John Carson

Lighthearted fun, much needed today. For a good laugh scroll down to JLin's thread from last night including this from NancyJ: "A priest, a pastor, and a rabbit walked into a clinic to donate blood. The nurse says to the rabbit: "What's your blood type?" The rabbit replied with great sadness, "I'm probably a type O". "

Famous headline on 3-10-2025: SMEW SLEW WORD CREW!

1. Read the clue that listed [. . . B poditive. . .] 2. Thought, "Wait until I get to the comments to blast the editors!" 3. Dutifully filled in BLOODTYPe 4. Got caught up short on TOeKPAINS 5. Slapped forehead. That I can be so slow witted in the morning constantly amazes me. That it took 39 Steps to get to this gem of a debut is also amazing (Would love to see some of those, bet they are great too). Many thanks.

This may be a NYT debut but this constructor has to have been published elsewhere, such a first class puzzle - a true work of ARE! Well done and thanks.

A smooth solve except for the SW with the, as least to me, awkward AT AGUESS instead of AsAGUESS, a shield name and the TIL, RES. But got it worked out soon enough in this funny (punny?) sojourn. I was going to BBQ during the storm but I did not want to brisket. Many thanks.

My only struggle was keeping the thought, "But . . . these are not words!", at bay. So looked up PALINDROME afterwards and came to learn that even just a *sequence* of letters and/or numbers is part of the fold. Hoonooh?! It is not commonly known that the objects of said Mr. LePew's advances later went on to found the Meow-too movement.

Outsting debut. Well done.

A fine entry level puzzle with a cute theme. What's not to like? Amazing, superb, unbelievable, aces. FANTASTICFOUR

[Lettuce, ____, tomato, bacon] HOLD THE MAYO! Nice one.

Must be laundry day as this was good clean fun. Also fell for the DOOK at CAME RASHY. There must be a diagnostic code for that. Well done and thanks. To the hesitant patient the Doc said, "Suture yourself!"

Kudos to those solvers who could fill the themers from the crosses without catching the overall direction. I needed to dive down to the reveal's friendly clue to figure out what was going on. Managed to come up for air after that. I did stumble at the ACtE/NOtI cross but manage to get out of the weeds there in the end. Nice one and thanks.

The themers came easily, it was some of the cleverly clued surrounds that took some work. Nicely done and thanks. "I tried my hand at auto repair, but it was . . .": AWRENCHINGEXPERIENCE

Very surprised to learn this is a NYT debut. Not only a sterling puzzle but a constructor name that seems so familiar. Nicely done and hope to see more. Many thanks.

Great debut. Well done and thanks. For a Sunday: [She said yes!] CONGRESSIONALAPPROVAL

Swung for the fences on this one and was richly rewarded. A fun solve. Many thanks. I've been away from the puzzles since Thursday, son-in-law's graduation from Temple Law, so I need to catch up on Friday's later today. We had a long thread last week about the View All Replies bug and I wonder if there has been any response from NYT. Testing my theory I've clicked on the Recommend button on every post so far today and revealed more than a dozen instances of hidden replies. So that's become my current workaround. Plus I get to like everyone! (H/T to Sally Fields's Oscar speech).

EWE don't always see a debut as charming as this one. Nicely done.

Clever idea well executed. I've only scanned some of the comments but I appear to be alone in not knowing Ka LAE. Also an admirer of the clue [The] at 20A. Well done and thanks.

Now this is a puzzle, because, it was puzzling! Guessing where those extracurricular letters was half the fun and necessary to work out some pretty tricky clues. Nicely done and thanks.

What a fun one and a debut to boot! I was zipping through and did not really try to grasp what was going on until I hit the reveal/hint at PARAS. Had a good laugh there so thanks for that. However, my ear worm now, with a hat tip to Yip Harburg, is . . . . . . "Brother, can you paradigm?" Well done and thanks.

Pretty smooth but TNIA sure caused some agita. Nice one.

I think the test of a good tricky puzzle is to be annoyed during the solve, finish, and then realize that the puzzlement was most of the fun. I was all the way down to ALISTER'S place before I caught on and that was *after* I had filled the reveal. So congrats on the constructor and collab debuts. Well done.

[Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego] SOMELIKEITHOT Fun guessing the themers.

And a Supremely Entertaining Time was had by all. Well done.

What the H is going on here? I'm leaving that square blank in protest. In fact I may very well give up this xword dodge altogether! That certainly will be a SADDAY. OH, And speaking of H's, l looked at SHT___Y for the longest time, a very unlikely consonant set to begin a word. Furthermore, who said CDRACKS are obsolescent? I've half a mind to dig mine out of the attic. On reflection, I'm not going to KWAI about this any more. (Sipped some BARLEYWATER, I feel better now. Thanks.)

Thursday's Literary Delightful Romp [Chooses the buttery Chardonnay] AOKS OAKY

Dr. Bloomer's 4th puzzle since 2018 with an Xcellent and entertaining theme. Well done and many thanks.

Perhaps this is the Schrodinger puzzle after all with NEaL and NEIL exiting in the same space and time? A fun debut. Well done.

Quite fitting that I was undone at PLOTmED/mILLIONTH so I'm the big BOOBY this morning. Just read a piece in The Atlantic on professors banning devices in class and mentioning the Luddite clubs on various campuses. If I remember correctly the original crew in the 19th Century did not just eschew machines but destroyed them. Is that next? Personally I will confess to being Luddite Curious. Nice puzzle.

A fun one this was. Looking forward to the new word order.

Good fun. Thanks. [Simba's pet rabbit?] LIONSHARE

I don't usually comment this early but . . . Showed the completed puzzle to my wife who is still laughing, so thanks for that. Very cool to learn that Mr. Thomas edits the Times of London puzzles. I really need to get into those cryptics, right after I master the Lambada.

My biggest struggle was to fit ME into HOLINESS. Story of my life. A fun one today (and yesterday too).

"Only, he didn't say FUDGE"! It's the Lifebuoy for you Ralphie! Cute puzzle. Thanks.

Made my first attempt after this dropped last night and got absolutely nowhere. Tried again this morning and (mostly) steamed through although the NW almost TRAPPed me. Does doing these puzzles make you smarter? Perhaps, but for me they are the indicators of brain fitness. Very well done and thanks to everyone involved, including fellow commenters. RIP Phil.

What a delight. Well done and congrats on the debut. Picking up on our constructor's comment, I've carefully researched the question and Google's AI has provided the most definitive answer: "While there's no definitive public information confirming whether LeBron James solves crossword puzzles, there's no evidence to suggest he does not. The New York Times crossword is a popular puzzle, and it's possible he enjoys them, but it's not something he has publicly discussed. " A sage reply indeed. We are all doomed.

About as clean and fun a construction as it gets. Congrats to both creators. As pointed out by Yokohama Bill earlier. . . TONI INOT . . . in the SE is pretty cool. Well done and thanks.

First, a fine debut and, 3 more in the queue?! Well done. Regarding Deb's request for input two thoughts come to mind: Picking up on Lewis' comment below I'd like to learn more about grid designs, how they are categorized and how is Lewis able to say that this is only the second appearance of today's style? Is there a database of grid designs somewhere? Second, although I've no interest in speed solving myself I would be interested in something along the lines of "Secrets of Crossword Speed Solvers".

Had my 53A replaced 4 years ago so every puzzle is a blessing. Thought we had a themeless going at first but soon caught on. Nice one and thanks.

Best thing about this smooth solve is the reminder to dig out those Coltrane LPs.

At a meeting tonight where coffee was served and . . . here I am. An utterly charming debut and, as others have already commented, some of the themers are a stretch (I'm lookin' at you ARIA = "Are 'ya") but, who cares? Nice one. Thanks.

Congrats on the NYT debut. Nicely done.

Our (soon to graduate) grandson is participating in a Robotics tournament this weekend which has absorbed 110% of my attention. But managed to complete yesterday's puzzle last night which was a proper workout. Bereft of any usable pdf options this morning I solved today's online. A fine offering which I would have much preferred to do on paper but that is due to my fumble finger inexperience with navigation that made it a tedious experience. Guess I've finally entered curmudgeonhood. For those who might be curious, here is a link to the tournament: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfQy-WtjwEM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfQy-WtjwEM</a> Our man leads team 7110 and is likely to make the playoffs.

Started on this last night. No SOAP. Had another go early this morning. NAH So decided to do something productive with my day (i.e., billable) and took a break this afternoon from working and, TADA!, the brain finally showed up. It's a funny old life. A proper challenge and, please, keep stacking them up Adrian. Nice one.

Started this last night when I really should have been asleep and got the usual result: stuck, stuck!, stuck!! (H/T to another Christmas Story) For me the puzzle is about as good an indicator of how I'm doing taking care of the "little grey cells" as anything I've found. This was a fine workout once I invested the requisite zzzzz's. I'll leave with this: "A politician is an elected or appointed official focused on gaining and maintaining power, often through partisan strategies and self-interest. A statesman, in contrast, is a highly respected leader who prioritizes the long-term common good, acts with integrity and magnanimity, and serves the entire political community rather than a narrow faction. The term "statesman" implies a much higher level of moral character and public service than "politician". " <a href="https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/a-time-for-statesmanship" target="_blank">https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/a-time-for-statesmanship</a>