Rrose Selavy
Redwood City
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Redwood City
Broke my record by 10 minutes. Unusually easy for me on a Friday, must just be because it’s my father’s birthday, RIP.
Since I can’t respond to emails I’ll just say here what a delight it’s been to read Sam Corbin’s Gameplay newsletters.
I’ll put myself on record for loving rebus puzzles—and anything tricky! This was one a charmer.
For those who missed the trick (as I did), it’s like watching The Sixth Sense or Memento, where everything that happened before makes sense in an entirely new way once you have the new information. It was good before. Now it’s “Oh, WOW.”
Was I the only one led astray by Mother’s Day to try “body building?” as WOMB? I mean, we definitely built a body on there.
It’s funny. There are complaints about rebuses, there are complaints about the wrong kinds of rebuses, and now complaints about rebuses you don’t realize are rebuses. I liked the solve, also wondered why it wasn’t trickier, then came here for the reveal. I missed it. But it gives me no less pleasure to find out after the fact. Like a magic trick where you know what’s happening but are still giddy from the skill in execution. And anyway, God willing: There will be more Thursdays!
And here I thought one spoke one’s “PEACE.” Now I have to look up the origin of that one!
@Justin in other words, they FACED THE DAY. But not with DECAF COFFEE.
@Richard ski run. Flexibility needed on Thursdays!
Hit a new record time with this puzzle and saw Raggedy Ann’s smiling face in my head as a reward. I was never too much for dolls, but the cozy features of Ann and her companion Andy meant they were constantly being tugged around by their soft arms and floppy legs.
I didn’t love LAM but great puzzle anyway. I missed the matching themes until I read the article, Wow!
Other than wishing I had a way to connect the letters digitally, this was beautiful. Thankfully I was aware of the duck/rabbit illusion already, or it may have taken me days.
OHFER f's sake. I stared at OHFER and PRSTUNT for a very long time, but I admit, I have not heard of echidnas. Not a fan of the "baby bear" clue.
Struggled with NW, as others, which broke open with just one lookup (Incan emperor), so not bad for a Saturday. But I’ve never once eaten in a tent at a street fair. You eat en plein air, of course! (Which I also tried to make fit—contrary to sense)
Count me as among those who think a rebus solve should have given credit. I had to reveal the puzzle only to find out my correct puzzle wasn’t, on a technicality.
Both ASSAI and GELID crossing a clue that could have a few different valid answers doesn’t feel like a Tuesday for me. In the end, after flyspecking and ultimately revealing the puzzle, turns out I just had a typo somewhere else in the puzzle. One of those days!
Very difficult, very fun puzzle. Heard a few clues or answers for the first time, and they really got me stuck for a minute.
Flyspecked for far too long when I should have just counted my K’s. Not 14!
Glad I’m not the only one who found this one extraordinarily difficult. Although I don’t like to look up answers until I’m close to it (and maybe get a little help with the spelling), this one sent me hunting for several with little help. But that’s not a complaint. It’s good to be challenged, and people much smarter than me deserve to be challenged once in a while!
Difficult but delightful. Some groans, but nothing to get mad about here.
Didn’t love the ROW trick, but I fell in love with MCGYVERED, so all is forgiven!
Please *never* stop the nonsense. These are my favorites. I got into the "tricky" puzzles thanks to the wonderful Merl Reagle and the San Francisco Chronicle, back in the pen(!) and paper days. What a thrill it was to not only solve the puzzle but solve the puzzle of the puzzle (i.e., why standard entries simply would not fit the squares).
Great puzzle, although I couldn’t help but think The Immaculate Reception was somehow a Madonna reference. Can you guess I don’t watch much football?
@Helen Wright Also, a round of applause for including both Gilbert & Sullivan and Gilbert O'Sullivan into the same puzzle.
@Fletcher A Vredenburgh I always thought it meant “opinion” too!
“Ooh Baby Baby” came on just as I completed the puzzle (hard, but just one lookup for me). Smokey finish!
@Andrew I had CUREDHAM in there for much longer than I should have.
Really superb anagrams and a fun puzzle overall. Favorite in a long time. Or “long now”?
I had no idea what the symbols meant and assumed it was something mathy, but I wouldn’t say it was all downhill from there.
@Elizabeth Connors it’s been 19 years now, but I still think about him pretty much every day—for better or worse.
I don’t know if it was the elegance of the puzzle or my luck, but my first guesses turned out to be correct across the board today, a rarity for a Friday!
@Heather surprisingly, this is correct for American English (similar to theater v theatre), but either one is OK.
@D but yours are absolutely essential…
Well, I don’t mind a tough puzzle, and I don’t mind looking up a few things I never knew or might have forgot, but I seriously mind the clueing for THE BARTMAN. Is the inspiration Bart Simpson (not a comic nor a superhero)? Or is Bart inspired by a comics superhero, say, Batman?
This was fun, I’ve been glowing off Alyssa Liu for days now. Haven’t had such a good time watching a performance since “100% Pure Love” on RuPaul’s Drag Race. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YZ22KEafkc" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YZ22KEafkc</a>
Ditto having trouble with the bold letters. Were there no better options such as colors, capitals, etc.? I could barely make them out, and nearly missed a couple (spent way too long trying to decipher what ODO meant). That said, appreciated some fresh clueing for old standbys.
@Clay Budin “laid” is past tense of “lay” in the sense of laying something down. I believe “lie low” is present tense for the meaning intended here, with “lay” the correct past tense.
@Shari Coats I kept trying to make W a vowel versus a hotel! Which I guess it is at times.
@Srella as an editor, I correct “begs the question” at least every other week—from the same author! You’d think he’d learn.
@Eric Hougland I’m on the iPad and it is not showing. Not that it would have helped me a whit to see it.
@SN I spent a lot of time with PETS, which is MUCH closer to a caress than PATS is. Could not get the cross and I finally gave in to using the check puzzle button.
@B same, I was absolutely delighted
@Alana well, SASHAY was a gimme for me, so I knew that couldn’t be it, but I left PLEINAIR in as a placeholder.
@Barry Ancona yeah, I’m not mad at it or anything. Figured it might even be a regional thing.
@Steve. I had POTATOWHIPS there for a hot minute.
@Bill thanks for the Klaus Nomi clip. Brought me all the way back.
@Marshall Walthew me too, then foolishly misled myself it was an easy puzzle.
@David Connell an alternative (but disappointing) possibility for the second half of the clue is that it could have just been the initial letter (the H in JOHN CUSACK for HORA).
@Rrose Selavy scratch what I just said. You’d have to read the clue backwards to do it that way. Which I apparently managed to contort myself into doing.
@Bill did we go to school together? Was there gado-gado and an Enchanted Broccoli Forest?