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TIL: ABYSM. Makes perfect sense, since we use "abysmal" all the time. I never thought about the noun form of that word. I love learning stuff like that!
I'm impressed by constructors who come up with such clever themes. This puzzle was fun and made me wish I had a mimosa to go with my oatmeal this morning.
Fun puzzle with a cool graphic. I didn't get the 'O' until I read the comments, but I'm still working on my first cup of coffee. Team live tree here if the tree comes from a tree farm. That makes it a crop, a renewable resource, and an income source for the farmer, plus the wildlife haven and carbon sink others have mentioned. Artificial trees are plastic, which is bad in so many ways, and, apparently, a cat emetic, too. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, belated Happy Solstice, and if you celebrate a winter holiday I haven't mentioned, Happy Holidays!
Love, love, love this puzzle! Longtime fan here, who wrote an outraged letter to NBC when they first tried to cancel the original show. I truly hope someday we'll embrace Grne Roddenberry's inclusive view of the future. This puzzle packs in so many theme entries that it is a delight to solve.
Delightful puzzle today! Fun way to teach useful words and phrases.
A copy editor isn't a professional proofreader. I know because I was a professional proofreader once upon a time. I was lukewarm about the theme until I read the comments that made me realize we're all "seeing things" in this puzzle. A visual pun makes more sense than misspelled homophones, and is much funnier.
Any puzzle that starts with Jason Momoa is fine by me, but I enjoyed this one even more as I figured out the answers that were bent by the magnets, then realized the two connected answers were related terms, and that it worked that way for all four pairs. Cool puzzle, I thought, and then I saw the revealer, and wondered what animals had to do with it. AHA! How did he do that?? Way cool!
I love Crosswords that have multiple layers to the trick. In today's puzzle, the Pig Latin words were pronounced as though they end in AY, but not all were spelled that way. I like how Amsay's mind works!
Wow! Bravo, Dylan! This puzzle is ingenious and very well crafted. I needed the revealer to get what was going on, and then to see how it all fits was great fun. Super Sunday puzzle!
What a class A blast I had solving this stellar puzzle! A rebus, a visual, and all that theme fill made this puzzle SUPER fun!
Delightful puzzle! It was fun seeing all the K words emerging, and although I started typing TWO and FOUR in the rebus blocks, when I figured out the album title, I realized it started with 24K. (I guess Bruno Mars was hoping for a gold album.) Lots of things I didn't know in this puzzle, but easy to get with crosses. And really, complainers, part of the fun of doing crossword puzzles is learning bits of trivia, team names, etc. A task can be hard and still be enjoyable.
@Lucia They do get harder as the week progresses. Try a Monday and see how you do. Nice to have you here!
I'm astonished the editors didn't think IS PEPSI OK was "in the language." I guess they never ask for a Coke at a restaurant selling Pepsi products. I grew up drinking Pepsi and always thought Coke was too syrupy sweet. I don't drink soda anymore but my husband does, so I hear that question a lot. Loved the puzzle and all the clue misdirection.
@CT Not really. That would be only one egg.
Congratulations to Robyn on this 50th puzzle! It was a clever delight, and the telecommunication clue was hilarious. It was an easy solve, though, at less than half the time a Friday puzzle usually takes me. Friday puzzles in the archives are much harder.
Re: today's mini, TIL that you can figure out the length of each month using your knuckles. Had no idea that was a thing. I learned the "30 days hath November" poem when I was a kid. Didn't everyone?
What a fun and clever debut! Wasn't sure at first what to do with MOJitO, and why anyone eould do CIRCUITS in a tent, but then GRAVY clinched it for me. Who doesn't love gravy? Luscious puzzle
Was not a fan of the show, so the names didn't jump out at me, nor did I know that Central Perk was the name of the coffee shop. I kept looking for the letter that was used by both clue pairs, thinking they would spell CENTRAL. Didn't work. I had to read the column to get it, and then I understood about the names, but the benefits still had me puzzled, and the explanation in the column was clear as mud. Took a few minutes for me to realize the non-name crosses were all work benefits. Not a thing for me--I'm retired!
Lovely debut puzzle! ELEMENTS OF STYLE is a classic and anchors my collection of style guides. A puzzle using that title as a revealer and including egg creams (yum), and a Poe reference is a winner. Go Ravens!
@Teresa Christmas trees are farmed and thus are meant to be harvested like any other crop. People aren't going into forests and cutting thousands of trees for the holiday.
Delightful puzzle! Loved that all the color-crossed answers solved to other legit answers, and that GAY showed in the middle of the rainbow. Well constructed, with fun clues.
@Dave It saddens me when solvers say they are upset when they can't solve a puzzle. Being challenged is part of being human, and rising to a challenge can be very satisfying, as is learning from one you fail at. Even tough puzzles like this one become solvable with experience. Be patient with yourself. It used to take me hours to solve a tricky Sunday crossword.
Delightful puzzle today. I loved the cluing and enjoyed filling in the theme entries. HANDYBELLY was inspired!
I love puzzles that I complete without getting the trick. Thank you, Deb, for explaining it. Wow, just wow! That parsing into six "words" was a tad too misdirecty, but maybe another cup of coffee would have helped me get it...nah!
Who the heck puts kale in a Caesar salad???
Huh. I'm one of the olds who never heard of the game or the meme, and if we had ever tried to play the game, my mother would have hit the roof, as we used to say. It's hard for me to imagine parents being okay with kids jumping around on the furniture, but I grew up in an era when furniture was expensive and supposed to last decades.
"Womp womp" is the sound of helicopter rotors in slo- mo. "Wah wah" is the sad trombone.
@Rachel R. My first job was with a small academic publisher. I was the staff proofreader and spent many hours with editors, taking turns reading the manuscripts aloud and proofing the typeset galleys. We didn't come across BANG very often, but it was always fun to say. I still have the old Chicago Manual we used back then. By the time I left that job I'd memorized whole sections of the manual.
I like the revealer, which refers not only to the shape of the theme numbers but also that each square grouping has a square in it: 4x4, 3x3, 2x2, descending from upper left to lower right.
What a delight! Haven't seen the movie since it came out but had no problem dredging Andy's last name from the depths of my brain. I especially love how the circled letters show his path, and that breakthrough circle in his "cell wall" was genius.
I'm always impressed by puzzles that I solve but don't know how I did it. I got the X and I fairly easily, so I realized what the key had to be, but my husband and I couldn't figure out how to find the E or the T until I started reading today's column, and then I understood why 76 across had no clue, and he figured out 113 across. Bravo to the constructors for this fun challenge. Would have been cute if the middle of the escape room had turned color when the key was inserted, though.
What a fun theme! It made a delightful Thursday puzzle.
@Francis DeBernardo I was very puzzled by this theme answer until I read the Wordplay column. I get TALK as a synonym for scuttlebutt, but I was born in New Jersey, so it isn't a homophone for TOCK!
Thanks for the memories! We played padiddle when I was in high school in central New Jersey. I remember the kissing version a few years later.
What a fun puzzle! I had to check Deb's column because I didn't know what kind of braids they were, but I was able to do the rest of the puzzle knowing the gray boxes indicated braided answers. I love the 2nd set of words being unrelated to the clued ones. Go Blue Hens!
@Lewis Grocery store kale is strong tasting and stinky. I seek out Tuscan kale at the local farmer's market and it tastes wonderful, although I would never, ever consider adding it to a Caesar salad.
@Taylor A jumbotron is not a big steak, as you note, but a JUMBO ENTREE certainly can be. The latter term is pronounced ON TRAY, so it's phonetically perfect Pig Latin for TRON.
Such a fun puzzle! I knew early on that fat fingers would be involved, then humble pie led me to the pattern, and when the next theme answer was IINNDDEEXX, I realized the digits were in order, and I was wowed. Also pleased that I could fill in partial answers with that realization. Took a bit to get all four DDDDs! Very enjoyable Sunday, Mr. Karp.
@Steve L In linguistics class, I learned that the doubled phrases became common after the Norman Conquest, with one word derived from Anglo Saxon and the other from Latin via Norman French.
@Dave Kid's sleds are sold in toy stores.
Oh, what a fun puzzle! And what a clever way to reference that oft-used bit of crosswordese! Loved the visual aid and the apt STUFfing. Mr. Byrne, I hope your wife continues to improve. It's wonderful to find out how these puzzles are helping her.
@Mean Old Lady My first guess was tongs.
@Deb Amlen Thank you for the link. I'm very grateful to hear that Will is improving.
@Rory Puss is American slang for one's mouth. The other answer isn't "ani" but "an i" (the letter).
@Spmm We spent a lot of time researching this issue when we had a fireplace installed in our living room. Placement of the TV and your sofa or chairs can be done to avoid neck problems. We use recliners, and found they tip us back just enough to make viewing the TV very comfortable. You can find guidelines on the internet.
@Bob T. No way was 'bucket list' coined by a screenwriter in 2006. I'm astonished that the online Merriam Webster makes that claim. It's been in the language for more than two decades, more like three or four.
Enjoyed the puzzle but dislike the new format. The bigger keyboard is handy, as is the rebus key for new solvers, but the puzzle is now too small. The overall look was much nicer before.
A day late but have to say, as a Jersey Girl, I liked seeing the Lenni Lenape reference. I thought this was a terrific Tuesday! Very clever theme, well executed, making me wish I still had my old Magic 8 Ball, one of my favorite toys.
Does anyone know how to read a past wordplay column? We're trying to figure out the theme for August 20, 2000?