they say in Wordle, “PHEW!” Thanks for the good times, John Westwig!

That south west and south central was tough for me. Felt Friday/Saturday ISH in that chunk with clueing written using an end-of-week brevity. Finished around average Wednesday but only because the other three quadrants felt, perhaps, slightly easier than usual. Fun puzzle! Thanks, Ella Dershowitz. Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

That North West really got me. Always fun to battle through a tricky chunk of squares. The rest of the puzzle went pretty quick. Similar story to yesterday. Another great puzzle. Thanks, Nathan Hale!

Fun one. Revealer made me laugh. Fairly easy, in my opinion, but a solid Wednesday. I would have solved it a bit faster but I got stick trying to figure out the five NFL teams. Eagles, Ravens, Seahawks, Cardinals…. I’m a huge football fan and Im blanking on #5 (haven’t read the article yet, so, apologies if this was already discussed there) Thanks for the good times, John-Clark Levin!

For anyone else struggling with the south west. “Source of a sleeper hit” is SIDE B. I know SIDE B appears regularly but it just wasn’t coming to me today. I think of BANE as more than a “nuisance”, and without the B, I was stuck on 98D being either a mattress brand, like Sealy / Serta, or, literally related to getting hit in your sleep, like “elbow” / “snore”. WHAC-A-snore?

Want to say thank you for the wonderful puzzle to Garret Chalfin and Andrew Kingsley. And, I’d like to wish a pleasant and restful evening to The Faithful. It was a stressful evening. You’ve earned your rest.

Hour and a half of distracted solve time this evening. Really enjoyed myself the whole way through. ENMITY, DOT, and AXOLOTL was the only real problem for me. AXOLOTL was easy but TIL its spelled AXOL and not AXEL. Used my Sunday mulligan - Googled “tittle” and that was all it took to clear things up. Thanks, Daniel Grinberg!

Felt extra tired last night and today, so this puzzle was pretty darn tough for me. A few clues / fills that I have a problem with but after a 1:35 minute puzzle, don’t really feel like dragging them all up. I wasn’t tuned in so I can’t say if the puzzle was really difficult or I was really dumb. But I am definitely proud of myself for finishing and keeping the streak alive. Boy was I relieved when I entered the last letter and got my gold without a speck of specking. Phew!