Spacebabe
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Australia
Really did not enjoy this, a combination of very US-centric clues made grappling with a theme that wasn’t readily apparent quite difficult as I wasn’t sure of so many of the answers. One of my least favourite puzzles for a while, although obviously much appreciated by others.
I adore rebuses as a rule and this one had the added little bonus of the wordplay. Loved it!!
@Steven M. Eartha Kitt is hardly esoteric, and AKITA features regularly as a NYT crossword clue. I didn’t find LUSAKA too much of a stretch either, just basic geography. Overall a fairly entertaining and enjoyable puzzle I thought.
@Jeremy you sound relatively new to the NYT puzzle as Eartha is a regular on these pages, and certainly in Australia HAUL UP is still used. I admit EARLAPS gave me a second’s thought, but surely that’s the point of crosswords, to make us flex the brain a little? I can imagine if it was the other way round and the clues were all practicable and anodyne there’d be even more of an outcry. And if you really want to feel the burn, have a look at some of the archival crosswords from the 1940s, they are genuinely challenging.
For me the best kind of puzzle, a fun twist that revealed itself gradually, a jaunty little animation at the end as a reward, and decent clueing that didn’t require googling some obscure brand name or long-dead TV character/sports broadcaster. Very enjoyable!
Oh Sam I loved your comment about ‘deploying your ink sac’ in the event we all have to endure the octopuses/octopi debate yet again. And although I think I recall enjoying the March puzzle of Mr Matz somewhat more than this fraternal joint effort, it was still very sweet and just what one needed on a day of feeling less than well…
Educational rather than enjoyable. Too many obscure clues to make this anything other than an exercise in using Google, which I hate and is not in the spirit of crossword-solving in my book.
Loved this fun and enjoyable puzzle especially as it’s been a while since we had a word ladder - apt, engaging and smart thank you David!
Really fun with an enjoyable “puzzle within a puzzle” to keep interest up. Nice to see the talented Stephen Fry making an appearance too, I’m sure he’d approve of the witty clue!
@Reuben as a fellow Aussie I can’t agree with you on this one - the clues you mention aren’t part of “pop culture”, unless you’re in some sort of very cloistered community. Ang Lee is a respected film director (and commonly used for clueing in the NYT crossword), Fred Astaire is hardly obscure, ditto Kofi Annan. The only ones I had to check were Bêla Flack and the Delaware tribe, but I’m sure we’re not alone there.
Gorgeous and Christmassy thank you, loved it!
As a music lover I enjoyed the slightly wacky puns, a much-needed bit of lightheartedness thank you!
I love rebuses and enjoyed this relatively gentle puzzle, especially after last week’s AGONY!
@HC Tabak why? Plenty of people seem to enjoy them, me included.
Fabulous fun, clever and engaging - everything I love in a crossword!
@Kimiko me either but it wasn’t really necessary, you could still do the puzzle without knowing that particular game. The emus enjoyed it :)
@Annie I don’t live in the US but I’m assuming it’s referring to the Californian city of L’os Altos?
I have to say I was having some uncharitable thoughts about this puzzle as I neared the end with stubborn empty squares - until I cracked the code, whereupon I immediately started enjoying it again!
I wasn’t enjoying this for quite a while until the LIE rebus clicked which made it a bit less baffling…then the SPIKE part also clicked which made it a lot more fun. Tricky but enjoyable especially as I love rebuses and wordplay.
Delightful and engaging crossword with a truly beautiful sentiment behind it. Bravo !
Super fun, I loved the theme and the appropriate dance figures. An enjoyable romp!
Enjoyed this a lot more than some recent ones, the clueing made sense, not too many obscure references and a fun twist that wasn’t too self-consciously tricky. Lots to enjoy thank you!
@Matt actually I think the late week puzzles are noticeably easier…it’s telling us our opinions are wrong that seems more like gaslighting to me.
Nathan Hasagawa you had me at MOLEcules! Bravo!
For a change as an Aussie I felt some advantage coming from a place where “t” and “d” are routinely interchangeable in speech, and the use of very neutral vowel sounds means all our vowels can sound similar,. This meant the across themed words solved fairly easily,…although I still struggled with the usual football coaches, sports teams etc :)
Very clever and enjoyable!
Loved this, and with the theme made it a bit more interesting and fun than the usual Monday. Bravo!
Made me smile, lots to like about this puzzle :)
Really enjoyed this, good to have a serious challenge that works the deductive part of the brain and not just the magpie memory :)
I quite enjoyed this and finished under time somewhat to my surprise, as I initially found it so baffling that I wondered if there were rebuses or other tricks involved. However it did eventually reveal itself - although not before I changed ALA for FLA and USP for USS. Yes Pepsi is okay!
@Tim yes totally agree, a somewhat painful puzzle.
@Ed yes I’ve been waiting for someone to mention Oreos, enough already with these cookies! Ditto APE/D, EASY A, ABCS, EKE/D, ELSA and her friend OLAF, and to a lesser extent, SASS, SPA and EMO. These are so recurrent it sometimes feels as if I’ve done the puzzle before!
@Vaer Aussie here, I thought I knew my southern skies but Mensa was new to me as a constellation. Fortunately I still got the answer - and with the added bonus of learning something new ;)
Loved this puzzle, some thought-provoking entries that weren’t just obscure sports references and very few of the “usual suspects” (apart from ORA.) A very enjoyable way to pass a Friday lunchtime.
Loved this and the Grim Reaper solve made me laugh out loud!
I started so slowly that I thought this was going to be a slog, but it fell into place in half my usual time and I enjoyed doing it. Nice puzzle!m
Loved this and a nice debut thank you Mat! It did seem a little easier than the usual Thursday fare but I’m not complaining…
Really cute and fun, I enjoyed it a lot!
Super fun and cute, loved it!
For those solving on the iOS platform I finally worked out you need to close the Games app then reopen it to see the special effect - and the rotation happens automatically. Although it didn’t seem to have much to do with any particular puzzle-related theme I don’t have the animosity some other solvers have towards the solve. It was entertaining which surely should be enough for a crossword.
@John Kroll i solved on an iPad using the app and had no problems, I filled each circle with the word “hole” and got the happy music at the end. I have found with previous gimmicks I’ve had to shut the app completely and the reopen to get it to register, however this is usually not a problem with a rebus. If this doesn’t work it’s possible you have a letter wrong somewhere else perhaps?
@Jon not so, and although Bach may not have written works solely intended for students to practice, he wrote a large amount of material that was intended both for public performances and for private study/practice. Many of his pieces are a staple of learning an instrument today, and there are collections of études for piano, guitar and trumpet to name just a few.
I enjoyed it although I eventually had to look up the Delaware tribe - all part of the fun though and I will add LENAPE to Cree, Otoe, Sioux, Ute and other tribes that regularly appear in the NYT.
@Nancy I think both spellings are acceptable for Gaia/Gaea. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia</a> And the clueing for 112 DOWN calls for an adjective, not a noun, so it has to be EASY - not EASE which is a noun.
Really liked it and managed to solve well ahead of my usual Sunday time.
Absolutely brilliant puzzle with a noticeable absence of overused words and some fresh thinking. Maybe I was on the constructor’s wavelength because I found this pleasantly tough but solvable on thought processing alone, which is my idea of a good puzzle, as opposed to a series of unknowable facts which need googling - defeating the purpose of a crossword. Bravo!