UCCF
SF, CA
SF, CA
I had "SETTLE" (resolve) for "METTLE" (resolve), and it really made the center of this puzzle a challenge.
Major applause. Like you, I was stunned to realize that all 15 theme entries also read as actual words. No nonsense fillers clogging the grid just to make the them work. Bravo. A great Thursday offering.
My favorite puzzle in a long time, and color me impressed that every missing letter entry was also an acceptable word (as noted in the column). Kudos for the work on construction this must have taken.
Definitely tough, but fun. This is the longest I've taken on a Sunday puzzle in over 5 years. I feel like I earned a cookie.
I love ON KEY KONG so much. With a voice like that, maybe Mario should have been worried that Kong could steal the princess.
Brutal, I loved it. I had next to nothing after my first pass through the crosses and downs, and only a guess for !?!?!? unlocked the lower left which opened up the puzzle. 50% over my average time for Friday, but lots of fun.
Brutal. Double my average time for a Friday. I had problems in every quadrant.
I wouldn't have known HUNDO P, but I have heard HUNDO without the P for many years in reference to a $100 bill. So thumbs up for the cluing choice from me.
Did not expect to get a Community shoutout in my Friday puzzle, but it was well received. I shall don my black construction paper goatee and await further instructions in this, the DARKEST TIMELINE. Cruel, cruel, cruel.
BAD ASSES and BS METER in the same puzzle? We're through the looking glass on the use of saucy slang, aren't we.
I was perplexed by the misspellings, but overjoyed to see my alma mater show up. A little love for WASHU, the Harvard of the Midwest (or so they said when I was applying back in 1989). Go Bears!
@Selective Walrus I live in California and I've never heard of it either. Must be a SoCal thing.
@Matt When I was in high school in the 80s, you could buy software that would let you make a Zork-style game of your own. A friend and I spent a couple of glorious months programming a game based at our school with all the requisite Zorkian misdirects and grues (who were teachers we didn’t care for). It’s one of my best memories of the time, and this clue made me smile and think about it.
That southwest corner was a bear. Without DIGITALSHORTS (thanks Lonely Island!) I wouldn't have stood a chance.
Under 8 minutes on a Sunday for the first time in years. That said, it was enjoyable (I love the theme). Could have just been a skosh harder.
@Steven M. Not just you. I made my first pass through the across clues and was shocked by how little I had filled in. Took awhile before it finally broke open, and I ended up a good 20% over my normal Tuesday time.
@Steve L I just came to complain about it (or at least note it as maybe a touch Naticky).
@Caitríona Shanahan Treed can mean "trapped in a tree", in which case you might find yourself out on a limb.
@Al in Pittsburgh Not the original commenter, but when I finished my thought was wishing that there had been no circles. I preferred the pineapple and apple clues because there were no circles (could have easily circled the upside down EKAC but didn't). Discovering the two SPLIT parts of the banana answer would have been more fun if they hadn't been pointed out to me.
What's the trick that I'm missing here? I've filled in the grid, and all the squares are correct, but I can't get the "you're done" screen. Do I need to make a rebus with each of the missing letters?
@SBK in TO Late to the party but yes - there was an episode of Community where they rolled a die to determine who would perform a task, and in doing so created 6 different (theoretical) timelines (in each one, a different character performs the task). One of them, in which a character died and others suffered catastrophic injuries, was deemed "the darkest timeline", a meme which continued to be referenced for the remainder of the series.
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