Jake G
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Yay! That was a Friday puzzle like olden days. Over and over I thought I was not gonna get it. The northwest and the southeast fell, then it filled in through the middle. Then the southwest then the northeast. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Just under 26 minutes and I’m ecstatic.
I’ve heard of jack squat and I’ve heard of diddly squat. I’ve never heard of JACKDIDDLYSQUAT. That’s OK. I figured it out. I guess it’s in an extreme form when you combine the two into the longer one. Fun Saturday puzzle and not a stretch. Thanks.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Beautiful torture for 38 minutes. Over my average! I’m so happy. I made it through without looking anything up and that most delicious of experiences: “I’m never going to finish this one without help!“ Thank you for the fun before I go to bed.
Yes! Didn’t take forever, was more than my average and I enjoyed figuring it out. A Thursday worthy of being on Thursday. Thank you to the constructor and the editor. Good night!🌙
Cute. Okay. Too fast. The trick was too easy. I want to be clear: I’m not ripping on the constructor(s). It takes skill to put this together. On the other hand, the NYT is settling for this. It was still enjoyable nonetheless, more like an appetizer, though, instead of an entrée.
Whoopie! It wasn’t tough, but it was fun nonetheless. A lot of twists and turns and it was fun figuring out the spanners. Thank you.
They really changed things. You can’t pop the puzzle back up while you’re in the comments section. It doesn’t open the NYT app anymore. Anyway, nice puzzle. The LOWES square had me for about eight minutes. Other than that, a nice bowl of popcorn.
One of the tougher Fridays in a long time. I’m not going to complain. He’s wishing that more Fridays and Saturdays are like this.
@Ed 😊 Still the Department of Defense, too.
@Joe Horton it depends upon what your goal is. Mine is always to do the puzzles without any assistance. Today I could not. It’s a last resort after I have pushed and pushed and pushed. Because I did that, it got down to a little bit in the NE corner. You have to set your own standards, just like in life.
@Barry Ancona when I solve a puzzle “the night before“ as I have done tonight, you are almost always one of the first comments. It must be a big part of your day to be here at the moment the puzzle drops. I enjoy it when I can make it fit. I find myself making it more of a game with myself to focus and get it done, then, as quickly as possible. I was confused a few months ago when I was the first one “here“ to post a comment on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday. I’m nowhere near the fastest solver. As fast as I thought I was, I’m not in the top 20%. Perhaps there was a glitch with the system that night. Anyway, I enjoy the three puzzles a week that I do and I enjoy reading the comments. I have gone back now in the archives five or six years. It goes faster because I only do those three days a week. I enjoy reading your comments. Have a good weekend.
First time that I’ve ever come to the comments for assistance. I had DORIc and DEcK. Deck made sense for an anchor so I didn’t catch that Doric would be an odd first name. I had gone through checking and re-checking a number of times. I still loved this puzzle. It gave me exactly what I looked for even before getting stuck. Every section was a slog. Thank you so much.
Really? Come on. Seriously. Oh well. There’s always Friday and Saturday.
It was torturous… And ever so enjoyable! I don’t care that it took me 50+ minutes with absolutely no assistance whatsoever. This is what a Friday puzzle is supposed to be.
Well, we keep asking for it. This was one of those puzzles. Pretty much just hard work and no fun, though, unlike some other tough puzzles.
Thank you for a challenging Friday puzzle. Really had to work my brain. I know someone will still say that it wasn’t tough. I’m quite satisfied with getting it done without any help.
A thought: It may be that we OGs are just getting better at combining memory, intuition and brilliance to solve faster than we did 5 or 10 years ago. Sometimes I can just hear the answer in my head and I don’t really know where they’re coming from. That didn’t used to happen as much.
OK. That one was fast and not really fun. That was a Wednesday just like yesterday. Not even a hard Wednesday.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Thank you so much. I actually feel like I accomplished something and it took 30 minutes. God, I love that feeling. The NW and the SW had me. That was really fun. I’ll sleep like a baby.
Fun. Enjoyed the spanners. Thanks.
My goodness! There have been some inane arguments on this comments page over the years. This one about rebuses and not rebuses and whatever is really an all-time low. It’s a beautiful puzzle. There is a revealer to tell you exactly what you need to do. What more do you want? Somebody to hold your hand? It’s not your puzzle. It belongs to the creator of the puzzle. We get to enjoy their creation, much like we get to enjoy a painting. You don’t get a vote.
@Mike hey. I wanted to tell you in going back through the archives, I came upon the comment you left around Thanksgiving of 2020 during Covid. It moved me although I was reading it almost 5 1/2 years after you wrote it. Thanks.
Perhaps they figure that we’re all going to be hung over when we do the puzzle or still drunk. It was fun, though.
“Careful what you wish for…” maybe I was tired and that one aggravated me at the end. I had CAnE instead of CAPE. I never heard of TELUGU. For some reason, I knew I could’ve stared at it for days and I wasn’t going to figure it out. I didn’t know what SEAGRAPES were. I’m not complaining. I haven’t had to look something up in a long, long time. It’s good for me. Thank you to the constructors.
Challenging, despite the fact that it wasn’t one of those mind breaking 45-minute jobs.
This puzzle is why some people think of us hard-core CW enthusiasts as masochists. It took me over 50 minutes with no assistance whatsoever. And I’m happy about it. One of those wonderful days where I begin to think I’m not going to get it. A little bit in the center S. A bunch in the SW. And then the entire NW. That’s what was left. And then an insight here and an insight there and I got it all done. Great puzzle.
@Mike this is the way Friday and Saturday puzzles used to be every week. It was spectacular.
Just enough of a workout before bed. NE was the toughest only because I resisted putting in LEGALLIMIT right at the beginning. Then the little bit in the middle put up the last fight. By the way Utah has the legal limit of .05 of 1%. That is the exception.
I will never be even close to one of the best at these. There have been times where I thought and had accumulated evidence that I was getting pretty good. This was very difficult for me. Almost an hour and that’s fine with me. I loved it. And, I guess there’s times where I’m not on my game. I’ll go with that. Thanks to whoever put this one together. I got it with absolutely zero assistance.
I had to use check puzzle for NE Corner. I don’t want to be up until midnight and still not solve it. I thought it was spelled ORAgEL. I would’ve never thought of HOLLA. I did not know the mythology answer. I could’ve spent days and not gotten it. I don’t really feel beaten. Getting the rest of the puzzle was not easy. Thank you for what was still an entertaining puzzle. I don’t have to finish it without help to enjoy it.
Amazing. Like the good Saturday puzzle, I begin to think that I’m stumped about halfway through. Then, the familiar insight flashes. Fun puzzle. I’m sure nowhere near as fast as many. I’m pleased I got it in just under half an hour with no assistance of any kind.
Yay! A really good Saturday following a really good Friday. Let’s keep it going. I don’t care that today seemed to be a little easier for me than Friday. Keep them coming. I had to work really hard and focus just to bring it in at 30+ minutes with zero assistance.
@David Ramos please see some of the other comments here today. This was a rough one for a lot of veterans as well. Beautiful pain. 😉
@John I really don’t like to complain about Friday puzzles and I get your point. I only got it by guessing the “A” in TNIA. I haven’t looked her up yet and I guessed that maybe it was T. NIA Miller. I wasn’t going to be defeated. Why would anyone guess that a name could be spelled TNIA?
Thursday? No. Tuesday. Sometimes a puzzle can be quick and fun. This was just easy. I wait for Thursday to even do the puzzles. Disappointing. Sorry.
Clever, fun, not too easy. Thanks. 😊
@Darren really? They’re doing it for their egos. Something tells me that you might not necessarily even believe them. We all have different experiences, yes? A few months ago, I got to thinking that I was getting pretty good at this. I actually enjoy the process of entertaining the idea that there are people who blow me out of the water at these puzzles. It’s a wonderfully humbling experience.
I love that it was difficult mainly because I actually finished it with zero help whatsoever. I couldn’t care less that it was 46 minutes. The southwest and the northeast both had me. I went out for some Chocolate Shoppe ice cream, came home and figured out that I had GEtS instead of GEMS… that quickly solved the southwest because then I immediately got COMEHITHER. Ten seconds later, an inspiration gave me METRIC. The northeast fell just as quickly. Who knew that the best ice cream in the world would have such an effect? As their slogan goes “if you want healthy, eat carrots!“. As high of a butterfat content as any superpremium ice cream. I had a double scoop of Zanzibar chocolate, which has actual dark chocolate in it and what they label as “This $&@! Just Got Serious”. Great day. I told my wife, this might be the one that just totally gets me. She told me “don’t worry, honey, you’ll get it.”
One of those easy puzzles that is still fun. Finishing a Thursday puzzle quickly can be the thrill sometimes.
@Alan Young Me too! WAdi didn’t WASH. 😉
@Steve L this conversation happens often here. Friday and Saturday puzzles are supposed to have potentially misleading clues. The more, the more fun that they are. In this case, most of us make the mistaken assumption that, indeed, deserts are exclusively hot. A lot of deserts get very cold at night even if they are very hot during the day. I do get what you are saying though.
@Chris I guess the definition of NATICK keeps getting broader and broader.
@Boris Yes! It was wonderful. I got it done with no lookups or anything. It was sweet torture. There were so many answers that I had never heard of. Still, it all filled in.
Cute. SW was last. Challenging solve. Satisfying.
It seemed tough and then it was done. Nicely constructed. A good workout.
Update #2: Woohoo! The bottom half crumbled as well. Then I didn’t get the music. Then I went over the whole puzzle across and down and couldn’t find anything. Then I thought maybe NESTSIN and SAKI rather than NESTSoN and SAKo. BINGO! For those people who have not been doing this as long as some of us (and there are people who have been doing it a lot longer than I have), this is one of those puzzles that challenges veterans. The thing is, it didn’t get me angry. It was wonderful. Including breaks, it was 48 minutes. And, I used no help whatsoever. If you have to use help, I agree with those who say use it. It’s how you learn. It’s just never the way I learned. Maybe, for me, nothing beats the thrill of really, really thinking I’m stumped and never going to get it. Then, I solve it. It can actually carryover into life. That may sound weird and so be it. Thanks to the constructor and Will for their fine job. It was tough and fair. The way I know this is I eventually got it. That’s all that counts. This is one of those occasional puzzles where those of us who “complain“ about how the puzzles are easier get our wish granted of tougher puzzles.
Another excellent tough Friday. I love it when I’m 10 minutes over my average. Thank you.
Even though it turned out to be easy, it was fun. Enjoy!
Fun, challenging AND quick. Nice.
Well… there goes the nice streak we had for challenging Fridays and Saturdays. I echo with Barry said: again, this isn’t on the constructors. NYT has to keep them easy so that people keep subscribing.