Having given up my attempt to comment on this puzzle during the outage, I see that comments have finally arrived. So, late as it is, I feel obliged – as a retired chemist – to express my delight with a grid that flaunts the PERIODIC TABLE across its middle
The theme is thought-provoking. Why are co-inventors or co-discoverers so often not given equal credit? Edison and Bell are household names; how much do most of us know about Joseph Swan or Elisha Gray?
A respectable number of clever, not necessarily difficult, clues: e.g. 14A, 20A, 31A, 3D, 25D, 38D, 46D, add to the solver’s enjoyment.
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P.S. In case anyone's still reading, or cares, the union leader I was thinking of was Leo Gerard. Close! :)
Easiest wednesday all year. Got a time that was better than any tuesday, and would’ve been nice on a Monday too.
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and Elke
Last night (i.e. 25 hrs. ago) I had such an erudite comment..... it had the result of my search for woman scientists--- Marie Curie and Lise Meitner--- but greater powers intervened.
On the SB, I also wanted to quibble over HEAVEN and lack of Valhalla, and HALAL and (C)Hallah, but quicker minds (with Internet access) beat me to it.
Nevertheless, I'm passing the Wednesday puzzle on to a Science teacher.
Now to the Thursday oeuvre. Not going past Genius on the SB.
Almost forty years ago, when Danny AINGE was vacillating between basketball and baseball, I remember a phony newspaper headline in Boston that read "Ainge a Bruin!" Actually, Ainge played three seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays (second base) and remains the only person to be named a high school first team All-American in football, basketball, and baseball.
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My favorite part of this zippy puzzle is its theme -- brilliant, in my opinion, fleshing out the known-by-everyone GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE by finding well known inventions credited to more than one creator. The only thing that might have improved it is if the exact same puzzle by a completely different constructor appeared in the LA Times by sheer coincidence.
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Well I finished in well under my Wednesday average (nearly 24 hours ago).
When I read the unifier at 1A I was expecting some clever wordplay on the theme words. But I knew that Newton and Liebniz independently invented Calculus at about the same time, and I knew that Mendeleev played a major role in assembling the Periodic Table (I did not know the other guy), and the words fit and the crosses were solid, so I went ahead and guessed the other clues based on one of the inventors. And the unifier phrase fell into place – confirming rather straightforwardly the lack of wordplay.
So, IMHO, a nice idea, which fell rather flat in practice – a little disappointing.
NC
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@NICE CUPPA
Not tricky enough? Well, it was a Wednesday, not a Thursday, so I think it was within expectation. Even then, a bit on the easy side for a Wednesday. You sort of saw where things were going if you managed to get a couple of them.
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Finally able to read others' posts (only 35??) and contribute my own:
Raced through this one even faster than yesterday, so a new PR. (Two in the last three days!) The only hiccups (early) were "inventors" instead of LIGHTBULB at 18A and BAit instead of BARB at 37D. After getting GREAT and MINDS, entered the rest of the phrase post haste. The other inventions came quickly except ATOMBOMB, ironically (my career was in *fusion* research -- close enough); I thought Leo Szilard was a union spokesman! :) (Anyone else?)
Unknowns were MAGE, LOU, TLC, MIEN, RIALTO, AINGE, and TOD. Great clues for MIAMI and AMOEBA, btw.
Bottom line: Easy for a Wednesday. Even if, a pleasant change from the last couple of Wednedays! Liked the theme, so kudos to Mr. Kingsley.
Very nice puzzle. I enjoyed it a lot.
SB, 45/161 - obviously, many more words, but I cannot think of them. Did anyone who reached QB want to give some hints?
Now, 46/167. Sigh.
@Mary
Today’s BEE (48 words and 178 points did not have the grand sweep feel of yesterday – just a single pangram). It was, however, a BINGO (at least one word starting with every letter in the wheel and hub).
There was one new entry, with 2 alternate spellings, increasing our sampling of middle-eastern cuisine, in addition to the means of preparation that debuted the other day. Beyond that, we had the archaic (to some) birthing method from the other day (just kidding….).
[Having been binge-watching The Last Kingdom (superb) and some of the other Viking stuff (good in parts) on Netflix, I was struck that the Christian place for the afterlife featured, while the Dane/Viking VALHALLA did not. OK so the latter is typically capitalized, but the BEE-list has been playing fast-and-loose with such distinctions.]
Otherwise, no surprises. Hope that helps.
NC
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@nice cuppa
Thank you for your help! I’m always glad to see your comments.
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I'm glad to see the reply I made 24 hours ago in the "ketchup" thread in the Tuesday comments -- which NYT told me then was approved -- finally appeared.
UMAMI
This one SINGS my thoughts and observations today more than mere words can say. Keep an open EAR for the telltale clanging of Mick Fleetwood’s cowBELL(E) that ushers in a soothing, ethereal vibe at around 2:35.
https://youtu.be/rN4FMVqq1cg
TA-TAS To All,
Bru
I finally get caught up enough after three weeks away to post, and I run into another site "improvement."
Now I forgot what I was going to say.
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Well, Andrew Kingsley certainly wasn't of two minds when he came up with this clever concept featuring not one but two innovators in each theme answer. What at first seemed like a puzzle I'd have to go back to school to solve turned out to be simply executed and actually quite simple. Plus I actually learned something without having to open a book!
Thank you, Andrew, for teaching me something I didn't know and making me feel smart at the same time. Truly double the fun today!
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@Robert Michael Panoff
The Blog comments came on a little after 6pm. Thanks for your help.
@Barry Ancona—what’s your workaround for today’s situation?
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Hi Steve,
I was using tin cans and a string. You?
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@Barry Ancona
I actually went outside and worked in the yard. Lots to do piles up when you waste a lot of time on the computer.
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What's a yard?
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As to the comments: No comment. Don't quote me.
The puzzle: I think if I'd just started with the down clues (I do that occasionally) I might have had a record time. As it was, I pretty much ignored the multiple cross-reference and didn't even try to figure out what the theme answers were going for on my first pass. Then after one pass through the downs, almost all the acrosses (and all the theme answers) came together when I read the clues. Ended up as a typical Monday time for me.
Thought it was a clever idea, nicely executed. Just one of those themes where once you catch on everything becomes pretty easy.
Don't know if there are many funk fans in this group, but here's a song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17lkdqoLt44
..
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@Rich in Atlanta I'm always fascinated by how other people solve crosswords. So from your comment, it seems that you usually start with the across clues. Is there a reason, or just habit? I always start with the down clues, my reasoning being that usually the longer answers, stacks, theme entries, etc are across entries, and getting a good number of downs filled in makes the longer answers somewhat easier. How about anyone else? Do you have a method for solving or just dig in?
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@Steve Faiella
I start with the acrosses (no particular reason) and go until I get a few in the top to "anchor" the section. Then I turn to the downs and try to fill the top. I then proceed across/down, according to which entries have the most fill, toward the bottom.
I generally start with the acrosses (must be due to the fact that that is how we read...). By the time I have done about a third of the puzzle, I go back and start the downs, in order to reinforce any acrosses which may have been uncertain guesses. Usually this involves some editing of original entries. After the top is exhausted, I start to work my way down. I may scan the various quadrants remaining looking for the most accessible area based on the clues, and start there.
Of course Thursdays and Sundays are a little different, as are any themed puzzles that may have inter-related entries. The deeper I get into the puzzle, the less method there is to my solving. I also tend to put the puzzle down and come back to it several times, (except for Monday-Wednesday generally).
Really liked this puzzle.
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This is an easy one for a Wednesday.
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SB: I'm at 47/177, so I'm short either one or two four-letter words. It's pretty easy to get a bingo today using fairly common words. There's an odd word that we saw a week or so ago and one food item with two spellings.
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@qatburger
Too many real words not accepted by the BEE. Such as,
ALEE (in many XWP's), ANNAL, VALHALLA. . .
2
@Robert Michael Panoff
Yes, we've gone through this a lot. Yesterday's didn't accept COCOTTE (a small dish with a naughtier other meaning). Lots of words that are accepted in the NYTXWP, but not here.
@qatburger
Thanks, qatburger. The second spelling of the food item did the trick for me!
QB with 48 words, 178 points.
Wish our busy bees would stop using a certain anatomic adjective, now with the adverb as well. Sheesh!
My authentic Wee Bee mini Solver's Experience (Xword-only solvers may skip to the next comment):
After quickly blasting to within a twenty points of my goal for yesterday's Bee, I stalled out. Trying off and on for the rest of the afternoon and evening, I could only claw to within three points by bedtime.
Last night I dreamt that I was in free fall over the ocean, naked of course, with nothing more than a large bath towel held one corner to each shoulder. No sense of panic, but I was wondering just how this thing was going to give me my much needed Superman powers.
When I awoke I recalled my dream, opened my iPad to yesterday's Bee, and immediately keyed in the final entry give me my Beelated Genius status. Of course - it was a COTTON towel!
Perhaps I should just lay off the Spelling Bee for a while...
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The Blog for Wednesday’s NYTimes crossword puzzle does not come up on my IPad. Can you tell me if the Blog site is down or is it a problem with my IPad? Thanks for your help.
RoseAnn M
Livingston, New Jersey
@RoseAnn M
Most of the day I could read Caitlin's column, but there were no comments. Apparently there was a site-wide comment outage.
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As a scientific-trained person who is now an engineer, this was a fast solve for me. But — enough with the Disney princesses already!
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Enjoyed memories of the Rialto Bridge, Edison Lab down the hill in West Orange. Thought this might have been my fastest time, but
NYTimes has recorded my best Wednesday time as a 1 min. 17 sec. I’m not that good!!!
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@RoseAnn M
As I understand, you might be able to contact Support and have them "fix" your time.
Came to know of the Rialto via Shakespeare. The first line of the Merchant of Venice is one character asking another, "Now, what news on the Rialto?" It was then a gathering place for merchants, and in the character's answer we first learn of the financial losses suffered by Antonio (who is the titular merchant, not Shylock), which drive the plot.
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@Dan great info. Me I just thought of all the gift shops I saw on Rialto bridge not long ago :-)
An excellent theme, well executed.
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Fun. Quick and easy, but with solid unforced fill. Thank you for a nice bedtime diversion!
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Nice puzzle. Didn’t know most of the “other” minds, but the first-named of each pair were pretty obvious.
Nice science theme ... solve time faster than Monday, though
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I got the innovations right away!
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The northwest was the last to fall for me tonight. Needed the down crossings to get MIAMI.
But Caitlin, us NY expats here in south Florida do have a heat setting on our central ac thermostats. Ours came on this past January when temps in Naples dropped below 40. The iguanas were falling from the trees.
Our ac switched to heat mode. The house smelled like it was burning. I called the ac service company. They were inundated by calls. Apparently it’s normal when central ac switches to heat for the first time.
Who knew? I’m used to my radiator clanking when it first comes on. That’s a comforting sound to me.
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Testing to see if this comment goes through.
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Hi Caitlin,
We know: you didn't do it.
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As soon as I had MINDS, I tumbled to the four-Word revealer. That’s when the LIGHT BULB went off. Fun puzzle, crammed with esoteric bits of scientific history. It really SINGS. THAT IS, I THINK it does.
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Ha! I’m first?
@Spanker
Only when the comments are broken :)
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@Spanker
Not according to my display.