Revvv
NYC
Hakeem was a (fantastic) soccer goalie and found basketball far later in life than any other great. And he was somehow able to play full tilt during Ramadan without taking a sip of water from sunrise to sunset, even during day games.
Another one where I solved the puzzle and still had no idea what the theme was or meant.
Started slowly, then zoomed then took five+ minutes to correct appose from oppose and seesred from seethes.
A bit easy for a Wednesday puzzle
Unusually quick solve. That's okay sometimes.
I completed it fast without understanding the theme by filling in the red herrings with the only possible coherent words, despite them being obviously 'wrong', and voila. Two minutes later, with the clock stopped, I got the theme. That's what years of solving has allowed me to do.
@momonjava I liked it too. But as so often happens I was my own worst enemy, keying 'shynees' by accident. It cost me five minutes of search since it was in the lower right.
The long middle answer still looks like random letters to me even after solving it using only verticals. Still it was a pretty easy Wednesday.
@Nancy J. Hmm, I dunno. This one hit my sweet spot, needing 27 min for me to solve. I don't have much more time on a Friday...
@Bill Thanks! xoloitzcuintli is my new password
@Eric Finding that S and turning it into a Z was my final solved letter, but U_I is no natick when it's a rappers name.
@B Well I didn't know about the coding meaning of ! but got it easily with the clues - because it's Thursday. Pretty cool.
@Jim Clyde was my bete noir too. I asked my GF who lived there. Worse, had to run the alphabet for Nattyice / 8-8-1 to finish. Grrrr.
@Marcia When you start to whine about 'kids these days' and the end of it all, try to take comfort in the fact that the end is coming for you but the world will go on just fine without you.
@dvdmgsr I never was a Star Wars fan despite the brilliant dialog, acting and character development. ;) I always thought the verbose robot was called some variation of C-3-P-O. Huh.
@Jim Bigwood Maybe something to do with Karl Malden, start of The Streets of San Francisco detective show?
@Steve L You just clued me in to xwstats.com - Thanks Steve! I was shocked to see that the Saturday Feb 22 puzzle had a MEDIAN solve time of just 16 min 37 sec. I am not nearly as good as I thought.
I know the poem well and was overthinking the ending looking for something cleverer. The horse in the poem didn't want to stop in the dark isolated woods, so 'giddyup' was unnecessary.
@Rob I've had corn based moonshine a few times in western PA, long ago. You drink it straight from a passed mason jar, usually while watching the Steelers on TV. It's awful, real rotgut.
@David Hancock Yup, the Q here was my last fill.
@Isabeau I said that that 'that' that that man said was incorrect.
@ByronCorrection: it took you and Google almost 30 minutes.
@Jane Wheelaghan Keep at it Jane! You are tackling Saturday, so you are assaulting the peak.
Why are the Carolina Panthers the 'Canes'?
@AdamThe average Xstats solve time was a little better than average for a Saturday at 18 min. But more people solved it slower than their personal average, including me.
@Mark Smith There is a boxer nicknamed Problem Child. Same idea.
@upperlevel Yup, tricky and slower than usual.
All 37 comments loaded