Getting to this puzzle really late. I didn’t get the theme till the very end. I thought the original clues were clever and fun. Especially like “Lady Macbeth’s concern.” It would interesting to know why they were changed. Perhaps the answer is in the thread.
Love your 4 original clues for 1D, 5D, 6D, and 37D - enjoyed this puzzle a lot.
With no helpful theme clue, I'm not sure why I got this quickly, but I suppose the clues were easier than the trick, so it was almost a best Thursday.
Friday kicked by bleep quite handily, though. :)
@Dave Chu Of course I mean "my", not "by" above, but I can't edit it. My spelling skills expired after doing Friday and Thursday today!
Signed, Dave the goood speler.
2
Am I getting better or are both today and yesterday on easier side? I just got back to doing puzzles after a long break.
Figured out the theme right away for a change on a Thursday, and finished this in 2/3 of average time. Would’ve been a good time for a Tuesday for me. ....TO SNEEZE AT.
1
Got it a bit roiled at ROILED, but overall great balance, and of course the perfect crossword for Manuel, the waiter in Fawlty Towers.
"I know....!"
....More to say!
2
I enjoyed the puzzle greatly. ... but brilliant.
I learned a lot - about Nemo, Hippos, Et Al flight days, Roebuck's name origin (redhead), we vs. they, and really laughed at the: I'm up; burger; notes; and surgeon. I appreciated the density of theme and agree strongly that your lost clues were more fun.
Niggle: smog results from the combination of fog and burning and yes, is often (in summers) aided by inversion. E.g, the Tongva (Kizh) people named LA the "Bay of Smokes" for the result of their their village fires coupled with inversion.
2
I had a great time doing this puzzle and snerked audibly when I got the gag. Not for nothing, though, I found it interesting that a miler here is a long-distance runner, while a few days ago it was considered a middle-distance competitor.
4
@Roger
Indeed. Because of that previous "middle distance" I waited until absolutely forced to fill in MILER. If that is long distance, I wonder what my 27 marathons and one 36-miler would be?
1
@ Deb Amlen
I was expecting a "Hi Kids" for 16 A.
In the early 70's, Ben Murphy and the late Pete Duel starred in "Alias Smith and Jones" as two outlaws (Hannibal Heyes and `Kid' Curry) trying to go straight. The premise was they had to stay out of trouble for one year to get a promised pardon from the governor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGUSFCVyXJU
3
As always (or at least often), I have a question for folks. I worked fairly hard on this puzzle to cram in as many theme entries as I could, and there are a lot. The beloved Rex Parker has said that I paid too high a price in terms of crossword-y fill; I could have put more theme entries in but felt that *would* have incurred too high a price, or less and kept the fill a little livelier. (Rex also complained that the theme simply wasn't interesting enough to merit so many theme entries.)
So: Did I get it about right? As a constructor, this is often very hard to judge. (After all, putting in more theme entries is always more of a challenge and therefore more fun.)
Thanks for any feedback!
19
@Matt Ginsberg
Based on my own reaction and the comments of many others, I'd say you created a very successful puzzle
16
@Matt Ginsberg
Very clever puzzle. Before I finally figured out 72A I was thinking that I was missing a rebus somewhere.
5
@Matt Ginsberg I enjoyed it! Once I figured out the trick it was fun to get to deploy it a bunch of times.
8
Would 72D work just as well?
1
Dr W,
No (since there is no 71D).
THEM before THEY, and a little hung up on NEMO / OMIT, otherwise a pleasant solve and number 501 for me.
Thanks Deb et al, I enjoy reading the submissions here from the regulars, you know who you are.
Cheers.
3
Cute idea and a fun theme. I liked the clue for MAE West.
1
18A: thanks to WordWise (only reading the intro!) I started the puzzle there. Had a great laugh at the reference to 72A but thought FUTURE BEST WISHES until I started getting BUT for the beginning of 18. LOL!
1
There is NOTHING that makes me happier than solving a such a fun and whimsically-clued puzzle on a dreary Thursday morning.
Pity about the clues that didn't make it past the editorial team!
5
I don’t like solving on the XWD app but I went paperless last year and chucked out my printer so the app it’s been. The biggest downside to app solving on is that you don’t have the clue columns next to the grid which, for me, used to give me my relative-super-speed-solver powers. You fill in the gimmes, mentally file away the maybes till you have crosses, then a quick glance at the grid before you pen down the 80ish%-certain answers.
Today I decided to solve using the “column view only” option which, in retrospect, is a bad idea on a Thursday when, as Deb points out, anything goes. I skipped right over the italics on the first pass, filled in the gimmes, and plugged in the almost-certains, too, which I would not have done without looking at the grid had I been using pen on paper — or even the grid view. So, naturally, I got some of them wrong. And untangling wrong answers takes longer than working through mental crosses.
Argh. I still enjoyed the puzzle, but I probably doubled the time it merited. I’m buying a printer again. I’m going back to pen and paper for my puzzles and (sorry, Mother Earth!) printing out papers to grade while I’m at it. Red text box markup is no match for a red pen. It’s a quality of life thing.
Though I may invest in a green pen. I still remember archaeoprof’s thoughts on that...
4
@Sam Lyons - honest question. Does "app" mean (shudder) "smart" phone? or does "app" include real computers/laptops? Because I'm paperless, and I solve on my computer, on the NYT website, and I see both across and down clues and the grid all at once and I don't have stellar eyesight.
I'm always a little mystified and mildly entertained by the comments. Here's my take:
the app is no good
Across Lite is beloved by people who know it doesn't work
then
there's the rest of us...
either total pen(cil) and paper types
or
just solve it at NYT online
Things that make you go "hmmmm...."
1
@David Connell
My iPhone app. I got in the habit after an accident when my right hand was all I had to work with (I’m no good with my toes...) and now that I’m back to full laptop use, I still keep my WP and puzzle play time restricted to my phone or I’d never get any work done. Plus I frequently solve/post at night when I can’t sleep and single-hand, thumb-only entertainment is both convenient and keeps my husband from saying, “Just close your eyes...”
2
@Sam Lyons - I had a "smart" phone for several months. Couldn't pick it up without it ordering me pizzas I didn't want. I can't stand the things. When I read posts here that say
mush mash mish mash mush
I go,
Oh, that person typed that on a "smart" phone with auto"correct" - nothing they wrote makes sense...
Cue the "president"...
Abandon the "smartness" and you'll have a happier life. Really. It's true!
1
Fun and clever theme. Seemed to be just a bit easier Thursday puzzle, but that highlighted the theme. Really liked the clues for 40A-SALAD and 48A-NOTES.
Alpacas are indeed very cute, and their fibers make wonderful clothes and bedding - light, warm, soft, durable, and not itchy at all. And I've read some use them for natural lawnmowers.
Another hot and windy day with fire warnings. Stay safe and wet, follow Californians.
2
Fun and clever theme. Seemed to be just a bit easier Thursday puzzle, but that highlighted the theme. Really liked the clues for 40A-SALAD and 48A-NOTES.
Alpacas are indeed very cute, and their fibers make wonderful clothes and bedding - light, warm, soft, durable, and not itchy at all. And I've read some use them for natural lawnmowers.
Another hot and windy day with fire warnings. Stay safe and wet, follow Californians.
2
This puzzle reminded me of "Antigonish", an 1899 poem by American educator and poet William Hughes Mearns.
"Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there!
He wasn't there again today,
Oh how I wish he'd go away!"
When I came home last night at three,
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall,
I couldn't see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don't you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don't slam the door...
Last night I saw upon the stair,
A little man who wasn't there,
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away...
The above is from a wikipedia article.
When I first saw who the constructor was I anticipated an interesting and quirky Thursday. Yikes!
5
OK, but Maharajah is your word, not the puzzles. Isn’t the key word ‘red’? In 1993, probably Native Americans were still referred to as redskins. Intrepid Eric (the red) could refer to royal Indian.
@Dkhatt I’m sorry I wasn’t clear. The answer to the cw clue “came upon the maharajah “ was metaroyalindian. The answer to the clue “intrepid Eric” was braveredmariner. I don’t see a theme there. I’ll bet the last time redskin was in NYT in a non-sports context was before 1968.
let me briefly climb out from under my rock to ask, when/what/where does NOTHING BURGER" come from? I only got it by guessing that it made more average "sense" with BALMS, as opposed to "calms" and "Nothing Curger."
1
loftyc,
[72A] BURGER was discussed earlier in these comments; I hope you will or did scroll down to find the information.
3
@loftyc
It's one word. Nothingburger:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/nothing-burger-nothingburger-meaning-origin-phrase
2
Deb, I too was impressed by the sheer number of theme entries, and I appreciated Mr. Ginsberg’s mild criticism of the editors. For once, however, they seemed to be making the clues easier, rather than simply opaque, as I often suspect they do later in the week. His original clues sounded whimsical. I will credit them again with keeping the solving times in a nice stepwise pattern over the long run.
5
Not my favourite Thursday but better than 72A.
For some reason I noticed a number of adjacent entries that rhymed with each other but were spelled quite differently. ROE/BRO, NILE/VIOL, MINH/LYNNE, and my favourite, (because of my Canadian pronunciation), GAUZE/VASE.
3
@Andrew
You know, here in South, we put the Canadian VASE in ad-VASE-able.’
2
Thinking of the puzzle a couple of days ago, I just watched a quiz show that involves professional quizzers vs contestants, and in response to a good answer from the professional the host said: "he knows his onions" .
3
@suejean
I'm curious - was it a British or American quiz show?
1
@Andrew
It's basically a British show, called The Chase, but there is an American and Australian version with one of the "chasers", Mark Lebett, (sp?) known as the beast .
@suejean
It's Mark Labbett. That surname is a homophone for a French word that gives him his nickname.
Maybe a little dark for a fun Thursday, but here is Townes Van Zandt’s Nothin’.
https://youtu.be/zZcH2OOMV4A
1
@Ananda
Thanks for getting a youtube Townes Van Zandt started on my work computer. Perfect counterweight to the perfect autumn day outside my window. "Fall is a feeling that I just can't lose." ("Flyin' Shoes," which oddly enough came up right after "Nothin")
1
@Ananda
TY also -- that site also had the words displayed by a commenter, good show there.
Quoting Emeril once again, “BAM!!” A super-solid “SOLVE”!
I thought the clue for 18A was “suspicious” - but made * of it until struggling with reconciling a “TOIT” with “Piece of cake”. I said to myself, “What the heck is a “toit”?” And the answer was “* I know anything about.” (Momentary pause here.) Then - AHA!! The rest tumbled like dominoes and * required any “research”.
As for 40A - - I think many European restaurants have a better approach, namely serving SALAD as the LAST course (before dessert and coffee - - or a glass of Port, of course). That way, a bunch of greens does not get in the way of fully enjoying the entree.
2
@PeterW How about a Round Toit?
And I agree after the salad. After a trip overseas, we started eating our salad last. It's also a good way to avoid dessert.
3
@PeterW
Mr B has gotten into the habit of ordering a salad for dessert when we go out to a nice restaurant and I want a real dessert. It makes a refreshing end to the meal for him, and I still get to eat something sweet!
1
Was busy debating the salads or the sweets and ya beat me TOIT, Tom.
We do not have any ROEbucks grazing but White Tail have made them selves quite at home here in Central NJ...All I know is that, for the second consecutive day, I wasn’t able to get the change of a nickel in the SW. Yes sir buddy, NOTHING sure IS EASY!...I’ve heard of a ‘wish sandwich’ (thanks Jake & Elwood) but a NOTHING BURGER is a new piece of modern phraseology...This clip features Wynton Marsalis and Carla Cook at Lincoln Center during the 2017 Essentially Ellington tour.
https://youtu.be/H57CW5kgrUc
NOTHING (my result) To RITE Home About,
Bru
3
As easy a Thursday as I can recall but quite enjoyable. Like others, wondered if there was an error in the clue for 18a, but that didn't last long.
Somebody already mentioned Billy Preston below. He's one of my all-time favorite performers. Here is "Nothing from Nothing":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HqyEHqEYho
And... I believe I may have linked Preston here before, as he has another song that references something else we see with some frequency. "Will it Go Round in Circles?":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F_DRNCGjQM
..
3
Have a problem with the crossword from Thursday, 23 December 1993. The two theme answers are METAROYALINDIAN and BRAVEREDMARINER (for clue Intrepid Eric?). I solved the puzzle, but can’t figure out the “trick “. Anyone out there to clue me in?
@Kris Parse the first one as "met a royal Indian," a maharajah being a royal in India.
For the second one - Eric* the Red was a Norse mariner who is said to have been the first to sail to Greenland, so... Brave Red Mariner.
* Minor issue with the clue: I believe that Erik is the more common spelling, but Eric does seem to get used occasionally.
1
@Kris and after posting the above, I realized that maybe you got that and are just wondering if there is something else behind those two answers.
If so - I'm not seeing it either.
@Kris
Well, they’re all baseball teams? Or a player from each team.
Maybe they’re just one league or something. I don’t get baseball.
4
So, Sam Ezersky, ever hear of a PRONGHORN?
I startedwith SNUB and confidently entered BASKET from the B, but No. Knew URIS and PERU, ELAL, ASBESTOS, GAUZE, RITE, ALTA...and there was TO SNEEZE AT....No more suspense, but the Reveal did make me smile.
Making progress (slowly) with settling in--massive task. The puzzles are a bright spot!
7
When I got to "72-across" and didn't find the NOTHING I was looking for -- in fact, didn't find anything at all -- I laughed out loud. How many revealers have ever made me laugh out loud? What a funny, imaginative, playful hoot of a puzzle! I thank you for it, Matt.
I got the NOTHING theme at [NOTHING] TO WEAR (24A). And then I was truly able to begin solving, because many, many answers could not be figured out without knowing the theme. Still, the puzzle remained crunchy -- especially in the SW where I had TIER for "Level" and not TRUE. So what on earth was the "Dud", crossed by either cALMS or BALMS for "Comforts"? BURGEI? CURGEI? Finally, [NOTHING] UP MY SLEEVE gave me the U of TRUE, giving me [NOTHING]BURGER.
A delightful puzzle that was much fun to solve. I had a wonderful time.
4
I need new glasses! I solve on my phone and I can’t really see the clue numbers, which normally doesn’t make any difference. I peered at the SE bottom entry and it “looked” like a 72 so I struggled for a while trying to figure out how YALE could have anything to do with the other clues. Time to make an appointment with my optometrist.
4
@LWK I'm just glad this theme didn'appear on a Sunday! It would have been much harder to see these little numbers in a Sunday puzzle on the phone.
Well one thing this puzzle's got is Plenty of Nothing.
https://youtu.be/nWoCJjz6He8
2
Also, love how the photo atop the wordplay column today evokes 72A, Deb.
5
Hey, no fair. When I posted earlier there was nothing where the photo usually is.
1
@vaer
Magritte got involved. Keen of you to notice earlier. I missed it.
What a horrible puzzle! Where is Will Wang when we need him?
@Barry
...or Will Weng for that matter.
6
It is a Farrar, Farrar better thing that I do...
3
@Barry Ancona
It was the best of Times....
3
I was very surprised by hippo, but enough to have known the Doris Day answer without any crosses, and to remember Nile green was very popular in 60s and 70s interior design. As is often the case, the context of one’s age is helpful. I enjoyed the theme, which was straightforward and therefore easier than the average Thursday puzzles. A welcome relief from constrictedly complicated themes, rebus’ and circled letters.
2
Way too easy for a Thursday, this was more like a Tuesday.
4
NOTHING to it. IS EASY, I say. But then the SW was TO SNEEZE AT for me. 'Twas PHAT (yes, that means I liked it).
Was pretty easy. Figured out the trick at BUT THE BEST. Then went around solving the other themers.
I've heard of BoTNET, BUTNET, on the other hand...
Had LMAO before ROFL. I don't know what NILE green is (other than an author, according to Google). Had HALF PIPE before HANGS TEN (because you know, skateboarding and surfing are so similar). SPAT before SPOT.
Good but a tad easy for Thursday.
3
@Wen
L’MAO did it. Emus prefer us to roll on the floor or simply laugh out loud. My understanding is that it’s less prudery than practicality. They just don’t think it’s possible for L’MAO to occur: “It doesn’t actually come off no matter how hard you laugh.” They are literal birds.
7
@Puzzlemucker L’MAO!
@Puzzlemucker - yes. I did eventually figure out what the emus didn't like, but was unhappy enough that I didn't feel like doing a re-post.
In this case it doesn't apply, but a word that appears in the puzzle as an entry or part of the clues should not trigger the emus. I know that the emus don't read or do the puzzle, but it makes discussing the puzzle difficult.
I don't know if it is prudery that causes the emus to think it physically impossible for L'MAO to occur as it they are simply too humorless to laugh at all.
3
Some great fill at the very bottom: GODOT, SEINFELD, JOHN CAGE, CRYPTOCURRENCY.
2
72A to add to comments on the puzzle.
(Comment on comments is another matter.)
5
got it quickly with Nothing TO WEAR -- Nothing BUT THE BEST!
A really PHAT puzzle
2
Who is Doris Dam? Is it not us v. them?
These vexing issues resulted in 2 minute and 15 second shaming from the NYT puz app.
I get 73a but grief, mewled Tom, morosely.
2
@dk
I wondered the same thing, but then saw Doris Day had to be correct from the crosses and got my happy music!
Deb covers the bridge terminology in the column. TIL as well.
If you do a quick search on "score pad for bridge" and look at the various pre-printed pads offered, you'll see that that they all seem to be labeled "We" and "They." So it's definitely a thing, apparently the standard customary thing.
2
Interesting to see which commenters of a certain age did not play -- or don't remember playing -- bridge in college...
3
For some reason Roe Deer made me think of Roe Buck which made me think of Sears, a store whose slogan was once "Sears has Everything", a sharp contrast to today's puzzle theme. When I was growing up, it really was the go-to store for just about everything. Sadly, in 2019, this does not seem to be the case.
3
Matt, I'm glad you forged ahead with this. After all, * ventured, * gained (Hi, Laszlo!"); * to fear but fear itself, * to lose, and all that. I know you strive for * but the best, and you hit it with some lovely cluing (TURNS, MAE, SALAD, NOTES) and a terrific new fact for me, regarding the HIPPO. The theme was * short of packed in there; indeed, ELSE and HELPS, IMO, could have been theme answers as well. I had a great time with this, and thank you.
There may be some who say that your creation is * to write home about, but I say to them "* doing! My opinion has * in common with yours!" This puzzle was enjoyable and smooth, * runs like a Deere, * but the best, and all that. Enjoy your accolades today, Matt, because as you well know, in Crossworld, a puzzle's fame usually endures no longer than a day. Alas, * lasts forever.
15
Trying to think of something. I've got nothing.
(There's nada thing I can do about it.)
8
LETTER BOXED
P-M(9), M-R(5)
2
@Mari
Good find. I spent too long on this one to no avail. At some point I was working with the second word, but could not see the first word at all.
1
@Andrew Yes I spent too long too, starting with EXODUS, PROMISE and other obvious words - but nothing came- until the PS-combo suggested itself.
1
SPELLING BEE
30 words 123 points. Only took me 18 minutes.
3A 4G 3H 2O 18P. 1st 2 words obscure lexography term dealing with word repetition. Also there’s an Italian wine made from leftovers. Two nicknames for father. There are 2 pangrams, both compound words with Greek prefixes and suffixes. Both have the same suffix. There’s a North American antelope missing, but the first part of its name is an accepted word.
3
@Kevin Davis oops, Marie corrected me. Only 1 pangram.
SPELLING BEE GRID
October 24, 2019
P A G H N O R
Words: 30, Points: 123, Pangrams: 1
A x 3
G x 4
H x 3
O x 2
P x 18
4L x 14
5L x 7
6L x 2
7L x 4
8L x 1
9L x 1
10L x 1
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Tot
A - 1 - 1 1 - - 3
G 2 1 1 - - - - 4
H 2 - - 1 - - - 3
O 1 - 1 - - - - 2
P 9 5 - 2 - 1 1 18
Tot 14 7 2 4 1 1 1 30
49
@Mari 2 obscure A-words: (1) a grammatical term for a word referring backwards to another word or phrase in a sentence (the longer word) and (2) the shorter word (by 1) being an instance of that grammatical feature.
The only other word that might cause difficulty (for those outside N. America) is a slang term, possibly an acronym, for trail mix.
10
@Mari
Thanks, @Mari. "Obscure" doesn't do them justice. I have no idea how I dredged up the A-7; the A-8 was frankly reflexive.
Perhaps it's just me, but these types of answers suck the joy out of a puzzle and completely undercut any feeling of accomplishment.
At least G-4 brought a smile (although that may just be because I'm off to breakfast!).
17
@Mari No pronghorn? That's not even remotely obscure.
21
When got to 18A and saw no 72A, I wondered if it was one of those situations in which the puzzles were displayed differently, but just carried on. As already noted it was very easy, so I was filling it in very quickly, all except the ....clues. Finally caught on with the magician clue, and then quickly got the rest except for the SW corner which took longer. I did love the surgeon answer once it dawned on me.
Really fun to do, .....to complain about.
6
I guess it isn’t surprising that folks that got the aha early, thought this was easy, as there were so many theme answers. But if you didn’t...
Am I the only person who assumed there was a typo in 18Across? I just ignored this clue the entire time. I didn’t trust the app enough.
So I kept thinking “swish is nothing but net, but that’s too long” “plaint going through one’s closet is what to wear, but that’s too long”
It took me way to long to figure out what was going on. Even then, I didn’t tie it back to the 72Across ‘typo’...
Also, since it was Thursday, I was definitely expecting a physics answer for 10Down: displace by force.
3
@Newbie I say this to other newbies who show up here, but don’t worry about what others say about their experiences solving, and please don’t compare yourself to anyone else.
The only things you need to come away with after doing a puzzle are as follows: Did you get it and did you have fun?
21
@Deb Amlen
GOOD ADVICE!
From Desiderata: (quoting approximately)
“If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter - for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.”
8
@Deb
Thanks for the note! I definitely don’t have the experience to say whether a crossword is relatively easy or not. But, if I can finish a Thursday without help, maybe that means it was ‘easy’... I loved the theme answers. I had fun.
My favorite was PHAT. I guess 90s is dated slang now. That makes me ILL and SICK cause I always think 60s/70s for dated. I’m old (cries softly)...
3
Are you sure this was Thursday's puzzle? I am waiting for, well, something. Hang ten again?
3
@ashevillein
Noticed that surfing one too -- it was earlier this week -- or Sunday.
2
Once I got around to actually looking at the 72A "prefix," nothing but fun!
5
and Elke
Content to have sussed the theme from NOTHING TO WEAR. And the NOTHING BURGER -like our recent election- confirmed the theme.
Alpacas from PERU reminded me of the alpaca farm/ranch near the US border. There was a big sign, readable from the highway (99), that advertised their breeding services:
Champion STUDs, Happy females.
The sign disappeared shortly before the 2010 Olympics....
Fun puzzle ,good for my ego , no lookUPs .
2
Pretty Tuesday for a Thursday, but enjoyable no(thing)netheless. Odd but interesting theme. HANGTEN again was a surprise gimme. Loved VIOL. Brought back a wonderful memory of seeing (and chatting with) Anner Bylsma in Heidleberg 18 years ago. Nice to see Jeff LYNNE instead of just his band's monogram for a change.
5
@Ann - I heart Anner Bylsma! Jealous.
@David Connell
It is one of my most treasured memories. He was so kind, and gave us impeccable cello suites to compare on gut and metal strings. Unforgettable! I wish I had had the chance to see him more than once.
1
For anybody accidentally following this folly -
the cellist Anner Bylsma made, among many other recordings, two sets of recordings of the Bach solo cello suites. One was made earlier in his career, the other much later. One at modern pitch on a modern cello, one at early pitch on a baroque cello. They are both exquisite, they are both excellent. But they also form an amazing study in how an artist can change, grow, and adapt over a lifetime of performing, and how thoughts about interpreting music from another era can change just as well, and just as much. I recommend searching these recordings out, and listening with a questioning ear, an open ear.
5
Just way too easy for a Thursday.
@Tamara I agree - it must have been because its the first Thursday in the 2+ years I've been doing the puzzle that I was able to complete without any Amien help.
1
RRA,
More careful reading may lead to more unaided Thursday solves...
2
MG: "Hi Will, I have a great idea for a puzzle."
WS: "Hi Matt. Good thing you called, I was looking for a snazzy
Thursday. What's it about?"
MG: "Nothing."
WS: "Say what? I asked you what your puzzle was about."
MG: "I said, nothing."
WS: [hangs up the phone]
This proves that if nothing is ventured, nothing is gained.
Move right along now, nothing to see here.
31
@Laszlo I have been reduced to an Abbott and Costello routine.
21
and Elke
Laszlo- one of us was reminded of that Hungarian expression : "Here is NOTHING, grab it well".
4
@Matt Ginsberg
I thought it was a Seinfeld routine.
11
At first I thought I wasn’t going to get this puzzle, but NOTHIN’ DOIN’ ...
My aha moment came with the magician’s UP MY SLEEVE. That’s when I realized that 72 across was NOTHING, not some error or app issue. Then so MUCH made sense as I went back through and filled in the other themers. The cross of BUT NET and TO SNEEZE AT had been a mess for me until the aha.
Mr. Ginsberg nearly ate my lunch with this one!
:-)
3
Quick Thursday for me, though I struggled much too long in the SW -- made better when I ROFL-ed at the surgeon's goal.
4
Hi Deb,
The link at “TIL that whales are related to HIPPOs” seems to lead to the solution for Wednesday’s puzzle instead of the desired place.
2
Cindy,
So that's where it was when nobody could find it yesterday!
3
@Barry Ancona
Ah, right! You pieced it together, Barry!
Easy. Figured out the theme early and once you see it, every theme clue makes you think it’s Monday.
Would have been a new record but I struggled with DORISDAY.
2
@Mr. Mark
Exceptionally easy and fast for a Thursday at less than ten minutes. I'd normally object, but with eight chain saws going in tandem around my house, I a wreck!!!
@Liane Ugh! Chain saws make such an awful noise! 🙉 I hope they finish their work quickly.
To quote the late, great Billy Preston when asked the source of tea, “From leaves!”
- Tom
4
@Tom - ROFL. Thank you.
1
@Tom Martin Came here planning to link that song. Still going to do it in my CiC.
@Tom Martin
Huh? I just can’t figure out the connection between your comment and the puzzle. Please help me out.
I love Billy Preston (and tea). Does your comment have to do with Preston’s “Nothing From Nothing “?
1
I agree with other posters that this was an easy Thursday puzzle, not that I'm complaining mind you. I wouldn't call it a nothing-burger of a puzzle but it wasn't nearly as tough as a typical Thursday for me, since the theme showed itself early on and the other theme answers were then pretty obvious. They were fun to fill in. Nothing else to say except that I enjoyed it!
4
Can someone explain 52 across to me? Dud = nothing BURGER. I’m either really tired and missing something or it is a colloquial phrase I have honestly never heard of before. Is it that common?
3
@Mark
It's current slang ... something that is a nothing-burger is meh, it's disappointing, not what it was cracked up to be.
5
@Mark - we've seen it here before and in the news. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/nothing-burger-nothingburger-meaning-origin-phrase
5
It’s a slang term. Calling something a “nothing burger” means something trivial or ends up being worthless
1
Some days, I just can't take the emus. Not often that they hold my comments, and when they do, it's frustrating.
After sussing out the the theme at 18A, the rest were .....Dear Mom and Dad
2
I have [...] but good words for today's puzzle. Lots of fun.
Re: 37D, back in my married days, my wife stopped by a home improvement store to buy a STUD finder, a handheld device with a magnetic indicator to help find hidden nail heads in sheet rock walls, which would indicate the location of studs inside the wall.
On her way out of the store, a young buck who worked there tried as a come-on line, "So, what's that you got in your hand?"
"A stud finder," she told him. Then she looked at the device and told him, "Nope, none in here!" as she went out the door.
28
@Alan J That's great!
When my husband and I first moved into our house and we were hanging pictures and whatnot, I pointed the stud finder at him, made a beeping noise, and said, "Oh, I found one!"
4
[Dear Will: no fill-in-the-blanks on Thursdays, please. Way. Too. Easy.]
Viol!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtCS3GthOew
Nobody joined the Nothings at least three times: Nemo, Snub, Omit.
It wasn't shaking that made me say (falsely) "I'm up! I'm up!" Even the pitcher of ice water my mother dumped on me didn't get me out of bed for school. And there was my brother in the lower bunk...
4
@David Connell
I could listen to viols Tous les Matins du Monde. Thx.
I really liked nothing in this puzzle. So thanks Matt, great job!
16
A fast one for me today. I went looking for 72A and when I found it wasn’t there, I hesitated. Luckily, by then I was on 24A, which I say much too often. So it fell into place. I think 52A would have been harder had I not read the NYT article ranking meatless burgers...
1
Sad to say, but I got to 24A and knew that there was NOTHING but one possible theme for this puzzle. I've never had such a strong reaction to a theme clue before.
Fun puzzle, thanks!
7
Missed a PR by 6 seconds!!! Great puzzle, but seemed easy for a Thursday. Many thanks to Matt Ginsberg for his hard work on this puzzle.
5
Got it at 24 Across, since I say it every morning? Enjoyed this puzzle.
4
@diana forman - ha ha! That 24A reminded me of the day a bunch of us were sitting in the student lounge and one of our more flamboyant fellow students waltzed in proclaiming:
"Trash! Trash! (it was pronounced more like tra-yish) I looked in my closet this morning and realized EVerything I OWN is trash!"
No kidding, he was from Florida.
4
Calamity calumnies.
BUT LOVE for this one. Possibly too easy for some, too difficult for others. But I appreciated the theme even though I got it early, the spots of gritty cluing, the cleverness of the themers and, last but not least, being able to finish a Thursday cleanly.
7
Entertaining! Although not terribly difficult. After the first pass through, with at least some letters in place, I looked for 72A, saw there was nothing there, and had enough in place to see what was going on. I have to say that I really liked the original clued for SPOT, ASBESTOS, and GAUZE--wish they'd stayed in!
Deb, thanks so much for posting the Little NEMO Google Doodle. It's wonderful! (I wish I'd seen it when it was originally posted.)
9
I didn't enjoy this puzzle as it required a big AHA moment to figure out the theme and 6 or 7 obscure names whose crosses I just couldn't grok. Ah well.
@David I *did* enjoy this puzzle *because* it required a big AHA moment to figure out the theme.
1