William Schrader

I note the lack of a commentary by Mr. Donegan. Could it be that the sun rose before he could post? Or were his thoughts too crypt-ic? Maybe the editors spiked his comments and sent them to the morgue?

Just a shout-out to the NYT staff, to the 365 puzzle authors, and to the Comments corps, for helping me through 2024, my Anno Horribilis. Please take care, stay healthy, alert and primed. I'll surely be needing my daily dose of diversion. If you hear primal screaming coming from somewhere, it's probably just ME---stuck on that last, pesky single letter that remains blank in my grid! In other words, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Great puzzle! I think if you city folk ask around down at the milking shed, you'll learn that the 49D answer "UDDER" is anatomically incorrect. Squeeze an udder and you're likely to get kicked! The milker squeezes the teats... alas... For another rebus, maybe "BOOBS' might be squeezed by a farmer, but the species presumably would be a biped.

Deb: I'm too old for a puzzle the test my mettle like this one did. I'm way past metal age, so stop meddling with my thought processes like you usually do on Thursdays.

Welcome, Mr. Levav! Always good to see a constructor with a classical education. Next, we'll expect you to move on from reminders of Geoffrey Chaucer to the Bard of Avon. Or, as we used to joke in high school "The Wife of Bath's Tail will be followed by Shakespeare's Leer" (sic, sic).

Alas, poor Sam's solving demise at the hands of Dr. Bloomer! Mystery solved: This puzzle was a CEREAL KILLER.

Mr. Matz is an impressive student. I predict that his applications for early decision to Northwestern University, University of Michigan and Boston University will be looked upon favorably. QUES.:Why those three, you ask? ANS.: Because all three of them have Crossword Clubs! And, he'll be pre-med; my prediction is based upon his subconscious choice of "MCAT" for 39D---a.k.a.. the "Medical College Admission Test" Good luck, Jackson!

Dear Sam: This was a fun puzzle. Per your request for alternate terms for this remake, may I offer "REGURGITATION?" In looking up the names of all the cast members and director [Tim Burton] on Screenrant.com, I came upon this sidebar gem: "Warner Bros. supposedly hated the movie's title, and seriously considered several other options, including House Ghosts and Burton's sarcastic suggestion Scared Sheetless ."

Seth, Jeff: "TANKS FOR THE MEMORIES." The puzzle favors us ex-pat Noo Yawkuhs who grew up with that song and its irritating melody. On my first trip to Disneyland, I was sure that the song "It's a Small World After All" was penned by an adult eager to retaliate with an equal irritation. The dreidel has four Hebrew letters on it. They stand for nun, gimel, hei and shin. When I saw the central outline of the dreidel in the center, I wondered if those names would appear elsewhere in the solve. Instead, to game-related words in the circles showed up. Well done! I can still recall seeing little mesh bags of chocolate disks covered by yellow foil to resemble the "gelt" What a nice way to get to the final hurrah for some holiday traditions. P.S.: Look up the meaning of the four dreidel words. Nice sentiment. Bill

Wow, this was great! I always start Saturday puzzles filled with trepidation, knowing that I will soon have to either give up entirely or resort to "autocorrect." A good omen for me is the existence of 15-letter blank rows. One below another is awe-inspiring, but a three row stack borders on being mind-blowing. So, THREE TRIPLE STACKS? REALLY? (Sounds like the words on a pancake restaurant gift card.) My journey today resembles Ms. Lovinger's: awed, deceived, misdirected-- but occasionally successful. And, I am proud to say, ultimately I completed it with no outside help or lookups. Thanks for this puzzle. Best mental push-up I'm likely to find today. Can't wait for others from Mr. McMahon.

This was a fun solve. Can't wait to see the next collaboration. SAM: RE: D.I.Y Genre--- you were close on the alternative; in my book that would be "HOW NOT TO" -- as a longtime DIYer, I can assure you that this is a more common retrospective on what went wrong. And to collaborator Laura: I'm still conjuring up the scenario behind your doughnut party. So far I'm imagining: DRUNKEN DUNKIN' STORIED TOROID WEIRD SCHMEAR GLAZED DAZE

I definitely got lost in the Great Northwest this time! Deb, As the TV title put it, Diff'rent Strokes"--- watching your evolving "solve" series was interesting until I realized that the clues you got first were my last ones! We could have nailed it in a team solve. I had to ask my guru "Reveal Word" a couple of times for some timely additions. It was a tough beginning to my Friday!

I too looked forlornly at all the first-pass blanks that remained. Not much help from the shorties, either... alas. Then came a stab: I threw in "LORANGE" in desperation, and found myself building out and around the southwest [or should I say the "sud-ouest"?] Slowly I emerged triumphant, but the "three- B's" adage helped. So did going slowly, as in the French adage "Petit a petit, l'oiseau fait son nid"--- [Little by little, the bird makes its nest] The puzzle was fun, especially after quitting late last night and resuming with the aid of morning coffee. Thanks!

The demise of the in-flight magazine was driven in part by the advent of seat-back screens that can pitch ads directly into your eyeballs. But the trend was also financial, driven originally by American Airlines execs. They had a simple metric: how many kilos of in-flight magazines were they putting aboard their aircraft, and how much jet fuel did they spend to fly those dead trees around their routes? The "suits" decreed that the ad revenue had to be high enough to turn the mag from a loss to a profit center. Similarly, American's polished-aluminum appearance was borne out of the calculation of the cost of flying so many kilos of paint around on the outside of their aircraft.

RE:62D--- I'm retired, so I can attest that it can be the "PITS". But, i challenge the term "PIT" to mean a site in a car shop where tires are changed. That's where jobs like changing the engine oil, but in my decades buying tires I've never known the work to be done below ground level. IMHO it's always done with the vehicle slightly elevated, so the old ones can be easily pulled off the lugs, to be rolled over to the special stand where each tire in turn is removed from the rim, and the new tire is installed. Then the newbies are rolled over to their places on the car. Some alternative clues to consider: 1. Poe's place for a pendulum. [His short story "The Pit and the Pendulum"] 2. Place for bad stomach vibes. [e.g., "bad feeling in the pit of my stomach"] 3. What a drupe contains. [A "drupe" is a type of fruit, such as a peach or plum -- any fruit with a central seed, the "PIT"]

I did the puzzle, finally! I had to rely upon my Croatian, Flemish and Latvian roots to solve the three-language ones. [NOT! ---just helpful crossings.]

I've been sentenced to life without parole for unarmed cruciverbalism. But, in all my years doing Times, I have never watched these two perps create such a clever diversion. Is today Sunday? I lose track in here. But the worst obfuscation wasn't evident to me until I filled in the final cell, incorrectly: I had found Andy's plot, but wracked my brain trying to find the clue "Red Side" tied somewhere to Andy's friend and narrator. Alas, I failed! In this election season I took a stab at the remaining blank cell in _OP and was assaulted by the Puzzle's sneering put-down "You're never getting outta here alive." And, I didn't see Andy working his way through the grey labyrinthine circles until Warden Lovinger explained. Congrats to the constructors! Search them for clues next time, before we are subjected to their recidivision.

This was a lot of fun! and the online "graphic" after solving is ingenious. When the five central answers were all "I C E" the penny finally dropped for me prior to completing the starred clues. I thus expected to find one starred clue to be "Upstate New York Music Festival" ---with the answer being "WOODSTOCK." Here's why: <a href="https://pin.it/4PoWD70t3" target="_blank">https://pin.it/4PoWD70t3</a>

This was fun. I can imagine the elation upon receipt of the acceptance letter! I liked the theme. Maybe some constructor could get their head around this collection of words with common endings and come up with a puzzle: Patroon Dragoon Lagoon Maroon Festoon Cartoon Quadroon Spittoon

Sam: Yeah, one day there will be a new parlor sport suitable for the vast population of couch potatoes. It will feature finding people at your party who can: 1. Tell the time when the clue is "The Big Hand points North, the little hand points East." 2. Draw the letters that go in each hole of a rotary dial telephone. 3. Use a pencil and paper to carry out long division, such as 6387/79. 4. Tell you what building on their college campus would have codes starting with "BF" or "QH" or "PN"? Today's puzzle was good, but a little boring. I call it a "STEM WINDER' --(look it up, noobs!)

Sam: Sorry to hear you got slowed down by 5D, where you missed "AIR"as a tune. In fact, I'll bet you have heard one famous "AIR" many, many times. On more than one occasion, it may have brought a combination of a smile and a tear simultaneously. I'm referring to an air by J.S. Bach that has probably been played as a wedding processional you've attended -- or been a part of. It's called "AIR ON THE G STRING." Take a listen here: <a href="https://youtu.be/GMkmQlfOJDk" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/GMkmQlfOJDk</a> See? HINT: That title has also been applied less sedately in reference to burlesque performers' attire. But, that's another thong (sic) entirely.

Jasin's debut was a fine entree to NYT immortality. His self description of what this "rising junior at Princeton" has on his plate leads me to wonder if the phrase refers to his upcoming semester or, instead, to his work ethic. Or, as a now-long-deceased undergrad philosopher once put it: "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wonder what his roommate looks like."

I liked "MCJOBS" especially the revealer that the company had originally used that term in a hiring campaign. In deference to the millions of our populace who eke by through those positions, I offer some alternate clues leading to the answer "MCJOBS": TV HOST GIGS EDINBURGH APPLE STARTER?

This one was fun. But: There was one answer that stumped me, and I still can't figure out why: 3D: I saw quattro + quattro, and immediately entered "OCHO" -- which I thought was a gift --4+4=8. That presumption sank my completions of 13A and 17A. At the end I decided that 13A just HAD to be "exTracheese, so out went "OCHO" and in rode "oTho" At that point I ditched the H in 17A, leaving me with my usual "one letter from done" conundrum! Finally, I gave up and looked on Google Translate to see if I was being fooled into thinking that "quattro" was even Spanish! I caved, and used the dreaded "REVEAL SQUARE."-- the 3D is OTTO. So, here's my question: Can someone explain to me what is meant by "QUATTRO + QUATTRO = OTTO"? Thanks! Good to have another new constructor in the ranks... Well done!

This was a great puzzle! It took me a lot of crossings to complete enough zigzags for the penny to drop. Interesting [to me, anyway] was the fact that the "X" in BOXBRAIDS was my final letter, and thus the day's "Revealer" functioned as a "Obscurer." Kudos to Ms. Amien and the editors this time for compiling what I think is the most-highly-illustrated explanatory column I've ever seen. Wagner's reference to his appreciation for the power of PYTHON makes me worry about his next offering. HOW ABOUT THIS: A "Double Helix" theme where one "strand reads top-to-bottom as here, but the complementary strand is "anti-parallel" --as in real DNA... and thus reads bottom-to-top. Can I get back to work now, please? :-)

OK, I'll bite! I solved the grid, but 62A is giving me fits! What on earth does G E N Y have to do with "Demo for Alphas"? Is this an acronym, or perhaps a neologism? I am sure my august [er, October] fellow solvers will enlighten me and teach me something new this morning. After all, this paper does pride itself as having "All the Print That's News to Fits"

7D: Clue: "Show advertiser" Ans: "BARKER" Really? Makes no sense to me. I assume you mean a carnival "sideshow advertiser." Given the other critter-clues, I would have used: 1. Clue: Irritating housepet....or..... 2. Clue: One looking up the wrong tree

This puzzle was fun; kept me awake at the gate at IAH enduring a 3-hour flight delay. Kept me awake! Greyed-out cells? Hmmm: My revealer would have been "SLEEP PREVENTER" ---ANS: NODOZ

What a fun late-night solve. Deb: I loved your recitation of the exchange with the eds about presentations of the T-squares on various platforms. I do, however, lament the fate of both NYT subscribers who still fill out the paper version. Maybe the Old Grey Lady could provide those two Luddites with disappearing ink pens?

This was fun. My "revealer" was the "Lined ones pockets" answer. How about: Clue: Hadn't the foggiest Ans: [with no horizontal lines around the cells] : DREW A BLANK Clue: Failed to make a course correction Ans: [alternating vertical cell lines like this \\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\]: ZIGGED NOT ZAGGED Clue: Unhip greeting Ans: [alternating cell lines |_|--|_|--|_|--|]: SQUARE WAVE Clue:

This one was amazing---- took me a while to figure out how to read the loops,

Nurse Nellie in "South Pacific" couldn't see straight. She was a:  "cockeyedoptimist" I thought my proctologist's assistants were funny until I realized I was the: "buttoftheirjokes" My gastroenterologist listened to my complaints, and I feel better, now that I've: "vented my spleen" The obstetrician got rid of cable service at home, and was: "cutting the cord" The gerontologist noted in my chart that I was: "olderthandirt" My gynecologist wouldn't schedule my appointment because it was the: "wrongtimeofthemonth"

Really? Someone is named this? CHIWETELEJIOFOR Then I thought more: This answer is 15 letters. I wonder what it could offer up from an online anagram solver. The answer? Not much if you ask for long words. But, by restricting the search to a maximum of 5 words, and a minimum of 3 letters I got a small set. Here they are; not very funny or clever. WHO LIE FOR ICE JET BUT: I wonder if some constructor could envision a puzzle where the objective is to use ALL of the letters in a 15-word answer to populate five spots in the puzzle. I guess I wouldn't start with this proper name, but I hope you can catch my drift

Sam: I have an etymological stretch for you to ponder about ELIDED at 13A. You were drawn to "illusion" and "elision." As for me, i saw the clue and thought of "Elysian Fields"--or in Paris les "Champs-Élysées" Elysium was the Greek abode of blessed persons after death. Beethoven's Symphony #9 uses the phrase "tochter aus Elysium" meaning "daughter of Elysium"

This one was too tough for me--- I got nowhere and finally just threw in the online towel and gazed at the answers. Saturdays definitely set a high bar! Great to have another first-timer joining the ranks, even if she did leave me bruised and inept.