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@Mike I’ll sparrow my attempt, it’s not my gull
@Puzzlemucker I really enjoyed the pipe organ cluing, it was so refreshing to see music references (and Rilke and Escher!) I recently discovered that my university has an organ elective, it’s one of my favorite classes. It’s actually a lot harder than it looks to coordinate both hands and feet (!), but the voices weave together almost geometrically like Escher’s etchings. Here is a recording by the Netherlands Bach Society, of the little fugue in g: <a href="https://youtu.be/vITIeoxcfdM?si=3ctJzqfAblzh23nj" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/vITIeoxcfdM?si=3ctJzqfAblzh23nj</a> It was Vikingur Olafsson’s interpretation of the Bach Organ Sonata (transcribed for piano) that made me first interested in learning organ after piano, but the sounds are quite different. I can’t call myself an organist yet but I hope to have more opportunities to play this underrated instrument : )
@TMD I’ve found that it helps to screenshot the connections so I can annotate it (but some themes are still challenging)
Thank you for this puzzle, and the theme! I loved the inclusion of words with special pronunciations, and that the constructors use the correct pronunciation for the puns! (eg Spokane, WA - finally something from the west coast :) This is so rare, for non-English words. I initially struggled to see the theme but it revealed itself; I enjoyed the reference to the Star Spangled Banner. Happy July 4!
Got the theme right away but I loved the easter egg theme bonuses; great construction! ~~~Beware the Ides of March~~~ Time to make a CAESAR salad and finish reading my copy of MIDDLEMARCH About the constructor notes -- I'd be interested in how you listening to audiobooks at the same time helped you with construction; it's cool how different things work for different people.
This is a comment for Wednesday’s puzzle (comment section closed). I’m glad I did it without lookups or checking the answer key for errors! There were 3 that I had to find fix, but it was still 2 minutes faster than my average. Almost gave up but don’t let unknown trivia stop you : )
As a Chinese-American, it took me so long to figure out the last clue - my first thought for Tang poet is Li Bai, but I could not for the life of me find the old-fashioned (colonial?) romanization until I ran through all the letters of the alphabet. Just a pet peeve of mine. Fun puzzle otherwise! never heard of LI PO, but I love LI BAI’s poems
I also love that Chinese characters are not just meant to be read aloud, but to be written (calligraphy), and that it’s so vividly evocative with few words. Highly recommend reading his poems!
I thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle! It brought me back to the AGE OF INNOCENCE And Christie and her poisons / other chemistry are always a comfort read for me; Dickens not so much (because of the bleak circumstances) but I love his characterizations
Thank you, Rebecca, for a great puzzle! This is one of the limited Wednesdays I’m able to do without any lookups (or reading the column). I wasn’t familiar with many of the proper nouns but I was able to guess them through the crosses. I started solving during quarantine, in college. This fill feels fresh, with unique clueing for common words like ANDES. Long live Paddington Bear (I hadn’t realized that there is a real-life inspiration)!
This puzzle was fun! Is it just me or was it a tad wilder than usual? (health class topic, start a family or finish a game, flirty text, small bird). I liked that the crosses helped with trivia, but I gave in to lookups in the SE corner. I remembered that Messi had a pink jersey after playing for MIAMI, but didn’t realize it was in the team name.
Loved the theme reveal! It started coming together with 31A. I wish there were a way to reset personal bests; I used to do Sunday’s with lookups and this was a bit slower than my PR, but without lookups.
@Steph Same! This was a personal best, even beating my previous scores when I had allowed myself lookups (last year) Really enjoyed the cluing, and that there were some I didn’t know but could infer or get from crosses.
@Kelp Haven’t read too far down, but I’ve memorized a lot of “Li Po” ‘s poems; I was just commenting that nobody refers to Li Bai as Li Po in this day and age. (like reading history books that refer to Beijing as Peking)
@Cc Actually I stand corrected, learned that Li Po is more common in English. (But still bugs me because there’s a perfectly good Chinese transliteration haha) And yes I do love learning new things from the crossword!
@Francis love these new puns and Mike’s, please keep them coming! I don’t think there’s any gatekeeping, would love to see more wordplay in the comments overall (I cod see that the replies below are also in fun)
@Cc Also, of course, the Biblical cluing (especially at a time when words have become cheap; am gen z)
@Francis What does it mean? I’m having a hard time finding any definition for alop; I have certainly seen viand before, even as a STEM major (granted, in old works by Shakespeare and Chaucer) but never alop.
@Joe For me, it was the exact opposite, but the west side came together after I took a break and came back
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