Ely
Charlotte
Today I have officially hit one full year of perfect puzzles with almost no assists. ( I had surgery last month and my brain wasn’t fantastic for 2-3 days so those days I did use the column for help ) Yay!
My fastest Friday but still a very fun puzzle. I don’t understand people who complain about answers they haven’t heard before. That’s how we learn new things.
Appreciate LACUNAs crossing with COILs.
For anyone that saw my comment last week, I actually did manage to complete the puzzle on surgery day before I went under. Then I did the next day’s puzzle at the last minute, so the streak remained. However, my brain isn’t working very well for me and I needed assists today. I opted to keep my solve streak going despite needing assists, though. So 326 days without assists, and a 327 day solve streak. Not bad for my first surgery.
@Leontion better than beer Jarts, I guess. Though I’m sure that exists too.
@A J Hartman if youre going to make a fuss about Alaska, why aren’t you making a fuss about Hawaii? If that was included, “southeast” would be incorrect for at least half the entries (depending on how you want to interpret directions). Your complaint is pretty reductive if you’re only going to include *one* of the non-contiguous states.
I didn’t get the theme until reading the column. I had a fun solve and tried to rationalize that maybe all 8 entries were in the SOUTHEAST part of their respective states. After the reveal I went from thinking this was a fun puzzle to a completely BRILLIANT puzzle. Best of the year for sure.
It took me an embarrassing amount of time considering my average, but I have made it to a 307-puzzle streak without assists! I only have a few weeks to relish this because I have a feeling I won’t be solving the crossword during or immediately after my surgery next month. My husband is a smart man, but he’s not been prepped for a Thursday or Saturday crossword.
I put USS for Port Letters and that messed me up pretty well. Especially since I accidentally pressed “y” instead of “u” for FLU… I still got in at 21 minutes but what a mess I made.
Yay! My fasted Friday ever! Less than 9 minutes!
@Nate you’re welcome to submit your own construction :)
@MmmmHmm why is that humiliating? It gives you a goal to work toward.
@Xword Junkie I was proud of myself for getting scalene. I just finished a trigonometry course (yes I am just now getting a college degree at 40) so it was fresh in my mind.
@MK a rebus is an extremely common thing on NYT Thursdays.
@Nancy Davis He was the 46th president.
@Moira it’s all about the Benjamins…
@Andrzej crossword puzzles are just trivia. Trivial information. I don’t have any *need* to know the author of War and Peace any more than I need to know a brand name of something… because I’m not in any field that involves literature. But it’s useful in pub trivia and crossword solving, so I know it.
@Esmerelda there are terrestrial forms of algae and aquatic forms of moss.
This was tough. I couldn’t get past thinking the beaver coin was Canada-related and that Shiva was referring to something Jewish (a theologian I am not…) It took me over 30 minutes to solve. Someday I will learn my lesson and not begin solving right before bed because my brain works better in the morning. When I continued this morning, things came much faster. Any time anyone says BETTER THAN SEX or something similar, I’m reminded of the episode of It’s Always Sunny where they try to emulate the new trendy bar in town.
@Nick it’s not wrong, though. Read the article.
It was a cute and creative theme, but a total slog to enter in the app.
@Helen Wrights as a Shiba owner, I’ve never thought to offset his screams with the pleasant hum of alpacas! Honestly, they’d probably make him scream more.
@Mark it’s more likely for people to confuse algae for moss because not everyone knows that algae isn’t always aquatic.
@Joe @Joe that’s my thought too. I don’t have an issue with the puzzle, but the entry was just annoying and made it not fun.
@Andrzej snocaps are pretty good with some popcorn at the movie theater. Give them a try sometime 😉
@Don it can be solved on the app. There’s a rebus option on the keyboard. It’s annoying but solvable.
@Bruce Oh I WISH I could find a surgeon willing to remove a few organs with just local anesthesia. It would honestly relieve a lot of my anxiety.. and keep my crossword streak going ;)
@James everything in a crossword is trivia.
@Mike I’m 40 and it took me 8 minutes.
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