Mark Abe
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Los Angeles
I too loved the graphic at the end. I also enjoyed that the O's of the tree were the only O's in the grid.
That was a fun puzzle, and educational too. I'd like to add one, pointed out to me a long time ago by a bilingual co-worker: "Brea" in Spanish mean "Tar", and of course "La" means "The", so the Los Angeles site know as "The La Brea Tar Pits" means "The The Tar Tar Pits."
Wow. That's an impressive construction. OTOH, I'm not sure I should congratulate myself on a PB Thursday time, or be irritated with myself that I understood none of the theme until I read Wordplay.
I caught on to the "down" blinks first and though, OK, it's just one letter used or not. THEN I figured out the "across" blinks and went WOW, that's impressive and it actually helps solve the puzzle! I liked this one.
Good puzzle, but I have a major nit to pick on 47D. Since the last T-Top was from 2002, it's time to retire this clue or at least qualify it with a "former".
Congratulations to Aidan on being published here and on starting Harvey Mudd. I agree I had not seen "uberize", but it was pretty guessable. I also wanted to use this place to call attention to a great feature in today's mini: The paired entries 2D and 6A, both clued as "cut down the middle", both actually cut the grid down the middle. (Apologies for being slightly off-topic, but the mini doesn't have its own forum).
More evidence of the crossword conspiracy: 14A in the main puzzle, and 5A in the mini, are the SAME WORD! (UBoat) Coincidence.. I don't know. Oh - I enjoyed the puzzle and the theme.
Great, fun, puzzle. Suggestion for a future theme: In 1968 I saw a theater marquee double bill of two new movies: The Odd Couple Romeo and Juliet Unfortunately, it was decades before we all had cameras in our pockets.
As a long-ago math major and later software developer, I appreciated DISCS, TERABYTE, DATA POINT, and the Weird Al reference. I knew I was on the constructor's wavelength when I immediately recognized the "Noted doomsday prepper." I hope we see more from Mr. Juhnke.
@JayTee I have you beat, my 2024 automobile has TWO knobs. One for on/off/volume, another for channel/track/etc. up and down. Automakers seem to finally noticing that hard knobs actually work better than soft buttons.
I am SURE that Jem came to this on her own, but I have to point out that on 11/27/2020 Robyn Weintraub clued "Classic British rock group" for STONEHENGE. (Yes I'm obsessive/compulsive, but it's my all-time favorite clue)
@Steven M. I'm twice 35, but both I and my grandchildren like the movie It was a gimme for me. PS: Deb, I'm sorry for your loss. May you remember him fondly as you solve puzzles.
Did anybody else mentally follow the clue "Only mammals that can crack Brazil nuts with their teeth," with the line "or want to?" Oh - yes, I did enjoy the puzzle.
Loved the crossword, although getting the long down early definitely helped. Side comment on the "mini": I DON'T pronounce "sense" and "cents" as homophones. There's a definite "t' in the small coin.
@john ezra, I had POIROT before MARPLE, and CUSPID before CANINE
Great puzzle, with a theme that helped the solve. Tarun sounds from his comments like a really nice, smart, teen. I'm looking forward to living long enough to solve puzzles from him featuring "Twenties", "Thirties", etc., as he ages.
TIL: This old math major learned that there are lemmas in linguistics. Fortunately for me, the clue was written by a fellow STEM type.
@Vaer, the mini seems to be getting passed around, with several authors and two editors recently. I usually do it as a mental warmup to the main crossword. It would be nice to see a discussion board devoted to the mini. There would, of course, be a character limit on comments.
@Gretchen F I like the condensed version of 10 Years of Solitude, and the preliminary nature of Plan 3. OTOH, the rest of your numbers are only approximations, he said irrationally.
That was tough for me...I spell the words OK and amnesiac, hadn't heard Yas Queen (my gay friends are as old as I am), or Artica, which is a hypothetical from before the current continents. OTOH, I did enjoy "Z tile"
@Dave S, that was three things for me...both I and a 6-year-old grandchild enjoy Moose Tracks ice cream
@Joe Horton I agree, breaking convention is to be applauded on April 1. Also, it would be nice to have a place to discuss the Mini & Midi puzzles, instead of hijacking wordplay like we just did.
@Francis Not only have I not used a GOTO in ages, my cardiologist has me holding the salt on my popcorn. Two more of life's little pleasures gone.
Thanks to Sam for the explanation on 17A. This guy from Los Angeles really didn't understand how an ad for a sandwich shop was low and inside.
@DW The end of a period (quarter or half) in a basketball game is indicated by sounding a horn. This was definitely a tough but fair puzzle. I agree that SPEED CHESS was the cutest answer.
This is somewhat off-topic, and two days late, but I wanted to say how much I hated the May "Monthly Bonus" puzzle. What had been a monthly pun-heavy quick exercise because a heavy-duty study of one specific area (Twenty-teens music), with no humor in site. Please bring back the old Bonus!
@Eric Hougland Thanks for the back history. I started doing the NYT in mid-2019 so I missed this one.
Wow, lots of strong feelings. I enjoyed it, mostly, and just accepted that it was a Thursday-level puzzle on a Sunday. I did feel sorry of the casual Sunday solver, though. Also, although there were clear links from the Artist back to the "stolen from" clue, it would have made a more easily navigated puzzle if you could have referenced the other direction. I finally used "Find" on my browser to search for the number in the page text.
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