Greg Anderson
Sanibel, FL
To quote the puzzle, this was a bunch of “codswallop.” Wasting 60 characters - nearly 1/3 of the 187 white squares! - on unguessable words from a “poem I reimagined,” as well as a white rapper with a single “hit” that peaked at #30 on the Billboard charts and an unforgivable repeat of the word ONE in two different answers, are why quote puzzles have such a deservedly bad reputation among so many solvers. Only finished to keep my streak but still sorry I didn’t quit halfway like I wanted to. TOSH indeed.
My candidate for puzzle of the year. Impressive construction AND fun for the solver. A “just challenging enough” Wednesday!
@Listening Total agreement. POETRIES is definitely Not A Thing despite its presence in some dictionaries. POETRY is its own plural. Run a Google ngram for POETRY vs POETRIES. The latter is a flatline going back to the 1800s. Also, any puzzle that needs PHILIVEY to complete its gimmick section (across from the wretched POETRIES, no less) should have been sent back for a rewrite. Really, NYTCX? Now I need to know who wins poker tournaments?! You’ve got to be kidding.
I got the theme easily enough. But because it IS a Thursday, to me it is inexcusable that rebuses were not accepted as alternatives in the crossing squares. It took me forever to suss out which letter(s) were acceptable and otherwise ruined a fun puzzle finagling the app to get the happy music.
@Gilead Kutnick “6 syllables” would have been better phrasing. I agree, B and N are not “words.” My big issue is that 29 (29!) 3-letter words and 20 4-letter words are too much of a slog for the payoff. I can’t remember the last Thursday with so much short stuff. This is the consequence of excess theme pressure. Clever, but not necessarily fun to solve.
I call foul on 7A: I thought it was agreed that in the NYTXW, [White Russian] = TSAR and [Industry titan] = CZAR. That said, it’s interesting that the last constructor to use CZARIST was … Byron Walden in October 2004, when it was clued as [Bolshevik opponent]. As Mark Twain wrote, “History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” Nice puzzle otherwise, beautiful symmetry and 4 mostly interesting 3x8 word blocks!
@EastCoaster I agree, and it’s doubly surprising because it was created by a couple of skirts. I mean chicks. I mean broads. I mean … 😀 (In all seriousness, I don’t know what anyone was thinking when this passed the editorial process. Most men I know would be spending quality time in the doghouse/couch if they threw around any of these words - including mine above - unironically. Unless we’ve been transported to a Philip Marlowe novel.)
I loved the main puzzle today - my second-favorite this week after Thursday’s brain twister - but I have a bone to pick with the clueing/editing of 1D in the mini. Makers Mark is first and foremost BOURBON, not WHISKEY. (Although bourbon is a type of whiskey made from corn.) In addition, Makers Mark describes itself as “bourbon whisky” (no E). A different brand like Seagrams or Jameson would have been a much better choice. (Can you tell I solve minis Downs-first, and that misdirect totally broke my solve?)
@HeathieJ irregular, hence lower priced.
IMISSED Will last week and briefly considered joining the DESERTERS despite my 1200+ day streak. This week the clueing ENIGMAS seem to have settled down, and today was especially enjoyable. 26A and 35A were both tricky and smile-inducing. If ARHAT shows up again tomorrow, we all will have achieved Nirvana. According to xwordinfo, on average it has appeared once every two years since 1967.
I came in just under my normal average time and got the rebus early. Naticky crossing of 35A and 17D, oddball words like 125A, and a month’s worth (has Will really been gone that long? ) of tin-eared/obscure clueing notwithstanding, my biggest complaint today is the excessive letter doubling in the fill. If your rebus gimmick is letter doubling, then IMHO you need to avoid non-theme doubling elsewhere. Otherwise, “why these but not those?” Yet I count at least a dozen instances, including one within a theme answer (16D)! This is either sloppy editing and/or insufficient commitment to an already loose theme. If this is the best NYT can muster on Sunday, I’m back to doubting my renewal. I find myself enjoying puzzles in other outlets much more lately. For $40 I think I have a right to expect better than what can be found free elsewhere.
If you’re looking for an eclipse themed playlist and have an Apple Music subscription, may I recommend <a href="https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/eclipse-playlist/pl.u-DdANrRBtmBLv6N" target="_blank">https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/eclipse-playlist/pl.u-DdANrRBtmBLv6N</a> (Not me, just a good one I found) Really enjoyed this one, which is not always my opinion of Peter Gordon’s work.
Can’t believe double TIME got through the editing process unscathed (TIMEPIECES, PASSEDTIME). I really doubted the lower one until the crosses confirmed it. This is not like the Thursday puzzle which did it on purpose.
In the Mini, what the heck is UNPLU? Doesn’t Google at all, even as slang.
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