Joe
Texas
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.
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!
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.
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'.
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.
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.
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.
@Andrew I'm gonna guess the curators don't want a full-on, back-and-forth forum, and all of the moderating it might require for tone and content.
@Jordan Dude. It's Monday. AOL was a fun, easy guess that 99% of the non-computer-science population knew. But, I did enjoy playing Star Trek on a Trash-80 using dialup in the 80s.
As a relative newbie, I enjoyed today's puzzel, having to use autocorrect only for the last few words, as 10D and 25A were not phrases I've heard before. I do appreciate the ever-present, obligatory sports team name clue! Cheers, folks.
@Darren Between the Bee and CW this week, I swear NYT is trying to crate and oust us.
As a newbie (noob), Sundays and Mondays are my favorites. I enjoyed this one. My only pedantic point is 100A. I've never seen a traveling warning. It's a violation and turnover, if called. But thank the maker for sports clues!
@Barry Ancona The benefit of being paying customers is getting to praise, and gripe.
I was feeling quite happy with myself until I came upon Lento, Etre, and Twee. The crossword gods had not blessed me to take on that trio. But a fun, light puzzle otherwise. Cheers.
Had to go to my trusty autocorrect about 50% through. I'm just not up to snuff on Saturdays' difficulty levels. But this one was still very fun. Loved minor injuries. Thank you, creator. Cheers.
At last, a fun, enjoyable Thursday with a straightforward (or straighdown) rebus. Thank you, creator!
I know my limits and turned on autocheck after the third pass. Fun puzzle. Normally hippocampus would have made me angry but this was quite clever. Alphabits brought a tear of nostalgia. So yummy. Cheers.
@Bill in Yokohama BE was my favorite book growing up. I waited 20 years for it to make it to the screen. I walked out after 20 minutes. I love Armageddon. Fun and brainless.
No Wicked or Swift clues gets Nathan an A+. Cheers.
Only a year into NYT crosswords so about 50% through I fired up the autocheck and it was Christmas in January. Yeesh. Instead of Vamped I snickered and enterd Wungit. Oh well. But, good clues, good tricks, no Taylor and no Wicked. Enjoyed it. Cheers!
This may have been worse than one of the Wicked puzzles. Oh well.
@CCNY If it weren't for sci-fi and sports clues, I'd be doomed.
@Bill I only knew it from my Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual from 100 years ago! Cheers.
Huh. All these years I thought the X was two sets of arms crossing and the O was the shape of puckered lips. Whodathunk it. Fun puzzle; thank you, creator. Now I need a hug and a mimosa. Cheers.
@Phil Spoof, oped vs need and loo vs lav were all wrenches in my morning.
@BK Yeah but most of the rebus letters do not represent what we mostly conceive of as purple areas.