Feel like a birdbrain, because I finished with an error. I didn't know the medicine, but thought the RNA part was NUCLEID. I was probably thinking of "nucleoside."
Never saw "Coming Home" nor wanted to, so didn't know LUKE MARTIN. Amazingly, I'd seen all the others, but didn't recognize MARION CRANE's name even after I saw it.
Dredged up MINAJ from ... somewhere. XWPs probably.
When I saw the clue for the golf guy, I was very disappoionted to see it wouldn't be the one with all the vowels. Never heard of TOM KITE.
I guess an ARM CURL must be that odd-looking pose that body-builder types strike when trying to make their arms look all muscular and threatening.
ENHALO? Yeecccchhh! Worse even than RIDIC. Both STANK.
But otherwise a fun puzzle, though I missed a Thursday trick. Nice thoughts of Mac Knight. And the photo on Deb's column was lovely, right up there with some of Mac's.
Thanks all.
5
Agree with most of your points, especially the lack of the typical "Thursday trick." I didn't realize the bird connection until it was time to fill in MARIONCRANE. That realization enabled me to fill in my last entries CLARICE..., RATER, and DEANS. The last two letters of ABIDJAN then followed.
2
After reading the comments I'm surprised to find that many people missed the birds. I had STARLING in place before I could dredge CLARICE up from memory. also FINCH before SCOUT, but those two did it for me and made JACK SPARROW a gimme. The others, CRANE, MARTIN and KITE, would've flown past me for sure as birds. Beautiful entries were MASERATI and LABRADOR. ENHALO was a stretch, RIDIC was ridic, and I got the medicine only from the crosses. All in all a solid puzzle, and the Thursday trick? It was that there was no trick.
6
Deb, what is the process for signing up for the tournament in March? It would be my first time attending. I'm looking forward to meeting other puzzlers, some of whom are hopefully as puzzled as I.
2
Here's the website: http://crosswordtournament.com
2
Thanks, Liz!
And Meg, I hope you do come, just to have fun. Don’t worry about your ranking. You will make some lifetime friends there.
Don’t forget to tag me and say hi!
1
Not quite my idea of a Thursday puzzle. Caught on to the birds but had trouble with some of the first names. I had ACHIEVE for "land" instead of ACREAGE and didn't expect the child's medicine to have such an unmemorable name. Had NUCLEAR instead of NUCLEIC and hadn't a clue about MINAJ. I actually looked up a couple and got a couple more from here, so my "win" was pretty hollow.
2
Thursday is usually my favorite day of the week because I look forward to the “trick,” whether it’s a rebus puzzle or one where every clue is an anagram (fond memories of that one!) or whatever. I feel like it’s my chance to match wits with the constructor and see who comes out on top. So it’s disappointing when we get a straightforward theme puzzle like this one. It’s a good puzzle (except for RIDIC and NERTS) for a Tuesday or Wednesday, but I miss my Thursday fix!
7
1988 - Good Morning, Viet Nam: Nominated
1990 - Dead Poets Society: Nominated
1992 - The Fisher King: Nominated
1998 - Good Will Hunting: Awarded
What does a fella need to do to win a spot in the grid around here? Change his surname to "Bills"?
A tip of the hat to MacKnight and his feathered friends.
6
Perhaps next Thursday will feature avian performers rather than avian characters, Leapy.
(Well, excuse me!)
2
Speaking of which, when appropriate, would Mac's family allow use of his photos to decorate the Wordplay column?
4
Guess I'm starting to think the way MaGOO SEes. Fortunately, I'm still a ways off from saying HelLO ON approaching some random statue of Bix BEIDERbeck. Otoh, I came rapidly quiTE ALert on reading that someone's pot-bellied PIG [EONS ago] found Miracle-GRO USEful as an anti-emetic. The person in question was, at the time, on an inTERNship in DC, but was ultimately discharged for malpheasants.
Puffin Books
1
My brain cells do not pick up on themes. They saw that it was movies, but the birds flew past me!
5
66A I had REGRETS before BEMOANS. That would have suited the bird theme better.
2
I had REGRETS too, but didn't see the bird theme until later. Genius!
Andrew, I guess now you have no REGRETS.
BEMOANS does have a bird, albeit an extinct one, similar to the emu, no less.
1
No REGRETS, but a little bit bEMUsed...
Anyone else remember Surfin Bird ("the bird is a word" or vice versa), greater game from Full Metal Jacket...
3
In 1962 and '63, R&B vocal group the Rivingtons had two minor but memorable chart hits: "Papa Oom Mow Mow" and "The Bird's the Word."
in 1964, rock group the Trashmen merged the two songs and called it "Surfin' Bird," which made the Top 10.
3
Deb, why are your brain cells male?
1
Deb has male, female, nonbinary and ungendered brain cells. I'm not surprised that a male brain cell wanted to be called on first.
6
Nailed it, Barry.
3
Peter
Fine job, but I'm not sure that TOM KITE would be happy to be labeled a fictional character, and there are no Oscars for golf (yet).
I wondered if your first intent for 46D was MORLOCKS instead of WARLOCKS, in order to pair with ELOI, but that it just didn't work out.
I thought MINAJ might be parsed as MINA-J and pronounced MYNAH JAY – a sub-theme – but I just checked and he is pronounced MINARGE, apparently a deliberate respelling of MÉNAGE (à trois).
"...but I just checked and he is pronounced MINARGE..."
"She," Bob.
1
I also wish the Morlocks had joined the ELOI.
Anyone else see the bird in the grid?
I described my bird below. . . may have to do some scrolling as it was a while ago! :)
I wondered if you would still see it in the light of day, RMP.
1
yup, and sent it to my pseudo-niece who "drew" it using connect the dots with the simple instruction "find the bird." She's 10. Future Nobel.
3
xOut our way, where Saltillo tiles are used in many rooms, I quickly entered SEALANT. That got me stuck for a while. I was surprised to see NERTS clued as old usage. Am I getting that old?
Whereas I do maintain a high-flying, fastidious fondness for all of my fine feathered friends, (gotta love those dirty birds) I was disappointed to miss today's avian theme. This is partly due to, swallowing hard, what my thinker OPTS for when MARTIN arises in a word association session.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._F._Martin_%26_Company
2
Analogously, Bru, my first response is not Althea or Mel.
But we shouldn't fret.
1
That's the kind of squib a Nez Perce would appreciate.
Appaloosa
Being only an occasional movie goer, this one was not a typical Thursday for me. Of the movie clues I only knew SCOUTFINCH, and didn't catch on to the bird theme until I read Wordplay. And RIDIC??? Who says that?
I also sat looking at a complete puzzle with the timer continuing and no error message. Harumph!
Who says "RIDIC"? I do. I don't mean to, but that's all that comes out before my "better half" cuts me off. She is so smart. She always knows what I am going to say before I say it.
4
I don't say RIDIC, but I do occasionally go in the other direction with 'ridinky-dorkus' (spelling approximate).
I can't remember if I made that up or heard it somewhere, but it gets zero hits on Google.
1
I learned "cattywampus" when I lived in the Midwest, Rich, but I never heard "ridinky-dorkus." But I wasn't a Yooper.
53A was a gimme, but, this being Thursday, I entered CLARICE and the counted squares, wondering if there' by a (STAR) rebus involved. But no, no hijinks involved. JACKSPARROW followed quickly, revealing the avian angle. Needed some crosses for the other themers, but only LUKEMARTIN was completely unfamiliar.
GUST before GALE (should've consulted the Beaufort scale). Final square was the ABIDJAN/JAG crossing.
"Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley. How I wish the hopeful, reassuring lyric was true: "every little thing is gonna be alright."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaGUr6wzyT8
2
I knew the passerine part, Jodie's character's surname. A misnomer of her first, Clarisa, gummed up the works. That ATE AT my objective in the SW corner for a spell.
1
CLARICE is also the name of Rudolph's girlfriend in the eternal Christmas TV special, which leads to interesting crossover possibilities.
"Tell me about the lambs, CLARICE."
1
BORING CRAP.
5 characters with birds in their name. That's it? Not to mention, you have to be either old or a total movie buff to know most of them.
Tons of 3 and 4 letter fill at the top, too.
Seems like Will Shortz is having trouble finding good Thursday puzzles, which is surprising to me.
2
and Elke
Hey Denn- I think you are on the wrong blog.
7
Plus, he can't count.
1
Aren't we in a CRABby state of mind today? I sense some ANIMA-city. Trust me and stick around, it gets better.
Nice, clean, strong Thursday; classic Peter Gordon. "Senior members" as a clue for DEANS gave me pause. I get it, of course, but in academia that's not what many faculty would call their dean. According to an old saying, the dean is a slave and an SOB: a slave to the administration and an SOB to the faculty.
2
DEAN in the sense of 'Elder statesman' or acknowledged leader.....as you obviously grasped. But being in Academe rather poisons the air at times, eh?
Ever read Jane Smiley's _Moo_? Or Kingsley Amis's _Lucky Jim_?
2
Or _Stoner,_ but only if you're feeling strong (not suicidal....)
2
Yes, how right you are, esp about Stoner.
1
Here we go again: 28D - A LENE!
3
This one should have been in yesterday's puzzle.
2
Well, if you've ever wondered about Peter Gordon's constructing abilities, now you know what all the flap is about.
Nobody does a tighter theme than he. Plus he has the chops to pull it off. When he sends in a theme he doesn't just hope it'll fly, he knows it will!
5
I liked ENAMEL for canine coat- I started by looking for Cruella de Ville related themes; and had ENGAGED before HALOED. Clearly an easy mark for misdirections!
Yes, had to get Scout via Atticus Finch ( “the sexiest man in the word” according to the funny novel “The Rosie Project” by G Simsiom.)
Missed bird and Oscar allusions! The OED included ridic as a word in 2012 at the same time as group hug, date night, micro pig and photobomb! Complete list at https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/08/23/hella-ridic-new-words-to-...
2
Oops! ENHALO not HALOED
My Mac/Apple Dictionary gives RIDIC as a standalone word and dates it to the 1920s, and I would guess it was listed in some American dictionaries. Did it make a resurrec in 2012? If so, it must have died again later that year.
2
Thank you both for supplying the Chronicles of Ridic.
..
3
Wow, did I get hoo dood! What bird? Which theme? I missed both by a country mile. And another CRAB; which one of you hoodwinking wise guys get the cred for coming up with the RIDIC, illusionary chocolate coated clue? Peter, Will, Deb or Joel? C'mon folks, 'fess up. So sharp was that dogged beguilement, I half-suspect in was a consensus from all four of you word players. Well, you guys will have to get up a little earlier in the morning to fool me. I collared the furry, brown retriever with a satisfying smile. My ENAMELS run rock-hard when it comes to canine and baseball clues. That said, you all can oversleep and still hang me out to dry with Greek Mythology and EXURBIAn, suburban or any other African city-speak. When it comes to the Ivory Coast, my thoughts go straight to cakes of soap...BONDed PAPER? Sure, I'll have a dozen or so reams of rag vellum...Simon and Garfunkel's version of "The Bonnie Lass o'Fyvie" is the link for this TEN A.M. posting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3LR2Aa3dEY
4
Still a tad woozy from Fat Tuesday, I messed up; sorry folks. This is the aforementioned Scottish folksong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK4MwhIDQ6o
I hope you enjoyed Dr. John, "Big Bass Drum (On A Mardi Gras Day)" and the inspirational slide show, my faux pas notwithstanding.
3
good one today bru thanks for the grin.
and happy spring training!
Deb, who do I contact about getting my streak back? I had to take a reveal yesterday because the puzzle didn't give me an error message. That happened to a lot of people. You've given their address before.
Sorry if this was handled in yesterday's Wordplay. I just came here 1st thing this morning and haven't read yesterdays or today's column.
OK, I read Barry Acona's method for contacting Feedback, but on my browser I have to go to the main Crossword page in order to access Support.
So go to the main crossword page (the mini/crossword/sudoku etc) scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. Left of center is 'Support', an option is 'Feedback', click on that brings up an email with all your subscriber info as well as your device info and a feedback number.
Hope this helps.
ENHALO!
When acting as a real psychologist I once had a client who managed her relationships according to what might occur on Friends. Hardly Mr. Do-Bee or Don't-Bee. More like Ms. Lame-Bee.
Knew all the roles and only misspelled MARION a few times before Happy Pencil showed up. A pleasant Thursday surprise: no little tricks and a theme that I get.
Come to WI and you can go on the Ed Gein tour. Inspiration for two of the movies in today's puz. Hint: Not the fun ones.
Thank you Peter.
1
Ed Gein tour? OMG.
1
I misremembered Cap'n JACK's name and entered SWALLOW with great confidence. The ARM CURL set me straight.
I noted the -WING in the East ....and some other animal life (CRAB, KIT)....
Some of the entries were RIDIC.
And haven't we seen enough of Nicki MINAJ? "Friends" has been over for a decade now, has it not? Let it die! Pleeeeeeze!
I also thought the symbol of gentle innocence was a dove; BAMBI is just a symbol of The Death of Hostas and The Pruning of the Apple Trees.
2
Death of Hostas! LOL! Thanks for that!
The Death of Hostas indeed! And rhododendrons. And hydrangias. And, believe it or not, holly! We live on the edge of a protected woods and last week chased 11 Bambis out of our backyard. Not gentle. Not innocent. Just ravenous.
1
I saw this kind of thing in NE Ohio--as the deer overpopulation continued, they began eating things they had never before touched: elderberry shrubs, all kinds of garden vegetables, etc. One stag got on the porch inn order to reach more of the big hostas....
Great theme, nice fill, overall a very enjoyable puzzle.
2
Did you know that CAPTAINJACK has the same number of letters as JACKSPARROW? I held onto that for way too long. Also WARLORD before WARLOCK. And WARLORD doesn't even make sense, but sometimes it's so hard to recognize the nonsense I've entered as nonsense.
This was not a fast Thursday for me at all, but I liked it. I was very pleased to think of COP for "bag man?" but that of course also turned out to be wrong. I wonder if there was anything I filled right to start with.
5
I thought briefly of COP for "bag man" as well. I cannot, alas, share in your other missteps - those are wholly your own. :)
1
Question: was anyone at all able to remember Scout's last name without having to first think of Atticus's first name?
8
I remembered FINCH, but even with the S and the T, I couldn't remember Scout and had to look it up.
Not me.
1
Yes, I did know FINCH....but I wanted Jean Marie, which I think was her real name. SCOUT was her nickname.
I didn't even realize it was Thursday until someone mentioned it earlier. Enjoyed TOM KITE crossing GALE. Hopefully the UMP is not making bird calls.
1
FYI:
TOM KITE's only major (1992 US Open at Pebble Beach) actually did come with a historically windy final round:
http://www.usopen.com/2017/articles/kite-recalls-1992-major-breakthrough...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Kite#Wins_(1)
1
For the last 2 days the puzzle has not recognized when it is completed. The timer continues and it just sits there. I have to back out, go back in, and erase a letter and then re-enter it before the puzzle tells me whether all entries are correct. What's up with that?
7
In the past Deb has given the contact info for the IT dept. I'm hoping she'll do the same about this glitch so I can get my streak back. So far it doesn't seem to have any correlation to the operating system, browser or equipment used to solve the puzzle, I'm using a desktop, others using tablets and phones have had trouble.
I'm just hoping the new rule 'it's never a problem til it happens to you.' doesn't apply at Wordplay.
1
My appreciation for this puzzle was significantly diminished by what is likely the biggest 'gee you have a terrible memory' experience in my tenure as a solver. Three of the theme answers (3D, 31D, 53A) were absolute, immediate fill-in-the-blanks gimmes. And I couldn't remember any of them. Actually took a break after a first pass through the clues, thinking that they would come back to me. None of them did. Needed crosses for all of them.
How can you not remember SCOUT? Or Atticus FINCH? Something about Boo Radley came up here within the last few days (Jeopardy maybe?). Remembered the name right away. Remembered that it was the first film role for the actor who portrayed him. Even remembered the actor's name after a brief round-about ("you know - the guy who played the lawyer brother in The Godfather.") And couldn't recall that actor's name this morning.
Enough of that. MARIONCRANE - somewhat familiar after the fact. 11d - no. Don't watch those movies. Significant fail for me with multiple failed checks and a couple of reveals. No, didn't notice the bird thing.
Way OT in regard to figure skating - probably mostly for DL. Am I the only one who actually misses compulsory figures? Still have vivid memories of watching Peggy Fleming and others doing those.
4
I believe RD was in Lonesome "Dove".
3
The TV stations hardly ever showed the skaters doing the figures, but I recall when Torvill and Dean came back to the Olympics, they talked about how hard it was to go back and practice those figures after so much free-style skating.....
1
I did sort of miss the school figures, but not any longer.
I definitely don't miss all the griping about them.
1
At first I thought this would really be difficult for me as I couldn't remember any of the names, and somehow didn't think of using SCOUT's surname at first. However once I got enough letters for FINCH, and looked again at the others it was obvious that we had bird names, and the puzzle became quite easy for the most part. I recognized all the names except MARTIN.
I'm always disappointed when Thursday isn't tricky, but this was impressive and fun to solve.
Of course I thought of Mac and his lovely bird photos.
11
Birds as last names has been done several times before, and the added twist that they're all Oscar-nominated movie characters didn't do much for me, since I'm not a big movie buff. I knew SCOUT FINCH but never heard the two names together; it's always been ATTICUS FINCH and just SCOUT to my ears (although obviously, that would be her name).
Did know JACK SPARROW right off, and I knew CLARICE but not her last name, never having seen the movie. Didn't recognize the other two names at all.
I admit that's all on me; I'm just not that into movies, especially those "classic" ones everyone is supposed to have seen. I readily recognize that for others, all four names would be gimmes, and the puzzle as a whole, a delight. It just didn't do much for me.
I like Alexa Shortbush's observation that the TV character Martin Crane is two birds; even TOM KITE contains two animal-related words. I wonder if there's a puzzle idea there?
(I also wonder what people actually named Alexa call their Amazon cylinder. "Me, what's the weather today?" Sorta like George Burns in "Oh God!": So help me me. Speaking of movies...)
1
You haven’t seen Silence of the Lambs? You must. But don’t watch it alone.
"RIDIC". Really?
1
Agreed. And also RIDIC...ENAMELS. Really? As if canines are the only non-human species to have enamel on teeth. How about a qualifier at least, like "Coats for canines among others?"
1
Canine teeth, that would be. All canine teeth have enamel on them.
3
Huh? It has nothing to do with canine *animals*. It's about canine *teeth*, the pointy ones you tear food with. Those kinds of clues make me groan and laugh all at the same time.
1
The puzzle flew by pretty quickly.
Good idea for the theme, and great research by Peter. Most impressive were the two long down themers crossing the across theme spanner. I had ENgage for "Put a ring on" before ENHALO. Lovely clue for ENAMELS. And, as your resident alphadoppeltotter, I must report that this puzzle had an unusually low double letter count (4). Anything under five is quite rare, although it did happen a couple of months ago (12/4).
With all the bird-as-last-name puzzles that have been done already, whether or when we'll see another is, I suppose, up in the air.
4
Fun puzzle. Didn’t notice the birds until I read Deb. Fun little jolt for me - I was born in Enid, Oklahoma, but except for a few short months at my very beginning I’ve only lived far, far away from there. It’s so rare to see the little fly-splat town in print I had to look twice. Hardly a city, but it tries hard.
3
You shouldn't have to wait too long to see ENID again (clued one way or another): "705 results for ENID; 194 Shortz Era entries found." If you'd been born in El Reno -- or Oklahoma City -- it *would* be a long wait.
3
Barry, I didn’t know that about Enid (or Oklahoma City - should have left it as “El Reno”.) You’re a font!
Do others have a problem with logging in on multiple computers? Work started on work PC is never there when I log in at come. Streaks started on one computer are lost if I log into another one. This only seems to have begun a few months ago.
I work on my phone and home computer and have not noticed that. Sometimes I do have to go "out" and back "in" a time or two to get it to take, but it usually will.
1
Had a similar problem with the mechanism. Apparently the rule now is that it won't make a response until you're down to one error. Too bad: it was appropriately maddening to have the "not quite" message, make a correction, and then have to look further, often for a typo.
That said, pretty nice puzzle, fairly easy for a Thursday. Caught on early (for a change) about the birds, and then thought for a bit they'd all be songbirds, until CRANE. So it goes. (The bird in the grid? Well, yeah, sort of. If you squint a little.)
Agree that "Canine coats" was a great clue.
By the way, what's the "Feedback button" equivalent for a desktop? Or is this it? (I've got an old stats problem.)
At the bottom of the Wordplay home page, there is a Send Feedback "button" that creates an email (to [email protected]) with your browser data and NYT sub status already in it.
Hmm. Don't seem to have the button, but I'll bet that link will work. Thanks!
I thought one of the rules of puzzle constructing was that the grid was supposed to be symmetrical. This grid is not symmetrical at all. Yes, I know there are sometime exceptions for themes, but I don't see how this theme warranted an exception. Is there something I am missing here?
Looks bilaterally symmetrical to me.
1
Hi Mike M,
You might have missed the East/West symmetry.
2
There are five types of symmetry....and I can't ever see any of them, myself.
Found the bird theme to be quite useful since none of the actors names were gimmies for me. TOM KITE I did know.
Cleanup entailed rolling out the BATH MAT, displacing my lAMBs (as in Elia, the name, not the foot) for a little deer, BAMBI. Final chore was to figure out what that kid ‘s medication was. Shuffled the last couple of vowels around a bit and voila - gold star.
Eschewing the usual fanfare I proudly ENHALOED myself instead! RIDIC, I know. But hey, I just found out it’s a thing, apparently.
Nice clues for UMP, ARFS and, of course, the ever adorable LABRADOR. (No D C, they are not a*o*b*).
FWIW, no problems with the iPad app this week other than clogs in the comment queue.
2
Too many names. Too many movies. Too many birds. Grumble. Mumble. Jumble. Bumble.
I finished the puzzle in my usual time even though I did not know any of the names (except for Finch). You work the clues one way, then the other, then repeat, then repeat. Pretty soon it all becomes obvious.
These are crossword puzzles. Puzzle is the operative word here. If you know all the answers all the time it is not a puzzle anymore. It's a Watson exercise.
Of course there is always my unique way of completing the fill (patent pending) that works best when you are sitting next to someone you want to impress.
8
"...when you are sitting next to someone you want to impress."
How's that workin' out for ya, Hal?
3
Barry, don't ask me. Ask her.
2
Martin Crane - "Frasier" father. Two birds.
5
and Elke
Considering what's going on elsewhere, I don't want to CRAB-- it's only a puzzle.
Finally some 'chocolate'-if only in the clue (42D). So nice to see LABRADOR, and also INUIT (which is spoken in parts of LABRADOR).
Puzzle is ENHALOed with two LEIS- the other in (NUC)LEI(C), that's SWANKY.
Besides the bird ERN (already mentioned), there's a SWAN(KY) and two ANIs -one in ANI(TA) and the other in ANI(MA). And KITE .
And there's (A)LENE again. A RERUN ?
Agree with Barry A.- we BEMOAN(S) Mac Knight's absence- he could have contributed HUGEly.
5
re: birds, there is also a MOA in BEMOAN.
But in other partial words, I found also R(IDI)C TRI(AMIN)IC. Hmm...
4
I think there has been a change to the "filled in but you have errors message." I believe that it used to appear if you had several errors, but I think that now you only get that message if you only have one error. With more than one the clock keeps ticking. I had the problem yesterday and as a solution I thought I was just removing and replacing some random letters. But I now think I accidentally replaced bad letters with good ones. ( I am such a bad proof reader that I didn't notice.} Today I had the same problem but was a little more scientific. I found 2 errors, fixing the first gave me the error message, fixing the second gave me the gold star.
4
I had the problem when I filled in everything and nothing happened as well.
I pressed ctrl+F5 which forces all elements of the page to reload. At that point, when I entered the last letter it told me I had an error. I found the error and then the gold star came up. I figured maybe some code was lingering from yesterday(today)'s special heart puzzle where it turned pink.
2
I had one error and didn't get the message so I think it's just gone. I miss the old nudge to review one more time BUT i do think it evens the playing field for those who puzzle offline. Because if you finish a puzzle the old fashioned way (on paper with pen) you have no way of knowing if it's 100% correct unless you check the next day's paper (if that's still how it works!) So it was kind of an unfair edge to consider myself finished but then get that warning, go back and fix the mistake, and still have the time count. So in the name of fairness, it's a good change.
1
I closed the puzzle and re-entered it, erased one letter at random and re-entered it, and then I got the "Almost There" box. I had two mis-typed squares to fix.
I'm not paying a ton for this diversion so I don't expect perfection in the coding. I realize also that coding the puzzle is probably someone's "other duty as assigned" and as such it does not get full attention. That said, I am GRATEFUL for this forum as today I would not have finished had I not read the comments after "finishing" the puzzle.
3
Two MARION's in a week and the previous one (ROSS) is mentioned in this puzzle! In the Star Wars world, BTW, a RASP is a bird that inhabited several planets.
The little bird is on the wing, o, my, how absurd
I thought the wing was on the bird.
3
Oh, POOH! I put in RUSS because, well, it's a name and TUI wd be a French pronoun, right? Since I never saw 'Friends' (and wish it would be blotted from the face of the Earth) I prefer ROSS to be clued as the Sea....Sigh.
Tui is a nice Latin word, but non, c'est pas français, MOL.
Although I wasn't a Friends fan, I wonder why someone who never saw it would wish it blotted etc.? It's a sincere question, actually.
1
Second David's question.
All right, I'll admit it, I finished the puzzle, found it very difficult, and never noticed that the last names were birds.
6
Another off-course bird: the ERN at 38A.
And 44A: SKE WING?
Not a bird, but a BAT is 4A.
2
BarryA, I could BE_MOA_N this type wordplay, but I'll d_emu_r.
Leapfinger, that was gut-WRENching.
1
Wen is it a good time for tit-for-tat?
heheh
Fun puzzle but what’s the grid about? Kept trying to see a bird but haven’t yet.
1
I think the only additional birds you're going to see are not in the grid: there's one at the top of Deb's column and another in the clue for 3D.
2
Imagine an abstract flying bird. The head is the square at the top of ENID, the tail are the squares at the bottom of ENID, and the wings are on either side? I'm tired and I'm squinting and it looks like a bird to me! :D
1
Nope. Still looks like a desk lamp to me (on). Or an Oscar?
1. After doing the puzzle and heading for Wordplay, I was hoping that the lead photo would be a Mac Knight.
2. I see that the constructor just couldn't keep the sports bird out of the movie bird puzzle (67A).
3. To complete the explanation for the totally unsportsed, in regular season baseball games there is one umpire assigned to each base.
4. "Coats" at 22A but also at 42D. ARFS!
5. RIDIC?
6. Need I add "very easy Thursday?"
7
4. "Coats" at 22A but also at 42D. ARFS!" And also CANINE's!
5 RIDIC is RIDICULOUS shortened. . . and THAT is RIDIC!
1
Partner to adorbs.
2
I have heard people say "RIDICul" but not RIDIC. Either one hurts my eyes (or ears).
1
TIL: If your character is named for a bird, your chance of getting an Oscar nomination goes way up.
12
Okay, now I've joined the "everything is filled in and nothing happens while the clock keeps ticking away" crowd.
Seriously? What's going on over there in tech land?
2
Hi David,
Hot thevFeedback button on your device and write them a note. It’s the only way they are made aware of problems, and it gives them enough information to help you.
Hi, Deb. I did write the note. I have a 927-day streak riding on getting this resolved. It does surprise me that, after all the reported problems with yesterday's puzzle, there would still be the same issue today.
It may be that you have 2 or more errors. I had the problem again today and in going over the puzzle I had 2 errors, fixing one gave me the message about errors, fixing the other gave me the gold star.
2
Nice puzzle, but it bothered me that TOM KITE's in there with his bird last-name but he's not an Oscar-nominated role.
I didn't know the characters LUKE MARTIN or MARION CRANE (never saw the second film) but they were certainly gettable from the crosses. I was also glad that TRIAMINIC filled in from the crosses.
3