D
OH
72
Comments
-0.288
Avg Sentiment
14
Positive
20
Neutral
38
Negative
OH
Rebus. Closes puzzle. Please stop.
When I came to Wordplay to look for hints and saw how many comments there are, and saw how contrived the theme was, it was a “reveal all” and move on kind of day. Just awful.
Just too many things I didn’t know in this puzzle. Not bad but way out of my wheelhouse for this to be enjoyable. Oh well.
Hoo boy, I was not in the mood for this one today. Utterly unenjoyable. Could be a me-thing. But from some other comments I’m seeing, I’m not alone. Hard pass.
Extremely frustrating and not worth the effort. Shouldn’t have been published. At least it wasn’t a rebus. Next.
A really tough Friday with a lot of really great clues here. Count me in the ranks of one who revealed many of the clues because I just couldn’t get there. Maybe too much of a reliance on names and characters, etc. Really impressed with a lot of the wordplay even though without auto-check I would never have gotten this. Happy weekend’
Not an enjoyable puzzle. One that sacrifices enjoyment to fit a poor revealer with milquetoast themed answers. Constructor trying to be too clever and forgot to inject the fun. Pass.
Hopefully next week has better offerings.
Wholly unenjoyable and with a worthless rebus to show the constructor’s failure at constructing? Hard pass.
@Alan I was still in Dickens mode and wrote “plot”
Inane theme, but apparently that’s par for the course for this constructor? The themed answers were insta-gets (other than EDUMACATE, which… well, I don’t feel bad for not getting that one. Dumb.), and a lot of the fill was also pretty straightforward if a little too reliant on trivia. Overall not a bad puzzle but where there were bumps in the road I really felt them.
@D Oh… “Constructor Notes Brad: Just for the record, I did NOT write a computer program to find today’s theme answers. That would be cowardly and shameful. Instead, I made this puzzle the good old-fashioned way: I asked Nat to write a computer program.” Glad I didn’t waste my time on computer generated slop.
@Barry Ancona You wouldn’t need to keep defending this puzzle in every comment if it was actually any good. You can stop now.
Fun one today. Had to guess a couple of spots but they came through correct and got the gold star. Happy Tuesday
@Cyndie Thank you. I genuinely appreciate your encouragement. ☺️🫶
@J Cooler fact: I’m allowed to express my dislike of something in the comments section. Just like you’re free to comment how much you enjoy it in your own comment.
Too artificially hard for Wednesday and a useless rebus? Just no.
Cluing was a bit too obtuse for a Tuesday. Revealed was a complete nothing-burger, but the starred answers helped me get there, so that’s worth something, I guess. Crossing two Spanish language answers was… a choice. Not a great puzzle but nothing terribly offensive either.
Utterly unenjoyable. A 20% then hit reveal all day. Shame.
@Times Rita Trust me, I’m well aware lol
Cute theme. Never heard of a SKOR before so that was the only look up. Fun!
Horrendously. A week of bad offerings. Shame.
Some unfortunate naticks that could’ve been worked out by editorial: IPOS x NYSE ACER x TERI BALEEN x BPA x ALUMNI NAANAPOLOGY x ANC x NIH I’m certain I’ll get told why these aren’t actually naticks and why someone else is superior for knowing these things instantaneously and that I can’t have any opinion or feelings about them other than total praise for the puzzle That out of the way, I thought this was overall really strong and really fun. I loved the theme. The puzzle really came together well. A fine job here!
Didn’t care much for this one. A fine effort but I feel editorial really should’ve worked with the constructor to make something that really shines. It was a rather dull debut and it felt like it. A lot of the answers felt like the constructor was simply replacing more commonly understood meanings or definitions of words for second definitions or slight variations — baa/MAA, VIA rather than ala, SORES, MERE, AURA — or else making it trivia fest. I appreciate some fresh answers like FLAMINGLIPS and WUTANGCLAN, but this puzzle felt bumpy and uneven, like the constructor didn’t have a confident hold on it. Again, this is mostly on editorial. I think they really failed here.
Bad theme. Pretty enjoyable fill and some clever cluing. Nice one
A weak theme that inhibited puzzle solving rather than assisted it — a peeve of mine — while not feeling satisfying once revealed. ELDERCARE was the worst answer in the bunch, giving me a “oh, that’s it? Boring.” reaction. The rest of the fill was fine if a little uninspired. The Fiji clue could be fun if you’re into that. Feeling quite ambivalent about this one. Oh well.
This was a fun one. See, you don’t need to use a rebus to make a good Thursday. 😉
@Roldick Agreed and you are right to say it. The tricks are a huge turn off, always and especially when they impede the solve.
Really fun one. The theme was cute and helped solve the puzzle. Enjoyed this a lot!
@Times Rita, It certainly is A Choice for a constructor to hinge their revealer (which nobody has heard of or has said) on an anagram, thus making both ungettable.
@Billy Agreed - far, far too many names relied upon here.
Great grid-spanning clues and answers that unfortunately come at the cost of some poor fill. Happy Friday!
@Barry Ancona And how many instances of crossing two Spanish clues on a Tuesday, Barry? You wouldn’t feel the need to defend these puzzles so much if you were actually confident in their ability to stand on their own against scrutiny. The lady doth protest too much, etc.
Quite unenjoyable. Tough if you don’t know the NATO alphabet… [enter commenters berating me for not knowing the NATO alphabet and expressing my distaste for the puzzle because of it] …and there were a lot of “I guess?” responses to the answers. Honestly, this felt like a Boomer puzzle. Not a lot of enjoyment to be found here. Pass.
@Katie And… thanks for proving me right in my post. 😌
@Jacad “Some people like the puzzle, other people do not; both have every right to say so.” One would not think so based on the replies in these comment sections every day.
Nice one today Still don’t understand “Half a score”. Crossing with the apparent DAPPERDAN (never heard of it) made it a natick. Frustrating. SCREEDS too. But those were my only real issues.
@Roldick What complaints don’t you get?
@Nancy J. Agreeing with Matt. The constant gaslighting about this from people like you, Nancy, is tiring. We know what’s happening.
@Charles Peterson Typo. Surely you’ve never done that.
@Katie Your condescension continues. Congrats on knowing something. I never said someone wasn’t capable, just that I don’t know the entire NATO alphabet. You took that as an opportunity to make yourself look better. Shame.
@Pat Engel Yeah, I think even knowing the NATO alphabet still doesn’t make themed entries totally gettable.
@Paul Turner Did I say you needed to know the NATO alphabet to solve the puzzle? No. I only said it was tough if you didn’t.
@The Sus Steve L often inserts himself under the second (and more often the third) category in my disclaimer posted below: “I’m certain I’ll get told why these aren’t actually naticks and why someone else is superior for knowing these things instantaneously and that I can’t have any opinion or feelings about them other than total praise for the puzzle”
@Francis You said the quiet part out loud. “You.” “We.” Plenty of people disliked this puzzle. One of the top comments is someone’s dissatisfaction. Look at how many replies it got telling them why they’re wrong. You’re not a monolith. Your precious product can be faulty. This is about stating opinions and getting shouted down. Every day. Bully mentality.
@Francis Since you beg me for receipts all the time, you’re ready to say that the massive negative response to this post was warranted? <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4i21f3" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/shared/comment/4i21f3</a>
@Charles Peterson Show me where I said it being and — wait for it — FEELING dull was an objective truth rather than just my opinion?