Q

@Charlotte Simeon (today's constructor) here. First time commenter! Thanks for the lively comments all! I wanted to clarify a few things from my "Constructor Notes" which seem to have attracted some attention in these comments. . 1. I think it's pretty common for an accepted submittal to wait many months before it goes to print. But this puzzle in particular got slated for the week of Fathers Day... so, naturally it had to wait til June rolled back around. I hadn't meant to imply that the delay in this case was unusual, only to acknowledge a neat puzzle that was published in the interim. . 2. It's somewhat common (in my experience) for Editors to request a change to the way the puzzle plays out. They are always very gracious about it, and of course I had the option not to have them run with it in its present form. Having chosen to accept their request for edits, it was a fun process and I'm excited about the finished product (even if it's a bit different than I had originally pictured it). I'm trying to think of a way to revive the original gimmick for a future puzzle... we'll see! . Thanks for solving!

@George "Unoriginal" how? Which part have you seen before?

@Steve L "Kol sasson v'kol simcha" is a part of the Jewish wedding ceremony, very common I'd say. "The voice of joy and the voice of gladness" in some translations.

@DrJoe Tonight's Purim... maybe the triangles are hamantaschen?

@Eva H. You'd be justified in assuming the NYT wouldn't publish a puzzle with so many obviously incorrect answers! The Wordplay column (and lots of the 400+ commenters before you) noted that other answers --correct regions of the country-- worked equally well for the central answer. You're invested enough to bother writing in to the comments section, so you might be someone who would enjoy reading the column the comments are referring to. Looks like lots of solvers had fun with it once they cottoned to what was going on (and that's par for the course in themed puzzles). Hope that helps!

@Steve L Lots of words for "happiness" in Hebrew. Try here: <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness_in_Judaism" target="_blank">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness_in_Judaism</a>

@Eric Hougland Check the spelling on Simeon Seigel (not Siegel) for the Thursday and Sunday ballots?

@heironymous where is Car Boy in the puzzle? others have commented same...?