KAC
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It’s funny - when I saw the proof for this puzzle a month ago, I told the NYT team that I was worried we’d made it a smidge too easy. So it’s been incredibly funny to read your comments today. A friend just texted me that she finished the puzzle in half her usual Saturday time. I simply cannot let that happen again, or people will think I’ve gone soft! Thanks for solving everyone.
@acjones Thought I'd chime in here - I don't use A.I. to make puzzles, or for that matter to do anything else. I believe there are constructors who've used A.I. to help them brainstorm and figure out letter patterns for complex themes; but it's just not my thing. I like the tedium and don't need any help. As far as A.I.'s uses as an information resource for cluing and the like, suffice to say I've seen A.I.-generated information on subjects I know very well, and I've never been too impressed. As far as how the Times feels about it - I can't speak to that, beyond saying that a compliment I've received on more than one Times acceptance is that my puzzles feel "human-made," which suggests to me that many submissions do not, to their detriment.
@Malcolm NAIR is still a product on shelves PETES Dragon is so current that it got a live-action Disney remake in 2017 FAMOUS POTATOES is a phrase on millions of license plates You’ve got to think beyond yourself.
NELLA Larsen died in relative obscurity, in her New York apartment, almost fifty years after her second and last novel was published in 1929. Glad for the resurgence she's been having lately (reissues, a movie, etc) and doubly glad for any crossword that remembers her. (Passing is the novel that gets most of the attention, but Quicksand's the one I always recommend - an incredible reminder that the Harlem Renaissance wasn't just contemporary with modernism, but was actually modernism itself!)
@MmmmHmm “Involved” as in “complex,” if that helps!
@Endall They're absolutely a notch more doable, nowadays. Some of us do still specialize in extra-hard Saturdays. Be careful what you wish for! I'm starting to feel summoned from my slumber.
@Grant You're not wrong to date it that way, as the term GAM also refers to a social visit between whaling boats. A definition from ch 53 of Moby-Dick, titled 'The GAM': "GAM. Noun - A social meeting of two (or more) Whale-ships, generally on a cruising- ground; when, after exchanging hails, they exchange visits by boats' crews: the two captains remaining, for the time, on board of one ship, and the two chief mates on the other."
@Jon Definitely common, but may be a little generational. It’s a widely-used slang term for convertibles.
@Grumpy Big Al... Bama... Al...Bama.... Alabama I don't follow sports either, but the clue is more of an actual *clue*, trying to help you, than you're giving it credit for being, just as Fielder's last name in the clue indicates that NATHAN's name might be in the answer. These are solving skills, not mere knowledge skills.
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