I solved in 6:42, but I give up. What does TBG mean, and where is the giraffe picture?
Took me a few minutes to figure it out but it was very whimsical and fun to do, Thanks
1
The lines of letters in the April 1 puzzle were delightful. A form of whimsy I hadn't encountered before.
2
Hey, Deadline! Remember that time your grid developed a mind of its own and decided to fill up with AAAAAAAAs? I think its baby cousins just came to town.
A little more generous with 42 squares than I want, even on a Monday, but these days it's hard to find support for paucity paucity. Plus, it's never a good sign when you notice something OUIS. That one left me a little breathless, it did.
Anyway, no harm, no foul, and a doff of the old fedora to Signor Joel for a labour-saving device that has earned my deepest ESS-team!
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Dang, I came only three short of completing the puzzle by solving all the across clues in order, start to finish. Did not know ULEE or BAE (still no idea what the last is), and no way of knowing whether 44A was UNO or UNA.
Guess that goal remains on my bucket list. Well, off to get some ZZZZZZZZZZZZ :)
3
@michele "Un" and "una" are the Spanish article. "Uno" is a number. ;)
Since when is a - (dash) used for a letter in a crossword puzzle?
NOT FAIR!
3
janye,
On April Fools Day, for sure!
@janye
Since 1998:
https://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/15/1998
2
where was there a dash? i solved it without one...
2
The thing that I don't understand today is the picture of the giraffe and a guy in Jeff's column with the caption "Just a single letter makes a big difference sometimes." What letter? Why a giraffe?
@Deadline
I clicked on the picture which led me to a story about Matt Ginsberg, who seems to have a strong crossword connection. I suppose that the single letter would be Ginsberg - Ginsburg.
Mystery solved?
2
@Andrew
Hmmm. I never realized thought about Jeff's column photos being links, but I clicked on it and got the Matt Ginsberg article. I guess you're right, that it's about the difference between Dr. Fill's creator and the Notorious RBG.
Maybe the guy who's communing with the giraffe is Matt Ginsberg. Not possible to tell from the picture unless you know him.
Thanks.
3
@Deadline, that's the photo that comes up for MattG in the thumbnails xwordinfo provides for MOL's entertainment
re: spelling bee ~ why isn't "corroborator" accepted in today's bee?
2
@artlife
see discussions below and in past columns. It's just the way that SB picks and chooses to use a restricted dictionary that is not the Scrabble or XWP dictionary. Not "fair" or objective, but it's their game and we're just playing it! :)
3
@Robert Michael Panoff Sam has been made copiously aware of the lack of CORROBORATOR, and it has been added to the dictionary for future puzzles.
7
@Deb Amlen thanks!
This was my first NY Times Crossword that I solve on my own. I am going to print it out and have it framed. Took forever (13:36 minutes), but I am ecstatic. If I make it to 100, I will say it is due to finally solving a NY Times Crossword and continuing to do more.
22
@Concerned Citizen Congratulations! Way to go!
4
Just keep AT IT!! You’ll be amazed at what you can do with persistence - - - and it’s FUN to boot.
Hard to imagine that there isn’t a
LETTER BOXED THREAD yet.
But I don’t see it.
So.
I have S-S(8) S-P(7).
Takes the cake for the most unwieldy solution. But pleasingly odd, somehow.
2
@Kevin Sparks
I had a quick P-S (7), S-N (9).
Can't come up with a hint though.
Grey and Ginsberg....
So I solved it once, but because of some miscommunication between my phone and the Internet, it didn't register on the site.
So I solved it again, knowing GRAY and GINSBURG this time.
Essentially putting in answers as quickly as I could read clues and type.
Which means that my limit for speed on a Monday puzzle is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3:27.
Interesting. And a fun puzzle as well.
2
Fastest time ever for me.
5
@Judy R Also my fastest Monday, after returning to the crossword with an annoying Sunday which had, as many reported, a cross typo, in my case, as I finally discovered, "lets lie" for "lets die." I don't know why NYT copy editors do not yet offer a paid service to check down answers; or alternatively, an option in the app to swap up and down, so we can proofread in the direction God intended.
1
One of these days, I will stop spelling GRAY the English way. And maybe that same day I'll remember that GINSBURG indeed has a U.
Nonetheless a fun solve and despite my typos I set my fastest Monday time.
4
@Jsav
grAy American
grEy English
8
@Hildy Johnson - thank you! I never noticed the correlation. Very handy. Well, I guess I sort of had muddled through by remembering Earl Grey is E.
4
@Jsav Gray not in English might be grau, a likely typo.
Cultural curiosity: What does one do exactly with peanuts, sunflower seeds, and Chinese watermelon seeds (only 3 of the 6 sections named)? Put in tea kettle? Eat as snacks? I've never had the privilege of have a real tea service like that.
1
RMP,
The caption was Deb's April Fool. The original caption on the photo notes the "segmented bowl" but says nothing about a tea set.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/dining/guan-fu-sichuan-review.html
3
One feeds the birds.
@Barry Ancona thanks for the link.
I count 14 L’s in this puzzle, one away from a potential hidden LGBT theme. (The grid is 15 squares wide). I also plotted out the L’s to see if they formed an ELL. No.
Now back to my actual BIZBIZBIZBIZBIZ
(line of business)
10
Yep. Pretty easy. Love you, Joel. But no speed record due to misspelling Ginsburg and gray. Had too much of a thing with e's. Got it right in the aeiou clue though.
Ida B. Wells was involved in the Civil Rights movement. She was not a suffragette.
@Carmel Loughman - and then there's Maude...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_B._Wells#Alpha_Suffrage_Club
3
"She was not a suffragette."
Carmel,
The clue is "Suffragist," and she was that too.
2
A fun solve. The clue "Gymnast Korbut" brought a big smile to my face and sent me to YouTube for a look at her memorable performance on the uneven bars in Munich in 1972. Fitting that the clue right above her was "Powder for a gymnast"...
Today we had earworm; yesterday we had eargasm!
2
@Jeanne
Yes quite ear-itating...
3
@Andrew I guess you won't get enough up votes in the comments, but that was a good one.
1
GeTTTTTTTTing 3 lonGGGG lines of freeBBBBBBies made this one a bit too easy even for a Monday. My fastest ever time today.
4
Took me X amount of time to fill in the grid and X/2 to change GINSBERG to GINSBURG.
3
Thanks guys, this was fun, though the Tea Set and G-String clues did somewhat expedite solving the puzzle.
ULEE and RUST were the last ones I worked out, as movie clues are my weakness and I’d put REST in place of RUST (as in lack of practice being a rest day.) Those cost me few extra moments of anxiety to work out, but I halved my normal solve times.
Similar. I had ELEE thinking it might've been a movie about that confederate general...
I was genuinely expecting a Saturday puzzle on Monday, for the ultimate April Fool's joke.
Instead, I equaled my personal best for Mondays.
2
So disappointed. I was definitely looking forward to an especially entertaining April Fools puzzle. Maybe if April 1 falls on a Monday again, we can get a bonus puzzle that's more challenging?
3
@nadine
The monthly bonus puzzle for April should be on the puzzle website. I can't confirm as I am on the app, and it's not accessible from here.
All those one letter lines made for a new fastest on-line time and a somewhat disappointing Monday effort.
2
If I had been at the Times, my April Fools' joke would have been to find a way to wipe out everybody's streaks and sit back and enjoy the show! Maybe next year...
6
I use the mini as a quick brain wake-up at my desk. Several weeks ago I spilled tea on my keyboard. It seemed there were no ill effects at the time. When the s key seemingly didn't work, I had to get a couple of co-workers to help move my desk to install a new keyboard. Once we got the new keyboard installed, I realized what the real issue was. Well played.
@MellowFred,
For today's puzzle, some sticky "T," "G" and "B" keys would have come in handy. ;-)
My five favorite clues from last week:
1. Verb whose past tense is formed by moving the first letter to the end (3)
2. Non-religious observance: Abbr. (3)
3. Totally screw up? (6)
4. Peabrain? (6)
5. Deg. that requires the study of calculus (3)
EAT
DST
MISADD
MENDEL
DDS
9
Okay. I was using my IBM selectric typewriter to do today’s puzzle. My dadgum T key stuck in repeat! I had no liquid paper, so I left the mess alone. Well, I swear, the weirdest thing happened as I did the downs: words formed using all those dang Ts! I know I could never convince anyone that the same thing happened two more times...(but it did). I love my Selectric, it’s such a smart device!
:-DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
5
@Just Carol lets see -- is that machine now 40 years old?
1
@ Dr W. It’s actually a lovely avocado green ‘76 model. So, ahem, 43. I prefer 12 point elite for my puzzles. But a repeating letter can be annnnnnnoying.
4
@Just Carol - well, this repeating key thing never happens with my trusty Royal 440. No electricity, no problems!
2
I was SMOKIN’ through this sucker! Record time virtually assured. Lots of easy clues and the “theme” became obvious early on.
But I misspelled GINSBeRG and EBBiTS - and never heard of ULEE. Barely ever heard of Peter Fonda. Henry? Sure. Jane? Sure. But, Peter? Nah! - so I had to do some “research” and the record time went up in smoke.
Based on a couple of reviews of Fonda’s movie role, I guess it’s just as well I never heard of it. (I was alive and well and communicative in 1997 but THAT one must have just oozed through the cracks.) I DO remember “Easy Rider” though - so he was in one movie that’s still registered in my synaptic storage vault.)
OK! Now I’m ready to CARPE some DIEM.
3
@PeterW -- You mean CCCCCCCCCCC the day?
9
"But I misspelled GINSBeRG and EBBiTS..."
PeterW,
Scandalous, but I'm not surprised remembering "Easy Rider" caused your record time to go up in smoke.
3
Ulee’s Gold - good movie. Worth watching. Good luck finding it.
2
Apparently it was April Fool's Day in the Statistics department. According to them, I solved this puzzle in three seconds (0:03). It seemed a bit longer than that while I was doing it.
Enjoyed the puzzle over all, though. It was surprising to me that it still took me almost as long as my average time, even with the Ts, Gs, and Bs getting filled in almost right away.
3
@DYT
I'm assuming then that your average time is in the four to five seconds range?
1
SPELLING BEE:
ABLORT-C
61/290, 1 pangram, bingo.
Ax6, Bx4, Lx3, Ox2, Rx2, Tx7, Cx37
4x20, 5x15, 6x8, 7x10, 8x5, 9x2, 12x1
Σ 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
A 6 1 1 - 2 - 2 - - -
B 4 1 - 1 - 2 - - - -
L 3 1 1 - 1 - - - - -
O 2 1 1 - - - - - - -
R 2 - - 1 - 1 - - - -
T 7 3 1 - 3 - - - - -
C 37 13 11 6 4 2 - - - 1
Σ 61 20 15 8 10 5 2 1
Doppleganger (same letters, different center letter):
PuzzleDate Letters
2018-12-28 ABCLOT-R
I thought maybe there might have been an April fools trick, but no. People'd be up in arms if so.
15
@Wen,
Thanks for the grid. I got to 59 words on my own. I might have driven myself crazy trying to identify the missing L-4 on my own and the grid provided smoother sailing to find the last C-7.
2
Some hints - my last words - one was an element (or color), one is non-decimal.
Carribean veggie dish, card game, unwanted calls, whence BBQ, 3x feline related terms, keyboardist piece. Those were the tricky ones (especially if you are new to SB). Other words are mostly straightforward.
1
@Wen 3x feline related terms but no LOLCAT? And I gave up at Genius today, couldn't face the C section. :)
2
Joel! Love that you include so many Spanish clues in general but "une" is not a Spanish article, it's a French one. In Spanish the articles are "Un" or "Una".
@Katrina
Did you try GRAY BLUE?
2
@Katrina - just in case you were unaware:
The word "gray" in American English (which is featured in the New York Times, go figure, is spelled "gray".
The word "grey", which is a feature of British English, is spelt "grey".
(go figure)
Which means, "une" is not a part of today's puzzle, but "una" is.
Go figure.
5
Chris Franks and Tina Weymouth, Talking Heads band/life mates, created TOM TOM Club, a studio project that formed around ‘81. A self-titled initial album had this opening track: “Wordy Rappinghood,” a playful little ditty. This will be the LAST SONG I will offer up for discussion here at WP...Here’s a snippet of the lyric:
“Words of nuance, words of skill
And words of romance are a thrill
Words are stupid, words are fun
Words can put you on the run”
https://youtu.be/6Vl1m5FYlAo
BEST Regards,
Bru
6
@brutus LAST SONG? Surely an April Fool's jest?
2
What a TEASE! GEE WHIZ, it's the BEE'S KNEES!
Thank you, Joel Fagliano, for your fun,fun April Fool's shenanigans!
4
SPELLING BEE THREAD
I've never done this before - starting the Spelling Bee thread with a non-grid entry. But here goes.
According to my math, I am 13-14 points away from Queen Bee.
According to my lights, these 100% in-my-vocabulary, normal English words are not accepted today:
cotta (altar boys, I wore one regularly)
bract (flower structure) - there's a supported flower structure that is accepted today
bocal (music) - you can't play a bassoon without one
collator (photocopier function I use almost every day)
bacalao (fish)
caracal (animal)
lactator (mammal)
caracara (bird)
cloacal (well...birdish)
collocator (for crossword clues, extremely important)
claro (cigar)
corroborator (sigh)
If my missing 13-14 points could have been made up by any combination of these normal, regular, useful words (I will not comment on the useless things that _are_ accepted), I'd be there already.
Spelling Bee remains the epitome of self-inflicted torment.
27
@David Connell
Agree. The nonacceptance of corroborator and collator were the most annoying to me, especially after some of the things we've seen recently (GLIA and LAMELLAE spring painfully to mind).
13
@David Connell
Yes, it seems that the game is more one of trying to guess the Beekeeper's vocabulary and preferences, than finding words. In the last week, arrgh was accepted, but not so many other valid words. Lessens the fun. It does make the grid more useful...trying to figure out what words might be counted.
6
@Lydia - just underlying that point of yours - I believe it was aargh, rather than arrgh, that was accepted.
Case. In. Point.
Yo Ho Ho - a Pirate's Life for Me
10
Meh. After one pass through the down clues, this one became obvious. 45 squares (or 20% of the grid) committed to 3 seemingly random letters of the alphabet? Not exactly my cup of tea.
4
Julian,
How opaque do you usually find Mondays?
6
@Barry Ancona
Mondays are opaque?
I thought this was a fun Monday. Of course, the theme made the puzzle even easier and the puzzle certainly didn't need to be any easier than it already was, but I overlooked it because there was imagination and humor and a certain je ne sais pas. This is exactly the sort of puzzle I'd give to a novice solver.
The three theme answers were nicely clued. I've been trying to think of some others:
Rolling seas
Full of ease
Long queues
"Eyes right"
Joel's are better.
9
@Nancy
I think that a certain je ne sais "quoi" would be a more appropriate descriptor here.
3
@Andrew -- OOPS!
1
@Nancy
That was truly a faux pas.
(About the only French that I’m intimately familiar with BTW)
1
At last! A puzzle I could finish in 17 minutes like the intelligentsia! & I didn’t need any help from my friend Amos Kittow.
7
hmmm..... Joel Fagliano a.k.a. Elmer Fudd ?
2
I enjoyed this puzzle bigly, but I could live without 14A.
6
@Donald
And, that was my favorite. Nice to remember HOPE.
9
@Donald nice to see you doing a failing NYTimes crossword puzzle!
10
@Patrick, @Donald
I’m so conflicted. Now that D’s post is at my eye level, as opposed to over my head, I don’t know whether to hit reco or the missing thumbs down icon. Going with a “reco”.
1
one of the rougher puzzles of the week so far.
16
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
16
Not really my cup of T! caught on very fast with the Ts and then was able to do likewise with the Gs and Bs. So therefore many cells were filled in automatically which did not BODE well for the difficulty level.
2
¡sıɥʇ ǝʞıן sǝןzznd ǝɹoɯ ¡ʎɐp ǝɥʇ ɟo ʇıɹıds ǝɥʇ uı unɟ ʇnq 'buıbuǝןןɐɥɔ ǝɹoɯ ¡uʍop ǝpısdn ʎɐpoʇ ǝʌןos oʇ pǝpıɔǝp ı 'ʇuǝɯǝsnɯɐ uʍo ʎɯ ɹoɟ ʎןʇsoɯ
29
@Robert Michael Panoff
I’d give you 8 recos if I could.
3
Cool idea! Thank you, Robert!
In that line, try solving by putting only a dot in the boxes solved. It works better on paper and with Monday puzzles, but you have to do your own Happy Pencil Dance.
@ADeNA
As a variation of what I have learned to be the HAL method, I used to solve the puzzle in the morning without ANY marking or entry, total eyeball and memory. Sometimes I'd be forced to stand and would solve someone else's puzzle looking over their shoulder. Then going home, would fill in the puzzle straight away.
5
Today is my birthday (yes, I’m an April Fool!) and this puzzle was a great present! I finished it in record time!
16
@Terry Byrne
Congrats and Happy B’Day! See your “twin”, Sue Koehler.
3
Thank you!
@Terry Byrne
What Puzzlemucker said.
A letter-string theme done in a brand new way, and tight -- kudos to Joel.
As your resident alphadoppeltotter, I must report that this puzzle has 30 double letters -- a 15 x 15 record high in the years I've been tracking this -- but, alas, it comes with an asterisk, as it is directly theme related. Apart from the theme answers, the double letter count is average.
2
@Lewis - once again, I remind you of the cribbage rule where every pair is counted as a pair...that racks up quite a total today, even if only counting consecutive pairs!
4
@David Connell - The way I count 'em is two in a row is one pair, three in a row is one pair (after counting the first two, they get erased, leaving one, which is not a pair), four in a row is two pair, five in a row is two pair, and so on.
@Lewis - I challenge you to a game of Cribbage, and - I'm certain to win!
hee hee
2
Not quite a record me, but it probably would have been if I hadn't followed my usual early-week procedure of going through all the across clues first, or if I'd been a bit more alert in paying attention to the clues to the theme answers. A bit blah from a solving perspective, but thought it was fine for April fools, and a quite clever piece of construction.
Got into over-analyzing the grid a bit afterwards. There are 8 down answers (6 eight-letter and 2 ten-letter) that each cross two of the theme rows - 4 for each each pair. All of those have to involve the central G row and all of the 8-letter downs either begin or end on that row. Those are also the ONLY answers that begin or end on that row.
At the other extreme, there are 7 answers that end on the T row - all of them 4 letter answers - and 7 that begin on the B row (also all 4 letters, obviously) . Only 2 answers start on the T row and they are both 3 letter answers. Same in reverse for the B row: 2 three letter answers ending in B.
Lastly, I wondered if Joel considered a 15 letter answer down the middle crossing all of the theme rows as sort of a bonus. Looking at answer histories by pattern, the only real possibilities I see are ASSTRONGASABULL and NORTHRANGERABBEY (I'm sure we've all read that). Plus it looks like putting a 15 there would have demolished the grid and would have sent him back to square one (so to speak).
Am I done? I'm done.
5
@Rich in Atlanta Sorry...
NORTHANGER not NORTHRANGER.
1
@Rich in Atlanta
Well, if you want two 15 letter downs you could use:
JUSTICEGINSBURG and AFITTINGTRIBUTE (too bad that wouldn't work if we actually changed the letters to RBG)
1
For a person like me, who is fooled every single day of the year, should n't April 1st be reprieve? - I meant the mini of course!
6
@msk
A rare instance of the mini being more difficult than the regular puzzle.
6
45 squares, the same three letters. A total waste of time. Garbage. Apologize for denying us a puzzle, Joel!
3
@prophit1970
I'm sorry.
16
@Joel -
Joel is dzaddy.
Nuff.
1
@Joel
prophit just had BBBBBBBB in their bonnet,
or was just TTTTTTTTTing.
You graciously say “I’m sorry”. I say
GGGGGGGG!
1
I have to admit, I was NOT expecting a puzzle with all the answers in Latin today!!
3
@Steve Faiella
Me neither! I did the entire puzzle using Google Translate. No happy music, though. Veni, vidi, nec vincet.
1
@Steve Faiella
I'm with you on that complaint. I would expect at the very least a mea culpa.
3
GGGGGGGG Louise, Joel, this was fun!
6
WWWWWWW, wailed Tom woefully. Had to Goooooooooooogle the long ones.
Thanks, Joel
3
Can somebody explain the clue "... and sometimes y" preceder, please? (59A)
@Mariana - the vowels are - "a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y"
5
@Wen Ah. Thank you!
1
I loved this puzzle; so many entries made me smile, 59A for example which kind of fit in with the unusual theme.
I've got Michelle OBAMA's book on my iPad and will be getting back to it as soon as I've finished the book for my book group. Just the little bit I've read so far is a delight.
Perfect Monday puzzle.
16
@suejean You have a real treat to look forward to ... the book is sooooooo good.
3
Good fun for this beginning solver. It took a few crosses but the tea set still caused a smile.
2
I always look forward to the April Fool puzzle because it’s my birthday. My present: a very fast solving time. Yay!
19
Happy Birthday, Sue, a nice gift today.
2
Happy birthday, Sue
@Sue Koehler
Happy birthday, no kidding.
Has there ever been a puzzle with an A-frame?
1
@MikeM
What
A
A A
A A
A A
A A
A A
A A
great idea!
1
Hi everyone. I took a break from posting this weekend (although I did solve both the Saturday and Sunday puzzles).
I loved Joel's themer for the Monday puzzle. For those who would have preferred to see a string of R's instead of T's, how about cluing it as "Broadway Local"?
As for Jeff Chen's expressed concern about the crossings of GINSBURG / ULEE / EBBETS / BAE, here is my proposed fix to make that section more Monday-friendly:
49-Across: "Fannie ___ (home financing agency)" -- MAE
58-Across: "Gen. Robert ____" -- ELEE
61-Across: "Deeply regretted" -- RUED
37-Down: "Beat poet Allen" -- GINSBERG
45-Down: "Fixes firmly" -- EMBEDS
52-Down: "Borscht ingredients" -- BEETS
4
Oh, and for those who feel that the crossing of IDA (as clued) and DOGES might have been a bit Naticky, here's a proposed fix:
30-Across: "Give __ rest" -- ITA
42-Across: "Common computer font" -- ARIAL
31-Down: "Roman Senate wear" -- TOGAS
3
@Henry Su
Nice to have your comments back, Sir.
@Puzzlemucker,
Good to be back.
Did he put a dash in this? So annoyed at the dash in the mini puzzle today. Not an option on my phone.
1
Chumley,
Time for a new phone.
2
Write in the word DASH as a rebus fill.
1
Try a hyphen.
3
I had a double reverse Natick at the cross of 14A and 27D. I knew that "Water buffalo" had to be POTATO, but the double N in the cross left me with HOMER, which seemed hardly appropriate for "Being hit on the head with a blunt object". Finally it dawned on me. A rebus! So I had my aha moment, but I thought rebuses were only allowed on Fridays...
Today's time was actually the square root of my Monday average multiplied by my Monday best divided by pi. What are the chances of that?
3/10
9
I should add that this one was right in my WHEELNUTHOUSE.
3
@Andrew
OMG!
Instead of POTATO, I had PATATHTO, and then when I got to TOMATOE and the crossing of CLAMATO, it took me forever to straighten everything out... :(
4
@Andrew
Seems like you were doing the WRONG PUZZLE! Just like a Canadian to RUDELY criticize things without any basis. That must be why US Americans are known for our politeness and HUMILITY whereas Canadians are known as the world’s self-aggrandizing GRRRRRRUMPS! I doubt you even celebrate April Fools’ Day over there.
2
If only there were an L train, this puzzle could have had an LGBT theme.
8
@Steve L
Don't forget the Q queue. (The crosses would have been murder...)
1
@Steve L,
"Chicago's rapid transit system"
Henry,
That would clue the singular. For Steve's entry, perhaps "14th Street during rush hour."
1
Gymnasts use chalk in the gym. Maybe they use talc after they shower but on the equipment it is chalk.
8
@Elizabeth Cross
Talc is cheap.
12
@Andrew
And chalk is...teap?
(Mmm, never mind!)
4
Chalk IS talc?? Maybe.
Ahem, it's "Beeline?", not "Bee line?"
Alexander,
Ahem, it *is* Beeline:
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/beeline
3
@Barry Ancona That's what I said. I was pointing out Deb Amlen's mistake; she wrote it as "Bee line?"
This had me chuckling and I even forgot about 4/1. What a great puzzle! Thanks for the smile to head into the work week.
6
Apparently the group Aoril Fools’ joke is to carp about a Monday puzzle being too easy and an extremely difficult gimmick to pull off (on a Monday) lacking a sufficient wow factor. I guess there should have been talking animals that appeared once the themers were solved. Give me a break!
Oh wait, sorry, that was Rex Parker’s (anticipated) blog, not Wordplay.
PLAP goes the T NUT!
6
The April Fools joke is that none of today's quick solves will be counted in your averages.
8
NOOOOOOOOOO!
;)
2
@Puzzlemucker
Talking animals ?! Is that an app!? Where can I get it?!
2
I loved this! I'll make a
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
to his next puzzle!
10
Dave,
When you do, please wear more than a
GGGGGGGGGGGGGG
(There are streaks and there are streaks.)
24
@Dave - you could do that every day with the mini.
1
EARWORM was my initial choice for yesterday’s EARGASM, which was new for me.
BAE also new to me.
Learning something new every day!
8
Am I the only one who didn't like the answer for 7A? "Finis"? Is this some alternate way of spelling "finish" that I haven't seen before in crossword puzzles? It doesn't seem to fit with any other answer that had a dropped letter...
Er... 17A, not 7A
@Adam
en français or latin? think of what is on the screen in foreign language films.
1
@Robert Michael Panoff
I don't know about Latin off the top of my head, but in French (and Spanish?) it's usually "fin" I think.
4
Maybe I am missing something? Ridiculously easy clues, ridiculously stupid gimmick. Really annoying.
2
@Kathy
a) Monday
b) April 1
ergo. . .
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@Kathy IT'S AN OUTRAGE! MR. SHORTS' BOSS SHALL BE HEARING FROM ME I CAN TELL YOU!!!!
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@Robert Michael Panoff - I'm aware of the date. Not an excuse for a bad crossword.
3
Maybe my first comment will show up later if the emus realize the day. . . :) Fast solve by holding the letter key down.
Mini was harder as I had to do a keyboard run of letters AND symbols to find the missing middle square.
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@Robert Michael Panoff
It did. Bless the emus! I’d write that upside down if I could.
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@Puzzlemucker
fliptext.org
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@Robert Michael Panoff
!¡noʎ ʞuɐɥʇ
I feel like I just saw a magician’s secret bunny hat.
2
In the words of Lewis Carroll, "O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
I now have a 365-day streak and am quite pleased to have made it through a full year with such a fun puzzle.
48
@RP
Wow, that is amazing! Congrats!
I gave up on streaks a long time ago. It takes real dedication!
5
@RP Way to go!!! Keep it up!!
1
@RP
RPRPRPRPRPRPRPRP--an RP Streak.
2
So everyone had a good time with the Monday puzzle. Great! I did not. I was tooling along, had finished the across clues and was now backfilling using the down clues. Then all the Ts. Well my pen ran out of Ts but I kept going and then the Gs. Same problem: not enough Gs left in my pen. Well, when I got to the last line, the B's, I got smart. I wrote in Is and 3s. Looked great but it was wrong, probably because I put in rebi where there wasn't supposed to be rebi.
Can't seem to catch a break around here.
13
@HALinNY
That'll teach you to cheap out and not buy the pen with unlimited letters.
7
@Steve Faiella ... ouch!
1
First puzzle under 5 mins! Woooo!
14
Nice! Also a personal best for me, but at 5:27.
2
I got slowed down by uncertainty about GINSB(u|e)RG and GR(a|e)YBLUE - having put the wrong vowel in both and then going through all the other answers to see if I had an error. One of these days I'll remember RBG's without hesitation but the color will always be a problem.
2
@Mid America - I'm going out on a limb here, but
America spells grAy with an A
and
England spells grEy with an E
...
if only there were an easy way to remember that...
4
I was waiting for the shoe to drop on this one during my first pass across. Ended up beating my best Monday time by something like 20 seconds, which was reassuring after yesterday's puzzle.
1
Nice one for April 1st. I imagine solving it was a lot easier than constructing it. Appreciate the effort.
13
Proud that it took me 7:18 to solve this one👍🏽
13
Certainly was easy. As soon as I saw the line of 5 Ts in a row in the NW (only time I solve down as I go across is on early week puzzles), I figured it was going to be 3-4 lines of letters. But didn't think about it as I sped through. It was fun, but went too quickly. I slowed down to look at crossings (mostly downs) that I skipped solving the across entries. Still tied my best Monday time (which still isn't anything to write home about).
Looking back, with the reference to R.B.G., kinda hoped those were the letters Joel woulda chosen. What could he have clued for the string of Rs, though?
5
Five grades of elementary school?
3
Barry, even as I type, I'm still trying to figure out what you mean...it went over my head.
I think he was saying Reading, ‘Riting, ‘Rithmetic repeated 5 times.
I would think a pirate-related clue would work...
5
It annoys me but I've gotten used to the fact that the next day's puzzles show up at 8 PM Eastern. But here it is 6:30 and already tomorrow's puzzles are posted. Can someone tell me the official time they switch over? (fwiw, i know how to find older crosswords but i was hoping to do a sudoku and i don't think those are available for prior days)
Mid,
6pm ET Saturday and Sunday, 10pm ET the others.
2
N.B. *On* Sat/Sun for Sun/Mon puz.
2
Thanks Barry! Apparently the lines of code that make the switchover get to go home early on weekend nights? :-)
I solved quickly but what am I missing. Does TGB stand for something? Probably obvious.
Lin,
TGB apparently stands for quite a few things, but I don't think Joel intended any of these:
https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/TGB
1
@Lin Sanchez
Read clues at 20, 36, 50A if you missed them.
TGB, I think, stands for whatever you want it to. I’m going with The Greatest Broccolini.
7
@Puzzlemucker
Two Gassy Birds
6
Going to see a lot of speed records set on this one!
Also, why the hyphen in the mini, instead of a blank space? That was the difference between 15 seconds and 50.
5
@Liane Really! It's been so long since I've broken out the rebus.
1
@Liane
It's the mini homage to April 1.
2
A blank space keeps the puzzle “unsolved” as far as the various APPS are concerned - I think. Too much trouble to change all those programs just to accommodate a single mini puzzle.
Yay to Joel.
A very satisfying Monday April Fools’ puzzle.
(Especially enjoyed the anagrams ; )
4
My parenthetical comment was a mild attempt at April Fools’ Day humor, but it occurs to me that the puzzle did have three long palindromes.
4
@Puzzlemucker
For April Fools' humor consider 39D.....when was the last time you went home with a basketball?
@michael
That’s a personal question.
8
For something similar, see the April 1, 2000 puzzle.
@Steve L
Just did part of it. Fun one and with Saturday heft. Not sure whether easier to pull off on a Monday or Saturday.
@Steve L
Thanks for the reference. It was a fun one for a Saturday.
@Steve L
July 30, 2009 is another similar one...and not even April Fool's Day!