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My number lesson from doing these puzzles for years now: Always be willing to erase an answer that’s not working for you. The answer might be right, but sometimes clearing the board helps you see other possibilities. If it is correct, it'll find its way back in. MAGGIE Simpson, I’m looking at you.
What’s funny little puzzle. Well done!
The hidden Odd Couple pairing made me smile. Intentional or not.
I tried to open a rug cleaning store, BUT RAN OUT OF STEAM Fun puzzle theme and creative clueing!
Definitely a case of the crossword author and me being on a very, very, very different wavelength.
This was wasn’t for me. Hope others enjoyed it more.
I don’t check out the column until I’m done or feel hopelessly stuck. I bet I’m not alone in that. A technical note in the column does me *zero good*. The app has a section for instructions, clues, titles etc. Why-oh-why would you not put the info about the underlined letters in the place the people affected by the technical issue will actually see it! The app has this functionality!
Very nice puzzle but I found it visually challenging to see where I was on the grid solving it in the NYT games app.
This crossword puzzle made me smile. The fill was wonderful and the theme clues were a delight. Thank you, thank you! 🤟🏻🤟🏻🤟🏻
Liked the puzzle itself, but frustrated by a few tech things. Missing paintings implied the titles of the works, not the artists' names to me. Cross referencing the downs and a crosses would have made a MUCH smoother solve. Unsure if I needed to put the artist in the rebus or the correct down letter. The grilled is filled, I’ve resorted to checking the answer key and there are no errors, but still am not getting my gold star. Frustrating.
@Katie I’d amend that to say “if you don’t have anything constructive to say, don’t say anything”. Constructive feedback can be helpful. Dropping a single word insult, useless.
@Mike Reservation, as used in the clue, can be parsed as “I have reservations” to mean “I have doubt”.
@Clark Schierle Even worse, it was noted as “administrivial” as if a lacking a fundamental clue was a trivial mistake. Imagine buying a jigsaw puzzle with pieces missing if you used a VISA card to buy it. And then having that baked in mistake referred to as trivial.
I wish we would normalize not automatically referring to the Torah as The Old Testament. These references were in the Torah long before the “New Testament” was envisioned.
One of the nicest puzzles I’ve played in a while. Well done and thank you!
ABOAT instead ABBOT, as something that you’d find on (Lake) Superior. Made sense to me!
@Lewis (raises hand). Or in other words, me too, emu
Disappointed in the change to NYT Games app that now includes the name of the puzzle on the splash screen when you launch it. It used to only be visible if you tapped on the “i” icon on the puzzle screen itself. I used to avoid the puzzle name to up the challenge and avoid spoilers and seeing that hint made it easier for me as well. I did send a feedback note to the tech team, but thought I mention it here as well. Otherwise a very nice puzzle.
This was debut?! What a sophisticated and enjoyable first puzzle. It was very challenging at first pass, but bit by bit the knot came untangled. Well done!
@Mark Isn’t it INDICT as in to charge someone with a crime?
I know that crossword puzzle clues aren’t inclusive definitions but pathways to an answer, so I’m not complaining about the clue. But 11D made me chuckle, because there is not a single thing on the Wendy's menu that is kosher. “Baconater” is as good an answer as any, but it's not more correct because of the bacon.
Anyone else used to pronounce it to rhyme with “guacamole” with a long “e” at the end, just for fun?
@Rich in Atlanta Saying “whac-a-mol-ay” to rhyme with guacamole was what passed for humor as college freshmen in the 80s. Good times :)
I read INS as physical hook up slots like on the back of a computer or TV- the IN and OUT connections. HOSTS also means legion or multitude, so it is a direct, if somewhat archaic, synonym. Nice puzzle!
@E LED Is ahead in score. The Red Sox led until the eighth inning NOFEE Applicants for apartments in NYC often have to pay a broker fee. Units in which the landlord pays it as them, NO FEE, to the tenant LSD is a hallucinogen that goes by nicknames like Acid or Windowpane AREEL just means dizzy or feeling like you’re spinning
@Heidi The important bit about the clue for STET is not that is an editing term, it’s one that used when reviewing drafts before going to press. Those draft copies are called GALLEYS.
@Jeff Same with me. Sitting on a complete and correct puzzle, but “unsolved”
Passover is only “movable” if you’re orienting to the wrong calendar. On the Jewish calendar it’s always on the same date.
@Steve L that’s exactly what I meant! What’s the best way to catch a typo? Hit send. (I'm full of wisdom today!)
“It's glue. Sticky stuff” - Elwood Blues
@abelsey These complaints are getting tedious and making the comments section a drag
I thought the payoff was a little underwhelming. I thought I’d have to rotate them myself to find the final setting, but it just appeared. The constructor was certainly clever to find words that worked with the rotated letters, and the grid itself was a pleasant fill, but compared to other theme puzzles, this didn’t have the excitement at the finish others have acheived.
Great fun- lively theme and nice clueing. Perfect Sunday!
@Ken on my iPad the black was gray, but the rest were fine.
@Jane Wheelaghan I think using Lee (first or last) is that it is a common name on both sides of the pacific. So our hypothetical Lee could be eating congee or oatmeal, saying hello or nihao, playing mahjong or bridge. The pasty I missed what that each theme clue was referring to the same person! I easily got congee/oatmeal off the clues sing “Lee” but missed that the other paired clues also were about “Lee”. Even after I got the revealer! That’s on me!
Using Lee (first or last) is as a common name on both sides of the pacific was a clever tack. Our hypothetical Lee could be eating congee or oatmeal, saying hello or nihao, playing mahjong or bridge, depending on which side of the ocean they live. The part I missed what that each theme clue was referring to the same person, Lee! I easily got congee/oatmeal off the clues using “Lee” but missed that the other paired clues also were about “Lee”. Even after I got the revealer! That’s on me!
@dutchiris summed my feeling up perfectly, although the clue for POET made it worth my time
@Tom Sadat was not clued as the first Muslim *novelist*, but first Muslim Nobel winner. Begin and Sadat won the peace prize in 1978.
@Frances Re 18A, poker, as in poking someone in the eye.
@caitlin BROACHES, not BROACHED. Very nice puzzle today- challenging but not too obscure.
@Steve L My suggestion to the tech team was a toggle control to opt out. Seems like a reasonable compromise for all needs.
@chris OGs, not ogs. It means original or originator, as in, the one originated a genre or style and everyone else came after
I had to update the app to even see the circles. I finally gave up in frustration, came to read the column, saw reference to “circles” and said “what??” Too many tech issues disrupting the fun.
@E It’s a Thursday puzzle. The clues are supposed to be more obscure. I wouldn’t count most of these as slang- SNOOKER, A REEL, LED etc are just words or phrases used in a normal, grammatical way. LSD is the abbreviated name of the drug. OLESTRA is a brand name. SKEETER is slang for Mosquito, and maybe NO FEE could be thought of as slang, but it’s more a common descriptor than slang. Nothing unreasonable especially given that Thursdays are meant to be trickier after all.
@Steve L Yup, that hanging “A” should have been a give away, but I was stuck! Adrift, casting for answers, a lonely ship on choppy waters… as it were.
For 35A “She was totally taken by Paris” , “taken” literally works of course, but the alternative I read wasn’t that Helen was in love with her captor, but that Paris was totally smitten with her.
@Andrzej you need to sneak your comment in someway… any ideas how one could deceptively get something past the gates?
@Steve L Yes, I was generalizing, not going book by book. My larger point remains. However, the “Jewish Bible” is not “otherwise known as the Old Testament” to the people of the Torah (and just because I don’t want to be called out for not including any edge cases, I concede that there maybe Jews who colloquially refer to it as the OT) because it is neither old nor a testament to us. Testament is another Christian oriented word. There are also editorial changes that distinguish the OT from the Torah and Tanakh, so it isn’t even the same written work. For example, order of the Ten Commandments.