thought this was really fun even though I never got it. I got the ad in circles but was stumped in the right places. Think I've learned that a - for a clue indicates that the fill is from another clue. is that right ?
Dang! This was really tough for a Wednesday puzzle. I finished it without ever figuring out the “pop up a row” - feels like you have to have special powers to get some of these tricks...don’t even get me started with the whole rebus thing! Happy solving!
1
Were the 2nd half words of the pop-up supposed to be words on their own? Didn’t make sense so that threw me—“IAN”—and only got the ad , not ad , so I got “a dent” but also a confusion! Gotta be more alert to tricks!
Shame on me for not knowing my daughter's birthstone, but Kudos to Mr. Paleos for a fantastic debut. It was pure, unadulterated genius!
2
The EDA,DEVOE,PERIDOT area took me out. I’d not heard of any of them and couldn’t suss the right combo. I had to google LeShan then the rest fell. But in my world that’s a no-solve. Busted a 54 day streak! Welp, that’s how the cookie crumbles
2
For folks like me who don't do crosswords much, how on earth are we supposed to know "-" denotes a continuation of preceding answer?
2
@Rod D
You don't. Now you do. :)
1
Would that non-crosswords were reserved for Thursday
6
Sad to see Erik go down, but he did well enough...and at least he lost to a worthy opponent (and a red-head!)
4
and Elke
Erik- sorry!
I got the AD theme after SIDE ROAD. I actually saw it in ROPE AD OPE, when I entered just ROPE as a boxing trick, I knew it should be ROPE A DOPE, so aha, put the AD into the two black boxes, and Bob’s your uncle.
I believe we’ve had tricky Wednesday puzzles before, so this is just fine with me. Maybe I’ll worry about difficulties to come for the rest of the week!
While realizing the POP UP AD theme, I still had trouble with some of the unthematic stuff. I had an error that was very well hidden at the bottom of the puzzle... I misspelled ODYSSEY and had OOZe rather than the so-much-more descriptive OOZY.
Ah well. Things happen.
Good first NYT puzzle, sir!
:-)
4
I hate these new trick puzzles. I'm not 90 years old either. I just want to relax during a hectic day and these tick me off when I realize I'm in the middle of one again.
6
Last week we had the Friday puzzle on Thursday, the Saturday puzzle on Friday, and today we have tomorrow's puzzle!
Got the revealer and saw the AD's early but didn't expect any gimmicks (being a Wednesday). Didn't understand the "-" clues but got them via the crosses. Eventually grokked the revealer and flashed on a couple of previous puzzles with dashed clues. But ADOPE?, ADENT?, etc. Stared and stared until noticing ROPE preceding ADOPE. Aha! Deja-vu ...
Finished with the correct dashed entries, but no happy music. Must confess to looking up BELBIVDEVOE for that last letter (have heard of the group but my French isn't good enough). ORA and ORINOCO were unknowns so had to guess (successfully) at the cross. (DOS at 14D was likewise a guess.) Last entry was the A at the cross of ALO (?) and ZAMUNDA. Success!
My experiences with BATCAVE were identical to Deb's. ( How many out there are familiar with DC Comics?!)
Even though this puzzle was slower than my (slow) average, I enjoyed it, as I love that Aha! moment! (So will tomorrow's puzzle be trick-free??) Great debut, Mr. Paleos!
2
Are NYT crosswords really the hardest? If you can generally solve NYT Saturday puzzles (sometimes google is consulted) what does that say about your ability to solve other crosswords, say LA Times?
1
@MP NYT puzzles, especially Saturdays, are probably the hardest of the daily newspaper puzzles, though the WSJ Saturdays are a challenge, as are their Friday Crossword Contests.
3
@MP what I've noticed is clues that would be answered one way in the NYT aren't answered that way in other puzzles. It can bring you up short in other puzzles when an answer that would be a NYT 'gimme' turns out to be something else.
1
@MP
My experience is that there are different "usual word" vocabularies that take time to learn for each syndicate. Once you get into the "groove" and recognize the clues/words that keep repeating for one or the other, the puzzles are of similar difficulty.
4
I was still in the NW and hadn't yet run into a themer -- not even AVOCADO -- when I got ROPEd into a assumption. The clue, and R??? reminded me of Muhammad Ali and his ROPE-A-DOPE. I never knew or cared what that meant, so thought maybe it was some play on an existing boxing strategy called ROPE.
I did remember that "-" meant to look at the preceding clue/entry, but that didn't help with the first one. When I got to SIDE ROAD/DEC[AD]ENT, I remembered to look at the circled letters and saw the ADs, which I then filled in throughout. Another look at what I already had, and the other half of the theme POPped into my head. Entered SE not expecting anything related to the theme, only to have my Aha! moment verified early. (That's okay, Michael. The end-of-puzzle revealer may be a tradition, or just a convention, but far from a rule.)
I had to do an alphabet run at the crossing of TES and DEVOE. I've seen "Coming to America" -- fun flick IIRC -- but couldn't remember the name of the country. Luckily I knew both BEZEL (whether beveled or not) and ALO.
I knew the piranhas' home had to be either Amazon or ORINOCO, and only one fit.
Above-average entries, requiring mining my memory banks -- PERIDOT, BAZOOKA, etc. -- and really really good cluing. I've mentioned in reply to Constructor Michael what a good omen I think that is.
Thanks, Michael, and hurry back. (When I lived in london in the 1960s, the International NYT was all over the place.)
2
I enjoyed this one, but for some reason it took me too long to figure out the gimmick. I think this was because the first 3 answers looked OK-ish. To *rope* someone sounded like a boxing tactic. *can* seemed an acceptable abbreviation given that the clue contained one (N.H.L.). *dec* didn't sound too outlandish either as an abbreviated word (cf. RAD). And *nor* was the last word to fall, when the penny finally dropped. My bad, though; great puzzle.
2
@NICE CUPPA
Ditto your reaction to ROPE and CAN.
1
Enjoyed the puzzle very much today. Congratulations, Michael, on a great debut! I assumed the revealer had POPped UP to the top of the puzzle on purpose!
4
Five minutes slower than my average Wednesday according to stats so, yes, a challenging one. Also clever. Clever and challenging make for a good start to a day. Now if I can just stay away from the headlines the day might stay good.
4
Enjoyable puzzle! Wondering... am I the only one who got the ironic equivalent of an annoying pop-up-ad at completion of this particular puzzle to rate the NYT crossword app? Of course I tapped 5 stars, however, the “ad” would not go away and I had to restart my iPad to remove it. Someone has a sense of humor.....
5
closer to a Thursday with gimmick (loved it) and some more obscure crossings.
streak was broken for me because I insisted SW needed 'looPier' instead of 'looNier'
my xword success has increased substantially over the past few years but there are still days when something very obvious eludes me in my check!!!
overall, a great puzzle!!!
1
@jeff
Same problem here. Stared at the grid for at least 7-8 minutes before I saw that "nipos" had to be an incorrect Down entry.
Q. Why did the crossword solver cross the road?
A. Because there was a PED XING.
10
Agree with other posts that this felt like a Thursday puzzle, between the "trick" and the degree of difficulty. That being said, nicely done by a first-timer!
4
@Cheeseman Forever Completely agree. It also highlighted my lazy brain, which started the puzzle with a Wednesday "straight forward" approach because "tricks are for Thursday". Lesson learned -- ruts are bad!
Also, although I have done NYT puzzles for years, I didn't remember what the "-" meant, which may say something about an aging brain or that it has been a while since that has been used. Either way, it was an enjoyable puzzle made more challenging by not expecting it to be challenging! Congrats to the constructor.
1
I felt cheated at first right after I wrote AD in all the circled squares. But then OPE, ENT, IAN and MILL made no sense. The aha moment here was remarkable at ROPE(AD)OPE. You got me, Michael Paleos ... in the most perfect way!
Congratulations on your stunning debut! Can't wait until your next puzzle.
Anybody look at POPU PAD and wonder if it's related to a PUPU PLATTER?
10
Yes, I thought there may have been rebus involved to get us to platter.
And I always dread the "-" clues.
1
@Wen & Johanna
Again, I got caught out by replying to something while reading oldest first.
Still, not unhappy that others saw that, although I didn't until the commenter posted it unparsed.
I'm surprised there's only one(that I noticed) comment on "What is you doin baby?" I think Eric's going viral with that.
@ad absurdum
I couldn't make out or understand what he said, so couldn't comment.
And I still don't get it. It looks like one of those phony captions that people put on pictures of cats on the internet.
@Deadline
I saw the clip and couldn't understand what he said either. And what he wrote makes no sense to me. But I think it'll become a meme, with the shot of him with "What is you doin' baby?" written beneath him. People will add their own captions above the picture like(lame example) "When yur bae puts the toilet roll on backward"
Did I make sense? I hope some of you get what I meme.
I remarked immediately, although I may have ruined Steve L's enjoyment of seeing it on delay.
I had figured that either it was an in joke with a friend or else somebody bet that he would not write that in a final Jeopardy! question. Of course only Erik has the answer and I keep hoping that he will post here to explain. Maybe when and if he ever loses....
I agree with others that it felt more like a Thursday puzzle. Got the theme with CANADIAN. Then the rest including POPUPAD and ROPEADOPE fell out. Didn't know ZAMUNDA but did know BEZEL so that solved that.
Liked BATCAVE and remembered BAZOOKA bubble gum from my long ago childhood.
Good puzzle. In spite of the tricky theme I finished it around my usual Wednesday average time.
1
@jtmcg
The unparsed POPUPAD is very strange looking.
Maybe a Thai pupu platter?
2
@Deadline
LOL. Does look strange.
Did even one person on this blog know/remember ZAMUNDA. Even one? Thought not. I didn't know I had a DNF until I came here. My BEvEL/vAMUNDO cross seemed perfectly swell to me. Obviously I never heard of BEZEL either. It's not a good cross.
Other than that -- one of the best Wednesdays I've ever done. I got the theme immediately at ROPE-A-DOPE (which, if you're young and never saw an Ali fight, you might not get) and I went looking for the revealer somewhere below. Couldn't initially find it. Never thought to look in the top row, since that's not usually where revealers lurk. Anyway, the kind of theme I most love -- the one you absolutely need to suss out in order to solve. I filled in all the ADS ahead of time and then went back and solved in my usual orderly way.
My one nit is DECADENT for hedonistic. Much too strong. I consider myself a bit of a hedonist and I'm certainly not DECADENT. Hedonistic simply means pleasure-loving or pleasure-seeking and not all pleasures are DECADENT by any stretch of the imagination.
7
@Nancy - erm - I'll speak for the one. I know a bezel from a bevel and I distinctly remembered James Earl Jones as the king of Zamunda (note: not Zamundo). So, yes, at least one.
8
Following up on my earlier reply (which may appear sometime) -
I am always amazed when the "stick-in-the-craw" comes from actual meanings of actual words. If there are personal names or (heaven forfend!) brand names, there is a huge part of the crossword populace up in arms because NAMES!
Then when there are actual words, real words, word words with definitions, well, "golly Sargeant Carter, how are we sposed to know the difference between a bezel and a bevel and a bagel?" I mean, really! Huff huff. I don't intend this to be personal, it's just another part of the reflexive responses here in "discuss the puzzle world":
That's too current! foul
That's too ancient! foul
That's too obscure! foul
That's too common! foul
That's too expected! foul
That's too unexpected! foul
Maybe we can just enjoy the puzzles?
FOUL!*
*PS anybody who really feels this way, there's a home for you: <rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNDJey-9ZJ4
18
@David Connell
So we are not to ever criticize a puzzle clue? Grim blog we have here, then.
PERIDOT/EDA and BEZEL/ZAMUNDA are sporting? Most of the larger crossword world, i.e. beyond this blog, says no. So we must stifle them for their opinions?
Hmm.
1
"Step away from the crossword app and put your virtual pen up." This was definitely one that I had to sleep on before I could finish it, more Thursday than Wednesday as many have observed. Didn't know EDA, DEVOE, had BEvEL for at first. Not bothered by the "-" clues, have seen them frequently in other xwords. My faves were "It's black and white and wet all over" and "Secret DC headquarters" - brilliant! Great first puzzle, Michael, and enjoy London - I could spend a whole year just wandering around the British Museum.
2
That's right! I might pop up anywhere! Thanks for the shout-out! Much better theme than that personally offensive AD blocking one not so long ago.
Seriously, great job, Michael. Fun puzzle.
9
@ad absurdum
Never fear. You are on my "always allow" list.
1
A French possessive pronoun crossing an R&B star? and Spanish slang crossing a mediocre movie's fake country?
Fortunately, I was solving in PuzzAzz's free app, so the Red Bar of EmBARrassment tipped me off to the suspect squares. I plugged in vowels until I got the Green Screen of Solvitude, but that is not a very satisfying way to succeed with an early-week puzzle. I give this one a bAD rating for the Double Natick.
I was up late for the BoSox vs. LADodgers game--what they're going to do for pitchers tonight is a mystery to me! -- and Charlie the Cat woke me early claiming a Food Emergency (fake!) but that's not why I'm cross.
7
@Mean Old Lady
I don't think ALO is slang.
1
Solve in across lite to be ad free, unless of course you are working on a product placement x-word.
Untie for UNDID.
And, the other Leo Birthstone, snickered Tom sardonyxly?
Old days one could save BAZOOKA comics and send them in for stuff. Not sure if X-ray Specs were an option.
Thank you Michael
2
More than once this puzzle had me saying "OOH how cool!" Theme was Wednesday easy but some of the fill was Friday hard.
5
Both a debut and a Goldilocks Wednesday! Congrats to Mr. Paleos. It actually had a hint of Thursday about it. I didn't worry too much about the "-" and had the POP UP AD immediately, but didn't have the aha moment until I got down to TRE __ MILL. Rather than DARK RED, I started with 'deep', until KNEE came into view. I noticed three NEEs in the mid-East, which is my mother's name to her grandchildren -- the first tried to say Nana and NEE came out instead.
2
Wednesday’s Wee-Bee ... so classically unfortunate.
Words: 42
Score: 227 pts
Pangrams: 1
Bingo: yes
A x 5
C x 16
G x 3
I x 3
L x 5
R x 2
T x 8
4L x 7
5L x 13
6L x 11
7L x 6
8L x 5
4 5 6 7 8 Tot
A 1 1 2 1 - 5
C 3 7 2 2 2 16
G - - 1 1 1 3
I - 1 1 1 - 3
L 1 2 2 - - 5
R - - 1 1 - 2
T 2 2 2 - 2 8
Tot 7 13 11 6 5 42
10
@Bill Shunn Thanks, Bill! Your grid got me there yet again.
1
@audreylm Although this one was longer than I prefer, the words were all so familiar from prior bees that they came pretty fast. I so desperately wanted something to end in "crat", but alas nothing did. Thank you Bill Shunn for the grid -- I didn't need it, but if you hadn't put it up, I'd have done so -- with my usual lack of accuracy in counting especially with all the "l's" and "i's"!
1
@Liane My pleasure! I owe the accuracy to a computer program I wrote that takes the words and spits out the stats.
3
Fun puzzle - TIL that BEZEL is the ring around the watch face . Had no idea about ZAMUNDA and wanted OLA not ALO in that SE corner ! But- overall loved the concept which felt Thursdayish for me - the AHA moment came at Rope A Dope and off I went on an ADventure .
3
@Cathy P, Hand up for Ola, in fact everything you said except getting the theme with rope a dope.
Nice debut. I caught on with CANADIAN (with the CAN in place), which in turn gave me the reveal. Thought the themers were all very good, but ROPEADOPE was my favorite.
And.. that was the end of my two day streak. I guess I should know BEZEL, but if did I forgot it. I have seen the Eddie Murphy film, but that's not the kind of thing that was ever going to stick in my memory. No big deal; still an enjoyable solve. Looking forward to more from Mr. Paleos.
4
@Rich in Atlanta
I see from today's NYT politics newsletter that Michelle Kwan is in "suburban Atlanta" making phone calls for the election.
If you get a call from her, tell her how much Deadline has loved her work throughout her career.
@Deadline If you were getting the volume of calls that we are, you would never pick up the phone! If I knew it was Michelle, I'd make an exception. Nomorobo was the best thing I ever subscribed to!
Random reactions:
* In retrospect, "POP UP AD" seems like an obvious phrase to build a puzzle around. It's a term that's been with us a long time, and props to Michael for being the first to do so.
* There's a passel of sparkling clues (SOD, ORCA, TIME, POWERED ON, DOS, BAT CAVE).
* Sometimes I get theme answers from the reveal, but -- and this rarely happens -- this time I got the reveal after getting some theme answers!
* There's a lovely double-O fest in the SW.
* I would have liked the puzzle better without the circles.
* Took the opportunity afterward to learn a bit about the ORINOCO river. One of the great gifts of crosswords is that they spur motivation to learn new things.
* If the two of the O's in ORINOCO were A's, it would have been an anagram of OCARINA. As it is, the latter anagrams to ORINACA.
5
@Lewis - step back to the 80s with XW friendly ENYA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTrk4X9ACtw
1
@David Connell
Thanks David. My wife got this answer right away because she knows this song!
Bravo on this debut, Michael Paleos! I managed to fill the squares, but not until reading the commentary did the theme “sink in” for me.
1
Congratulations Mr. Paleos on your NYT debut! I was challenged especially by BELL BIV DEVOE.
1
Loved the puzzle (though literally checked the calendar because it was deceptively Thursdayish).
A fun stroll to G on the Bee, though the pangram is a word I thought only Anne Shirley would use. I await one of my hivemate's grids to move on. Looking at you, Bill S!
4
What a fine debut puzzle. My experience was similar to others in that I didn't get the theme completely until I spotted TREAD MILL , the last of the theme answers. Knowing what to look for then I had fun figuring out the first 3. I didn't know about the -, just thought it denoted some sort of trickery.
This will be tough to beat tomorrow.
Looking forward to more from Michael.
1
Great puzzle Michael. Loved the placement of the circled letters above the ad-blocked squares. Nicely done.
enjoy your time in London! I'm in year 28 of a three-year overseas assignment, so maybe you will find a reason to stay as well.
Thanks for a just challenging enough start to my Wednesday.
3
Great debut puzzle - so much fun!
Hi! Constructor here. It’s such a treat to see everyone’s reactions to the puzzle! You know, I’ve been staring at this thing for so long that the grid and answers became hard-coded in my brain, to the point where I was sure it was going to be the easiest Wednesday ever. Glad to see that it put up a decent fight for most.
I’m a little surprised that a lot of commenters here haven’t come across the hyphen notation before.... maybe it’s not done so much anymore. But it’s one of my favorite gimmicks to solve – I love that it stubbornly refuses to give anything away and tells you to go look elsewhere for the clue.
I’m in London now… my family and I moved here in July and we’ll be here for at least a year. I’m 0 for 1 in my efforts to track down a copy of the International NYT so I haven’t yet seen a physical copy of the puzzle in print. Thankfully I’ve got friends and family stockpiling copies of the paper back home so all covered on that front.
Still submitting puzzles from overseas so hoping to keep this thing going! Until we meet again…
44
@Michael P, Great to hear from you; I really enjoyed the puzzle. I hope you take advantage of your year in London to see a lot of the country, especially North Yorkshire.
Same problem here. Oddly, it’s far easier to find the International NYT in Kathmandu than anywhere in Europe!
This probably doesn’t help, but i know there’s a bookstore in Krakow, just off the Rynek Glowny—the Massolit—that carries it...or used to...
2
Let “kookier” remain far longer than I should have before I finally noticed the crosses didn’t work.
1
Started off well, but ended up with the snail two days in a row. lots of bad guesses kept me off balance.
I had no clue that - signifies a continuation, so I thought a bunch of the answers were absolute nonsense and came here to complain. Now I’m realizing, it was actually really clever.
2
I've struggled with the - clues in the past, so it was a nice moment when rope-a-dope fell into place. You'll get it next time and feel the same enjoyment, I imagine.
2
@David According to Spinal Tap, "It's a fine line between clever and stupid."
2
As I somewhat sleepily worked my way through the puzzle, I couldn't think of the Chinese leader _Xing, the answer to 21 down. I got the answer by default, without noticing, when I filled in all the crosses. When I came across Mao near the end, I thought "Oh yeah, what was the answer to Xing?" I went back to look, and spent a few moments with my head areel as I couldn't remember ever hearing of Ped Xing; moreover, Ped seemed to be a unusual Chinese name. Oh well, can't win them all and I did get rope-a -dope quickly so had no trouble with the theme.
5
@Peter Jackel I hope you got the pedestrian crossing in the end.
@Donna
Yes, I did, after a few nonplussed moments.
Great debut. Soo clever. I was tired so I looked at this blog to see the “gimmick.” I should have tried tomorrow because it would have been so satisfying discovering it on my own.
3
Loved loved loved this puzzle!
It was easy to love because it was so clever and yet completely doable.
I do them on paper, and have a habit of making doodles about clues to help me see the words, and there it was: DECADENT. And then it all fell into place, yay!
2
and Elke
Had to check calendar- it still is Tuesday,meaning a Wednesday puzzle, not a Thursday one.
Finally sussed out CAN AD IAN. This meant that 'Gander' was the Airport on the rock (i.e. Newfoundland). But EUREKA, it was not.
But NOT SO BAD either.
MOP of course reminded me of Erik Agard and his progress on 'Jeopardy'. Keeps adding big bucks and one LOONIE to his winnings. Not a bad TREADMILL to be on.
Colourful puzzle : PERIDOT ,AVOCADO, DARK RED, ORANGE(S),
MINT(S).
This OLDIE liked it-despite the POPUPADs.
10
To quote Eric Agard on Final Jeopardy: "What is you doin,' baby?" Michael, your seven attempts to woo Will finally resulted in a most satisfying puzzle experience.
I'd you use the Opera browser, POPUPADS and other ads are prevented by default. (Ha ha, none of those annoying shoe ads on the Wordplay blog, unless I'm using my tablet)
In the past, all NFL players STOOD for the POEM from 1812, now some take a KNEE.
Blood ORANGES can be DARKRED and would be fitting for All Saints' Eve. ORA pro nobis! The little darlings who ask for treats would do better by getting an AVOCADO rather than BAZOOKA bubblegum, although they'd be missing out on the free comic with BAZOOKA Joe (boy with an eye patch) and the other strange character who pulled his turtleneck sweater over his nose and mouth.
4
Wow, a lot of self-congratulation in these comments. Big whoop. You’re smart.
3
@R. N.
Of course we are!, but not so smart that we aren't constantly surprised by it.
20
@ R. N.
I don't think "smart is the appropriate word. :)
Fun theme, but pretty easy. Less than two-thirds my Wednesday average.
I’m fairly new to regularly doing NYT crosswords and this theme really had me stumped. Had no idea the “-“ was a continuation of a clue. This was a tough yet clever Wednesday puzzle theme.
Thank heavens for the wordplay blog for keeping me going! I’m depending on it less and less over months of doing these puzzles, but for now it’s a great LOOKSEE into the mind of a puzzle constructor and saved me hours of TOILing.
11
@Alexander Chopin I’ve been doing the crossword for years, and I totally missed the theme. I had to use the crosses to fill the - clues. So, don’t feel bad about it, the theme today was unusual.
4
Yes, the “-“ thing was totally baffling. Is this a typical crossword thing, with the circles above? Argggg.
2
Good to know, I am fearing a rebus soon which is my nemesis! Also I had no idea what an OCARINA was, and I’m not versed in hair removal products so had DEET for NEET for a while until I remembered that’s bug repellent.
3
Didn't see it until the end! Loved this puzzle. What a stunning first time. Congratulations!
7
This was a tough Wednesday puzzle for me. I didn't get the theme for the longest time (beyond realizing that the circled letters were AD). Those hyphen clues kept making no sense until I finally had a good gander at ROPE(AD)OPE, and felt like I was the victim of that strategy, with Mr. Paleos lurking slyly while I was wearing myself out thrashing at the grid.
Another hard spot for me was 64A - after trying GOSLING for a while, I thought about LOOKSEE as a possible answer, but couldn't believe the "K" could be right for 55D, so kept trying to go another way. With no ideas on the crosses from 55A and 58A, an answer for 55D was elusive, though it seemed obvious once I had it. Also, French is not my strength, so TES was not a gimme, and I never heard of BEL BIV DEVOE, so that cross was a challenge.
On the up-side, I loved the clues for 38A and 27D.
2
@David Yeah, it was Rope-AD-ope that revealed it for me, it that was after I finished.
1
Didn't get it until the end; the revealer was my last entry, ha!
1
This was a tough Wednesday puzzle for me. I didn't see the theme for the longest time (beyond realizing that the circled letters were AD). Those hyphen clues kept making no sense until I finally had a good gander at ROPE(AD)OPE, and felt like I was the victim of that strategy, with Mr. Paleos lurking slyly while I was wearing myself out thrashing at the grid.
Another hard spot for me was 64A - after trying GOSLING for a while, I thought about LOOKSEE as a possible answer, but couldn't believe the "K" could be right for 55D, so kept trying to go another way. With no ideas on the crosses at 55A and 58A, an answer for 55D was elusive, though it seemed obvious once I had it. Also, French is not my strength, so TES was not a gimme, and I never heard of BEL BIV DEVOE, so that cross was a challenge.
On the up-side, I loved the clues for 38A and 27D.
1
@David
Glad to find I'm not the only person whose knowledge of French is that limited. I even tried a couple of other T?? words at first. And I also didn't know Bel Biv DEVOE, so had to do an alphabet -- okay, a vowel -- run to get that square, my last.
I somehow forgot until almost the end that “-“ means continuation of a clue. But what a wonderful aha moment when I remembered! Great debut, Michael! Glad you didn’t give up trying!
4
@Irene
Is that what that means? I didn't know.
5
Nice!
Found rope a dope midway through and it was smooth sailing from there. I'm much better at puzzles without Harry Potter or Shakespeare references.
4
The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks.
6
(Sorry, couldn't resist! :-)
1
I didn’t pick up on the trick until the very end. I had CDN for 42A when the light bulb went on, but had already nailed the other ones from cross clues.
3
This was the first time I solved a crossword before figuring out the theme, but I loved it!
2
NOT SO BAD -- I got it at AVOCADO and RACED to the finish! Enjoyed it.
1
My first thought, at seeing the circles fill with AD, was "Is that all there is?" But there was much more than that! DECADENT showed me the ADs popping up, so that was fun.
RED WINE before DARK RED. Didn't remember ZAMUNDA, so having ALO fill in seemed incorrect, or missing a letter, or something. But what do I know?
Nice debut!
8
I confidently put in red wine, too! Cheers to a fellow drinker! ;)
4
@Irene, and Liz: Interestingly, Claret originally meant clear and referred to slightly light colored red wines. Burgundy wines use the Pinot Noir grape, fairly pale for a red. I also had red wine to start with. ,cheers!
1
Also had red wine first.
Still waiting for the appearance of my favorite wine in a puzzle: cheap white.
1
Clever. Didn’t see it until after the happy music played.
4
@Brian Don't like unexpected sounds. Like perfume ads in magazines and POPUPADs.