CB
NY
Very solid puzzle, favorite was the Lear Jet offset with West Side Story! BTW, speaking for myself only, please disregard some curmudgeons who feel entitled to demand every puzzle to be designed to match their taste. These crossword police don't allow trivia, rebuses, puns, or anything too esoteric. The puzzle must fit within exact specifications of difficulty level per relevant day of the week. Any violations will be met with derisive trolling. They'll even challenge fellow crossword solvers who post a positive comment, and taunt such lack of malice as 'mollycoddling.' Lacking EQ, they jump at the chance to spend 1 minute trashing something that others took days to build and are proud of. And which at least some others in the crossword community appreciated. Dear crossword creators, I appreciated your puzzle and look forward to more from you as partners in cluing and your solo puzzles as well. Cheers!
Great Monday puzzle! Must admit I didn't notice every clue began with a c until I got to the theme... Like that experiment where you're so focused on counting basketball passes that you don't notice the gorilla walking by
@Andrzej Counterpoint: I found this puzzle fun, interesting, and delightfully challenging for a Tuesday. I encourage this constructor to carry on and bring us more like this 😀
32 Across, Business Magnate, I had only the ___on. 1st word that came to mind was 'felon.' Lol
Very nice! And congrats to the constructor on the successful debut! Really like the theme. Using the word 'Echo' literally + in 3 other, widely different contexts, all of which are consistent with the 'location' requirement in the clue.... well done! Looking forward to your 2nd puzzle!
Zachary: congrats on the fantastic debut! And for the gracious Constructor's Note John: Awesome work as a mentor Teens with curiosity, wit, initiative, and humility? Experts willing to share their time and expertise with the next generation? There's hope for us all yet!
Great puzzle with brilliant cluing. - Miss Piggy & Captain Kirk by birth - professional juggling act - forget to proorfeed Well done!
@Mos Bravo! 'Just enjoy the puzzle' is exactly the point. Can't really fathom how some feel the urge to gripe about a crossword puzzle not taking them enough minutes to solve. And yeah btw this was a very enjoyable puzzle.
A Modest Proposal This amazing Thursday puzzle is behaving like a Thursday puzzle. It has a trick to solve. Many of us look forward to this. For those who feel otherwise, may I suggest a deal? We won't complain every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday that the puzzles are too literal. We won't say 'so boring. Meh. What a slog. no tricks to solve.. don't make any more puzzles without a trick.' So you get 5 full days without hearing us complain. Can you reciprocate? If on the other 2 days, the constructor has managed an elegant, surprising experience, that gets different synapses firing while still tickling memory banks and logic circuits, can you try to appreciate the creativity and hard work? And recognize that people around the world are enjoying that moment of 'aha!!!'
A nice Saturday puzzle: fun, bright, and fresh. When your top 2 rows are waffle maker and macaroni salad, it's time to get comfy and enjoy the ride 😄
Fun puzzle, congrats on the 1st NYT puzzle!
Perfect Saturday puzzle. Just the right mix of 'dang it now I'm stuck' and 'oh yeah that fits now I get it nice one'
@LARRY I assume you're joking, but just in case you're not, then no that's not the whole point of a crossword puzzle. 'Chicanery' is very welcome as long as it's logically consistent. The answers which seem to have offended you are covered by the Bottomless Brunch answer / clue so are well within the Ministry of Crosswords protocol. And once one understands the connection, this puzzle is a thing of beauty.
@Francis Yeah, from the comment, I'm guessing they would not like green eggs and ham here or there. In fact, they might not like them anywhere!
@Kathy B Wha??? I loved 'nosering' as it fell into the category of a clue which taught me something interesting. Perhaps some are already familiar with Mesopotamian fashion, but I wasn't.. And what's wrong with Kitten Chow?
Cake, work, advice, information, the action, my mind, jewelry, paper : Pieces of Eight Bulls, Bears, Cubs, Board of Trade, Tribune, White Sox, Deep Dish Pizza : Chicago 7
I liked this a lot. The 'ad free' was a great way to glue it all together, very impressive to deliver all those '___ n ___' fills + a fun thematic reveal , all within a bright, sunny Monday puzzle
Great idea for a puzzle, and just what is needed now: empathy and communication
Great puzzle. Source of schadenfreude! Small businesses that don't require permits! And the epic Maggie / Ashlee misdirection. Well done!
Great puzzle, and dont't listen to naysayers. Kindly suggest folks who don't like to think outside the box (ha) stick to the 5 days of the week that play it straight, and let the rest of us get some more synapses firing on Thursday and Sunday. No other puzzle platform (I'm aware of) has such a breadth of variety and stimulation, and puzzles like this contribute to that! BRAVO!
@Mutsukoh This type of fun fact is why I check out the comments section. Like icing on the cake. Arigato !
I've never heard of this musical, and don't usually like musicals. But hey I liked the puzzle! And I appreciate 'niche' puzzles which go outside my usual areas of interest, and let me learn something new! And gimmicks are fun: it's hard to imagine not being at least slightly amused by a hat suddenly activated! Good job, nice surprise for a Wednesday grid! Hats off!
Fun puzzle, nice example of a theme which isn't needed to fill in the full puzzle, but then delivers a nice 'aha' payload when you make the connection. Enjoyed going back through it to find all the characters and their respective benefit.
Great puzzle! Loved the double negative theme, and lots of nice clues too (impala!) I saw a couple of comments asking that spoilers on how to enter the thematic rebus be included with the puzzle itself. Counterpoint: heck no! The revealer 'double negative' is earned by filling in the grid. Applying a bit of energy, hmmm double negative... might this be a clue? Looks like there are 2 rebuses in each relevant answer... and looks like 'no' would fit for each... and writing 'no' twice would fit the double negative theme. Done. Works. Puzzle completed with that cheerful jingle. It's all part of the puzzle. Let's keep it that way.
I'm not an expert, but IMHO this seems to be a very satisfying Tuesday puzzle.
Loved this! In a meta sense this puzzle slyly double crossed the 'no doubles' protocol lol
For anyone complaining that the word 'line' wasn't accepted, the name of the puzzle is 'multi-hyphenates'! The hyphen is staring us in the face from the beginning. Writing 'line' everywhere a hyphen should be would have conflicted with the theme and led to a less elegant puzzle.
@Andy Sorry but... 'Young Turks' is a well-known description of someone pushing for radical change. There's even a famous (or notorious, take your pick) YouTube channel of the same name. I guess the Jaguar clue may only be appreciated by Jaguar fans, but imho some Jaguar XKE models are some of the most beautiful cars ever made. 'Longo' is not a word, the answer is 'long o' referencing the 'o' sound. PDQ Bach is esoteric, I'll give you that.
@nash.mark Nothing wrong with a xwp without gimmicks.... unless it's a Thursday in the NYT! A Thursday NYT without something a bit devious would be a tad disappointing!
@Brian Murphy Hopefully you're joking. If not, kindly look up 'crossword rebus'.
Fast but fun, all good. I especially liked the 'doesn't take the regular train home' clue
@Francis I agree wholeheartedly! The sense of entitlement among some here is incredible. As if they're owed a puzzle which perfectly meets their expectations every single day. And those expectations often conflict. 'Too hard! Too easy! Too much trivia! Too much Americana! Too gimmicky! There was a natick!! There was a rebus!!' From my perspective, I appreciate the hard work and energy put in by the constructors, and end up enjoying every day. I can't imagine the mindset of someone who casually tosses out a 'meh'. Imagine a constructor working hard, getting the puzzle accepted, waiting for the day it's in print, only to find a page of entitled graffiti. Last I checked, this is the NYT crossword puzzle forum, not X.
Fantastic puzzle! That business / pleasure clue was especially bold... loved it. Definitely a puzzle that will be popping up in 'best of NYT puzzles' lists.
Great puzzle, lots of fun. And I liked the constructor story about Gigi and Xi!
Great puzzle! I enjoy wordplay Sundays but I also really enjoy when a puzzle like this tickles a different part of the brain. I wasn't aware of the Ford to City headline, that's an incredible story. As for the New York Post, one I kept for my collection: a nifty bit of copywriting after Paul McCartney revealed that the Beatles had engaged in a group activity which is more commonly solo. The headline: 'Beat the Meatles!'
@Phil Then you probably don't like the variation of the Ali Baba line: 'Open! Sez me.'
Very enjoyable Thursday, and extra credit for the TIL that Swift introduced the name Vanessa
Fun puzzle, bright and cheery. Happy New Year Crossword Community!
@Barry Ancona Alabama has labor strikes too, and unfortunately as in other parts of the country /world, labor often gets the short end of the stick. If you want to make your day a bit angrier and / or bleaker, suggested reading includes the Birmingham District Coal Strike of 1908. Same basic good vs evil setting as the Harlan County injustice which motivated Florence Reece. Labor hasn't tended to fare well in the decades since, either, but the New Flyer victory in Anniston can hopefully indicate a changing climate. 'Whose Side Are You On' favorite versions: Weavers + Pete Seeger's various versions, Dropkick Murphys, Ani DeFranco (updated lyrics) and the solo vocal of Florence Reece herself. If any others to recommend, please share.
Fantastic puzzle, a big surprise to have such a fully loaded Tuesday. Congrats Patrick on the debut, looking forward to seeing your next puzzle!!!
Great puzzle, lots of fun. 'To thine own elf...' 🤣
Nice one, smooth flow and interesting change of pace for a Thursday. Enjoyed how the only context provided per clue for the books was year written and number of words; this added just enough mystique, teasing that there would be some profound connection between these books, and making the final reveal a fun surprise. Well done!
@Ray No, but there's a big difference between someone saying they didn't like the puzzle vs saying it's 'awful', 'so bad.' This puzzle is not 'awful'. As you can see from other comments, many readers enjoyed it.
@Matt For me the puzzle art isn't about helping the solve; it's about enriching the experience. For this puzzle, for example, I enjoyed imagining the anvil falling, I fondly recalled the shape of Mr. Coyote, and I appreciated the 'Help' sign, just where it should have been. I appreciate the constructor's creative energy invested in this
@Andrzej 'Peter and the Wolf' by Prokofiev tells a story musically, in which different animals are represented by different instruments. The duck is represented by the oboe. The work seems to have some fans in Poland, since the 2006 Oscar award for short films went to a Polish co-production of Peter and the Wolf. (BreakThru Films / Se-ma-for). In any event, I highly recommend it. I used to listen to it with my dad often when I was a kid. There's also a cool jazz version by Jimmy Smith and Oliver Nelson
Fantastic puzzle! Comments like this are hilarious: 'It was too easy. Solved quickly. But now I see how the Schrodinger puzzle part worked, I like it a bit better.' If you didn't solve the Schrodinger puzzle, you didn't solve the puzzle! The _ or _ mechanic is key to the puzzle. If you filled in the letters then thought 'huh too easy' without figuring out the _ or _ , then that's no problem, whatever works for you... but then don't jump in the comments and complain that it was too easy or boring. For those who did figure out the inner workings of this puzzle but still thought it was too easy, I'd still suggest to give the constructor a bit of slack. No small feat to make this work. It took me 7 minutes to finish filling in, then another 2 minutes to figure out the __ or ___. Then enjoyed playing around with the letter options another few minutes. Time well spent!
A perfect Friday grid. Elston Howard and Charles Mingus. 'I've got ears', 'silent p', Shanghai, pho, there's a lot going on ! Nice one.
Great Sunday puzzle! 'Western Union' was a perfect revealer. I hadn't noticed that I needed a double rebus, and had assumed that there'd some gibberish as a compromise. The revealer was a nice 'aha' moment, then going back to complete each double rebus was the payload. Special props for the Alaska / Hawaii!!!!! More like this please!
@Darcey O’D Agree! And hope the OP's request is NOT acted upon. Imagine starting a Sunday puzzle and seeing a warning label. 'CAUTION! This puzzle may contain rebuses or other devices. Should not be solved by readers allergic to creative problem-solving! Solve at your own risk.'