Rich in Atlanta

Well, I solved the puzzle but after Deb's column I don't even recall it now. So sorry for your loss, Deb. And it made me remember my own father. He was a wonderful man and we were always so close when I was growing up. But then... He was B-17 pilot whose plane was shot down over Germany during World War II, and he spent almost the last year of the war in POW camp. When I came back from Vietnam after my second purple heart, that bond grew so much closer and it would be hard to describe how wonderful it was to be able to relate with him about our experiences. Some sadness, of course, but a lot of hilarity as well. Hard to explain. I'll probably be thinking about it a lot today. Again, so sorry for your loss. Take care. ...

As threatened below - I had posted these on Facebook a couple of years ago and managed to find them this morning. Here's a few - I might do some more tomorrow; Dad, are we pyromaniacs? Yes, we arson. What do you call a pig with laryngitis? Disgruntled. Writing my name in cursive is my signature move. Why do bees stay in their hives during winter? Swarm. Just so everyone’s clear, I’m going to put my glasses on. A commander walks into a bar and orders everyone around. I lost my job as a stage designer. I left without making a scene. Never buy flowers from a monk. Only you can prevent florist friars. How much did the pirate pay to get his ears pierced? A buccaneer. I once worked at a cheap pizza shop to get by. I kneaded the dough. Why is it unwise to share your secrets with a clock? Well, time will tell. When I told my contractor I didn’t want carpeted steps, they gave me a blank stare. Bono and The Edge walk into a Dublin bar and the bartender says, “Oh no, not U2 again.” ..

Oh... and people seemed to enjoy my list of wordplay jokes from yesterday. Here's just a few more that I came across: Prison is just one word to you, but for some people, it’s a whole sentence. Scientists got together to study the effects of alcohol on a person’s walk, and the result was staggering. I’m trying to organize a hide-and-seek tournament, but good players are really hard to find. I got over my addiction to chocolate, marshmallows, and nuts. I won’t lie, it was a rocky road. What do you say to comfort a friend who’s struggling with grammar? There, their, they’re. I went to the toy store and asked the assistant where the Schwarzenegger dolls are and he replied, “Aisle B, back.” What did the surgeon say to the patient who insisted on closing up their own incision? Suture self. I’ve started telling everyone about the benefits of eating dried grapes. It’s all about raisin awareness. ...

Guess I shouldn't be surprised that most everyone else found this unusually easy. Me? Couldn't work it all out. Was stuck in more than a couple of places. No big deal. Side note - tomorrow I'll be moving into a VA facility. Not sure if or when I'll be able to get back into solving these puzzles. I'll miss it (and miss all of you). Hope I'm back here soon.

Way off topic, but happened to come across an old joke that I thought wordplayers might appreciate: A priest, a pastor and a rabbit walked into a clinic to donate blood. The nurse asked the rabbit: "What's your blood type?" The rabbit said, "I'm probably a Type O." Hi emus. ..

Age 75: FAILTHEPUZZLE Actually surprised to see that so many found this one easy. None of the theme answers were going to dawn on me from the clues and just couldn't work them all out. Five day losing streak for me - don't think that's ever happened before. Maybe time to return to my home planet. ...

Wow - just wow. Amazing piece of construction. Was appropriately puzzled for quite a while, but then a terrific 'aha' moment when I finally tumbled to the trick and then just had a great time working out each of the theme answers. Just can't imagine how much work it must have taken to find all of those possible theme answers. Oh, and answer history search today: Wondered how many possible answers there were that have the string of letters NINTH embedded in them. Well... 53 that have appeared in puzzles - a large number of them that embed "in the" as part of the answer. There are even 18 fifteen letter answers that embed that string - e.g. singiNINTHerain. I'm done. ..

Wow. What an amazing puzzling. I managed to work out the reveal and then... half caught on to the trick, but I had convinced myself that it was either going to be blank in one direction and a double letter in the other, or.... some of the squares would be blank and some of them double letters. But then found that all of the across answers worked with just blanks and was appropriately puzzled to finish it successfully. It wasn't until I went to Xword Info that I realized that ALL of the answers were legitimate with either a blank or the double letters. That's just jaw-dropping. I can't even imagine the amount of work that had to go into making this one. POW - absolutely. How about puzzle of the year or puzzle of the decade (at least)? Just wow. ..

Good Saturday workout. Not all that easy for me, of course, and I had to look up some things, but managed to get through it. Back on a one day streak. And... that center triple stack is really impressive. Seems like it's been a while since I've seen one of those. I had actually noticed recently that it seemed like there were fewer grid-spanning entries in a lot of the puzzles. Anyway... just can't help but wonder how much of a workout it must be to come up with three 15 letter stacked entries and place them so that they're all workable with the down crosses. And in this puzzle that stack is crossed with a number of 9 and 10 letter entries. That's pretty amazing. I'll shut up now. Nice puzzle. ..

Enjoyable puzzle. Typical long workout for me, but tumbling to the trick was a big turning point and that's always a nice touch. Finding the four theme answers that were actually valid phrases with or without the trick seems like an amazing find. Must have taken a lot of pondering to come up with something like this. Really impressive. And... was quite moved by the author's comments. I might say something about that in a reply. ...

Very enjoyable puzzle and one that seems quite appropriate at this moment in time. I've read most of them and still have some of them in storage somewhere, but still needed some crosses for some of the titles to dawn on me. That's just my memory. I guess it's understandable, but still kind of sad to see that so many commenters were unfamiliar with the author and her work. Answer history search was inspired by TARBABY. Wondered about - UNCLEREMUS. Yep - it's been an answer in 10 puzzles. I'm done. ..

Another reminder that I should probably return to my home planet. Was really surprised to see that everyone else found this one unusually easy. I'm on the opposite end of that scale and had to do extensive cheating to get through it. Oh... and four - 14 letter answers and only one of those ever appeared in another puzzle. And... four 12 letter answers and none of those was ever in another puzzle. And only one of the two 10 letter answers ever appeared in another puzzle. Don't recall another one with that many long debuts. And even two of the shorter answers were debuts. I remain surprised. No big deal. I'll put my puzzle find today in a reply. ...

Whew - Apparently a lot of efngisfe (mixed 'feelings') about this puzzle. Good thing we have the crossword blog. If the only way to express one's opinion on the puzzle was to call into the NYT, then I suspect that a whole bunch of solvers would have heard: All of our operators aREBUSy. Ducking and running. ..

Late post - an old favorite joke that I'd forgotten about: A classics professor goes to a tailor to get his trousers mended. The tailor asks: “Euripides?” The professor replies: “Yes. Eumenides?”. Oh, and EUMENIDES has been an answer 4 times. Hi emus. ..

Oh - a Y's guy. Anyway - tough one for me, but finally catching on to the trick was the big turning point. Still had to cheat on a couple of things, but.. doesn't matter. Pretty impressive feat of construction and ended up being an enjoyable workout. Quite amazing puzzle find today. I'll put that in a reply. ...

I'm back. Anyway, a typical slow Tuesday for me, but an enjoyable solve. And... my puzzle find today (Hi Lewis): A Sunday from April 6, 1969 by Nancy Schuster with the title: "The gang's all here." Some answers in that one: BOSTONTEAPARTY GRANDOLDPARTY PARTYPOLITICS TWOPARTYSYSTEM BEAPARTYTO SEARCHPARTY PARTYPOOPER PARTYLINES Here's that link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/6/1969&g=23&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/PS?date=4/6/1969&g=23&d=A</a> ....

Well, I enjoyed it. Clever theme and it took me a while to tumble to it, and... that was the big turning point. I thought it was especially neat that each of the theme answers used a slightly different trick. S S B B M M U U H H T T And I'll put my puzzle find today in a reply. ...

Well.... two day losing streak for me. Can't remember the last time that happened. And this is absolutely the worst I've ever done on any puzzle. Did not have one single theme answer filled in correctly. Anyway - never caught on to the trick and it never occurred to me to ponder the puzzle's title. Not a complaint - that's all on me. At least I was, uhhh... very puzzled by this one. Quote Scarlett O'Hara. See you tomorrow. ..

Wow. Quite an amazing puzzle. Typical Wednesday workout for me, and then... the STAR rebus in RESTAREA was the last thing I filled in, and it wasn't until then that I really parsed the other sets of circled squares. Just can't even imagine what it takes to put together something like this, with both the restrictions of the theme square entries and - managing to do that synchronously form upper left to lower right. Just - Wow. And... a VERY unusual puzzle find today. I'll put that in a reply. ...

Fifteen letter answer that dawned on me this morning: PUZZLEOFTHEYEAR Anyway - quite a workout for me, but managed to finish it and... never caught on to the various possibilities in the reveal. I went with THENORTHWEST passage, even though I could see that that didn't really work with some of the theme answers. This is just... beyond amazing. ..

Speed of Jason's ship?* Where was I - oh yeah, really clever puzzle; not terribly easy for me, of course, and even after I tumbled to the trick I had to struggle to parse exactly what was happening in various places. Took me quite a while but just made for a nice workout. *Oh... and "speed of Jason's ship?" ARGOKNOTS I'm done. ..

Late addendum. Thought of an old joke, inspired by 51d. Maybe could be a crossword clue/answer sometime. Anyway... "Father from Indiana?" HOOSIERDADDY I'll shut up now. ...

Predawn here, so there ain't no sunshine yet. Where was I? Oh yeah - fun puzzle and a pretty smooth solve. Catching on to the theme was a big help and that's always a nice touch. I've solved every 2024 puzzle so far, so there ain't no stoppin' me now. Just ain't no mountain high enough. ..

Cute theme and a smooth Monday solve. A number of things that weren't dawning on me immediately but everything fell together with some crosses. Not quite a record time, but well under my average. 15 letter answer that dawned on me today, inspired by 10d, was VIETNAMVETERANS. That was an answer once - in a 1998 puzzle. And... 10d was quite appropriate for this day for me. With apologies, will just note that my former company commander, who has remained in touch with us after all these years, late yesterday posted a list of names from early 1970 for Memorial Day. 47 names... over a 5 month period. I'm done. ..

A tougher than usual Monday puzzle but an enjoyable solve. Just had to work the crosses in a lot of places but managed to work it all out. Couldn't help but note the currently somewhat appropriate inclusion of... ACLU, ROSA Parks, ROE v. Wade and even... To Kill a Mockingbird. We'll see how that goes. I'm done. ..

Whew. And Wow. Typical slow start for me, but a great moment when I finally caught on (thanks to Janis Joplin). Still took a bit of pondering to work out all the other theme answers, but that was just one nice 'aha' moment after another. And... this is just one amazing piece of construction. Had to be quite a challenge to work in those four symmetrically placed theme answers with the added restriction of the adjacent 'TOs.' That just has to add another level of restriction to working out the grid and theme answer placements. And, a roundabout search led to another clever puzzle. That one was all in the clues. I'll put it in a reply. ..

Nice Friday puzzle. Typical long workout for me, but ended up being an enjoyable solve. And... ...spent a fair amount of time in HUEYs during my time in Vietnam. And... my weapon there was a GRENADE launcher. But at least we didn't have any TSHIRTCANNONS. And... I'll put my puzzle find today in a reply. ...

Loved it. Really neat to see a new kind of theme and it was a great 'aha' moment when I finally had enough of them to catch on. And... thought it was a nice touch to clue LEVEE in reference to 'American Pie,' which may have a record for some of the most variant rhymes of any song I can think of. Notably... 'more step' and 'door step' But, a bunch of others as well: him - gym shoes - blues rye - die (on our) own (rollin') stone queen - dean adjourned - returned swelter - shelter field - yield - revealed jack be quick - candlestick night - rite - delight blues - news Holy Ghost - for the coast afraid - I prayed mourn - reborn I'll shut up now. ...

Well... nice to be mentioned in a puzzle (hi Steve and suejean). Just couldn't quite work this one out completely. No big deal. Couldn't help but notice a sort of... mini-theme with SARGE. REVEILLES and HALT. For no explainable reason I went and did an answer history search for... TENHUT It's been an answer in ten puzzles. Just a bit surprised by that. And... while I'm on that track - FALLOUT - 9 times. ATEASE - 197 times. Wow! You're dismissed. ..

Couldn't finish it - not even close. Even after reading all the comments I still don't get it. Will spend some time pondering and maybe I'll catch on eventually. Or maybe not. See you tomorrow. ..

Tough one for me and had to cheat a bit to get through it, but some nice 'aha' moments when I finally had enough crosses to work something out. And then... with apologies, this is completely off-topic but something that dawned on me this morning. A movie scene that seems just incredibly appropriate at this moment in time in this country. Let's not give up. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM-E2H1ChJM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM-E2H1ChJM</a> We'll be back. ..

Okey-dokey - I don't want to be hoity-toity or do any hanky-panky but I did enjoy this puzzle. Not quite super-duper but close. As usual on a Sunday I did sort of dilly-dally along the way; Some of the answers were confusing but at least not mumbo-jumbo. Sorry about all that - I'm just an old fuddy-duddy. Lots of fun. I'll shut up now. ...

Two guys walk into a bar; the third guy ducks. Where was I - oh yeah, not an easy one for me, but managed to work it all out. Answer history search today was inspired by YMCA: Wondered if VILLAGEPEOPLE had ever been an answer. Nope - but it has been in the clue for YMCA a number of times. But anyway... a search for 'village' somehow did lead me to one of the oddest puzzles I've ever encountered - a Sunday from January 22, 2012 by Adam Fromm with the title "Snow White's employment agency." A couple of clue/answer examples: "Bad occupation for Sleepy? :" NIGHTWATCHMAN "Bad occupation for Happy? :" GOTHMUSICIAN "Bad occupation for Sneezy? :" FLORALARRANGER and the one that got me there... "Bad occupation for Doc? :" VILLAGEIDIOT Don't imagine I would have much of a chance with that one. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/22/2012&g=98&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=1/22/2012&g=98&d=A</a> I'm outta here. ..

That was a really fun workout for me. Had to cheat a bit on a few down answers, but I was just fascinated by trying to work out each of the theme answers once I caught on to the trick. Just a ton of nice aha moments when something finally dawned on me. And... I went and looked at Ms. Robbins previous puzzles. Couldn't help but note the similarity to her last one - a Wednesday from August 9, 2023. The theme answers in that one: GHOSTLYPRESENTS NOCHANTSINHELL LOSINGPATIENTS PRINTSOFTHIEVES Just looking forward to more. ..

Really enjoyed this one, and... Wow! The reveal was one of the last things I worked out and then I was just amazed to go back and look over the clues and realize they all started with C's. That's just amazing. And.. to be able to do that and also make this a Monday easy puzzle is just incredible. Oh, and as a side note, over time I've come to believe that constructing an early week (easier to solve) puzzle has to be more challenging than constructing the later week puzzles in some ways. There's quite a limitation there. I'm done.

Put me in the thumbs up crowd. Very enjoyable puzzle and a good workout. Caught on unusually early with VIVIENLEIGH and HEISMANTROPHIES and then had an enjoyable time working out the others with just enough crosses. I had entered all the rebuses with just IE and paused before I finished, wondering if I'd be able to sort out the correct format once I got the 'close but no cigar' message. Was surprised to finish successfully and nice to know that they had decided to take the rebuses either way. One answer history search today was for... EIEIO. Well - it's been answer 73 times, but... only 3 of those in pre-Shortz puzzles. Puzzled by that. Anyway... it's been at least part of the reveal in at least 3 puzzles - two of those VERY remarkable themes. I'll say a bit more about those in a reply. ...

Really clever puzzle - I just never quite tumbled to the trick and couldn't get enough down crosses to get any of the theme answers without some cheating. That's all on me - it all seems doable after the fact. Still actually amazed that everyone else found this one unusually easy. Puzzle find today: A Sunday from July 16, 2006 by Ashish Vengsarkar with the title: "Anagrammatic who's who." This one was all in the clues. Some theme clue and answer examples: "EVIL BRAT IN THERE :" IVANTHETERRIBLE "CANNY OLDER AUTHOR :" ARTHURCONANDOYLE "TO APPEAR ON ELBA, NON? :" NAPOLEONBONAPARTE "EAGER TO USE LYRICAL MOLD :" SAMUELTAYLORCOLERIDGE Thought that was just a jaw-dropping feat of construction. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/16/2006&g=23&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=7/16/2006&g=23&d=A</a> I'm done. ..

Fun puzzle. Good long workout for me, of course, but just enjoyed every minute of it. And of course a puzzle find. A Thursday from September 22, 2016 by Jeffrey Wechsler. Some theme clue/answer examples: "A number of stage items in a French play? :" SEPTPIECES "A number of cocktails in Berlin? :" DREIMARTINIS "A number of Freudians in Freiburg? :" SECHSTHERAPISTS "A number of grain-producing sites in Normandy?" HUITFIELDS And a couple of others. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/22/2016&g=46&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=9/22/2016&g=46&d=A</a> I'm done.

Well... a record for me. I've never before had less filled in on any puzzle when I finally gave up. Just couldn't get anywhere with this one. Couldn't even get many down crosses, so never came close to tumbling to the trick. Actually surprised that most everyone else was able work this one out. Maybe I can do a Monday. We'll see. ..

Really enjoyable Monday puzzle. None of the theme answers dawning on me just from the clues, but they all came together with some crosses. And... the reveal was the last thing I worked out. Couldn't ask for anything more. And... very appropriate puzzle find today. A Tuesday from March 7, 2017 by Freddie Cheng. Some theme answers - all quite straightforwardly clued: CANTERBURYTALES THATSASTEAL CLEANSLATE GOINGSTALE NIKOLATESLA And then.. what had to be the reveal though it was not specifically clued as that: "Finally ..." LASTBUTNOTLEAST Don't recall ever seeing another one like that. Thought that was pretty clever. Here's the Xword Info link: <a href="https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/7/2017&g=60&d=A" target="_blank">https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=3/7/2017&g=60&d=A</a> ..

Whew. And Wow! Really tough workout for me, but an amazing piece of construction and some really clever clues. Had to look some things up, but then there were just a lot of nice 'aha' moments when something finally dawned on me from the crosses. Eight debut answers but none of those were particularly strange or anything. Need to go back and look at Ms. Hoody's previous puzzles. And.. puzzle finds today, of course. I'll put those in replies. ..