Here’s Johnny
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Crossing VIGODA with IMPEI and ALDA is a party foul.
The top half seemed almost Friday level, at least to me. Nice theme nonetheless.
Fun puzzle until the SW corner had too many proper nouns that I didn’t know.
Made it about 90% through before I cheated and moved on with my day. Happy Friday!
@Jenny I love diving into the archives. When I’m on a plane I’ll sometimes sit there and do Thursday puzzles the whole flight!
Wow, looking forward to the next 50+ years of crosswords from this constructor!
I’m used to rebuses, and the themes, being related to the answers, but not the clues themselves! I’ll remember this!
Nothing better than a Saturday puzzle full of obscure trivia that nobody knows!
I always search for the theme clue first on Thursdays, and it paid off today.
@Jon Wednesdays are the worst about this. I feel like they up the difficulty solely by coming up with more obscure references/trivia.
Ahh finally caught on to a Thursday puzzle where the gimmick was in the clue, not the answer!
DETER inside of DEFER was a little dirty. Besides that, fun puzzle.
I recently read the fantastic ‘Count of Monte Cristo.’ If I had stayed on the Dumas train and started ‘The Three Musketeers,’ then I would’ve shaved 20 seconds off today’s time by not having to guess one letter!
2 Down was my favorite. Knowing the rebus, I thought it just had to be MANTA RAY, but it wasn’t quite working. Nice aha moment with MORAY EEL
Nice Thursday. Although if you aren’t overly familiar with Beethoven or Popeye you’ll be left guessing.
Started erasing what I knew to be correct entries to fill in LONGJOHN…then the triumphant AHA! moment struck!
@CB Yes CB, Thursdays are my favorite! Like a little weekly present that you get to open.
Hey, it’s a trivial trivia Tuesday!
Couldn’t believe I didn’t get the theme. But then I read Wordplay and wasn’t too disappointed in myself
I haven’t seen Wicked or heard the song, but I got the theme. So I wasn’t as IRKED as I could have been.
Was I the only one stumped by ANDHOW and OYVEY? Sheesh!
Didn’t take no EINSTEIN to figure out this theme. Sorry, had to say it.
Classic. The kind of puzzle you show to your non-crossword friends. “See, you should start doing crosswords!”
Shout out to AKIRA. No movie triggered my 10 year old imagination quite like that one.
Only a few clues of easy trivia. My kind of puzzle.
I think the crowd has spoken: This puzzle was a bit of a headache. I would’ve solved it faster if ASYOUPREFER or ASYOUSEEFIT didn’t come to mind first. But combined with DASHIT, NUYORICAN and ALUMNAE, it was a doozy!
Once again, this puzzle exposed my lack of knowledge on anything opera
Enjoyed picking up on the theme about 75% of the way through and using it to solve the puzzle. The worst is when I quickly understand the theme but still can’t finish the entire puzzle, looking at you Sunday.
Some diabolical clues today. I really wanted to put DELETEDTWEETS for 33A.
Disappointed in myself for not getting SAMOVAR and RAISA despite having read a book on Russia’s history and “War and Peace.” 😭
I knew this puzzle would be a hit amongst the rebus haters. Nice Thursday!
Sports and rebuses, two of my favorite things!
@Phil Let’s be real, when you go to the lake, do you call it a beach trip? Sure it’s a misdirection but not an especially clever one.
Dang, could’ve had a personal record if I had locked in Monday-style and punched in answers using both hands.
@Gilead Kutnick Came here to basically say the same.
Top half was kinda fun. Bottom half was downright sinister
@Nancy Sculerati MD LMAO. Sounds like you’re HAVING - THOUGHTS.
I got the theme, but also got annoyed at having to click around on mobile searching for the starred clues. Also it’s forest through the trees (plural), but the grid had only one tree. Would’ve been cooler if it featured multiple smaller trees. But I’m no constructor and I know creating puzzles must be hard enough as it is!
Nice Thursday gimmick. I was initially trying DOUBLE BACK, but it seemed too familiar, like it’s been used in a puzzle fairly recently. One minor gripe: I feel like the clue for 20 across (places to carry takeout orders) was a bit of a stretch. My brain wanted it to have something to do with Mafia or CIA activities, if you know what I mean.
I try to get the theme ASAP when solving Thursdays. It really paid off with this one. It was very satisfying filling in the theme clues once I figured it out.
@Kathryn People can do their mental gymnastics to justify this clue, but I agree it was a bit of a…stretch.
@Steve L Surely you’ll understand my family’s confusion when I say we’re going on a beach trip and we arrive at a lake!
Cruised right along till the NE corner. Thanks for nothing, MARA and TILDA!
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