Snowfly
Maine
Ryan Judge, your first seed entry put a huge smile on my face, and your second almost cost me a streak, but in the end, actually opened up some of my other problem areas, so all’s good. (Never heard of the phrase, but erasing my 2 guesses while in the early throes of solving – “fallout, then “failure” – put me IN ECSTASY and the rest fell pretty quickly.) And Deb, thanks for suggesting a new “puzzle within a puzzle” – trying to guess a constructor’s seed entry! I also loved the clues for METADATA and BAKE SALE, too … Over my average for the day. but hey, it's a Friday Look forward to more from you, Ryan!
@njs [chuckle] or LOL - depending on your age and/or experience As in: I seem to recall a lot of complaints at the beginning of JF's stint signalling a shift to a higher level of difficulty ;-) or 😉
Crossing a three-stack of humorous sayings with SPEECH THERAPIST was nothing short of brilliant! This was indeed a thing of beauty, despite feeling sure at one point that this would be a streak-breaker. Then I switched the two film prefixes, erased “snog” and took a chance with STEREO. And grinned when I realized I’d mistaken the “containing” clues with “palindrome” – silly mistake, one that often happens when I try to solve too close to my bedtime. But little by little, I found a few other toe-holds and much to my disbelief, inched over the finish line before turning out the light. And only about 3 (very enjoyable) minutes over my average … Thanks!!
Personally, I thought this was, in a word, BRILLIANT! Took me quite a while to catch on, but when I did, grinned from ear to ear. Never heard of AKON or NEYO, but the crosses were kind for both. Thanks -- for a great puzzle, and for lightening my mood!
@Hanson Because he is a NYT Crossword constructor
@Roger I needed a lot of crossing luck to finish this one, and even then had to walk away to finish the due west. Luckily I Ching finally occurred to me, but even then I had to consider if it used coins, as I was only aware of the practice using yarrow sticks. RPGs stumped me too before I realized the high heels needed a particular kind of strap. Fun Fact (and quite appropriate to this puzzle): the die inside a Magic 8 Ball is also 20-sided!
@Cat Lady Margaret I knew it was wrong and STILL entered it, mostly out of desperation because it was about the only fill I had in my first (and second) passes But what sweet relief it was when the crosses finally revealed a word I recognized!
@Grumpy -- gas stations in the US have "regular," "mid grade," and "Premium" types of gas (aka petrol) and also diesel. FWIW, my first entry was "oct" for octane, which is the percentage that the three levels refer to
@Mean Old Lady Me too, thinking of a wonderful Irish film I'd seen many years ago. Until I remembered it was actually "Selkie" -- a magical creature that becomes human when shedding its sealskin!
@Hillary Rettig That's what I had too late last night, knowing that was probably the one keeping me from the happy music. (What do I know about ALT social media, now that I barely check my one and only anymore -- (FB) ?? ) (And that most of what I know about current slang and social media shortcuts, I've learned from Xwords -- and so ANT seemed just as plausible -- b/c, well, every generation likes to tweak current usage to their own secret code -- Woah.) Good night's sleep and MALONE seemed as good as guess as anything else, so replaced it, fingers crossed! Phew ...
@Nancy Braus It happens once in a while for me too, sometimes on the iPad, sometimes on the laptop. This time, I started in the app then tried to finish on laptop -- which was totally blank despite it beinng 90% filled -- and then it erased it all again when I paused the clock!! So then, I went back to the iPad, and luckily, got it to "stick." If it hadn't, my next thought was to reboot both devices (with fingers crossed!!) Judging from the other issues some had, I'm guessing (hoping) this was particularly glitchy puzzle. Good luck!!
@Jodie Eric, thanks for posting the direct link! Jodie, for future reference, sometimes the column is later than normal, and sometimes the link is down. (And sometimes both!) Don't know what was going on with Friday's column, but the link was not working for me on either iPad or laptop. But I did find it in Gameplay Stories So, when it goes live, that's where to look, listed by date, along with the columns for the other puzzles. The easiest way for me to find it is in MacOS on my laptop, at the bottom of the Games page --I love iPads, but navigating websites when a link in iOS is broken frustrates me to no end. (Best if I just walk away and find something else to do, or some other way to access it!)
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