abelsey
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London, UK
7 seconds off my best ever Sunday time. I will die on the mEEP mEEP hill though.
Others have said: the link to this page is broken from the app, the app is glitchy and now crashes regularly. Count me in on both of those. But what nobody else has said: I don’t want Wordle at the top of the app. Maybe some do, whatever. But why not let users of the app reorder the games in a way they prefer? Once you fix the other stuff, that is.
Wooo! Today’s puzzle marks my 2000th gold star in a row and my 3620th puzzle in total! I’ll have some pretzels to celebrate. (Really my streak should be a little longer, starting 1 Sept 2019, but I didn’t understand how streaks worked when I started; also I think the qualifying rules have changed a little since then.)
MOST kids these days are Gen A. But I guess a few are still Gen Z. So it’s only a mild harrumph.
@MaryEllen I’d say “in a leather bar you have to wear leather”—very straightforward. Hope this helps.
I enjoyed this Monday puzzle.
Yes it's clever. Yes I got through it. And did I enjoy it? Yes. It was absolutely delightful. A classic example of a puzzle that was fun for the constructor and the experienced solver alike. Note to the editors: There are loads of positive comments today from people who actually enjoy solving puzzles. Maybe that should tell you something.
@SP tl;dr can just be a reply to a long block of text (too long; didn’t read) but it can also be used, often by the person who is posting the long block of text, to be a heading for a summary of that long block of text. This is the kind of thing you might see: Subject: should I move to another country? tl;dr: my wife has been offered a new job in Thailand but I am scared of flying Hi folks, I’ve been here on this forum for a long time and I always appreciate your advice. I wonder if you can help me figure out the pros and cons of my situation. Basically I’ve been scared of airplanes since I was 8 years old, when I somehow got the idea that Leslie Nielsen had given everyone on that plane food poisoning deliberately. It actually affected me more than just with airplanes. I’m now also terrified of bumbling police detectives and all men who might be described as silver foxes. Ironic because I’ve in my later years become somewhat of a silver fox myself. That’s how I met my wife, actually… [continues forever before finally settling into the point described by the tl;dr]
@Brian Murphy the first ever NYT rebus was on a Monday. In 1954. It has long since established its right to show up on any day.
Well, that fell fast. What am I supposed to do tomorrow? Loved it though; I can’t imagine how you’d even start constructing something like that.
I can’t recall seeing SBARRO, SERVER, or NEGLECT(S) in a puzzle particularly recently, but here they are twice in a row. (I mean, I didn’t look up when they last appeared. so I could be wrong.)
I forgot to announce my 2250th gold star in a row, but for what it’s worth, this one was my 2260th (and I liked today’s puzzle better anyway). Add a further 1700ish from the archives, and you can see that my life has a lot of little squares in it (and I’m the littlest square of all).
@TholosTB any puzzle that is harder than about a Wednesday level will have griping, especially if there is anything about the puzzle that elevates it beyond straightforward letters, one by one, in a grid. This is because those who have not yet developed the skills to do the NYT crossword daily nevertheless want to be able to say they do it daily. They don’t want to put in the hours of work that make them a skilled solver. They have failed to understand that if this crossword were solvable by everyone every day, it would cease to be an aspirational thing to be able to do. Nevertheless, I believe that with practice they could indeed figure out, for example, the straightforward and consistent rules for entering a rebus. With practice they’ll learn the words “nobody has ever heard of,” and they’ll figure out the general patterns that make puzzles that were impossible for them a year earlier solvable in record time.
Everyone who is disappointed today *in particular* knows this constructor is extremely capable, and also recognizes that this would be a perfectly fun puzzle for any other day of the week THAT IS NOT THURSDAY. The complaints from this crowd *in particular* are rarely (if ever?) aimed at the constructor—unlike when we get an actually challenging puzzle that is appropriate to the established convention of Thurs-Sun, where new drive-by solvers appear in these comments and insult both the constructors and the puzzles themselves because they cannot accept their own skill issue. Unfortunately it seems the editors wish to court the affections of the latter, which has created precisely the conditions that lead the former to complain today.
@Phil telling the solver that there is a trick to the puzzle ruins any puzzle with a trick. It’s called a puzzle because you have to figure it out.
Easy peasy in the end. Adorable gimmick that helped me solve once I got it. And I got it fast, but not so fast that I felt cheated. Finished in about 2/3 of my average time. Can’t imagine anyone who enjoys crossword puzzles having anything negative to say about this one. I’m so secure in that belief that I’m not going to look at a single one of your comments. Byeeeeeee
@Sean Here’s why we love rebuses: you know the answer to the clue and it doesn’t fit. Ok we probably have a rebus. But where? What’s the scheme? Nothing to reveal? Now we solve the puzzle. You can’t even partially solve the clue because that wouldn’t make the answers correct. Just a brilliant puzzling puzzle to puzzle out.
@Jeff P. Sad there were no rebuses. I really like them.
This was great. More Wednesdays at this level please. And rebuses every day of the week!
@Nat ironic today that you are from Omaha
I’m not going to look through all 200+ comments, but The Bartman (the song + dance) came from The Simpsons Sing the Blues album from 1990. Bartman the superhero did not appear in the TV show until the next year, and the Bartman comic books did not appear until 1993. So I rather think the dance inspired the superhero, not the other way around.
I’m curious if there are many/any long-time solvers who hate rebus puzzles. To me it seems that once you’ve learned the typical language and habits of the daily crossword, added complexity is really welcome. I’ll never really understand those who complain that a crossword puzzle should just be single letters crossed with single letters and nothing beyond that. If that’s what you want, there’s no need to come to the NYT. Just go pick up a church newsletter or a worksheet from your kid’s school. And if your response is that obviously you want something more than that, ask yourself why you would then want to limit your solving experience (let alone everyone else’s), and why you want to draw your limiting line as low as “letter cross letter ONLY”? Anyway this was a PB Sunday time for me because I caught on immediately (thanks to the big spoiler that was the grid). Sometimes I feel guilty when I consider a fast solve time against the hours it must have taken to construct a puzzle. I wonder if constructors prefer to stump solvers, or if they like it when we are on their wavelength and can race against the clock.
@Alexandra I think you missed the point of the puzzle. Try the column you are commenting on.
I can respect that this was a tricky thing to construct, but, in the words of the great Dr Ian Malcolm, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.” At least it only took me half my average time. I guess the reason I didn’t enjoy this is that I had to take extra time to click back to the previous clue to remind myself what the first clue was. It was just a little irritating procedurally. Perhaps better on paper.
@Gail and Bill yeah they wouldn’t give me POD and OLIENS either. So deeply unfair
‘Mr. Kahn has grabbed the “rebus difficulty” lever and pulled it past “hard,” past “very hard” and past “brain tenderizer” until it has snapped off the machine entirely.’ Has he? This came in just shy of my average Thursday time. Good to see a return to the average, though. Happy birthday USA.
Ho hum. Yet another Tuesday Thursday.
@Michelle M explain how that would be lazy
@Lewis are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era?
@L Fantastic puzzle. Exactly the right amount of rebuses with a puzzle to solve that allows you to know when and where. This author is wonderful.
@Aaron this is not an airport; no need to announce your departure
@Keep It Simple Please there is a massive disconnect between your claim to having solved this particular outlet’s crossword for 6 decades while despising the tricks that set this outlet’s crosswords apart from the rest. If you genuinely hate this kind of puzzle, you’ve been needlessly torturing yourself for 60 years. If you want something that limits you to some kind of “standard” crossword format you should have realized at least a few decades back that you’re in the wrong place. And if you’ve been solving here for 60 years nevertheless, I can’t imagine today’s little breezy offering would have been the one to push you over the edge or excited any particular comment.
@Mean Old Lady I am 100% positive without a shadow of a doubt, because you are a regular solver, that you have entered the name of the group responsible for Mr Blue Sky into your crossword about a million times.
@Phil and if you’ve never heard of MAMA CASS, not only is that very much on you, but I’ve also got a whole load of tunes to add to my “Hit Songs NYT Crossword Commenters Have Never Heard Of” playlist
@mistermiranda nevertheless, they are offerings at some Chinese restaurants.
Surprised to see so many comments about how tough this one was, given I finished 5 mins under my Saturday average. I think I was just on the constructor’s wavelength for the top half of the puzzle because 1, 8, 15, and 17A were all immediate gimmes. For me, “46 years” was obvious! But maybe that’s because I think about 45/47 too much.
As something of an international woman myself, I enjoyed solving this in record Sunday time.
@Istvan the online version works perfectly 👍
@z weird, my pet octopus told me that one was a gimme for her.
@Andrzej I would personally never tell anyone who dislikes rebuses to avoid Thursdays. I would tell them to avoid the NYT crossword altogether. We all have preferences; I’d personally prefer every puzzle to be at Saturday level with a difference kind of trick every day. I suspect empathy with my position will also be less than forthcoming.
Just looking at comments, I see two entries that people don’t particularly like. My thinking is that the time that is most likely to succeed (in the sense of “follow on from”) this moment is the next moment (which is the SOONEST). Maybe? It made sense to me while I was filling it in, in any case. And if you’re crushing on someone, you will be MOONY. Anyway this was very near a PB solve time for me; I was absolutely on this constructor’s wavelength (but I accept that I’m pretty weird).
@LinRP they don’t HAVE to; they do it to help people who need it. Every day. On every puzzle.
@Workingmom123 ACTUALLY I SOLVED IN 8 MINUTES ON AN IPHONE. Just use the rebus button. It’s been there for years.
@Andrzej You also do a prestige crossword in a language that is possibly not your first language. You're doing great.
@Phil they really don’t. Or, if you like, the “tell” is typically just like it is here: you can’t fit the answer in the grid without doing something unusual. Of course getting the hang of spotting a rebus can be tricky, but I’m sure you’ll get there if you just KEEP ON IT.
@MmmmHmm what is more productive than learning about new things?
@Jonathan Beautiful. The right amount of tricks. Sunday should be a crossword puzzle, with this kind of emphasis on *puzzle*.
@Amir they don’t HAVE to. They explain it for people who need the explanation, and there’s a column every single day that explains every single puzzle (no matter how trivial). Many of us solved and understood today’s puzzle with no explanation needed.