Alexandra
Brooklyn
DADAISM is such a great bit of wordplay that I literally LOLed and annoyed my husband who is still actively puzzling. That whole SW corner is just fantastic: IVANA, INERTIA & VACANCY Nice
It’s not a terrible theme but is it worthy of a Thursday? Hardly. I miss a good, tricky rebus. This theme is nicely cohesive and there are some great answers in here that go beyond crossword-see: POSOLE, SHTETL, SCRIP and PROPHESIED were all strong. But the trick to the puzzle isn’t worthy of a Thursday imo.
Boy howdy it’s nice to have Will Shortz back in the game.
I loved how “auteur” was thrown in with Ebert’s hilarious pans of Hollywood schlock. There was a bit of a missed opportunity to clue “stone” as director Oliver Stone, but I’m nitpicking. Great theme, good fill - more like this, please!
Now that’s what I’m talking about! Great theme! Pleasant amount of resistance. Adored the cluing on ROME, INGRATES, and ONION. I’m definitely not an AC/DC fan but I love Brian ENO so l’ll let it slide. A massive improvement over the past few days. Nice!
Disappointed with the lack of a theme, relative easiness of most of the clues, green paint answers (SAKE BOTTLE, really?), and over-reliance on PPP trivia. Themeless Sundays are usually a bummer, this one was especially so.
@jerome higgins True! Also… No one says SAKE BOTTLE, the correct word is PIANOFORTE, the singular BLACK OP is shaky at best, and CULT ICON is more commonly used than HERO. Do better NYT.
@Jim I was trying to make Cheez Whiz fit in there somehow 😂
This felt like a Wednesday. No challenge, no grit, no bite. There was nothing *that* terrible - I’ve never seen Survivor, don’t care about the CMAs or ADELE’s music that much, but that’s just my contrarian tastes I guess. But there was no clever world play here, nothing to think about, no “a-ha” moments. Another letdown after a weak Thursday.
Ok let me start out by saying that I have never ever EVER liked AC/DC. There’s a lot of great bands that are loud and only know three cords. AC/DC was never one of them for me. So the theme wasn’t necessarily terrible but… eh Never heard of WIPE OUT, and WARD ≠ CARE. Like if someone is your WARD, they’re in your care I guess? Weak cluing yet again. Step it up NYT. We need a real distraction these days.
Could have been improved by working MEL BLANC in as a revealer maybe? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ A little weak as a theme for something as iconic as Looney Tunes, but nothing *terrible* per se. Now I’m thinking about fun ways to have a Looney Tunes themed Sunday puzzle (Wile E Coyote chasing the Roadrunner around the grid with some rebus action)… but alas it’s 9 am on a Monday and I have to write work emails instead of learning puzzle construction. Boo.
@William ROSAMUND/REEM crossing was a great example of a Natick. Frustrating and sloppy imho.
Additionally, it’s MARATHON Sunday here in NYC. Surely this would be worthy of some sort of theme? What a waste.
@Janine I would have enjoyed solving it more on a Wednesday tbh. To paraphrase Axl Rose, "Gimme some rebus!" (skanks backwards)
How, just HOW could you possibly have a Shawshank Redemption themed puzzle and have zero mention of Red, Morgan Freeman, or the Warden? Any of these names or characters should have at least garnered a mention in the cluing. I think Stephen King, obsidian, Rita Hayworth could have also been used to good effect here. Missed opportunities for sure.
Seemed more like a Tuesday or a maybe even a Monday. Very disappointed.
@Jay I came here to say this. Maaaaybe it could be a Wednesday but definitely not *meaty* enough for a Friday.
@David Pearce I think Will Shortz was/is a mentor to Sam Ezersky & I think the Grid Kid has been really sad/bummed as of late. He’s a human being - let’s be grateful that the puzzles aren’t AI generated and can still reflect the emotions of the puzzle maker. He uses inconsistent word lists *just* to mess with us. Thanks, Sam.
Surely the NYT gets better submissions than this? INASUIT? Seriously?
@Ren I’m 45 and I haven’t used “IMs” since the days of AIM… so like 1999.
@Paul OMG thank you! Makes total sense now. AND then he went down to Mexico. I still can’t believe they left out RED and the WARDEN though. Or attempted to clue in Raquel Welsh at the entrance to the tunnel.
@PeggyB Agreed! Sunday themelesses are a waste of space imho. Is this harsh? For a paid subscription I don’t think so.
My take: a pun is not a theme.
@Steve L Lazy Susan Dumbwaiter
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