Omg this was a tough one. I'm behind due to the holiday, but this thursday puzzle took longer than usual. For a while I was a bit confused by the big white circle in the middle (print version), thinking that it was supposed to contain a letter that all the surrounding clues shared. But I guess that space was just meant to be a planting island in the turnaround? I shall draw in a plant, haha. Anyway, very inventive...and who is this Herre Schourwerwou?? Interesting pseudonym! (?)
1
@Sarah
I think Herre has said that it is his real name.
Clunky and obscure.
When I saw the grid on my iPad, I decided to wait until we were again at home so I could print the puzzle on my PC and take up my trusty pen for the solve. What a "Welcome Home!"
LOVED it! (It's Saturday, and there are 330 comments! A record?)
1
shucks. First time I've been stumped in like forever.
The references in the Wordplay column to “34A” and “38D” are incorrect — they don’t match the answer key. (Nor does “34A” make sense in the grid.)
Well, that was a 105-day streak ended. Even the numbers in this Wordplay column don’t seem to match the answer key.
To me, this was a really fun solve! I caught on to the game fairly early, but still had plenty of challenges getting all the squares filled. Loved the creativity and would love more like this. Fun treat!
2
Thursday I just couldn’t figure out. Friday way too easy.
1
In defense of this puzzle...
I see that its very polarizing with a lot of hate which is why i feel the need to add my 2 cents on this one.
I've pretty much attempted every daily crossword puzzle since 1987...and my streak on my my IPhone is quite long. And recently I have been nervous that my streak is about to be snapped...usually by a Thursday. But isnt that the point? If it was too easy and everyone solved every puzzle the stats would be meaningless.
I remember back when Will Shortz took over. I was frustrated that there was no such thing as a challenging day anymore. Thankfully the puzzles rose to a level of being challenging.
As for the format of this puzzle....more power to the NYT for trying these types of things. One of my favorites was bak in college before Mr Shortz's time....You needed to put a <3 in boxes to solve the Valentine's Day puzzle. So creative designs arent new. I dont always like the creative one....but some of them are really ingenious and improve the experience. Today's was no exception. I sat there in the dark really thinking this was the end...and then figured out the trick and my whole mood changed. Good job.
4
Why
do people
who don't enjoy
p u z z l e s
subscribe to
puzzles
?
9
Best. Puzzle. Ever :)
3
It took me the longest time to recognize the ROUNDABOUT ASPECT. I got sidetracked with the arrows. I was trying for long narrow u-turns.
I had SCHMUCK before SCHNOOK, UTMOST before AT MOST, and CHICANO before BRACERO. Nonetheless I finally caught on to the wild shenanigans. It was worth every minute.
1
It was fun.
1
Well, I must say that this was fabulous!, and I suspect that people who do it in print, as I do, got the most pleasure from it. So much fun! I loved it!
1
That was wild and I loved it!! Took much longer than average, but fun fun fun!
4
I had no idea what how why but its engaging. Confused by hyphens, asterisks, meaningless words, and arrows that looked to me like they were going straight up & down not making right turns. Finally got the roundabout but I had already started using autocheck. Is that a dirty word for most of you 47 minute finishers?! Crazy fun & distracts from the subway ride & the front page headlines.
1
I caught on half way through and stayed the course. Loved it (probably because I figured it out!)
1
The Thursday puzzles are beginning to remind me of a card game my children play called Chairman Mao. It's similar to Murder, in that players are randomly offed by an unidentified culprit using secret means. Unlike in Murder, however, in Chairman Mao the rules governing said offing (as well as its avoidance) are unknown to all but one of the players. They are also are subject to change with every new round. The trick is to figure out the current round's rules before you become the next victim of the Chairman's caprice. Some people find this loads of fun.
2
Not an every day puzzle but extremely rewarding to crack the code and watch the pieces fall into place. Loved this.
1
Totally disappointed ... 81-day streak is over and this puzzle makes no sense. What arrows? On the mobile app I had asterisks and strings of letters that don’t form words. Is there some way to know that I’m not seeing what is shown in the print version?
6
@mary hartigan If you scroll way down the comments to one by Chris Finlay from Isle of Man responding to Nancy from NYC, he has a screenshot of the completed puzzle with helpful color-coded guides. That should clear it all up.
Happy puzzling!
mary,
The next time something looks weird on the mobile app, check the PDF of the "paper puzzle" on the website.
3
@Hildy Johnson thanks very much - still new to this.
This was amazing!!
Too weird.
2
Loved today's puzzle. Very unique and surprising construction. It was super clever how the words fit together outside of their usual pattern. Thanks for the great puzzle!
1
Late to the party, but just had to comment. Not enough going on -- where are the rebuses!? ;)
Understood the function of the arrows, but didn't know where to "get off" the traffic circle. From the crosses and luck, realized the exits were at a quarter of the way around. Helped to remember the meanings of the "-" clues after failing at that last time.
Last entries were the intersections of SCHNOOK (??), TNN, and OOLITES.
Amazing that Mr. Schouwerwou could coordinate the revealer surrounding the central circle with the themers radiating in and out. Kudos! Loved it, loved it!! Perhaps my favorite puzzle of all! (Sorry for all the exclamation points ...) :)
3
Loved the puzzle but it was actually too easy with the arrows. Should've left out the arrows!
@A
Oh, A. Oh, no.
2
Think I’m going to have to cancel my subscription at the end of the year. Can’t do any puzzles past Wednesday. Love Merl Reagle’s puzzles. I admire all you smarties that can do the Thursday through Sunday puzzles.
4
@Peggy Wray , I feel your pain, though I'm good with the Fri-Sun puzzles. It's Thursday, when it is usually not a "crossword puzzle" at all, that has made me consider cancelling. I focus on other things, like the new "day of the week streak" and reducing my average times. I just skip over Thursday, which preserves my solve rate. However you choose to have fun with it!
2
It's not just you: the Thurs-Sun puzzles have been more difficult recently. I didn't finish any of the last 3, and today's was a morale-breaker. I've learned to be proud of puzzles where I didn't give up until I was truly stumped - that came early today!
2
Thursday always reminds me that Will Shortz came to the NYTimes from Games magazine.
I miss the real crosswords we used to have on Thursday.
Go back to Games, Will.
1
Hated this puzzle. Clunky and inelegant.
8
I had a lot of trouble with this. but, once I realized it was a PacMan game, i had no trouble at all!
5
Easier to solve on the site. The website numbers made more sense to me. The .pdf did not print the clue numbers on the far left. That made me abandon the printed version and retreat to the site. I noticed the clue numbers didn't match and figured it was a screw-up in the .pdf creation. Anyway, much easier on-line. Interesting puzzle. Not a fan, but didn't dislike it.
2
@Bruce Si never use online because i think crosswords were designed to be solved pen on paper, and i dont like the games the keyboard plays with my HPC style of entry. The key to the puzzle to me was when i figured out that the clue for dullard was lackwit which seems to me to be two words verb, direct object construction. After that i saw a powr outage and the puzzle solved itself. I both hated and loved it.
@Bruce S —I too, was annoyed by the far left numbers not printing, but opening in Acrobat printed fine. Grid was larger (easier to write in), too.
A lot of fun. Harder than most Thursdays. Took me 17:44
Okay. That was fantastic. Sometimes you think all the ideas have been done to death, and then something innovative like this proves that there's always more opportunity to create something new.
19
Fun. Nice construction.
3
Great puzzle today I don’t know if I would have stuck with it but was at home all day with a sick Chihuahua. So thanks be to Puccini! Anyhoo, any one else thinks that something angelic had to do with a corps of angels? No? Well, i do overthink things. Went down the Powersurge road before doubling back to outage. Who knew became well now and Soooo Glad to see KNISHES ! Because i live above Yonah Schimmels!
Well done!
3
We love Schimmel’s knishes, and the lady who sits behind the counter.
Omg that was tough and dumb
6
It was very fun to catch on and make it through this one -- how amazing to use the letters for both the words following the arrows and the words going around.
3
This puzzle seems to reflect the current polarization of our society. People either loved it or hated it, with no middle ground. I even saw some name calling across the chasm of division.
For the record, I thought this was an excellent, creative puzzle. I want more!
My only lament was that none of the three letter answers was YES. Jack Black, in School of Rock, may have praised Wakeman’s organ solo, which it deserves, but Howe has a guitar riff interlaced in there that is ethereal.
- Tom
3
For the record, on the Fragile studio version of Roundabout, the Wakeman solo begins at 5:51 and the Howe solo at 6:23.
- Tom (again)
It would seem to me that there are two types of solvers out there: those that want a predictable puzzle following a prescribed set of rules, and those who enjoy being challenged by unexpected and unwritten variation. I find that Thursday puzzles are two-for-one. One has not only the challenge of finding entries from the clues, but also the challenge of figuring out what new twist has been added.
I am rather surprised by the negativity because I would figure that anyone who enjoys a challenging puzzle, and who cares enough to comment, would also enjoy the additional challenge that Thursday puzzles bring.
14
And a third type: those who don’t fit neatly in those two boxes. Sometimes an unusual and challenging puzzle can be fun, and sometimes not, and that’s ok too.
Alternative answer to 34A: Something found in a rush?
Moses.
5
Anne-Marie,
MOSES was offered here last night, as was the fact that it wouldn't fit, but ARK would.
2
Loved it! Really fun theme and once I figured it our, really not all that challenging. SCHNOOK was the hardest word for me to figure out. Very creative and loved that IN or OUT were included in all of the ROUNDABOUT words.
14
Ha! I hadn't noticed that. Very observant! it was a clever puzzle.
4
I'm sorry to see so many dislikes for today's puzzle.
Thanksgiving continues for me, grateful for people whose brain wattage is so underused (in any capacity) that they have enough to spare to come up with such wonderfully playful new structures and variations of what could easily fall into a humdrum routine.
Love it or hate it? I love this brilliant creation, thank you. More, please!
31
I got stuck for the longest time, then finally got it about 35 min from start. finished up shortly after that. Was a great challenge once I finished, but until then, I hated it!!
2
For my next job application, I'm attaching this crossword, with a hand-written note -- did it, alone, unaided, without a leader. And if my putative employer catches both the significance of having done the Best NYT Thursday Crossword Ever, and the reference to Horace Rumpole, well then, that's a place I'd want to work :-)
33
Dumbest puzzle you have ever offered. Hated it.
3
@seijaro
Absolutely agree. Terrible puzzle.
3
I agree. Not the best solver in the world, but this is a lousy puzzle. Utterly ridiculous
3
My favorite thing today is the YES video included in the article. That was amazing!
3
I figured this would be loved or hated by all. I liked it. I was really stuck about 3/4 through and then one clue unlocked everything in minutes. Funny how that happens sometimes.
8
My compliments to everyone who enjoyed this puzzle, but it reminded me of Christie's "Ten Little Indians." The thing is so ridiculously hermetic that the murderer (in this case the puzzle editor) had to write the readers a letter explaining it all. Not my cup of tea!
4
Andrew,
Where is this letter from the puzzle editor? If you're referring to Deb Amlen's Wordplay column, she explains the theme of *every* puzzle with a theme.
(Better see the TEALADY for something else.)
6
@Barry Ancona
Barry,
I solved the puzzle in a reasonable amount of time, but I've never had to consult the oracle for an explanatory crib. I never heard of Deb Amlen before this morning and, honestly, I think it's a little pedantic to correct me for an honest mistake.
Happy puzzling!
4
I'm puzzled (as it were), Andrew. Which was the "honest mistake?" Not knowing the Wordplay column was not written by the puzzle editor, or not knowing the Wordplay column always discusses the theme of a themed puzzle? Or was the "honest mistake" reading the Wordplay column this morning (and thus learning Deb Amlen's name)?
4
This was a fantastic puzzle...so clever. Loved every second of it!!!
14
I thoroughly hated this puzzle!!
2
I could not print out the puzzle today.
POWER SURGE cost me at least 30 minutes, but once I figured out that INEEDABREAK, everything fell directly into place. A puzzle! Love the progressive Thursday puzzles - a great way to break up the week!
6
If a grid cannot be published properly IN YOUR OWN DA_N APP, or if you can’t be bothered to include the explanatory note IN YOUR OWN DA_N APP, dont run it.
3
I don’t know what your problem is. I used the NYT crossword app, and it rendered the grid perfectly for me. All the arrows and numbered the way mentioned in the column.
2
Either I'm looking at a different puzzle or someone neglected to edit Deb's column. In my puzzle, the clue for 54A is Mexican migrant worker, the answer to which is definitely not NATASHA, and in my puzzle there is no 34A, but there is a 36A, which corresponds to Deb's answer.
Added to that is the annoyance of the puzzle itself, which makes it not worth my time. To all the so-called wordsmiths at the Times: You need to figure out the difference between clever and annoying.
6
@jaded - Perhaps someone neglected to read Deb's column? Paragraph 1 under "Today's Theme"? Perhaps?
4
The column *could* have used some editing, as I suggested hours ago. The caveat that clue numbering (and a few other things) would vary by solving platform should have been in the lead graf, so solvers looking for help with Tricky Clues but not wanting Today's Theme explained would not have been confused.
5
When my father and I sat down at an outdoor table in Paris some forty years ago, the waiter eventually appeared, raised his eyebrows, and declared,
"Ah! Deux Américains - ainsi deux Coca-colas!"
Forget the fact that he was "Parising me" for the first, but very definitely not for the last, time (I've never _not_ been Parised in Paris, give me the Midi any day)...and forget the fact that neither my father nor I ever drink Coke and rarely drink sodas of any kind...
Nonetheless, I feel some sympathy for that waiter every time we have a clever, creative Thursday puzzle.
Perhaps NYT should provide a complimentary Coca-Cola and a link to USA Today or TV Guide's crossword every Thursday?
"Ah! Des Américains!"
8
@David Connell
Gives new meaning to the term dumbwaiter. Every smart American knows that wine is cheaper than Coke in France!
@Steve L - When I took a much-needed vacation in the far south of France, my host suggested we stop for a bite on the way home from the airport. He ordered wine for us, and then asked me what I thought of it. I said something neutral, non-committal, "oh, it's fine." He got a glint in his eye and ordered a different wine, and again asked what I thought. "Oh, that's quite wonderful." He was testing me! But the end result was that we drank several hundred dollars worth (as I learned only after I got home) of his wines over the next ten days. We also left the cheese out all day under a netting, until the whole house smelled of stinky, delicious cheese. Heavenly, we thought, though his Parisian wife had a different feeling...
4
I found this to be an outstanding Thursday puzzle. The theme, (RALLYINGCRY gave me the breakthrough after MOTTO led nowhere), and the variety of subject areas provided a solvable challenge. Sports, Geography, TV, Science, and Languages are all represented. Had to work through LOBO and HOPI before getting ZUNI. My very last entry was SCHNOOK after clearing some very strange combinations in that corner. Bravo.
17
To the grouches in this zoo,
I hope the constructor (and editor) say, "pooh, pooh."
I really liked this one--like some other solvers, I tried to go in and out the same side a bit (power break) and had the puzzle more than half filled in when I got INAROUNDABOUT.... And then everything fell in place and I felt reasonably smug about my ancient grey cells.
17
Loved this puzzle. I'm not usually a huge gimmick fan but this one just worked for me.
5
When I click on the roundabout clues in Deb’s column, nothing happens. Any idea why?
2
Hi Trish! When I click on it on desktop, it seems to be working and I'm told that it's working on mobile. Can you please try using another browser?
Actually got the revealer pretty quickly, but couldn't for the life of me deal with the top right part of the grid. *Become Angelic, Figuratively eluded me for a long time, and I really drew a blank on most of the words around it. Broke down and started googling, but even then the Egg Stone mineral didn't turn up. FINALLY landed the trail mix alternative and urban garden location and realized that 'Lager' is not actually the frothy beverage I wanted.
I liked the gimmick, but found the rest of the clueing a little stressful. Good puzzle overall though.
Crazy good puzzle, that took me right up to the edge of despair. Hopeless, helpless, friendless, I stared blankly into the void. Then, as if by magic, all at once the scales fell from my eyes, and the morning dawned. Here here, Herr Herre Schouwerwou!
36
The applicable word to this puzzle is "arbitrary" which translates into unfair and which further translates as not as fun as some make it out to be.
7
Arthur,
If you didn't like the puzzle, you didn't like the puzzle, and nobody can argue with that, but the only "arbitrary" thing here is your misuse of the word "arbitrary."
8
@Arthur
Mr. Schouwerwou's puzzle and others with a similar degree of difficulty is why I subscribe to the NYT. A a 72-year-old, it is important that I be mentally challenged; this puzzle certainly did that.
As for "fun," what fun is there in a starting a puzzle one knows he/she will eventually complete? The real "fun" is completing a puzzle one had serious doubts about completing.
I'm elated that so many other solvers loved this puzzles - that means extremely challenging puzzles will continue to run in the Times.
29
When the grid popped into view on my tablet my first thought was, "Holy cow! This is going to be WILD!" Followed by "Well, it was a nice streak while it lasted". Turned out that only one of those was correct. I figured at the beginning that some answers would start at the inward pointing arrows and run across to exit at the opposite end. I started filling in the "normal" entries while keeping an eye out for long answers going across. When I came to 46D, I had enough crosses to realize that at least this answer wend upwards. Continued to solve since nothing across from 46D went with INEED. To make a long story short, I thought I had figured out the theme and that the answers surrounding the circle were gibberish. When I realized that the revealer was read around the box, I was delighted. I *Loved* this puzzle. It was creative, perfectly clued, and a blast to solve. Hands down my favourite puzzle of the year!
27
A bit like childbirth, I hated this puzzle while in the middle of it but felt a sense of relief and accomplishment when it was all over. Came in over my Thursday average; more in line with Saturday, time-wise.
Normally I try to avoid Googling but was so perplexed by this one that I gave myself full, guilt-free permission to look up TYE, BRACERO and also egg stones, which popped up stone eggs. Ladies, please. Neither eggs nor stones belong up there; Gwyneth Paltrow is not a licensed medical professional.
Had TNT for TNN, which had me scratching around for a snack called -RAT-LA until WINGS fell into place, and thus GRANOLA. D'oh!
I can't imagine what the constructor went through to birth this one; well done.
7
Aw Bee, for a minute I thought I had hit paydirt.
9
Right!?
@Petaltown
I visited Petaluma once on a daytrip from Sausalito. Lovely town!
1
I once hit paydirt on a daytrip. Not in Petaluma, though.
7
Deadline and David Connell kinda mentioned this earlier but I don't think they stated it directly.
Each of the five theme answers contained either IN, OUT or both. That's pretty wild!
13
Can't resist this one. Take a look at the entry for 46A, and have the thought you are leaving a traffic circle. So .... where are you heading for?
Give up?
OK -- it's the freeway.
There was an old joke making the rounds decades ago when Israeli prime minister Menachem B came to the US on a visit. He asked or was asked -- how come all those roads were named after him?
@Dr W
I don't totally follow you, and today is a particularly bad day to refer only to entry numbers because in my version at least, there is no 46A. I do see BEGIN at 52A, but I still don't get the freeway connection...
2
@Andrew At a freeway onramp is a sign saying 'Begin Freeway'.
1
@K Barrett
Ah! We don't have such signs here, and I had never noticed when driving in the US.
1
The NYT Crossword just jumped the shark.
4
Certainly an unusual puzzle, one of those that irritate the dickens out of you until you finally, finally get the trick, and then there's a gush of satisfaction. I had the "dash" going ""up" as MINUS for the longest time, and that steered me in the wrong lane. My aha moment came right after I decided INEEDABREAK. GEE!
2
Once again, after filling in the grid correctly, I had to read the blog, and then stare at the finished puzzle for a moment before I got it.
1
Very difficult (took over 35 min.) and the gibberish you wind up with in the roundabout was somewhat annoying but in the end it was very satisfying to find the solution!
2
@Greg B, what do you mean by gibberish in the roundabout? It's no different to the upside down or backwards clues elsewhere in the puzzle.
This puzzle was so cool! Although I NEED(ed many) A BREAK to solve, now am SPROUT(ing) WINGS upon completion. A new favorite!
6
This puzzle, like an actual traffic circle, really slowed me down. It was definitely a two-LATTE effort.
Here’s an article celebrating New Jersey’s invention of the traffic circle (nobody around here calls them “roundabouts”): https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/njs_oldest_traffic_circle_cele.html
4
@maestro
I didn't connect this to traffic at all until I came to Deb's column - grew up in the Hudson Valley and always said traffic circle.
@maestro
There's a difference between a rotary (or traffic circle) and a roundabout. Rotaries were usually uncontrolled, with a variety of entrance/exit points. Roundabouts are much better controlled with curving entrances that split entrances and exits and smaller radii that serve to slow traffic. In a rotary, the vehicles in the circle yield to those on the major roads, in a roundabout the entering vehicles yield to those in the roundabout.
I recall the Somerville circle from when my folks moved to Holmdel in '67, but missed out on the Morris County ones when we lived in Whippany. My introduction to rotaries was Meyer Circle in Kansas City, MO back in the mid '60s. I believe Meyer Circle has been around since the 1920s as well, and was always "fun" to navigate - 3 lanes of Ward Parkway N/S and two intersecting E/W roads, one being Meyer Blvd.
Couldn’t tell it was a roundabout. Why weren’t there any plastic flowers in it?
Not fond of this type of thing but seems otherss are.
How about we have an undeclared themeless on a Thursday? Just properly difficult.
2
@Frances
"Couldn’t tell it was a roundabout. Why weren’t there any plastic flowers in it?"
Hilarious! I was just thinking of some of the creative roundabouts I've seen, especially in Ecuador where municipalities show a lot of pride to put displays in the centers, usually heroic statuary or nature scenes. In Jordan, one close-ish to a few military bases displayed old tanks. In Europe I think they are simply planted well, no? Maybe with fountains.
The few we've been developing here are planted and maintained according to the wealth of the town. I'm sure one day towns'll be offering them as advertising - the ATT roundabout, 'Your sign here' roundabout, etc. The American way, LOL!
2
If you have seen the latest Coen Brothers oater, you probably got a kick out of *32a.
Is it possible that appreciation of this puzzle is directly related to one's driving experience and whether or not one has encountered roundabouts in the real world? I'm thinking that Manhattanites (yes, you Nancy) who don't drive much and have never had to deal with one of these monsters might just see "gobbledygook". But up here we have a lot of them, (and they are called roundabouts), and the image created by the puzzle directly linked to my sub-conscious image of driving into a roundabout (as well as the confusion that often ensues). I for one thoroughly enjoyed myself.
4
@Andrew
Down here in NYC we call them circles. Like Columbus Circle. Or, cattycorner, Duke Ellington Circle.
3
@all
I wrote the above before seeing the earlier comments on "traffic circles" in NYC. Scroll down a bit to do so.
1
@Andrew
I think part of it has to do with one's driving experience. However, I think it has more to do with one's level of proficiency/experience with NYT Thursday puzzle trickery. (Even NYC non-drivers have walked past or through Columbus Circle and understand how it works.)
Most of the negative comments are coming from names I don't recognize; i.e. people who aren't regulars here. Someone said the puzzle was arbitrary; it most definitely was not arbitrary. There was a clear logic to it which the solver had to figure out. Someone else said the NYT crossword had jumped the shark. Maybe some of these individuals were not up to the challenge and thought it was the puzzle's fault.
But the regulars did not say any of that. You liked it, or you didn't like it, but at the very least, you understood it. And the arrows made it a whole lot easier if your solving method (a) had the arrows, (b) advised you to go to a different format that did have the arrows, or (c) didn't have arrows but let you know that they should have been there.
7
I hate trying to drive through roundabouts, but solving through one was actually rather fun—after I peeked at the blog enough to see what it was!
2
@Rachel, Here we tend to drive around roundabouts rather than through them, works quite well.
8
@Rachel, I like roundabouts for their elements of fun (entering them reminds me of trying to jump in when playing jump rope on the school playground) and patient forgiveness (if I miss my exit or am uncertain which one to take, I can just go around again until I figure it out).
Ha!
This comment is a teenager: since I'm haven't yet done the ThursPuzz, it's premature.
I was just catching up on yesterday's blogfest and came across a certain reply in AlanJ's thread on Alma Schindler Mahler Gropius EtAlia. A pretty good play on 'damning with faint praise', but I just couldn't let Rich in Atlanta have the 'dernier écrit'
RiA [yesterday]:
@Leapfinger If I suggested that someone was whitewashing problems and scandals, would that be damning with a paint phrase?
LFinger [today]:
Well, ... I gesso
12
@Leapfinger
Is this a GTYR-able offense? I think it is, for both of you.
1
@Leapy Just happy to know that you saw that. I always enjoy engaging with you, especially knowing that you will always come up with another bon mot.
I can't help but wonder - were you like this even as a kid? I could easily imagine your parents saying, "I love that wordy daughter."*
*You're not by any chance from Boston, are you?
3
@Rich in Atlanta - Leapy always reminds me of a high school friend of mine who was quick to pun. One day when we were working on a project, I said, "I'm forging ahead!" and he looked at me quizzically and said, "Why, do you need a new one?"
Leapy reminds me of him.
4
ABFAB, Darling. I loved it. Smiled when I saw the fun grid and never looked back. Brilliant in both construction and solving. I'm a fan, Herre.
16
A good name for this puzzle: gobbledygook.
2
awful puzzle, you can't hash everything around the theme solver, that's just unfair.
7
@Dean
or a fair 'un, perhaps?
1
@Dean
It wasn't unfair to those who solved it.
1
WELL, NOW. I see I was supposed to hook up RALLY with INGCRY; and SPROU with T+WINGS, etc., etc. Would I have gotten POWER OUTAGE (instead of POWER BREAK, which I thought was right) if I had had TYE instead of sYd for the totally unknown "X-men" clue (45A)? And would that have set me on the path to Complete Understanding?
Not bloody likely. The way the fill connects seems quite arbitrary. It remains something of a mystery to me, and I still don't think the puzzle works.
3
Right off the bat I’m nervous, seeing that the puzzle landed on p. 4 instead of the usual p. 3 of the Arts section. Then a cursory glance at the grid and a panic attack was looming. I sensed I was in for a mighty tussle. And those arrows pointing every which way, yikes! They were undoubtedly going to be a challenge. To my surprise, a lot of the answers came readily enough. The hijinks at hand, not so much. The reveal, at long last, helped immensely and other than having to guess my way out of a natick (the ‘E’ crossing BOER and OOLITES) the solve came sooner than expected...The Animals covered Chuck Berry’s 1957 “Around And Around” during the closing scene of Get Yourself A College Girl, a k a The Swinging Set.
https://youtu.be/H2kzqP__uXc
Dizzyingly,
Bru
5
@brutus
I've always wondered if there's a story behind Miles Davis's classic album being called "Round About Midnight" but the "title song" being Monk's standard "Round Midnight". Anyway, great tune, even if it always sounds to me to be more like 2:00 AM song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIgLt7LAZF0
2
I really enjoyed this! The usual unfamiliar (to me) pop/sport references (ABFAB, ASTROS) were solvable even to one who eschews most of what the TV/sports world tries to cram down our throats; the arrows were great helps in divining the direction things were going; the mild thrill of seeing correct answers on the grid that looked like utter nonsense until one got the whole picture: all great fun. My only minor quibble is that, given the British-isms (tea lady, AbFab, and even the more British term "roundabout"), the traffic might, perhaps, have been going clockwise around the central monument, not counter-clockwise as in backward, right-driving countries. Thanks for the breath-taking ride, Mr. Shouwerwou -- whose name, I might add, looks a bit like some of your grid answers in today's puzzle.
6
SPELLING BEE 56 Words, 225 Points, 1 Pangram
A slog of many shorter words today.
4 5 6 7 8
A -11 4 4 1 2
D-10 5 4 1
P-9 4 2 2 1
R-10 2 4 1 2 1
T-14 5 6 3
Y-2 1 1
HINTS: Remember the periodic chart as you zip through this puzzle with amazing speed (okay, not so much). Don't forget how Latin words pluralize on a written surface or a word right up David Connell's alley.
P.S. If someone would send me their program for doing a chart, I'd be delighted to use it more often! I tried.
5
@Liane I appreciate your effort to do the chart but the columns are not aligned correctly. Check the number of 4 letter words.
1
@Lorne Eckersley
So much for copy and paste!
4 5 6 7 8
A -11 4 4 1 2
D-10 5 4 1
P-9 4 2 2 1
R-10 2 4 1 2 1
T-14 5 6 3
Y-2 1 1
4
Thanks Liane, just the help I needed. I was missing a 4-letter T that I was certain I'd already entered...Musta typoed it. Same goes for the Latin plural you hinted at, which I tried three times at least before it was finally accepted.
I cannot believe DAYTRIP and PAYDIRT are really four separate words. My personal lexicon also includes DRIPTRAY and AIRDRY, but that's probably just me.
7
What on earth is YRCGN/UORPS???? It doesn't read any better backwards, the way the arrows point: SPROU/NGCRY. I knew it was wrong, so I came here, only to find out it's right. It doesn't make any bleeping sense!!!!
The rest of the puzzle is problematic, too. I love tough, unusual puzzles, but I've always had difficulty with a lot of unclued entries. In the best puzzles, unclued entries somehow manage to be clued obliquely -- even if you don't see it at first. These unclued entries don't seem to be clued at all.
A failure, I'd say, unless I've completely missed something. Which, with me being me, is never beyond the realm of possibility. I'll go read everyone now to find out. If it's right there, under my nose, I'll come back to say I wasn't smart enough. If not, I would maintain: Unsuccessful Puzzle.
2
@Nancy the clues don't go straight across. They take a right hand turn, and include the corner letter of the central "roundabout" (hence the clue starting 28D, "IN A ROUNDABOUT WAY")
Therefore your answers should be:
SPROUT WINGS (starts at the right edge, heads inwards, turns upwards)
RALLYING CRY (starts at the top, heads right and finishes on the left edge)
POWER OUTAGE (left edge, turn right, bottom edge)
I NEED A BREAK (bottom edge, go right, finish on the left edge)
3
@Nancy Hopefully this screenshot doesn't run afoul of spam detectors: https://i.imgur.com/BJuGKEL.png
I've highlighted the path through the 5 clues
8
@Chris Finlay
Thanks, Chris! Your beautifully-wrought diagram in contrasting colors shows how elegant and visually satisfying the solution is. The puzzle is light-years better than I thought it was when approached that way. And if I were more visual, maybe I would have seen that diagram in my mind as I was solving. Alas, I didn't -- I tend not to see anything visually in my mind's eye. I'm worried that my mind doesn't even HAVE an eye. And so for me, the puzzle was a hot mess
6
When I loaded up the puzzle and saw the grid preview, I was presented with the usual "Ready to get started?" prompt. And initially, all I could think was "No. No I am not. What on earth is going on here!?"
However, with the help of a few lookups (for terms such as SCHNOOK, the ZUNI tribe and BRACERO - going to blame regionality on this again!) things started to fall into place. I had the NEE filled thanks to crossings, and I had a feeling that I was looking at I NEED . Getting POWER helped me figure the direction of the tricky bits. POWER BREAK made no sense in context (does it even make sense out of context?) so I figured that I wasn't going straight across the middle. Same with RALLY_TAGE. And as a couple more fell into place, so did the whole shebang.
Thoroughly entertained. I'm not sure if it's the usual Thursday difficulty level (relatively newbie solver here) or if it's something that would normally come AROUND (get it?) later in the week.
WELLNOW, my work is approaching its DUEDATE and failure to complete it would INCITE some disciplinary, so I must grab a LATTE and crack on.
(On a side note, does anyone else have trouble looking up tribes for the clues? Every time I google using the clues given to me, I get a list of tribes that doesn't include the answer. When I look up the answer, and google it, I then get "it's a tribe in this region"... well, why didn't you tell me originally!?
4
@Chris Finlay - was the "tribes" google related to the Zuni clue?
Always use "quote" marks when you can, to eliminate lots of false results. The clue reads "Native of New Mexico." In googling, I put the two-name state inside of quotes "New Mexico", which eliminates false results for "new" or "Mexico" in favor of better results for "New Mexico." When I typed "New Mexico" "native" into my google engine (following on reading your query), the very first result (not the "featured one", NEVER click on the "featured one", hello monetizers) showed the Zuni people in their place on page one, with a map.
PS - and never EVER use Bing...jus' sayin'
PPS - there are several US tribes that will show up with a variety of locations; this has everything to do with the history of forced dislocation of native people: so "Cherokee" might clue to the Carolinas (where they began) but just as well to Oklahoma or similarly ... dislocated ... places.
4
Or USE Bing as it is superior in both format and usefulness of top results.
That was fun! Thanks :-)
6
As soon as I saw the grid, I thought, "Ooh, this is gonna be fun!" Before I could finish that thought though, I thought, "There's gonna be some unhappy campers today!"
I was right on both counts.
My experience was similar to that of many others here who solved this. My big hang-up was not knowing LACKWIT, which I suppose makes me a halfwit, but hey 40% is better than nothing.
Kudos to the constructor!
26
I love Thursday.
I think the Across Lite version offers more challenge because you don't get the spoilaceous benefit of the traffic markers. The numbering differences are not a big deal, unless an ALer and a penciler try to communicate.
5
@Martin
Ahhhh ... AL differs from the fishwrap?
How gauche.
I was expecting something to flash in the circle when I correctly finished the puzzle. Still fun tho’.
2
I loved this one, and hope that we see lots of future Thursdays with this kind of trick! I'm very proud of myself that I figured it out without hints or having to check the blog... THANK YOU HEERE!
3
Solved in Across Lite and didn't notice the note until I was well into it and then just was stubborn and tried to figure it out anyway. It took a while but I finally got it.
What finally tipped me off was DEENI. I knew that had to be read upwards INEED and found ABREAK from there. After that came RALLYINGCRY and so forth. INAROUNDABOUTWAY came last. Next time I won't be so stubborn. The arrows and circle in the center would have been a help.
Clever trick.
3
I knew right off “rallying cry”, “power outage” and “sprout wings” (apropos Christmas season classic It’s a Wonderful Life) but how to fit them into this grid with the arrows going every which way??? “I need a break” only came to me when I truly needed one.
Ingenious and delightful puzzle “in a roundabout way”! How do you do that!!!???
BTW on Jeopardy the other day there was a visual image clue whose answer (question) was “What is a roundabout?” (Had to have “in” or “out” in the word). Anyway, the arrows in the image went in a clockwise direction. Having just returned from Cape Cod, I knew it had to be the British roundabout and not what we would call a dreaded rotary.
3
I'm glad that there were a lot more who enjoyed this tricky puzzle than disliked it. I certainly had fun figuring it out.
I always solve in Across Lite, but checked to see what it looked like on the NYT version, so saw the arrows and round bit in the middle which helped. I finally realised that the answers didn't go straight across when I noticed POWER OUTAGE. The rest fell into place fairly quickly , each one fun to get.
The great week continues.
9
SB: There are two very common words (which happen to be pangrams) that are rejected. PAYDIRT and DAYTRIP
6
@Chris Atkins
I thought so, as well. But online dictionaries show them both as two words.
@MaggieT Rats!
On my screen view, 39A was labeled 42 at first. Then I could only download the "newspaper" version of the puzzle. I had to switch browsers (from Chrome to Safari) to get the right version. What a mess.
2
I solved this in Across Lite and chose not to look at the PDF or other versions, so didn't see the extra graphic hints. As compensation, I decided to break my usual rules and allow for the look-ups (NATASHA, TYE and a couple of others), so I can count this as a successful solve.
Took me a while to get going. I had POWER at that clue and was thinking it had to be OUTAGE, but couldn't figure out whether it was going to jump across the block or turn the corner or maybe there were hidden letters in the square. So I ended up somehow catching on with SPROUTWINGS - largely because I had SGN at the beginning of 15d (or whatever your number was) and was certain that had to be upside down, and had SP_O at the beginning (or end) of whatever clue number that was. Then was able to work out the others, though not quickly. Still a lot of work beyond the center area.
And by the time I was done, I had completely forgotten about the reveal and never did notice that until I went to Xword Info.
I was on Deb's wavelength today, as the Yes song 'Roundabout' popped into my head as soon as I finished - and that even though I never saw the ROUNDABOUT in the answers as noted above. I'm glad she linked it as I am more and more frequently getting the 'your browser does not support...' message on YouTube every time I try to open a video there.
Very clever, and in the end an enjoyable solve, but I still have somewhat mixed feelings about it. Not sure why; maybe a bridge too far.
1
I thought this was a fun challenge. It took a while to figure out but once I did it all fell nicely into place.
5
Something seems really wrong in this puzzle. According to Deb Amlen, there is a 34A clue (comething found in a rush). In my Windows and Android versions of the puzzle, there is no 34A! She also mentions something about a cleverly clued NATASHA, and even provides a vid to entertain us. (It was entertaining, Deb.) But my puzzle at 54A is clued "Seasonal migrant worker from Mexico." Pretty sure that's not Natasha but BRACERO. I'm not finding the arrowed answers to fit with the other answers. So I'm wondering - is it me and there is some devious thing I'm just not seeing, or are there some serious errors in the puzzle that is displaying on my screens?
1
@Merry
Go back and re-read the article, especially the first paragraph under Today's Theme.
3
Merry,
Perhaps Deb should have put this note at the top of the column, not under the Today's Theme subhead:
First, please note that the numbering is different in some of the formats offered for solving. In the web and Across Lite versions, some of the clues are “dashed,” whereas in the print version, those clues are skipped. Any numbering I mention refers to the web version.
3
@Barry Ancona. I actually did read that note, though thanks for posting it again. I didn't think it applied to me, since I was using the web version that Deb said she was referring to. At any rate, I have finally figured out that my big error was linking the in arrows to the wrong out arrows. Ugh. I wish the puzzles got easier during the week, rather than harder! I am SO much fresher on Monday morning! I might have figured this out on my own on a Monday... But then, maybe that is wishful thinking.
Diabolical!!!! Yum. I knew going in it was going to require an initial suspension of negativity so I slogged dutifully along entering the blessedly easyish fill until SPROUT WINGS emerged. Then it was dare I say not so hard. I love Thursdays. The nastier the better. The initial discomfort is more than made up for in the pleasure of getting it done.
13
A shining example of the concept that just because something can be done, does not mean it should be done.
14
@Skeptical1
By "done" I am not sure whether you mean "constructed" or "solved".
We each have the liberty to ignore the puzzle if we don't like it, but I for one was very glad to attempt and finally solve this Thursday challenge. I found it clever and I appreciated its existence.
14
@Andrew it's fair for devotees of the NYT puzzle to not enjoy one. We come here everyday to play. A bad puzzle is a bad puzzle.
5
@Julian
I agree. There will be some that I like and some that I don't like. But I would not suggest that the ones that I don't like should never have been created, which I think was Skeptical's point. And while, yes, a truly bad puzzle is a bad puzzle, there are many examples that some people will find bad and others will find excellent.
5
This is the kind of challenge that I feel as if I should have enjoyed more than I actually did. Still, I got a feeling of achievement, if no particular Aha! moment.
I read the Notepad in AL and opened up the PDF to see what it was talking about, so I saw the arrows and the hole in the middle. Only later did I look back and see that the numbers were different. I can't really see what difference it made whether the numbers were there or not, but maybe it did.
Didn't do well in NW, with MANDELA the only true gimme, plus a couple of guesses. Then I got to 14D, which obviously had to be RALLYING CRY. Looking at the arrows, I thought it had to be RALLY going down, turn east and enter IN, then up for the rest. That didn't work.
Abandoned that area and tried a new start in NE. Didn't know ASTROS as clued or OOLITE at all. Only true gimme was BOER.
Finally a toehold in SW, and moved up the California coast. And there was the back end of my RALLYING CRY at (AL's) 31A! I already had POWER, so that and a couple of existing letters, told me what to do with my OUTAGE.
The rest was smooth, until I had but one empty square (29 in AL). Only then did I look to see if I could make something circling the hole in the middle. Done and done!
Very glad Will & Co. (and the crossword gods) vetoed the car-related clues. I had enough trouble keeping track of the directions without having entries I didn't understand!
Geweldig, Herre!
3
@Deadline - I think you're the only poster so far who had my experience - caught on to the "in" and "out" aspect, but we both went for U-Turns as a first instinct. Seems like most went with a straight through aspect, or the correct right turn. But, like you, I kept trying to make the answer curl back, until the coin dropped...
4
Yes, that was my experience as well. In several cases I thought of the correct answer early on (POWEROUTAGE, SPROUTWINGS) but could not for the life of me figure out how to fit them into the grid. I finally caved and consulted Deb's column, peeking just enough to get the roundabout concept.
For me, this puzzle concept was more to be appreciated after the fact than enjoyed during the solve. But I do appreciate the cleverness now that I'm done.
3
@Deadline
ummmmm ..... is your real moniker "Duedate"?
Just asking.... :-D
2
Everytime I print this puzzle the numbers on the left are cut off
@Barrett Davidson I had the same problem. What worked for me was to check the box in the printer dialog that says "fit to page."
5
One question: the four letters in the middle that have to be omitted from the clues that enter and exit the roundabout don't spell "halo" or any other word. What am I not seeing?
@Ann Young
What four letters have to be omitted? You may not understand what the trick is because nothing has to be omitted.
@Ann Young there aren't any missing letters. that's not the gimmick.
1
Ann,
I, too, for a while, wondered about those omitted letters, but as Steve says, nothing is omitted. For instance, let's take RALLYING CRY. At square 14, RALLY goes down, then you turn left from the Y and get the I, then down to the N, and then to the left to finish the phrase. So that "I" isn't omitted after all. I hope this helps!
3
https://youtu.be/iAgX6qlJEMc
Look kids - Big Ben, Parliament.
4
Haven't started the puzzle yet but my first reaction to the grid was -- is this a riff on Sierpinki's gasket?
64 comments by 7:45 AM already? YIKES!
@Dr W I suspect that we are headed for a brazillion comments today.
..
2
@Rich in Atlanta
Or maybe a SQUILLION.
6
@Dr W Oh, this is going to be a busy day, for sure.
And while I’m at it, please say a prayer for me and Sam Ezersky when we do our weekly Crosswords Live stream on The New York Times Facebook page today at 1 p.m. We have to explain this to everyone.
6
It seems that I have strong linear tendencies as I repeatedly tried to SPROUT WINGS straight across. With the solve nearly done, I finally angelically veered to the right and then also found my RALLYING CRY. Now I’m having a POWER OUTAGE and I NEED A BREAK. Whew!
2
No fun. KISS is my strong preference for daily ones. They can be very tough without being contrived...
3
ROUNDABOUTS are popping up here in Western WI. Most humorous are the stories of impaired drivers who wind up atop the lump in the middle. Far better than broadsiding me; I must say.
These little puzzle tricks... mused Tom menacingly.
Still to give credit where it is due,
Thanks Herre, devious puzzle.
5
We took turns in yesterday's puzzle and continue today.
This, to me, was one of those faith-based puzzles, where the theme ain't clear, but you have faith that if you keep on solving, it will become clear. So, piece by piece, I filled this in -- not so easy with six answers out of my wheelhouse and some tricky cluing. But squares continued to fill, including a couple of the right-angled theme answers, and when IN A ROUNDABOUT WAY clicked, it was a laugh-out-loud aha. Herre, this was one sweet and swervy experience -- thank you!
13
@Lewis
How clear the theme is depends on what version of puzzle you solved. Several versions did not show the arrows, which made a big difference.
The version I solved did have the arrows. The only question was what led to what; i.e. whether to turn 90 degrees or continue across the line. But clearly, some of the answers had to go in backwards. And the "unchecked" letters in the squares around the center block actually were, starting in the upper left of the area, the second answer that checked the A of LEA and of KIA, the O of ORE and the N of NYC (as if that one wasn't a total gimme).
1
@Steve L
The newsprint (aka fishwrap) version had nice arrows.
2
Spelling Bee today - November 29 - does not accept one of the possible Pangrams - PAYDIRT. Otherwise great puzzle.
7
@Spelling Bee-er
I was set to agree with you, but dictionaries say that it's two words. Same with DAYTRIP. I was surprised by both.
4
@Spelling Bee-er
Yes, and what about RIPRAP and the crossword favorite RIATA?
3
@Steve L I think it depends on which dictionary. Wordnik calls it an alternative spelling. DAYTRIP is in fact two words (we saw that one too!!!) Thanks for checking!!!!
Fun theme. It's rare that living in the UK is such an advantage...
2
@Pablo
But...aren't roundabouts turning the other way in the UK? Wasn't that misleading to you?
2
@Wen Good point--I had a tough time figuring this out even with the hint about driving IN A ROUNDABOUT WAY, as I was "driving" on the left side of the road as we do in Cyprus (and as they do in the UK).
2
Shall we now review country (and in the U.S., at least, regional) preferences for use of:
Roundabout
Rotary
Traffic circle
...
1
Whew, that was some workout! I NEED A BREAK before I go onto to the MINI. I am glad I stuck with it.
1
I like a challenge, but when I see a puzzle with six en-dashes as clues, I can't help thinking that someone's not trying hard enough.
3
@Tom
I respect your opinion, but as one who has made puzzles, I can assure you that if you walked a mile in Herre's brain as he constructed this fresh, complicated beaut, you'd eat those words.
4
@Lewis
Maybe Tom is referring to the coders who put the puzzle online without resolving a way to eliminate the dashed clues, which do not appear in print.
Roy Leban's Puzzazz app normally can take into account these oddities; I haven't looked at how it handled this one.
2
Tom,
You should have done the print or online PDF version of the puzzle: no en-dashes.
2
This fell into place slowly and I learned new words. The key for me was 'RALLYING CRY'. Very different, I like a weird puzzle.
I had never seen SCHNOOK, ZUNI, BRACERO or OOLITES, or TOLE to mean tinware.
These are getting easier, or I'm getting better, as I completed this without checking Wordplay or the solutions. Just a lot of looking up sports teams and a valley in CA.
I thought that a 'Beverage server in Britain' might be a BARKEEP. At my first office job in the UK we did indeed have a TEA LADY, with an urn of tea on her trolley, but that was in 2001/2, and I haven't seen one since in over 40? offices (clients and employers). Strictly self-service these days at most places.
Speaking of ABFAB, I had the great delight to see one of its stars, Joanna Lumley, a few weeks ago. She is touring with a show about her career to promote her new book, and it was incredibly entertaining to hear about Absolutely Fabulous and her other work.
Happy Thursday!
5
@Kathryn
I do remember years ago -- before every office with more than three workers had its own kitchen -- when there was a "coffee lady" or "coffee guy" who went from floor to floor throughout an office pushing a cart with giant urns (one coffee, one hot water for tea) and an assortment of pastries. They came by twice a day, and rang a bell to alert the office workers to abandon their desks and come by for nournishment.
I suspect the British experience was similar.
I prefer the kitchens.
1
Fantastic puzzle, a really fun Thursday solve
6
I was thrilled when I saw the grid! I love a weird Thursday puzzle that makes my brain have to do something a bit different. Thanks, Herre!
9
I absolutely loved it!
Lots of clues in the grid art, and the inner ROUNDABOUT all linking it together — wwwwwwooooooowwwwww!
19
That was my reaction too! So much fun!
3
@Denn
Is that also a riff on the costructor's last name? :-)
1
Another one for I NEED A BREAK being the key - had a fair number of letters in the spaces for the dashed clues, but getting that put me in the right direction (yes, I did mean that) and the rest of the answers followed quickly after that.
Also had trouble deciding between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, since they both have observatories, but that resolved when it because obvious that it wasn't DOH, but GEE
Finished in a couple minutes over my Thursday average, but it was a challenge and it felt good to finally see it solved.
3
Hated. This.
12
I love Thursday puzzles like this one that go a bit outside the box. Once I got the roundabout center the rest fell into place in a fun and satisfying way. Way more fun than Wednesday's puzzle, which had me in fits with the arcane filler.
4
Upon first glance at today's grid my first thought was: "OK, it's Thursday... this is gonna be fun! Let's go."
Since I'm no speed demon (any more) time is always on my side. Began chipping away at the corners, which had plenty of lively fill but with relatively moderate cluing for a Thursday. Appropriate, since setting the theme seemed like it would take a bit of work.
When I needed a break, I got one with I NEED A BREAK, cracking the formant for the theme entries. Other themers quickly fell except that I stumbled with the ING of RALLYING CRY. It also took me a few minutes to decode the revealer.
No music, so I returned to my starting point... at square one, where I had originally entered uTMOST. Now who was uRMANI?? Changed the u to an A and Bingo.
Then I realized that I had solved the puzzle IN A ROUNDABOUT WAY!
8
@Mike R
You started with UTMOST. I started with AT BEST.
2
Thoroughly enjoyed this puzzle, helped me ease into bed IN A ROUNDABOUT WAY.
4
and Elke
Since I had difficulty today getting the comments, I really thought my printer was having a FIT when I printed out this puzzle....
Being a sometime SCHNOOK, I confidently entered 'Baby Moses' as 'something found in a rush'....
But having just recently reset a bunch of clocks, due to a mighty storm causing POWER OUTAGEs (Herre, you too?) , it fell right in place. The rest was nearly a gentle BREEZE.
The hardest one to grok was SPROUTING WINGS.
Next time we're in a -ROUND ABOUT- will remember this clever puzzle. And hope not to have to go around twice because forgot to get out .....
Herre-hartelijk dank !
7
@Robert and Elke
Of course, you're kidding about BABY MOSES; there were only three letters.
However, I was (working off the center R) considering ARK for quite a while, based on similar thoughts.
2
I love solving a tough Thursday, because it makes me feel temporarily brilliant. That only lasts a day. Got the trick with SPROUTSWINGS. Was held up by my constant Mauna Loa-Kea mix-up; actually had KOA, which held me out for a few minutes. Thank goodness for GEE (couldn't be GOE!)! Great puzzle.
8
@David Lundy I have the same mental block on Loa/Kea and hadn’t DOH for the cross for a while. I knew it had to be POWEROUTAGE, but thought it somehow went around the H.
I hated this puzzle,
even when I finally muddled through. glad others felt differently. yuk
14
Since I have occasion to be in Philadelphia frequently, the conceit of this puzzle reminds me of the streets around City Hall, which sit in what can best be described of as a squarish roundabout with a superblock in the middle of it:
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9523466,-75.1632874,17.55z?authuser=1
If you can see traffic from either lane of Broad Street going one quarter of the way around and exiting on Market Street, and the opposite with traffic on Market Street, you've got this puzzle. The north and south arrows are the two lanes of Broad Street, and the east and west arrows the two lanes of Market Street.
You can ignore the fact that in real life, you can turn off that square in several other places.
Of course, you can stay in the square indefinitely and become the central answer.
But it all makes sense with that premise.
If you live in New York, you'd have to drive to Philly to experience this, since New York doesn't have anything like it. (Park Avenue going around Grand Central is somewhat similar, though, but doesn't intersect anything.)
8
@Steve L - The beautiful, unique building that is City Hall - my grandmother worked across the street in Wanamaker's, and my father worked across in the opposite direction in the ARCO building (I don't know what it's called now; the one with the clothespin). I took a minor detour daily through the courtyard on my way to and from college. As I would enter the courtyard, a man sitting on a bench would be saying, "I could use a quarter..." but it was just a kind of general announcement; he wasn't speaking to anyone in particular, but to the world. "I could use a quarter..."
Just a little way past his bench, there was another man who quietly muttered, all day long: "thirtyfive cents...thirtyfive cents..."
The Mummers parade ends up at the judging stands on that central square, in the freezing weather of New Year's Day - and that was precisely where my piccolo froze to my fingers one day. My own version of the tongue stuck on a metal pole experience.
6
@Steve L - Love this visual. I grew up in Philadelphia and it brought back fond memories of City Hall with the statue of “Billy Penn” on the top and the ‘square roundabout’ of Broad and Market streets. Happy thoughts.
1
@Steve L Interestingly enough, I do better in real roundabouts than in puzzle ones. Maybe because I went around City Hall (and Logan Circle) too much in my youth! When I get redirections in a puzzle (even with big arrows), I get far more disoriented. Something to do with 2-D versus 3-D perhaps?
If you are touring Philly by car, do your best to avoid those roundabouts because you will most likely screw up and the natives will not appreciate you.
Thanks for the super-clever Thursday puzzle, that kept me up past my bedtime.
5
The US-Mexico Bracero Program pf 1942 wss a shameful chapter of North American history.
Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, talked about the dangers of non-immigrant worker schemes in 2013:
"Programs like the bracero program or temporary guest-worker programs where individuals were tied to an employer, they got exploited", he said. "They got cheated out of wages [and] they weren't given what was rightfully due to them. They were forced to work under unsafe conditions. They were forced to accept substandard wages. They couldn't say anything, because if they did, [the employer] would jerk their permit and deport them."
Read more at the Center for Immigration Studies:
https://cis.org/North/We-Should-Remember-Bracero-Program-and-Shudder
15
@Suzan In 1948 Woody Guthrie heard a radio news report about a plane carrying braceros back to Mexico that crashed near Los Gatos, California, killing everyone aboard. The report merely said that the plane was carrying "deportees." He also saw a New York Times story on the crash that gave the names of the crew and a security guard but simply referred to the passengers as "deportees." In his anger and grief over the terrible treatment of Mexican migrant workers by California fruit and vegetable growers, he wrote a song commemorating the Los Gatos crash, "Deportees."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu-duTWccyI
29
@Suzan and paulymath
Thank you both for the links.
No further comment needed.
3
@paulymath and Suzan
Thank you for these links. Tears in my eyes.
1
Amazing feat of construction IMHO. Very clever and enjoyable. SPROUT WINGS came first for me. Finished in just under my Thursday average, which was satisfying. Took awhile to get a foothold but then things proceeded pretty smoothly except for anything theme-related until I grokked it.
8
Tricky tricky! I loved it, even though I went 15 minutes over my average Thursday solve time. It was worth it. Well done Mr. Schouwerwou!
5
Absolutely and genius, just the right level of difficulty and challenge. Hats off!
22
This one really pushed the Thursday envelope. Kudos and thanks to Herre for a fun solve.
13
I detest roundabouts in the real world, but I love this puzzle!
Also, that's 300 in a row. A nice puzzle for the milestone.
23
@Michael O I'm just the opposite. I love roundabouts in the real word and dislike them in crosswords!
4
Liane,
And I trust you have successfully navigated the last 300 of them.
2
That was a beaut, Herre. Nice work!
13
Very tough for me but worth the payoff. Kudos, Herre. Oolites/boer not ooliths/bohr. Silly that I couldn’t see that without having to “check puzzle.” My streak of 5 stymied ... ah well, who’s counting?
3
The Across Lite version would been easier had I looked at the online grid before starting instead of after I had finished and read the comments about arrows.
3
BOOMERS' CLUES
(Numbered as in the web version)
49A. Oscar-winning role for Rita Moreno
60A. She made trouble for Moose and Squirrel
This was a nicely-different Thursday-tricky kind of a puzzle. Enjoyable all the way "around."
4
Super fun puzzle!
9
I was ready to be very annoyed, but then it suddenly kicked in, and I’m happy.
8
That was fun.
5
For 23D, the last two blanks I had were the LA. I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't exactly think of LACKWIT first in that scenario. But, standards!
3
@Amy G .... :-D
Way cool puzzle!
8
Really tough, average buster, a real outlier that was 2 standard deviations from the average Thursday solution time. That said, masterful creation.
2
@Brian
And look where you're from!! :-)
1
Yes, even though my first shot was NAPA !!
4
@Brian
I had NAPA first as well. When that didn't work, SIMI came into my head, and I had no idea why I knew that. Only now do I realize that it must have been from seeing your location on these pages!
3
tough puzzle. figured out the theme with I NEED A BREAK. Then got I NEED A BREAK and POWER OUTAGE. Last to fall was RALLYING CRY. Should have seen it earlier. Bit of a handicap using Across-Lite without the arrows! Did take a glance at the regular grid. Sense of satisfaction in completing it!
2
Maybe it was the late hour, but I found this puzzle sheer torture. Perhaps that was the intent. Not a fan. I should run any time I see the "-" clues. These puzzles are never my favorite. I can only say that I finished -- slowly (hey, at least we've counterbalanced the last few easy Thursdays). I'm not even certain I understand all my answers. I am certain that I don't care. I'll look more closely in the morning . . . .
11
@Liane I agree vehemently(?). I love rebuses, so I must believe that they are not brainteasers, because I hate brainteasers, and this puzzle definitely was one. (I also hate "-" clues.) After correctly filling every square but one—thanks in part to frequent resorts to Mlle Check—I was still so out to lunch on this puzzle that I had to do an alphabet run just to fill that last square, only stopping when the puzzle declared itself complete. At that point I was finally able to trace the serpentine track of a few answers, but I didn't care enough to pursue the others. Bah!
7
Wow, very very creative and tricky. Kudos to the constructor. I'm so pleased still to have figured it out on my subway ride home. Like @Liz B, I was trying to construct the themed answers straight across and up-down and also thought that POWER BREAK was correct. But RALLY ?TAGE made no sense at all, and that's when I literally and figured "turned a corner" in my thinking and saw POWER OUTAGE. From there the other themed answers came naturally. I didn't even try to solve 28D because I didn't have any sense that the answer went around the puzzle center. And TIL that BRACERO is a seasonal migrant worker.
5
I should add that my thought process above shows why I never saw a roundabout or traffic circle. To me the answers are still navigating corners before changing directions. Maybe a town plaza with a fountain in the middle but not a roundabout.
2
@Henry Su
It's an interesting problem working to be geometrically creative in what is only a 15 x 15 grid. This attempt to give a sense of a traffic circle with external radii was well done.
6
@Dr W - I understand the limitations of the grid; just admitting that I still didn't grasp it visually and had to read @Deb Amlen's column to get a full appreciation of the constructor's genius.
Took me a while to get it, the I in INEEDABREAK is what finally unlocked it for me.
Now I liked it, but I’m gonna make some popcorn and wait for the outrage to pour in here in the comment section. :D
4
Neat. That one was fun.
5
Diabolical. And not at all helped by my LAGER in ATLANTA. Much prefer a LATTE in AUGUSTA any day.
7
Indeed. And not much helped by my Pinot noir either. Nonetheless, a fun Thursday solve on a Wednesday evening. Now, to enjoy the rest of the wine, my cats and the dying embers of the fireplace.
6
Wow. This was pretty diabolical. I completed the puzzle, and knew (mostly) what I was doing, but I'm not sure how. At first I thought the answers went across the entire puzzle in the direction of the arrows. POWER BREAK almost made sense like that but not really. I NEED WINGS? Nope, not at all. Then I saw I NEED BREAK and realized that an A could go in there, and that unlocked the magic. I did not perceive it as a traffic pattern or roundabout, though. SPROUT WINGS was the last one I figured out, because my eye was transposing letters and I kept reading 33A as SPORT. So I'm just really happy that I was able to figure it all out!
5
@Liz B Same! But I kept reading it as "in around a boutway" and I didn't know what a boutway was.
Doh!
4
@Keana
Kinda like a beltway...
2
@Liz B
How could you have gotten BREAK and WINGS without understanding which clues they were associated with??
This puzzle requires a link to European Vacation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgX6qlJEMc
Though, of course, the traffic is moving in the opposite direction in the clip!
2
@David Connell
Hold it up to a mirror.
1
@Dr W
Just don't hold it up to the rear-view mirror.
(Objects may be closer....)
3
Your clue numbers don't correspond to the HTML version of the puzzle- not sure why the confusion.
2
@Rick
Per previous cases where there were tricky puzzles with unusual grid usage, there is only so much that they could do programming-wise to make it work. So the print version and online version and app version may have clue numbers that don't line up.
1
@Wen
Then they should note that in the puzzle itself, or figure out how to run the puzzle without discrepancies among the platforms, or if they can’t do that, not run the puzzle at all.
Passing Shot,
Each platform version is correct, so there's no need to explain anything in the puzzle. The variances in clue numbering should have been mentioned at the beginning of the column, not the middle, so people looking for clue help but not theme help would have seen it.
1