Henry Su

Yuck. Got it done. But no fun at all. No real aha moments. Do I really need to know another version of Oreo? Or a region in Afghanistan that's one letter away from a place in the South Pacific? A lot of esoterica IMHO.

Now, that's what I call a Times crossword! Good times were had by all. This was very high product quality from the constructor and the editors.

In the constructor notes, Mr. Levin explains his rationale for choosing the surnames that we see stretched out in this puzzle. For me, however, they're all LONG JOHNS in their own way: GLENN -- it's a LONG way to the moon and back. LEWIS -- it's a LONG march from Selma to Montgomery and a LONG tenure of service in the House. ADAMS -- it's a LONG time for a President to live until 90 (until Reagan beat that record) and a LONG-term impact on the Supreme Court with the appointment of Chief Justice John MMAARRSSHHAALLLL ELWAY -- it's a LONG touchdown drive of 98 yards to beat the Browns in the AFC Championship January 1987.

Lots to love about Natan's latest puzzle. The grid is a case of "opposites attract." Where else would: LOLCATS cross STUNTDOGS? (Do I hear a SOUNDBITE?) WEDDINGBANDS cross BREXIT? (IN LOVE or MOVE ALONG? Take your pick.) And perhaps my favorite ... BLOODSTREAMS cross RARECOINS (could have been/should have been clued as "They're out of circulation") Truly a missed opportunity.

Great idea, John. I loved this. Here are a few more suggestions, adding to the ones other commenters have supplied: "I tried to turn my land into a vegetable farm but I ..." (17) DIDN'T GET SEED MONEY "I wanted to open a company that offers harbor tours but we ..." (14) LOST OUR CHARTER "I was going to cash out my interest in the cattle ranch but I ..." (15) SAW MY STOCK SPLIT

A few observations from me about this fun puzzle and fun team-up of Chloe and Alissa: (1) Like others, I had UPSy before UPSA, which played games with the revealer for me. For a bit, it looked like part of 60A would be SCyRING ... or is that scrying? (2) Even after that was straightened, I still need to mouth the revealer a few times to catch on to the replacement. (3) I needed that understanding to go back and solve 17A. Part of the problem was that I had CAse before CAMP (you can make a case or break a case, right?), and so I thought this themer might be requiring the coxswain to tase the rowers. Ah, no. Other than those hiccups, this was a smooth solve. I love the fresher cluing of ECO (we've had our fill of greens lately) and ORCA (hey, that's a killer clue about brain size). Sam, regarding your column title, subtitle, column photo and caption, it seems to me that Chloe and Alissa are "best buds" when it comes to SHARING the duties for creating this crossword, as exemplified by the two flowers in the photo. The finished grid reflects a lot of CARING on their part about our solving experience. And their love of crosswords, like ours, may "stem" from childhood.

This was a well constructed puzzle but the entries overall seemed too easy for a Friday. That said, I'm relieved to see a different *way* to clue ATTA. I also liked the fact that two "dating" entries line up nicely next to each other in the NE: SOFT LAUNCH (as originally clued) and I NEED SPACE. And three's company when you throw in a GROUP DATE.

Cool fact -- I've worked with Nathan's father on a court case. Making that familial connection (I didn't with Nathan's debut in April 2021) served as an extra revealer for me. ATTA keeps making experiences, this time as a BOY.

This Saturday puzzle definitely solved faster than yesterday's, although I'll say that what makes the spanners a bit more challenging to make out from a few crosses are the run of consonants. Here's what I mean: HUMA (NPYR) AMID PAGI (NGDRFR) EUD THA (TD) O (GD) O (NTH) UNT YEARE (NDB) ONUS If you're trying to make out constituent words with a few crossings, the consonant runs can create a blurring effect. (I just learned it's called BOKEH (var. spelling BOKE).) Not that I'm complaining. I'm just hypothesizing what may be going on here. For me, there's NO RUSH in trying to complete a puzzle. I'd rather make the fun last a little longer. Ben and Julian's puzzle SLAYED. Thanks.

I found this puzzle to be appropriately hard for a Saturday and had to rely on the crosses in several places. Case in point: I've never heard of DONEZO, nor SUSHI PIZZA. But I trusted that the latter must be a thing, which gave me the Z I needed. In the NW, I experienced another instance of priming. I entered STEADY GIG and then turned to the entry right above it, 16A -- "Going after the big bucks, say." I thought to myself, "Oh, another clue about jobs." But I needed the crosses to solve it, and even then, I stared at the answer -- IN HEAT -- and scratched my head. It was only minutes later that the light bulb came on. Good one. I completed the grid but there was no happy music. I spent many minutes flyspecking, checking each clue/entry one by one. Finally, I spotted the bug in my grid -- I had FLy instead of FLU. GEE WHIZ.

Ha ha. A couple observations: (1) SQUIRES made me think of the episode "The Squire of Gothos" involving a petulant alien. (2) Great job with the priming -- by the time solvers reach 106A, they've got Star Trek in their brains and "warp-driven device" becomes such an effective misdirect.

Reaction to Mr. Aya's puzzle - vote below: LOVE __ HATE __ NONE ✓* *N(ICE) ONE I loved the theme. But 3D initially threw me off since the entry fits the clue, with or without the ICE.

Whenever I see what looks like a rebus, I just skip over affected squares and keep solving the rest of the grid, until I know enough to see what is going on. Such was the case today. Yes, there's no revealer, but by the time I got to the second one (24A), I understood the trick and went back and completed 17A. Like Marshall Walthew (below), the anal side of me prefers to enter the complete rebus, slashes and all. I also agree with Arkangel2 (below), if one "needs" a revealer, 54A is decent stand-in and might have been clued as such ("Complete reversals, as seen here and in 17A, 24A, and 40A"). IT'S A HELP. Finally, I see the subtle dedication to EDITORS in the center for bringing these puzzles to us. Congrats, Jon and Carl, on your debut. P.S. -- I think the ORCA gets a bad rap in crosswords. Just saying.

A breezy Monday. Thanks, Adam! To paraphrase Chaucer, the "'you's (in this puzzle) may outrun the old, but not outwit."

Lines from Genesis? ... or NYT crossword to some DAILYRECREATION

Mr. Seigel had me guessing as to what the revealer until the very end of the solve. That's a fancy curveball, throwing in four rebuses to cover all four quadrants of the grid -- and the country. Bonus entries appearing in the correct quadrants are San ANTONIO in the SW and ONTARIAN (crossing NIAGARA FALLS, no less), in the NE.

In her column, Sam warns us not to overthink Mr. Collins's theme. Gotcha.... But my crossword solving mind can't help it. So here's another interpretation of the theme. CHANCE -- You meet your future partner on a blind date SHOWER -- Your family and friends throw you one after you get engaged TRAIN -- Your maid of honor holds it as you walk down the aisle BOUND TO HAPPEN -- The officiant joins you and your partner in holy matrimony at the altar Fun puzzle, Peter. FWIW, I do remember F TROOP although, reading the clue too quickly, I initially thought the answer was FT (fort) something. The appearance of PIKACHU crossing KNUTE in the NE brought a smile.

Nate the Great, well done, sir. A very tight and smooth puzzle. Sam, I love the column photo. I assume "swelled heads" is in plural because it's describing both the champion cabbage and the champion grower. Now, let's see, can we make POUTINE from the fill? WEDGEs of russet potatoes - check. PEEL or not, hmm? OIL for frying - check. Wait, all we have is FETA for the cheese curds? I guess I'll have to make this Greek-style. I think I can get away with that since we're in MALTA. DIET SODAS for anyone who's thirsty. Cheers.

Well, IT'S NO WONDER that Alex's puzzle reads like someone who might be PLUM TUCKERED OUT after surviving a rigorous ACADEMIC PROGRAM, listening to compositions by LUDOVICO EINAUDI. Hopefully, with diploma in hand, they're now A-OKAY and AS LOOSE AS A GOOSE. I'm guessing they majored in plant biology and studied the CLOSED ECOSYSTEM of terraria, had their skin scratched by AWNS from wild grasses, and traipsed through woods looking for MIMOSA and PAWPAW trees. (I can't tell if RUTABAGA and OKRAS were also part of their field of study or their diet, and the RINDS aren't a helpful clue.) HOW ELSE do I know this? Other evidence of university life include the quiet coffee shop ALCOVE, which provided a space to be ALONE when cramming for finals, the late-night take-out orders of DOSAS, RAMEN, and HUNAN, the empty bags of TAKIS on the desk, the empty bottles of PORTER and LAGER on the couch, and the beat-up MAZDA (made in JAPAN) filled up with GAS when needed for field work.

Put me down as someone who also found this one on the tougher side. It was just one of those puzzles that I had to tug, prod, and poke at until the answers start to emerge from the clues. Especially the NW and SW. Very nice, David. Deb's question and our constructor's quest for 13 sent me on a post-solve read of literary criticism of Wallace Stevens's poem, which I pulled from JStor. My conclusion is similar to Puzzlemucker's -- I think David is using Wallace's blackbird as a metaphor for this particular puzzle grid. Yes, it's exactly the same grid but what we get from each installment depends on the fill and the cluing. It's quintessentially impressionistic. I'll share an exposition of the third stanza that I especially liked from my readings. This comes from Price Caldwell of Mississippi State University, "Metaphoric Structures in Wallace Stevens' 'Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,'" published in The Journal of English and Germanic Philology (1972): There are at least three movements in the stanza. First, the wind, invisible to the eye, is made visible to the imagination by the whirling blackbird. Second, the chaotic motion of the blackbird in the wind is structured as the formal, abstracted motion of pantomime is juxtaposed to it. Third, pantomime as a mental construction is realized as, in effect, the bird becomes its actor and the winds its stage. As in stanza I the lines create both thing-as-idea and idea-as thing.

Thanks for the Sunday laughs, Scott and Katie. Here are my contributions. I visited my oncologist, who says he's TAKEN A LOT OF LUMPS. I told my orthopedist about my joint pain, and she MADE NO BONES ABOUT IT. Now a comment about 48D -- doesn't this violate the rule that the answer can't be in the clue?

I thought the cluing for this puzzle had been turned up an extra notch. Examples: 17A "It doesn't run below the bridge" 20A "Rough patch?" 37A "A-list guest, to a host" 45A "Things that are best kept low, in brief" 8D "High ways?" 14D "The seasons, e.g." Like others here, I had to jump around the grid, entering answers here and there, even if they were just stabs, e.g., VOTE, ALOE, ANTS, PIKE, OTOE, MIATA, in areas I had nothing else. But like every other puzzle, with a bit of effort the other answers start to emerge, including some names that had to be pulled out of the recesses of my memory -- RIDE, ADLER, ASTOR, DOWD. In a few places I had to "erase": rank instead of IDLE, bed instead of COT, occlude instead of BLOT OUT, and scOop instead of FLOAT. My verdict? Hemant's puzzle definitely SHOOK THINGS UP. Maybe I've been SPOILED ROTTEN by easier late-week puzzles recently. Good thing I didn't have to solve this one with a STUFFY NOSE.

Neat idea. I definitely wondered if I was seeing double. Here's my contribution: "Swindler mischaracterizing his misdeeds in court?" CONCONTORTSTORTS Interesting solving week by the way. My solves, from fastest to slowest: Mon Thu Sat Tue Fri Wed Other than Monday, the solves were within four minutes of each other time-wise.

Lots of paired answers (as well as paired clues) in this collab between Rafa and Rebecca. BORG and TENNIS SYRAH and NAPA RACE BIBS and LEGS SATE and I'M SET A breezy Saturday, and a nice way to relax after a long teaching week.

This was a delightful puzzle, Mr. Kugelman. My compliments as well to your, er, co-conspirators Bob Weisz and Ken Stern for contributing NUMBER OF THE BEAST and AN OFFER YOU CAN'T RESIST. So apocalyptic. I didn't know AUROR (I know next to nothing about tormenting a clay artisan*) but thankfully PETER was nicely clued. *HARRY POTTER

A hypothetical conversation taking place in Paris, January 1906: Young Irène: Papa, does MAGMA contain any rare EARTH elements? Pierre: I'm busy right now. ASK MOM. Young Irène: Papa, will you play PEEKABOO with me and bébé Ève? Pierre: No, I'm busy right now. ASK MOM. (Turning to the governess) Where's Marie? Governess: Mère CURIE might be in her lab. HER STORY: First woman to win a Nobel Prize First person to win two Nobel Prizes Only woman to win in two fields Only person to win in multiple sciences *** Play it again, Sam. The tricky cluing of 1A threw me off my usual course, solving across and down. (PSI.)

The i's have it! And fitting with the nautical theme, we have OCEAN, TALE, and NICE CATCH.

As Sam's photo caption suggests, the themers are better described as opposites than negatives. But I'll play along and cut some slack for the revealer. The themers themselves are clever; I love the the combinations of opposite words (e.g., GO + DARK and STOP + LIGHT) yield entirely different phrases. I'll relate two interesting aspects of my solve. The first is my confident entry of ECO for 1A, only to correct a few seconds later to EPA, and then to see it pop up again--for real--at 54A. The second is my finishing the puzzle with the entry of TREYS, only to glance below and see Isaac Aronow's The Crossword Stumper column on "Trey." How spooky. Do baby Sumatran tigers and orangs make good emotional support animals? They may be an odd couple but they're both grieving the loss of habitat in Indonesia.

Very clever, Ms. Gray. If there were a vote, I'd say the II have it. Fairly EEyPPy. I had a little trouble only in the NE, where I had to change highiq to IQTEST, realize that 25A isn't S___ ON (two words), and pull ENSOR out of the back of my mind to resolve the Naticky crossing with TABOURET (a TIL for me too).

Fun puzzle. I solved the way I did because my UPtake was faster than my DOWNload.

My pick for Lewis's list of best clues next week? ARSON - Bad match on tinder? And nicely paired with DYING (embers). Re E.A. Poe, I have a couple thoughts. (1) There's a second poem hidden in the grid -- (To) HELEN. (2) THE BELLS made me wonder (hi, Rich from Atlanta!) whether TINTINNABULATION has ever appeared as an entry. Nope. Here's a chance for some constructor to use it as their seed entry. And note the elements of Poe's poetic style in this word. I enjoyed your debut, Patrick.

A clever theme from Daniel and Rafa but my chuckle today came earlier today, with the Mini, where I confidentlytyped in AFFAIR for "Hey, that's cheating!"

I solved this puzzle without the help of the revealer or the title. For some reason, the hints didn't click with me. (1) I'm used to seeing clues repeated in puzzles for different entries. So my reaction here to the identically clued pairs was "ha, pretty cool," never once connecting them with "Gimme a Second!" (2) Yeah, I saw the shaded letters spell words like ZEAL and RAGE ("ok, that's nice"), never once connecting them with 68A. Maybe because I didn't understand the title to begin with, I didn't understand what could be an alternative title either. The one themer that gave me a little trouble was PR AGENCIES. Like DR FREUD yesterday, I wasn't seeing the PR and instead was trying to make out a word that began with PRA_. Also, I wanted Idling rather than IN IDLE. Anyway, this was wonderfully executed, Michael. And I love the explanation ("100 theme letters, give or take").

A very clever puzzle, Sid. Well done. Here are a couple observations. 16A: Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised to see NSA lurking near to THE GRAPEVINE. 88A: MOO evokes a rustic version of the theme -- HE_RD THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE. Lastly, 1A makes me ask: Q: "What is the path for food taken from a mess hall?" A: "GI tracts." And that includes leftover PONE from Saturday's puzzle.

An alternative cluing of 31A would capitalize "wonder." (Chuckle, chuckle.)

Well, this was slightly harder than Friday. That's something, I guess. In addition to Rush, the puzzle has echoes of Taylor Swift with ERAS and SHADE. And while Grace highlights the staggered triple stack, my eyes turned to the entries down the middle: you have AMASS and HOARD (do plutocrats COO?), and the image of triumphing in a BOSS BATTLE GLORIOUSLY. Great to see you in the late week, Sam.

A very fast Friday for me too. I love seeing the profusion of OO's, with no Oreo O's in sight. EAGLE may be tied to Boston but it works with APOLLO too. I wonder if VOODOO can be used to exorcise one's INNER DEMONS. Congrats on your debut and your impending graduation, Colin.

So glad you're here, Sam! This was an auspicious debut from young Harry Zheng. But this being a Monday puzzle, the fun was just way way short. So I turn to the kettle in the column photo. Not to worry, Sam, the only thing I ever let steep too too long is tea. And when my kettle whistles, I think it sounds like a choo choo train. Party safe tonight!

This puzzle solved faster than Friday. But I still ran into a snag in the NE where I had GDP for 10A, PAEDIA for 12D, and DNA___ for 11D. A lesson that is oft repeated here? Dump the entries you have and start over if the crosses aren't coming together. Finally I saw CAROLINA and TRIAL RUNS, and then UNICORN and MODULE. Happy music! Like many Saturdays, sometimes you START OUT SMALL, but eventually there is an ASCENT and you COME IN HOT. Maybe it's not ROCKET SCIENCE or BRAIN SURGERY after all.

This was a pretty quick Monday. The only entry that made me squint was ERM. I love the track and field column photo, Sam. It pairs well with RUN, LANE, UNI, BIB, and in this Olympic year, HOST. Come to think of it -- how about FIVE-RINGED OLYMPIC FLAG?

FYI, the Atlantic has published a review of Anna Shechtman's new book, "The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle." I particularly like this observation from the reviewer, Sophia Stewart: "The lexicon of crosswords, particularly highly visible ones like the Times’, is a public-facing compendium of that shared vocabulary. As both a pastime and a public good, the ideal crossword puzzle is not a test of highbrow sensibilities but, to use Hirsch’s term, an opportunity to improve one’s cultural literacy. It should encourage and reward familiarity with a wide range of cultures, preoccupations, and ephemera. In this way, crosswords might also serve a pedagogical function: to not just affirm what one already knows but beget new knowledge." Gift link here: <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2024/03/riddles-of-the-sphinx-crossword-anna-shechtman-book-review/677720/?gift=SLYL4QvJgPu-vHa9bpkaBTXlIvAGV8sQDxd3kVu1oqk&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share" target="_blank">https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2024/03/riddles-of-the-sphinx-crossword-anna-shechtman-book-review/677720/?gift=SLYL4QvJgPu-vHa9bpkaBTXlIvAGV8sQDxd3kVu1oqk&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share</a>

A well-timed puzzle, Mr. Gordon. Note the parenthetical in Bonnie Tyler's hit song: Turn Around. Very good advice for anyone who isn't wearing solar eclipse glasses.

This took a bit longer than normal because I found the themers spmewhat hard to parse. This was very clever, though. I managed to finish before my plane takes off.

I solved this one sorta counterclockwise, starting with the NW. As a result I got to the revealer before I had entered all the themers. I then looked back at the first four I'd already entered (17A, 39A, 49A, and 59A), marveling at their cleverness, and then confidently entered CAT PEOPLE for 26A, which made me recall my adolescent crush on Nastassja Kinski. Wonderful puzzle, Damon. The only thing that's missing is a visual flourish -- a diagonal line from square 67 to square 12 upon a successful solve.