Dolley

Two things most of my friends and colleagues know about me is that I am a daily NYT xword solver/addict and my son is a world-ranked speedcuber. I may have to turn my phone off today.

I’m in Natick (!) for the day at a speedcubing competition with my son, and while the kids are solving one set of cubic puzzle, I’m working on another. Thanks for a fine Saturday morning, Byron Walden.

Hard but excellent puzzle. The punctuation of “Coach” had me smugly sitting on SPINOFF for far too long. But really I want to take the opportunity to ask Sam why he never allows “Hoopoe” in a Bee solution set. Give us the bird!