Ginger

I did not post this yesterday, since when I looked there were already 700+ comments, but would like to offer a suggest about rebus puzzles. I am a fan, and one of those who don’t want to know ahead of time but I do understand folks who are thrown by a rebus. I suggest a “black box warning” that would appear every day, perhaps at the bottom of the Wordplay column. It could say, “Rebus Ahead!” or “No Rebus Today” or “No Rebus Requiring Multiple Letters in One Box But Look Out for a Trick”. I think this would accomplish three things: -People who don’t want to know ahead of time could easily avoid the warning, but folks that do want to know could easily find it. -Instructions and/or a link to the Wordplay column on how to put more than one letter in a box could be included for those new to the rebus. -Finally when there is a rebus, there should be a clear explanation of which configurations are acceptable for that particular rebus (slash or no slash, etc.). I’ve been solving for a while, but when I don’t get the happy music at the end of a puzzle like yesterday’s, my first thought is did I enter the rebus blocks correctly. I usually skim through the Wordplay column since it is sometimes, but not always indicated there. If I at least know that I have entered those squares in the proper format, I can eliminate that from my error search. Think this might make puzzling happier for all of us.

Just a little aside about ARIL - won’t help you today but if you memorize the following you’ll have all the combos of those letters that work in Spelling Bee: The LIAR in his LAIR sat on a RAIL counting his LIRA and RIAL wondering about the meaning of the word ARIL.