dutchiris

Wish me happy birthday. I've stepped into 91.

Gee, not exactly the punishment we expect for a Thursday: a clean, well clued, non rebus puzzle, with a wacko twist. I liked it a lot; made me smile (bum's place in a bar), made me feel smart (folie à deux), and I could drop in the fills as I listen to the Warriors' game (also very satisfying). Kit, there are two camps for every Thursday puzzle: those who carp about it being too hard, the other saying it was too easy. Ignore them. Most of us will be delighted to see you again soon. Congratulations on your debut puzzle!

I can't believe how many commenters are nit picking about this delightful puzzle. It is a masterpiece of construction, full of challenging fills, with tough letters that you can't imagine successfully crossing. Sometimes we sound like a bunch of spoiled children, and while I won't go that far with comments on this puzzle, it doesn't deserve to be dumped on to this degree. Imagination and flexibility are our strengths as solvers, and if something slowed us down because it seemed confusing, well, we solved the puzzle anyway so we should be congratulating ourselves instead of accusing the constructor and the editors of failing to make it easier for us to do it. Thank you, Kathleen Duncan. Your puzzle was fun to work and I had a lovely time figuring out what was going on. Congratulations on your debut.

There was a string of comments on the Monday puzzle that were about cheating. I find the concept of cheating on the NYTimes puzzles to be weird. Why do you work the puzzles? Is it some sort of self affirmation that you have the brains and breadth of knowledge to do them? that you are trying to keep your mind clicking away to avoid getting rusty? that you are hoping to prove yourself superior to other solvers,? or are you simply enjoying a diversion? Whatever the reason, "cheating" cannot be cheating if there's no one to cheat. Cheating implies that there will be some advantage to be gained by doing it, and there isn't any here. The whole concept is ridiculous. I set a standard for myself in the Bee never to try to find words except those in my own memory, or that can be made using prefixes or suffixes to devise some I don't actually know, and I do google sometimes for spelling. Otherwise, I'm on my own, because at my age I can't afford to lose any ground. The words are there, and the challenge is to find them. But for the crosswords, I enjoy researching clues for answers, learning new things, and I have never considered it "cheating." It would be sad to think that we are here trying to fight it out to prove who is the smartest kid on the block. That will never work, because how could we prove it to people we have never met and will very likely never see? We can enjoy being together without sneering at solvers who choose to work a puzzle in their own way.

"Les petites mortes?" Tess vamped coyly, giving him a tiger eye, but never meaning to drive him right over the edge into an attack mode of the nth power! "Oh snap!" she cried, "All along I thought you were a 'friend of Dorothy!'" Wait a minute, am I in the right puzzle? (Good one, Kameron. Consider this a fan letter.)

A forgiving puzzle, with some names that didn't immediately jump into my mind mitigated by some words that did. A splendid debut, Julia Hoepner. Thank you, and welcome to that essential cadre of puzzle constructors. We depend on you, so give us more. Tomorrow will mark 773 of my current streak, and also my 90th birthday. Pretty weird (to borrow a newly political word).

Mr Shortz! Welcome to the column! Don't be intimidated by being the new boy. You'll get the hang of it, and if you need any help with, well, anything, that's what we're here for. We always know a lot more than the constructors and the editors, and we're always eager to share our suggestions and criticism. This was a ZESTY puzzle for your first day, and I want to say, you did a fine job. In no time, you'll be a regular crossword puzzle solver. Uh oh. You're THAT Will Shortz? Never mind.

A leisurely Sunday puzzle, with enough difficulty to keep me awake and interested. And distracted—I needed some respite from the daily news. Nine times out of ten, people are better off without a top ranking royal. We should cast a really long look at our home near the sun and consider the pacifist's renouncement. Thank you, Mike. It was a great idea. You might say the cat's meow.

To those who are encouraging Daniel Britt to keep trying and someday he will become a real crossword constructor, read the column and read his notes. He's been constructing for years and publishing puzzles for the past eight years in an "alt monthly." This Blowout Game may be a debut for the NY Times, but it was clear to me that he knows how to construct a solid puzzle. This one is a Tuesday, and is at a Tuesday level, but we don't often get such classy Tuesday puzzles. Thanking him would be more appropriate.

Raise you hand if you've never heard of ZhUZH, let alone ever done it.

Sometimes solvers sound like boxers, wearing satin trunks, doing vigorous knee-bends in their corner of the ring, and they were ready to come out swinging. Puzzles should be judged by their merits, not by how long they take or whether they're deemed appropriate for a day of the week. They're puzzles. Sometimes easy, sometimes not, and if it's more fun for you to see it as contest, fine, but pot shots and caviling about it aren't relevant or appropriate. Abigail Martin has debuted with an interesting, original puzzle. I had fun solving it and needed some of the crosses to help me complete it. That's pretty much what I came for. Thank you, Abigail.

Here it is so next time you'll know it. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening By Robert Frost Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound’s the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. Raise your hand if you can recite it, as most school children can.

These are what I'd call improper names. Not good on any day to stuff a puzzle with showtime folks and a only a few clues worthy of the name(s). I want a challenging Saturday, with engaging clues that make me think, not just google. Sorry, Blake, but I found this one tiresome.

I'd say you hit a Homer this time, Mr. Gangi. A fun puzzle and a miracle of construction. (Eye can't say enough about that!) It was a pleasure to spend the evening sailing around the Aegean in some classic company, but I'm aware that what you did may have been more challenging than what we did. Either way, I'm looking forward to more of your puzzles. Thank you!

A very puzzling puzzle. I have been fluent in pig Latin from childhood, and possibly this was an obscure dialect, because I just never got it. Finished it, but didn't get it.

Nice to have a Monday puzzle that's more than just filling in the blanks. Not too difficult for newcomers and not too boring for old timers, a difficult balance to maintain. Thank you, Ian, some cool IDeas.

What a brilliant piece of work this puzzle is. Easy fills made opaque by witty cluing, with so many AHAH moments I was laughing by the time I finished it. I started by just dropping in wild some stabs at what I thought might work, like SAMOVAR and DONTMOVEAMUSCLE and they were almost always right, which helped a lot with crosses. By the time I got to "Cream alternative," I was ready for her. I'll admit I needed a bit of fill help—I knew my husband was likely to know at least one, because he's an encyclopedia of off-the-beaten path words (at least my path): PSILOCYBIN; I had to confirm a couple of spellings and find at least one actress. Recently, I had read an article about Leonora Carrington, and there she was! Talk about MIINDMELDS! Katie Hoody, you are a genius. More puzzles, please!

Oh Deb, you have never failed to support us, without ever making us feel that we are dummies: You gracefully encouraged the newbies, bolstered the middle ground, and expressed camaraderie for the wizards. It can't have been easy to strike a perfect tone for all of us, but you did it, and I, for one, am afraid I took it for granted that you would always be here. Despite my sudden attack of separation anxiety and feeling SILOED, I am wishing you a beautiful, deadline-free retirement, full of adventure and opportunities for exploration. There is so much to look forward to now! About this puzzle, Kyle Perkins, it is almost impossible to believe that it is your debut. The clues were elegant, polished, clever, and fun, and the idea of constructing such a mature piece of work your first time out is mind-boggling. It's truly amazing that you did it while being a dad and a lover of outdoor living. All that exercise must be keeping your brain operating on all cylinders. Congratulations!

What a a lot of refocuses were necessary to get it done. There were so many SLY misdirects while Kate Hawkins PLAYED MIND GAMES with us, and man, did I waste a lot of time when I forgot the MOMs. Cindy and HOLLY were solid and helped a lot—I needed a couple of names I could BANK ON. One of those easy/hard puzzles that I love, and I'm just sorry it's OVA. Will there be complaints? IT DEPENDS—STAY TUNED. The constructor (SEE ABOVE) did a terrific job. Thank you so much, and keep them coming.

My first thought was, What day is it? Then the first fill popped in and all was made clear. From totally baffling it became a game like hide and seek, and from being out of sorts I was delighted and sorry when it was over. No look-ups (were there any even possible?), a little nerve, a little trust, and voila, it was done. Jesse Goldberg, you are a treasure. Thank you! More puzzles please.

IMMIX. What a disappointment to have to consult with Dr. Google to confirm that it could be correct after coming up with myriad tough fills on my own. I didn't mind the other obscurities, but IMMIX? Desperation glue.

What a challenging, delightful experience this was. Sometimes you want to track down the constructor and let 'em have it, but this was like learning to play a new piece of music on an instrument. False starts, difficult runs, but it all came together when you found the right slant and the right set of words to fill it. Thank you, Adam. This whole week has been a stream of stressful appointments, worrisome conclusions, disappointing outcomes, and that was just the personal stuff, happening while the whole country is blowing up, a city at a time. The puzzle was a small escape, absorbing, entertaining, and fun.

Monday easy, but not boring easy, which is not easy to construct. Good job, Jeff and Jeffrey. I enjoyed your puzzle.

Tomorrow we will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. Before that, we had what you might call a long engagement—14 years. We wanted to be sure. Sweet puzzle, fun fills. Thank you, Ella.

I just awarded myself three stars: one for no look-ups, one for finishing it, and another one for finishing it. When the congratulations popped up I was stunned. I should reQQ myself from judging my performance, but I thought it was pretty thrilling. Joseph Gangi, I loved this—it was great fun! Thank you.

Very quick, but with fresh clues that made it fun to work, and a perfect puzzle for a Monday. Congratulations, Harry Zheng, on your debut, in the debut puzzle of 2024, and thank you. Happy New Year to all the stalwart, lively, brainy, informative commenters who enrich these daily crosswords with their insights and humor, and to any new solvers who are just joining the comments column. The puzzles are my most valuable resource for escaping whatever might be bothering me on any given day. They take me on a separate, absorbing journey that has nothing to do with anything but the island of the puzzle. What a relief it is, especially knowing that I can come here afterward, to share the experience with people who have taken the same journey, Thanks to all of you as well.

To Parker Higgins: DEAR SIR (No MADAM, though they often come IN SETS): This fun puzzle FLEW by all too quickly, and as they say in PEORIA, TAINT FAIRE! I won't ASKEW how long it took to construct it (and I'll ADMIT I did BREAK SEVENteen minutes solving it), but I think SAMOSAS an explanation for why she thought you could do the whole thing in rhyme? Thought I would KEEL over when it was done so fast, but thank you, Parker, those AHA moments. I just wish there could be more. YET I'm not sorry to pour myself another STEM of MERLOT and fall to on the rest of my chicken TENDERS. (STOP ME if you think I've had enough already.)

I hate to DWELL ON the DEPRAVITY of those who found the puzzle full of gimmes and never ATE CROW like the rest of us DODOS when they failed to spot EASY FIXES. GRANTED, they may not have appealed to a spouse to get the WEIMAR ERA, but STANDARDS change when we figured out DON DRAPER, after never once seeing Mad Men, and we spotted an unfaded WATERMARK in an instant. I still feel PEEVED. But let us not see this as a BARRIER to our friendship and DEEPSIX all our good feeling. I would not want us to PART ON a sad note that ended in TIERS. (ARE WE OKAY?) Nevertheless, I SAY eNERF is eNERF. Thank you, Evans Clinchy, I thought this was fine for a Saturday.

Funny how people zero in on a minor stumble or two and blame the constructor. I doubt that a natick or two made anyone's average time SOAR and if there had been nothing to WORKFOR there would have been a chorus of NE! NE! too easy! I had fun working your puzzle, Rena. Just ignore the Snyder comments.

Then there's the Indiana barrel maker, Gary Cooper, and the alt cru from the French gas station, Vin Diesel, and the record collection of English grasses, Heath Ledger and Santa's MMA workout locale, Nicholas' Cage and the coffee made when the only available water was from the goldfish bowl, Joe Pesci and the desperate Christmas decorator from the Sahara desert, Holly Hunter and, yes, I agree, that's about enough of that.

If I went to a lecture I knew might be puzzling, but the flyer promised dessert sandwiches, and the "sandwiches" turned out to be a plate of OREOS, I'd start looking for the trickster on the Shortz list.

When my doctor retired, I lost a friend, a mentor, an educator, a parent figure, a consoler, and, of course, a healer. People in our lives who fill this role, even though we don't spend in-person time with them outside of that one arena, come to seem like part of our family. When they leave, we lose a part of our team, the people who provide the glue that keeps us together, and we feel it on a personal level. Others will step in to keep the column healthy and supported, but it won't be the same. We will miss everything you have so skillfully done for us. Thank you, Deb, for being our family doctor (so to speak) for all this time.

I would say that this a stately, no baloney puzzle, one with graceful clues that do not hand you the stars on a platter, but do make it possible to fill them in confidently from the crosses. I loved this puzzle, and I was impressed by the fresh cluing of the glue that held it together. This may be a debut for the NY Times, but Mr Britt clearly knows his chops. Thank you, Daniel. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Solving this puzzle was like going to another place. Unexpected fills (AREACODE) a shocking answer (CHURCHROCK) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Rock_uranium_mill_spill" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Rock_uranium_mill_spill</a> and HEADDANCER—all were recognition of the nation within our nation, the Navajo. The puzzle wasn't difficult (quickly solved) but the welcome distraction of different path (mostly clean as a whistle—a couple of IDOs and ONITs, which I didn't mind) was deeply appreciated. I am home almost all the time now, and I can't seem to stop watching the news and obsessing about the sinister path our country is on. Thank you, Erik.

First pass, nada. Second pass, maybe three fills. Started to feel like a trivia game instead of a crossword. Finally rattled the cage, and amazingly, it started to fill up from the bottom. Went back up to the top, armed with the knowledge that the long fills were really straightforward, and the HONEYMOON started to unfold. This was some debut! Good for you, Katie Hoody. (Bet we'll be seeing more of you.) Thank you!

For most of the puzzle I thought that I was the ONE OFF. You took us FORA ride, Peter Gorman. It was TAXIng, I'd say, but not in VANE. Thanks, DUDE.

What a terrific, imaginative, difficult, delightfully funny crossword puzzle! So many clever combinations of words that made me laugh when I figured them out (a favorite was CONE OF SHAME). I am not a musician but I managed the references without much trouble, and some clues that seemed super challenging turned out to have simple answers. I was stymied by the German poison until I remembered faux amis and translated that instead. Most of all, I was blown away to find that this sophisticated example of a MASTERCLASS in puzzle construction was a debut Wow, Alex Murphy, please do give us another soon!

A cooler rebus puzzle you could not hope for. Nothing for a beginner to sweat, with chill clues that melted into fills. Good job, Ben and Zach! (You have another fan)

Thursday is so often rebus day that I was sure it was going to start any minute. I was on edge the whole way through, waiting for the kicker (thought it might be the horse), and burst out laughing when the poem galloped off. I don't think Frost would mind—he had a fine sense of humor. Take a bow, Joe O'Neill. It's not often that a debut lands on a Thursday. Nice job. Thanks.

What this puzzle lacked in Friday to-the-death challenge it more than made up for in clever clues and fills—a perfect pleasure to solve. So much of it was fresh and interesting—a bit difficult in the SE corner, but when the unicorn appeared the lights went on and the music played. Thank you so much, Evan, and congratulations on your impressive debut.

Are we all so thin-skinned now that we find words like MISSUS, DAME and BABE to be insulting and evidence of some kind of dreadful misogyny? Did you find these songs to be slurs on women? "And here's to you, MISSUS Robinson" 🎶 "There is nuthin' like a DAME" 🎶 "I got you BABE" 🎶 A lot of the language in current pop and rap songs that people find catchy and cute and fun are really misogynistic obscenities and everybody is just fine with them.

I'm glad that so many found this one to be delightful, fun, whatever, but for me, the puzzles are starting to all look alike. Not the clues, but the difficulty. I miss being really challenged by strong cluing and clever fills. There were some in this puzzle, but the crosses drew their teeth, and the result was an easy puzzle. Obviously, the responsibility of choosing the day a puzzle will run doesn't rest with the constructor, and Kate gave us a really nice puzzle, just not Friday tough. So thank you, Kate, for a puzzle that was fun enough, just not mean enough.

A very cool puzzle! How to lead the newbies through some possibly difficult fills with get-able crosses, and ones that were not dorky! This is a tall order for any day, and especially for a Monday. I was entertained from start to finish. Thank you, Hannah!! ❤️

Smiling ear to ear after this one. Fun and just tricky enough, with no tEARs shed. Thank you Royce, and congratulations on your Thursday first. You're a dEAR! (This 🌽 is for you, Emu!)

This finally appeared, many hours after I posted it on yesterday's puzzle, so I'll post it again.. One year we had a passel of kittens in the house and we forgot to coral them before we went to bed. We were half asleep when we heard sinister little tinkling sounds from the living room, along with rustles as creaks, then c r a s h! as the whole Christmas tree keeled over. We jumped out of bed and rushed to the disaster site just in time to see the perpetrators crawling out from under the branches and scampering in every direction. We righted the tree and went back to bed, assuming they had learned their lesson, but they were kitties, and the only lesson they learned was how exciting and fun it was to crash a tree, so of course they did it again. We decided to wait until morning to deal with it.