Jess
Brooklyn, NY
My first Wednesday solve with absolutely no assists, and it’s only 6:45 am. I have a job interview later today. Can I ride this high through till then? I feel unstoppable now, hehe :D
Not sure if I love or hate the ATTAR/ITTAR and ICE/ACE cross. Feels like both sets of answers could have worked, especially since 'ittar' is another name for 'attar' (according to Wikipedia), and you probably can't return ice that you've bought once it's begun to melt... right? Right??? I was not familiar with the tennis 'ace', so TIL. Anyway, I've decided Sundays are my favorite crossword, despite how much longer they take me to do -- I just love the clever clues!
Nice puzzle, liked the cluing. My fastest Wednesday so far, and my 2nd in a row with no Googling! An interesting observation over my last few months of solving is that increasingly often I find that my first guess for a clue is correct (even when it’s a wild stab/there are lots of possible answers). Today, I doubted several entries in the grid but realized on my 2nd or 3rd passes through that I was totally right! That never used to happen before. Such a nice feeling. I’m getting the hang of this, I think? After a year and a half of a (NATURAL in texture but unnatural in color) bright blond teeny-weeny-afro, I’ve decided to shave it all off this weekend and start BRAND NEW. My job interview last week went great (thanks for the good wishes!), and while I still have 1 more round to go, I’m optimistically preparing for a fresh start in work, so I figure I’d lead the way in life :)
Extremely impressed with this construction. The mind boggles at what must have been a challenging (and fun, I bet!) effort to architect today’s puzzle. Bravo, Paolo and Sarah! Maybe one of my favorite Thursdays since I started solving. I remember my early days when I also bitterly complained about (unannounced) rebuses. Now I’ve come to quite enjoy them and even relish the payoff of cluing in to their existence without first having to check the Wordplay column!
I have to say it’s really frustrating when someone is complaining about struggling through an unusually high amount of trivia / proper nouns / obscure trivia in a particular crossword, to then get responses in the comments about how so-and-so has been clued 545 times since 1905. Like okay, sure, but are NYT crosswords only to be solved by people who have solved 544 other crosswords? What about us newbies, I guess tough luck with our crossword struggles then? Jeez. These comments aren’t helpful and to be honest come across a bit smug. The other day someone said they weren’t buying the (hundreds of) complaints about done unusually tough crossings because some of those words had appeared so often in previous crosswords. I guess we all conspired across the globe to complain on the same crossword then. To be clear, not saying all crosswords should be easy necessarily, I’ve certainly learned a ton over my 78-day-and-counting streak so far. But some of these complaints are legitimate as evidenced by the number of recommends many of them get, and a little empathy or kinder guidance from more experienced folks would help a ton. I mean that’s why we come here to comment anyway, right? To find others who had similar experiences, and maybe learn a thing or two as well?
@Alexia Genuinely curious — could you clarify what’s pretentious about having an author’s books as a theme?
@Francis What a condescending comment. Many people liked the crossword, some found it just OK, it's not unreasonable that several will also dislike it. Why is that a problem? Why does that mean anyone who expresses an opinion about disliking a puzzle is only suited to solving crosswords for children?
@Kevin I am relatively new to crosswords as well. I, too, struggled with the north-west corner and ended up filling that section last, so wanted to comment to let you know you weren't alone there. I really had to start making semi-random letter guesses just to see what (if anything) would stick and reveal a sensible word. I overall enjoyed the puzzle though. From one newbie to another... hang in there!
My first Thursday with no assists. HLEL YAEH!!!!!
Like others here so far, I haven’t read many of Ms Morrison’s books and needed almost all the crossings to solve this, which made this feel significantly harder than a typical Tuesday. I nearly got to the end without any assists, but the crossing of EBON (really?!) and OYS (OwS or even OhS seemed equally likely to me) made it impossible for me to infer the last 2 letters of TAR BA__, which in the end I gave up trying to guess and had to look up to finish the puzzle. Still a good learning experience overall, but I think some of the cluing and crosses could have been tuned just a tad more for an early week puzzle.
I’ve never played Clue and totally guessed at DOOR for 31A (even though Google did not reveal anything online to confirm the number of those on the board). Glad it worked out, lol. Also, today makes 201 consecutive days of solving the crossword as a (relative) beginner (and non-American). Yay me! 😃 Happy to finally be solving Fridays in the default mode**, and very satisfying to see the consistency paying off. ** Still need to wikipedia a few clues here & there, but I’m maybe at 10-20% of Fridays now? Names in particular are just simply impossible for me to infer, even with crosses sometimes 🤷♀️
Omg, the entire time I was thinking to myself “Darn, is this a tough Tuesday or am I tripping?!” Only to see the gold star at the end: “You finished a Wednesday puzzle…” 🤦♀️ D’oh!
@Lynn Congratulations on two impressive milestones! Happy birthday to you!
Really curious as to the decision process behind approving the entry and cluing for 10A. I cannot think of another topic guaranteed to generate impassioned and non-crossword-related responses in the Wordplay comments (other than American politics in an election year, maybe), as evidenced by some of the comments here. Not expressing an opinion either way -- just making an observation after reading the comments. As for me, this felt like an overall easier Thursday, but personally thought some of the cluing wasn't that great, but maybe (again) that's just Thursdays for me. For example, I have literally never heard of 61A and don't know a single person who wears that, and I've been an avid runner and triathlete for 10+ years. (I'm sure someone will tell me this entry has been clued 485 times since the launch of the crossword, though)
Reading today’s comment section with alternate amusement, bemusement and irritation. I’ll post a comment I found online that I think accurately captures my (and from the looks of it, many others’) feelings about today’s puzzle: “This was a player's puzzle. Tough for this hobbyist.” - Anonymous
Brilliant puzzle. Absolutely loved it. Lots of guessing on my part that either paid off nicely or worked out on the crosses, and it took me a hot second at the end to find my error in SULe/YeP (having never seen Star Trek), but I still really enjoyed this one.
Always interesting to come to the comments and see the wide variation in solvers’ experiences of the same puzzle. Just goes to show everyone’s mileage truly does vary… I personally struggled mightily in the SE and so far have not seen anyone mention they did as well, which is so interesting to me! (Granted, I didn’t read through all 300 comments.) That entire section was just completely blank for a long time, thanks to having GETS Sassy in 33D at first, which threw things off quite a bit until I decided 57A *had* to be EVER, and then the rest of it fell in place very quickly.
First pass through so far with 6 fills, only 3 of which I’m actually confident of. Feels like Friday/Saturday-level difficulty to me.
Fastest Saturday for me so far, but I’m not complaining!
Think I only got 10% of this before giving up and looking up the answers. And that was after a few passes and several attempts at it throughout the day. Not on the same wavelength as the constructor, I guess.
Day 501! I debated skipping today and letting my streak end at the nice round number of 500, but I had a bit of downtime at an event this evening and couldn’t resist checking out the puzzle. I’m so glad I did — I really enjoyed this one! I also think this is my second Thursday in a row with no lookups, despite so many of the words here being new to me. Overall a satisfying solve.
@Paul Thanks, for your comment Paul. I really appreciate your constructive engagement! I agree that insisting a clue or word shouldn't be used at all isn't productive and can be annoying. (I posted the other day that I actually love Sunday crosswords as I've come to love the misdirections and clever clues). I know you didn't say so, but to be clear that's not at all what my nit is about. My gripe was more towards those who seem incredulous that a 100-timer clue wasn't gotten by everyone on the first guess. Some of us are playing this for the first time! No way for us to know. There are gentler/friendlier ways to convey the same. That's all :)
Why did the clue in 25D have Minn. and not Minnesota? I usually take that as a hint that the answer is the shortened version, abbreviation or acronym. Is that not right? For example, Monday had “Two-stripe mil. rank” in 21A, to which the answer was CPL.
@Jess To add: E__N, O_S and UN_S were not previously known to me and were difficult for me to guess from the way they were clued, which left TAR BA__ unsolvable without looking it up. If anyone else struggled similarly with those same words and managed to figure things out without the help of Google, would appreciate hearing your thought process to help me with future puzzles 🙂
@Jon G. I can relate as a fellow iPhone solver and also one who avoids Wordplay until the end of the puzzle! However, when you tap the blinking info icon in the top right corner of the puzzle screen on iPhone, it shows an overlay page with the puzzle note/instructions without taking you to Wordplay (which requires an additional tap from that second screen). Thought I’d share for future puzzles.
This was bordering on Saturday-level difficulty for me. So many words I couldn’t figure out and therefore never had enough down crosses to even deduce the theme in the across answers. Did not get 13A, 18A, 39D, I had SUITOR (one who brings suits?) in 14D instead of EDITOR, many more I can’t list now. Glad to see most of you enjoyed it.
Could anyone explain 27A - ESS?
@sotto voce Even without overlays turned on, the clue for 33A also indicates a connection between 4 other answers
Hmm... this one was not for me, but I can accept others liked it. Maybe it's just Thursdays. Maybe in time.
Welp. I too solved the puzzle without figuring out the theme. I'm a bit bummed I didn't get the satisfaction of that aha moment. I agree the theme itself *is* clever, but the "six words" phrasing seems... almost... intentional? Oh well, at least I maintained my streak. And was this a relatively easier Thursday, or am I finally graduating out of newbie level? Day 137 and counting...
Bit of a sidebar, but I made a delicious FARRO with mushrooms dish for lunch today (entirely coincidentally, a recipe I got from the NYT Cooking section)! Delicious! (Thanks for a great puzzle!)
Lol, really enjoyed this one! :D
Phew! I loathe Connections (just never been my speed), so I initially worried that I would hate today’s crossword or get stuck on the theme clues. But I found it pretty OK after all.
@Chris Oof! Sorry to hear that happened to you. I, too, learned that lesson the exact same way in a previous puzzle. Hope it didn’t ruin your enjoyment of this one too much.
Very nearly got through my first Sunday without any Googling, but the middle left section sadly did me in. Never heard of a diadem (46D), doohickey (45A), the hockey player (61A), or the frozen food brand (70A). Plus, neither of 47D/62D really clicked for me until I had those crosses. Still pleased with this puzzle! I figured out the trick once I got 36A and re-read the theme title. 🙂 Hope everyone is having a happy and safe Sunday wherever you are.
@Heidi Stop! Are you me?? 😂😂😂 Almost word for word my experience with those same entries, haha. But we got there in the end, didn’t we? :)
@Cat Lady Margaret So good! I always enjoy your comments of alternate clues/entries for a theme. Do you construct crosswords yourself? I’d love to solve one by you!
Did not know / could never have gotten the answers to more than half the grid, and even the few that I somehow landed seemed really intentionally obscure for a Wednesday. Powerful server = ACER?? That really is quite a stretch. Is that Wednesday-level cluing for that particular entry? What next, “Powerful server = IPHONE”??? I mean, we might as well, right?
Thank you, Mr. Schmitt, for acknowledging that The Bear is a TV DRAMA and not a comedy!!!!!!!! (Still upset that this terribly unfunny, borderline depressing drama continues to steal Emmy awards for all the comedy categories from much, much more worthy nominees like Abbott Elementary, Ted Lasso, Hacks, to name a few. I cannot be convinced that The Bear is funny. It is literally the opposite of funny.)
Hi -- I'm relatively new to solving crosswords and can't say I've learned all the rules yet (I've been taking a learn-as-you-go approach). I'm a bit confused by a statement in today's Wordplay. What does the writer mean by "... since there are no spaces in the grid..."? Is grid spacing a type of crossword construction technique/cluing that can hint at the tense or number of words in a clue's answer? Or am I misunderstanding this statement? I tried to Google for this and even just looked up the NYT article "How to Solve the New York Times Crossword" and don't see anything related to grid spacing or how it impacts a clue/answer.
@Rich in Atlanta Hey Rich, don't feel so disheartened. I don't know how long you've been doing crosswords, but I myself am relatively new (day 166 and counting on my streak), and not too long ago I couldn't even solve a Monday without researching half the answers. I am one of those that found today relatively easier than other Fridays I've done, but I still had to look up a few clues (e.g. 40A: TANGRAMS and even 30D: AVILA) just to move things along more quickly. I attribute today's easier feel for me to recognizing some crosswordese and anticipating some of the misdirection that tend to come with Fridays. For example, early in my crossword solving journey, I would never have guessed URNS for 58A (never heard that term used outside of cremating human remains), and 44D: IN HD appeared in the crossword somewhat recently, so I tuned in to that answer right away. All that to say, I think you belong on this planet with the rest of us. Hope some of these puzzles start to feel a little more intuitive for you as you continue to play.
@Cat Lady Margaret *Love* O PIONEERS, wow. That is so good!
@Average Joe Hilarious! Gave me a good chuckle 😆 Well done, sir
Wow, based on these comments, it appears for once I might be in the minority here. Maybe because I’m still at the stage where I know I’ll need some assists to get through a Saturday puzzle, so I didn’t flinch at having to Google around ~10% of these clues. Or perhaps I was just unusually tuned in to the constructor’s wavelength. For me, this wasn’t actually that bad compared to Thursday and Friday this week. I thoroughly disliked Thursday’s, and I had to resort to the Wordplay comments/answer sheet for the last set of clues on Friday.
@CHW Came here specifically to say this.
@Jessica P Turns out "Ittar" is actually an alternative word for "Attar", so that cross was either intentionally meant to misdirect, or otherwise "ITTAR/ICE" should have been coded as acceptable too. Just my 2 cents.
@Steve L :-D I knew someone would do it, lol. Thanks for the pointers (genuine comment, not sarcasm)!
@David O Selznick 1 to this. I stopped solving the Mini despite how short it is because I felt a lot of times the clues and construction were too obscure for me to enjoy the experience. I am sad to see the main puzzle now suffering from this style of editing and really hope it changes soon.