Josh
Indiana
@Jim, if I may offer some of my thoughts/reasoning: - ATVS: as a transportation enthusiast, I agree this wasn't my first thought, but it is indeed true. I had to rely on the crosswords to solve - STENO: short for stenographer; see above - ABIT is a common four-letter answer, along with ATAD, for clues like "-ish", "sorta", and "kind of"/"kinda". I honestly don't see how this is a stretch - BLASE: unimpressed or indifferent *because one has seen it often before* (tired/sick of something = over it) - INTENT: mens rea is obscure. Happy Thursday - TEARIEST: most lachrymose; see above - SLEIGH: Santa and his reindeer posse - DALLAS: crosswords/geographical context helped with that one - YEAST: bakers/brewers yeast is isolated to one species, whereas sourdough bread, kombucha, and some beers etc. rely on wild bacterias and yeasts in the air to ferment (and have throughout all of history until recently) - BEBOP: Theolonius Monk was a pioneer in bebop-style jazz - PENTADS: I'll give you that one; never heard of it myself, but I'm glad to add it to my vocabulary - DOTTY: my mother, Dorothy's, nickname. Always makes me chuckle when it comes up in a puzzle every 2-3 months - ELI: short for Elihu, specifically (and not coincidentally) Elihu Yale I didn't understand these all at first either, and admittedly looked some up out of curiosity afterwards, but that's okay. It's a Thursday puzzle, after all. I know they can be discouraging, but sometimes it's fun to enjoy the challenge
@Andrew according to some condescendingly crotchety crossword commenters, we're somehow supposed to know everything ("get out! Read! Be better at crosswords!"), while also knowing so little that Saturday puzzles are prohibitively difficult I agree with you. A good challenge is satisfying to solve; this one just left a sour taste
I've been to 39 states on the USMAP, but still need to visit MISSISZIPPY and HUHWHYE in my mission to get to all fifty. As a kid, I wanted to shout "FLOORITDUH" to my parents on the long drive to Disney World from INDIEANNA, instead of wasting precious time staying the night in TENASEA. One of my best friends lives in VERGEINYEAH, and when I visited her last year I took the Acela ([Express method used to make many crosswords?]) to DELLAWARE to check that one off the list. When I lived in Montana for a summer internship, I took the slow train over to EYEDAHOE and OREAGAIN as well; I learned my lesson after getting a speeding ticket in MINISODA on my way out there. Absolutely loved this puzzle and theme!! Can't wait to see someone try to say it's too NYC-centric...
I enjoyed this Thursday puzzle a lot more than I usually do. To me, the horizontally-placed theme squares were intuitive, and the crosswords helped me figure out the rest. Some of the clues were frustrating at first, but were so satisfying when I finally solved them. Very clever! Thanks Ella!!
Some valid grievances about this one... but I did enjoy CARNIVORES, FACETATS, and DDS. I also love an excuse to get carried away in Google maps, to which 5A swiftly sent me. I like to think I'm decent at geography, and while I've heard of each individually, I had never heard of the ABCISLANDS referred to as that before. Good to know! Hope everyone is having a nice weekend
"Ready, ___, go!" Loved this one. Happy Crosswording!
@Josh and how could I forget WHISKONSON? I was just there a couple months ago. WHYOMING's Black Hills are also quite scenic. Highly recommend!
@Lolli in this case it's "unicorn" that has the second meaning - a private company that's not yet on the stock market, but may wish to be, through an IPO
Liked it, but SPREE for [tear]? A stretch so frustrating it made me SPREE up and nearly SPREE my ACL
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