Sara W
Oregon
Love that the constructor fit in STOPITYOUTWO, directed at those doubled double-crossers, no doubt :-)
Regarding the character alignment of NYT games, I’d put the Bee in chaotic evil. Definitely not lawful, because it’s arbitrary which words are included or excluded from the game. There’s no law or rule governing it - just one man’s whim.
@Red Carpet 11A reminded me of my favorite: There are 10 kinds of people-- those who understand binary and those who don’t.
@Francis I think the clue writer is assuming all HALLs are long. The consensus so far among commenters seems to be that the clue is not a great fit for the word.
@Andrzej As an American I am too.
@john ezra This comment is the best part of this puzzle! Emus in the abysm
@Andrzej You can’t remember whether it’s OLAF/V because it could be either. You have to get it from the crossing. There’s a number of words with alternate spellings that pop up. You have to hope the crossings are kind :-) As other commenters have said, many of us who are monolingual are in awe of those who can do word puzzles in second languages, let alone in other cultures!
@Andrzej Agree about the willows - held me up too. In my neck of the woods we have the largest trees of all - redwoods and Douglas-firs. Weeping willows are merely large shrubs in comparison.
Count me as one who appreciated the revealer. I knew to double the theme answers but needed the revealer to understand why :-)
@Tom I got TO EBAY OR NOT TO EBAY from the theme.
Pleasant puzzle. I liked ARGONAUTS and SCATTER PLOTS. Set a new personal best (under 10 minutes). Yesterday I was 6 minutes over my average, so go figure. Difficulty levels are all over and so is my performance :-)
@SP I’ve heard an obscure technical task referred to as a BLACK ART (singular); I have no idea what gamers call anything anymore, having stopped gaming in the ‘90s; but I’m with you on the stereo-INMONO mismatch, and I really don’t get how AMNESIA makes for a “never” mind. The mind was there and still is there, it’s just lacking some memory.
@Chris That now almost obsolete 20th century artifact, the WRIST watch.
@Steve L I’m assuming Elmer Fudd said “I’m hunting wabbits” between 1937 and 1938. None of your other citations are relevant.
@Cat Lady Margaret That unnecessary S tripped me up and I held off entering BLINI because the answer had to be 6 letters. It’s especially nutty because the singular is blin. BLINIS is a plural of a plural. Like saying “I have two sets of glasseses.”
@Joan I held on to cOPs way too long. I’m familiar with POPO but never hear it used (I’m the wrong generation/milieu) so took a while to think of it.
@Megan Otto for a masculine object and otra for feminine. The better clues hint at which gender. Otherwise you have to check the cross.
@John Giant pylons carry electrical transmission wires.
@Steven M. That was one answer I put in right away, even though I was dubious about it. If the predator is at the top, then its prey is just one step below. If that’s the bottom, it’s a pretty short chain!
I enjoyed it! Lots of fresh fill, the theme helped me - 45A I got with only one cross in place. Most of the clueing made for a breezy solve, but I did enjoy 47D too, after I - eventually! - got it :-)
I looked up Ian’s 2016 puzzle. I loved it! An extra challenge for constructor and solver alike. It helped me that I knew 1A straight away, being my favorite musical artist, so I caught onto the trick pretty early. Pips is currently my fav puzzle. Can’t wait until we get the archive of all the puzzles the Canadians got to test out for us :-)
@Bill Not to mention that Spock is half-human, so only half alien, if that even makes sense.
@SP I was also thinking it would be a Reagan reference. It would’ve been a new fun way to clue one of the various of his people who still show up in crosswords frequently.
@Jane Wheelaghan There’s a Connections column daily with comments you’re welcome to visit as well. I often find the answers to my questions like this there :-) Jeremy, thank you for spelling Oscar’s bologna correctly, which Connections failed to do! There’s a big controversy over it in the Connections column 🤣
@Ιασων I thought it had to do with four-star generals “review”ing the troops, but to me it was another example of a clue that didn’t have much to do with its answer.
@John N You are comment twins with RichardZ 🙂
@Andrzej ACAI berries grow on palms in swampy areas in Brazil. Workers in DINERs traditionally used various slang for the foods they offered. This site has probably way more info than you want, although it doesn’t include the frog sticks example: <a href="https://grokipedia.com/page/Diner_lingo" target="_blank">https://grokipedia.com/page/Diner_lingo</a>
It’s a Connections purple group today.
@dutchiris Can you open the Wordplay column in two tabs, so you can open comments from one tab and keep viewing the column in the other? Or select “open in new tab” when you open the comments?
@Jacqui J I had to update the games app to get the animation.
Found the rebus right away at 23 across, then the Swing State title helped me understand what was going on with 12 down and 41 across - was able to go back for 3 down. Ignore the YADA YADA from the anti-rebus crowd (though I’m sympathetic to tech issues), this was a fun puzzle :-)
@Barry Ancona I got 110A from the circled letters and 3 or 4 other crosses. The clue inside certainly did it there! All the others took most of the crosses.
@D M Mojo 8.02. New Friday best.
@Marilyn Where do I find a daily midi? The only midis I know of are in packs you have to pay extra for, even though I already subscribe to NYT Games.
@Pezhead Thanks for the info :-)
@Nancy LIGER cross between lion and tiger.
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