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Amherst, MA
The puzzle was great fun, hit the right combination, but no happy music. It is so frustrating when that happens. Problem? I had put JAM instead of DAM (of course, LEAJ made no sense). Anyway, excellent puzzle!
Ah, getting in the spirit of the upcoming tournament - cute puzzle. The great Pele almost did not play in the 1970 world cup, having had a difficult tournament in 1966. Nice to know that the grandson is the third generation to have crosswords published in the times - congratulations!
That was fun! Was puzzling over why my fills were not forming the name of the movie director or the obvious answer on the top right corner - but then I solved the revealer, and everything fell into place.
@Bryan Naomi Rapace was in the original Swedish film, which is the one I've seen (not the English remake). Fun puzzle today!
Fun puzzle, and many more fun suggestions in the comments. And ADA and EMMY in one puzzle was great for a theoretical/computational physicist! Incidentally, Noether's theorem (the connection between symmetry and conservation laws) forms the underpinning of all of modern day physical theory, and there is a very nice "In Our Time" podcast about her for those interested.
I had gMEN before TMEN, and could not figure out TECH for the longest time. Enjoyed it, felt particularly satisfied at getting the "Mercury was in this" clue. And I haven't thought of DREYERS in years, having left California over two decades ago.
Fun theme - great debut, Kate Jensen! Emmy Noether is also a personal favourite. I had not thought of her as a RING MASTER - though the theorem she is best known for, the idea that a continuous symmetry has a associated conserved quantity, has a ring-like quality.
Joining the ranks of the PBs today at 5:05. Enjoyed the theme!
Fun theme! Loved the animation at the end. Had to ponder a bit before remembering the starchy plant root used in Asian cooking - don't particularly like it myself! TIL that 2*pi was its own labeled mathematical constant (we physicists use TAU for a variety of other quantities such as time constants, torque, can't waste it on an existing perfectly good label, pi).
Loved today's puzzle! Since 11,111 is the square root of 123,454,321 I puzzled over 34D for a long time before realising it's also a mere factor. Was stuck on "What's the matter" for a while too, but once my husband helped me with that, the theme fell into place nicely (I also got stuck spelling it WHACkAMOLE till I realised my error.)
That was fun, and a pretty quick solve! Managed to get some of the themed clues without fully comprehending why they were not perfect anagrams, and then the revealer helped, though I had not encountered letter banks before - another one for the crossword solving memory bank. Funny thing about jumbo shrimp and PRAWN - in India, where I grew up, I thought the distinction was river vs saltwater creatures. And talking of things Indian, chukker, that Caitlin refers to in her column, is a hindi word meaning circle (from the sanskrit chakra, meaning wheel).
Quick and easy Sunday, just the ticket when there's a lot of work to be done but a Sunday crossword is impossible to forego. Enjoyed the theme. Loved the OORT clouds reference!
Enjoyed that. The first rebus clue reminded me of the Ancient Mariner - "unhand me, grey beard loon" - perhaps it's all the rain we're getting today courtesy Debby.
What a fun Thanksgiving puzzle! And now that it's all stacked away on Wed night, I can devote my Thursday to cooking.
Loved the theme! Great debut, Mr Lively. Had Siskel at the start till I remembered his name always came before Ebert's. I think that just means I'm still in the 90s.
So sorry for your loss, Deb - lovely tribute to your Dad. Fun puzzle. Did not know the factoid in 29D - my own Dad, who passed away just shy of 94 some years ago, was part of those high numbered troops in India.
Glad to hear your wife is recovering, Mr. Byrne, and thanks to both constructors for a fun puzzle! Sigmatism is a new word for me, just in time to teach the physics of sound to speech, language and hearing science students!
Beautiful - fitting for a graph theorist!
Loved the shoutout to my adopted hometown at 27 Across! The colleges are why I'm here.
What fun! Great debut, Matthew!
Fun puzzle, loved the indian clues, particularly 61D - I went through zeera, haldi, dhania, in my head, then did some crosses to get the aha moment! I should have known, since you can start by cutting onions, garlic and ginger and then decide what you want to make. Got stuck forever at the end because (in a double take) I had put JAr instead of JAM in 54A and it took forever to find my error.
@B Glad to see him recover. Am a big admirer - it's not just crosswords, the man is a creative genius in thinking up all manner of games, such as in the annual Puzzle mania issue (Joel Fagliano did a great job this past tear).
@Angela That's an amazing streak! Mine topped out at 404 during the pandemic (sounds like an error message) and I will one day go back to daily solving. Loved today's puzzle theme too. Must remember the analogy to the dolls when I'm teaching nested 'for' loops in computation.
Best time yet for a Friday! I did have SpAM before SCAM in 17A before the downs fixed that. Nice debut, Ms Martin!
@The X-Phile That was exactly my path - Ankara to ROCKCLIMBER in reverse, from where it proceeded smoothly till the Wallendas and ABC (could not, for reasons unknown, think past trapeze to BIGTOP). I often get stuck on trivialities, c'est la vie.
I was very confused about whether it was southwest or northwest or southeast (with EPCOT) and didn't think of a rebus! Facepalm. In the end, I left it at one of them, and I had great fun solving the crossword, though it took me a while. I like the idea of a Schrödinger crossword!
The timing of 43A was particularly apt, as I was just writing these very words on some of the exams I am returning to my students today. Fun puzzle!
@Zach I did exactly that, but for a change, found it quickly! I hate looking for these hard to spot mistakes.
Enjoyed the theme clues, as someone who has spent my share of hours ONTHEROAD. New to me: A DUE, thanks for the explanations in the comments. Last to fall: top left (did not remember OCALA). Great debut, Dario Salvucci!
@Bret and @Lena, I had my fastest Tuesday too, but at 6:54.
@Sam Just did it - yes, very apt!
@Richard Thank you - I came to the comments knowing that someone would have answered this.
Got to this late in the day, but figuring out the theme was fun! Welcome distraction from the last couple of days. SUHWEET was last to fall, since I knew WII, but not WIIU.
Deb, I only solved Thursday today, and saw your column just now - so sorry to see you retire, but wish you all the very best!
@Mara I first heard a version of this in a 1987 hindi film (Jalwa) and only realised today that it was a rip-off of the original! Thanks for pointing out where it originated.
Best Thursday time! But this was an easy one.
@Francis ALOP certainly gave me pause - doesn't sound right, even if it's allowed. Seems made up. (I knew VIAND though - same word in french).
@Meme Only odd because it is not an english word, but named for a city in Rajasthan, India - and the original name is transliterated this way (the dh is an aspirated d, something most english speakers can't pronounce). The usage, for breeches, is pronounced in a way that sounds nothing like the original. (My parents were both expert riders, and the only time my mother didn't wear saris was when she wore jodhpurs!)
Late in the day solver, but I loved the theme!
@KK And so it was with me. The theme made sense at the end though, since I know the names of the characters, even if I've never watched the show! And I did not appreciate the title till I read the constructor's notes. Cute puzzle.
@Cherry I had not heard of QSCORE either - looked it up after solving the puzzle. Niche statistic! And I had dregs for the longest time before, WELL, GEE!
@J.K. It is also the appellation for father in Tamil! As is Amma for mother in all of South India (often written Umma for the korean equivalent).
@ST This ST also needed the column to make sense of it all. Took me ages to make sense of MACGYVERED - even though I loved the original series. Fun Thursday, congratulations on the debut, Kit Sheffield!
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