Joe
Texas
Texas
I'm pretty certain that my teenage daughter is realizing her attraction to females. The comments in this forum warm my heart to know that her choice will not be met with the same vitriol that many of the older commenters had to face. Thank you all. Cheers.
For once my years of watching sports pays off. I'm still physically recovering from the Wicked puzzle last week. Happy Saturday to all! I must also take a moment to "cheers!" all of the wonderful posters in this forum. The Spelling Bee forum is like being swatted with a ruler by the nun teaching me in 2nd grade, where this forum is like an institution of higher learning where thoughts are embraced. Time for mimosas!
@zhousephine I give you and your spouse about a 1000 kudos for commenting in the forum!! It's always good to hear from the creators. You avoided Wicked and 'nene', so that gets an automatic 90 grade just for participation. Cheers and thank you for your efforts.
Fun top 2/3s. Absolutely brutal bottom third.
I know it has shown itself before, but KAYO really IRES me.
After finishing this puzzle, I scheduled a root canal to cheer me up. Yowzas, that was difficult. But, with puzzles like these, I break a smile for the experts, many of whom likely enjoyed this one. Cheers yall.
@JNLA That's not very nice. Public Enemy and Beastie Boys got me through childhood.
52A made me angry, because I am a nerd and I couldn't figure it out. Then I crossed it and got angrier, because it still made no sense. Then I added a mental hyphen and peace returned to the cosmos. That's why I love crosswords. Cheers!
Congrats to the seasoned CW veterans; I suspect most of you loved this one. For me it was brutal, but, gotta start somewhere. Cheers.
That SW corner was brutal. NEWMEXICO did not do me any favors. Did anyone else notice the timer was moving a half-beat faster than a second? Or maybe I'm just moving slower. Cheers!
The brain is amazing when you let it be. 40yrs ago in highschool, I noticed a large format book in the fantasy section at the BookStop (remember book stores?), with someone pointing a sword in the sky, titled "Avalon". I never bought it because it was too expensive but the image just popped into my head this morning to help me with that clue. Crazy. Cheers yall.
@Asher B. I've been to a ballet, I've watched break dancing, I've been in a mosh pit. Each has their merits. But there's no denying they are all some form of dance.
Once again KAYO rears its head. During the World Cup it will be PEEKAYS in OHTEE. Even the BEE KO'd KAYO. But, EMCEE survived. And Barry, don't bother with your OK/OKAY analogy. We agree to disagree. Cheers!
What a nice, fun puzzle for a Monday. Thank you, Creator. And Cheers! to my fellow humans of Earth. Remember the old saying, 'this too shall pass'.
As a 2yr puzzler, I've learned my place in the heirarchy and instead of yelling at my own lack of knowledge, I now start Thu/Fri/Sat sans-help in the AM and then let them stew, and enjoy the augmented finish in the PM. Rarely a goldstar but still fun to ponder clues during the day while working and finish with a tasty beverage. Cheers!
I entered JIVE because, well, Mrs. Cleaver in Airplane. BRO because, well, I still don't understand BAE. BATTER over STEREO was painfull. MERCURLEVEL was just dumb on my part. TOPHAT over FEDORA was a palm-plant. Tough. Nice job, creator. I have multiple handprints on my forehead, but I guess that's what Saturdays are for.
If I ever watched The Bear or Wicked I'd shave 10 minutes off my average. Who knew Rihana would get a back-to-back.
@J lawrence g I suspect people who know rap music feel the same about obscure poets. What was it yesterday, some dude from Austria from the 1800s. Brutal.
My first Friday with no help. Spare RIB, DESSERTMENU, and SCARYSTORIES almost sent me into cracking open some Asti Spumante at 7am but I figured it out. Very fun puzzle. Thank you, creator. Cheers.
BOWEN/NAST, HONSHU/CHU, TRE/RENEE killed me. One day I'll get a Saturday gold. Cheers, folks!
@ad absurdum Well, if you move to Arizona or Hawaii, you get all 24!
I usually enjoy a challenge but for some reason this puzzle just made me angry. Can't explain it, and not blaming anyone but myself. That's just the feeling it invoked. Oh well. Time for a mimosa and eggs benedict. Cheers!
I apologize profusely to the poster I berated yesterday on the subject of obscure sports clues. I stand corrected. As a mild afterthought, this might be the most unenjoyable puzzle I've ever engaged, both for a Saturday and overall. But, there's always mimosas! Cheers!!!
@Steve L Agreed. As a newbie, this was a painful puzzle, so I would characterize the clues as difficult. I am sure there are 100s of xword elites who found this very enjoyable, as well they should. I may be there in 1000 years. Cheers!
I enjoyed this until 53D reminded me of the recent rebus torture device. All the times I watched Gump, I never noticed the chevrons. Thank you for your service, veterans.
I always look forward to Sunday, but jeez. This one was either tougher than usual or I needed an Irish coffee instead of regular. In the immortal words of Tommy Boy, "that's gonna leave a mark". Cheers.
Huh. Well. I love a good challenge, but sometimes an easy win is just the thing needed to kick off the day. Thank you, creator. Cheers.
Fridays always make me reflect on how bad I am at crosswords. Oh well. Challenging and some clever clues. Thank you, creator. Cheers.
Wow. I beat my PR by 43 minutes. Either this Sunday was particularly easy or I am infinitely smarter after a mimosa. Either answer works for me. Thank you, creator. Cheers.
@Francis I come to this forum for exactly these types of words of wisdom. I shall endeavor to abide by your sage advice.
6D might be one of the best clues and answers ever.
Eroica, Arepa, Alcoa, and Anya was too much for me. I had to look up Eroica and then guessed the others. Otherwise, another fun puzzle. Thank you, creator. Cheers.
Never, in 10,000 eons or eras (get it? baseball, era) have I seen the A's referred to as ATH-letics. Not on scoreboards, not in box scores, not on tickers. I had LAS forever which was killer. The amount of time it took me to cross Lids and Dams is just plain sad on my part. Clever clues. Hererra, Harper, Bert was just sadistic. But, a super fun puzzle. Thank you, creator. Cheers yall.
And for once, the intelligence-sucking reality shows my wife watches finally bear fruit!! Cheers.
@EagleAngle It's very normal. There are many like you and I. We are Legion. I had about 15 guesses when I hit autocheck, and more than half were wrong. But I learned what marlstone is versus aggregate! Cheers.
Yowzers. Methinks this CW wasn't for the Mon-Wed crowd. I think I have new grey hairs. 9D had me yelling at my phone until I remembered one of my kid's friends talking about their "backup" school in case they didn't get into Harvard. Now I need a drink. Cheers!
I hope Chad updates us if Molly responds. As Mike would say, that would be "classic".
@Joe I'll never be able to watch another baseball game without this word invading my thoughts. Tragic.
@Francis Some elote sprinkled with cayenne and a few dashes of tobasco should clear your head nicely. Get well soon. I had three meh covids and one oy veh covid. Not fun.
@Mike The annual Pun-Off is only 6 months away in lovely Austin, Texas.
@Paula I happily join your entourage. I had to autocheck a good 20% of the bottom layer.
@Hanson That would be cool, but that's called robbery or using an ATM! I think it's cash on delivery.
@Francis I thought, "wouldn't it be wonky if the answer was 'pitocin' " but laughed and figured, no way the constructor went there....
Roger Ebert's critique of North described this puzzle for me. Oh well. Cheers.
NW corner was absurd for me. Tough one, but fun. Cheers.
I enjoyed this one. A fun, easy Monday solve, but just a little bit harder on the clues that required an ounce or two more of brain power. Thank you, creator.