Mike
Toronto
Here's a coincidence: I live in Canada and have been a NY Times puzzle solver for decades. I am in Sweden on a brief visit to see friends and relatives and yesterday, Thursday, I happened to make a train connection in the southern city of Lund to return to Stockholm. The answer to clue 9 Down came very easily.
Perhaps it's been mentioned well below in the comments. I figured out the theme rather early but then dealt with the usual dilemma: how to fill the square when a rebus is just one "option"? Do I put in the double letter or leave it blank? I interpreted the clue LITERALLY, and typed in only the single letter. My thought was: only a single letter can be either "doubled" or "deleted" (not a blank, nor 2 letters--to make 4). Of course, that didn't "solve" the puzzle, so I tried the double-letter rebus, which worked.
@Bart Perhaps not related to NYT's crosswords, but the constructors of Spelling Bee see "American" as a language that is different from "English", and adhere to the former as their guide. Have those who play that game been as frustrated as I in not being able to use the "English" spelling of "or"-ending words; for example, labour, favour, etc?
I just solved this on my computer. I think I got it right, but I'm told that I am only "close". In the past this sometimes has meant only that I typed in the rebus incorrectly. Is there a standard convention? Today I typed the Across answer letter first followed by the Down, with no "connector", e.g., slash. Is this acceptable? If so, I need to find my error. I don't want to "Check Puzzle" to end my solving streak.
All 4 comments loaded