Banjo Nelson
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@Steve only one I ever saw was UP. Watched on TV babysitting grandkids…. And crossword puzzles are distractions, essentially “time wasters”. I love them
Gotta say, as a Thursday curmudgeon, that this was as good as they get. Very clever construction, tricky cluing, and unknowns ultimately solvable from the crosses.
My favorite kind of puzzle: obscure clues to ultimately accessible answers. A work out for me. Great debut # # # # # Do emus attend EMU?
@Francis ELSTON was a gimme for me as well. As a young child my Dad took my younger brother and me to see the Yankees play the Twins in Mpls. We sat behind the Yankees dugout. Elston at the plate pops a foul high into the clear blue sky. Davey and I watched the long arc of the baseball soaring high above us. Seemed to take forever, but eventually it started down, coming right to us! Transfixed we saw our Dad reach up his right hand and pluck the ball barehanded out of the ether at the last possible second. OUR DAD!!! Baseball at its best. Dad gave the ball to 6 yr old Davey who kept it safe until he passed away. I inherited it from him and still have and cherish the memory it evokes. Thank you, Elston Howard!
Condolences to the non Americans attempting to solve this puzzle. I’ve tried a few Brit cryptics and although I lived in London for a year long ago the cultural references are too much for me. (I miss the New Yorker cryptics). I was waaaay over average on solving time here. Really great Thursday puzzle! More please, less rebuses
Hour and a half for me, but eventually got the gold star with no lookups. Might be the hardest puzzle yet solved. Just a tiny glimmer of an idea in lots of places, but always a way. Giving both Sam and myself a blue ribbon on this one. Perseverance pays off
@Mark when they wheeled me into the cath lab I thought I was on the Enterprise! Amazing procedure and life changing
Hats off to those for whom this was easy. Perfect Saturday for me. Difficult but ultimately solvable. 5 min over average. Extremely satisfying. More from the Warringtons, please!
I know I’ve never heard anyone mutter “repine” in a sentence, and doubt that I’ve ever seen it in print. Tried L and K and finally R to guess the woman’s name and get the win. Whew, wormed out of Natick. And shouldn’t repine mean to long for all over again? TIL a very obscure word
Gotta love a Thursday without a rebus! Very clever, Jesse. Can’t wait for your Friday and Saturday puzzles.
Waaaay over average time! Should have known it was an SE puzzle as I slogged on. Can’t believe I made it through. Definitely a Saturday challenge
As a gigger for over 60 years, loved “Band aids”…. Nice puzzle, right in my wheelhouse
@Jane Wheelaghan Estimated Time of Delivery when tracking a package
Now this is a crossword puzzle! Twice my Sunday average, lots of unknowns, all solvable without lookups, a few guesses and erasures, and obtainable crosses. Best of the year so far. More please
@Paladin had ALAN as a gimme. He was around the Brit rock scene forever. Played on lots of recordings. Even had a band, The Alan Parsons Project. Gram didn’t really survive his liaison with Brit rock….
Good thing I had an extraordinary amount of idle time today to finally solve this. Very challenging!
Very difficult for me. 25 mins over average for a gold star. Too many great fills and clues to enumerate, except I should have gotten BISMARCKND more quickly. Last entry was Z, my French is weak and I kept trying to jam an X in there. Unlike SE’s slogs I was able to stay interested long enough to finish. GREAT puzzle! Just what we want on Saturday
Was sure MODELTS was correct. Kept me from running the alphabet on THEC? for the win. Pretty lame puzzle with several really bad clues/fill. But it was obviously difficult to construct. Too clever by half
Was thinking that this might be an anti-rebus puzzle where the circled squares would actually be a hole and not require any fill. hOLESKIN shot down that idea…. Alas, the Thursday dearth of the least popular NYT Xword gimmick required a Sunday appearance. Fun puzzle BTW.
@Paul solved the puzzle but had to look this up after. Obviously: don’t ask me anything
@Steven Rosmarin true, but you gotta like a puzzle with EQUATORIALGUINEA in it! Record time
As a too-old-for-Minesweeper non-Rebus-loving curmudgeon this was an unexpectedly difficult Wednesday. Somehow I avoided demolition and earned my gold star. Devious cluing put me over average time. Very clever puzzle
Interesting that this puzzle could solve with a ! for rebus haters, or with a BANG for those of us who have capitulated to their existence Thanks, emus
Too clever (for me) by half, but a Thursday without a rebus is a gift. Never grokked the mondegreen theme. But solved by guess and by cross in average time. On to Friday….
@David Johnson had to run the alphabet to remember LEO was also a name! Natick for sure!
@Barry Ancona I used to dispatch petroleum tank trucks so AV GAS was a gimme
Have never heard HANGRY or ROOTLE but the crosses made them obvious after I figured that the “worms” could be entered without slashes. Pretty great puzzle even though we had to use the rebus key. VERY clever!
@Cathy Parrish had all those as well! Also oLDESTSON. o to E won the day. Great puzzle
@john ezra thanks for this! Our doggos are safe here from their guv, the now notorious KGnome. I hear her foot is now referred to as Cricket
@Nancy J. In key for me….. could not find this mistake
SW tough. I’d left the ELBR?S/S?NIN Natick for the vowel run to end. Spent some time puzzling over the bake-off winner, agitated until finally the baseball pun made sense. Great puzzle despite the rebuses.
@Chris g the inconsistencies in SB is why I no longer partake. Has anyone ever checked SE’s crossword answers against his SB word list? He needs an editor….
Really tough for me, but plodding along I finally finished with no lookups, and way over average time. SW last to go. Might have been faster if I hadn’t had SPEEDbrEed pencilled in…
@Mean Old Lady I’ve mentioned the pilot episode to lots of folks and only gotten blank looks. The cheesy set, Spock’s eyebrows, Kirk’s bravado. Glad to know I didn’t imagine it. Thanks for the memory!
@Andrzej I quit SB because of its limited vocabulary
@Steve L they are certainly crossword puzzles with an added layer of complexity, but I just don’t like Rebuses. Probably dates back to my early Sunday Times paper solving days, and waiting a week to discover that some diabolical genius had inserted multiple letter squares where there were “supposed” to be single letters. @abelsey I accept the NYT inclusion of the Rebus, but enjoy a good Saturday way more. That being said, today’s puzzle was very clever; I thought of trying to find the Greek Phi on my keyboard to see if that would work, but decided that would be a total surrender to Rebus tyranny
@Vaer just difficult enough.
Yes, should have solved with the circles left blank….makes more sense than having to enter “hole” in the circles without regard for the crosses Get a clue, emu
@Alexia I was stuck there for a while with brandNAMES
Couldn’t get off SUGARMOMMy. And did not know ZOE so could not find my error. Good puzzle even if it had Rebuses. - - - - Do emus live in Natick?
@Danny ENGINEERED was sufficiently obtuse for me to puzzle over that pun
@Gab visited Shetland a year ago on a fiddle pilgrimage. One of our stops was the Lerwick museum which had a wonderful knitting exhibit, with many examples of Fair Isle patterns. Apparently, in harder times, knitters would walk the pastures picking up the hentilagets (shed wool bits) to make into clothing. Now the pastures are littered with the stuff. Delighted to fill in 52 across!
@Withnail SKOSH is one of my favorite words. Reminds me of my early construction working days with the old hands. The last time it appeared in a NYT puzzle I referenced its two word synonym. I’ll refrain today
@abelsey ABBA and CRIB were gimmes, yes, and then ABET, but then I snapped to a hot and double TimE, and went astray with BRilliance. Took a while to unscramble the NE. Well below average but still challenging for me. I liked it
@Jim as a product of 11 years (started in 2nd) of Catholic education I agree with your blame assessment. We were taught the Y word without any explanation, but at least the answer was a gimme for me. Apologies to those who were offended by the clue
@Paul R for me as well. I wouldn’t have been able to “solve” this one on paper. The U in INUK seemed plausible but had to swap vowels, o -> A, for the gold star. One of the benefits of electronic puzzles. And @Steve L, I avoid malls religiously