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@Lewis Number 1 was also one of my favorites from last week, for a very personal reason—just gave birth to my 3rd child after feeling his kicks continuously for nearly 2/3 of the pregnancy. After having had a couple of miscarriages, I interpreted his kicks as gentle reminders from him that he was still alive and thriving. So that clue spoke to me on multiple levels.
@Chris Awareness is not just about donating to a cause. Especially in the case of endangered species there are sometimes community actions, such as reducing the use of pesticides or protecting habitats, that can make a huge difference. But that kind of action only comes about if members of the community are thinking about it, talking about it, and advocating for it. Here is a webpage that lists individual actions we can all take to help, if you are interested in taking action but not sure where to start. You may already be doing some of these: <a href="https://www.endangered.org/15-ways-to-help-protect-endangered-species" target="_blank">https://www.endangered.org/15-ways-to-help-protect-endangered-species</a>/
TIL that there are at least 14 different sizes of wine barrels, and that a HOGSHEAD is one of the three most common, somewhere in the middle size-wise. I have a much greater appreciation for the naming of the Hog’s Head in the Harry Potter books. I also learned that the world’s largest wine barrel is considered to be the Heidelberg Tun, holding 220k liters and built with a dance floor on top of it! My source: <a href="https://somerled.com.au/archives/range/wine/wine-jargon-part-2" target="_blank">https://somerled.com.au/archives/range/wine/wine-jargon-part-2</a>/
@HeathieJ I’m so sorry you had to go through that. Your story reminds me a lot of my own—in my early 20s my husband and I were held up at gunpoint on our doorstep in San Francisco. In our case, a neighbor was about to exit the apartment building, saw what was happening through the door, and called the police. The gunmen saw him and fled quickly with our stuff. We lived next to a print shop with security cameras so the next day we were able to help the police ID the perpetrator’s car in the footage. That helped lead to an arrest, though not until after the same group had done a string of robberies, some of which included home invasions, in the neighborhood. I am still so thankful that our neighbor had been there; otherwise who knows what might have come next. We also went through the court process. It was so hard. Every court date, even the ones that got postponed because of defense attorney delay tactics, had us reliving the trauma. I still have anxiety going into a courthouse when called for jury duty to this day. The prosecutors were very kind throughout all of it. Our current VP was the district attorney at the time and her team was well run. It took many years before I was comfortable being out after dark again and even now I can get jumpy when out and about. You’re right that these things really do stay with you. I am glad that for you it led to a positive change in your life and that Garrett is getting help and finding solace in the joy of crosswords. ❤️
At first I had Lego for 74D but was delighted to change it to KNEX. I still have mine from when I was young and love taking them out to build with my kids whenever we visit my parents’ house.
@John I am in the paper’s hometown and they certainly rhyme for me! But accents can vary even from one neighborhood to the next so I don’t think any puzzle that relies on rhymes is going to “get it right” for everyone.
When I got to 63A, the answer made me smile because it brought back a memory of my daughter as a toddler. Though one letter off, it reminded me of a Frog and Toad story we used to read her all the time in which Frog convinces Toad to go sledding and then falls off the sled right at the beginning without Toad knowing. So Toad has a great time until a bird points out that Frog isn’t with him. He panics and yells, “I am all alone!” Then he falls off, Frog says he did great on his own, but Toad decides to go back to bed because that is more to his liking. Ok so why does this make me smile? Because there was one point in those early years, not while reading, when our daughter was upset about something and cried out to us, “I am all alone!” in the same tone we used to use when reading the story aloud. The phrase didn’t apply at all to what she was upset about, but the emotions behind it did. I remember being amazed at the connection she was able to make between the limited vocabulary she had at the time and what she was feeling in order to communicate her needs. She is about to become a teenager and still finds creative ways to use words to express herself. So that was the first of many “wow” moments for me. The way our brains learn and put words together is so fascinating. Although not a happy phrase in and of itself, I think “I am all alone” will always bring a bit of joy to me because of what that memory of my daughter represents.
@Julie Thank you for saying this. I had the same feeling. I have been doing a lot of archive puzzles recently, where I expect there to be outdated gender stereotypes and masculine-focused clues because of where we were societally at the time. When I got to 8D tonight I did a double take and had to check if I was doing the newest puzzle or one of the old ones.
Our eight month old must be going through a growth spurt alongside slowly figuring out how to crawl, because this is already the third time he has woken up to nurse tonight. One of the ways I keep myself awake is doing the crossword then reading the column and comments. But tonight I reached a new level: before he woke me this time I was actually dreaming about reading the comments (and, because of some of this puzzle’s clues, about watching baseball). Of course the details have dissolved now that I’m up, but for the brief time before I had to BESTIR myself yet again, I was very much enjoying all the personal anecdotes and wordplay my sleeping brain had invented as well as the unique dream angles from which I was able to observe the pitches during each AT BAT.
Really enjoyed this puzzle, esp FLIPPHONE and CDSLOT, both of which I still have and use, among more current devices. There is something so satisfying about actually snapping the phone shut at the end of a call that you just don’t get from a flat phone. EVERYVOTECOUNTS felt timely with NYC’s primary just a few days away and early voting going on right now. Someone knocked on my door to talk about one of the candidates yesterday. First time that has happened in my 20-ish years of living here. Steve L, happy birthday! Vaer, happy belated birthday! Adrianne, thank you for a smooth and satisfying themeless puzzle. The clues were fresh, the grid intimidating but surmountable, and the fill made me smile. And thank you for sharing the story of your time with Arjun. Unexpected deaths cause a unique kind of pain, and I’m so sorry you had to experience that. My condolences for the loss of your friend.
In answer to Deb’s opening question, I have done NYT crosswords on and off for many years but only began in earnest after everything shut down for the pandemic. That’s when I did all the Mondays in the archive. But it wasn’t until I discovered this column in October 2023 that I understood enough about what was going on later in the week to become a daily solver…and I haven’t missed a day since! Wishing you all a healthy, safe, prosperous, fantastic, and fulfilling 2026. Happy New Year!!!!!
This one put up a lot of resistance for me, and took a few passes through the grid to finally get the theme. I figured out that the theme entries were altered (altared? 😉 ) phrases but didn’t get that they were all wedding related and required adding only one letter until pretty late in my solve, when I finally realized SHAVETHEfAcE wasn’t a variation of “save face” and was actually SHAVETHEDATE. Someone commented below that they weren’t sure why an E for Everyone rating is necessary for a video game. As someone with little kids, I find it useful in the same way the G ratings on movies are useful in establishing what media needs less scrutiny or discussion before allowing my kids to watch or play. Happy anniversary to all those whose weddings took place in June! Just celebrated sweet sixteen with my spouse this past week. 🥰
A lot of trivia I didn’t know in this one, so I started out with a very bare grid. Then I got to Seiji OZAWA and sighed in relief that there was at least one gimme for me with some good letters. I knew APPLETINI from the description, as it used to be my drink of choice back when I occasionally used to drink cocktails, but started off spelling out martini in full and thought perhaps there was a rebus that needed to be entered somewhere in APmarTINI. Once the grid started filling in, I found myself delighted by the wordplay that had initially stumped me. Course addendum referring to food, not a class. Get set being to HARDEN and not get ready in some way. Plus words like ZIPPY are just fun to enter. Thanks for a puzzle that left me with WARMFUZZIES!
@Helen Wright I hope you feel better soon!
@Andrzej Candyland is a board game for little kids, so I’m not surprised you wouldn’t necessarily have heard of it. I grew up with it and just looked up how old it is. TIL that the game was invented in the 1940s to help kids pass the time while they recuperated from polio: <a href="https://www.museumofplay.org/toys/candy-land" target="_blank">https://www.museumofplay.org/toys/candy-land</a>/ My mom had polio in the 50s. I’ll have to ask her if she played Candyland to help distract her from being sick.
Just want to give a shoutout to HORNBILL, which was new to many folks in the comments. This one made me smile because I watch a livestream of a birdcam in South Africa and hornbills often come to the feeder. Out of all the animal names, for me that was the one that was recognizable as a type of animal and not just a literal interpretation of the picture. As a musician I loved the illustrations. INATUB was a fun gimme as well.
@Lewis The time and care you put into it is apparent. I really enjoyed taking my time solving this puzzle. It was just the right level of difficulty and, although tempted to come here for hints earlier, I’m glad I persevered and managed to solve without lookups today. Thank you to you and Barbara for this satisfying and clever puzzle! What a bright start to the weekend.
Had a lot of fun with most of this puzzle but the marquis entry left a bad taste in my mouth. The idea that someone who is “just” doing the job that they have been hired to do instead of going above and beyond (in other words, throwing in some unpaid labor) is quitting has always been troubling to me. If a company is looking for more from a role, then they should build those expectations into the job description and compensate accordingly.
@Adam Until I read the column and saw that it was supposed to reference Bacon the philosopher, I was convinced that ESSAYS was some kind of slang for the food bacon, which I don’t eat. I was getting ready to impress my sister and brother in law, who do eat it, with my nifty new term lol.
@Lewis That last one particularly made me smile as we used ours to make pancakes for Father’s Day today. 🙂
Deb, congratulations on your retirement and thank you for cultivating such a warm and helpful community! It’s thanks to your column that I first learned to understand late week puzzles a little over two years ago. At that point I had solved all the Mondays in the archive and was getting better at Tue/Wed but the rest were just opaque to me. Once I started reading your articles, I finally understood how to approach solving every day of the week. Now I am up to a 2+ year streak. Thank you!!
@john ezra As someone who has sold many thousands of season tickets and who is a season ticket holder myself, I agree that there is tons of non-attendance among those who buy season tickets. That one made me pause for a second but then I figured you could interpret it differently—those who buy the season tickets are making sure they won’t (“can’t?”) miss anything because of individual events selling out. Kind of a loose link but good enough for the crossword, so I moved on and the crosses confirmed it was right. Thanks for the Italian lesson! 😊
Like many others, a personal best today! I especially appreciated the inclusion of RESPECT because I’m just starting to learn how to sing it for an upcoming show. Such iconic songs require care to even remotely do them justice.
On the first mercury clue, I immediately thought RETROGRADE but of course that was too short. But it meant that I had the fill right away for the second one and caught on to the theme quickly. Only got stuck on the WNBA team because I hadn’t heard of them- I was convinced that one had to do with the car and kept trying things like PARKINGLOT and CARGARAGE. ICE for clinching a victory was new to me. At first I thought it had to be ACE but that didn’t work for across. Still, it was the final fix before completing today’s puzzle. Thanks for going a little easy on us today! Doing it later than usual due to a rehearsal that went long, but still got to finish in one sitting. Goodnight, emus and all!
@Crevecoeur I saw the 38A clue and it was one of my gimmes because of my son. I read it to him as I was saying goodnight and I barely got through the word “is” when he called out excitedly, “LAVA!” Unfortunately our space is a little limited for a game like that, so he does not get to actually play it as much as he’d like. Glad to hear you are able to give that experience to your grandchild!
Thank you, Deb, for creating a warm and accessible space in which us crossword newbies could learn what the heck was going on with these later week puzzles and become daily solvers. The first time I read your explanation of Friday easy mode clues was such an aha for me—I hadn’t realized that the later week answers could be the same as the early week answers, just clued differently. I think I relied on easy mode once or twice, then found that the column and comments were plenty to get me on my way to a completed puzzle. Best wishes on your next adventure. We’ll miss you!
Something about all those Js in this puzzle made me smile when I was looking at my completed grid. Thanks, Daniel, for a fun solve!
@Steve L I have a different point of view on this. I’ve been both a NYT and a NYT games subscriber for over a decade. For years, I really didn’t understand what was going on later in the week with the harder clues even when I managed to get partway through a Friday or Saturday puzzle. When I started using my games subscription more regularly a few years ago, I focused on Mondays to get better and finished all the Mondays in the archive. That made it possible for me to get as far as about Wednesday to complete puzzles. Then in the fall of 2023 I discovered this column and the easy mode clues. Being able to see the easy mode clues side by side with the regular Friday clues set off an aha for me that, within a couple of weeks, allowed me to complete those late week puzzles. I didn’t realize that there could be so much overlap in the answers—I had always thought harder days meant harder on both the clue and answer side, for all answers. Now suddenly I saw where I could gain footholds on any day of the week, esp using all the new terms I’d learned by doing 1500+ Monday puzzles. That transformed my solving. I still had to do lots of lookups for a while until I got the hang of parsing the harder clues, but with those I have solved every day since October 1, 2023. And, thanks to this column and community, I am now more consistently able to puzzle out each day on my own, even on most Fridays and Saturdays.
@sotto voce I thought of you as I filled in 5D! I didn’t love today’s puzzle but that entry made me smile.
@KA Nelson I’m not there, as someone who only came to it a few years ago, but on my way (done with Mondays, working my way back through Tuesdays now). Today was puzzle #2000 for me! Congratulations on completing all 11,000!
@Jackson I am always bothered by answers that spell out G-d, as I do replace the o with a dash. The way I get around it in crosswords as soon as I see that coming is that I won’t solve the answer that includes the name of G-d and will switch to focusing on the crosses. So I am spelling other words and it ends up filled in that way. And since it makes me uncomfortable, I move on from that area as quickly as possible. Not a perfect solution, but for me it works well enough to be able to continue solving the puzzles online. Thanks for asking this question!
@pmom NCO was one of my first fills, but that’s from doing so many NYT crosswords. I was not at all familiar with the term before I started solving regularly (incl working back through the archives) a few years ago.
@Bill in Yokohama Alt text is a big part of making a website/webpage or email accessible. It allows those with low vision to get a description of what they would otherwise see on the page from their screen reader. It also can be helpful for those with images turned off in email, as usually the text will show up in the spot where the image would normally be. (This is helpful to marketers too if their email is all images, since then the recipient with images turned off will still know what the email is trying to sell them.) In some cases, if you are curious whether an image has alt text, I believe you can hover over the image with your mouse and the description will automatically pop up in small letters. Not necessarily a term that everyone would know, but for those who do a lot with images on the internet, providing alt text is a best practice.
Quick, fun solve. My best friend and I used to say 65D to each other all the time, so that brought back memories of elementary school. And 51A is my favorite author so it always makes me smile to see him in a puzzle. I have copies of nearly everything of his that is translated into English, including a book of fairytales.
Fun, smooth solve! Your love of words comes through, Samantha. Congratulations on your NY Times debut! I too love words and do Wordle and Connections with my mom and my daughter in addition to the daily crossword. But my favorite word game by far, since I was a kid, is Boggle, so it made me smile to see it in your constructor notes. I play it with one of my closest friends every time we see each other and I even have photos of unplayed Boggle boards ready for use in case I meet someone else who is into the game when I’m on the go.
@Paul Interesting…in your second example (LAA), the clue in the app on my phone *did* include the “on scoreboards” designation. Maybe there was a typo in other places?
@Sierra Amazing, congratulations!! How long have you been working through the archive?
@Kate J I was literally just discussing the word SUS with my kids over dinner tonight and wondering aloud if was common enough yet to be used in crosswords. And here it is, in the puzzle same day! I can’t wait to tell them in the morning. (A quick Google search shows me it is not a debut and it has been in other recent puzzles, but I guess those instances didn’t stand out to me.)
@john ezra Great summary for a great puzzle!! And I love lanolin too - it’s the only thing that keeps my poor dry hands from cracking in the cold weather.
@Andrzej @HeathieJ @Bill I didn’t know name days were so closely related to Catholicism. They are also a big deal in Greek Orthodox tradition, so once I let go of holiDAYS, I figured it out pretty quickly. For my Greek family members, name days can be more important to acknowledge than birthdays.
Parker, you had me at “Fathoms” - the soundtrack to The Little Mermaid was also a soundtrack to my childhood. I can’t count the number of times I listened and sang/danced along to that tape as a kid in my bedroom. Loved all the musical references and the unexpected misdirections. I was also excited to almost match my Thursday best time. Thanks to Deb for explaining the theme and how the clues usually work; as often happens, I sort of got it from doing the puzzle, but I appreciate the wordplay and puzzle design a lot more after reading the column.
Still working my way through the puzzle, but in response to the clue for 62A, I have to say—I’m a 41yo nursing mother and feel anything but middle aged. I’m aiming for triple digits, so I don’t want to shortchange myself. I’ll take on that moniker in another nine years or so! Of course, according to my preteen, I’m old because I’m from the generation BEFORE gen Z. So it’s all relative anyway. Fun fact: in Greek there is no direct translation of the phrase happy birthday; you can translate each word but it would sound forced because no one really says that. The traditional greetings for a birthday are χρόνια πολλά (hronia polla), which means “many years,” and να ζήσεις εκατό (na ziseis ekato), “may you live to 100.”
@Cat Lady Margaret This made me laugh out loud. I could’ve used a FUNKS SANKA this morning!!
@Richard OLeary @Chris I think this is something the NYT tech team can fix so I recommend getting in touch with them using their contact us link at the bottom of the website.
Love the musical tribute to the eclipse in today’s puzzle. For me, this is the song that is emblematic of the eclipse: <a href="https://youtu.be/IfAoFIQnyl8?si=OL26EaAs8r9bErv4" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/IfAoFIQnyl8?si=OL26EaAs8r9bErv4</a> “I guess we will be making history when we all join hands just to watch the sky… for a moment” Remember your solar glasses!! Keep your eyes safe. (You too, emus)
TIL why my kids go around singing “never eat soggy waffles.” I always thought it was just a silly song one of their friends had made up and had no idea it was a mnemonic device! Of course, I then second guessed myself because I was sure the Firenze clue referred to Harry Potter and forest doesn’t end in an a. In the end, I verified the mnemonic with the kids and my husband helped me recalibrate away from thinking of a centaur to just thinking of the name as Italian. I filled in the corrected answers with a rousing chorus of “never eat soggy waffles” repeating in the background.
@john ezra I’d like to nominate this past Saturday’s puzzle (12/14) by Owen Bergstein if no one else has done so yet. I found that to be one of the most satisfying late-week solves I’ve done in a long time.
@Nancy J. In my dad’s medical practice, you would have been one of the young’uns! Before he retired, most of his patients were in their 80s, 90s, and 100s. When patients turned 100, my parents would have a birthday cake waiting for them at their next appointment.
@DQ Same here, by a lot! It surprised me to whip through so quickly on a Friday, and no need for wild guesses or lookups. As soon as I got a few crosses it all fell into place.
What a fun theme! I did have to come to the column to figure out what it was, but after I saw how to parse the theme entry into six words, everything fell into place. My favorite entry though was 70A, as it brought me back to elementary school. I remember when pogs were briefly all the rage among my peers. I never got into them myself, but I still have the one I acquired in those days and it makes me smile when I see it.