Roger

They said there would be no math.

I wish you all peace and joy. As I am spending Christmas in Wales I add Nadolig Llawen! 🎄

I know my animals and today knew my authors so no problems but it took me a moment to understand what a DOOR DIE is!

Bravo Owen! Excellent debut.

A delightful lady from Texas once told me that for years she believed the Magi were firemen because they came from afar. I sussed it out when I got TOPEARNERS entirely from crosses and tried to parse the clue to that answer. SELF COMMAND seems an unusual phrase to me, GAMIN resides somewhere in my subconscious and I don’t think I’ve ever said PROBLEM ONE but I’m not complaining, I enjoyed the early morning challenge in my hotel room in Devon today.

Reading all the complaints I’m glad I decided to solve on a big iPad! Big beautiful puzzle with a clever theme. Yes it could be difficult to see the active square but I just paid attention to the highlighted clue. I think that’s a small price to pay for such a creative design. Ottoman sets is a bit of a stretch and I took the bait and put in RAMPS for CANTS at first. I’m aware of Cant, the verb and its gerund, Canting from high performance rigs and keels in sailing but didn’t know it was a noun too. How about that light show on the Eiffel Tower? Well done Paris!

Mabrook Kareem! A enjoyable Sunday solve, your talents are impressive.

I solved it. Good fun. Caught on to the rebus near the bottom with BRAVE after a halting descent down the grid. I filled it in from there working my way back to the beginning. Unfortunately I had entered AURAS first and subsequently ended up with FERRULES so it took a lot of fly specking to catch the erroneous plural there. I have no problems with the theme or the rebi. Not a complaint, but I did find some of the clues a bit trickier than usual for a Sunday.

Yay for my adopted town and state for 40 years! I was wondering what the spiral of San Diego was going to mean and then there it was right across the middle. Once again, I’m amazed at the creativity of the constructor.

I got the theme right away because of Bobby McGee, one of the best songs and best lines ever IMHO. RIP Kris Kristofferson. All the lyrics in that short song paint such a vivid story with such brevity. Janis, of course, made it her own but recently found a YouTube video of Pink doing it justice. Lots of video game clues today for which I always need crosses to solve. WAP was solved this way too but thanks to a comment below I dove deeper in a Google search to discover that they aren’t referring to a Wireless Access Protocol.

I like puzzles like this so I’ll chime in for the defense. I cottoned on to taking the ship out fairly quickly at SUBTRACT but I was woefully late adding the shape up to its connecting answer. If I have a quibble it’s STEADED being OLD AS TIME.

Thank you Alice and Christina for making my 1000 streak milestone such a fun puzzle! It was tough but elegant and I had to jump around the grid a lot but I managed to paint it in from the edges. This morning’s Connections helped with CRUMBS to start. I’m never sure of SABER/SABRE but I should be having spent most of my life on this side of the pond. Getting to 1000 has been a quest. First it was just get to 365. 730 didn’t have a ring to it so I kept going with my morning ritual in the hopes of hitting this. There were a few technical glitches and an occasional oversight on my behalf. Mostly caused by travel across the Date Line or being off the grid for days and then solving in the wrong order. Occasionally my iPad stats didn’t sync with my iPhone stats but every time the NYT puzzle team answered my email pleas in a prompt and friendly manner and sorted it all out. Thank you!

No idea what RPG means other than Rocket Propelled Grenade. Never heard of ICHING COINS so that required an alphabet run with no satisfaction to get the dunce music. I’m IRKed by this puzzle and think it’s a bit SUS. Ever sought the shade of Cafe EAVES? Me neither.

The clueing was a bit trickier than usual for a Wednesday. AMP (really?)held up the start until I figured out the theme. Had DEO before ALTAIR changed it. I didn’t remember the star but given enough letters I knew which one it was. Having lived in that spectacular city, I knew Sydneysider but was surprised to see it in a Wednesday difficulty answer. It must be quite obscure to American solvers. I thought initially that this would be about funny Yelp reviews of National Parks.

Tough one but managed a no look up completion. Had no idea how to spell the Irish PM title and spent a long time misled by the ID tag but when I saw it in the end, had to smile. ROISTER is a new one and along with USHES crossing ASHES I found it a bit awkward up there. Had MCATS before ORALS and HARPED ON AT before sussing FAMOUS. There were plenty of other stumbles and it took me a while. I wasn’t expecting the French girl to get the first statue in NYC so I was trying to think of an American icon. So much so that getting it on crosses I thought for a moment she was JOAN O’FARC or OFARC. Never heard of her!

Not a SPEEDRUN for me. I had my doubts but pleased to finish it. HEGIRAS is a new word for me.

Pretty easy Thursday. Solved on iPad. Left the Ts empty and finished but got neither a complete nor an error message. Put T in all the appropriate squares and got an error message. Found my typo and done!

I feel like I’ve done battle with Katie. She has constructed massive walls with those triple stacks and I had to climb them with lots of ladders. Not many gimmes here and lots of unknown trivia but the latter could be inferred with enough crosses. Looking at you URIAH, MAGNANI, CHE and RUS. Still don’t get SYN. This must have been a treat for our Polish member. SDSU and GETTY for us Southern Californians but UCSD and BROAD were options too. I had BROAD first as it was my most recent visit. Very pleased to have vanquished another Saturday and this particular debut. Congratulations Katie Hoody!

My heartfelt condolences Deb, thank you for sharing this lovely tribute to your father.

Oy! Antisocial rock bottom Czar fights dirty. Why not? Facts!

That was a workout! Loved it. I was tempted to look stuff up but persevered. My entry was RIVAL, ITOO, VALE from there I inferred RIGG, ITALIAN something and ALDA. The NE filled in, I went looking for stepping stones across the grid and they were really far apart. Mine were ADEN, EYRE, YALE, ARTE, EGOS and TEES. I had MODS before REFS, NICU and TEAT (from the E&T) before NEST and WHAM before WHOP. HYENA from the -Y-NA required a completely different species consideration from my knowledge of sub Saharan tribes. IN SUM I think this grid and its clues are a masterpiece, thank you Katie Hoody.

Congratulations Maddy on your debut. An elegant puzzle. Loved KARATE LESSONS and HERE BE DRAGONS. I had HUH before HEH and MEAT before MEET. (A microwave heat setting?) I liked the clue for YACHT. When I saw Bahla fort I thought “wait a minute!, I know that place, I’ve been there. Where was it? Ah yes, nestled in the Jebel Akhdar range of Oman.” How sad, young lady, that you consider me old enough to be SPRY!

Probably the toughest Wednesday I’ve done and it shouldn’t have been. So much in my wheelhouse as a woodworker and a man with a truck equipped with ONSTAR, yet so many little trip wires to step over. I’m a great admirer of Nick Offerman for his humor, intellect and support of the craft. I didn’t notice who constructed this but thoroughly enjoyed his note. Now I have another reason to cherish his good example. Thank you Christina and Nick.

Great puzzle and satisfying to solve. Took me some time to get a toe hold. BAHT of all things being my first gimme after descending the diagonal of short words. Liked the clue for STICKER SHOCK. I needed lots of crosses as I was thinking along the lines of Baseball tags or school yard tags. I had my aha moment and told my daughter the clue as she walked past feeling pretty pleased with myself but she immediately got it! ART FORGER crossing SAFETY SCHOOL was my final entry. This felt like a Saturday difficulty and definitely took me longer than usual for a Friday. Congrats Kelvin on your debut! I enjoyed your funny note. How fortunate we used to be to have universities and scientific institutions that attracted people like you from all over the world that enriched our society or at the very least went home to enrich theirs and spread good will to the USA. We’re going to miss that.

My stats tell me how difficult the clueing was on this one.It was the toughest puzzle I’ve done. Since switching from paper many years ago I’ve completed 2,831. My current no look up streak is 846. I don’t expect to know every word and enjoy learning new ones like YOINKED so I won’t complain about obscure words. I know what a lunar MARE is but I’ll be darned if I would ever clue it like that. Dark side of the moon is a stretch and too CUTE in my opinion. EASY READ was tough so the crosses made the NW hard for me and the last to fall having made my foothold in the SE. I was often told to apply Hanlon’s razor when trying to parse the motives of the previous administration but in the end I think it was just malice tempered by stupidity. I hope we get a break tomorrow.

It was a challenge I enjoyed. I smile at the reduction. It took me a while to realize that the lines ran onto the next one. However, it was the last letter entered that gave me the most trouble, the G of PEG. It was the only reasonable letter in the alphabet but it felt like a square PEG in a round hole for throw to me. Is it “ He pegged the ball”? I never paid much attention to the phrase. I thought it was “pegged by the ball” which I assumed was hit by it. If I have answered my own question then I have learned something new today as well as another rapper’s name!

Excellent puzzle! I thought the theme was clever and well executed but the rest of the fill was crunchy and challenging too.

Ezersky! Deep breath, here we go! Tough but fun to spar with his trickery. No look ups.

This was a tough puzzle and I had my doubts about completing it without look ups. I took a break about half way through and came back to polish off the top half. Lots of stuff beyond my ken but very satisfying to finish.

I had to smile at this theme. My British RP accent was established before moving to California many years ago. A couple of friends of mine, both doctors, went in together on a small boat and named it Paradox. They were so pleased with how clever the name was but I just didn’t get it! I had a similar dullness to the joke name Harry Balls. My Californian offspring pronounce Marry, Mary, Merry as homophones much to the surprise of their grandparents.

Excellent Friday puzzle. I like the feeling that it will break my streak and then managing to complete it. Lots I didn’t know. REGNANT, SLYBOOTS,and others I was aware of but needed plenty of crosses, CAREW, SUMAC. My first thought for Bog was LOO but hesitated thinking it’s surely now a dated British schoolboy slang and might be FEN. I’m ashamed to say I did not notice the Tees until the revealer. Very clever construction.

I vote yes to this clever puzzle. I caught on with ACCIDENT which enabled me to polish off the REEVE clue. I like it when a theme, once understood, can help the solve. I was a bit stuck at the beginning as I’m not familiar with the OTHELLO game and though I’ve heard of RSS FEED I really don’t know what it is. (Well, I do now) Figuring out the OM “in a sense” answer really helped me solve that quadrant and confirm the EVADE/ELUDE conundrum. TIL HINNY. H my final entry.

Thanks Kenneth for a fun Monday puzzle. Your revealer was very good. The Welsh village is not far from my own and it's nice to see a shout out if only tangentially.

It worked for me. The circles and the cleverness of the construction. I also had SETTLE but SYMAN didn’t work for Brotherly greeting. I thought this was a good misdirection. As a navigator I liked this clue for SEC. Never knew of the missing E in ATF.

Congrats Spencer and Jem, Double pangram! Tough but fair puzzle, I enjoyed the challenge.

Me gusta mucho! Got my dunce music. RIP André Braugher.

Good puzzle but if you’re new to solving let me assure you that Tuesdays are not usually this tricky.

I was delighted by the grid when I opened the puzzle. Beautiful construction. I am not new to solving so in my long experience this is not aberrant for a Sunday. Sundays have themes! I don’t moan about Mondays being too easy. I expect Sunday to be a big Thursday with more space for the theme. There was a full explanation in the notes which is the first thing you should look at. Read and comprehend. Solve. The theme should help you find the answers. So it was DAM not JAM because LOAJ is not a word. I think NAM was the only weak answer today. In this case it just meant that the rotated letters made a word and not nonsense but the circles did spell out Jackpot in the right combination so that was cool. I solved on iPad and got the dunce music but it would have been cooler if the dials rotated. I don’t understand the criticism from those who can’t solve it. I appreciate creativity and enjoy a challenge. Every crossword is product of someone’s creativity and we get a new one every day. For that I am grateful.

Open the grid. Draw a deep breath. Refill the coffee. Started on ATARI. There are crossword answers that show up often enough that you just have to remember them. IMARETS is one. Four letter director beginning with R? ROEG. Morales? ESAI. Color and Festival/ holiday? HOLI Doesn’t make me smart, just have a bit of experience. I ended up getting the top done last and had to skim down to SAURON to really get started in the SE and worked the spanners backwards from there. Cross state lines was excellent! Alpaca before Vicuña. TEX and NEV before NEB. Que RICO! Nice Saturday challenge.

Thank you Kareem. For me, to have a rebus puzzle on Wednesday is a bonus. It was an easy puzzle and the theme was literally spelled out and position indicated. I would suggest if you flail at Rebi then this would be a good one to cut one’s teeth on. Ironically I hesitated on “Blue, in Spanish” The clue just seemed too simple and direct to be Azul but I could’t make Triste or any synonyms for sad fit. Anyway, crosses quickly confirmed the answer. Perhaps Wednesday is too soon for Sad in Salamanca or Picasso Period.

Congrats to Oliver and Juan. Beautiful grid with so many long answers and the neat diagonal of squares. I found the solve to be breezy and fun. I got stuck in one spot and with hindsight it’s often an answer that I enter with the thought “ I suppose it could be but it’s a stretch” Today it was LEE SIDE for me. This messed up WHIT which obscured SHOT AT and SHOGI is a blind spot in my trivia knowledge. Once unraveled and LEE TIDE emerged I tipped my hat to the elegant solution.

Not to get too much into the (sea)weeds with NORI “ I had trouble with 26 down” “Me too!” “Nor I” ??? Who has devised a construct where it works as an opposite? Not I.

There was so much beyond my general knowledge and very few gimmes but I persevered. I chipped away, tentatively entering guesses to see if I could infer a word but erasing quickly if I couldn’t make a crossing, so as to not get in a rut. I found the SE and the SW quite easy but that center right area really held me up. PEOPLES ELBOW, unknown to me, seems an odd moniker. For a while I had the OW and thought THROW would be more likely for The Rock. It took a lot of unraveling to get the happy music but I’ve survived another Saturday and the streak continues.

No fan vote from me. I love a rebus and I knew I didn’t have to enter the letters from both directions to get a complete but I didn’t get the state abbreviation theme and the un filled rebus on the cross just left a mess of the answer. So no aha moment even with the revealer hint. Then we have the outlier where ENOUGH’S ENOUGH is correct without a rebus of HI so that sows confusion. Lastly I had to take a stab to complete the cross of RATITE and AIM, neither are familiar but that’s ON ME.

Thanks Jackson! That was fun to solve and a most impressive debut. I loved the construction and the clueing. Though I have more than half a century on you this was on my wavelength. Best wishes on all your many endeavors.

I enjoyed it. I found myself on the same wavelength and had no problems with the clueing. It helped to know ROEG and SELES from crossword experience. Fun to see the eponymous CRAPPER. I found the SW a bit sticky at the end. CORNPIT is unfamiliar to me and though I liked Tim Reid in WKRP I never knew his name. Got it all in the end though. Another Saturday down and my streak is intact.

I enjoy the comments as much as the puzzle. If it was a tough one I eagerly open the comments to see what other people think. I feel like I have gotten to know a few of the characters in here. There were some new words for me today but thankfully the crosses unmasked them. LIED SLUE and ANNO when paired with Mundi. Same for RYDER and BRER in their context and that JAKE and COBY are derivatives of Jacob. Of course I entered SPIN but almost immediately withdrew it because of the easy UNO. Even with SLUE in there I made note to come back there if I got an incomplete but no, the dunce music again! Phew. I’m familiar with the HENNA tradition from my exposure to Arab culture so today I learned, but wasn’t surprised, that it is Sephardic too. Helen Wright put into words exactly how this Brit feels about LOO and Wren’s masterpiece St Paul’s, but I also agree that it’s a good clue. ‘If you seek his monument, look about you’ It’s down the corridor on the left. I’m old enough to remember Russian spy ships but I am also reminded of something from 30 years ago. My room mate (housemate for Brits, you don’t actually share a room) gave me on a tour of the non classified parts of a Los Angeles class submarine in San Diego. He described being submerged for 3 months off the coast of North Korea. “ What were you doing?” “Listening”. “Listening to what?” “Everything”.

WOW! Didn’t see the big picture until the animation at the end. Our constructors amaze me.

I’m sure Seth and Jeff were bracing for the ENDUE comments. I have nothing to add except that my familiarity with Mexican Spanish gave me ANDALE. TIL that it is exclusive to Mexico and not Goya’s Spain. It has different connotations depending on the stress. A terse Andale (andalay) means Go! Quick! Let’s go! Come on! But with a long stress on the first syllable Aahndalé it becomes more of a slangy affirmation or acknowledgement “that’s right!” “Okay” “correct” Being British I know my Lorries and tyres but I’d distinguish tyres from wheels. Apart from that I thought it was a good theme that helped the solve and a fantastic Tuesday puzzle. Aaaaaandalé!

I’ll add to the chorus of happy solvers but allow me mention where I got a little stuck for a while. “Tots in Tijuana” It’s a fun clue and my town is Tijuana adjacent. I entered NINOS but reserved the option for BEBES. The vowels worked for the latter but not the Bs. The Ns for the former but not the vowels. Confusion reigned. I finally just entered NENES from the crosses. My Mexican friends I am enjoying breakfast with say it’s a more common usage in central Mexico but it spurred a lot of debate. It’s a different clue to the usual Hawaiian State Birds. I loved the aha moment that all the answers in the center were ICE.