Allen
Arizona
While the theme was great (I love rhetoric and logic), some of the fill was truly awful. I mean really, IZZATSO and YHEAR?!?
I would argue that terms and conditions are not synonyms (yep, I'm a lawyer). For those of you who have insomnia, I'm now going to provide the cure. In legalese, terms are things that are defined. By way of example, terms describe the parties to a contract, the subject of the contract (a piece of real estate), expected performance (I will buy your real estate), etc. Conditions act on terms. Time is a term (I will buy your real estate in three weeks). Requirements are a term (I will buy your real estate if it passes inspection). Enforcement is a term (if you don't buy the real estate in three weeks, I can sue you). They are in no way synonyms unless you are a lay person.
Solved it but it was a slog. ANTEGG, crossing INRUN, LORDJIM crossing EAMES and JIGGETYJIG. Very natticky.
I know bragging is bad but...today marked the 15th day of my streak, my best ever. Based upon past performance, I should hit at least 17 days. Nothing compared to the mavens on here but nobody else in my life would really care about this achievement so you guys are stuck with it. Thanks .
You guys really stepped in it on this puzzle. Nobody thought FEMININESIDE was a bad idea? Are you living in the 1950's? And cross that with FISHEYES? I googled it and still couldn't find the reference. Finally, there are literally zero cigarettes with NOTAR. I don't mind Saturday stumpers but this was just a poorly constructed puzzle.
21A TVTAPE was the groaner of the puzzle. As someone who grew up during the VCR era, that term was never used by anyone anywhere. I'm sure it was commons parlance in Western Podunkia. Hey Earl. Put that darn TVTAPE into the playing machine.
Awful theme. As an attorney PARA is pronounced with a short A. To make the theme work, you would need to pronounce it with a long A. Easy solve but poor theme. C'mon NYT, do better.
BOCCI should be BOCCE. Someone please find me the spelling anywhere with an I.
I know this isn't a huge streak by some of the aces here, but just hit my first 30 day streak. Got through four consecutive Fridays and Saturdays. Yay me!!
The FLU beat me down. I really wanted to FLY but in the end, I was DONEZO.
The clue for 31A "Where you might put in dough and take out bread?" was absolutely adorable. ATM. While the answer was pretty obvious and frequently found in the NYT CW, I just loved the clue.
I know many of you have had streaks that have lasted hundreds or even thousands of days but I finally broke my eleven day streak and hit twelve. The southwest corner almost broke me until I figured out BETRAY. Let's see if I can get through tomorrow and really extend the streak.
@dutchiris you filled in IZZATSO with no crosses on your first pass? I want to see the tape on that.
Cute puzzle and a pretty fast solve. That said, TOGAE and OKRAS? Really? That's some serious stretching.
This was a fun solve but the south east corner was kinda brutal for me. What's really sad is that I'm an attorney and it took me forever to come up with ETHICS for 50D. Then again, I don't remember it being that important of a subject...which explains quite a bit about attorneys.
TIL about IDEMPOTENTS and cache clearing EVICTS. Very cool and a nice lively puzzle.
Really nice puzzle and fun theme. I did look sideways at SELFFIVE so ... off to Google and there it is.
This was a pretty fast solve for me especially after I realized the rebus gimmick. It took me a little while to understand the across concept but once the light bulb turned on, I thought it pretty ingenious. Speaking of ingenious, I read 22D as ingenious rather than ingenuous for about five minutes. That's what happens when I'm rushing. I knew the answer was NAIF thanks to the crosses but couldn't understand why. D'oh. That was rather naive of me.
Fun puzzle but I almost got beat by a bit of a Nattick at 63A and D. I don't speak Spanish and had AHH and ATRO. Took a bit to change the A to an O for the solve.
Personal best for me today at 34 minutes. Fun puzzle but I don't like GIVEITTHEOLCOLLGETRY. IMHO, the OL should be OLE. Just feels better than way.
As someone who grew up in a household where Yiddish was frequently spoken, I can remember all the times my mother yelled at me for giving her TSURIS. She'd then spank my TUSHIE to put a point on it. Loved this puzzle.
It was a quick solve and a nice theme until 11D. Sorry but E# to TECHSAVVY is a huge stretch. Got through it but didn't like it.
Difficult but fair puzzles except...15A. UHOH is two words and the clue should have been plural. As many others, I had OOPS.
Once again, my lack of spelling ability nearly beat me. 2D is spelled RIC, not RIK. RIK left me with TINKER and I stuck that out until I figured that the end of 14A was TELEPHONE. I tell my wife almost every day that I'd be pretty good at crosswords if I could spoil.
NUMISMATIST and NEMATODE. It would have been a chef's kiss if they had crossed.
Solved the puzzle but couldn't figure out the theme for the life of me. Very creative.
Really disliked the cluing for 42D WANNAGO. "You in?" is a real stretch for that answer. Liked the theme but it was pretty easy for a Wednesday.
@Barry Ancona sure. That said, as an avid blackjack and poker player, I don't think I've ever heard that usage. Like I said, the puzzle was lovely and the crosses were completely fair so it's not a big deal. And since it didn't screw up my longest streak of 18 days (yeah, I know it's not that long compared to others here), I'm happy as a CLAM.
Oh, and for those that thought this puzzle was too difficult/obscure/trivia laden, all those characteristics are part of a good Saturday Stumper.
While I solved the puzzle pretty quickly and figured out the basic revealer, I have to thank Sam for giving me the deeper understanding of MOVE D OVER. Awesome puzzle, funny, and interesting.
It's been many years since I read War and Peace but I was able to suss out PIERRE thanks to the Napoleon reference. Love the puzzle and all of the music. Every song is iconic and for those of you who don't like LALALALALOLA, I think you need to make some CHCHCHCHCHANGEs in your listening preferences.
Loved this puzzle but now Take On Me will live in my head all day. BTW, if you've never seen the video, it was groundbreaking at the time and won all of the awards. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914</a>
I'm a huge William Faulkner fan so 11D was a gimme. That set the stage for the rest of the puzzle. Way below average time. Loved the theme.
Ewwww. Just ewww. Worst themer in months.
Anyone else get stuck on 18A PRANK for a hot minute. Grrrr. Killed my time today.
@Lewis I remember my father and grandmother floating in the Dead Sea while reading a newspaper, such was the buoyancy.
Here's one I learned recently. Milky Way Galaxy. Galaxy is actually latin for Milky Way so when you say we live in the Milky Way Galaxy, you are saying you live in the Milky Way Milky Way.
Finished the puzzle pretty quickly but could not get my hands around the theme. Needed the columns help for that. Super creative. One nit. I've never heard of a 'rookie' referred to as a 'rook' (45A). Regional thing perhaps?
@Michael Yep. I've written thousands of legal briefs and read more opinions. Nobody, and I do mean nobody, uses ET ALII. It always appears at ET ALIA and much more commonly, the universal abbreviation, et al. Had they at least clued with an indication that the answer was archaic, it might make sense.
That NW corner was a bit of a beast but really good puzzle overall. Didn't say 'yuck' one time.
UPPISH...I had uppity and it nearly broke my streak. POWERSUIT was the toughest of the theme answers with PRAGENCIES as a close second. Awesome puzzle.
GESTS almost beat me as did UPSA (upsy?). Seems like I wasn't alone in the struggle. Fortunately the crosses were clear and I learned something new. Loved the theme.
Screamed through the puzzle pretty cleanly and was beaten by, of all things, 25D. I had DOORBEEPER (as in the button you push so the resident can let you in) instead of DOORKEEPER. Broke a 12 day streak on this especially when AKA was the obvious cross. Oh well. Great puzzle and great cluing.
Pretty tough for a Wednesday. TIL, LACUNA is an unfilled space, similar to the region between my ears. Got it on the crosses but phew! I was pleased however, to get Lawless princess on the first pass. Gotta love me some Xena. Anyone remember her friend's name? The cute blond?
An AMP is not a speaker. It is something that provides the power to drive a speaker. Very poor cluing.
For 26D I had NOTI for way too long. Killed my time today spending nearly 30 minutes flyspecking.
I love semordnilaps and palindromes. Does that make me a backwards thinker?
Yes, 10D is fair game but I've neither heard nor read JOGGLE used in a sentence. I should have found the answer in the 10A cross which turned out to be pretty simple but kind of felt natticked. Then again, I'm GUILTY AS CHARGED, for my sour grapes.
While I like poetry, I'm not a fan of Frost and as a result, this puzzle felt like a giant nattick. I got through it although I think I'd rather kiss a wookie than do it again. Excellent debut. Congrats.