Hated this from top to bottom. Paul, find something else to do. Maybe brain surgery or something.
6
ms
Great puzzle, but cleats are not spiked. Just sayin’.
I did this late, but wanted to register my opinion that this puzzle was brilliant.
FRANKSINATRA made me laugh out loud, and several of the other long entries were amusing--especially the ones I solved from the clues, rather than filling in down entries.
Time was just about midway between my best and my average, which surprised me a bit.
I was annoyed by SLUE, which I cannot recall seeing before, but it appears to be the earlier spelling, and it was worth the irritation to learn that the word originally meant drunk, among other things.
Thanks very much for this punny and enjoyable puzzle!
1
Frank Sinatra, an answer for the Crossword Puzzle Hall of Fame
1
Great puzzle, but cleats are not spiked.
Sunday’s puzzle was a challenging delight once I figured out the brain teasers, and I was surprised to see so many grumpy comments. I will have to remember to take a look at the print version when dealing with visual clues like those for the 7 theme answers. That would have made it much easier to crack the codes, and we always have a paper copy because my husband prefers that.
1
I'm not a crossword nerd, not the brightest person to do a NYT crossword, and I don't keep track of my times. I just love crosswords, and I have been doing them since the spring of 2018 to keep my aging brain nimbler than it would be otherwise. I enjoy nearly all the NYT puzzles, even the hard ones. For example, I found the Friday puzzle on November 30 to be extremely challenging, but it was a fun puzzle to do. The puzzle today was clever, once I read the Wordplay article and checked the answers - but too clever for me, evidently. I just find it discouraging when the only way to complete a puzzle is to look up half the puzzle because I'm so stumped. I haven't finished it, for the first time in a month. It's just not fun to be this lost.
11
This one was not my favorite. Each theme answered resulted in a "sheesh" and not a "how clever". This one was a tooth puller for sure
4
First, from Caitlin:
"(we still can’t organize anything vertically in digital presentations)."
There were clues (25A and 57A) in this past Thursday puzzle that were presented vertically in the online version. Why not today?
To today's puzzle: Went fine until the end (SE) where I almost succumbed to the confluence of SWARD, SLUE, GRU, EPODE, PDJAMES, JENS, AZARIA, and EMDEN! Had only vague recollections of SLUE and GRU (from a previous puzzle) -- the rest were Naticks. (Surprised I guessed correctly at the others and came close to my best Sunday time!)
Enjoyed trying to guess the themers with just a few crosses. Fun, in contrast to yesterday's, which I didn't finish till near the deadline (11 pm CST?) -- too late to comment. Hardest puzzle since I began routinely solving Saturdays. Over four hours of torture!
@Ron
Please explain where those Thursday clues were presented vertically. They weren't in the platform I used, and didn't look like they were supposed to be vertical.
@Steve L
(Hope you're still "listening.")
Sorry, meant Thursday, Nov. 22. I'm on a MacBook Pro using Safari.
Very much fun, and very hard for me, so I'm joining the party too late! TOOBIGTOIGNORE, even after I had it, I didn't get it because spelling "too" or "to" just doesn't even make me think of "two". Anyway, it was great!
3
Even the article isn’t helping me understand a couple of the solutions.
I get the “per spire” BREAKINGASWEAT overall, but what’s the indication that we’re meant to remove the space?
Yearn / do = LONGOVERDUE. Ok, I get that yearn = long and the divide symbol = over, but due and do? What’s the connection?
LARGE LARGE SKIP SKIP = TOO BIG TO IGNORE. Is that just meant to be “two bigs two ignores = too big to ignore”? That’s... ehhhh.
I didn’t enjoy “franks in atra”, “parallel bars” and “add insult to injury”, however.
Apologies, that should say DID enjoy. My phone is being weird tonight.
@Chris Finlay
"perspire" = "sweat"
So BREAKING A SWEAT means breaking up the word perspire into two parts. Hence "Per spire".
In North America "due" is commonly pronounced the same as "do".
The other I interpreted to mean 2 (the word) LARGE - 2 (the word) SKIP. Using homonyms and omitting "the word" that gives TOO BIG TO IGNORE.
Chris,
All of the themers you mention are discussed quite thoroughly in the comments. Enjoy the read.
I just got the ANT clue! They have six legs aka six feet.
4
The hidden-reveal links aren’t revealing the answers.
4
I was a little disappointed that Paul Coulter had never heard of a Mercator projection map. Anyone else?
6
@Lorel
Where does it say Paul Coulter had never heard of a Mercator projection map?
Hint: He didn't write the column.
Finally a diagramless! More, please.
Somebody was fretting about 54D, the woodworking tool. In answer to that I would refer one to look up guitars and lutes and other stringed instruments with frets -- which are made by cutting slots in the neck of the instrument for inserting finger positioning ribs in playing.
2
Delightful. As some one mentioned earlier, this was actually a P&A spinoff.
PS: I started doing the P&As a few months back and I'm hooked.
Had to look up 59D to verify. One Dr checking up on another, hm?!!!!! :-)
From the variety of comments so far I think 66A ruled here.
Were the results of the "Escape Room" contest published today?
1
MaryO,
They were published online a while back; look for a post in the list of (not so) recent Wordplay columns.
The winners' names were to be announced on December 2. I was hoping to be among them, having timely submitted my email solution, but I guess not. Anyway, I'd like to see who won!
I have not seen an answer key for the puzzle, though I pretty much always read Deb's column from beginning to end. Can someone tell us the date of the column? It was very exciting to do the puzzle, very fun to figure it out, and it would be fun to see the answer.
Mary and MaryO,
Here is the special post with the answer key and the list of winners:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/14/crosswords/escape-room-contest.html
1
I enjoyed it once I figured out how to interpret the special clues. It took me a few minutes longer than usual — 27:25
@Davidconnell. Thanks for giving us newbies the 411. I thought compromises were made illegal years ago. It’s nice to be part of a transgressive community.
What a great run of four puzzles starting with Thursday's terrific traffic circle! All utterly enjoyable.
Today I wondered why 40D wasn't clued as "1 week-segments pint" and 45D as "Hoover e.g. & the night before".
Cheers to all on the first Sunday of Advent.
5
@Laszlo
Great to hear from you again Laszlo. Stick around.
3
What suejean said.
Great to see you back.
ditto!
1
It's been an odd few days for me. Every puzzle since Thursday just feels off.
2
Want to start an ear worm? Say “crenellated parapets” to yourself three times. (Sorry if you said it before thinking - it’ll stick to you all day.)
3
@Doggydoc ... ahhh, crenelated parapets. Brings back the days of Art History 22, the second of seven semesters of looking at pictures of old buildings in the hope that it will engender some originality in the architecture students at CCNY.
1
@HALinNY, it’s kinda like a “veritable plethora,” or a “mite peckish.” You almost can’t say crenel without saying “crenellated parapets.”
I really enjoyed this one. Not too easy, as is often the case, but not impossible. I just kept walking away when I was stumped and miraculously saw things when I came back. Loved Frank Sinatra. I look up things once in a while (though my 88 year old, ink-using mom thinks that’s cheating) and always learn something new ... like a crenel!
A note for the suggestion box: can we give the Spelling Bee it’s own comment section?
3
@Elizabeth Evans - your suggestion is understandable, but I'd like to point out that the Spelling Bee comments are restricted to a single thread, at least by all regular commenters here; it's a compromise we worked out a month or two back. Just skip that thread, and all is well.
1
Okey doke. I guess I missed that.
No one seems to have noted that a comment on a blog is...a comment. An entry is a POST. (76A)
1
John,
I have noted that you did just POST a comment.
2
@Barry Ancona but this is not a blog
1
K Barrett,
Wordplay used to be a blog, and one would POST a comment then too.
1
Bottom right corner was brutal for me today. Did not know Adam Dalgliesh, slue, epode, gru, Jens or Azaria, and had Essen for Emden. A rare DNF for me, but I enjoyed it anyway.
5
While I enjoy solving these kinds of jumbled word puzzles, I worry a bit about the folks who think them up.
5
@Dag Ryen
Don't worry. A lot of people worry about the folks who repeatedly post here...
1
The fill was full of junk: crenel, sward, enduro, jens, nankeen, emden, pepa, etc. The theme was inconsistent and weird, not funny or enjoyable or clever. I used to look forward to the Sunday NYT puzzle. What is going on? Awful!
13
@Teresa Hickey
OTOH, I liked seeing all the strange and unusual words! CRENEL reminded me of "merlons", which is a word I had forgotten and had to concentrate on to remember. I like words.
8
@Liz B
I, too, somehow knocked CRENEL out of the cobwebs in my head. Funny the way the mind works (or doesn't work!) sometimes.
What a nutty, goofy, quirky puzzle! Certainly a RARA avis in every way, winking at us in clue after clue. Lots of fun. If some in our membership didn't like it, that doesn't make them SINNERS.
10
For the second day in a row it came down to one troublesome square. Yesterday was TOT/TUBA which was impenetrable because I had PROGRAMMER instead of the more current (?) BROGRAMMER.
Today was HERA/MASH. I had entered HERO from my spotty knowledge of Greek mythology, (I confess to never having read The Iliad.) And MOSH sounded like a very appropriate ingredient for moonshine.
Otherwise quite enjoyable, though not overly difficult to figure out the theme. Was wondering if I missed something with the title, Represent! I though of re-gifting, "about now"... I'm sure there has to be at least a double meaning. Anybody?
2
@Andrew - the clues are visual representations of the theme answers. "Hot dog hot dog" represents "franks", for example.
1
"...MOSH sounded like a very appropriate ingredient for moonshine."
Andrew,
Get you a copper kettle,
Get you a copper coil,
Cover with newmade corn MASH,
And never more you'll toil...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonshine#/media/File:Pot_Still_Diagram.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gMoMGi95vw
3
@David Connell
I got that much, but I just figured that there had to be more to it, especially since the original title proposed was:
BLEACHERS MAINE
0_23456789
(NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ME)
Like many of you here, FRANKSINATRA was my favorite. There is something really funny to me about associating hot dogs with the singer. Hot dog! Hot dog! FRANKSINATRA!
I love how the NYT shakes things up with offbeat, silly cluing like in today's puzzle. It made discovering the answers a lot harder for me before I got it, which made this a lot of fun.
The clue at 42A, "Give a major lift" reminded me of one of my all time favorite songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttEMYvpoR-k
I'm definitely in the "liked it" camp today ... thank you!
14
@Johanna
I loved this clue, and any day I'm reminded of my favorite singer is a good day.
1
Too clever, not that funny. I mean, when you get each one, instead of a pleasant "wow!" there's just an "oh okay".
6
I got that the theme was some cousin of wacky wordies right away, so I had one leg up and everything went pretty smoothly.
Of the themers, I thought the clue/entry tie in TOO BIG TO IGNORE was somewhat labored, but I loved FRANK SINATRA.
Didn't know the Mario Bros. connection or the GRU, had to dig up JENS, didn't know ROBB or NOMAR. Vaguely knew there was a show called "Father TED." Had ESP before PSI, so had the odd PEEA for Sandra Denton for a while. Coulda been.
ENDURO? Really?
BEANERIES gave me an earworm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu0eCB4NYJw
2
@Deadline
So, what does PSI denote in telepathy? Certainly not pounds per square inch, nor probability in quantum mechanics (the integral of psi times psi* over all space = 1).
@SteveG
Definition of psi phenomena
: the aggregate of parapsychological functions of the mind including extrasensory perception, precognition, and psychokinesis
OK, I give up!!!
SteveG,
In parapsychology, psi is the unknown factor in extrasensory perception and psychokinesis experiences that is not explained by known physical or biological mechanisms.[10][11] The term is derived from the Greek ψ psi, 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet and the initial letter of the Greek ψυχή psyche, "mind, soul".[12][13] The term was coined by biologist Berthold P. Wiesner, and first used by psychologist Robert Thouless in a 1942 article published in the British Journal of Psychology.[14]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology#Terminology
1
Just enough of a P&A puzzle to make me wish for a new one.
1
Good fun. One quibble. 39D Father TED is a bygone Irish (not British) sitcom. Just ask Dougal and Mrs Doyle
4
I adore word puzzles and thought the ones in this were mostly great. Especially loved FRANKS IN ATRA, ADD INSULT TO INJURY, PARALLEL BARS and BREAKING A SWEAT.
I loved the clever cluing of some of the rest of the fill: SWAM (14A); BREWER (86A); DEUCE (106D).
I wanted IDYLL instead of EPODE (103D) but it didn't work. SWALE before SWARD (121A). ESSEN before EMDEN (105D). I didn't know any of the trivia people: PEPA, ROBB, JENS, NOMAR, GRU, et al -- and was FRANKly annoyed by their intrusion into a very good puzzle. I don't find any of them TOO BIG TO IGNORE, and ignore them I do. I will have forgotten them all by 10:30 this morning, if not sooner.
But thinking was required everywhere in the grid, and the puzzle kept me entertained and engaged. So many of my gray cells were needed in fact, that I'd better not tackle the Diagramless until tomorrow.
4
The ultimate in wordplay for today's puzzle was a hoot! I resisted trying to figure out the theme entries until I had a decent amount of fill and crosses figured out, and then dove in to them with gusto. The only rough spot for me was in the southeast, since I was unfamiliar with EPODE and hung on to SWAle a bit longer than I should have. I thought I remembered GRU from previous puzzles, but was uncertain about it and entered/removed it a few times before deciding it was right. I also wasn't sure about PDJAMES (I had everything but the P, and something in my head was insisting on P, probably again from a prior puzzle, so in it went. Trust your instincts!). Really fun Sunday solve. A tip of the hat to you, Mr. Coulter and Mr. Shortz!
2
I liked this puzzle, and I also wanted to put in a kind word for the writers of Wordplay. I really appreciate the insights and the personal commentary. Textile museums - did not know they existed, now I will look for them. Thank you for sharing your love of crosswords and the wider world with us.
16
@JR Yes! Textile Museum of Canada, in Toronto was a wow.
1
I am guessing there will be an outcry over this--a second unusual and tricky puzzle in the space of just 4 days--but I really loved this one!
It was made more difficult due to my ignorance of Mario and "Despicable Me," not to mention "Game of Thrones" (ugh) and the Brit sitcom, but then I did know HERA and ARES and PDJAMES, ERITREA and NANKEEN. I kept laughing (and groaning) out loud.
Paul Coulter gets a POW! from me.
9
Two sloppy clues (so rare in a nyt crossword):
94 Across - Perspire is a verb. Breaking a sweat refers to a noun. Perhaps the clue should have been per spiration
117 Across - How is "do" a clue for "due"? Did I miss something?
Anyone else see these?
2
@Julian I think you're right about 94A, but for 117A, there are other examples in the theme clues that lead to homophones in the answers (Two=TOO and TO), so I think that are in the spirit of the theme.
@Julian
Naw, if you focus on "a sweat" then it's a noun. But as a whole, the phrase "breaking a sweat" is almost synonymous with perspire. The point of the theme and the clues is to play on the phrases so I don't think there is such a rigid relationship like most crossword clues and their answers have with regard to tense, plurality, and gender.
5
@Wen
The way I see it "SWEAT" = "perspire". BREAKING the word equivalent to sweat, you come up with "per spire". Perfectly good clue in my books.
5
Not a fan of this one, either because the theme was not consistent or my brain was mush this Sunday morning. Has anyone explained the clue for ANT? I looked at comments but could not find.
1
Ants have six feet.
2
Ah, thanks.
I actually got this one, and the one for “till” as well. But shouldn’t these have been clued as “six-footed runner” and “ones’ place,” respectively?
didn't like this one at all. often figuring out the hook makes me smile. this just made me groan.
4
I had a lot of the same unknowns as others have mentioned. I liked learning that crenelated , which I had heard of to describe a style of castle simply came from the openings called CRENELs.
As for the theme I loved it, so clever and so much fun to work out.
What a terrific week of puzzles!
8
@suejean Learning things like that is one of the deep pleasures I get from the puzzles. I took a wild guess at CRENEL, because of crenelated, and was delighted to find it right.
As for NANKEEN, I think I dug that out of my childhood somewhere -- many decades ago.
I learned the word WEIR when I was studying in England and frequently biking between Bristol and Bath.
It's sort of like connecting a song with where you heard it, I think.
3
I had AMON RA (normal spelling) crossing OTA (on-time arrival, a common in-flight announcement, though an unusual abbreviation). The official answer was AMEN RA (unusual spelling) crossing ETA (crossword chestnut).
Either choice is a stretch. But "on time arrival" is always announced in those words, while "estimated time of arrival" is almost never spoken literally. OTA is a natural coinage, as fresh as ETA is stale. So I think my answer is at least as good as the official one.
@speede
My go-to spelling is AMUN RA, equally wrong today. I have learned recently here that there are several alternate spellings, so I would question your use of the term "normal" spelling. Others on this forum could give you more details about this, I'm sure.
I have never encountered the acronym OTA, but I certainly knew ETA long before becoming a puzzle addict.
3
@Andrew For me, OTA = Online Travel Agency.
I have f i e n e g l s about this one. First, there was kind of an issue with Across Lite, as apparently it does not allow for putting clues on two or more lines. So for the most part they used the division symbol to indicate that which was quite confusing (to me, at least). I think just a slash would have been better. And the clue for 80a was just PP UU BB, which doesn't exactly work for the answer. And lastly, there was no indication/justification for the use of homonyms (to / too / two, e.g.) between the clues and the answers.
And... in the end almost none of that mattered. I think the only theme answer that I got largely from the clue was ODDSANDENDS. Beyond that I just worked out the crosses until I found an in the language phrase or name that worked. Sometimes I got the connection after the fact; sometimes not quite. In retrospect, I think all the theme answers could have been un-clued and I would have had about the same solve time.
Having said all that, I thought all the theme answers were very good and there was some nice bonus material as well.
Had a couple of Naticks, but I don't remember exactly where and don't feel like finding them. Not a big deal for me - pretty typical.
Nice to see my spouse's nickname in the puzzle (again).
5
@Rich in Atlanta
I got all of the puzzle, but I can't work out YOUR tricky word puzzle.
"I have f i e n e g l s about this one."
Well done, Rich!
2
@Mean Old Lady mixed feelings, I assume
4
Oh, I love these representation-type posers, and got a kick out of cracking the theme answers. I also loved running across words that don't show up often if at all, in my inner and outer conversations -- SLUE, SWARD, BEANERIES, WEIR, CRENEL, EPODE, NANKEEN, FRETSAW.
NANKEEN, for instance, with almost 400K Google hits, introduced me to a mini-slice of the world I had no idea existed. Am I better off for this? Who knows? But it was cool.
I also liked the grit presented by these lesser used words and names I didn't know. From reading the comments I know there are many who hate proper name answers that they don't know, but not me, because I trust that in the NYT they will be crossed fairly, and I revel in the challenge of getting them.
I was BREAKING A SWEAT in the SE, however, which stretched my limits because of unknowns. AZARIA saved me, plus the GRU which crawled out of some huge boulder-scape in my brain.
So, for me, there was much fun and much to like, and I am filled with gratitude to Paul, yet the puzzle wasn't a wow. There just weren't enough standout non-theme answers and clues. So, overall, if asked, I'd give this solving experience a NITENNE.
2
That is, nine out of ten.
2
@Lewis
"NANKEEN, for instance, with almost 400K Google hits"
...and that was just today...
3
@Andrew
Ha! Good catch!
I usually print out the Sundays so i can savor them a bit, didn't have that luxury today and managed to get through in just under 40 minutes. Using the app for a Sunday was different.
Enjoyed the puzzle. At 54D Had BANDSAW initially and slowly corrected it to FRATSAW(?), which i didn't catch for the longest time - it seemed possible. I'm not much of a tool smith :-). Never noticed the incorrect cross at 62A...
Once i got the theme it was very satisfying to resolve each one, though slightly time consuming.
QB - 25/94
1 pangram, no bingo
E - 0
I - 0
H - 1, 1 x 4
N - 2, 1 x 5, 1 x 6
P - 4, 1 x 4, 1 x 5, 1 x 6, 1 x 8
W - 18, 10 x 4, 4 x 5, 3 x 6, 1 x 7
Good luck.
10
@BarbJ. Another 4 letter Bee. This one fell super quick for me during insomnia hour, for which I am grateful.
HINTS
Gardeners will not find that missing WELLIE in the Bee nor the prurient any WILLIEs. (A joke at my own expense, David Connell!) If you try an alternate spelling of one of many descriptive or onomatopoeic words in the list or the tutor/tut— approach, you may discover a songbird name. Which I did when the Bee took the word and I needed to know it meant what I thought it did. ;) It didn’t (not the descriptive term or one sitting at church). Conceivable!
Approaching the 5L W with a formulaic approach and working off a single letter at a time trying likely 3-4 letter roots worked particularly 4 L W today. Especially if you have a lilt in your head as you end your words.
3
@Liane
It took me the longest time to find the last word that I needed to get to Genius, after finding the others in maybe 15 minutes. The last word was a 6-letter W derived from an emotional act...it's the embodiment of why I don't keep at the Bee to QB completion.
I know there are six more words that I haven't gotten yet, but if any of those are as bad as the tearful one, I'm glad I didn't invest any more time in it.
This is not to say that I don't think you should go all the way of you enjoy it...but Genius is far enough for me, thank you.
10
@Liane
The 6-letter P word appeared to have been an alternative spelling of the 5-letter P word. THey are pronounced the same. It is only later thatn the 6-letter P word gained its own additional meaning that we know it for today.
@Steve L, the 6-letter W word, re-parsed, might be how I might describe a pastie.
2
Hal in NY
According to my iPhone you made your initial post 35 minutes ago. Wags replied two hours ago and you replied to that reply three hours ago. I will be curious to see now how long ago I made this reply.
I solved this beaut on Thursday, but won’t post about it until the day after tomorrow. The simulation is just crazy like that...
4
I'm sorry but I find this "look how cute and clever I am" kind of clueing utterly tedious. I just want to do a good, challenging Sunday crossword not play somebody's silly, cryptic games.
13
LJADZ,
I'm sorry you don't enjoy cryptics (they're not at the top of my wish list either), but I wish you could have said that without casting aspersions on the constructor.
17
Is it my imagination or are lots of people just jumping in here without reading what has already been posted and duplicating previously entered threads?
1
@HALinNY
Is it my imagination or are lots of people just jumping in here without reading what has already been posted and duplicating previously entered threads?
(Hal, I couldn't resist.)
9
@Wags ... No problem, my friend. Hope it brought you at least a chortle.
@HALinNY
Last time I said that, people jumped down my throat for not being welcoming enough.
Fretsaw. Nankeen.
That’s enough. Lots of other ways to spend a Saturday night.
6
@Doc Whiskey ... that's why they are in the *Sunday* puzzle.
2
These are more fitting for a Friday or Saturday in my opinion
3
@Doc Whiskey
I guess you agree with me. (See me post just before yours.)
Although I finished it without any problem, and my time was pretty normal, there were a lot of entries that were unknowns to me. This is pretty unusual for me by now, as most of the weird stuff has passed in front of my eyes at some point in the crossword past.
New to me today: ENDURO, NANKEEN, CRENEL, FRETSAW, EMDEN, GRU and JENS. Rarely these days are there for me more than one or two unfamiliar words in a puzzle.
I'm counting only words and names that are completely unfamiliar, not things like "Father TED," in which the entry is specifically unfamiliar in that setting. My wheelhouse only, or did others have the same experience?
2
@Steve L ... a NYT-level crossword is meant to be savored, not rushed-through. If you are only interested in speed, you should work other puzzles that do not always offer the nuances and gratification of the NYT puzzle.
3
@Steve L, I'd drop the proper nouns from your count. For every oft-used ESSEN and ANGELA, there always will be a more obscure EMDEN and JENS (although perhaps I should have heard of JENS since he's also Secretary General of NATO). NANKEEN and CRENEL were new to me too, however, and solved through crosses.
1
@HALinNY
When did I say I was only interested in speed?
I only use the timer after the fact to judge how easy or difficult I found the puzzle. If I'm stopping to go downstairs and prepare a snack in the middle of the puzzle, I might pause the timer, but I'm not consumed by my time.
That having been said, I've noticed a steady decrease in my completion time over the years. This shows me my improvement over time. I am (humblebrag warning) faster than a lot of the people who post their times here, but I'm never as fast as, say, Rex Parker, and don't believe I'll ever get there. One reason is that I'm not really trying to. I don't want to do puzzles to finish fast. The other is that I don't think I have the mental and physical ability to read and enter clues as fast as he does.
What's more, I think Rex is an example of someone who's consumed by time. If a puzzle is out of his wheelhouse, he'll complain that the clues are unfair, because it screwed up his time. I never said the words I cited were unfair. I think Rex has lost some of the joy of crosswords by rushing as his modus operandi.
I've never been to a crossword tournament, even though I'd love to meet some of you who do go. The thought of doing crosswords as a race against other enthusiasts does not appeal to me.
7
It seems to me that “Large large skip skip” is more accurately 2 BIGs 2 IGNOREs
2
Or in other words TWO BIGS TWO IGNORES
How many T-shirts do you want?
I'll take two large and two medium.
4
@Barry Ancona ... I am going to ignore that comment. This post never happened.
I recommend watching the clip from the West Wing, Google “Cartographers for Social Equality”, to learn about the dangers of the Mercator projection. :)
Fun puzzle!
3
@MJ That's a great scene.
1
@MJ
I hadn't read your comment yet when I made that suggestion in another reply.
2
MJ (and those who wish to see it),
Elizabeth Connor posted a link to it here last night.
I loved this puzzle, mostly. Got all the themed answers (although did not understand large large skip skip until reading the comments) but broke my streak on SWARD, SLUE, and GRU. Favorite was FRANKSINATRA. Laughed out loud without need of abbreviation at ODDSANDENDS.
3
Crosswords have taken many zigs and zags over the decades and now we have trawled into other-puzzle territory. I got this one but the question is whether it's fair, or appropriate, to mess up crosswords with other forms. I'd love to listen to a panel discussion on this topic by today's foremost puzzle editors and writers. Have we exhausted the standard form, perhaps?
The clue and answer that made my heart fall through my torso and hit my feet with a clang was 110D, now formalizing in the revered (well, respected) NYT Sunday Crossword a misperception that Wm. Safire explained decades ago in his weekly NYT Magazine column: the lion's share is ALL. It's much more interesting that way--don't you agree? How often is it used correctly? I'd guess zero percent of the time. And now this.... I knew the second I saw the clue that the answer would have four squares, not three. Ah me, lackaday.
@GreaterMetropolitanArea
For the longest of time, I agreed with you about the lion's share. However, the last time it showed up, I checked several legitimate online dictionaries and found that they all said that the lion's share is most, not all.
Apparently, old Bill was fighting a losing battle even back then. And perhaps he was even wrong, because a lion does walk away from his catch once sated, and the scavengers have at it. But for decades, I had believed old Bill, bless his Republican heart.
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@Steve L ... I guess they ain't makin' lions the way they used to.
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@HALinNY
You ain't lion.
@caitlin.
On the iPad and phone the clue for 36A appeared as one line. Made it the first themed I got (from a few crosses). 117 A “yearn ÷ do” as a maths reacher I read as “yearn over do” so...
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@Patrick Jordan
It's on one line in AL too, and there's not even a mention in the notepad, so I didn't know there was any difference until I read Caitlin's column.
I'm definitely not a "maths reacher," or a teacher, or in fact anything to do with math or maths, but I had no problem with it!
Has the NYT XWP gotten harder over time ?
I compared my solution times (by day of week) of archival puzzles to solution times of a recent long multi month streak. Nothing stands out except the Thursday puzzle. Great variability for Thursday indicated by a really high standard deviation. You have one foot in fire and one foot in ice, they are in phase and easy or atonal and really hard.
If you have the self imposed pressure of a long streak to preserve and you run into one of those tough Thursday puzzles (like this week) you might feel puzzles were getting tougher.
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@Brian
So just for fun, I went to the Archives to the first year of the Shortz era, 1993, and solved the first Sunday puzzle in December of that year, corresponding to 25 years ago today. Here's how I did.
I solved the 1993 puzzle in about one and a half minutes faster than today's puzzle. I would have been a full two minutes faster had I noticed a typo that I easily corrected.
I know, a sample of one, but it suggests that the puzzles aren't easier these days.
The 1993 theme was a rather uninteresting "two-word phrases that begin with two specific letters."
I found it interesting that 25 years ago, there was a clue "radio-controlled plane" with the answer DRONE.
Steve,
They've been around for a while. DRONE clued as "Pilotless airplane" appeared here in 1955.
@Barry Ancona
Wow. Who knew?
loved it! loved how it all came together when you got enough of the crossings to make the themers obvious! LOL
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Fun.
The sailors in at least one of the following: Moby Dick, Two Years Before the Mast, any of the Hornblower books, wear NANKEEN pants. Moby Dick, I think, which reminds me that I'm due to read again my favorite book: funny, serious, spiritual, exciting, and all you ever needed to know about 19th century rope.
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@Benjamin Teral
When I was in eighth grade (I think it was), I was supposed to read "Moby-Dick" for English class. I couldn't get past page 5.
Luckily, that night, on Channel 5, there was old Gregory Peck and the great white whale.
Good thing I wrote "Captain Ahab" in my essay, and not "Gregory Peck."
Many years later, I picked up the book again. Still couldn't get into those explanations about ropes.
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Steve,
This, I trust, in support of your earlier assertion that as a solver you are not a member of some effete intellectual elite?
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@Barry Ancona
This was at JHS 234 (W. Arthur Cunningham) in Brooklyn. Hardly Choate or Dalton.
A nice lazy Sunday run after a grueling Saturday workout. To @Caitlin and @jtmcg, maybe the cluing for ANT could have been tweaked ("Six-feet runner?" instead of "Six-foot runner?" -- the latter perhaps confusingly suggesting height instead of appendages). I thought the visual clues were just fine even in the app; indeed, I'm still savoring the November 22 crossword with BOTTOMLESS PIT, ENDLESS SUMMER, and TOPLESS SWIMSUIT.
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And HEADLESS CHICKEN (how could I have forgotten?).
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@Henry Su
"Six-feet runner" is not normal idiomatic English. However, they could have said "Six-footed runner," but then the misdirect, which was intentional, would be gone.
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@Steve L, fair point.
Since I'm a fan of cryptics, puns and anagrams, and the Wacky Wordies from Games magazine, the theme entries were not terribly difficult, but it certainly helped to have the illustration of the PUB clue.
@ Caitlin
The LARGE LARGE SKIP SKIP clue in the print version looks like it was just a word wrap deal, not LARGE LARGE (over) SKIP SKIP as the answer process starts with reading it as 2 large 2 skip.
@JayTee
I solve in AL, and there was a notepad about the PUB clue. What appears in AL is [PP UU BB]. The notepad says "In the newspaper version of this puzzle, the clue for 80-Across appears as P PU UB B." I don't see how the laatter is an "illustration." In fact, I kept looking at it after I'd filled in the entry, and I can't see any advantage at all.
Map projections are important! https://youtu.be/LA0BLrLW0PE
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Elizabeth,
I have my father's pre-WWII Goode's World Atlas, which includes some of his equal area projections.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goode_homolosine_projection
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I liked this one and finished it in around my average time for a Sunday. Needed the crosses for CRENEL and PLACENAME.
Caitlin - If you're still wondering ANT is an insect so has six legs and six feet and doesn't fly... at least most of them don't.
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@jtmcg
D'
O
H
!
I've always liked these visual riddle-puzzles (and sometimes I can even figure them out!) so it was fun to see them in a crossword puzzle. I waited until I had done a lot of the general fill to try to figure out what was going on, and by then I had enough letters that things started making sense.
I especially liked FRANK SINATRA!
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Liz B,
FRANK SINATRA was my favorite too. Easiest was ADDING INSULT TO INJURY. Started in the NW, and got the theme quickly with ODDS AND ENDS. This type of Sunday puzzle was LONG OVERDUE.
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@Liz B
My favourite as well, made me laugh and good to see a singer I've heard of for a change.
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suejean,
I assume you're referring to Sandra Denton?
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Has The NY Times crossword puzzle become more difficult over the last 50 years?
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@Barb
it goes through cycles...
Ive gone backwards and cant do some of the ones from 1980 and earlier that have been in compilations....Just too many references from the era i dont know.
But for the ones I did when the came out....
I started in the late 80's with Eugene Maleska...and they were hard...but i was learning...By the time i made it through college in 1991 I was able to do most of every day...im not sure i solved all of them...but i was really close every day.
Then Will Shortz took over and I remember them being too easy....for a few years...but then they became hard again....so that every day was a challenge...
And its been that way for the better part of 20 years now.
BUT...I do think in the last year and a half there have been puzzles which i felt were very very daunting..harder than any daily since ive started....and that I didnt think i would finish...but that's after 20 years of challenging but solvable....
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@Barb
You can make your own judgment. This is the Sunday puzzle from this weekend, fifty years ago. Key in page 594:
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/12/01/issue.html
Personally, I think the answer is a definite no. But one solving the puzzle back then might have had a different degree of familiarity with some of the proper names.
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I agree; I think they've become more difficult in the last year, particularly as the puzzle has gone all in on idiomatic phrases.
Verrrry interethting, this week's puzzle. Someone worked very hard to create those rebus-like clues and fills. I am not at liberty to reveal the name of that someone, but suffice it to say that you will not have to look very far to make the precise determination should you desire to do so.
This posting was made by a real person (me) and I am not a robot.
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@HAL9000inNY?
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@HALinNY
Give me your answer, do. I'm half crazy...
..
@LarryB ... Sorry, only Leapfinger can refer to me as the hero of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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Excellent Sunday puzzle right in my average time range to cap off an excellent week of puzzles. Love hearing Hank AZARIA's voice-overs, and watching NOMAR Garciaparra on MLB, but I adore seeing Hank AZARIA do his hilarious and tawdry turn in BROCKMIRE. If you are a fan of baseball, you must see this show. (Except for the prurient.) You will even like Joe Buck after watching, though he has no visible ANTLER. Seeing PDJAMES makes me want to go reread some. Thanks, Mr. Coulter, for the suggestion.
I had to stumble via crosses on NANKEEN, PEPA and CRENEL. Luckily, I know and use tools, so knew FRETSAW quickly.
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@Liane, I also needed the crosses for NANKEEN and CRENEL.
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@Liane (I haven't seen Brockmire, so I can't be sure about it, but I have a feeling you may have meant prudish rather than prurient, which is fairly well the opposite.)
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@David Connell Proving that I know a lot of words, but not always what they mean -- more useful in the Bee!
You are correct and I very much appreciate your kindness in how you pointed out my error. I have had one of those days where I have gotten very little right except for puzzle answers and a darn fine eggplant parmesan.
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I hate the Mercator projection.
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@Morgan ... Understood, though I have heard that Mercator is not particularly fond of you, either.
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@Morgan - Here's an interesting projection I learned of just recently, the Euler spiral projection, explained by Hannah Fry on Numberphile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3tdW9l1690
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@Morgan I do too. It has had a real impact on the way people think about the world, making Europe seem way bigger than it is, and Africa way smaller.
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Sorry, but I really disliked this one. As the author of the other, crankier, crossword blog likes to say, there was too much “ junk fill” in this one.
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@Jersey Girl
i agree with you on the junk fill....I dont "really dislike" this one..i just sorta dislike this one...I found the theme clues/answers uninteresting.
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For those who've never dared, or bothered, to try a Diagramless, this week's offering would be a great start. There is one key entry requiring knowledge of pop culture (a 2002 band), but if you're willing to look it up the puzzle unfolds beautifully. Give it a try!
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@Katherine
Agreed! This one was very fresh. There's a video by that band in the other post, if anyone wants hints to get going on the Diagramless (hint hint hint ...)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/01/crosswords/variety-diagramless.html
@Katherine ... diagramlesses are lots of fun and require a different skill set beyond simply determining fills and crosses. In my experience, it is best to not thing of a puzzle as a 15 x 15, but as a collection of smaller sections that will ultimately join to form the larger grid.
Study a completed puzzle and pay special attention to the way the squares are numbered. A good understanding of this will help you determine the size and placement of fills in a diagramless.
Good luck!
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Those revealer lines that I used in the theme explanation aren't working on my phone, but someone else here can see them. I can give the answers in the comments if anyone wants. I want to leave them as is in the column so the programmer who built that tool for us can check them out. Sorry abt the inconvenience! The rollercoaster ride of technology never stops.
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