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I loved this puzzle! My view of crossword puzzles: everyone has a different wheelhouse. When a puzzle contains a bunch of things I don't know, I try to learn those things. Sometimes I have to look a thing up (and learn even more about it) to solve the puzzle. This is all good. The point of Friday and Saturday puzzles is to challenge solvers, even long-time solvers. So thank you, Alina Abidi, for teaching us a few things from your wheelhouse!
Wow, wow, wow! Thank you for this challenging puzzle. I was telling a (relatively new) friend this week that I do the crossword puzzle everyday. She was surprised I could do Fridays and Saturdays. Well, it took me years to get to the point where I could do every day of the week - and now I appreciate the challenge of a puzzle like this. It's beautiful! And the revealer reminds me of the Buddhist's pizza order: make me one with everything. Happy Saturday, everyone!
I understood the theme AND solved the puzzle in new personal best Thursday time. I'm choosing to interpret this turn of events as "I'm getting smarter" rather than "this puzzle was somehow defective." Sometimes a Thursday puzzle will defeat you, sometimes you will defeat a Thursday puzzle. I say: take the win, folks! P.S. What a brilliant puzzle! Like a flower that reveals its beauty over time. The more you gaze at it, the lovelier it seems. Thank you!
What a beautiful puzzle! I’d filled in most of the top half when I thought “there sure are a lot of L’s in this puzzle” and then I looked. Exactly one L per answer! A Tuesday puzzle where every answer is a theme answer. And a debut no less. Can’t wait to see more from you!
I loved this puzzle! After many years of solving crossword puzzles, I rarely encounter this much resistance. I struggled, I filled in so many wrong first, second, and third guesses, and I cheated (which I refer to as "learning new things") by looking stuff up. I finished in a time that was more like what I used to experience every week in my early days of being able to solve Saturday puzzles. Thank you so much for the challenge!
Who else filled in C. ELEGANS for 17A? Anyone? Not a scientist, but ... reader, I married one. I loved this puzzle! Many thanks to the emus, who were left out of this puzzle but are always in the crossworld with us.
@Heidi I came here to say the same thing! Cheating is learning. Looking things up as a beginning (or experienced) solver strengthens your ability to solve the next puzzles you try. Giving up because you "can't do it" only ensures that you can't do it. Happy solving, all!
I liked this puzzle better than yesterday's, though I can appreciate that yesterday's puzzle was also well-constructed andd interesting. I just prefer a rebus puzzle. Thank you both for making puzzles for us!
@ChiaviDiBasso Looking up something for the crossword puzzle is called learning. You get to enjoy solving the puzzle and learning something new!
My thanks to Sam Corbin for the Monty Python video. I love that sketch, but like so many things I’d forgotten how it ends. Nice puzzle today too!
@The Winter Solver @Francis I love this meeting! I've been to Norway once, and I would love to go back to see more of the country. We were in Oslo, which is now one of my favorite cities in the world. Beautiful city, welcoming people, gorgeous surroundings (our "subway ride" back to our hotel 30 minutes north was so scenic it was really part of the vacation for us). Not only does almost everyone speak English, the public transportation is very easy to navigate - much easier than NYC's, and I'm a native. Thank you for joining in the conversations here. I hope to hear from you again soon too.
@Elena Proud of you from New York! (And yay local libraries!)
@D M Mojo "Cheating is learning!" is one of my personal rules of crossword puzzles. I do crossword puzzles because they are fun for me. If I get stuck, I get help. On those days, I learn something new while I'm having fun. Woo hoo!
@Killian Olson Congratulations, thank you, and Go Blue! I was at your graduation, because my niece was in your class. It makes me feel much better about getting older that people like you and my niece are here in the world to make it better after I'm gone. No pressure - there are lots of you promising young people, not just two of you saving the world. Keep up the great work!
@Jim I agree with this comment. The puzzle usually accepts many different entries for the rebuses. Every time I have had an error on a rebus puzzle, it's on a non-rebus square. For example, on this puzzle, I entered "UP" for every rebus, thought about changing them to "UP/DOWN" and then said (to myself), "Nah, I don't need to. It'll take UP." And it did.
I went to a SILENT DISCO at the Swedish Embassy in DC last May as part of the EU Open House. It was fun! If you’re in DC on May 11, check it out (at all the EU embassies, I think). Not just silent discos, lots of fun activities, foods, and drinks. Check it out by searching “EU Open House” in your favorite search engine. (I don’t work for them, I just enjoyed it after we happened upon it.)
Best double negative dance number in a Broadway show: I'm Not A Loser, from SpongeBob SquarePants the Musical, featuring Squidward. <a href="https://youtu.be/FA2yMPEMVD4?si=Pf7pc1eUESPOOCbd" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/FA2yMPEMVD4?si=Pf7pc1eUESPOOCbd</a> Emus, please let this through, because I believe emus especially would love to see this.
@Don H If you drive to pick someone up who is arriving at large airport, you can wait in the cellphone lot rather than circle around the terminals until the person calls you on their cellphone to tell you they'll be outside in a few minutes. Thus the name "cellphone" lot. They have two at JFK and one at LGA. It's a great invention!
@Andrzej Thank you for bringing us along on your crossword (and life) journey. I recommend Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, both the book and the original movie (I haven't seen the remake). Also by the same author, Matilda, which was made into a movie and then a Broadway musical, with brilliant music & lyrics by Tim Minchin. I am a fan of Roald Dahl and Tim Minchin, who are from different eras and countries but both bring awareness and humor to difficult (and often ignored) subjects. Enjoy! P.S. Great puzzle, and I loved the reference to Taylor's Version!
@Adam OK, OK, I know some people have negative feelings about kale, from when it used to be used only as a garnish atop the ice on a salad bar (remember those?). But it can be really yummy in a Caesar salad. I was surprised too! In my middle age, I am committed to Trying New Things - and Kale Caesar Salad is one of those that I wasn't sorry to have tried. YMMV.
@Selective Walrus Because of the Labor Day holiday, Tuesday is actually Monday this week. You didn’t get the memo?
@Jon Mark Thank you for saying that! I don’t usually do the mini, and I’m so glad this made me look today. Brought a smile to my face. Happy Friday!
@Emma S Yes! Kale chips! As addictive as potato chips. Yum yum!
@Michael B. Yes! I came on here to say "Any other Kendrick Lamar fans appreciating that the cord tying this puzzle together is A MINER?" Great puzzle!
@NYT I appreciate the new and improved app. It is better than before. Now, can NYT All Access and Games subscribers please have access to the PDF’s of the variety puzzles again? Pretty please?
@Steve L Is that even a real word? LOL! And thank you for today's dose of snark.
@Strudel Dad Also, audio book fans might like listening to the audio version of "The Betrayal of Anne Frank," which is narrated by the great Julia Whelan (who usually does fiction).
@C Diamond Maybe you haven't seen Shrek the Musical, but Shrek tells Donkey in it that ogres are like onions. Why? Because they smell bad? Because if you leave one out in the sun it gets weird hairs? No! Layers. Onions have layers, and ogres have layers. So you are 100% correct.
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