Kenny
Planet Earth
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Planet Earth
@Jacqui J Had a Garmin GPS back in the day (cell phone serves the purpose nowadays). One of the voice choices was "Yeti". All the directional commands Yeti gave were guttural grunts, snorts, and wheezes. If you departed from the recommended route it would roar/scream at you. It was hysterical!
@Marilyn No apology necessary. This forum represents the views of solvers with a wide variety of experience and opinions. Every puzzle isn't going to hit the same way with every solver. A couple things to keep in mind: 1) People have certain expectations about the relative difficulty of puzzles throughout the week. The Thursday puzzle is known for having counter-intuitive tricks or outside-the-box construction which can considerably ramp up the difficulty. Some solvers are quick to react when a puzzle doesn't meet expectations. 2) Your post is fairly early in the daily solve cycle, and early posts may be disproportionately weighted toward expert solvers who complete puzzles very quickly on average and may have higher difficulty expectations of a Thursday puzzle. Opinions may be more balanced as the day progresses. Just my $0.02 worth, YMMV.
Mercy, I don't have any idea how some of you solve so quickly! I can't even begin to read all the clues in those times, let alone parse answers and tap tap tap, oops, backspace, tap, gah!, backspace, backspace, tap tap, tap in my answers on my Android phone. I can solve a little quicker if I'm at my PC with a full size keyboard. But some of y'all are just on another level than this old plodder. 50 minutes on the dot, and several minutes better than my Sunday average.
@B Me too! I couldn't grasp the 7/ clue so couldn't figure where my mistake was. Once I checked ORAgEL and made that correction it became obvious.
@Robco Tahoe is a version of the Macintosh computer operating system. Took me more than a moment to grow that one.
Maybe this isn't the right place for possibly a technical question. Is anyone else experiencing in the NYT Games android app that every time a puzzle is opened, a pop-up from Will Shortz slides up with tips and tricks for solving? This popup must be dismissed by either swiping down or tapping the "Let's Get Started" button. This is new behavior, started a couple days ago and it happens every single time. Not just when opening a puzzle for the first time, it even happens when returning to the grid from a menu. I don't see an option for turning this off in the app settings. Any insight?
This one was unsolvable for me. I was completely overmatched by ZARFS, the operculum clue (LID), ANDYKIM, trivia from a movie I only dimly remember seeing 30 years ago (UCLA), and others. Often I can overcome gaps in my trivia knowledge through crosses, but not today, too many things that I simply didn't know without outside help. After nearly two hours of frustration I gave up and looked at the answer key.
@Kenny To clarify, this is not a criticism of the puzzle, which I thought was clever and well done. Just disappointed in my ineptitude in solving it!
Feeling pretty good after navigating this one. On the first pass I wasn't at all certain I'd be able to solve it without some help from Google. Believe it or not, the diagonal of Qs in the SE were what gave me a foothold and got me started. Enjoyed it!
Enjoyed this one. Well below my Saturday average but not close to a PB. Wasted a few minutes at the end looking for my mistake: I had convinced myself that the Wayans brother was KEENAN and IN ROMA inexplicably seemed plausible.
This one was a challenge for me, 6 mins slower than my Saturday average FWIW. You know how sometimes a difficult puzzle feels like a tedious slog and you feel irritated and grumpy even after successfully completing it? This was NOT one of those for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the cluing, the clever misdirects, and felt a lot of satisfaction when I got the happy music with no lookups. Getting gold today felt far from certain on the first pass but gradually it all fell into place. Thumbs up from me!
Rough two days. Yesterday was a struggle and today I simply couldn't find my mistake. I couldn't figure out why IAn wasn't the answer to "Cartesian conclusion" i.e. CartesIAN. Of course that made no sense with the crossing nETA as the answer for "Self-referential". But I just couldn't see it, finally gave up and looked at the answer key and am now quite annoyed with myself.
@Francis Nah, every puzzle clicks differently for each of us. We all come from different backgrounds, fields of expertise, solving experience. Lots of times I've found a puzzle easy that others thought was difficult. Other times I've struggled mightily with puzzles that others are getting PBs. That's part of the fun (or pain, lol).
@Francis You may have heard the ethereal sound of the celesta other times without realizing it, notably in Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" ballet score, Hedwig's Theme in the Harry Potter movies, or in the Mercury and Neptune movements of Holst's "The Planets", to name a few.
@Rahul Apparently plenty of Americans (myself included) also found this one very rough.
This one didn't seem *too* tough. Well below my Friday average but not a PB. Never heard CRISSCROSS APPLESAUCE in my life that I can recall. But CRISSCROSS seemed obvious enough and with crosses (pun intended) the rhyme mostly filled itself in. I can never remember whether the 2010 Jobs announcement is IPAD OR IPOD lol. And TIL a new (to me) word SAPID. Enjoyed it!
Well... Clocked in with a 44 min solve time, several minutes slower than my already plodding Saturday average. At least I didn't have to use any lookups as I lumbered along channeling my inner rhino. This was one of those that looked pretty hopeless after the first pass (thought briefly about bailing and calling it a night) but ever so gradually began to take shape. A bit surprised I got the happy music without having to hunt for mistakes.
@Francis As others have pointed out, Kilo and Lima represent the letters K and L in the NATO alphabet. Also called the phonetic alphabet, the intent was to provide clarity in radio communications. There are too many letters that sound alike to entrust military and/or aviation ops to garbled or weak radio signals without a widely understood language for clear comms. Sorry if I'm spewing info that is common knowledge. One humorous anecdote, in Navy boot camp we were required to memorize the phonetic alphabet by an instructor who insisted on pronouncing it "phenotic".
@Kenny But I sympathize with those who don't have a background in classical music. Even for me the answer wasn't immediately obvious because there are often multiple ways the same general idea can be communicated in a piece of music, i.e. ritardando vs. rallentando, etc.
@Barry Ancona Can't say whether I had ever heard of Asa Butterfield, so no clue on title roles, and I don't believe I've seen the movie. But I have read Orson Scott Card's scifi novel "Ender's Game" upon which the movie was based. So once I had ENDE_ from crosses, ENDER seemed a reasonable guess.
@Chris J Like you, I had never heard of NAPTRAPPED, although one of my online gaming friends is frequently CATTRAPPED. Eventually got that one with crosses and a reasonable guesses based on the clue. I've never heard OBVI in spoken conversation either. Rather I believe it's another of those ubiquitous shortcuts in text messages and social media, like SMH LOL AFAIK BRB FWIW etc.
46:50 for me, not terribly proud of that time. SW corner flummoxed me for the longest time. Never heard ALOP before that I can recall. Didn't know OSHEA, and only made the KITE connection after getting it from crosses. Otherwise I enjoyed it!
@SP SUPERIOR jumped immediately to my mind because 1) I already had the R crossing from CAR and 2) I've had ear worms the last couple of days of Gordon Lightfoot's haunting "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitgerald" and the Home Free cover of GL's epic ballad. The HF cover IMO is a beautiful and loving tribute to the memory of both the lost crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald and Gordon Lightfoot.
This one was challenging for me. In general I'm not a huge fan of rebus puzzles, but that's a me thing. This felt a little closer to Thursday difficulty IMO, YMMV. I instinctively shied away from the rebus scenario when certain answers wouldn't fit until it became unavoidable. Then saw the genius of the double rebus which actually made the solve easier for me, believe it or not. Slightly under my Sunday average but nothing to write home about. Hats off to the constructor!
@Andrzej I don't speak Italian either but I am a musician, so Italian musical terms such as meno mosso are everyday lingo for me.
@Andrzej Lee (short for leeward) in this context is the opposite of windward. Windward would be the side of the mountain or island or ship exposed to the prevailing wind, whereas lee or leeward would be the other side, less exposed, more protected from the wind. As clued, REPENT might refer to regretting and changing one's behavior. i.e. repent of one's misdeeds.
@Chris Read this answer as EN BANC, from French for "on the benc." Refers to a court case adjudicated by all the judges of the court, rather than a smaller panel of the judges.
@lujoc I wasted a lot of time at the end thinking I had the rebus entries in the wrong format. Changed all of them twice, still no happy music. Discovered my error, ETHANE instead of ETHENE and all was well.
@Striker Also enjoyed PHM! I hear a movie adaptation is in production.
Oof, this one taxed me. Wasn't sure I was going to get this one done without some lookups, but after rethinking some mistakes in the NW it eventually fell into place. Better than my Saturday average but not by much, and the average is nothing to write home about anyway. Toughest puzzle in a while for me.
I enjoyed this one, not too hard, the trick revealed itself in due course. Not a Thursday PB, but not too far off.
I did terribly. Completely flummoxed in the S and SW. Needed three lookups to finish. Never heard of CRASHBLOSSOMS in my 66 yrs. :-(
Not happy with my performance on this one. Caught on to the theme easily enough, but overall there were enough gaps in my knowledge or imagination to make this a real slog and make me feel bad about myself. Nothing against the constructors, this is all on me. More than 21 mins over my Sunday average, which was nothing to brag about anyway. Oh well, I still have Connections to look forward to. Oh wait, Connections is usually another exercise in futility, can't imagine why I keep playing it. Sorry for the negativity, just a discouraging solve.
That one was just the right amount of crunchy for me. Grabbed a handful of reasonable guesses on the first pass, most of which eventually proved correct. But had that awful feeling I might have to get some help from Google. But ever so gradually it all fell into place with no lookups - SW, then SE, most of NE, long answers, finally NW. A satisfying solve, rven if not particularly quick.
@Mark My experience as well. Enjoyed it!
@Cat Lady Margaret My first guess was BADDREAM
@Dan Copy or printer paper is commonly sold in packs of 500 sheets, which is a "ream" of paper.
@Dan Same here. Seriously, DRIBLET? Had DROPLET for the longest time, and for the life of me couldn't grok a 3-letter answer for "Wowzers!"
@Kenny Grok, not grow. Autocorrect on my phone is wrong *way* too often, lol.
@SG True, but usually I'm able to suss out unknowns with crosses. Tonight I just couldn't get enough of a toehold to make progress. Frustrating.
@sonnel Thank you for that explanation of the theme! I figured the 2-letter rebuses must have *something* to do with fusion (maybe table of elements abbreviations?) but couldn't quite suss it out.
@Andrzej. FWIW in printed classical music, many of the musical instructions to the performer are in Italian. So "meno mosso" means less motion, or go slower.
@sotto voce It wasn't much of a post. Hardly worth the trouble to re-create it, lol. Just said not a PB but better than my Monday average, and lost some time looking for a typo.
@Kenny Aaand... there is the comment the EMUs snagged last night, now posted, lol.
18 mins today vs. 50+ mins yesterday? Hmm...
@Dave K. I wondered about that, too. I guess the distinction the clue is making is "eat in" or "dine in" vs. "takeout" or "to go."
I liked this one a lot! It took a while for it to come together, and there were so many little "aha" moments. I thought the cluing was really clever and it had me chuckling all the way to the happy music. Well done!
After nearly two hours of abject frustration I finally gave up and looked at the answer key. Although I've seen them and understand their function, I had no idea cup holders were called ZARFS or that an operculum referred to a LID. Nor could I remember the singer of "Rock Me Gently" ANDYKIM or a bit of trivia (UCLA) from a movie I only dimly remember from 30 yrs ago. I'm not saying it was a bad puzzle but it did not gel for me at all and now I feel stupid.
This one was a struggle for me. NE nearly did me in. Left it overnight, tried again just now and inch by grudging inch it came together. An awful lot of factoids I simply didn't know, crossing with seemingly impenetrable wordplay, made for a surprise when all the squares were finally filled in and the happy music played. Under my Saturday average to boot. Yet, inexplicably, I didn't feel much joy at the end. Just one of those days, I guess.
Rode the struggle bus for quite a while on this one. NW had me almost completely buffaloed, esp the three long acrosses. Was pretty sure about TRACE in 1D, but had to finally give up on CABIN in 4D. Clung to GLYCERIN and DARN, but had no idea about ICARLY. Couldn't remember if the iconic drummer for Rush was NEiL or NEaL Peart (RIP). Finally gave in and looked up the definition of "cytology" to get CELLS, then VILLA fell and finally 1A, 15A, and 17A.