Shauron
Portland OR
24
Comments
0.404
Avg Sentiment
14
Positive
5
Neutral
5
Negative
Portland OR
I was surprised by the negative comments because I loved this puzzle! Usually my husband and I are in synch with the ethos of this group. As we do the puzzle we chuckle about what our friends online will have to say. We don't need to say anything because others say it well. A couple of answers here weren't great - agree with the comments about "tauten" and "ice rain" - but "all in all" I give a "nod to" Mr. Williams for this one!
Not to sound too much like a golden ager, but this harkens back to the days when a Saturday puzzle at the NYT was a Saturday puzzle at the NYT. For the past months i(years?) t's felt like too many puzzles have been trying to be too clever, or cutesy, or trying to fit square pegs into round holes, or be crazy hard on a Monday but easy as pie on a Friday... This was the most enjoyable puzzle my husband and I have done for a long time - not easy, and not perfect, but perfect for what it was supposed to be. I hope it signals an intentional shift on the part of the editors to get back to what established the NYT as the crossword gold standard. Thank you!
Glad others like this. Cute enough in retrospect, but in my view the juice was not worth the squeeze on this one.
This is my favorite puzzle of the year, perhaps ever! Not only a wonderfully layered puzzle, but I've always been partial to the Ides of March. And I love Caesar salads. And I appreciated so many of the other bread cubes sprinkled throughout the grid. I don't know if the editors have been making a dedicated effort, but over the past few weeks the puzzles have seemed to be trending back toward what I'd always felt was special about the NYT. Increasing difficulty over the course of the week, most difficult on Saturdays (I loved the past two weeks), and a fun, challenging, clever puzzle to sink one's teeth into with a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning. If this was intentional, then thank you!! You are achieving your aim, and I am very grateful. If not, then I hope you will review the past couple of weeks and, well, keep doing that. Miranda, thank you for a truly delightful puzzle. You made my week!
I haven't previously commented but every day read what folks say and love the back and forth, comradery, and community. I had to write today because of the juxtaposition of this puzzle (which was absolutely delightful and one of my all time favorites) and last Sunday's (which was the opposite, to say the least - I'm trying to be diplomatic here. Okay, I'll just say it because it still rankles - it was truly the worst and I still can't believe it got by the editors). I agree with what so many have already said: This epitomizes what a Saturday puzzle should be. "Shifty little sucker" and "It's a little shady" should be memorialized. They put a smile on my face and a lilt in my step. Thank you Barb and Lewis!
We had a hard time getting around "orbed" and were a teensy bit annoyed by the extra "T", but otherwise an excellent puzzle.
@Steve L I'm glad you had fun. It is clear many others did as well. The comment that rubbed me the wrong way and made it sound condescending was the addition "This was just a hard theme" (it wasn't for many, including myself, and so this comment is merely expressing your own bias) and "maybe it was a bit beyond your current abilities" (it's hard to see how that is not condescending). The addition of the double-starred **for you** merely emphasizes the needless meanness. I do not say this to be rude, but having read the comments and being a long time solver who found this puzzle straightforward, easily solvable - for me, and yucky, perhaps you can consider that in this instance you came off ruder than you intended, and it's not others' fault.
@CCNY This brought tears to my eyes. So beautifully said. Thank you!
People writing about the relative ease of puzzles are not just complaining. They are hoping that editors will finally hear what they have to say. Having done the NYT crosswords for decades, something has fundamentally changed over the past few years. There used to be a reliable progression of difficulty through Saturday, and certain gimmicks on certain days. Sunday was special - not necessarily the hardest puzzle of the week, but always challenging and with a clever theme. I would get a cup of coffee, settle in, and anticipate a cozy Sunday morning working on the crossword for an hour or so. This is not the case any more. Mondays can be Thursdays, Fridays can be Mondays, etc. There is no anticipation of increasing difficulty, and Sundays can just be "meh," buzzed through in a few minutes (like today). I do not write this to extol my puzzle-solving skills (which are not great), or demean others. But there is no sense that the NYT Crossword is actually a thing any more. It's just another puzzle to take or leave. And it's not about the puzzle writers, to whom I am grateful. It's about the editing. There are ways to determine relative difficulty (accounting for potential biases, cultural differences, etc.). There are ways to gauge clues and answers. The question is whether the NYT has intentionally shifted to a different type of crossword. If so, please just tell us. If not, please finally hear what we are trying to say and edit. Thanks for considering.
This puzzle was uninspiring for a Sunday. Pretty easy, even not knowing anything about Friends. For fans I imagine it was cute, but I'm not sure the cute factor compensates for the meh factor. I don't mean to insult Friends fans or anyone else (we're all sensitive these days), but in my view, having a theme is necessary but not sufficient to warrant publication in the Sunday NYT.
This was my favorite Wednesday in a while! Oh wait...
@Andrzej My husband and I do the CW together most mornings and check the comments after. We always love reading your perspective on the English language and American culture, especially in these crazy times. You have our deep respect. Keep the comments coming!
Puzzle was okay, but two things stuck in my craw: 1. Corner piece as "staple" - I suppose I get it, it just felt off. 2. "Frog sticks" as french fries - seems offensive on its face, even if one isn't the language police. And is this really on menus? Maybe it exists, but with so many other ways to clue, why choose one that's going to potentially offend? Still did the crossword and still enjoyed it, but with a slight sense of "meh"
I'm all for difficult puzzles. In fact, on a Saturday, I expect white space and obscurity. But this puzzle was just tortured for torture's sake. The beauty of "escargot" did not make up for the annoyance factor of the NW corner.
@Lewis I am a long time solver and, though I am able to fill in the usual suspects, I find this the most tiresome kind of puzzle solving. These clues feel lazy and they are uninteresting to me. I do not generalize to all long-time solvers, however, and recognize that some, like you, find these satisfying. I just honestly don't get it :) Perhaps, rather than belittling others, you can just express your own opinion and others can express theirs without being diagnosed. These days I find NYT puzzles either ridiculously trivial or just plain simple and rote. I'd love to go back to days where they felt clever, challenging, and fun - to me.
More like a Tuesday. But cute and fun.
Perhaps the earlier comments helped resolve the bugs for us solvers on the West Coast, because I solved it on my laptop without even realizing there was a glitch. Or perhaps I just totally missed the meta-theme-graphic-pattern that accompanied the puzzle, wouldn't be the first time... Thanks to those who paved the way by doing the puzzle and reporting the layout issues! I loved this puzzle, thought there were some tricky but fair and fun clues (yes, "bar menu"), and it was challenging in just the right way. A perfect Tuesday. Thank you, Bob!
@rumbear We do, regularly. Cheaper and tastes as good (to our philistine palates)
@Grumpy Very well said. I really liked this puzzle. I'm a LOTR fan and having two related clues made my day (acknowledging that this might have been annoying to others). Although I believe that crossing of proper names is going to happen and should happen, I agree that the crossing of obscure names should be discouraged. I am not going to say that I should be the arbiter of what is "obscure", but I imagine there are algorithms that can be used to determine this based on relatively objective parameters. Puzzles should challenge us and I enjoy learning about people, places and things I'd never heard of from crossword references. But when two generally obscure names cross, the frustration factor outweighs the joy-of-learning factor for me and ruins an otherwise fun experience. Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
@Danielle Are you sherding us??
It's interesting reading the comments, because I felt this was a Tuesday on a Sunday. Fun but meh. Those are gonna exist. I was grateful for yesterday's Saturday on a Saturday, however!
@Katie I love challenging puzzles and I very much disliked this puzzle. You can't make the connection "Everyone hated this puzzle" = "Most people do not want a challenge." That's not logic, it's generalizing your own experience to everyone else. Just because I disliked this puzzle and I love hard puzzles doesn't mean that this wasn't a hard puzzle. Just food for thought.
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