Jeb

I just wanted to say that “Father figure?” would be a great clue for DADBOD. 😊.

Beautifully constructed puzzle, with all the themers working as valid fill with and without ice. Nice!

Haha. Almost got me. I had BLaH (which I was pretty confident with), no clue on LI_O, and was not seeing the alternate meaning of banner (that which bans). After running the alphabet on that square and getting nothing, and looking through the rest of the puzzle like 4 times and seeing nothing wrong, I eventually changed BLaH to BLEH and finally figured out what was going on. I thought I was going to lose my 467 day streak on a Tuesday! I think my last streak break happened on a Wednesday. You’d think it would be a later-week puzzle that did me in, but sometimes there’s a section in an easier puzzle that just catches you.

I wouldn’t say this puzzle was a 33 across, but for me, a 21x21 grid is too large for a themeless to be enjoyable. Especially one that has so many obscure answers (IMMIX, RAKI, MIDINETTE, ARIE, TARAROAD, SMOLT, etc.). Sure the crosses helped, but when you can’t really guess the missing letters (like in RAKI) you need *ALL* the crosses. With other answers, like NAKEDSUN, at least it’s comprised of two common words and is pretty guessable once you get close. In the end, for me, it came down to flyspecking the “E” I had put at the crossing of TeRAROAD and eRIE. I guess the Tara in Tara Road is a reference to Gone with the Wind? (I’ll look it up later), but TERA is a valid prefix meaning 10^12, and for a place in Chicago, the name of a Great Lake seemed much more likely than a random string of letters. I guess kudos for breaking the record for smallest number of black squares in a 21x21 grid, but sadly, I think the result was a rather uninspiring puzzle.

On Wednesday I was stumped because I was 100% sure that the gas brand was SoNOCO and I didn't remember the T-Rex named SUE. I did eventually google the answer and filled it in, but I was upset with myself because I had felt too much pressure about maintaining my streak and I had decided that if I ever couldn't finish a puzzle without any lookups, I would just let the streak go. Like with connections, I never worry about my streak, I just do the puzzles when I can - sometimes catching up after several days. So on Thursday, I decided to stick to my word (to myself) and fall on my sword. I left the top-left square empty and after completing the rest of the puzzle, I finished by revealing the puzzle. Previous streak: 533 (though really 532 with no lookups). Current streak: 1 😊

Surprised to see two entries in a Monday puzzle that I needed all the crosses for. Better brush up on my Japanese. 🤓 .:.:.:.:.:. .:.:.:.:.

I like the way this puzzle takes a not uncommonly used idea from punny clues in the NYT crossword (clues that have a question mark at the end) but turns it on its head. The idea of using these dual-meaning words in clues happens pretty frequently. One that comes to mind is “Wanders around the airport?” as a clue for TSA. I’m sure I have seen all of -er words in the theme answers in today’s puzzle used in punny clues in the past two years. But finding common phrases that use these words and making them the themers (instead of using the words in the clues) by cluing the the themers to the lesser-used (or perhaps unofficial) definition of the particular -er word was a wonderfully clever idea that led to fun and enjoyable results. 👍👍👍

Great debut! I hope you just ignore the few haters. I am 3x your age and occasionally toy with the idea of puzzle construction, but “time”. I do like to think about what I could do for a Thursday “trick” that could be original, clever, and not too obvious. I think you nailed it. My only very minor gripe would be too many of the theme entries involving popular culture or proper names. But even if I don’t know much about Ellie Goulding, Kylie Jenner or two and a half men, I have at least heard those names. The triple-rebus was such a master stroke that it was well worth throwing in a few more proper nouns than usual. Looking forward to more from this constructor 🤓

It was a difficult puzzle for sure and may get some praise from the folks who think the puzzles have become too easy. I like a difficult puzzle, but I think this one was difficult for the wrong reasons. I love those clever and devious clues that when you figure out the answer you appreciate the guile and lateral thinking and how brilliantly it was clued. Another way to make a puzzle difficult is to fill it with obscure (to most) references, clues that don’t quite work, questionable fill. and green paint. To some, I guess this is what makes a fun puzzle, but not for me. chacun à son goût. Green paint (multi-word answers that aren’t common phrases) are my personal puzzle peeve, and there was no shortage of these today: (HEYANYBODY, SEVENHOUR, OPENMOUTHS, PRESSSTART, BESTADVICE, BUTI[disagree], and more). In the category of obscure fill, a certain amount in a late-week puzzle is fine, expected even, but too much is just a way to make a puzzle difficult without making it interesting, clever, or fun. In today’s puzzle I think the line may have been crossed. Some examples from today’s puzzle (some of which I knew) there were: GALOIS, MRLONELY, OCELO, THOS, THEBARTMAN, LEASALONGA. Some of these (like MRLONELY) were derivable after getting enough letters. I’d put HEXER into the bad fill category, but one or two in a puzzle is generally just an annoyance. This puzzle also had some lovely clues like “Bond Classification” , but not nearly enough for me 😢.

Whether or not B and N count as words, based on the number of complaints, the phrasing of the revealer was clearly lacking. I thought it made figuring out the meaning more difficult, but not in a clever “I meant to do that” kind of way. I think it should have just read “when parsed differently”. What I really liked was how the trick was “hidden”, the same way a capitalized word is often “hidden” when it is the first word of a clue. Because theme clues are sometimes denoted by a leading asterisk (and sometimes referred to as “starred clues”), one had to realize that the star was actually a part of the clue and not just a marker. Good stuff.

I enjoy a difficult puzzle… when it’s made difficult in a clever way. Too often the inclusion of too much trivia, niche answers and clues, and my personal bugaboo: misdirection that IMO “doesn’t quite work” results in a difficult puzzle that I find annoying rather than enjoyable. But today’s puzzle!! Chef’s kiss. A++. I’ve only been doing the puzzle for a few years now, but I have never come across one so chock full of fantastic misdirection. And by that I mean clues that look straightforward and aren’t obviously misleading, but when you figure out the answer and actual meaning of the clue, it works perfectly. Too often I come across clues where the constructor had a really clever idea for misdirection, but the result left me thinking “yeah, it kinda works, but ain’t great” Today it was almost all pure gold. Hats off to Kelvin Zhou. Sure, I have a minor quibble or two. But man was this good! The number (in the math sense 🤓) of times I got that feeling of exhilaration from figuring out the answer and appreciating the cleverness of the clue was off the charts. And sure there were some proper names and trivia in there. There always is in a late week puzzle. But no more than usual (and probably less). More like this please!

I’m so glad I have overlays off as the default in my app. In this case, not because it makes it easier to tell where you are in this puzzle, but because it adds another element to figure out in the puzzle (I also don’t look at the title until I finish). With overlays on, it is clear from the start that the Olympic logo is depicted, making the theme pretty obvious. With just grey (all the same shade) it is not clear at all what is going on or even that the shaded squares form five interlocking rings. I got RING BEARER pretty quickly, but FRODO BAGGINS was one letter too long for 114a 🤓. I soon figured out that colors had to be prepended to the shaded answers, and then soon after that realized it must be an Olympic theme. Though not knowing which five colors were used in the Olympic logo or the location of those colors added a little more guesswork. It was super-fun to figure those things out as I worked through the puzzle. I love a puzzle within a puzzle, and without ever seeing the colors (until I turned overlays on after completion) I got to enjoy that extra challenge. 😊 As a result, my experience solving this puzzle was a 10 out of 10. Even with the extra challenge though, it was a pretty easy Sunday. I finished in about 60% of my average time.

Yowza! Great puzzle, 5 stars. The varied themers were so much fun to work out 🤓. While I understand it, for me, spilled MILK was the only themer that didn’t work that well visually, and was the only themer I didn’t totally love - still good though. I got 9a from the crosses and finally worked out “mess with TEXAS” after completing the puzzle (I was determined to “get” it before coming here, and finally did 😊) I actually did have one error that needed fly-specking, but it wasn’t in a themer. I had originally wanted “ohhs” for “Sounds of realization” and when I saw that the first letter was an A, I thought AHhS seemed fine as the answer. I couldn’t understand how hIRED was the answer to “Made public”, but it thought I was just being dense. When I realized I had to change that H to an A, it was a literal AHA moment 🤓🤓🤓

Regarding FRIENDOFDOROTHY, I just want to thank the (now over 30 year old) classic movie Clueless for teaching me this phrase 😊. It was about the first thing I filled in, no crosses required. I couldn’t find a clip shorter than this ~2 minute one. Enjoy 😊 <a href="https://youtu.be/iuL2loyB1bk?si=Eav7VQcpuTrs_06I" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/iuL2loyB1bk?si=Eav7VQcpuTrs_06I</a>

A trivial theme for a Thursday, so the difficulty had to be boosted with obscure names and questionable clueing. I didn’t look anything up and still finished in below average time after fly-specking, but I hope today’s puzzle is not indicative of the quality of the new (post-Fagliano) Shortz era. Maybe Will just needs a few weeks to get back in the groove.

Pleasantly tough puzzle. Lots of clever cluing. I’m surprised at the number of comments about never having heard of GORP (at least from the US crowd). Time to put down the puzzle and hit the trails y’all 😜

Hmm, I figured all the “old guard” would be pleased with this puzzle because it was difficult. I don’t get it though. Sure, it was more difficult than most Fridays of late. Any puzzle that includes a bunch of green paint (e.g. ham omelettes), bad or obscure fill (e.g. toot at, rudi) and poor cluing (e.g. direction in a spaghetti western - maybe a cartoon western) is gonna be more difficult. Personally I’d rather have a clever puzzle than one that is more difficult for the wrong reasons. To each their own I guess. I think praise of this puzzle just for being difficult sends the wrong message.

When I was around 6 years old in the early 70s, my father got a bike for me at a garage sale. It was an amazing gold-colored Schwinn Sting-Ray with a banana seat and those high curved handlebars (we might have called them monkey bars). It was absolutely the coolest bike ever! Then my annoyingly sensible father replaced the banana seat and handle bars with standard versions, making it one of the lamest bikes ever. I was devastated 😭😭😭

Anyone else get DOOKed by [TR]IP LEA? 😂 (26 down). What’s a “trip lea”? Is that like a trip planner?

VERY difficult puzzle. I eventually finished without any lookups though 🤓. There seems to be a lot of hate for this puzzle, and TBH I agree with most of the gripes about how particular clue/answer pairs are just not good (ABBAS, SOB, etc., my particular bugbear was “legit” as a clue for ALL THAT), and I felt that other entries were a little green-painty (IS IT OK, and others). However, despite a number of problematic clues, I personally felt that on balance this was a good puzzle and not a bad one. I felt that there was enough very clever clueing (DOGNAP, WASHERS, etc.) and “ah ha” moments (for me) to ultimately make this a worthwhile solve. I hope Sam will heed particular criticisms, but on the whole keep up the good work. 😊

I never saw the word ARHAT before yesterday; got it from the crosses. When I read the clue for 2 down today, I thought “oh, I know this one, it was in yesterday’s puzzle 😊”. But I was clearly not focused enough when I did the Thursday puzzle, because I absolutely could not recall the word (maybe some of the letters involved). Or maybe it would have sunk in if I’d had the time to read this forum yesterday (I’m sure it must have had a few mentions). At any rate, when it shows up on Saturday I will absolutely be ready for it 🤓

I feel a little better that I’m not the only one who thought the penultimate letter in “ad nauseam” was a “u”. I was actually more certain of that than I was that “erat” was spelled with an “a”. But ERuT seemed less likely that ADNAUSEAM, so after leaving that square til the end I tried A first and got the happy music. I thought there’d be more comments by now on this puzzle given a few of the clues/answers that tend to rile folks up, like 0! (“I was told there would be no math”) and SRSLY, not to mention some of the proper names (I needed all the crosses for MYA, even after filling in the M and A). As for the link to the 0! explainer in the column, I wish it had been left out. I have a degree in mathematics, and I thought that explanation was more confusing than helpful. I’d look for a better one to post, but I don’t have the energy. Maybe someone else will. 🤓

I find it amusing how the Saturday (sometimes Friday) comments are either "it's too hard" or "the weekend puzzles have become too easy". Where's the middle ground? While I do take issue with certain clues or answers, I rarely find an entire puzzle to be worthy of rebuke. There was "some obscure" trivia today (which I'm not thrilled by), but not any more than usual. And there were some clues that didn't quite work as well as they should (like "family inheritance?" for GENEPOOL), but not more than one or two. That kind of clue is my particular bugaboo. I love, love, love clever wordplay, but I am disappointed when the "clever wordplay" doesn't quite work. I enjoy a difficult puzzle, but not at the expense the clues/answers working well together. A few tough puzzles in the past few months had this problem. They were tough not because of well constructed and clever clues, but because the answers didn't really work well enough with the clue (IMO). This puzzle was light on wordplay (so not my fave), and the grid geometry made it more like a grouping of mini-puzzles (one in each corner plus the middle), but overall it seemed like a very traditional "more difficult" puzzle. The reason it was tricky was because many of the clues were not obvious and one really needed to work the crosses to figure it out. I thought that would please the traditionalists.

After filling in SAX at 64 down, i preemptively put a rebus [RAY] after the X, figuring it must be X-RAY , but nope. Fun puzzle. Love a non-Thursday rebus 🤓 .:.:.:. .:.:.

Often there are complaints about cluing that skews too old (actors from long ago) or too young (modern slang). So I just wanted to give a shout out to the multigenerational cluing for 2 down 😊. Equally easy for me (Gen X, pushing 60) and my daughters (Gen Z, around 20). Though maybe some Millenials might have found it tricky.

Who is Ben Doregon? 🤪

I guess Thursday gimmick hate is typical on this forum, but I really don’t get why there seems to be so much of it today. I’ve only been doing the puzzle for about 4 years, but I feel like I have seen several similarly themed puzzles, so the theme is neither novel nor obscure. The non-themed cluing was perhaps a little more difficult than average, and I agree that the revealer was a little vague, but once you got enough crosses to fill in a couple of the themers, it seemed pretty straightforward. And the theme was then very helpful at getting the rest since you immediately had the first 4 letters of each themer. I’m all for criticizing particular clues, crosswordese, green paint, too many proper nouns, pop culture references or obscure references, etc., but I didn’t see an abundance of that today. A few that were mentioned that I agree with, but overall and thematically, I thought this was a good puzzle 🤓

OH bOY! That error, along with put on “AN Air”, knowing the names of only 2 or 3 current NFL players and nothing of “Gravity’s Rainbow”, and thinking the Formula I divisions must refer to a class of car made the SE very difficult to untangle. The good use of misdirection and clues having multiple possible legit answers made this a good difficult puzzle. I have a pretty broad knowledge base, but I always expect a few unknowns in a Saturday puzzle. I thought this puzzle might have had one or two too many esoteric or niche answers, but it was borderline. At least most of those (like PETER IV, and LAMAR JACKSON) could be competently guessed at with enough letters. Others like FICHTE and SOLI required all the crosses. I had finesse before SLAM BID. I’m not sure I would call that a “tactic”, but close enough I guess. Also thank goodness I grew up in the era of wacky sugared cereals. CHOCULA was a gimme, but I tried rHo before PHI and cOd before ROE, making that section rough as well.