MaryEllen
NEPA
This is my MOST FAVORITE puzzle ever…kudos to the constructor for his wit and art. Just a wonderful tour de force. Bravo Sir 👏👏👏
Great puzzle! Nice start to the week! 👏🦋
NO STARS NEVER USED THE TERM FLYLURES EVER…fly fished most of my life with my dad 🤦🏼♀️ so sick and tired of non-isms that make zero sense. Worse a rebus like this that is a puzzle but in no way a crossword. Worst Sunday puzzle in the history of puzzles.
@Steve L you make quite a few generalizations here that, for me, are patently untrue and unfair…say how you feel but don’t make assumptions about me please It is not more fun to complain. I love puzzles and crosswords and often come to express my appreciation for a good puzzle. I do read both sides of the story. I would love to at least like rebuses…and maybe I will someday when I can comprehend them in a better way. For now they feel like artificial cleverness in a format for which I have a lifetime regard. I do not need to agree with you to be respectful to you. Perhaps using more respect is the greater lesson here and for this time in our world at large. Have a great Sunday and a great week ahead.
What a great way to begin a Monday! Everyone have a wonderful week!
Wonderful Puzzle…fun solve without google…sending so many Blessings to this constructor and family after such a rocky 2025!♥️🦋🫶🏻👏
Wonderful start to the week and congratulations to the constructor! Loved the word play within the crossword format. Whenever I solve a puzzle I feel like all those that taught me how are invisibly but palpably sitting in the room with me. This puzzle felt like one I would have solved with Aunt Ruth at the old line kitchen table in the pink kitchen. Thanks again!
A lovely clean sweep and satisfying Monday puzzle…kudos to the creators and to NYT for publication! Happy Monday 🦋👏🥳
Mr. Dolan and NYT thank you for a delightful Saturday morning solve!!! I love a themeless puzzle and new discoveries within said puzzle. Off to read about the case of the Ratman! (And possibly get nap-trapped by my cats!) Have a great weekend all 🫶🏻
My husband and I both enjoyed the puzzle…kudos!…although we both would have loved BARENECESSITIES for completely boomer reasons 😉
Nice Tuesday puzzle with no sweat…enjoyed the theme and wordplay…especially enjoyed the main focus was the puzzle itself. Thank you and have a great week all.🦋👏
Huge missed opportunity in this puzzle…I am a WASP raised on Down-Home American cuisine married to an Italian-American raised entirely on his mom’s Italian cooking and maybe occasional Chinese take out. When I saw the clue for SAUCE IN ITALIAN AMERICAN CUISINE it took me back to his family’s use of the word “gravy”…theirs was red…mine was brown, chicken, pan, red eye, etc.
Loved everything about today’s puzzle esp in light of um er recent events 🤣 Congratulations to the father/daughter constructor team…wonderful. Have been solving nyt puzzles daily since the mid eighties…Miss the folding of the newspaper …Miss the old ritual but love the gain of community. I wonder how many rebus puzzles I shrugged off in that span of time before phones and keyboards.
Please may we have a “Disable Rebus” button…surely this is possible given the current state of technology. In this way, everyone can enjoy a puzzle without the torture?
Great puzzle and great column today…wonderful way to begin a week! Thank you nyt and Zhou Zhang!👏👏👏🫶🏻
Enjoyable puzzle today; remembered old things I hadn’t thought about for a long time (SID) and learned new things (DARKACADEMIA) that are of interest! Have been sitting with old Eugene T. Maleska Sunday puzzles in the evening this week as well as the recent Puzzlemania (my husband and I pass it back and forth). Loved the earlier comment comparing older puzzles to the paleo diet🤣👏…Have a great weekend all 🥂🥳
@Heidi when a newborn or “neonate” is staying in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit there is nothing pretentious going on…rest assured. Have been on both sides in that unit…as a parent and as a pediatrician…no joy rides going on.
Loved loved loved this puzzle…do they even make that green shampoo anymore?? 🤣🤣🤣👏🫶🏻♥️
Will share this one item: after sciencing this concept through several puzzles where we basically ignored the rebus…a gold star can be earned by only inserting the first letter of the rebus into the rebus square. Have succeeded (unintentionally at first) at least five times with happy music and gold star. My husband was so gobsmacked with this concept he solved today’s puzzle using this “accidental discovery”.
@Andrew agree 💯…forty years ago in graduate school I did the puzzle every day and the nyt puzzle was a much different beast in those ancient times…but beloved nonetheless
Really loved today’s mini…clues answers all of it 👏👏👏 the main Saturday puzzle was okay…a bit of a slog with names I didn’t know but learned them for next time if there is a next time Have a great weekend all! Going to an art show in a bit!
Enjoyable puzzle and I caught on to the trick quickly and on my own…that hasn’t happened often enough since I’ve dug back in to solving crosswords. I will take this win and head to my music studio for the rest of the day! Happy Thanksgiving week all! Stay safe and healthy ♥️🦋🍁🫶🏻
@Cat Lady Margaret three cats in this household and I wear the cat hairs proudly…somebody once asked: what makes you think it’s okay for you to wear black? PAH!
@D you made me laugh so hard…have shared your comment with my hubby and he is still laughing…my new most favorite expression “BUILD A BRIDGE AND GET OVER IT” 🤣🤣🤣
A clever meta puzzle but again with the theme of “suck it up buttercup” and turn on your ESP cap bc no revealer clue given and I don’t want to read spoilers (as much as I do enjoy the commentary afterwards) before I do the puzzle. Also grateful for the archives and other puzzle sources that give me an actual crossword puzzle. So missing the bygone days of Eugene T. Maleska…he earned his wings and halo!
Really enjoyed solving this puzzle and relaxed into as the song played in my head over and over! Counting letters…what a great way to come up with a theme. Not normally one for themed puzzles, I loved every minute of the solve. More please!
Great puzzle and I enjoyed it very much…would love to know the title of the book
@Travis I don’t know when the nyt puzzle decided it had to become all things to all people If I wanted to solve rebus(es) I would search them out…this is destroying a lifelong and familial tradition and I am so disappointed
@Amy I struggled with the “Apple product” clue bc it could be read in so many ways
Sounds like the ability to choose to click or not for “spoiler” up to the solver
@Banjo Nelson oh please watch Toy Story…what friendships are all about
Have to admit was relieved when I figured out it was not a rebus but then scratched my head the rest of the way through. Thankfully the editorial comment helped clear things up. I think I still clench.
Thoroughly enjoyed today’s zippy puzzle OORAH!!!
@Fleming no worries…the only person you compete with is yourself. There are so many constructors who come through…we can’t all vibe with every constructor but I love the days that I do! Have fun solving and growing in skill. All the best
@Leslie Snyderman there is a “more” button in lower left corner of keyboard. Tap that. REBUS button on lower right shows next…tap that. Fill in letters. Hope that helps. Have a great Sunday
@Jim thanks 😊 said the same things to my husband and well…my dad was my hero…his name was Jim…I miss him every day (I was 26yo when he passed). Thank you for your kind words…have a great week!
@Clutch Cargo This will betray my age…but also my quest to always learn everyday and “get better”…what is a “find operation”? My main point in that comment was I really want a disable button. I have come to terms with some but not all rebuses and am trying to improve…albeit not at the rate I would like to when a puzzle such as today’s grinder comes along. I love crosswords…and perhaps, as in music as well, I am a classicist but I remain flexible enough to keep trying…in puzzles, in day to day life…and with people. Have a great week ahead
@HeathieJ I still feel the puzzles have become substandard…have been solving for fifty years now
@Don H same same 👏🦋 I began the puzzle at bedtime last night and saw the rebus immediately but was too tired to “get it”…especially with the chosen non-crossing format (pulls hair at roots again) …I did enjoy all the other nyt puzzles today…esp the hard sudoku!
@SBK thank you so very much! Will give this a try!
@Bob T. I did Google this and yes, like any conversation using Google can prove either side I’m sure…while I love Orvus and have shopped there often…FLY LURE is a non-sequitur for me…Orvus of course is free to name their products however they choose…as are we all. Cheers
@Bill beautiful piano references…think I need to order the Scriabin Preludes and dig in to those on my piano 👏♥️
@April I totally agree with you no matter what our naysayers come up with…cooking in the kitchen and trying to grab a moment to enjoy a puzzle which is not enjoyable and hubby is on call all weekend 🤦🏼♀️ wishing for the return of really good puzzles written by really awesome puzzle writers…again nyt trying to be all things to all people and failing …and I get the puzzle staff are really awesome people.
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