APNerd
MA
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MA
people are so brave with their vitriol inside of their cars or online: A "witless hack job"? (Among others.) Bruh: there are humans involved in this process, real humans. I'd ask where one gets the courage to spew such poisonous hatred, but I realize that IT TAKES NO COURAGE WHATSOEVER. Go elsewhere with your cowardly, acerbic and baseless rants!
Maybe I missed something said, but are we not impressed that the dots go alphabetically in order from A through N?
A really sharp, complex and impressive puzzle that was fun and challenging. A first timer gives us a Saturday?? Wowwwww.
PEOPLE! It's April Fools' Day! This was SO clever. Wonderful. An amazing construction. MUCH credit to the crew. Cancel your subscriptions...and we won;t have to hear your caterwauling!
[Use non-lead pipes?} BRILLIANT ]Dramatic salsa move.] BRILLIANT (I'm imagining a chip being swooped into a lovely dish of dip...great double entendre. *Had HE/HIS for too long. Kept questioning SEGA in my head...imagined it was a superlative in some language... d'oh
hmmm... A theorem: struggle X amount of struggle = level of nastiness? No matter how long I've been doing these puzzles, I STILL cannot understand how people get mad and nasty about PUZZLES. Besides, Wednesdays are those puzzle days when there is a range of difficulty. This one was near the top of the range for a Wednesday. And I like a challenge. There was no cheap fill (as people ALWAYS complain about) after the puzzle theme was sussed out. FUN and CHALLENGING!
@Paul That is such an odd stance.
A great and challenging puzzle. Perfectly calibrated for a Saturday. The magic of a tightened fist that slowly releases! The magic of a puzzle that denies us access but then slowly relents, letter by letter. The mix of despair and elation is divine.
HOW is this a first puzzle?? Amazing. What a graceful and impressive concept and execution!
Not knowing one of the best selling albums in the history of music (Ten) and being puzzled by women's biology (HRT) is a YOU problem, not a puzzle problem. Amazing how so many people who don't know how the female body works want to control what it does...
As a big fan of wordplay, groaners, and just saying words incorrectly to make myself laugh (and occasionally others), I thought this was a TON of fun. Laughed immediately at junk drawer and enjoyed the rest as well! a funny, mildly challenging Sunday. Just what the doctor ordered! BRAVO!
Wowwwww. What an amazing puzzle! Ultimate Thursday greatness. The brilliance of the constructors leaves me shaking my head...in bafflement and admiration. Awesome.
clever + challenging + creative + fresh + fun = a dandy debut...on a Thursday! HUZZAH!
Excellent conception and execution! I only wish I had your talent...especially at your young age! WOW
This is an AMAZING puzzle...especially for the fact that each wheel has a wheelish connotation! And, Deb, thanks for your positive energy and for putting up with all the naysayers!
wildly creative, amusing and challenging/impressive construction concept! Ignore the naysayers
Stands out prominently as one of the darned cleverest puzzles I've done here at NYT. The shift being in the clues was a neat innovation!
A PERFECTLY calibrated Friday puzzle in response to so many criticisms of apt calibration this week. And a debut, to boot! B R A V O !
@Lewis I swear...when we go away from a puzzle that is killing us for a while, there are background apps in our noggins that are running, solving, obsessing. What else could possibly explain these moments of enlightenment when a whole section or the whole puzzle suddenly opens up to us??
@Kristopher Absolutely! Heard this all my life. Perhaps tied to printing costs? But definitely mocking or appreciating someone's elevated lexicon. Yup.
@Steve L All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first the infant, Mewling and PUKING in the nurse’s arms; And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. It's Shakespeare! Can't be gross! It's high art! lol
It is good to be surprised from time to time! I hit a wall with this one...and then just slowed down and appreciated its cleverness and the challenge it presented. People need to CALM DOWN with their rants. It's a crossword puzzle!
Had a decent time, but SW was brutal. Here's my complaint: you have three name clues going down across a big stack and an excessively coy cat clue. That is some Naticking, if you ask me. A Pitch Perfect actor (never saw it), Herman Maier (a FORMER Austrian skier?) and the elusive Mary/Myra trick. Brutal.
KILLER puzzle...in the best way possible. Tough as the toughest Saturday. Who could not want that? Who Saturdays?? Yayyyy!
"uppish" has been around since the mid 17th century and "uppity" is rightfully dead due to its misuse in America to describe enslaved and formerly enslaved people as acting "above their position"
What kills me is the derisive and smug certitude of some people's criticisms. I feel like the definitive answer lies below. OED: rack (v.) ?1507– --intransitive. To undergo stretching, strain, shaking, or dislocation. Chiefly Scottish in early use. Now rare. --To pull or tear apart, separate by force, break up. Also in extended use. Also figurative. --1583–transitive. to rack one's brain (also brains, wit, memory, etc.): to make a great effort to think of or remember something. --"Racke not thy wit to winne by wicked waies." W. Byrd (1583)
@Joshua That's a bridge too far, friend. Golly.
Brilliant! All the theme answers are great. Best/tightest Sunday in a LONG time.
Great puzzle. Perfect Sunday fare. Laughed to myself a lot!
1. neato concept! 2. didn't realize that it counted down from 10-1! wow! 3. BUT felt like crossing/grouping slush piles, red cap, paramus, sixtus, phono (without indication of truncation) was an UberNatick--created a mess where I didn't know what to fix, change, respell, experiment with but maybe I am just not as familiar with these things...
Fantastic, original and challenging puzzle! Just the right amount of resistance! Coyly reveals itself over time.
@NanuNanu They should make kits to deal with those...events.
The concept, and specifically the cluing, absolutely BRILLIANT! Fresh new ground.
Wow wow wow! Awesome! What a mind hath created this!
SO I SAYS...you wait right there, SHINEON...I need to deal with Mr. NE. Then I waded into the melee. I was spun around, bruised, bashed and baffled. BUT then I landed a punch: RED TAPE. More body blows. A pop to the chops... PREACH and LEAGUE come. I'm still looking over my shoulder at shine on... AD SITE LEAGUE MARE BAM BAM BAM And the golden square materializes. SHINE ON, the bugaboo I never had to sweat. Didn't stop me from doing it, though.
GREAT puzzle. Perfectly calibrated for a Thursday!
could it be... ? The PERFECT WEDNESDAY P U Z Z L E?
Felt like a Tuesday...but I was also off balance the whole time. Which is a good thing! Shake off smugness and expectations! Awesome.
@TTaylorEditor I feel like the definitive answer lies below. OED: rack (v.) ?1507– --intransitive. To undergo stretching, strain, shaking, or dislocation. Chiefly Scottish in early use. Now rare. --To pull or tear apart, separate by force, break up. Also in extended use. Also figurative. --1583–transitive. to rack one's brain (also brains, wit, memory, etc.): to make a great effort to think of or remember something. --"Racke not thy wit to winne by wicked waies." W. Byrd (1583)
@Esmerelda There has GOT to be a name for this phenomenon. I've looked. It's like our brains continue to solve after we have taken a break. Like a background app. Anyone know if there is a psychological term for this? It's really uncanny!
@Norman “At present I would prefer not to be a little reasonable,” was Bartleby's mildly cadaverous reply. Just then the folding-doors opened, and Nippers approached. He seemed suffering from an unusually bad night’s rest, induced by severer indigestion then common. He overheard those final words of Bartleby. “Prefer not, eh?” gritted Nippers—"I’d prefer him, if I were you, sir,” addressing me—"I’d prefer him; I’d give him preferences, the stubborn mule! What is it, sir, pray, that he prefers not to do now?” Bartleby moved not a limb. “Mr. Nippers,” said I, “I’d prefer that you would withdraw for the present.” *This story was SO far ahead of its time! 1850? Come on! BRILLIANT! "Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!
@Mark (sur)charge it's a common strategy in the puzzles
MANNNNNN did I struggle NW. GAWLEE. CRV? Fit? CRV? Fit? Kept waffling. Had everything from REWIRED down. Spent 17min plus finding SOAK and OKOK. Then the rest stubbornly fell. Wavelength thing?
A perfectly calibrated Saturday! Lovely! And a first appearance?? Wow. BRAVO!
A nasty lil wednesday jape that we all deserved! TRICKY!
Ginza/Zin and Ayo/Eye Gel were Naticks for me, big time! In retrospect, Zin and Eye Gel could have been easier...but also, how is a gel a cream?? Finally: def MEEP MEEP
@Roberto "Freeeeeeind. Some of yer foldin' Money's come unstowed....." LOL
@EmptyJ I ONLY keep track of my time bc I compete with my niece. Adds a layer of competition and intensity. She was in Europe for a bit and I must say it was nice to not think about the time for a little while! But we're back to it. Adds a little life and spice to my early mornings before work!